His closing words were solemn indeed; they related to the college
of the Bible, where his own labors were to be performed. For this,
he declared, he pleaded not in the name of the new State, the new
nation, but in the name of the Father. The work of this college was
to be the preparation of young men for the Christian ministry, that
they might go into all the world and preach the Gospel. One truth
he bade them bear in mind: that this training was to be given
without sectarian theology; that his brethren themselves
represented a revolution among believers, having cast aside the
dogmas of modern teachers, and taken, as the one infallible guide
of their faith and practice, the Bible simply; so making it their
sole work to bring all modern believers together into one church,
and that one church the church of the apostles.

For this university, for this college of the Bible especially, he
asked, then, the gift and consecration of their sons.

Toward dusk that day David's father and mother were sitting side by
side on the steps of their front porch. Some neighbors who had
spent the afternoon with them were just gone. The two were talking
over in low, confidential tones certain subjects discussed less
frankly with their guests. These related to the sermon of the
morning, to the university, to what boys in the neighborhood would
probably be entered as students. Their neighbors had asked whether
David would go. The father and mother had exchanged quick glances
and made no reply. Something in the father's mind now lay like
worm-wood on the lips.

He sat leaning his head on his hand, his eyes on the ground,