storm-swept sky. The question strikes one, then, why should he have
been promised this, and why led to hope for and expect it? See what
came of this too generous inducement held out to an anxious soul.

For some days, while "Dodd's" newly developed fervor ran high, he lived
in the blessed light. For this light is blessed, and it shines with a
divine warmth into the souls that are open to receive it. The fact
remains, however, that clouds and storms--but I need not trace the
figure further; you all know about it. So, almost before the young man
was aware, he was under a cloud. It happened on this wise:

For many weeks he had been drinking freely and both smoking and chewing
tobacco to excess. The first thing he did, after his hopeful
conversion, was to quit all these stimulants at once. His intense
religious zeal held him up for a few days, but at the end of that time
his strongly formed appetites assorted themselves. He could scarcely
sleep, so hungry was he for a chew, or a smoke, or a drink! These were
the weaknesses that had driven him to seek for help through the
consolations of religion. He had been promised this help, and in no
equivocal terms either. He had been told, even from the pulpit, that
if he would put his trust in the Lord all these temptations would
depart from him. He had done this as well as he knew how to. He had
at least made an honest effort in that direction. His lips were
parched for liquor, and his tongue cleaved to the roof of his mouth
with a longing for a quid of fine-cut.

And so the clouds overspread "Dodd's" sky--clouds of doubt and
distrust, out of whose lurid depths leap lightnings that blast like
death!