They sang with a fervent strength that he had never heard equaled. For a moment the powerful chorus seemed to shake the walls, to fill every cubic foot of air that the building contained, and then to go straight up, splitting the ugly roof, and out into the sky. Otherwise this hymn would have left one no space to breathe in. Dale felt a sudden rush of blood to the head, as if the pressure of vocal sound were about to produce suffocation; and at the same time he had the fantastic but almost irresistible idea that the whole congregation were singing solely at him, that they and their pastor had together planned to set him alone in this high place where he must bear the full brunt of the hymn while they all watched its effect upon him, and that the hymn itself had been specially and artfully chosen with a view to him and to nobody else.
"Hail, sov'reign love, that first began The scheme to rescue fallen man! Hail, matchless, free, eternal grace, That gave my soul a hiding-place."
With his face turned as much as possible from the singers, he stood very stiff and erect, staring at the printed page. Loudly as they had sung the first verse they seemed to sing the second verse more loudly.
"Against the God that rules the sky, I fought with hand uplifted high; Despised His rich abounding grace, Too proud to seek a hiding-place."
Dale braced himself, squared his shoulders and stood more erect than ever as they struck into the third verse.
They sang louder than before: it seemed to him that they were screaming.
"But thus th' eternal counsel ran, 'Almighty love, arrest that man!'"
Dale closed the hymn-book, held it behind his back, and stared at the cross-beams of the roof until the hymn was over.
After the hymn Mr. Osborn read a couple of chapters from the Bible, and Dale, seated again, understood how utterly unfounded had been his recent notion that these people were devoting any particular attention to him. He looked at them carefully. Obviously they had not a thought of him. The eyes of those near to him and far from him were alike fixed upon the pastor's face.
But as soon as they sang again he experienced the same sensations again, felt a conviction that the hymn was aimed directly at him.
"Lord, when Thy Spirit deigns to show The badness of our hearts, Astonished at the amazing view, The Soul with horror starts.
"Our staggering faith gives way to doubt, Our courage yields to fear; Shocked at the sight, we straight cry out, 'Can ever God dwell here?'