"
"I dare say you are right," said my father.
"People talk with horror of attacks on the faith as sadly
characteristic of our age," said the Rector, walking up and down the
study, and seemingly forgetful of my presence, if not of my father's,
"(which, by-the-bye, is said of every age in turn), but I fear the
real evil is that so few have any fixed faith to be attacked. It is
the old, old story. From within, not from without. The armour that was
early put on, that has grown with our growth, that has been a strength
in time of trial, and a support in sorrow, and has given grace to
joy, will not quickly be discarded because the journals say it is
old-fashioned and worn-out. Life is too short for every man to prove
his faith theoretically, but it is given to all to prove its practical
value by experience, and that method of proof cannot be begun too
soon."
"Very true," said my father.
"I don't know why a man's religious belief (which is of course the
ground of his religious life) should be supposed to come to him
without the trouble of learning, any more than any other body of
truths and principles on which people act," Mr. Andrewes went on. "And
yet what religious instruction do young people of the educated classes
receive as a rule?--especially the boys, for girls get hold of books,
and pick up a faith somehow, though often only enough to make them
miserable and 'unsettled,' and no more.
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