people were fitted to
missionize the whole country side.

One's great object in this mission work is not only to save souls, but
to encourage believers to do their part; that so the effect of a mission
may be continued and extended. God has a twofold blessing for us. He
says "I will bless thee and make thee a blessing;" and it is well to
remember that the benefits we receive are not so much to be kept for
self, as to be imparted and transmitted to others, even as they were
transmitted to us.

CHAPTER 24

Sanctification.

Then I returned from the far-off mission in Staffordshire, whether from
over fatigue or other causes, I was much depressed in mind as well as
body, and quite out of heart with the Church of England. It is true I
found the converted people in Staffordshire were not so leavened with
Dissent as in Cornwall, and that there was some attachment to the
Church; but still I could see that Churchmen there, as elsewhere,
distrusted spirituality, and preferred to work on their own
ecclesiastical or sacramental lines; they chose to draw water to quench
their thirst, rather than to ask, and receive (directly from Christ) the
living water.

If a bishop accidentally invited me, of if a clergyman cordially did so,
they were marked exceptions. I felt myself to be obnoxious to the
majority of my clerical brethren who professed to represent the Church;
but somehow, I was convinced that, as a converted clergyman, I
represented the Church of England more truly than they, and that the
principles of the Reformation were the principles I was working upon.
This was trial from outside, which, however trying to flesh and blood,
is by no means so bad as misgiving from within.

I was discouraged also about the work in which I had been engaged; for
there was evidently an imperfection about it. I observed that some
people over whom I rejoiced as converted, went back to their former
worldliness, which perplexed and troubled me more than I can describe. I
knew from my own experience that conversion was necessary to salvation
and a new life; but when people professed to be saved, and did not live
a new life, I was sure there was something wrong. My dear friend, Mr.
Aitken, said, "My brother, this work is the Lord's; you must go to Him
and ask what is wrong. Lie on your face before Him till He shows you His
will about the matter!"

This I did; for, shutting myself up in the church, I cried to the Lord
till I felt that an ans