us, that kingdom which is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost? Then, again, as to the instrumentalities which God's Spirit employs, these may be often exceptional to His general rule. For it is surely a great mercy when the regular ministry, or any other ordinance of His, becomes inefficient through sinful indifference or unbelief, that He should raise up in such an emergency, and that too from the most unexpected quarters, those who will do the work which others ought to have done. The grand end of saving lost souls, and bringing many sons and daughters unto God, cannot be sacrificed to any organisation ordained for that purpose when it fails either to seek it or accomplish it. Thus "God fulfils Himself in many ways, Lest one _good custom_ should corrupt the world." If, therefore, we find, as a matter of fact, that some one who follows not us--_why_ he does not follow with us we may not be able to understand--is yet confessing Christ's name, and so doing Christ's work that devils are cast out by him, we dare not say, "Forbid him." Our Lord does not command us to forbid him, any more than He commands him to follow us. He says only, "Forbid him not. He who is not against us is for us." We all need humbly to act on such a principle. But should we in our pride and ignorance condemn a sincere and faithful labourer _for_ Christ, our Lord will not confirm our judgment. On the other hand, he who does not "follow" the ministers of Christ's Church, whom he finds already engaged in the Master's work, must answer to the Lord for incurring so solemn and serious a responsibility. But we must pass rapidly and more briefly to the consideration of one other objection to revivals. 3. "We object entirely to revivals because of the great excitement which attends them." To this we reply-- We admit the possibility of great excitement connected with religious truth, in spite of the total absence of religious character. There is no more interesting or remarkable chapter in history than that which records the _manias_ that have spread like epidemics at different periods (especially during the middle ages) over Europe. They are cases of _hysteria_ upon a great scale; and that these should take a religious form as well as any other is no way impossible. It has happened a hundred times before, and will happen often again. We have seen cases of "revival" which were purely physical, with little religious knowledge and no religious character, in those who were most under the influence of the preacher, but with much ignorance and great nervous susceptibility. Preachers as ignorant as these people have been deceived by such appearances, which, not being able to account for by any natural cause, they at once attribute to supernatural agency. But, putting aside those illustrations of very common physical phenomena, we admit--