a preacher? A stranger, sillier talker I think I never heard. I
cannot say he is childish exactly. Children talk nonsense plenty
sometimes, but no child could talk the kind of nonsense Mr. Batty talks.
Last night his text was, "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and
with fire." But he forgot the Holy Ghost, and talked only about fire.
His object seemed to be to prove that fire would _burn_. He mentioned
several fires spoken of in the Bible that _did_ burn, such as the fire
that consumed Sodom and Gomorrah; the fire that formed one of the
plagues of Egypt; &c., but he came at length on the fire in the bush
that Moses saw, and, poor man, he was obliged to acknowledge that that
would not burn. The bush was unconsumed. He got away from that fire as
soon as he could, and found a number of other fires that _did_ burn. By
and by however he came upon the burning fiery furnace of Nebuchadnezzar.
This would burn _some_ that were thrown into it, but it would not burn
others. Then he talked about the fire of Moscow, and said, that _that_
fire gave as much light to the moon, as the moon gives to the earth, and
he added, that the flames of the burning city made such a blaze, that we
might have seen it in England, if it had not been for the hills. And
this is the talk that sensible people are expected to go and hear.

--Mr. W. preached one of Mr. Melville's sermons last night. It was a
good one though, and I had rather a man preached another man's good
sense, than his own nonsense. And I had rather hear a good sermon read,
than a bad one spoken. Let us have good sound sense, real Christian
doctrine, and fervent Christian love, in the first place, and then as
many other good things as we can get. But do let the children of God
have good wholesome bread, the bread of heaven, and pure living water
from the wells of salvation. Don't try to feed men's souls with chaff or
chopped straw, and don't give them mud or muddy water to drink.

--Heard Mr. Hulme last night on "The Cross of Christ." The sermon was an
attempt at fine preaching. It was not to my taste. The preacher did not
seem to understand his subject. What he said had nothing to do with the
conscience or the heart. It was talk,--tumid talk--high-swelling words,
nothing more.

--Heard Mr. Allen preach on the Flood. He talked a deal about
granite--labored hard to prove something; but whether he succeeded or
not, I cannot exactly tell. It was a "_great_ sermon" and had little