"Read, Madam, before you retire to rest this evening, the third chapter of the gospel of John; ponder over what you read, it may do you some spiritual good."
SABBATH EVENING AT FAIRMOUNT.
I n the estimation of Mr. Stevens, who was educated within the pale of the Church of England, and who had imbibed from his parents an intolerant spirit, the Dissenters were unworthy of the toleration which had been granted to them; as he believed they were decidedly inimical not only to the religious, but the political constitution of the state. Hence he often blamed the government for granting them so much religious liberty. And even after he had felt the spiritual change, which forms the great line of distinction in the human character, he retained, for a long time, too many of his old prejudices against them. But, becoming an active agent of the Bible Society, he was unexpectedly brought into contact with some whom he found to be men of sense, of piety, of zeal, and of candour; more disposed to disseminate the pure faith of Christianity, than propagate their own peculiar tenets. He now rose superior to his long indulged antipathies; and though he still gave a decided preference to the church of which he was a member, yet he felt convinced that there were many wise and good men belonging to other religious communities. As he was by nature of an open and generous disposition, the spirit of liberality found in his heart a congenial soil for its growth and expansion. He would often repeat, with peculiar warmth of expression, the following verses:—
"Be that bigotry far from our breast,
Which would Christian from Christian divide;
Which by blind party zeal is caress'd,
The offspring of folly and pride.
"Names, parties, and sects disappear,
With their separate int'rests and laws,
No name, but of Christ, would we bear,
No int'rest but that of his cause."
Happily for him, and for the neighbourhood in which he lived, his pastor, the Rev. Mr. Ingleby, was a man of a most catholic spirit, who viewed the circumstantial differences which prevail among Christians as of little consequence, in comparison with the more important truths on which they are agreed. He felt a stronger attachment to the Redeemer than to the formula of the church of which he was a minister; and though he was a man of order, and conscientious in the observance of all ecclesiastical laws, yet he thought that the Word of God ought not to be bound by human restrictions.
As the population of the parish was large, and the gospel was not preached within the distance of two miles from Mr. Stevens' villa, he, at the suggestion of his amiable lady, conceived the design of building a small chapel in its immediate vicinity, for a religious service on Sabbath evenings. He was aware that he should subject himself to the sarcasms, if not to the contempt, of the more fashionable and bigoted; but he esteemed the reproach of Christ a greater honour than the applause of men; and seeing the people around him perishing for lack of the knowledge of the way of salvation, he thought it his duty to do all in his power to make it known to them. But he did not venture on the execution of his plan till he had first consulted his pastor, who, instead of censuring him for his zeal, or presuming to silence him for not possessing the mysterious charm of office, grace, encouraged him to proceed. "If," said the holy man, "you can get the people to love the gospel in the evening, they will soon come to church to hear it in the morning; and if they should be converted through the instrumentality of lay preaching, they will love the Saviour as much, and be at last as happy in heaven, as though the great change were produced through the instrumentality of clerical preaching."
The chapel was built on an elevated spot of ground near the roadside, so that it was visible from the most populous parts of the hamlet; and though the building of it gave great offence to a few, yet it pleased the majority. At first, Mr. Stevens read a sermon to the congregation; but after a while he composed discourses, which he delivered extempore; and being a man of reading, and of a ready utterance, his labours gave very general satisfaction. Some of the thoughtless had become serious, and some of the dissipated had become religious, which he considered a satisfactory proof of the Divine blessing; and though he was much importuned by some of his friends to abandon what they called his wild project, and resume his more orderly habits of a regular churchman, yet he steadily refused to do so. His reply to the gainsayer was, "The love of Christ constraineth me."