ten minutes to twelve o'clock
And then -- a child could have followed him ! It was absolutely the simplest , plainest , and most intimate address which I had ever heard from a church pulpit . Incidentally , it was also the shortest ! It was ten minutes to twelve o'clock when he folded his arms on top of the open Bible , and leant forward for a long , silent moment , looking earnestly from side to side into the upturned faces of his hearers . Then he began to talk -- to _ talk _ , not to preach , speaking every word with an inflection of the truest sincerity . The text was `` Forgetting the things that are behind , I press towards the mark , '' and the `` talk '' ran pretty much like this : -- `` How has this week gone with you , Brothers and Sisters ? To some it has brought success , to others failure .