and a pre

a heathen and lords

'enabled Hesh and

CHAPTER III.

He seeks church-fellowship-advises with a pious clergyman, with whom he meets in band-unites himself, on the clergyman's leaving the neighbourhood, to the Wesleyan Methodists-the kind of preaching under which he profited-Society at Sturton Grange-revival of religion-two colliers rendered extensively useful-a solitary barn the resort of the devout-Samuel's distress on account of indwelling sin, and his deliverance from it-singular occurrence-deep distress compatible with a state of justification.

MAN, who was originally formed for society, and furnished with its felicities in Paradise, carries with him into every climate, and into all circumstances, those elements which, when properly improved and directed, not only fit him for social life, but render him restless without it, as well as inspire him with a solicitude for its blessings. A few solitary hermitical and misanthropic exceptions, or an occasional wish for "wings like a dove," to "fly away" from its bustle, in order to "be at rest," are not to be adduced as arguments against the general principle; for even among those who are most partial to retirement, who are least in love with the world of beings around them, and who, in opposition to the designs of God in helping man by man, convert themselves into misers' treasure-a kind of moral and intellectual cash, hoarded up in the safe of a monastery or a nunnery, useless to such as are most in need of their aid, and whose wants might be essentially relieved by an expenditure of their time and of their talents-even among those the love of society is inherent, and is manifested by their institutions, where groups are permitted to dwell and mingle with each other, if not as the coin itself, as the misers of Christianity. This love of society is not destroyed, but regulated and strengthened by religion; and by no one is it more needed or more ardently desired, than by a person newly "found in” Christ. The notion of "going to heaven alone," of preserving our religion a "secret"-which, by the way, belongs only to those who have no religion to exhibit is instantly annihilated on the reception of pardon. The charm of secrecy is broken-and why? There is now "something to say"-subject matter for conversation. "A new song" is put into the "mouth,” and it must be sung; a "morsel" has been received, and it cannot be eaten alone." Nor is the wish to communicate confined barely to a person's entrance on the divine

life; "it grows with his growth." "They that feared the Lord spake often one to another."

Samuel, who was in danger of casting his "pearls before swine," and who had confounded attempts at usefulness with "the communion of saints," was instinctively led to seek the latter from the nature of his own wants. "I was at a sad loss," says he, "for churchfellowship, there being no society near." This "loss" could not allude to any privation of privilege, with the enjoyment of which he had been previously favoured; for no such enjoyment had been known. The want was created with the character which he now sustained. It was the want of a child—himself being only a babe in Christ-looking for some one to guide and support his steps; the want of another regimen than that to which he had been accustomed of other food, for the support of a new life. His connection with the Methodists, as a hearer, whether occasional or constant, seems to have been broken off with his servitude at Healaugh; and no person of that persuasion being near, a closer connection could not be immemediately and conveniently renewed. Having been accustomed to attend the service of the Established Church, after his residence at Micklefield, he naturally looked to its members for communion. The light, however, which he had received, was sufficiently discriminative in its character to guide him to the right spot. Instead of “wending his way" to Aberford, where he had distinguished himself as a chorister, he proceeded with the infallibility of instinct, to Ledsham, and with great simplicity solicited an interview with the resident clergyman. "I asked him," he remarks, "what I should do; and he told me to call on him the next Lord's-day morning, when he would advise with me." He accordingly repaired to the house at the time appointed, and was cordially received, as well as religiously instructed. Samuel's testimony of him-because the testimony of experience—is of more value, in an evangelical point of view, than the highest panegyric from the pen of a literary nominal professor of Christianity. It is the lisping of childhood, as yet unaccustomed to artifice. "He was a very good man, and preached the Gospel. I went to Ledsham some time; but he was at length obliged to leave, for his salary would not keep him. Then I was at a loss for my band-mate." The last expression, the full import of which can only be known and felt by persons enjoying the sweets of Christian fellowship, shows the tenderness and condescension, the solicitude, the sympathies of this ecclesiastic--the VILLAGE PATRIARCH stooping from his dignity, and taking, as a band-mate, "sweet counsel" with the "VILLAGE BLACKSMITH!"*

* Ledsham is the village (in which stands the church) in which the late Rev. Walter Sellon, who was vicar of the parish, lived and died; and Ledstone Hall, at no

This was a gracious providence to Samuel, through which he was enabled, in the childhood of his Christianity, to acquire strength; and but for which he might have found it difficult to walk alone. He had not long, however, to bemoan his bereavement. The Lord, on removing one stay, speedily supplied its place with another. It was with Samuel, therefore, as with a child, a change of nurses, rather than a privation, or even a serious suspension, of the kindly offices requisite for the support and guidance of his weakness and inexperience. "The Lord," he observed, "sent Mr. Wade to Sturton Grange, where they took in the preachers, and had a society. As I felt my want of church-fellowship, I went to ask them to take me into society. They offered to take me on trial; and I continued a member till we got a society in our own place, which was not long, for I never let them alone." He had an ardent desire for the salvation of sinners; and his not letting them alone refers as much to his conversational efforts to reclaim his neighbours, as to any request that a portion of the privileges of the society to which he had united himself, which was but little more than a mile distant, should be transferred to Micklefield. Thus adverting to his situation, to promote the religious welfare of others, he remarked, "I had a good opportunity, as nearly the whole of the town came to my shop; and I was always at them. I found my share of persecution; but this did not daunt me, or prevent me calling on sinners to repent, believe, and be converted."

great distance from it, is the place where the renowned Lady Betty Hastings also resided, and finally resigned her soul into the hands of her God. The clergyman of whom Samuel speaks is supposed to have been Mr. Wightman, who was curate to Mr. Sellon: the former a Calvinist, and the latter an Arminian in creed; and, though salary might have its share of influence in the question of removal, it is strongly suspected that doctrinal sentiments aided in turning the scale. Mr. Sellon was a sturdy supporter of the doctrine of General Redemption, and fought some hard battles in early life, against the Calvinistic view of the subject, under the auspices of Mr. Wesley; but towards the close of Mr. Wesley's pilgrimage, Mr. Sellon manifested a degree of coldness towards his old friend. In a manuscript correspondence of Mr. Wesley with Mr. Sellon, in the possession of the writer, it appears that the warmth of friendship began to subside, when Mr. Sellon resided at Ashby-de-la-Zouch. From 1772 to 1784, there is a chasm in the correspondence. Up to the former period, Mr. Wesley's address was "Dear Walter," with all the familiarity of close friendship: but on Mr. Sellon's residence at Ledsham, at which place he lived during the latter period, the address was altered to "Dear Sir," one of the letters concluding with, "You used to meet me, when I came near you; but you seem of late years to have forgotten your old friend and brother, John Wesley." Among the manuscript letters referred to, are some curious epistolary specimens written by Mr. Charles Wesley to Mr. Sellon; also some rare ones addressed to the same person, from the Rev. Messrs. J. Fletcher, Vin. Perronet, E. Perronet, Sir Richard Hill, and the Countess of Huntingdon-all tending to throw light on the controversies and passing events of the times-which another occasion may render it proper to present to the public. How long Mr. Sellon remained at Ledsham, the writer is at present unable to ascertain; but it is probable, from the Wesleyan Meth. Mag. for 1818, p. 53, that he was either in the village, or in its immediate vicinity, in a state of great affliction, in 1790 and 1791.

It was not barely by reproof and exhortation that he sought to multiply the number of travellers to Zion, but also by earnest and affectionate invitation. The first-fruit of this description of labour— labour which has been extremely productive in a variety of instances -was a wealthy agriculturist. "Mr. Thomas Taylor," said he, came to preach at Sturton Grange, and I invited all I could to go and hear him. One of these was Mr. Rhodes,* a large farmer who lived in the parish; and who said, if I would call upon him he would go with me. Blessed be the Lord! on the same night, the Gospel proved the power of God to his salvation. I remember the text: it referred to the tares and the wheat. The tares were gathered and tied into bundles. There was a bundle of Sabbath-breakers, a bundle of swearers, &c. These bundles were to be burnt; and before the sermon was finished, the preacher had got Mr. Rhodes bound up in one of them. From that time the Lord added to our number: we got preaching to our place, and soon had a class-meeting." This, it should seem, from a reference to the Minutes of Conference, was either in the year 1785, or 1786, when Mr. Taylor was stationed in the Leeds circuit. Such preaching as this was as much calculated to instruct the uneducated mind of Samuel, as it was to arrest the attention of the farmer. Keach would have been a superior preacher, in his estimation, to Saurin, and he would have profited more by the Metaphors of the one than by the Sermons of the other. He could fasten upon some of the more prominent parts of a highly figurative discourse, and turn them to good personal and practical account; but would have been in danger of running wild with the remainder. He knew much better when to commence, than how to proceed, or where to close.

But it was not in criticism that he was skilled: nor was it into the niceties of Christian doctrine that he could enter. He knew the truth better in its operation on the heart, than in its shinings on the understanding; and could tell much better how it felt, than in what position and connection it stood. He seemed to possess the faculty in religion, which some blind people are said to possess in a rare degree, in reference to colours-a faculty of describing it by the touch; for scarcely anything advanced amounted with him to truth, unless it fell with power upon his heart. He had received the doctrine of justification as an experimental truth, though utterly unable, in puritanic style, to enter into a detail of its moving, meritorious, remote, immediate, and instrumental causes; and this led to another

* In a letter from Mr. Dawson, dated April 3rd, 1830, referring to Mr. Rhodes, he observes, "He is still living at Micklefield. I saw him yesterday. He is nearly blind, and his constitution is fast breaking up. He will not survive Samuel long. The Methodists always preached and still preach at his bouse."

doctrine, equally momentous-a doctrine of experience, no less than of theory-the sanctification of the heart to God. "After he had enjoyed the blessing of conscious pardon," says Mr. Dawson, "he discovered that there was a higher state of grace to be attained-that such a state was purchased for him by the blood of Jesus Christand was to be applied to his soul by the Holy Ghost, through faith. This he sought in the way which God appointed, and found the promise realised-'Every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.' He was enabled to believe for a higher enjoyment of divine love, and from the hour he believed, obtained a richer measure of it, through which he was empowered to 'Rejoice evermore; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks.'

This further change was wrought in his soul in the year 1794, and the following are some of the circumstances connected with its attainment. "About this time (1794)," he observes, there was a great revival of the work of God at Sturton Grange, near Micklefield. The meetings were held in Rig Lair.* Some hundred of souls were converted to God, and many were sanctified. I was one of the happy number, not only convinced of the necessity of Christian holiness, but who, blessed be the Lord! proved for myself, that the blood of Christ cleanseth from sin." Mr. Dawson, in adverting to this extraordinary work of God, in connection with Samuel's progress in religion, states, that "there was an extraordinary outpouring of the Spirit upon nearly the whole of Yorkshire, and that it was most remarkably felt in the neighbourhood of Micklefield. At a solitary barn," continues he, "which stands on a farm belonging to Mr. Wade, at Sturton, near the Roman road leading from Castleford to Aberford, a prayermeeting was held every Sunday morning and Monday evening. These meetings were specially owned of God. The glory of the Lord filled the place, and the power of God was present to wound and to heal, to kill and to make alive. Two colliers,† men who gave themselves to prayer, were very successful instruments in the hand of the Lord, in the conversion of scores, if not of hundreds of persons, in the course of the summer. Our late brother Hick took his full share in

* Lair-a BARN in the West of Yorkshire dialect.

One of these men was supported by the bounty of the late Mr. Broadhurst, of Swinton, for the sole purpose of enabling him to devote his time to the visitation of the sick, &c., and died lately at Manchester, where he had resided several years. His brother William, the other person alluded to, married a person belonging to Pollington, a village about three miles from Snaith, Yorkshire, where he continued useful as an exhorter and class-leader for a considerable length of time-ended his days in peace about five years ago-and left a widow and two or three children. They received the appellation of "Praying Colliers." The one who resided at Manchester, and who was personally known to the writer, was generally designated by the title of " Praying George." Their proper name-the one by which they were least known-was Moseley.