"Did fire, and storm, and earthquake all appear "Before that still small voice, What dost thou hear? "Hast thou by day and night, and soon and late, "Waited and watch'd before Admission-gate; "And so a pilgrim and a soldier pass'd "To Sion's hill through battle and through blast? "Then in thy way didst thou thy foe attack, "And mad'st thou proud Apollyon turn his 'back?' "Heart-searching things are these, and shake the mind, "Yea, like the rustling of a mighty wind. "Thus would I ask :- 6 Nay, let me question now, "How sink my sayings in your bosoms? how? "Feel you a quickening? drops the subject deep? "Stupid and stony, no! you're all asleep; "Listless and lazy, waiting for a close, "As if at church;-do I allow repose? "Am I a legal minister? do I "With form or rubrick, rule or rite comply? "Then whence this quiet, tell me, I beseech? "One might believe you heard your Rector preach, "Or his assistant dreamer :- -Oh! return, "Ye times of burning, when the heart would burn; “Now hearts are ice, and you, my freezing fold, "Have spirits sunk and sad, and bosoms stony-cold.' "Oh! now again for those prevailing powers, "Which once began this mighty work of ours; "When the wide field, God's Temple, was the place, "And birds flew by to catch a breath of grace; "When 'mid his timid friends and threat'ning foes, "Our zealous chief as Paul at Athens rose: "When with infernal spite and knotty clubs "The Ill-One arm'd his scoundrels and his scrubs; "And there were flying all around the spot [not; (1) "Brands at the Preacher, but they touch'd him "Stakes brought to smite him, threaten'd in his cause, "And tongues, attuned to curses, roar'd applause ; "Louder and louder grew his awful tones, "Sobbing and sighs were heard, and rueful groans; "Soft women fainted, prouder man express'd "Wonder and wo, and butchers smote the breast; "Eyes wept, ears tingled; stiff'ning on each head, "The hair drew back, and Satan howl'd and fled. (2) "In that soft season when the gentle breeze "Rises all round, and swells by slow degrees; "Till tempests gather, when through all the sky "The thunders rattle, and the lightnings fly; (1) ["Believing himself," says Mr. Southey, "to be an extraordinary person, and engaged in an enterprise of the most important character, he lent a ready faith to whatever marvels had a tendency to designate him as the favourite of God, or the peculiar object of Satan's fury. If any among his hearers pretended to visions, or to be the victim of diabolical possession, he never seems to have thought it necessary to examine into the truth of the ecstasies, but to have taken all for granted. If his horses fell lame, it was the malice of 'the old Murderer,' which had power over them. If his progress was cheered by a favourable change of weather, he imme. diately recognised the peculiar finger of Providence encouraging him to persevere in his labours."] (2) [Wesley was not only an enthusiast himself, but the cause of still greater enthusiasm in others, and had the unhappy art of inoculating his audience with convulsions and frenzy, surpassing the most extraordinary symptoms to which animal magnetism has given rise. Violent outcries, howling, gnashing of teeth, frightful convulsions, frenzy, epileptic and apoplectic symptoms, were excited, in turn, on different individuals. Cries were heard as of people being put to the sword; and the ravings of despair, which seemed to arise from an actual foretaste of torment, were strangely blended with rapturous shouts of Glory! glory!'-SOUTHEY.] "When rain in torrents wood and vale deform, "And all is horror, hurricane, and storm: "So, when the Preacher in that glorious time, "Than clouds more melting, more than storm sublime, "Dropp'd the new Word, there came a charm around; "Tremors and terrors rose upon the sound; "The stubborn spirits by his force he broke, "As the fork'd lightning rives the knotted oak : "Fear, hope, dismay, all signs of shame or grace, "Chain'd every foot, or featured every face; "Then took his sacred trump a louder swell, "And now they groan'd, they sicken'd, and they fell; "Again he sounded, and we heard the cry "Of the Word-wounded, as about to die; "Further and further spread the conquering word, "As loud he cried-the Battle of the Lord.' "Ev'n those apart who were the sound denied, "Fell down instinctive, and in spirit died. "Nor stay'd he yet-his eye, his frown, his speech, "His very gesture had a power to teach; "With outstretch'd arms, strong voice, and piercing call, "He won the field, and made the Dagons fall; "And thus in triumph took his glorious way, Through scenes of horror, terror, and dismay.”(1) (1) [See the Life of Wesley by Southey, or John Wesley's own Journals, passim. The reader will also find many curious details of the extravagance of methodistical fanaticism, in its first period, in the autobiography of the late excellent and learned Dr. Adam Clarke. THE BOROUGH. LETTER V. ELECTIONS. Say then which class to greater folly stoop, Be brave, for your leader is brave, and vows reformation; there shall be in England seven halfpenny loaves sold for a penny; and the three-hooped pot shall have ten hoops. I will make it felony to drink small beer; all shall eat and drink on my score, and I will apparel them all in one livery, that they may agree like brothers; and they shall all worship me as their lord. SHAKSPEARE's Henry VI. |