meeting,
and protest, on behalf of the vicar, and also to present the
archdeacon's monition. They stood beside me all the time, and after the
service was concluded they showed me the archidiaconal instrument, with
a great seal appended to it. They said that they "dared not stop that
preaching," and so they took their monition back.

This gave rise to a long correspondence in the newspapers, some taking
part on my side, and some against me. Thus the question was ventilated,
and finally concluded, by a letter from some one, who said, "The Bishop
of Exeter is one of the greatest ecclesiastical lawyers we have, and if
he cannot stop Mr. Haslam, the question is settled; for be sure his
lordship has all the will to stop this preaching, and would do so if he
had the power."

From that time I never hesitated to preach the Gospel in any parish or
diocese where I was invited. So few of the clergy asked me, that I was
obliged to go out in spite of them, or, at any rate, without asking
their consent, and in consequence of this, I am afraid I became
obnoxious to many of my clerical brethren. Since then things are much
changed. The Earl of Shaftesbury has succeeded in getting an Act passed
through both Houses of Parliament, to settle the question about such
services. Now any clergyman may preach in Exeter Hall, or any other
public non-ecclesiastical building, without consulting the vicar of the
parish. Besides this, a general disposition has arisen amongst the
clergy, from one end of the land to the other, to have "missions," so
that there is no need to work independently of clergymen, but with them,
and very cheering it is to be thus employed. It was not pleasant to
witness the scowl and the frown, nor to get the cold shoulder. Thank
God, times are changed now; but I must needs tell of some of the scenes
I was in, and the opposition I had to encounter, during the years that
are gone by.

CHAPTER 16

Opposition, 1853.

I have been telling hitherto of blessing and prosperity in the Lord's
work. Many more cases might have been mentioned, and many other things
of not less moment and interest; but enough has been said, I hope, to
show the character of the work, and give some idea of the amount of
blessing which attended it. But it must not be supposed that the offence
of the cross had ceased, or that the enmity of the carnal mind was never
stirred; indeed, I always doubt the reality of a work which moves on
without opposition. O