Occasionally some good elder would rise to break the painful silence, by repeating some thought from the previous Sunday’s sermon, or by telling some incident or some idea which he had seen in a previous number of “The Christian Union.”  But as we had all been to church, and as most of us take “The Christian Union,” this did not add much to the interest of the meeting.  Generally another prayer and hymn, sometimes two, sufficed to fill the hour.  The pastor kept his eye on the clock.  When the hand pointed to nine he rose for the benediction.  And never did a crowd of imprisoned schoolboys show more glad exultation at their release than was generally indicated by these brethren and sisters when the words of benediction dismissed them from their period of irksome restraint.  Every man, and every woman, too, found a tongue.  We broke up into little knots.  A busy hum of many voices replaced the dead silence.  The “social meeting” commenced when the “prayer-meeting” ended.  This, I think, is a fair portraiture of our prayer-meetings at Wheathedge as they were during our late pastor’s presence with us.

The fault was not his-at least it was only proximately his.  He felt the burden, groaned under it, tried hard, poor man! to remedy the evil.  He often came to consult me about it.  He tried various plans.  He gave a course of weekly lectures.  The prayer-meeting was less a meeting of prayer than before.  No man was willing to follow his elaborate lecture with a fragmentary talk.  He announced from the pulpit, the preceding Sabbath, the topic for the next meeting.  Worse and worse!  A few members conscientiously studied up the passage in “Barnes’s Notes” and the “Comprehensive Commentary,” and brought us the result of their investigations in discourse powerfully prosy, and recondite with second hand learning.  The Minister at last gave up the matter in despair.  I think the condition of our prayer-meetings was one consideration which greatly influenced him in deciding to leave.

I thought that there was nothing left in them to be lost, that no change could be other than for the better; but after he went what little meeting we had fell away.  The few who had been attracted by his personal presence ceased to come.  In vain we endeavored to revive our flagging spirits by continually reminding one another that the promise was to two or three gathered together.  That was our standard text.  Every leader referred to it in his prayers, and generally in his opening remarks.  We had need of it.  For the last two weeks there were not members enough present to serve as pall-bearers for the dead prayer-meeting.