At the outset, therefore, each one of us must ruin
many souls which could be saved by knowledge of a few elementary
principles."
Ernest was very much impressed.
"As for men curing themselves," continued Pryer, "they can no more cure
their own souls than they can cure their own bodies, or manage their own
law affairs. In these two last cases they see the folly of meddling with
their own cases clearly enough, and go to a professional adviser as a
matter of course; surely a man's soul is at once a more difficult and
intricate matter to treat, and at the same time it is more important to
him that it should be treated rightly than that either his body or his
money should be so. What are we to think of the practice of a Church
which encourages people to rely on unprofessional advice in matters
affecting their eternal welfare, when they would not think of
jeopardising their worldly affairs by such insane conduct?"
Ernest could see no weak place in this. These ideas had crossed his own
mind vaguely before now, but he had never laid hold of them or set them
in an orderly manner before himself. Nor was he quick at detecting false
analogies and the misuse of metaphors; in fact he was a mere child in the
hands of his fellow curate.
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