"What impresses me," said Mr. Bold, a young clergyman with strong revolutionary tendencies, "is that we shall never be able to treat this subject as we should treat it unless we see with our own eyes what is being done at these baptisms, and hear with our own ears what the man has to say. I don't believe in sitting in a room and imagining how a thing might be, and then combating the notion. For instance, I was reading your sermon reported in the _Aurora_ this morning," he said, addressing himself directly to Mr. Lovejoy, a mild-mannered, fashionable clergyman, "about the lost woman, you know. It impressed me you were talking about something you imagined rather than about something you had really seen. Now, did you ever happen to study intimately the life of a real harlot?" Mr. Lovejoy looked ineffably shocked, and a sudden silence fell upon all, while Mr. Bold, in spite of his self-assurance, felt uncomfortably that he had expressed himself unfortunately, and that he had not been understood. "What I mean," he said, "is that unless you really know something about what you attack from the pulpit, I fail to see how your attack is going to amount to anything. Now, I wonder how many of us have heard this man preach." "I'm sure I've not," said Mr. Munjoy. And there was not one of all of them who had thought it worth while to go to John the Baptist to hear what he really had to say. "Then," said Mr. Bold, "how are you going to attack what he has to say if you don't know what he does say?" "There's a good deal of truth in what our friend says," said Dr. Caiaphas, after a moment or two of thoughtful silence. "And how would you propose to approach the matter so as to deal with it knowledgeably?" asked Dr. Kimberly, a minister of still another denomination. "I don't know," said Dr. Caiaphas. "I'm sure the conference is open to suggestions." "How would it do to send down a committee of five to interview him, and to ask him what he has to say for himself?" said Mr. Munjoy, jocularly. And then there was a murmur of laughter. "Really, though," said Mr. Bold, after the laugh had subsided, "I don't know that that is a half bad suggestion." "Bad!" said Mr. Munjoy. "I should hope not. I hope you don't think that a minister of my denomination would suggest anything that was bad." And then there was another laugh.