t evidence, even, that sooner or later it will ennoble and
consecrate those who feel it.

When David had completed the narrative he continued as follows: "It is
now necessary that I should convince you, if I can, that with my whole
soul I have repented of this evil that I have done, and that I have
sought, and I hope obtained, pardon for what is irreparable, and am
determined to undo what I can. It is with awe and gratitude, my friends,
that I acknowledge the aid of heaven. From the logical and well-deserved
consequences of this sin I did not escape alone! I was snatched from it
like a brand from the burning! No mortal-mind could have planned or
executed my salvation. It is marked by evidences of Divine power and
wisdom. Through a series of experiences almost too strange to be
credible, I have been drawn back here to the scenes of my childhood, to
encounter the one I have wronged and to find myself, so far as I know,
able not only to make reparation, but to enjoy the bliss of a love of
which I am unworthy. If I were wise enough, I would set before you the
spiritual meaning of this terrible experience, but I am not. Three years
ago I stood here in boyish confidence and boldly expounded the mysteries
of our human life. It is only when we know nothing of life that we feel
able to interpret it! Now that I have seen it, tasted it, drunk the cup
almost to the dregs--I am speechless. Three facts, however, stand out
before my vision--sin, punishment, pardon! I have sinned; I have
suffered; I have been forgiven. I have been fully pardoned, but I feel
that I have not been fully punished! There are issues of such an
experience as this that cannot be brought to light in a day, a year,
perhaps not in a lifetime. Whatever they are, I must await them and meet
them; but as it is permitted a man to know his own mind, when he is
determined so to do, I know that I have turned upon this sin with
loathing! I know that I am ready to take up my burden where I left it
years ago. I know that I would do anything to atone for the evil which I
have wrought to others. I mean, if it seem good to you, here and now to
claim as my bride her into whose life I have brought a world of sorrow.
I mean, if God permits me, to live quietly and patiently among you until
I have so recruited my spiritual strength that I can go forth into the
great world of sorrow and of sin which I have seen, and extend to others
a hand of helpfulness such as was stretched out to