She was sullen, and hard to persuade; but after a little more conversation and prayer, she consented to lay aside her prejudice and do as I had told her.  She did so, and came again the next morning to see me.  Fortunately, I was not in my house, but shut up, as my custom was in the church for meditation and prayer.  She followed me thither, but being engaged with my Master, I answered no knocks or taps, whether at the doors or windows; even on this occasion I did not respond, although I heard some one walking round and round the church and knocking impatiently for admittance.  When I came out, I heard that Hannah—­had called and wished very much to see me; for she wanted (to use her own expression) “to hug the dear head of him, if she could catch him.”  She was happy beyond expression, for she had had a dream; and what is more she said that she had entered into the “second blessing.”

In her dream she saw a well of water as clear as crystal; it was beautiful, and the clean pebbles at the bottom quite glistened with brightness, so that she could count them.  “There, there,” she said, “What does any one want clearer and cleaner than that?” As she looked into this clear well, my voice said to her, “Throw a pebble into it,” when she did so; in an instant the water became thick and dirty.  “Ah,” said my voice again, “The water of grace is always clear as crystal, but the well in which it is—­that is your heart is most unclean.  The Lord can give you a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within you” (Ps. 51:10).  She woke up from her sleep, and immediately began to pray, asking the Lord for a clean heart, until she obtained it.

Some may say, “But what did she obtain?” This question is seldom if ever asked by persons who know the experience of this blessing; but to those who do not, it is very difficult to convey an idea of what it is by definitions.  Let it be enough to understand that there is something desirable to be had, which may be obtained by doing as the woman did.  “As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man” (Prov. 27:19).  Those who know it, understand one another and rejoice together.  There is no such mutual sympathy and joy as that which brethren have who are partakers of this higher blessing.

After this, Hannah became a restful, peaceful soul; and many others, with her, found that quiet confidence which can only belong to those who can and do trust a risen and living Christ.

It was quite a new era in the work, and called out fresh energies; but like every new thing, it absorbed too much attention, to the exclusion of the simple Gospel for the unsaved.  “Christ died for our sins,” is only part of the Gospel, though a very important part.  “Christ rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3, 4), is also a part, which should not be omitted in its due time and place.  These two important truths, I am sure, are needful for scriptural work, and they should both be systematically preached.