phenomena, we admit--

That excitement is by no means to be desired. Its _tendency_ is to
produce reaction, and, when the fire passes, to leave nothing but
ashes behind. We may receive the Word with joy, and yet it may soon
wither; and also give our bodies to be burned, and yet be nothing.
_Mere_ excitement is next door to grossness and licentiousness. Both
have the same sensuous elements in them. Had we our choice, we would
prefer a revival without any excitement.

It is, therefore, not only possible, but it has frequently happened,
that hundreds have been powerfully moved by a revival, have professed
faith in Christ, found peace with God, and been assured by enthusiasts
and fanatics that they were now actually "saved," who soon gave token
that they never had been saved from either gross ignorance or gross
sin, but destroyed rather by want of sense in themselves, and in those
who, from ignorance or vanity, excited their feelings, and worked on
their mere animal sensibilities.

But we have not our choice in such matters. We cannot change the laws
of the human mind, and as long as these remain, it may not in every
case be possible to prevent some degree of excitement by what so
powerfully appeals to every feeling and affection in the soul of man.
Given only that the facts of Christianity are true regarding man's
condition without a Saviour, and all that has been done for him, and
must be done in him, before salvation is possible, with the tremendous
consequences throughout eternity attached to his faith and repentance
in time,--and excitement is very natural, and not altogether
unbecoming, in him who sees and believes, and, as it generally happens
where excitement exists, who _hears_, these truths for the first time