FREIND.--This, also, belongs to the Ephesian controversy and does not concern us.
THE BACHELOR.--But what does concern you, then? Do you suppose there are only three persons in God, or that there are three Gods in one person? Does the second person proceed from the first person, and the third from the two others, or from the second _intrinsecus_, or only from the first? Has the father all the attributes of the son except paternity? And does the third person proceed by infusion, by identification, or by spiration?
FREIND.--This question is not mooted in the gospel. St. Paul never wrote the name of the Trinity.
THE BACHELOR.--But, you always refer to the gospel, and never make mention of St. Bonaventura, of Albert the Great, of Tambourini, of Gullandus, of Escobar.
FREIND.--Because I do not call myself a Dominican, a Franciscan, or a Jesuit. I am satisfied with being a Christian.
THE BACHELOR.--But if you are a Christian, tell me if you conscientiously think the rest of mankind will be damned?
FREIND.--It does not become me to limit the compassion or the justice of God.
THE BACHELOR.--But to come to the point, if you are a Christian, what do you believe?
FREIND.--I believe with Jesus Christ that we ought to love God and our neighbor, forgive our enemies, and do good for evil. These are the maxims of Jesus. So true are they, that no legislator, no philosopher, ever had other principles before him, and it is impossible that there can be any other. These truths never have and never can meet with contradiction, save from our passions.
THE BACHELOR.--But, in regard to the passions, is it true that your bishops, priests, and deacons are all married?
FREIND.--Quite true. St. Joseph, who passed for the father of Jesus, was married. James the Less, surnamed Oblia, brother of our Lord, was his son, who, after the death of Jesus, spent his life in the temple. St. Paul--the great St. Paul--was a married man.
THE BACHELOR.--But Grillandus and Molina assert the contrary.
FREIND.--Let them say what they please, I prefer believing St. Paul himself on the subject. In _I. Corinthians, ix: 4-7._ he says: "Have we not power to eat and to drink? Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the lord, and Cephas. Or I only and Barnabas, have we not power to forbear working? Who goeth a warfare at any time at his own charges? Who planteth a vineyard and eateth not of the fruit thereof?"