ple it has drawn together, have been conducted
under the clouds in safety, and have lived to come out again into the
sunshine of prosperity.

There is not a trouble or a joy, not a throb of sorrow or a thrill of
delight that ever came to that church during those years, which Abe
Lockwood did not feel. He was so mixed and wrapt up in its history and
workings that he counted its very pulsations as distinctly as he felt
his own. In later years, when other labourers were brought into the
church, and his services as a local preacher came into greater demand,
many of the duties involved in conducting the cause fell into other
hands; but Abe's love for Salem never did and never could diminish; to
him it was the most beautiful sanctuary in the Circuit or out of it;
and there it stands as a monument of the zeal and devotion of those
earnest men who more than fifty years ago laid its foundations, and
reared its sacred walls in the name of the Lord.

They are nearly all gone to their reward, Abe among them, but in no
sense more than this is the Scripture fulfilled, "He being dead yet
speaketh."

CHAPTER X.

Abe becomes a Local Preacher.

Several years had passed away from the date of Abe's marriage, and a
family of young children had sprung up around him, filling his cottage
with life, and keeping him and his active wife constantly employed to
supply their daily necessities. Hard times they had during those
years, but they held on their honest way, content with what they got,
and envying no one that was in better circumstances than themselves.

During all these years Abe continued a devoted follower of Christ; he
was always at the means of grace, and his chief aim was to be a true
disciple of the cross. At the same time he was slowly acquiring
ability to speak in the meetings with more propriety and effect.

Methodist prayer-meetings and class-meetings are excellent training
schools for public speakers. Most of the best ministers in Methodism
first learnt to talk in these little meetings, where they have had,
week by week, opportunities of expressing their thoughts and feelings
upon their religious life and experience; and although there are some
who have profited but very little by the benefits afforded in this way,
there are many others who have made their way from that humble
beginning up to the highest ranks of the Christian ministry.

In this training institution Abe slowly and steadily improved his
power