42 



MINISTRY AT STAND. [Chap. III. 



to give." He also, as no strangers were present, spoke freely 

 of their want of punctuality, and begged them not to run 

 off the instant after the benediction ! He mingled his sug- 

 gestions with sympathy and praise, where he could give it. 

 The meeting concluded with a hymn and prayer. "Their 

 perfect stillness, after, was very impressive; and when it was 

 all over, I felt somewhat exhausted, my lungs having been 

 at work since one o'clock." He was revived, however, by the 

 cordial way in which many came forward to thank him ; and 

 found he had dispersed some little clouds, and put some who 

 had been at variance in good humour with each other. 

 " Didn't I sleep that night ! " 



He continued to take an interest in college institutions. 

 When it was his turn at the Debating Society to take the lead, 

 he proposed the question whether the faculties of animals 

 differed from those of man in kind, or only in degree. "I 

 took the degree side, and we had a very spirited debate, which 

 ended in our carrying it : which almost made me think that 

 I was in the wrong, as of course the minority (in which I 

 generally am) is right ! " 



This summer he met Joseph Barker, who had recently 

 been dismissed from the ministry of the New Connexion 

 Methodists for reading Channing, etc., and had become a 

 leader among the " Christian Brethren." " I found him exceed- 

 ingly delightful, though I think extravagant in many of his 

 views of denying all luxuries, and avoiding all societies 

 (e.g., sects, teetotal societies, and all kinds of committees), 

 thinking they interfere with liberty. This, I think, results from 

 the Conference affair. I took tea with him at a respectable 

 corn-dealer's; and as nobody else seemed inclined to do so, 

 I argued with him, to make him talk for the benefit of the 

 company. It does one good to see, now and then, a person 

 who thinks quite differently from other people. He has 

 remarkable powers of mind." 



In July, 1842, the British Association met at Manchester, 

 and he took a life-member's ticket, with some misgiving at 

 spending ^5 on what he thought a luxury ! He wrote a long 



