But after
he had made a speech, which, at the suggestion of Dr. Guide, had been
carefully prepared, but which was merely a rehearsal of what he already
had said to numerous individual questioners, there was impressive
silence in the lecture-room, in which the meetings were to be
conducted.
"My friends," said the pastor, rising soon afterwards, "when our Lord
was on earth, He once raised His eyes to heaven and said, 'I thank
thee, Father, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent
and revealed them unto babes.' I confess to you that I never was able
to understand the full meaning of this expression; but, as I have
become more and more acquainted with our friend who has just spoken to
you, and have learned how fully his faith is grounded, and how entirely
his life has been changed by what seems to us the mere beginnings of a
religious belief, I am constrained to feel that I have yet a great deal
to learn about my own profession and my own duty as a minister. What
has just been said to you contains the essence of everything which I
have tried to preach from my pulpit in twenty years. I wish it were in
my power to re-state it all as clearly as you have heard it this
evening, but I confess it is not. I fear to add anything to what you
have already heard, for I do not see how in any way I could make this
important subject any more clear to your comprehension.
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