But his only gesture was to bring very infrequently
the back of his hand down upon the cushion of the pulpit before
him. The ticking of the clock in the College Chapel was inaudible
when the chapel was empty. But it ticked out clear and loud
upon the strained ears of the auditors who were waiting in
the pauses of his sentences. I can remember his sermons now.
They are admirable to read, although, like other eloquence,
their life and sprit is lost without the effect of speech.
There was one on the text, "Thou shalt say no," which no hearer,
I venture to say, ever forgot to the day of his death. There
was another, on the control of the thoughts, from the text,
"Leading into captivity every thought." This made a deep impression
on the students. I seem to hear the tones of his voice now.
The Doctor described with a terrific effect the thinking over
in imagination scenes of vice by the youth who seemed to
the world outside to fall suddenly from virtue. He said
there was no such thing as a sudden fall from virtue. The
scene had been enacted in thought and the man had become
rotten before the time of the outward act.
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