Mr. Marwood himself could not have bettered the way in which Peter said , `` We will sing the whole hymn , omitting the fourth stanza . '' That was a fine touch which I had not thought of . I began to think that , after all , Peter might be a foeman worthy of my steel . When Peter was ready to begin he thrust his hands into his pockets -- a totally unorthodox thing . Then he plunged in without further ado , speaking in his ordinary conversational tone -- another unorthodox thing . There was no shorthand reporter present to take that sermon down ; but , if necessary , I could preach it over verbatim , and so , I doubt not , could everyone that heard it . It was not a forgettable kind of sermon . `` Dearly beloved , '' said Peter , `` my sermon is about the bad place -- in short , about hell . '' An electric shock seemed to run through the audience . Everybody looked suddenly alert . Peter had , in one sentence , done what my whole sermon had failed to do . He had made an impression . `` I shall divide my sermon into three heads , '' pursued Peter . `` The first head is , what you must not do if you do n't want to go to the bad place . The second head is , what the bad place is like '' -- sensation in the audience -- `` and the third head is , how to escape going there . `` Now , there 's a great many things you must not do , and it 's very important to know what they are . You ought not to lose no time in finding out . In the first place you must n't ever forget to mind what grown-up people tell you -- that is , GOOD grown-up people . '' `` But how are you going to tell who are the good grown-up people ? '' asked Felix suddenly , forgetting that he was in church .
`` Oh , that is easy , '' XXXXX Peter .
's doubt failed finding forgetting looked plunged preach said take