can only be experienced from clear views of God's Gospel. He had a strong desire to do good; and although he could not speak publicly, he nevertheless could utter a word in season privately, and he did so. He had taken a number of our tracts and some of our larger publications, such as Mr. Kirk's Way of Life made Plain, Dr. Morison's Saving Faith, &c. These were quietly circulated among the people round about, many of whom were earnestly seeking light, life, and peace. How soon came what was sought when that Gospel, which is the power of God to salvation to them that believe, was understood! One after another entered into that peace which passeth all understanding. Men who had been elders in churches came like little children into the kingdom. The books were so prized that some sat up till midnight; and others rose at midnight to read and drink in the words of life, the supply of books being limited. Those thus blessed and saved were desirous to have the truth which had been the means of their salvation proclaimed with the living voice. Negotiations were entered into with a Christian brother, Mr. William Clark, at that time a teacher in Aberdeen. This young man had been for one session at our Academy, but had been unable to prosecute his studies owing to the state of his health. Mr. W. Clark was a devoted young man, full of zeal, and a very fluent speaker. He went for a short visit to Shapinshay, and preached the full free Gospel to all. A widespread interest was awakened in the island, and not a few souls were saved.

After this visit by Mr. Clark a request was sent to our Academy for a preacher. That request being submitted to me by Dr. Morison, I agreed to go to Shapinshay. On landing, I was most heartily welcomed, almost as if I had been an angel of mercy, by the warm-hearted, earnest people. A house in the small village was fitted up for our week-night meetings. But we found it necessary to hold our Sabbath day meeting in the granary of J. Balfour, Esq., on the farm beside the castle. On these Sabbath meetings Mr. Balfour and his amiable lady attended, and seemed to be deeply and kindly interested in the growing movement. The thought, for the first time, was now entertained of forming a church. There was at the time a new pier being made for the small crafts that came to the island, and there were some thirty-seven of Mr. Balfour's men working daily together. Most of them were awakened to spiritual concern; and they spoke one to another of the way of life.

The friends of the movement were desirous that our Gospel doctrines should be preached in Kirkwall. With a view to have this done, six of the brethren, taking me along with them,

sailed over, and made application for the Academy of Kirkwall, which at the time was generally given on application for lectures and mission meetings. The grant was obtained in a written note from the chief magistrate-a banker. The night and hour of meeting being settled, and notices ordered to be put forth for the meeting, we sailed back to Shapinshay, intending to return as arranged in three days. But on our return we found a different state of things from what we anticipated. After the grant had been given us of the use of the academy, an uneasy feeling arose about us; and a meeting of councillors was convened by some of the ministers to revoke the grant given for the use of the academy; and the much respected banker was instructed to withdraw the grant to hold our meeting. Consequently, when we came to the academy, we found the door locked. The person in charge told us to go to the magistrate and get the reason. We went, and were very respectfully told that the academy could not be granted -that a meeting of councillors had been held, and that he had been instructed to withdraw the grant, which he reluctantly required to do; and so dissatisfied was he with what he considered to be an injustice to us that he gave up having anything more to do from that day with having any charge of the public meetings in the academy. We asked this gentleman why the council had seen fit to act in this manner? He replied, they said that we were "Morisonians." I asked what Morisonians were? He said "It was made to appear to be something very bad in that meeting of deliberation;" but for himself he did not know. Disappointed, and somewhat disheartened, we went to get lodgings; for I had determined, along with the brethren, that I would preach somewhere in Kirkwall before I left it. Lodgings being secured for me, the brethren set sail over the dark and somewhat stormy arm of the sea home to Shapinshay. Next day they told what had been done; and when the saying came to the ears of Mr. Balfour, he wrote a letter to me, to go and get his man in Kirkwall, who had the charge of his shipping store, to prepare it for our meeting. This was done. In this store Dr. Paterson's congregation had met and worshipped during the building of their new chapel. Intimation having been sent through the town, and the people's anxiety having been awakened by what had taken place, when the hour of meeting came the store was crowded, and many had to go away who could get no admittance. Mr. Balfour, with a number of the islanders, had come from Shapinshay, and others from greater distances, to see and hear for themselves. Thus the exclusion by the ministers and some of the council proved in the end a great good. It

awakened interest in various ways. I preached from Ezek. xxxiii, 11. All listened most attentively. At the close, I intimated that I had some thousands of tracts (the gift of the late Mr. Reid of Dunfermline) which contained the same doctrines. The tracts were received with great readiness. A perfect rush was made to get them from the friends who were giving them away.

Next Sabbath, one of the leading ministers of Kirkwall gave intimation that he would preach in the evening upon "the new fangled theology;" which he did. I went and heard him. His text was Ephesians ii, 8, from which he took occasion to notice three things about this new fangled theology: (1.) that those men held that they could save themselves by believing; (2.) that they could believe when they chose; (3.) that they denied the need of the Spirit of God. Next day I sent out an intimation that I would preach in Mr. Balfour's store on the same subject, when the house was crowded. At the close, one of the Free Church elders came and thanked me for the exposition given. In other churches the ministers in some instances sought to intimidate the people. The members of one of those churches who had possessed and professed faith in Jesus, and dissented from the Calvinistic creed, were brought before the session to answer for their views on the atonement of Christ. On the "Fast Day" they were for a second time brought up when the regular service was over. On that "Fast Day" the officiating minister intimated that "certain members were to be dealt with in reference to their views." But, apparently with the view that all the congregation present might hear and fear, he then and there charged these brethren with heresy, and called on them, before the whole congregation, to answer. This was unexpected by the brethren; but it was wonderful how "they spoke as the Spirit gave them utterance." In meekness and fear they certainly " gave a reason of the hope that was in them." These brethren humbly asked the ministers to explain to them, if they could, some passages, in consistency with the Calvinistic creed, such as John iii, 16; 1 John ii, 2; 2 Peter ii, 1. On the last of these the officiating minister commented, dwelling largely on who the "false teachers" meant, and plainly mentioning the names of Mr. Morison and Mr. John Kirk, as somewhat allied to these "false teachers." The speaker having finished, one of the brethren said, "Sir, it was not as to the false teachers we had our difficulty; but it was in reference to the sense in which these false teachers could deny the Lord who bought them, if Jesus never died or suffered for them." The minister, feeling the question to be too closely put, lost temper and said, "Sit down, sir; neither you nor any other one

knows in what sense they were bought." This remarkable triumph of truth with our brethren that day, before the congregation, did much to convince many that the views these brethren now held were Bible views. Having seen the work so far established, and good done to not a few souls, I left for a season. In the beginning of May 1851, I, along with the Rev. Mr. Wallace, now of Glasgow, was led to go back to Orkney. In sailing from Aberdeen we had a stormy passage, and were much detained behind time. We should have reached on Saturday, but it was Sabbath at mid-day before we got to Shapinshay. As the steamer hove in sight, the congregations on the island were about to be dispersed. But so great was the faith of our brethren that we would be there and fit for duty that they intimated a meeting for us. Composed largely of the dispersing worshippers, the meeting was held in Mr. Balfour's granary, beside the castle, and a truly interesting meeting it was. Mr. Wallace and I laboured in Shapinshay, Kirkwall, and in the islands of Holms and Barry for some five or six weeks. Never will either of us forget the deeply earnest meetings, some of them in the woodyard in Kirkwall, others by the Sound of Holm on the green, where wooden platforms were erected, and the people listened with deep interest to the words of eternal life. It was now plain that the cause was to be carried forward; and, before leaving, I wrote for brother Salmon, who was then in Dundee. I knew Mr. Salmon, and thought him the very man for the post. He went and laboured for a time. The Rev. Professor Kirk also went, and assisted in forming the church, and its successful history under Mr. Salmon is well known. Mr. Balfour kindly gave two acres of ground for a church, manse, and glebe; and was himself a frequent hearer, having a seat in the new chapel.

The subsequent history of the church, up to last year, under the successive ministries of the Rev. Messrs. Hutcheson, now deceased, and Craig, now of Catrine, Ayrshire, is also well known throughout the denomination.

LOST POWER.

IT is simply a question of time, we are told, not only with the fuel that is stored up, and the food we require, but even with the sun itself. All is to be exhausted. Science is speaking to us of the dissipation of force. Having carried us through the questions of the transformation and conservation of energy, it is dwelling with some emphasis just now on its dissipation. Even with the sun, it is hard times at present,

for he is living upon his capital, giving out much more than he is taking in! As Balfour Stewart puts it, he "is in the position of a man whose expenditure exceeds his income, and must share the fate of all who act in a similar manner. We must, therefore, contemplate a future period when he will be poorer in energy than he is at present, and a period still further in the future when he will altogether cease to shine." Even as Samson, shorn of his locks, was unable to go out as at other times and shake himself, the sun will be unable to shine through loss of power. And thus it comes that "as regards usefulness or fitness for living beings, the energy of the universe is in process of deterioration." Heat," says the author of the Unseen Universe, "is par excellence the communist of our universe, and it will, no doubt, ultimately bring the system to an end." In the language of science, heat becomes dissipated or degraded. Power is lost. The study of lost power is thus a wide one; but it is with the story of lost power within another circle that we are chiefly concerned just now. The sun furnace may indeed one day go out; but that event is a long way ahead of us yet. Meantime there are other energies becoming exhausted, whose importance touches our interests at the very core.

The story of lost power, if indeed any one could write it, would be a very sad one. It would be a very long one, too; for illustrations of it press in upon the mind from every quarter. And yet, in fact, it has to some extent been written, or rather it is being written, every member of the race contributing his portion of the story every day. For the history of humanity is just the story of lost power. All round the circle of our nature strength has been impaired. In more ways than one men are shorn of their locks by subtile foes of whose presence they did not dream. Their power has been dissipated, has been in fact degraded. Such an one as Samson stands out before us, a man on whom God conferred great strength, and furnished in many ways for high deeds, but whose life is a story of lost power. All unconscious of the silent unexpected departure of his strength, he imagines that, as the lion might shake from his shaggy mane the noisome insect, he has nothing to do but, as on former occasions, go forth and shake himself in order to get rid of his tormentors. Alas for him! He wakes up to the consciousness that the old power has gone. Thus the distance between the "I will" of unconscious ignorance and the result of realized impotence is very great sometimes. All unthinking of the change that has taken place, he dreams of going forth as formerly to show his power, not reckoning on the fact that the conditions are