There, he
was convinced, all truth was to be found; and he was equally
convinced that he could find it. The doubts of philosophers, the
investigations of commentators, the smiles of men of the world,
the dogmas of Churches-- such things meant nothing to the
Colonel.
Two facts alone were evident: there was the Bible, and there was
himself; and all that remained to be done was for him to discover
what were the Bible's instructions, and to act accordingly. In
order to make this discovery it was only necessary for him to
read the Bible over and over again; and therefore, for the rest
of his life, he did so.
The faith that he evolved was mystical and fatalistic; it was
also highly unconventional. His creed, based upon the narrow
foundations of Jewish Scripture, eked out occasionally by some
English evangelical manual, was yet wide enough to ignore every
doctrinal difference, and even, at moments, to transcend the
bounds of Christianity itself. The just man was he who submitted
to the Will of God, and the Will of God, inscrutable and
absolute, could be served aright only by those who turned away
from earthly desires and temporal temptations, to rest themselves
whole-heartedly upon the in-dwelling Spirit. Human beings were
the transitory embodiments of souls who had existed through an
infinite past, and would continue to exist through an infinite
future.
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