brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

Now it was that, for the first time, I voluntarily bowed my knees in prayer. I had gone to bed, as heretofore, thinking to go through the accustomed course of repeating the Lord's prayer and the creed; but I felt that I wanted something more, and I desired a more free and enlarged access to God.

I ran over the commandments to see how many of them I had broken, and how many I had kept; and, being wholly ignorant of the spirituality of the law, I thought I came off pretty well. This gave me some relief, and I began to take courage ; but still I had a secret fear that my case was worse than I apprehended, and it seemed an awful thing to be self-deceived. These reflections were accompanied with earnest addresses to God, which I believe were truly sincere, though they were very simple.

It was then my object to do something that would satisfy the justice of God, and would make atonement for my transgressions, and, as the mediation of Christ was foreign to my mind, it was natural for me to think of amendment of life, and of a due regard to the devotional and practical parts of religion. I therefore resolved to break off every sin, and to engage in prayer and reading the Scriptures. The task which I set myself was, to perform these duties so often during the day, and to arise so many times in the night for the same purpose. My great consolation was, that I was then but thirteen years of age, and that in thirteen years more, I should be so good as to have a surplus of duties which would be sufficient to wipe off the old score, and then the remaining part of my life would furnish a righteousness which could not fail to entitle me to the kingdom of heaven.

With these hopes I began resolutely to abandon every act of transgression, and to perform the number of duties I had imposed upon myself. My motives were the fear of punishment, and the prospect of reward—the only motives which can actuate the soul in the situation in which I then was. Sometimes I succeeded according to my wishes, and at other times came sadly short; but the deficiency always excited a resolution of being more watchful and diligent in time to come. Alas! the next attempt was seldom better than the former. Thus I went on a considerable time, sinning and repenting, resolving and failing, without gaining any ground in my Christian course, or obtaining any knowledge of the nature of the gospel.

However slender my acquaintance with the cross of Christ was at this time, I felt the offence of it very severely. The whole town where I lived was at rest and quiet. No innovation had disturbed their repose for many years. They were like-people like-priest, going every one his own chosen way, and all the downward road. The Lord's day was literally a day of sports, and religious worship was only a pretence to assemble the people for their commencement. The old hue and cry was raised against me that I was gone mad; and when I have walked along the road, I have seen people looking after me as if I had been an object uncommon in the creation of God. Whatever malevolence could invent, or virulence could utter, I had to encounter ; and, what made it peculiarly trying, there were very few either to encourage my spirits, or to bear part of the burden.

Had this opposition been without doors only, I could have borne it; but I proved the truth of what our Lord says,

" that the father is against the son, and the son against the father, and that a man's enemies are they of his own household.” My father's mind be. came irritated by his acquaintance, and he resolved to rescue his son from the danger to which he thought him exposed. It was suggested to him, and he imagined, that I should ruin myself; and that persons of my sort had no respect among men; that they never got forward in life; and that they became incapable of the happiness of existence by abandoning themselves to melancholy and despair. To avert these evils he began by expostulation ; and when that did not succeed, his opposition became more direct, and he tried the weight of authority. But I continued unshaken, and his measures had no other effect than to make me more zealous, in the cause in which I was engaged.

My path now began to be strewed with thorps. I was forbidden to persist on pain of expulsion from the family, and I was narrowly watched and waylaid to prevent my getting off by stealth to attend the means of grace. But none of these things moved me, and such was the state of my mind at that time, that I should have gone if I had been certain it would have cost me my life. Nor do I yet see that I was wrong in what I did. Human authority does not reach to a prohibition of what is a duty to God; and, although parents ought to judge for their children while they are in their minority, it does not follow that, from mere caprice and ignorant prejudice, they may prevent their attendance where they can receive the most good.

I proceeded for some time, struggling with obstacles, and yet holding on my way. At last, however, the threatened expulsion came, and I was turned out young and helpless to the mercy of the wide world. And yet, what was very singular in this case, I felt no sort of uneasiness though I had not sixpence in my pocket, and was not fourteen years of age. My trust in God carried me through, and my mind was sweetly stayed upon that promise, “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up."

The particulars and the consequences of this expulsion must now be related, as I reckon it among the principal mercies of my life, gloomy as it was in appearance, and painfully as it operated on the mind of my poor mother, who felt on the occasion much more than I did.

One night I was kneeled down at prayer by my bed-side, and in that situation I heard my father coming up stairs to bed. I knew he had to go past the place where I was, and my heart beat with uncommon agitation, and I felt a trembling over my whole body. I made an attempt to rise, and instantly that passage occurred io my mind, “Whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words,

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of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels.” Much allowance must be made for my ignorance at that time. Rising from a duty, which is professedly secret, cannot be wrong when a person is disturbed, or the room is unexpectedly invaded. Be this as it may, my conscience was for downright integrity. I resolved to continue my posture, and did so. My father passed by without saying a single word. Thus far this little occurrence went off very well. But the next morning when I made my appearance, I was ordered to prepare myself for quitting the house, nor could the command be reversed. The tears and importunity of my mother availed nothing, for go I must. It was alleged that we had been happy before we got hold of Venn's religion, but since then there had been no rest, and that it should have no more continuance in that house.

Accordingly I set out like Abraham, not knowing whither I went, but God graciously directed my steps to the very house which of all that were in the world was, I believe, the most suitable for me. In returning home from the church at Huddersfield, I had frequently heard a tall, elderly man speak with much affection of the things of God, and I thought he was a person of the right sort. As soon as I had left my father's house, and had leisure and calmness of mind to think, this good old man presented himself to my view. I thought if I could get admission into his house, it would be a blessed asylum for me, and would make me the most happy creature living. Sometimes I feared, sometimes I hoped, and sometimes I prayed, but still kept pressing forward to the vilJage where he resided. My great comfort was, that he was a clothier in the same line of business with my father, and in which I had been brought up. But then I apprehended he would object to my age, and perhaps he would doubt whether I was telling him the truth. Necessity, however, and ardent desire, will surmount many difficulties. At last, I arrived at his house, and, with a trembling hand, knocked at the door. I got admittance; but when I should have spoken, my tongue faltered, an error to which it was not very liable, but at last I got out the nature and object of my business. I told the plain and undisguised truth; and the simplicity of the narration, and the manner in which it affected my mind, were, I believe, what gained it credit. This good man considered me in the state in which I really was—banished for religion, and sent of God to him for protection. He welcomed me to his house, set me to work, and by various acts of the most endearing kindpess truly cheered my heart. Under his roof I continued the space of a year, without exception, the happiest and most improving year I ever spent in my life.

We had a meeting for prayer and religious conversation in the house on a Monday evening; at which upwards of sixty people at. tended; and which was one of the most respectable for knowledge, experience, and gifts, that I ever knew, or perhaps ever must. From this meeting in a private house, and in a small country village, several very able and useful ministers went out, who are now filling eminent stations in the church of God.

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At Lockwood, I became acquainted with gracious people who taught me the fear of the Lord, and formed my lips for social pray

In their company I felt my inability, and began to wonder at my ignorance, and to be surprised that I knew so little of those things which appeared so familiar to them. The very words they used were new. I was possessed at that time of few more than such as were necessary to communicate ideas about provision, work, and clothing. I do not believe that there were three men in Honley at that time, who knew the meaning of one word which is peculiar to any doctrine of the gospel, and therefore how was it possible that I should ? When I heard a word in preaching, or in private discourse, which I did not understand, I wrote it down, and labored to find out the meaning of it as well as I could, or waited until I got the information from some person. I continued this practice a long time, and collected two or three hundred words before I knew that there existed such books as Dictionaries. When I first saw one, and that a very poor one, I thought it an in

1 estimable treasure.

In the former part of this year, the concern about the salvation of my soul was not comfortably settled. In fact I did not know the gospel. Guilt frequently tormented my mind, and I feared that all was not right. My spirits began to sink; I thought how awful it would be, if after all I should be lost, and that thought made me pray with increasing earnestness. I often told my good master, the state I was in, and he endeavored to comfort my mind, by directing my views and hopes to Jesus Christ, the only foundation laid in Zion, and encouraging me to trust in him as the friend of sinners.

Supposing that the minister, Mr. Venn, might be useful to me in private conversation, he proposed that I should pay him a visit for that purpose, as he well knew how to speak a word in season to the weary and heavy laden. He spoke to me like a Christian and a minister, commended me to the grace of God by prayer, and gave me Alleine's Alarm to the Unconverted, and Bunyan's Law and Grace. I read these books with great avidity, and derived considerable advantage from the perusal. At last the Lord discovered to me the way of life, and gave me new views of his glorious gospel. Seeing the vicarious sacrifice of the Saviour as an atonement to divine justice, and Jaying a sure ground of hope, I found rest and peace by believing in him. On this sacrifice I now depend for acceptance with God, and for admission into his heavenly kingdom.

I now began to take some account of the sermons I heard, or rather to improve myself in divinity, by writing down what I could remember of them after I got home. This practice I continued several years, and it was of essential service to me in the attain. ment of knowledge, the strengthening of my memory, and also in the art of composition.

My next remove was to Huddersfield, when I was about seventeen years of age, and the occasion of it was the necessity of work. The little time I continued there was very gloomy; but it was ultimately attended with more important consequences to myself than any other change I ever experienced. The master and the workmen were loose, dissolute characters, and as soon as they knew of my going to the new chapel which was built on Mr. Venn's removal, I was the constant butt of their raillery. Their sarcastic satire, their names of reproach, and their themes of invective, were daily and incessant. I had not been there more than two months, before it happened that one of the militia-men died, and there was to be a ballot for another. The lot fell upon me.

Whether I had justice done in this matter I know not, but I always suspected, and I do to this day, that it was a pre-concerted plan. I was a year under age; my master was the manager of the business; and I had not been two months in the town.

To go for a soldier was a terrible stroke, and my poor mother was almost distracted. I tried to get off by taking a certificate from the register of my parish, ascertaining my age. Though it was properly attested, one of the justices told me any man could make such a paper as that, and that my appearance declared that I must be of age for a lot. Right or wrong, I was forced to take the oath, and actually did so.

The time of serving then was a month in the year, which always happened in May, and Leeds was the place at which our division was stationed. Now I was clothed in red, with a three-cornered hat, and the other accoutrements of a military man. Things began auspiciously in my new situation, but I felt very unpleasant in prospect of the Sabbath. I was resolved, if it were possible, to hear the gospel, and it was not preached in the church where we wereordered to attend. I took an opportunity, therefore, in the course of the week, to speak to the sergeant of our company to permit me, and two or three others who desired it, to attend at the WhiteChapel. He answered, that it was impossible to be done ; that it would break the custom of the corps ; that if some were allowed to go off, others would; and that there would be no end of it. I urged my suit, however, with all the address which I could, and at last he yielded to my persuasion, upon condition, that I would be responsible for the regular attendance and orderly behaviour of those who went with me.

It was very unlikely that my being a militia.man should end in my being a minister, and indeed be the cause of it, and yet so it was. In the neighborhood of White-Chapel, there was a private experience meeting held once a week, of which Mr. Barwick, surgeon and apothecary, was the conductor. To this meeting I went with another of my company who also feared God. As our dress made us observable, we were spoken to in the course of conversation, and, at the conclusion, I was asked to go to prayer.

When my month was nearly at an end in the second year, Mr. Edwards, who was then the minister at the White Chapel, sent for me to his house, and told me that some of his friends had entertained a favorable opinion of my piety and abilities, and asked me if I had no thoughts of becoming a student with Mr. Scott. I told him that I certainly had, and that nothing could be more agreeable to me, if I had it in my power to support the expense. He said that I might wait upon Mr. Scott with his compliments, and that if he approved of me as a student, I might depend upon him for all