Part 11 (2/2)

He took down a book and showed itmy eyes on the one before, and another which followed, I found that we neither of us observed the one or the other Why, then, be so zealous about this?

”Besides,” I said, ”you are not responsible; you have not asked me, nor have I asked your consent Your conscience need not be troubled about the matter”

”But,” he said, impatiently, ”I am determined that you shall not preach in this parish I will inform the Bishop”

I replied, that ”the Bishop had not any jurisdiction in this case; there is no law on the subject The Conventicle Act only refers to worshi+p, not to service or preaching”

He said, that he ”could see no difference whatever betorshi+p and service”

”But,” I said, ”I areat difference between these two”

Then, changing his tone, he said, ”Now, coood fellow, don't preach at the Town Hall”

”My dear ive it up”

”Then,” he said, ”at least please to defer your address for a week, till we can get the Bishop's decision”

He asked so kindly and earnestly, and made such a point of it, that I consented to wait for the Bishop's answer, and defer the preaching for a week He was very pleased, and said that I was indeed a 'good fellow', but the praise I got from him barely satisfied my conscience, and I was ashae failed; so, going back, I said that ”II will take the consequences and responsibilities, and go on”

”No, no” cried the vicar, ”I will arrange for the Postpone Look here, I have written out a notice for the crier; he shall go round the town at once, and tell the people that theis unavoidably deferred for a week”

I was very reluctantly persuaded to yield, and then went to my friend and told him what I had done He was very o at once and tell the mayor before he hears the crier”

We did so, and found that this personage was disappointed too, and advised ly, ood view of the town and principal streets, fro A large gang of them stood opposite my friend's house, and asked if I would not preach to them in the open air; and when they ascertained that the vicar had hindered the preaching, they wereI went back to my own parish, and had the usual service, which I found very refreshi+ng after soabout technicalities

The Bishop's letter arrived in due time In it his lordshi+p said, that he ”always had entertained a great esteehly co up le word of prohibition, I i Tuesday, ”For the Bishop had not forbidden e bills, with large letters on them, announced that ”the Rev William Haslam will positively preach in the Temperance Hall at three o'clock on Tuesday next”

The churchwardens of the parish were requested to attend the , and protest, on behalf of the vicar, and also to present the archdeacon's monition They stood beside me all the time, and after the service was concluded they showed reat seal appended to it They said that they ”dared not stop that preaching,” and so they took theircorrespondence in the newspapers, soainst me Thus the question was ventilated, and finally concluded, by a letter froreatest ecclesiastical lawyers we have, and if he cannot stop Mr Haslam, the question is settled; for be sure his lordshi+p has all the will to stop this preaching, and would do so if he had the power”

From that time I never hesitated to preach the Gospel in any parish or diocese where I was invited So few of the clergy asked o out in spite of the their consent, and in consequence of this, I am afraid I becas arean Act passed through both Houses of Parliament, to settle the question about such services Now any clergyman may preach in Exeter Hall, or any other public non-ecclesiastical building, without consulting the vicar of the parish Besides this, a general disposition has arisen ay, from one end of the land to the other, to have ”missions,” so that there is no need to work independently of clergy it is to be thus employed It was not pleasant to witness the scowl and the frown, nor to get the cold shoulder Thank God, tied now; but I must needs tell of some of the scenes I was in, and the opposition I had to encounter, during the years that are gone by

CHAPTER 16

Opposition, 1853

I have been telling hitherto of blessing and prosperity in the Lord's work Many s of not less h has been said, I hope, to show the character of the work, and give so which attended it But it must not be supposed that the offence of the cross had ceased, or that the enmity of the carnal mind was never stirred; indeed, I always doubt the reality of a hich moves on without opposition On the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost was first given, while believers were rejoicing, and sinners were pricked to the heart, and some mocked, there arose the opposition of others, who resisted the influence of the Spirit; and being ”cut to the heart,” they gnashed with their teeth, and went forward in furious contention against the Lord's work So it ith us

The opposition ran very high, but I do not think it was of nation” The instigators of it were serious and earnest persons, who verily thought they were doing right

They tried first to savethat, did all they could to save others from my bad influence ”I bear the to knowledge” It was just such a zeal as I had before I was converted; therefore my heart's desire was drawn out towards them, and I made continual efforts to win them

One dear friend of old tied, and often wondered why ”God did not strike me dead for all the harm I had done to the Church” Another said that he ”should not be surprised if the very ground opened and sedwith schis to , which I attended notwithstanding all this stir againstreproaches; for evidently ive me for what they considered the betrayal of Church principles