appeal.  It is not refined to preach of the grave and death, judgment and hell,—­it is ‘ranting:’  but nevertheless let us ‘rant;’ let us be faithful; let us tell the sinner that he must die; and that he will die in his sins and perish for ever, except he repent and be converted that his sins may be blotted out.  Let us tell him that he ’is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the Name of the only-begotten Son of God’ (John 3:18):  that ’the wrath of God abideth on him’ (verse 35).  Instead of arguments against ‘excitement,’ let us have a united cry against sin and frivolity wherever it is.  There is excitement against ‘excitement’ now; let there be excitement, if you will, against indifference, and neglect of religion.”

Many of the proceedings in our parish were, I confess, more tumultuous than I could justify, more noisy and exciting than I thought needful; but I could not control the people.  If they had been educated to ideas of propriety and self-control, the impulse of Divine power, which really then filled them, might have found expression in a more quiet and orderly manner.  To hinder their rejoicings therefore, though they were considered so obnoxious, would have been to withstand the Spirit of God.  As the people had not been taught better, I could not interfere with them; I would rather bear the obloquy of men.

For instance, one day, by way of change, I had a meeting for the Bible Society, and invited some of the clergy who sympathized with its object.  They attended, and others came out of curiosity “to see these revival people.”  We had a large gathering, and everything began smoothly.  ’My Scripture-reader, who was naturally a most excitable and noisy man, tried to do his best before the clergy; he spoke of the sweet words which they had heard from the reverend speakers; it was charming, he said, to hear of a good cause supported in such “mellifluous accents,” and so forth.  He got a little wild towards the end, but on the whole he was to be praised for his kind efforts to give a quiet tone to the meeting’.  By this time, our friend “Billy Bray” had appeared on the scene, and gave us chapter and verse from one end of the Bible to the other, on the subject of “dancing for joy.”  He propounded his theory, that if a man did not praise God, he would not rise in the resurrection; if he only praised God with his mouth, he would rise like those things carved on the tombstones, with swelling cheeks and wings; if he clapped his hands (suiting his actions to the words) he would have a pair of hands as well at the resurrection; and if he danced with his feet, he would rise complete.  He hoped to rise like that, to sing, to clap his hands, dance, and jump too.  The worst of jumping in this world, he said, was that he had to come down again, but even in heaven he supposed the higher he danced and jumped, the higher he would be; walking in heaven, to his mind, was praising God, one foot said “Glory,” and the other “Hallelujah.”