t catch, and when it was finished an
elderly man rose and read what seemed the strangest jargon about
justification and sin. The very terms used were in fact unintelligible.
The extracts were from a letter addressed to the sect in Rome by one
Paul, a disciple of that Jesus who was crucified. After the reading was
over came an address, very wild in tone and gesture, and equally
unintelligible, and then a prayer or invocation, partly to their god, but
also, as it seemed, to this Jesus, who evidently ranked as a daemon, or
perhaps as Divine, Charmides was quite unaffected. The whole thing
appeared perfect nonsense, not worth investigation, but he could not help
wondering what there was in it which could so excite that girl, whom he
could hardly conclude to be a fool, and whose earnestness was a surprise
to him. He thought no more about the affair until some days afterwards
when he happened to visit a friend. Just as he was departing he met this
very slave in the porch. He involuntarily stopped, and she whispered to
him.

"'You will not betray us?'

"'I? Certainly not.'

"'I will lend you this. Read it and return it to me.' So saying, she
vanished.

"Charmides, when he reached home, took out the manuscript. He recognised
it as a copy of the letter which he had partly heard at the meeting. He
was somewhat astonished to find that it was written by a man of learning,
who was evidently familiar with classic authors, but surely never was
scholarship pressed into such a service! The confusion of metaphor, the
suddenness of transition, the illogical muddles were bad enough, but the
chief obstacle to comprehension was that the author's whole scope and
purpose, the whole circle of his ideas, were outside Charmides
altogether. He was not attracted any more than he was at the meeting,
but he was a little piqued because Paul had certainly been well educated,
and he determined to attend the meeting again. This time he was late,
and did not arrive till it was nearly at an end. His friend was there,
and again he sat down next to her. When they went out it was dark, and
he walked by her side.

"'Have you read the letter?'

"'Yes, but I do not understand it, and I have brought it back.'

"'May Christ the Lord open your eyes!'

"'Who is this Christ whom you worship?'

"'The Son of God, He who was crucified; the man Jesus; He who took upon
Himself flesh to redeem us from our sins; in whom by faith we are
justified