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And in his measure feels afresh
What every member bears.

"He'll never quench the smoking flax,
But raise it to a flame;

The bruised reed he never breaks,

Nor scorns the meanest name.

"Then let our humble faith address
His mercy and his power;
We shall obtain delivering grace
In every trying hour!"

What shall I say more? If it did not, as Milton hints, "take the imprisoned soul, and lap it in Elysium," it did lap it in the brightening certainty of a salvation nigh at hand, to be realized in the conversion of ninety souls before the Sabbath closed, and in the sanctification of thirty members, all carefully enrolled, with their places of residence, and mostly appointed to classes, by our indefatigable secretary!

Surely, the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation! Glory be to God for such a Sabbath-day as yesterday! Let all the people praise thee, O Jesus! let all the people praise thee!-Ps. 67: 3. Amen, and Amen! We had a dozen of the Sheffield warriors over, with Brother Unwin at their head; they were flames of fire, and mightily moved the people.

CHAPTER X.

WHISPERS TO OFFENDED HEARERS.

THIS chapter is made up of brief passages intended as replies to such as for various reasons took offence at Mr. Caughey's preaching. They are very abrupt, but very pointed. They are stray arrows, with sharp heads, and may be useful to the "itching ears" of any congregation.

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I would rather be called "impertinent" by man, than "unfaithful" by the Lord. Which is safest, think you? By the way, this revival is the season for the study of human nature. It is with minds as with the fields upon a farm it is the season, wet or dry, which develops the nature of the soil, and the roots which best flourish there accordingly. When all is quiet, and the Gospel comes in word only, how very good-natured sinners are! The preacher is a very fine fellow,—an agreeable, eloquent gentleman, if you please, of rare talents and learning,- the very preacher for them! How polite and amiable they are! Fine times for church-members, too! Religion is basking in the sunshine of the world. and they share in it. But, let the Gospel come, not in wora only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and with much assurance,-1 Thess. 1: 5,- searching the inmost of the soul, flashing the lightnings of eternal truth around the walls of the temple; then are the dispositions and the thoughts of many hearts

revealed. Luke 2: 35. Let the truth of God strike home once or twice "with unexpected vividness," then behold the attitude of the carnal mind. What indignation,

what malice, what revenge, may be, against him who flung the fatal weapon, and against all concerned !

We read of a viper which hides its teeth in its gums, requiring good sight to detect them. Simplicity might conclude them harmless. Provoke the viper: the teeth are instantly seen, protruding in battle array! It is thus with the carnal mind, the world over.

This enmity is not apt to slumber in a revival. It is like the American snake, seldom caught napping in hot weather. In cold weather, when the thermometer is below zero, there is no danger from snakes; bring them to the fire, however, and life and enmity will soon appear. It is like fire smouldering under a heap of ashes - that is, carnal enmity; stir it up, and it shows red life sufficient to kindle a conflagration that many waters could not quench.

A divine in Switzerland struck this chord with a powerful hand. He said, "Religion is that which so nearly concerns every man that it is hardly possible for a man to be without sentiment regarding it. For, on ordinary subjects, our tastes change and oscillate between likes and dislikes, from aversion to affection, without ever stopping in the intermediate space. But, when any subject presses upon our hopes or fears, our love or hatred, we are constrained to flee from indifference, as from a sort of DEATH. And why? Because we are creatures of feeling and sensibility! Therefore, upon the presence of a fact so immense and so overpowering as that of religion, which every moment solicits our decision, we may truly say that indifference finds its limits." How does this Swiss sentiment tally with your experience?

Open your clock-door, and observe the motions of the pendulum, how it vibrates and oscillates to and fro. It tarries not a moment in the centre; neutrality is impossible while the weights are suspended and the clock moves. It is so with the human mind, when the weight of religion is upon it, and eternal realities are suspended, forcing the mind to action. Neutrality is next to impossible during a great revival; for it is then the mind feels most decidedly the weight and eternal consequences of religion. Like the pendulum in a clock, the mind finds no rest in an intermediate space, between likes and dislikes, affection and aversion; it is ever in one state or the other, and flies indifference abhors it, as nature a vacuum. It must be on one side or the other; on the side of religion or on the world's side; on the Lord's side or on the devil's side. The results are seen upon the dial-plate of the clock; equally so upon the dial of our character. Moses cried, "Who is on the Lord's side, let him come unto me." He never suspected neutrality. It is thus I interpret certain phenomena which now begin to appear unmistakably-opposition from unexpected quarters!

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Devils themselves cannot maintain neutrality. They could not in the days of our Lord. But [pardon me] there was a dignity and candor about devils not found in many human opponents of revivals. Devils always accosted our Lord with respect and deference. "I know thee, who thou art, the holy one of God; art thou come to torment us?" Again: "What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God; art thou come hither to torment us before the time?" Again: "What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not." Again: "What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God

most high? I beseech thee, torment me not.”

Such was

treatment our Lord

Anything of this "Is not this the

the language of devils, usually estimated as mind at its worst. Great energy in their deprecations, but great respect and veneration. But look at the received from the tongues of sinners. respect and deference to his character? carpenter's son?" And they called him "a wine-bibber and a glutton, a blasphemer, a perverter of the nation, a drunkard, a friend of publicans and sinners, a Samaritan, the prince of the devils, mad, possessed of a devil," and other hard names and language. That Name, to which every knee upon earth, as well as in heaven, shall bow, made a jest and a by-word! That devils prompted to all this I would not deny; but it seems they could not, or dare not, do so themselves.

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Well, some good among the "evil;" if my preaching "hardens," it softens others. That is a mercy. Walking out, the other morning, I noticed a piece of ice and a lump of clay; the sun was melting the ice and hardening the clay. There is much of this, possibly, going on among those who sit under my ministry. Was the sun to blame that his rays did not melt the clay-lump? You would not say so. Why, then, impute to my preaching that which the nature of the sinner produces in himself? If my illustrations "play the mischief with sound objections," pray, blame not them, but the gossamer nature of the objections themselves. If the objections were sound, my illustrations would be as harmless as the southern fire-fly. If my preaching "stumbles" some, it humbles others; ay, and converts them, too. My Master's preaching had similar effects. He was "a rock f offence, and a stone of stumbling," to many. Rom. 9: 33. "Behold, this

of

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