Frederick the Great needed a new court chaplain. He decided to base his selection on the way in which applicants would deliver an extemporaneous sermon. The text, in a sealed envelope, was to be handed to each applicant as he entered the pulpit.

In church, on the appointed day, a courtier handed one of the ministers a sealed envelope. Opening it, the minister found a blank sheet of paper. He held up one side and exclaimed: “My brethren, here is nothing.”

Then he held up the other side, and added: “And here is nothing. It was out of nothing God created all things.”

He then proceeded to deliver a dynamic discourse on the power and wonders of creation. He received the appointment.