Whenever  a  church  gets  into  the  same  state  as  that  of
the  apostles  and  disciples  at  that  memorable  period,
the  whole  heavenly  electricity  is  concentrated  at  that
particular  spot.  Yet  you  remember  that  even  Christ
Himself  could  not  do  many  mighty  works  in  some
places  because  of  the  people's  unbelief,  and  I  am  sure
that  all  His  servants  who  are  thoroughly  in  earnest  are
at  times  hampered  in  the  same  way.  Some  of  our
brethren  who  are  here  have,  I  fear,  a  worldly,  Christ-
less  people;  still,  I  am  not  sure  that  they  ought  to  run
away  from  them ;  I  think  that,  if  possible,  they  should
stop,  and  try  to  make  them  more  Christlike.
It  is  true  that  I  have  had  the  other  sort  of  experi-
ence, as  well  as  the  joyous  one  I  have  been  describ-
ing. I  remember  preaching  one  night  in  a  place  where
they  had  not  had  a  minister  for  some  time.  When  I
reached  the  chapel  I  did  not  have  any  kind  of  wel-
come ;  the  authorities  were  to  receive  pecuniary  benefit
if  nothing  else  from  my  visit,  but  they  did  not  welcome
mei  at  all;  they  said,  in  fact,  that  there  had  been  a
maiority  at  the  church  meetinpf  in  favour  of  invitinc:
me,  but  the  deacons  did  not  approve  of  it  because  they
did  not  think  I  -vvas  "sound."    There  were  some  breth-


132  THE  SOUL-WINNER.
