made him pause for ten seconds after praying for widows and orphans,
and in the silence which fell upon us the Divine Spirit had free access.
His youth commended him, since he was also modest, for every mother had
come with an inarticulate prayer that the "puir laddie wud dae weel on
his first day, and him only twenty-four." Texts I can never remember,
nor, for that matter, the words of sermons; but the subject was Jesus
Christ, and before he had spoken five minutes I was convinced, who am
outside dogmas and churches, that Christ was present. The preacher
faded from before one's eyes, and there rose the figure of the Nazarene,
best lover of every human soul, with a face of tender patience such as
Sarto gave the Master in the Church of the Annunziata, and stretching
out His hands to old folk and little children as He did, before His
death, in Galilee. His voice might be heard any moment, as I have
imagined it in my lonely hours by the winter fire or on the solitary
hills--soft, low, and sweet, penetrating like music to the secret of
the heart, "Come unto Me ... and I will give you rest."

During a pause in the sermon I glanced up the church, and saw the
same spell held the people. Donald Menzies had long ago been caught
into the third heaven, and was now hearing words which it is not
lawful to utter. Campbell in his watch-tower at the back had closed
his eyes, and was praying. The women were weeping quietly, and the
rugged faces of our men were subdued and softened, as when the
evening sun plays on the granite stone.

But what will stand out for ever before my mind was the sight of
Marget Howe. Her face was as white as death, and her wonderful grey
eyes were shining through a mist of tears, so that I caught the
light in the manse pew. She was thinking of George, and had taken
the minister to her heart.