after this transition I attended church. It was the first service in
over two years which I had not attended against my will. The reading of
a psalm--the 45th--made a lasting impression upon me, and the
interpretation which I placed upon it furnishes the key to my attitude
during the first weeks of elation. It seemed to me a direct message
from Heaven.

The minister began: "My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the
things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a
ready writer."--Whose heart but mine? And the things indited--what were
they but the humanitarian projects which had blossomed in my garden of
thoughts over night? When, a few days later, I found myself writing
very long letters with unwonted facility, I became convinced that my
tongue was to prove itself "the pen of a ready writer." Indeed, to
these prophetic words I trace the inception of an irresistible desire,
of which this book is the first fruit.

"Thou art fairer than the children of men; grace is poured into thy
lips:" was the verse next read (by myself and the congregation), to
which the minister responded, "Therefore God hath blessed thee for
ever."--"Surely, I have been selected as the instrument wherewith great
reforms shall be effected," was my thought. (All is grist that comes to
the mill of a mind in elation--then even divine encomiums seem not
undeserved.)

"Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy
majesty"--a command to fight. "And in thy majesty ride prosperously
because of truth and meekness and righteousness;" replied the minister.
"And thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things,"--was another
response. That I could speak the truth, I knew. "Meekness" I could not