I received, in due form, a requisition to appear before the body of the
_church_, at its general meeting. I appeared. The chapel was thronged,
the majority of members being women. In the hands of nearly every third
person was a printed paper. I was not then aware of its contents; if I
had been, the ceremony would, in all probability, have concluded with my
entrance. Will it be believed, that this paper contained a printed
formula of the questions which were to test the quality of my faith, and
to pronounce upon the vitality and worth of my spiritual pretensions!
Any person present was at liberty to address me, and to form his own
opinion of my case from the manner and the matter which their ingenuity
elicited. At the suggestion of Mr Tomkins, who, in his capacity of
deacon, was remarkably active on this occasion, it was deemed proper
that I should enter upon my "experience" at once. My heart fluttered as
I rose to comply with the demand, and the chapel was hushed. It will be
sufficient to say, that I repeated my entire history, and secured the
attention of my auditory until I had spoken my last word. There were
parts of the narrative which I could, with a glance, perceive to be
peculiarly _piquant_ and acceptable. As these occurred, a rustling and a
murmur expressed the subdued applause. When, for instance, I mentioned
the disgust which I had conceived for the University upon losing the
scholarship, and the uneasiness which I afterwards felt as long as I
continued a member of that community, a few of the most acute looked at
one another, and shrugged mysteriously, as who should say, "How wondrous
are the ways of Providence!" and when I arrived at the point of my
deliverance by the hand of their own minister, there would have been, I
thought, no end to the gesticulations, expressions of gratitude and joy,
that burst from the "church," in spite of the praiseworthy efforts of
the minister to control and keep them down. When I had concluded, and
whilst the half-suppressed rejoicing still buzzed in the chapel, the