sympathy I had found
in him, and said, "Shall I go and take your services in exchange?"

"Oh no, certainly not; I wish you to be present in your own church. I
will preach in the morning; and in the evening I will be there to see
and hear you." We soon fixed upon the day. He came to dinner with us the
previous Saturday, but before he would sit down he must needs go into
the Church, and adjust the height of the pulpit, and see that all other
things were to his taste. He asked me if I would remove the candlesticks
from the communion table, and let him preach in a black gown. These were
all matters of indifference to me now, so I readily acceded to his
wishes. Having completed his arrangements, we spent a very pleasant
evening together, talking over the work in the place, and then went to
the weekly prayer-meeting; but he took no part. On Sunday morning the
service was conducted at his request, in the usual manner, excepting
that he stood away in the eastern corner of the north side of the table,
"scrootching" away like a Papist, as the people described it. They had
been accustomed to see me stand at the western or outside corner of the
north side. He was much amused at this criticism.

Then he went into the vestry, having asked for an interlude on the organ
before the last verse of the Psalms (for we sang the metrical version in
those days), and while this was being played he came sailing out again,
and swept up the steps into the pulpit. He gave us an excellent
sermon--preached, as the Cornish people say, "to a form," that is with a
manuscript before him; though he did not look at it much. He showed it
to me afterwards; it certainly was a curious thing, done in cyphers and
hieroglyphics of his own; again and again there appeared a figure with
two horns and a tail; this, he told me, stood for Satan; there were also
many other striking signs. He preached with far more animation than was
his wont, and towards the end of his sermon seemed to forget his
manuscript altogether, and leaned over the front of the pulpit,
gesticulating with his hands, and looking at the people. They got very
excited, and followed every sentence with some response, till he became
excited also. When he came down from the pulpit, he said that he had
never preached with such help before; he had quite enjoyed his own
sermon, and that now he thought he understood the secret of what I
called being "converted."

He came in the afternoon to the catechisin