be a formal testimony, but it is soulless and powerless. The world, and the Church too, wait for men of strong conviction, who can, upon matters upon which others are uncertain, say “I know,” and can give an answer to every one that asketh a reason of the hope that is in them. Emerson declared that we need positive men, not negative men—affirmations, positions; not denials, negations. Goethe, with a despair begotten of habitual doubt, cries, “Give us your convictions! as for doubts, we have quite