acher is so successful
in taking money at the doors. As an orator, in the Church or out of it,
no man can produce a greater effect. He strikes the chords with a
master's hands. At his bidding strong men tremble and despair, or
believe and live.

THE HON. AND REV. MR. VILLIERS.

I know not that there is a happier berth in the world than that of a
fashionable Evangelical preacher in this enlightened city and enlightened
age. See him in the pulpit, adored by the women, envied by the men!
Wherever he goes he is made much of. The shops in his neighbourhood
abound with his portrait; his signature graces a thousand albums; young
ladies of all ages and conditions work him his worsted slippers; his
silver teapot and his easy chair are the contributions of his flock. If
there be an elysium on earth, it is his private residence. If a man is
to be deemed fortunate this side the grave, it is he. If mortal ever
slept upon a bed of roses, such is his enviable fate. In old times men
suffered for their religion; were deemed as dirt and dishonour; were
things to point at and to shun. In old times they had to suffer more
than this: the man who would be loyal to his conscience or his God might
not look for happiness and peace on earth. He had to wander in
sheepskins and goatskins; he had to renounce father, mother, sister,
brother--all that was dear to him as his own life. From the fair
enjoyments of the world and the bright love of woman he had to tear
himself away. A sad, solitary life, and a bitter and bloody death, were
what Christianity entailed on you in the olden time. Ay, you must have
been a strong man then to have borne its yoke. And yet, sustained by a
living faith, young, tender, delicate women bore it as if it were a
wreath of flowers. Men might talk of self-denial and taking up the cross
then: they did so then. But they are gone; and now, if you wish to learn
self-denial and take up the cross, you must renounce Christianity. Its
sleek and popular minister can tell you little either of one or the
other. Religion now dresses in silk and satin, goes to court, has all
Belgravia hallooing at her heels. Her ways indeed are ways of
pleasantness, and her paths, paths of peace. Dr. Watts was right--

'Religion never was design'd,
To make our pleasure less.'

Take, for instance, the honourable and reverend rector of St. George's,
Bloomsbury. As the brother of a Lord, Mr. Villiers has great claims o