d the fumes of drink vanished, and, as he listened, the words took
a marvellous hold of him.

He wandered all night in fear and sorrow round his father's house,
and it was not until the rising of the sun that he was enabled to
find any peace.

It was the first time that he had been absent a whole night. As he
entered the room, his mother rose up from her seat, and was about to
rebuke him; but when she saw his altered look and bearing, she only
said gently: "My son, the Lord has visited you this night."

From that time forward Hans Nilsen went no more to dances. After many
years of tribulation and inward struggles, he at last gained
confidence, and spoke with his friends and others of the one thing
needful. He appeared also at the meetings, and it was the general
opinion that so captivating a speaker had not been heard among them
for many a day.

But the elders, mindful of Hauge's injunctions, would not permit him
to go forth among the Brethren round about the country until he was
thoroughly grounded in doctrine, and until a change of life had
manifested itself in him.

He was more than twenty-five when he was first sent out; and after
five or six years of almost uninterrupted wanderings from place to
place, partly by invitation, and partly as he was led by the Spirit,
he had become a well-known and highly valued lay-preacher over all
the west country and northward, even beyond Trondhjem.

The times had long since gone by when a clergyman, accompanied by a
bailiff or a drunken lieutenant, could break up the meetings, revile
the lay-preacher, spit in his face, and cause him to be driven out of
the parish.

But if the lay-preachers were less exposed to outward violence than
in the old days of persecution, there were dangers of another sort,
which in many ways made their position difficult.

The clergy had not changed their minds; but as they could no longer
imprison or publicly revile "these enthusiasts, deceivers, and
hypocrites," they preferred to scheme against and vilify them in
private.

A new ordeal of patience and long-suffering was thus imposed upon the
Brethren, especially upon their leaders and preachers; for as their
numbers increased, it could not but happen that some disciples would
fall into open sin, or be discovered to be hypocrites and impostors.

On such occasions the clergy were on the alert; active and energetic,
both in public and in private, they gave currency to disparaging
stories abou