Page:The English Peasant.djvu/362

 go and hear the Coalheaver, sir; he is the man that will suit you; he preaches near here every Tuesday night." He went, and Huntington gave out the text, "All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men." "Let me out! let me out!" cried the unhappy man. But the crowd was too great; he was compelled to remain, and that night he was delivered from the fear which had so long oppressed him.

Others, men of widely different temperament, attended his ministry. Mr Peto, founder of the firm of "Peto, Brassey, and Co.," was one such. He was the builder of the Custom House, and the following story is related in connection with laying its foundation stone:—The ceremony was performed by the Premier of the day, the Earl of Liverpool; and when Mr Peto handed the mallet and trowel he was observed to offer a prayer. Lord Liverpool was much struck, and after the business was over learnt from Mr Peto that he attended the ministry of Mr Huntington. Next Sunday Lord Liverpool, and a number of persons with him, came to hear the Peasant Preacher.

Several of the servants in the royal household were members of the church of which Huntington was pastor; the Princess Amelia frequently came to hear him preach, and George III. himself was known to have read some of his books.

Such success would have turned the head of a hypocrite or a fanatic. That one whose birth was so ignominious, who for years had been a poor labourer, a gardener, a coalheaver, a cobbler, and at one time nothing more nor less than a tramp, should stand up in the metropolis of England, and not only have thousands crowding to hear him, but amongst them men of thought and rank, was enough to tempt the sincerest and most sensible of men to pride and self-exaltation. That Huntington did not become quite giddy with the glory of his position must be attributed to the same power which had enabled him to fight with his spiritual darkness until God gave him light, and which had upheld him when starvation stared him in the face, or persecution threatened to overwhelm him. Prayer, he writes in one of his works, "is the ascent of the heart to the Almighty, and its returns are the descent of Christ to the soul's help. Prayer is a