wind blows, and in which the Spirit of God will never
take up its abode."
"But do not learned theologians aim to do precisely
what I would wish to do ?"
"Unfortunately they often aim at nothing else. For
that reason it not unfrequently happens that their hear-
ers," said Hold, "come to the same conclusions about
them as I once did" — and he took from the shelf a
note-book which had belonged to his student-life, and
on a leaf of which was the following epilogue:
So then, O knowledge, 't was a lying boast
That to the blinded soul thou couldst give light !
And now the last, last ray is vanished quite,
And the mocked heart its hope of peace hath lost.
Behold me borne far out into a sea
Where no mysterious needle guides my bark,
Where never lead an anchorage doth mark,
And o'er whose billowy waste the winds blow free.
One pilot cries "To left I" and one "To right !
See there, the home lights beaming full in-sight !"
"No ! there's a sunken reef ; here, follow me !"
Lo, with a smile the third exclaims, "Take either ;"
A fourth, with angry tone, shouts "No, take neither !"
Meanwhile my foundering bark is sinking in the sea.
"It may be bad enough," said Mander, "to be a
leader when one is still standing in uncertainty on the
cross-way. But it is wiser first to place the ladder
firmly, and try it step by step, than to wait till the
upper round is reached, before examining its position,
and testing the strength of its steps."
