As the day drew towards its close, the little bell again summoned the
congregation to the church. On this solemn occasion, but few of those who
still lived to hear its sounds were absent. The moment when Meek arose for
prayer was one of general and intense feeling. The places so lately
occupied by those who had fallen were now empty, and they resembled so
many eloquent blanks in the description of what had passed, expressing far
more than any language could impart. The appeal of the divine was in his
usual strain of sublimated piety, mysterious insights into the hidden
purposes of Providence being strangely blended with the more intelligible
wants and passions of man. While he gave Heaven the glory of the victory,
he spoke with a lofty and pretending humility of the instruments of its
power; and although seemingly willing to acknowledge that his people
abundantly deserved the heavy blow which had alighted on them, there was
an evident impatience of the agents by which it had been inflicted. The
principles of the sectarian were so singularly qualified by the feelings
of the borderer, that one subtle in argument would have found little
difficulty in detecting flaws in the reasoning of this zealot; but as so
much was obscured by metaphysical mists, and so much was left for the
generalities of doctrine, his hearers, without an exception, made such an
application of what he uttered, as apparently rendered every mind
satisfied.
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