It has been a question of serious doubt with some of the most excellent on earth, whether the protracted meeting is compatible with the genius of the Christian Institution, and whether more evil does not attend it than good. But from the day we engaged in the service of our Redeemer, to this hour, we have had no doubt of the propriety of protracted efforts for the conversion of men. It is true, these efforts may be made in such a _manner_; such policies and appliances may be employed and a resort may be made to such means of excitement, as would be wholly unjustifiable. But this may be done on any other occasion, as well as at the protracted meeting, and the fault is not in the protracted effort, but in the _means_ employed. All efforts made to excite men without enlightening them; to rouse the feelings without informing the judgment; to produce action without the knowledge how to act, are wholly unscriptural, and equally at war with the best interests of mankind. To hold a protracted meeting, while talented orators shall picture to men, in the most startling manner, the sinfulness of sin, the lost condition of man, the awfulness of death, the ineffable bliss of heaven, and the unutterable horrors of hell, without giving any adequate instructions how to obtain deliverance from sin, or the dangers of punishment, and an ultimate admission into the felicities of the eternal state of the blessed, we all admit to be as irrational as unscriptural. Indeed, we can not conceive anything more incompatible with all enlightenment and all revelation, than to awaken the human soul to a sense of its danger, without affording a knowledge of the means of escape. That such, however, is the case in thousands of the revival movements of our times, no intelligent person can deny. Who has not seen the penitent, when the invitation has been extended, come, inquiring, “What must I do to be saved?” and not a man on the ground who could answer the question. Who has not heard the preacher invite, persuade and entreat the sinner to come to the Lord, assuring him that he who seeks shall find—he who comes shall in no wise be cast out—that if any man knocks at the door, the Lord will open to him, and, when persons, induced through such invitation, come seeking the way, not a man present could point it out? We have all witnessed occasions of this kind. Nay, more, we have known such seekers to come, time after time, seeking, honestly and devoutly seeking, but still not finding! Yes, this is not the worst. We have heard the preacher advise them to join the church, that probably the Lord would bless them, that persons had been known to “get religion” after joining the church, etc., etc., and we have known them to take this advice, join the church, and remain for years, _seeking_ all the time, and still failing to find! Every community can testify the same.