so persecuted they the prophets, which were before me, and that they persecuted my Master even unto death, I have only to say:  ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do?’ I shall go on with the meeting, ’looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith,’ to sustain, protect and guide me in all things.”  It was, perhaps, the drinking of this cup of persecution that passed our brother across the Rubicon, that burned all the bridges behind him and caused him to bow in humble submission to the will of Almighty God.

  “’Tis ever so thy faithful love
  Does all thy children’s graces prove;
  ’Tis thus our pride and self must fall
  That Jesus may be all in all.”

As the meeting continued, and as the scores and hundreds came together “at the sound of the church-going bell,” from day to day the leader seemed to develop in power from God to move, melt and sway the hearts of the listening crowds, as he sung and prayed and talked “of Jesus and his dying love.”  After more than five weeks’ continuance, the services closed.  Scores were converted, many valuable additions were made to the Church, Christians were renewed and developed in piety of heart and life, and the leavening and saving power of the Gospel was extended through the town and surrounding country.

This meeting was the beginning and earnest of the blessings and success that has attended Bro.  Penn’s labors for more than nine years past, while in his life we see that,

  “Defects thro’ nature’s best productions run. 
  The saints have spots, and spots are in the sun,
  And that he, with all of Adam’s race,
  Are only ‘sinners’ saved by grace.”

Yet we rejoice and praise God for what has been manifested in his growth and development in his work mentally and spiritually, for the life, power and efficiency infused into our churches by his ministrations—­for his rebukes, exposures and denunciations of sin, in and out of the Church; for holding up Christ at all times, as the only hope of lost sinners; for tearing away the mask of a heartless formality in the profession and practice of religion; for the thousands of all classes and ages in the forests and prairies of Texas, where he has pitched his great gospel tent, and in the cities of Galveston, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Ft.  Worth, Mobile, Memphis, Louisville, St. Louis, and in the cities of California, in scores of crowded places of worship; in smaller towns and in the country, who have been brought to Christ as lost sinners through his instrumentality; and that at all times and through his whole ministry he has declared “the whole counsel of God,” and made no compromises with error and heresy.

As to the disquisition of Maj.  Penn, which frowns on the modern dance, we ask for it a careful reading and an honest and practical application of its facts, arguments and illustration, as the prize, practical essay of the age on this subject, so far as is known.  That it is clear, pointed and overwhelming in its exposures of the evils and crimes, the corruptions and abominations of the modern dance is confirmed by experience and observation.