mmoned to Cannon Mills, as formerly. He
whose voice was able to rend asunder and dash down the granite walls
of the established church of Scotland, and to lead a host in solemn
procession from it, as from a doomed city, was now old and enfeebled.
Besides, he had said his word on this very question; and his word had
not silenced the clamor without, nor stilled{298} the anxious heavings
within. The occasion was momentous, and felt to be so. The church was
in a perilous condition. A change of some sort must take place in
her condition, or she must go to pieces. To stand where she did, was
impossible. The whole weight of the matter fell on Cunningham and
Candlish. No shoulders in the church were broader than theirs; and I
must say, badly as I detest the principles laid down and defended by
them, I was compelled to acknowledge the vast mental endowments of the
men. Cunningham rose; and his rising was the signal for almost tumultous
applause. You will say this was scarcely in keeping with the solemnity
of the occasion, but to me it served to increase its grandeur and
gravity. The applause, though tumultuous, was not joyous. It seemed
to me, as it thundered up from the vast audience, like the fall of
an immense shaft, flung from shoulders already galled by its crushing
weight. It was like saying, "Doctor, we have borne this burden long
enough, and willingly fling it upon you. Since it was you who brought it
upon us, take it now, and do what you will with it, for we are too weary
to bear it.{no close "}

Doctor Cunningham proceeded with his speech, abounding in logic,
learning, and eloquence, and apparently bearing down all opposition;
but at the moment--the fatal moment--when he was just bringing all his
arguments to a point, and that point being, that neither Jesus Christ
nor his holy apostles regarded slaveholding as a sin, George Thompson,
in a clear, sonorous, but rebuking voice, broke the deep stillness of
the audience, exclaiming, HEAR! HEAR! HEAR! The effect of this simple
and common exclamation is almost incredible. It was as if a granite wall
had been suddenly flung up against the advancing current of a mighty
river. For a moment, speaker and audience were brought to a dead
silence. Both the doctor and his hearers seemed appalled by the
audacity, as well as the fitness of the rebuke. At length a shout went
up to the cry of "_Put him out_!" Happily, no one attempted to execute
this cowardly order, and the doctor procee