For a moment, speaker and audience were brought to a dead silence.

Both the doctor and his hearers seemed appalled by the audacity, as well as the fitness of the rebuke.

At length a shout went up to the cry of "_Put him out_!" Happily, no one attempted to execute this cowardly order, and the doctor proceeded with his discourse.
Not, however, as before, did the{299} learned doctor proceed.

The exclamation of Thompson must have reechoed itself a thousand times in his memory, during the remainder of his speech, for the doctor never recovered from the blow.
The deed was done, however; the pillars of the church--_the proud, Free Church of Scotland_--were committed and the humility of repentance was absent.

The Free Church held on to the blood-stained money, and continued to justify itself in its position--and of course to apologize for slavery--and does so till this day.