gave great offence. The people did not believe that they were sinners,
and were very indignant with the Doctor for insisting upon the fact.
But he spared neither age nor sex in his battle for truth, and fought
it with most uncompromising earnestness. Rich or poor, it was all the
same to him; he spoke as decidedly to the man of rank as to the
humblest peasant in his employ.

'His eloquence was a vital power; the energy with which he enforced it
compelled people to listen to him; and as he lived up to his
professions, and was ever foremost in every good word and work, they
were forced to respect his character, though he did assail all their
public and private vices from the pulpit, and enforced their strict
attendance at church on the Sabbath day. This state of antagonism
between the Doctor and his parishioners did not last long. Prejudice
yielded to his eloquent preaching, numbers came from a distance to hear
him, and many careless souls awoke from a state of worldly apathy to
seek the bread of life.

'Just to give you a correct idea of what manner of man George Leatrim
was in these days, contrasted with what he is now, I will relate an
anecdote of him that I had from an eye-witness of the scene.

'A wealthy miller in the parish, a great drunkard and atheist, and a
very hard, unfeeling, immoral character, dropped down dead in a state
of intoxication, and, being a nominal member of the Church, was brought
there for burial. When the Doctor came to that portion of the service,
"We therefore commit his body to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to
ashes, dust to dust, in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to
eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ," he paused, and looking
round on the numerous band of relations and friends that surrounded the