“My frien’s, I hae little richt to stan’ up afore ye and say onything; for, as some o’ ye ken, if no afore, at least noo, frae what my frien’ the soutar has jist been tellin ye, I was ance a minister o’ the kirk, but upon a time I behavet mysel that ill, that, whan I cam to my senses, I saw it my duty to withdraw, and mak room for anither to tak up my disgracet bishopric, as was said o’ Judas the traitor. But noo I seem to hae gotten some mair licht, and to ken some things I didna ken afore; sae, turnin my back upo’ my past sin, and believin God has forgien me, and is willin I sud set my han’ to his pleuch ance mair, I hae thoucht to mak a new beginnin here in a quaiet heumble fashion, tellin ye something o’ what I hae begoud, i’ the mercy o’ God, to un’erstan’ a wee for mysel. Sae noo, gien ye’ll turn, them o’ ye that has broucht yer buiks wi’ ye, to the saeventh chapter o’ John’s gospel, and the saeventeenth verse, ye’ll read wi me what the Lord says there to the fowk o Jerus’lem: _Gien ony man be wullin to dee His wull, he’ll ken whether what I tell him comes frae God, or whether I say ’t only oot o’ my ain heid_. Luik at it for yersels, for that’s what it says i’ the Greek, the whilk is plainer than the English to them that un’erstan’ the auld Greek tongue: Gien onybody _be wullin_ to dee the wull o’ God, he’ll ken whether my teachin comes frae God, or I say ’t o’ mysel.” From that he went on to tell them that, if they kept trusting in God, and doing what Jesus told them, any mistake they made would but help them the better to understand what God and his son would have them do. The Lord gave them no promise, he said, of knowing what this or that man ought to do; but only of knowing what the man himself ought to do. And he illustrated this by the rebuke the Lord gave Peter when, leaving inquiry into the will of God that he might do it, he made inquiry into the decree of God concerning his friend that he might know it; seeking wherewithal, not to prophesy, but to foretell. Then he showed them the difference between the meaning of the Greek word, and that of the modern English word _prophesy_. The little congregation seemed to hang upon his words, and as they were going away, thanked him heartily for thus talking to them.