righteousness is as filthy rags, you are all wounds and bruises and
putrefying sores; the devil will have you if you don't turn to the
Lord, and you will go down to the bottomless, brimstone pit, where
shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth for ever and ever. Believe,'
he roared, 'now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.'

Sunny clouds lay in the blue above him, and at his feet summer waves
were breaking peacefully on the shore, the sound of their soft,
musical plash filling up his pauses and commenting on his texts.



CONVERSION



In 1802 Lady B. was living at M--- Park. She was a proud, handsome,
worldly woman about fifty-five years old, a widow with no children,
but she had a favourite nephew who was at the Park for the larger
part of the year and was the heir to her property. She had been gay
in her youth, was the leader of society in her county, and when she
passed middle life still followed the hounds. She was a good
landlord, respected and even beloved by her tenantry, and a staunch
Tory in politics. The new evangelical school of Newton and Romaine
she detested bitterly, as much in fact as she detested Popery. The
nephew, however, came under Newton's influence and was converted.
His aunt was in despair. She could not conquer her affection for
him, but she almost raved when she reflected that the inheritor of
her estates was a pious Methodist, as she called him. She had a
good-looking, confidential maid who had lived with her for years.