MY DEAR E.

LETTER XXXI.

IF the present happy revival should spread throughout your congregation, as I hope it may, you will have even more to do out of the pulpit than in. Though it would not be possible for you to attend all the neighborhood and more general prayer meetings, your approbation and advice, I take it for granted, will be sought for with reference to their frequency, their length, and the manner of conducting them; and you will wish to be present as often as you can. Enquirers will, not improbably, be calling upon you almost every hour of the day. Interesting cases of awakening and conviction will require your special attention, and sometimes a great deal of it. Twenty families will want to see you in an afternoon, and will feel as if they could not be denied. You will probably be sent for in the night, as I have been, to visit persons in the greatest distress for their souls. You will have to talk with the awakened, hour after hour and day after day, till you have no more strength left; and after the utmost you can do, will feel, that more than you have been able to accomplish is left undone.

As you are a frail dying man, and there are limits beyond which you cannot go without breaking down, a great deal will depend upon the arrangements which you make, to enlist the officers of your church

and other intelligent and discreet members in the work, and to lay out your own strength in the most economical manner. Though you cannot attend all the religious meetings in person, you will be able, I presume, to keep them under the direction of those in whose discretion, piety and experience you have confidence, and who by conversing freely with their neighbors, both in and out of the church, will be able to keep you advised of the state of things in all parts of the parish. This is a point of great importance. A pastor ought, if possible, in the height of a revival, to be made fully acquainted every day with its progress, that he may know how to preach on the Sabbath and where his other labors are most wanted.

If your time and strength would allow you to converse with each enquirer privately and often enough, either in your own study or at home, this might be the best way; but where fifty, or a hundred, are deeply anxious at once, it is entirely impracticable. Were you to spend every moment in this way, it would not be enough. You must resort to some plan for bringing those together, more or less frequently, who desire and need your advice. I know not how many plans have been tried for saving time, but the following are among the most common, at least in this part of the country. Sometimes those who are awakened are requested to remain in their seats, after the congregation have retired, that they may be prayed with and addressed collectively, or conversed with individually by the pastor. Sometimes they are requested to retire from the church to the lecture room, for the same purpose. Sometimes the pastor at the

close of the public exercises, invites all who wish for personal conversation to come to his own house on Sabbath evening. At others, when the number is large, he appoints an enquiry meeting, to be held in some convenient place, on Monday, or Tuesday evening. And sometimes for convenience sake, the enquirers in different neighborhoods, are invited to meet the pastor in one of their own houses. These invitations are more or less restricted, according to the judgment of different ministers. Some invite only those who are already anxious, and have made up their minds to seek salvation, let who will neglect it; while others extend the invitation to all, whether Some spend

they feel any religious concern or not. the time chiefly in general exhortation and prayer, and often invite such as wish for personal conversation to stay after the meeting is closed. Others address individuals personally, and ask them questions loud enough to be heard by all; while others pass round from seat to seat, spending from one to five minutes with each individual, conversing in a low whisper.

Without advising you to adopt either of these plans, to the exclusion of all the rest, I will just mention the course which I used to pursue, and which I should pursue again under similar circumstances. In the early part of the revival, and while the enquirers were but few, I met them in a way not to excite any particular observation. When the work had advanced so far, that I was convinced a pretty large number would attend, I appointed an enquiry meeting from the desk, to be held on Monday evening, and continued it from week to week, as long as the

revival lasted. Sabbath evening was not selected, because we commonly had preaching, and after three public services many were too much exhausted, both in body and mind, to be profited by any further instruction. Monday evening was chosen, as being nearest to the Sabbath; for in those days, we relied more on the Sabbath, to advance the revival and bring in new enquirers, than any other day of the week. My invitations were confined to those who were more or less anxious; and whatever advantage others may possibly derive from attending, I have seen more than one enquiry meeting chilled, and in my judgment spoiled, by their presence. It makes a wonderful difference in the effect, whether the majority are deeply impressed, or but little interested, if interested at all.

My manner of conducting these meetings was, after a short prayer and a short address, to pass round and speak to each individual in a whisper, which could rarely be heard by any other person; and in this way I ascertained the feelings of from thirty to fifty persons, within the hour and a half. When the number of enquirers was much larger, I invited some ministerial brother to come in and assist me. When any important thought was suggested by the answers which my questions elicited, I was in the habit of throwing it out to the meeting, as briefly as possible, and then passing on. Whenever I found a case requiring special attention, I reserved it for an early interview elsewhere. Besides these general enquiry meetings, I appointed smaller ones, when the state of things seemed to demand it; and found them

very useful, while much time was saved, which it would have cost me, to go from house to house.

Much has been said, within a few years past, for and against "new measures," and you will probably expect something from me on this controverted subject. My own views are perhaps somewhat peculiar. I neither approve of new measures as such, nor condemn them. I care not whether a measure be new or old, provided it be scriptural and well adapted to bring sinners to repentance, and to build up the church upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone." Five and twenty years ago, enquiry meetings, as they are now generally conducted, and female prayer meetings, were new measures; and I think it not unlikely, that as revivals become more frequent and powerful, other measures, which have not yet been thought of, will be adopted with great success. While therefore I feel constrained to express my strong disapprobation of some of the measures which have been introduced by certain "revivalists" in different parts of the country, it is not because they are new. It is because I think their direct tendency is to corrupt revivals, and fill the churches with false professors.

One of these measures is, calling on sinners to rise and "commit themselves," before the whole congregation. This is done under the impression, that if you can induce a person to take such a step, he will be more likely to become a christian than if he were left to his own meditations, and to be conversed with privately by the pastor. It may be so in some