iefly in the open air after services was a tribute to
the spell he cast over them by the miracle of that converting grace. He
was quite unconscious of the attention he attracted outside the pulpit,
on the street, in the trains. His celebrity was not the consequence of
his endeavours to obtain it, nor was it won, as some declared, by
studied dramatic effects; it was the result of his moments of
inspiration, combined with continual and almost superhuman mental
labour--labour that was a fountain of perennial delight to him, but none
the less labour.

If "Genius is infinite patience," as a French writer said, Dr. Talmage
possessed it in an eminent degree. Every sermon he ever wrote was an
output of his full energies, his whole heart and mind; and while
dictating his sermons in his study, he preached them before an imaginary
audience, so earnest was his desire to reach the hearts of his hearers
and produce upon them a lasting influence. His sermons were born not of
the crowd, but for the crowd, in deep religious fervour and conviction.
His lectures, incisive and far-reaching as they were in their
conceptions and in their moral and social effects, were not so
impressive as his sermons, with their undertone of divine inspiration.

In accord with an invitation sent to us in Paris, from the Governor of
Pennsylvania, we went to Harrisburg as the guests at the Executive
Mansion, where a dinner and reception were given Dr. Talmage in honour
of his return from abroad. During this dinner, the Rev. Dr. John Wesley
Hill, then pastor of the church in Harrisburg in which Dr. Talmage
preached, told us of a rare autograph letter of Lincoln, which he owned.
It was his wish that Dr. Talmage should have it in his house, where he
thought more people would see it. The next day, Dr. Hill sent this
letter to us:--

"GENTLEMEN,--In response to your address, allow me to attest the
accuracy of its historical statements; indorse the sentiments it
expresses; and thank you, in the nation's name, for the sure promise
it gives.

"Nobly sustained as the government has been by all the churches, I
would utter nothing which might, in the least, appear invidious
against any. Yet, without this, it may fairly be said that the
Methodist Episcopal Church, not less devoted than the best, is, by
its greater numbers, the most important of all. It, is no fault in
others that the Methodist Church sends more soldiers to the f