never yet repelled the sinner, to wash in that eternal Fountain ever
open for the remission of sins, and to flee from the wrath to come.
I believe the sacred symbol of the cross has not yet lost its
efficacy. For eighteen hundred years, whenever it has been exhibited
to the sons of men, it has been potent to reclaim and save them. 'I,
if I be lifted up,' cried the Great Sufferer, 'will draw all men unto
Me,' and He has drawn not merely the poor and ignorant but the
philosopher and the sage. Oh, my brethren, think what will happen if
you reject Him. I forbear to paint your doom. And think again, on
the other hand, of the bliss which awaits you if you receive Him, of
the eternal companionship with the Most High and with the spirits of
just men made perfect." His hearers again applauded vigorously, and
none less so than their appointed leader, who was to follow on the
other side. He was a little man with small eyes; his shaven face was
dark with a black beard lurking under the skin, and his nose was
slightly turned up. He was evidently a trained debater who had
practised under railway arches, discussion "forums," and in the
classes promoted by his sect. He began by saying that he could not
compliment his friend who had just sat down on the inducements which
he had offered them to become Christians. The New Cut was not a nice
place on a wet day, but he had rather sit at a stall there all day
long with his feet on a basket than lie in the bosom of some of the
just men made perfect portrayed in the Bible. Nor, being married,
should he feel particularly at ease if he had to leave his wife with
David. David certainly ought to have got beyond all that kind of
thing, considering it must be over 3000 years since he first saw
Bathsheba; but we are told that the saints are for ever young in
heaven, and this treacherous villain, who would have been tried by a
jury of twelve men and hung outside Newgate if he had lived in the
nineteenth century, might be dangerous now. He was an amorous old