One of them we are free of because, one night, seeing him wiggle-waggle in his seat as if about to rise, we sent an elder to him to say that his remarks were not acceptable.  The elder blushed and halted a little when we gave him the mission, but setting his teeth together he started for the offensive brother, leaned over the back of the pew and discharged the duty.  We have never seen that brother since, but once in the street, and then he was looking the other way.

By what right such men go about in ecclesiastical vagabondism to spoil the peace of devotional meetings it is impossible to tell.  Either that nuisance must be abated or we must cease to “throw open” our prayer-meetings for exhortation.

A few words about the uses of a week-night service.  Many Christians do not appreciate it; indeed, it is a great waste of time, unless there be some positive advantage gained.

The French nation at one time tried having a Sabbath only once in ten days.  The intelligent Christian finds he needs a Sabbath every three or four days, and so builds a brief one on the shore of a week-day in the shape of an extra religious service.  He gets grace on Sabbath to bridge the chasm of worldliness between that and the next Sabbath, but finds the arch of the bridge very great, and so runs up a pier midway to help sustain the pressure.

There are one hundred and sixty-eight hours in a week, and but two hours of public religious service on Sabbath.  What chance have two hours in a battle with one hundred and sixty-eight?

A week-night meeting allows church membership utterance.  A minister cannot know how to preach unless in a conference meeting he finds the religious state of the people.  He must feel the pulse before giving the medicine, otherwise he will not know whether it ought to be an anodyne or a stimulant.  Every Christian ought to have something to say.  Every man is a walking eternity.  The plainest man has Omnipotence to defend him, Omniscience to watch him, infinite Goodness to provide for him.  The tamest religious experience has in it poems, tragedies, histories, Iliads, Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained.  Ought not such a one have something to say?

If you were ever in the army you know what it is to see an officer on horseback dash swiftly past carrying a dispatch.  You wondered as he went what the news was.  Was the army to advance, or was an enemy coming?

So every Christian carries a dispatch from God to the world.  Let him ride swiftly to deliver it.  The army is to advance and the enemy is coming.  Go out and fulfill your mission.  You may have had a letter committed to your care, and after some days you find it in one of your pockets, you forgot to deliver it.  Great was your chagrin when you found that it pertained to some sickness or trouble.  God gives every man a letter of warning or invitation to carry, and what will be your chagrin in the judgment to find that you nave forgotten it!