held over

ours. Independent of the right or wrong of father Dickson's principles, he ought to maintain his position, for the sake of maintaining the right of free opinion in the State."

"Why," said Mr. Cornet, "the Scripture saith, 'If they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another.'"

"That was said," said Clayton, "to a people that lived under despotism, and had no rights of liberty given them to maintain. But if we give way before mob law, we make ourselves slaves of the worst despotism on earth."

But Clayton spoke to men whose ears were stopped by the cotton of slothfulness and love of ease. They rose up,

and said that it was time for them to be going.

Clayton expressed his intention of remaining over the night, to afford encouragement and assistance to his friends in case of any further emergency.

CHAPTER XLIX

MORE VIOLENCE

CLAYTON rose the next morning, and found his friends much better than he had expected after the agitation and abuse of the night before. They seemed composed and cheerful.

66

"I am surprised," he said, "to see that your wife is able to be up this morning."

"They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength," said father Dickson. "How often I have found it so! We have seen times when I and my wife have both been so ill that we scarcely thought we had strength to help ourselves; and a child has been taken ill, or some other emergency has occurred that called for immediate exertion, and we have been to the Lord and found strength. Our way has been hedged up many a time, the sea before us and the Egyptians behind us; but the sea has always opened when we have stretched our hands to the Lord. I have never sought the Lord in vain. He has allowed great troubles to come upon us, but he always delivers us."

Clayton recalled the sneering, faithless, brilliant Frank Russel, and compared him, in his own mind, with the simple, honest man before him.

"No," he said to himself, "human nature is not a humbug, after all. There are some real men,

some who will not acquiesce in what is successful if it be wrong."

Clayton was in need of such living examples; for, in regard to religion, he was in that position which is occupied. by too many young men of high moral sentiment in this

country. What he had seen of the worldly policy and timeserving spirit of most of the organized bodies professing to represent the Christian faith and life had deepened the shadow of doubt and distrust which persons of strong individuality and discriminating minds are apt to feel in certain stages of their spiritual development. Great afflictions those which tear up the roots of the soul are often succeeded, in the course of the man's history, by a period of skepticism. The fact is, such afflictions are disenchanting powers; they give to the soul an earnestness and a power of discrimination which no illusion can withstand. They teach us what we need, what we must have to rest upon; and in consequence thousands of little formalities, and empty shows, and dry religious conventionalities, are scattered by it like chaff. The soul rejects them, in her indignant anguish ; and, finding so much that is insincere and untrue and unreliable, she has sometimes hours of doubting all things.

Clayton saw again in the minister what he had seen in Nina, - a soul swayed by an attachment to an invisible person, whose power over it was the power of a personal attachment, and who swayed it, not by dogmas or commands merely, but by the force of a sympathetic emotion. Beholding, as in a glass, the divine image of his heavenly friend, insensibly to himself the minister was changing into the same image. The good and the beautiful to him was an embodied person, even Jesus his Lord.

"What may be your future course?" said Clayton with anxiety. "Will you discontinue your labors in this State?

"I may do so if I find positively that there is no gaining a hearing," said father Dickson. "I think we owe it to our State not to give up the point without a trial. There are those who are willing to hear me, willing to make a beginning with me. It is true they are poor and unfashionable; but still it is my duty not to desert them till I have tried, at least, whether the laws can't protect me in the exercise of my

duty. The hearts of all men are in the hands of the Lord. He turneth them as the rivers of water are turned. This

evil is a great and a trying one. It is gradually lowering the standard of morals in our churches, till men know not what spirit they are of. I held it my duty not to yield to the violence of the tyrant, and bind myself to a promise to leave, till I had considered what the will of my Master would be."

"I should be sorry," said Clayton, "to think that North Carolina could n't protect you. I am sure, when the particulars of this are known, there will be a general reprobation from all parts of the country. You might remove to some other part of the State not cursed by the residence of a man like Tom Gordon. I will confer with my uncle, your friend Dr. Cushing, and see if some more eligible situation cannot be found where you can prosecute your labors. He is at this very time visiting his wife's father in E., and I will ride over and talk with him to-day. Meanwhile," said Clayton as he rose to depart, "allow me to leave with you a little contribution to help the cause of religious freedom in which you are engaged."

And Clayton, as he shook hands with his friend and his wife, left an amount of money with them such as had not crossed their palms for many a day. Bidding them adieu, a ride of a few hours carried him to E., where he communicated to Dr. Cushing the incidents of the night before.

"Why, it's perfectly shocking, abominable!" said Dr. Cushing. "Why, what are we coming to? My dear young friend, this shows the necessity of prayer. "When the enemy cometh in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord must lift up a standard against him.''

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'My dear uncle," said Clayton rather impatiently, "it seems to me the Lord has lifted up a standard in the person of this very man, and people are too cowardly to rally around it."

66 Well, my dear nephew, it strikes me you are rather excited," said Dr. Cushing good-naturedly.

"I ought to be excited! Here's a good man begin

"Excited?" said Clayton. You ought to be excited, too! ning what you think a necessary reform, and who does it in a way perfectly peaceable and lawful, who is cloven down under the hoof of a mob, and all you can think of doing is to pray to the Lord to raise up a standard! What would you think if a man's house were on fire, and he should sit praying the Lord that in his mysterious providence he would put it out?'

"Oh, the cases are not parallel !" said Dr. Cushing.

"I think they are," said Clayton. "Our house is the State, and our house is on fire by mob law; and, instead of praying the Lord to put it out, you ought to go to work and put it out yourself. If all your ministers would make a stand against this, uncle, and do all you can to influence those to whom you are preaching, it would n't be done again."

Poor fa

"I am sure I should be glad to do something. ther Dickson! such a good man as he is! But then, I think, Clayton, he was rather imprudent. It don't do, this unadvised way of proceeding. We ought to watch against rashness, I think. We are too apt to be precipitate, and not await the leadings of Providence. Poor Dickson! I tried to caution him, the last time I wrote to him. To be sure,

it's no excuse for them; but, then, I'll write to brother Barker on the subject, and we 'll see if we can't get an article in the 'Christian Witness.' I don't think it would be best to allude to these particular circumstances, or to mention any names; but there might be a general article on the importance of maintaining the right of free speech, and of course people can apply it for themselves."

"You remind me," said Clayton, "of a man who proposed commencing an attack on a shark by throwing a sponge