“And the multitudes thronged him,” murmured Stanton. It was with real difficulty that they managed to get up to Mr. Maxwell’s study door, to which Stanton had a key. The entire street in front of the church was blocked by the students and townsfolk clamoring to get in.

Mr. Maxwell had come over from his house with Jesus, who was lying down on the couch in Maxwell’s study. At Mr. Maxwell’s request, Stanton went out into the church room to see if all details of the seating of the congregation were being carried out.

He came back into the study to report that the church was packed. All the ministers of all denominations were present, and representatives of the churches’ membership. Many of the businesses of Raymond had closed up their stores. Mr. Maxwell’s Brotherhood had managed the ushering admirably. They had given admission to the ministers and church members first of all, as the conference was to deal especially with church problems. But an increasing and restless crowd of people, including the noisy and excited students, were outside, and as unreasonable mobs are in the habit of doing, they demanded admission in spite of the fact that the church could not hold another person.

Maxwell came back from the couch where the figure of Jesus was lying, and said quietly to Stanton, “Go out in front and tell the crowd that he will speak to the people outside after the conference. Ask them to be as quiet and patient as possible. Tell them this conference is called especially for the church, and should be respected.”

Stanton immediately went out through the church to the front of the building. As he made his way through the aisles, he noted first of all the absolute quiet and hush of the people. In spite of the enormous crowd that filled every available space, there was no whispering, no restless movement. It seemed to Stanton, even in his brief passage through the room, that the Spirit was brooding over the people, that even before Jesus appeared, the people in the church were preparing their hearts to receive him as their Master.

One of the ushers helped Stanton push open a front door, and he managed to get out and face the mob. The people had poured up against the building, packing themselves in a living wall against the doors and sides of the church. Stanton’s tall figure and deep but penetrating voice commanded attention, and his announcement of Jesus’s appearance after the conference partly satisfied the crowd.

As he turned to go back into the church, Stanton noted different groups of men who seemed to be eagerly disputing, and he had a vague feeling of future trouble from these men, but could not have told what it might possibly be.

For the moment he was back in the church and had gone down by the platform, he was entirely caught up in the wondrous experience of being in the same room with Jesus, actually listening to his matchless voice, fascinated with his personality, captured, soul and mind, by his appearance.