So that these words occurred, near the end, in the long prayer-- "O Thou Searcher of hearts, who hast known man from the beginning, to whom his highest desires and his loftiest intentions are but as the desires and intentions of a little child, look with Thine own compassion, we beseech Thee, upon souls before Thee in any peculiar difficulty.

Our mortal life is full of sin, it is also full of the misconception of virtue.

Do Thou clear the understanding, O Lord, of such as would interpret Thy will to their own undoing; do Thou teach them that as happiness may reside in chastening, so chastening may reside in happiness.

And though such stand fast to their hurt, do Thou grant to them in Thine own way, which may not be our way, a safe issue out of the dangers that beset them." Dr Drummond had his own method of reconciling foreordination and free will.

To Advena his supplication came with that mysterious double emphasis of chance words that fit.