evival, nay, at many at the same time, for
the churches and meeting-houses cannot give occupation to half
the Itinerants, though they are all open throughout the day, and
till a late hour in the night, and the officiating ministers
succeed each other in the occupation of them.

It was at the principal of the Presbyterian churches that
I was twice witness to scenes that made me shudder; in
describing one, I describe both and every one; the same thing
is constantly repeated.

It was in the middle of summer, but the service we were
recommended to attend did not begin till it was dark. The
church was well lighted, and crowded almost to suffocation.
On entering, we found three priests standing side by side,
in a sort of tribune, placed where the altar usually is,
handsomely fitted up with crimson curtains, and elevated
about as high as our pulpits. We took our places in a pew
close to the rail which surrounded it.

The priest who stood in the middle was praying; the prayer was
extravagantly vehement, and offensively familiar in expression;
when this ended, a hymn was sung, and then another priest took
the centre place, and preached. The sermon had considerable
eloquence, but of a frightful kind. The preacher described, with
ghastly minuteness, the last feeble fainting moments of human
life, and then the gradual progress of decay after death, which
he followed through every process up to the last loathsome stage
of decomposition. Suddenly changing his tone, which had been
that of sober accurate description, into the shrill voice of
horror, he bent forward his head, as if to gaze on some object
beneath the pulpit. And as Rebecca made known to Ivanhoe what
she saw through the window, so the preacher made known to us what
he saw in the pit that seemed to open before him. The device was
certainly a happy one for giving effect to his description of
hell. No image that fire, flame, brimestone, molten lead, or
red-hot pincers could supply; with flesh, nerves, and sinews
quivering under them, was omitted. The perspiration ran in
streams from the face of the preacher; his eyes rolled, his lips
were covered with foam, and every feature had the deep expression
of horror it would have borne, had he, in truth, been gazing at
the scene he described. The acting was excellent. At length he
gave a languishing look to his supporters on each side, as if to
express his feeble state, and then sat down, and wiped the drops
of ag