Note 15 — THE TENDENCY OF EVANGELICAL PREACHING.

The author once knew a lady who was celebrated, in the town in which she lived, no less for her benevolence, than she was for her utter dislike to those persons who had embraced evangelical sentiments. She generally used to term them, by way of reproach, Methodists, enthusiasts, or fanatics. For many years she was in the habit of visiting the poor and the infirm, sympathizing with them when in trouble, giving them money to purchase the necessaries and comforts of life; and she originated several public institutions, which still remain as the memorial of her practical goodness. Often has she sat beside the lingering sufferer, wiping away the cold sweats of death, and administering, with her own hands, the last portion of food or of medicine which nature consented to receive. This lady, when conversing with a friend, whose prejudices against the fanatics of the day (as the disciples of the Redeemer are styled) ran as high as her own, said, "I don't know how to account for it, but I find these people know more about religion than we do, and appear more happy in their dying moments than any others I ever meet with." Happy would it have been for her if some friend had been present to explain the cause of it; but no—living under the sombrous gloom of a pharisaical faith, which admits not of the clear light of the truth, she lived in ignorance of the nature of faith in Christ, and in ignorance she died.