ing, but was put into it in
spite of myself. Here I had a good house, garden, and church, provided
for me, with so much a year. I wondered whether God was tired of me! He
had provided for me and my family during the past year wondrously, and I
began to like "living by faith," and trusting in Him only. I have great
doubts whether this appointment was altogether in accordance with God's
will. Anyway, I had very little success or liberty in preaching, and
could not settle down to work with any energy.

In the beginning of the summer, as usual, I had my attack of hay fever,
which completely incapacitated me, in this place of much grass. If I
went to a town or the sea-side, it was well; but the moment I returned
to the country I was ill again. Altogether, it was a dull and
distressing time; but God was preparing me for a special work.

CHAPTER 31

Hayle, 1857-58.

While meditating upon my present position, and wondering what I was to
do next, I received an invitation to take charge of a district in
another part of the county, near the sea, which suited my health. Here
there was a large population, which gave scope for energetic action;
and, moreover, the people were careless and Godless, and, as such, were
not preoccupied with other systems. So I thought it was the very place
in which I could begin to preach, and go on to prove the power of the
Gospel.

With the invitation, I received an exaggerated account of the wickedness
of the people, and was told that the thinking part of them leant towards
infidelity, and that some of them were actually banded together in an
infidel club. All this, however, did not deter me from going, but rather
stirred me up so much the more to try my lance against this gigantic
foe. I had learned before now to regard all difficulties in my work as
the Lord's, and not mine; and that, though they might be greater than I
could surmount, they were not too great for Him.

There were two large iron factories here, besides shipping. Many of the
people employed were drawn from other parts of England, and were what
the Cornish call "foreigners." They had no love for chapel services, or
revivals, and no sympathy with Cornish views and customs; so not having
a church to go to, they were left pretty much to themselves.

With this attractive sphere before me, I gave up my living and work in
the country, and accepted the curacy at l. 120 a year, with a house
rent-free. My rector was a dry Churchman,