In South Carolina. 425 



for the preacher; but it was the gospel simply be- 

 lieved, and faithfully followed, and earnestly (even 

 vehemently) insisted on. It was powerful, not be- 

 cause it was poor, but because it was the living, breath- 

 ing, active, urgent testimony of the gospel of the Son 

 of God. It apprehended Christ's presence, and took 

 hold on his authority to perform its work. Its every 

 utterance was a ' Thus saith the Lord.' The Bible, 

 the Bible was ever on its lips. Nothing but the 

 Bible, and just as the Bible holds it, was its testimony 

 of truth. It was all spiritual, experimental, practical, 

 not speculative, abstracted, or metaphysical. When 

 it preached, it was to testify of 'repentance toward 

 God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ;' and 

 to both, and to every degree of both, for the time 

 then present. When it exhorted, it was to enforce its 

 preaching, as it ever saw sinners sporting on the 

 brink of a precipice, and believers in clanger of being 

 seduced from their safety. And preaching or exhort- 

 ing, its inexhaustible argument was, eternity — eter- 

 nity at hand: — an eternity of heaven or hell for every 

 soul of man. Its great element was spirituality — a 

 spirituality not to be reached by a sublimating mental 

 process, but by a hearty entertaining of the truths of the 

 gospel as they challenged the conscience and appealed 

 to the heart for credence in the name of Christ cruci- 

 fied, whenever and wherever the gospel was preached. 

 And this, together Avith a moral discipline answering 

 to it, I understand to be Methodism still, and God 

 forbid there should come any other in its name. 



"We had a prosperous year, on the whole, with 

 crowded congregations; and meetings for 'the fellow- 

 ship of saints,' whether in class or the love-feast, 

 were well attended." 



