gold has been on these
ministerings of thine, for thou hast yearly taken hire for them; and
therefore it is that so many of these people are cold and sickly in
divine things. But the Lord hath had mercy on thee, and will take away
from thee the mammon whereby thou hast been deceived; and for thy sake I
rejoice in thy coming downfall'--

Here there began a mighty hubbub in the place. Men stood up on benches,
shaking their sticks and clenched fists against the speaker; women
cried, 'Shame on him! pull him down! have him away!' and many rushed
upon him, struck him, dragged him down, and would soon have trampled him
under their feet, but Mr. Truelocke spoke with a voice that rang like a
trumpet, and said,--

'Do the man no harm; for shame, my brethren! Did not I tell him he had
liberty to speak? Make me not a liar by your violence!' and then I saw
several men, Andrew and Harry being foremost, raising up the stranger,
for he had been felled to his knees pushing off those who were striking
him, and leading him forth of the church. Then a mighty flash of
lightning glared through the building, and a great peal of thunder
roared and echoed after it, and the rain rushing down like a torrent
drove and beat against the windows. The stranger, who had been got to
the door, now turned round, crying,--

'Hearken, O people, to the voice of the Lord bearing witness against
your madness!' with which words he vanished, friendly hands pulling him
out of sight against his will.

A great silence seemed at once to fall upon the people, while the storm
blazed and thundered on; and in the midst of it Mr. Truelocke began his
discourse.

'My brethren,' said he, 'I did not think to have been so cruelly put to
shame as I have been by you this day. Long have I toiled to make you
follow His righteousness, who, when He was reviled, reviled not again;
long have I trusted that you were indeed partakers of that Spirit whose
fruits are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness. Alas!
what longsuffering, what peace, what gentleness have you shown to-day?
Ye have well-nigh done a man to death in the very house of God, and
before the eyes of me your pastor. I stand rebuked here, a teacher
whose teaching is proved useless and fruitless. From this day forth I
will preach to you no more, but will lay down, a little before the law
takes it from me, the office I have so ill discharged. Now hearken to me
once more, and once only; and let not my la