those
days. There were others who were reckless; would not always tell the
truth, and would not always pay their honest debts, but they were,
nevertheless, very noisy in the church, and the preacher always made most
of those noisy fellows. Now," said the aged father, "I never could
understand that." The old man lived to learn the secret, and changed his
religious relations and began a new life in religion.

The scenes of the "Cane Ridge revival," down in Kentucky, have not been
repeated in all our country for more than twenty years, and it is probable
that they never will be. There are many things in the past history of
religion in our country that will never be repeated. Did you ever witness
a panic in a large congregation of people? If you have, you may go with me
to "Cane Ridge." Before we start I wish to remind you of the fact that
some of the most fearful panics known to men took place where, and when,
there was no reason for them outside of existing ignorance. Fright or
fear, coupled with ignorance, produced them. Now let us go to "Cane
Ridge." There we find the people in the emotional period in the history of
religion. They are laboring under the conviction that Jehovah has
concentrated all the powers of His Spirit at Cane Ridge--it is the common
conviction. The people all over the country believe that God is there. The
excitement runs high, and yet higher; it becomes contagious--a religious
epidemic--the ruling element being the thought of the presence of the
Divine Majesty, and the emotional nature of man the field of its
operations. All the ignorance of a genuine panic is there. There were no
well-informed unbelievers there to tear off the veil, nor better-informed
Christians to remove it, not even so much as a Wesley to exonerate God by
saying, "I am constrained to believe that it is the devil tearing them as
they are coming to Christ." No! There is one conviction at Cane Ridge--it
is this: _Jehovah is here._ It was a wonderful panic--a wonderful time.
Persons going on to the ground immediately fell down like dead men; got up
with the jerks; barked like dogs. Women went backwards and forwards,
making singular gestures; their heads were bobbing with the jerks, and
their long hair cracking like whips. The scene was beyond description. The
whole country flocked to the place, and all were confounded with amazement
and astonishment.

If such operations were religion, our country has been without it for a
long ti