Vincent's eyes. When Tozer brushed his red handkerchief across his face,
as he was moved to do two or three times in the course of the sermon,
the gleam seemed to the minister, who was himself somewhat excited, to
redden over the entire throng. It was thus that Mr. Vincent ended his
connection with Salem Chapel. It was a heavy blow to the congregation
for the time--so heavy that the spirit of the butterman yielded; he was
not seen in his familiar seat for three full Sundays after; but the
place was mismanaged in Pigeon's hands, and regard for the connection
brought Tozer to the rescue. They had Mr. Beecher down from Homerton,
who made a very good impression. The subsequent events are so well known
in Carlingford, that it is hardly necessary to mention the marriage of
the new minister, which took place about six months afterwards. Old Mr.
Tufton blessed the union of his dear young brother with the blushing
Phoebe, who made a most suitable minister's wife in Salem after the
first disagreeables were over; and Mr. Beecher proved a great deal more
tractable than any man of genius. If he was not quite equal to Mr.
Vincent in the pulpit, he was much more complaisant at all the
tea-parties; and, after a year's experience, was fully acknowledged,
both by himself and others, to have made an 'it.
Vincent meanwhile plunged into that world of life which the young man
did not know; not that matters looked badly for him when he left
Carlingford--on the contrary, the connection in general thrilled to hear
of his conduct and his speech. The enthusiasm in Homerton was too great
to be kept within bounds. Such a demonstration of the rightful claims of
the preacher had not been made before in the memory of man; and the
enlightened Nonconforming community did honour to the martyr. Three
vacant congregations at least wooed him to their pulpits; his fame
spread over the country: but he did not accept any of these invitations;
and after a while the eminent Dissenting families who invited him to
dinner, found so many other independencies cropping out in the young
man, that the light of their countenances dimmed upon him. It began to
be popularly reported, that a man so apt to hold opinions of his own,
and so convinced of the dignity of his office, had best have been in the
Church where people knew no better. Such, perhaps, might have been the
conclusion to which he came himself; but education and prejudice and
Homerton stood invincible in the way. A Church of the Future--an ideal
corporation, grand and primitive, not yet realised, but surely real, to
be come at one day--shone before his eyes, as it shines before so many;
but, in the mean time, the Nonconformist went into literature, as was
natural, and was, it is believed in Carlingford, the founder of the
'Philosophical Review,' that new organ of public opinion. He had his
battle to fight, and fought it out in silence, saying little to any one.
Sundry old arrows were in his heart, still quivering by times as he
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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