degree, to keep up their attention. And the spirit of God visibly attended the exercise. A number of persons were seriously impressed, and some hopely converted. In 1743, a young Scotch gentleman, having received from his friends at home a volume of Whitefield's Sermons, published a short time before, put them into the hands of Mr. Morris, who perused them himself with much profit, and soon began to read them to his assembled neighbours. The plainness and fervour of these discourses were blessed to the awakening and hopeful conversion of several persons. The curiosity of some, and the serious impressions of others, increasing, the people began to meet on week-days for this exercise, as well as on the sabbath. In a short time Mr. Morris' house became too small to accommodate those who attended; on which he and his neighbours determined to erect a building expressly for their accommodation at these religious meetings. This building was commonly called" Morris' reading-house," and was generally crouded with hearers. The knowledge of these circumstances spreading, Mr. Morris was invited to attend, at several distant places, for the purpose of reading the books, and especially Whitefield's sermons, which had been so accept

able and useful in his immediate neighbourhood. He complied with these invitations; and thus the religious awakening and anxiety became considerably extended.

About this time Mr. Morris and his friends attracted the notice of government. Their absenting themselves from their parish churches, contrary, as was alleged, to the laws of the land, was considered and treated as an offence*. They were called upon by the court to assign their rea sons for this absence, and to declare to what denomination they belonged. The latter question embarrassed them not a little. Having known scarcely any other denomination of dissenters besides Quakers; and not being aware that any body of people then on earth embraced the same opinions on the subject of religion with themselves, they were at a loss what name to assume. In this embarrassment they begged of the court a little time to retire, and determine by what name they chose to be known. After a short

* Mr. Morris and a number of his friends were repeatedly fined by the court for absenting themselves from the established worship. He himself, being considered as a kind of leader, was treated more severely than the rest. He paid near twenty fines,

consultation, recollecting that Luther was a noted reformer, and that some of his works had been of peculiar service among them, they resolved to take their denomination from him; they accordingly returned into court, and declared themselves Lutherans. By this answer the members of the court were embarrassed in their turn, not finding any law or precedent which directed them how to proceed against Lutherans; and, after a little consideration, dismissed Mr. Morris and his friends without pursuing their design further at that time.

Things were in this situation, when, in the year 1743, the Rev. William Robinson, a member of the Presbytery of New-Brunswick, who

Mr. Robinson was the son of a wealthy Quaker in England. Being permitted to pay a visit of a few weeks to an aunt in the city of London, from whom he had considerable expectations, he greatly overstaid the time which had been allowed him; and becoming deeply involved in the dissipations of the town, he incurred large debts, which he knew his father would never pay, and which his aunt refused to discharge. In this situation, fearing to return home, and unable to remain longer in London, he determined to quit his native country, and seek his fortune in America. In this determination his aunt reluctantly acquiesced, and furnished him with a small sum of money for the purpose. Soon after his ar

had been ordained sine titulo, with a view to his being sent as an Evangelist to preach the Gospel on the frontier settlements, in the course of his mission, entered Virginia, and preached with considerable success in some of the more remote counties of the Colony. While he was thus employed, some young people from the neighbourhood of Mr. Morris, and the children of his friends, being on a visit to that part of the country, heard him preach, and recognizing in his sermons the same doctrines which they had been accustomed to hear at the Reading-house, they communicat

rival in America, he had recourse, for subsistence, to teaching a school, in New-Jersey, within the bounds of the Presbytery of New-Brunswick. He had been, for some time, engaged in this business, without any practical sense of religion, when it pleased God to bring him to a knowledge of himself, and of the way of salvation, in a remarkable manner. He was riding at a late hour, one evening, when the moon and stars shone with unusual brightness, and when every thing around him was calculated to excite reflection. While he was meditating on the beauty and grandeur of the scene which the firmament presented, and was saying to himself, "How trans"cendantly glorious must be the Author of all this beau"ty and grandeur!" the thought struck him with the suddenness and the force of lightning, " But what do I "know of this God? Have I ever sought his favour, or "made him my Friend?" This happy impression, which

ed the intelligence to their parents in Hanover, who immediately dispatched two men to CubCreek, where he had been heard by their children, in search of Mr. Robinson. He had left the place, however, before the arrival of the messengers, and they were obliged to follow him a hundred miles on his journey. They at length found him, and prevailed on him to appoint a time for visiting Hanover.

At the appointed time Mr. Robinson came. He had been obliged to ride the whole of the preceding night in order to avoid disappointing

proved, by its permanency and its effects, to have come from the best of all sources, never left him until he took refuge in Christ as the hope and life of his soul. He soon resolved to devote himself to the work of the Gospel ministry; completed his academical education, and studied theology, while he went on with his school; and was, in due time, licensed and ordained by the Presbytery of New-Brunswick, as above stated. Mr. Robinson was remarkable for the native vigour of his mind, and still more for the fervour of his piety. Wherever he went, it pleased God to grant him some precious fruits of his ministry. Few names in the American Church rank higher than his on the scale of usefulness. He died at St. George's, in Delaware, in the month of April, 1746.