and to
intellectual progress. Nay, it is not so. I will tell you what we are
foes to, and unflinching foes; we are foes to all that is false and
hollow, and we assert that nothing can be sound and true which puts the
God who made us out of his place, and thrusts him down from his rightful
throne in our hearts. Study science by all means, cultivate your
intellects, elevate your tastes, refine your pursuits. But then,
remember that you are, after all, not your own in any of these things,
for Christ has purchased you for himself. Begin with him, and he will
give you peace, and an abiding blessing upon _all_ that you do; but
never suppose that you can be really living as you ought to live,--that
is, as God made you and meant you to live,--while you are feeding your
intellects and starving your souls.

"And now I will only add how happy I am to meet you all here. We are
about soon to part with one who is well-known to many of you,--Jane
Bradly. It is partly in connection with the Lord's wonderful dealings
with her, as you will hear shortly from her brother Thomas, that we have
set on foot this happy gathering. It is one cheering sign of real
progress in Crossbourne that our Temperance Society and Band of Hope are
so nourishing. You know the rock on which we have founded them; I mean,
on love to the Lord Jesus Christ. May these societies long flourish! I
trust we shall gain some members to-night; for Thomas, I know, has got
the pledge-book with him. And now I have much pleasure in calling on
William Foster to address you."

When Foster rose to speak there was a deep hush, a silence that might be
felt.

"If I had come to a gathering like this a year ago," began the speaker,
"it would have been as a mocker or a spy. But how different are things
with me to-day! I am now one of yourselves, a total abstainer upon
principle, an unfeigned believer in the Bible, and a loyal though very
unworthy disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have good cause to
remember these old ruins, as you all know; but you do not many of you
know how I used to spend Sabbath after Sabbath here in gambling; and yet
the good Lord bore with me. And it is not long since that he gave me a
wonderful deliverance, not far from the spot where I now stand. But I
am not going to refer any more to that, except to say, let by-gones be
by-gones. I bear no ill-will to those who have shown themselves my
enemies. What I want to do now, for the few minu