Jupiter tonans_, wielding the
forked lightnings of the law against the sins of Glamerton.

So, on the appointed day, having put on a new suit of black, and the
gown over it, he ascended the pulpit stairs, and, conscious of a
strange timidity, gave out the psalm. He cast one furtive glance
around, as he took his seat for the singing, and saw a number of former
as well as present pupils gathered to hear him, amongst whom were the
two Truffeys, with their grandfather seated between them. He got
through the prayer very well, for he was accustomed to that kind of
thing in the school. But when he came to the sermon, he found that to
hear boys repeat their lessons and punish them for failure, did not
necessarily stimulate the master's own memory.

He gave out his text: The Book of the Prophet Joel, first chapter,
fourth verse. Joel, first and fourth. "That which the palmer-worm hath
left, hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left, hath
the canker-worm eaten; and that which the canker-worm hath left, hath
the caterpillar eaten."

Now if he could have read his sermon, it would have shown itself a most
creditable invention. It had a general introduction upon the temporal
punishment of sin; one head entitled, "The completeness of the
infliction;" and another, "The punishment of which this is the type;"
the latter showing that those little creeping things were not to be
compared to the great creeping thing, namely, the worm that never dies.
These two heads had a number of horns called _particulars_; and a tail
called an _application_, in which the sins of his hearers were duly
chastised, with vague and awful threats of some vengeance not confined
to the life to come, but ready to take present form in such a judgment
as that described in the text.

But he had resolved not to read his sermon. So he began to repeat it,
with sweeps of the hands, pointings of the fingers, and other such
tricks of second-rate actors, to aid the self-delusion of his hearers
that it was a genuine present outburst from the soul of Murdoch
Malison. For they all knew as well as he did, that his sermon was only
"cauld kail het again." But some family dishes--Irish stew, for
example, or Scotch broth--may be better the second day than the first;
and where was the harm? All concerned would have been perfectly
content, if he had only gone on as he began. But, as he approached the
second head, the fear suddenly flashed through his own that he w