the days were to me days of the most complete peace
I had felt since I entered the Christian life.
Again and again I remember remarking in my home, to
my family, what a supernatural peace was upon me.
My faith was in God, who managed my life and the affairs
of the Church. My work was still before me, there
was too much to be done in the Tabernacle yet.
The disapproval of our methods before the Brooklyn
Presbytery was formulated in a series of charges against
the pastor. I was told my enthusiasm was sinful,
that it was unorthodox for me to be so. My utterances
were described as inaccurate. My editorial work
was offensively criticised. The Presbytery listened
patiently, and after a careful consideration dismissed
the charges. Once more the unjust oppression
of enemies had seemed to extend the strength and scope
of the Gospel. A few days later my congregation
presented me with a token of confidence in their pastor.
I was so happy at the time that I was ready to shake
hands even with the reporters who had abused me.
How kind they were, how well they understood me, how
magnificently they took care of me, my people of the
Brooklyn Tabernacle!
THE SIXTH MILESTONE
1879-1881
In the spring of 1879 I made a Gospel tour of England,
Ireland, and Scotland. On a previous visit I
had given a series of private lectures, under the
management of Major Pond, and I had been more or less
criticised for the amount of money charged the people
to hear me. As I had nothing whatever to do with
the prices of tickets to my lectures, which went to
the managers who arranged the tour, this was something
beyond my control. My personal arrangement with
Major Pond was for a certain fixed sum. They
said in Europe that I charged too much to be heard,
that as a preacher of the Gospel I should have been
more moderate. If the management had been my
own I should not have been so greedy.
Because of this recollection and the regret it gave
me, I decided to make another tour at my own expense,
and preach without price in all the places I had previously
visited as a lecturer. It was the most exhausting,
exciting, remarkable demonstration of religious enthusiasm
I have ever witnessed. It was an evangelistic
yearning that could not be repeated in another life-time.
The entire summer was a round of Gospel meetings,
overflow meetings, open-air meetings, a succession
of scenes of blessing. From the time I arrived
in Liverpool, where that same night I addressed two
large assemblages, till I got through after a monster
gathering at Edinburgh, I missed but three Gospel
appointments, and those because I was too tired to
stand up. I preached ninety-eight times in ninety-three
days.
With nothing but Gospel themes I confronted multitudes.
A collection was always taken up at these gatherings
for the benefit of local charities, feeble churches,
orphan asylums and other institutions. My services
were gratuitous.
