Anecdote of Frederick the Great.
Frederick the Great, on the death of one of his chaplains, being desirous of replacing him by a man of talent, took the following mode of ascertaining the qualifications of the candidate for the nomination. He told the applicant that he would himself furnish him with a text the following Sunday, from which he was to preach extempore. The clergyman accepted the offer. The whim of such a probationary sermon was spread abroad widely, and at an early hour the Royal chapel was crowded to excess. The King arrived at the close of the prayers, and, on the clergyman’s ascending the pulpit, one of His Majesty’s Aides-de-Camp presented him with a sealed letter. The preacher opened it, and found nothing but a blank paper, yet in so critical a moment he did not lose his presence of mind. “My brethren,” said he, turning the paper on both sides, “here is nothing, and there is nothing; out of nothing God created all things.” And he proceeded to deliver a most admirable discourse on the wonders of the creation.