day, the
thought has weighed upon me like an incubus. I cannot shake it off.
Something terrible is in store for them. What it may be, I know not.
But I am impressed with the duty of preaching a judgment to come to
them, this very afternoon. I will do it".

A slight rattling of dishes at the door announced the arrival of Bess,
with a tray of refreshment for Mr. Brown, and, at the same moment, the
tinkling of a bell below, summoned Mr. Norton to the table.

Half an hour later, the missionary, with a slow pace and the air of
one oppressed with a great burden, walked to the Grove. He seated
himself on a rustic bench and with his head resting on the trunk of an
immense elm, which overshadowed him, sat absorbed in earnest thought,
while the people gathered in a crowd around him.

At length, the murmuring voices were hushed into quiet. He rose, took
up his pocket Testament, read a portion of the tenth chapter of
Hebrews, offered a prayer, and then sang in his trumpet tones,
Charles Wesley's magnificently solemn hymn, commencing,--

"Lo! on a narrow neck of land
'Twixt two unbounded seas, I stand
Secure! insensible!"

He then repeated a clause in the chapter he had just read to them. "If
we sin wilfully after that we have received a knowledge of the truth,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful
looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the
adversaries".

He began his discourse by reminding the people of the truths he had
presented to them during the weeks past. He had told them faithfully
of their sinfulness before a holy God, and pointed out the way of
safety and purification through a crucified Saviour. And he had
earnestly sought to induce them, by the love this Saviour bore them,
to forsake their transgressions and exercise trust in Him. He now told
them, in accents broken with grief, that he had every reason to fear
they had not followed his counsel, and observing their hardness of
heart, he felt constrained to bring them another and different
message,--a message less tender, but coming from the same divine
source. He then unfolded to them the wrath of the Most High, kindled
against those who scorn the voice of mercy from a dying Saviour.

They listened intently. His voice, his manner, his words electrified
them. His countenance was illumined with an awful light, such as they
had not before witnessed there. His eye shot out prophetic meanings.
A