After a short walk we returned to the hotel for breakfast, over which we discussed the disappearance of our friend of yesterday, wondering what the business could be that had occupied his time for a whole week in the neighbourhood of Penzance, and why he should have an engagement on the Sunday “some miles in the country,” when we could have done so well with his company ourselves.  But as there seemed to be some mystery about his movements, we came to the conclusion that there must be a lady in the case, and so, as far as we were concerned, the matter ended.

We attended morning service in accordance with our usual custom, and listened to a sermon from a clergyman who took for his text the whole of the last chapter in the Book of Ecclesiastes, with special emphasis on the first word: 

   REMEMBER

   Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil
   days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have
   no pleasure in them.

He began by informing us that we had nearly arrived at the end of the religious year, and that the season of Advent, when the Church’s new year would begin, was close at hand.  He then passed on to his text and began to describe the days of our youth.  We listened intently as he took us by degrees from our youth up to old age and to the years when we might have to say we had no pleasure in them.  He was a powerful preacher, and we almost felt ourselves growing older as we followed his references to each verse in the short chapter he had taken for his text.

Then he described the failure of the different organs of the human mind and body:  the keepers of the house trembling; the strong men bowing their heads towards the earth to which they were hastening; the grinders, or teeth, ceasing because they were few; the eyes as if they were looking out of darkened windows; the ears stopped, as if they were listening to sounds outside doors that were shut; followed by the fears of that which was high “because man goeth to his long home”; and finally when the silver cord was loosed or the golden bowl broken, the dust returning to the earth as it was, and the spirit unto God Who made it!

We waited for the peroration of his fine sermon, which came with startling suddenness, like our accident yesterday, for he concluded abruptly with the following words: 

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:  Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.  For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

My brother took shorthand notes of portions of the sermon for future reference, for we were both greatly impressed by what we had heard, and conversed about some of the points raised as we returned to the hotel.

Later in the day we attended the Wesleyan chapel, where we formed two units in a large congregation, as we had done in the far-off Wesleyan chapel of the Shetland Islands.  Here again we appreciated the good service, including the fine congregational singing.