“Yes, I must admit that.”
“Then why did God permit sin?”
Of course the old man could not reply, and the missionary pointed out that some things were incomprehensible, and that that was one of them.
“But,” he continued, “that is no reason why we should not talk of things that are comprehensible. Let us turn to these.”
At this point a middle-aged man with a burly frame and resolute expression started up, and said in an excited yet somewhat reckless manner—
“I don’t believe a word that you say. Everything exists as it was from the beginning until now, and will continue the same to the end.”
“Who told you that?” asked Egede, in a prompt yet quiet manner.
The man was silenced. He resumed his seat without answering.
“You have talked of the ‘end,’ my friend,” continued the missionary, in the same quiet tone. “When is the end? and what will come after it? I wait for enlightenment.”
Still the man remained dumb. He had evidently exhausted himself in one grand explosion, and was unable for more. There was a disposition to quiet laughter on the part of the audience, but the missionary checked this by pointing to another man in the crowd and remarking—