He went home in a very deplorable condition. His wife,
distressed beyond measure, got him to bed, and he fell asleep, and she,
poor woman, sat watching him, and weeping, hoping he might wake to
lament his error and become again a sober man. He awoke in a fury, and
attempted to destroy himself. He was mad with shame and horror, and
declared he could not and would not live. When I entered, his wife had
been watching him and struggling with him for several hours, to keep him
from suicide. I just got in in time to save the man, and relieve his
exhausted wife, and I was enabled to reconcile the man to live a little
longer, and try teetotalism again. My misguided superintendent never
attempted to reason with me, but when he thought he had a chance of
punishing me for my teetotalism, he snatched at the apparent opportunity
with the greatest eagerness.
One week night, when appointed to preach in Chester Chapel, I gave the
people a sermon on temperance. Some days after, I was summoned to a
meeting of officials, to give an account of my doings. I attended. My
superintendent, the bitter enemy of teetotalism, was in the chair, and
on each side of him sat a number of men of similar feelings, and of
grosser habits. I was told there was a complaint against me, to the
effect that the last time I was at Chester I had preached teetotalism
instead of the Gospel.
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