'It were well if most of you should die to-night. O people of no understanding, that discern the little things and cannot see the greater, that have made gods of your bellies, and but minister unto your bodies, what profiteth it whether you live or whether you die? Neither in heaven nor on earth is there a place for you. What, then, is it that you do here?'
A man replied:
'It seems that you are someone in particular. We want to know who you are, according to your own statement.'
'I am He on whose name, throughout the whole of this great city, men call morning, noon, and night. And yet you do not know Me. No! neither do those know Me that call upon Me most.'
'Ever heard of Hanwell?' asked one. 'Perhaps there's some that have known you there.'
The questioner was called to order.
'Stow that! Let's know what he's got to say! Let's hear him out!'
The original inquirer continued.
'For what have you come here?'
'For what?' The Stranger looked up towards the skies. 'It is well that you should ask. I am as one who has lost his way in a strange land, among a strange people; yet it was to Mine own I came, in Mine own country.'