vouchsafed to but few, or, perhaps, for those depraved and uncharitable
sinners who had sent abroad such an ungodly scandal against a champion
of the faith. At all events, at the commencement of the service, the
minister--a rather jolly-looking man, with a good round belly apparently
well lined--read out of a written paper, the following short address to
those present:--

"'The prayers of this congregation are requested for one of its most
active and useful members, who is an elder thereof. They are requested
to enable him to fight the good fight, under the sore trials of a wicked
world which have come upon him in the shape of scandal. But inasmuch as
these dispensations are dealt out to us often for our soul's good and
ultimate comfort, the individual in question doth not wish you to pray
for a cessation of this, he trusts, benign punishment. He receives it
as a token--a manifestation that out of the great congregation of the
faithful that inherit the church, he--an erring individual--a frail
unit, is not neglected nor his spiritual concerns overlooked. He
therefore doth not wish you to say, "cease Lord, this evil unto this
man," but yea, rather to beseech, that if it be for his good, it may
be multiplied unto him, and that he may feel it is good for him to be
afflicted. Pray, therefore, that he may be purged by this tribulation,
and that like those who were placed in the furnace, nine times heated,
he may come out without a hair of his head singed--unhurt and rejoicing,
ready again to fight the good fight, with much shouting, the rattling of
chariots, and the noise of triumph and victory.'

"During the perusal of this all eyes were turned upon Solomon, whose
face was now perfectly seraphic, and his soul wrapped up into the ninth
heaven. Of those around him it was quite clear that he was altogether
incognizant. His eyelids were down as before, but the smile on his face
now was a perfect glory; it was unbroken, and the upturning of the
eyes proceeded from, and could be, nothing less than a glimpse of that
happiness which no other eye ever had seen but that of Solomon's at
that moment, and which, it was equally certain, no heart but his could
conceive. When it was concluded the psalm commenced, and if there had
been any doubt before, there could be none now that his triumph was
great, and the victory over the world and his enemies obtained, whilst a
fresh accession of grace was added to that which had been vouchsafed h