Page:Twelve men of Bengal in the nineteenth century (1910).djvu/173

Rh completely on the lighter side of life. Serious, earnest and as yet unsatisfied, he bent all his energies on solving the great questions of life to which the old beliefs had given him so inadequate a reply.

In 1857 Keshub Chandra Sen founded the 'Goodwill Fraternity.' It was a purely religious and devotional association and here he was at his best, lecturing and discussing the various questions which he had so closely studied in his long hours of solitude and meditation. Full and free discussion on every religious topic was desired. 'I established in my earlier days' wrote Keshub in later life 'a small fraternity in my own house to which I gave the somewhat singular but significant name of the 'Goodwill Fraternity.' I did not allow myself to harbour sectarianism, but preached to my friends these two doctrines—'God our Father, Every Man our Brother.' It was in these gatherings that Keshub's oratorical powers, which were later to exercise so great an influence, first began to develop and expand. Already his eloquence was remarkable, exercising a strong fascination over all who heard him. Upon the minds of the young men and boys whom he addressed in the 'Goodwill Fraternity' gatherings, it had a powerful effect and many of those who met him here for 'the first time became in after life his most devoted followers. His intense earnestness and glowing enthusiasm inspired others