It is the encouragement of industry, and the reward of parental labour, that as the reason expands, and the capabilities of culture unfold, attempts to give a moral direction to youth, have been generally successful. If this were not the case, despair would unnerve exertion, and indifference would be followed by neglect. True as this position is, there have been many painful exceptions; and happy would it be for society, if only solitary instances of failure could be produced. But there is one relief to this deep shade in human characters, and that is, the effect of religious instruction may be only suspended, not destroyed. The force of our natural depravity, and the influence of unprincipled associates, may impair impressions which are strongly linked to our reason; but God, by the inroad of some corrective providence, or by the illumination of his grace, may bring again into activity what appears to be buried under a mass of guilt.

This is not unfrequently the case, when it proceeds no further than external reformation; but where the education has been truly religious, fruits of a nobler soil have appeared. In parents who have impressed their children with the duties of life and salvation, despondence is criminal; although every entrance of human hope may be closed, and we appear to be left a prey to gloomy disquietude. When conjectural deliverance is little less than extravagance, and we are under those depressions which imagination can conceive, but the poverty of terms cannot express, the divine authority sustains our confidence. When we walk in darkness, we are to stay our hearts upon God; and however appearances may weaken or stagger our implicit affiance in the veracity of heaven, we are indisputably taught to believe, that mercy will rest upon our offspring, either in the early or

the latter rains.

It was the happiness of Mr. Walker to be brought up by parents who conducted his early tuition with no ordinary degree of care; and as it was not beyond expectation, that his conduct would be actuated by the principle which governed it, so his youth was not dishonoured by those vices which, with many, are the ground of future contrition. The disposition and culture of his mind, produced an example of amenity of temper, and regularity of demeanour, which was not wholly lost upon the contemporary youth of his acquaintance, who, it must be admitted, were more disposed to acknowledge, than to imitate, that which was excellent. But approved rectitude of manners, although limited in its influence, is not useless.

Living instruction cannot fail to extend a reverence for the laws of God and man, and to give additional evidence, that all is not theory in religion and morals. The same judgment and prudence which are evident in Mr. Walker's education, determined his future relation in life. He was placed under the care

of Mr. Richardson, at that time the most respectable goldsmith in the city, to whose residence and business, after the lapse of a few years, he succeeded. During his apprenticeship, no de viation having appeared in the general tenor of his behaviour, tended greatly to enhance the value of his well-established reputation. His diligence and activity secured the high opinion of his master; and, on the completion of the usual period of service, received from him the gratifying acknowledgment of approval. This must have been equally satisfactory to all the parties interested; and it afforded no equivocal or disputable prospect of his future elevation and importance in society. The era of his first pious reflections, he referred to the eighteenth year of his age. Then began that opening of divine light which led to conclusions in his experience, which revelation requires, and scripturally-directed reason must defend. As God had given him an understanding of the higher order, with no inconsiderable degree of invention and imagination, it is easily conceivable, that, from his serious habits, his inquiries would, of course, approximate those subjects which naturally employ the faculties in that portion of life. That this was the case with Mr. Walker, we have his own testimony, "At eighteen years of age," said he, "I was very desirous of knowing my future destiny. I strove *with might and main to please the Lord. A few years afterwards, God condescended to shew me the right path, and to reveal himself in my heart." He was now in a maze of soul, with dispositions preparatory to seek the Lord, but without a guide. He sought religion by the feeble light of reason, and attempted to secure salvation, as by the works of the law, gross darkness which he was in, met no gleam to direct his researches, through the ministry he attended, as the inquirer and pastors were equally uninstructed in the plain gospel of Jesus. Afte: the decline of evangelical sentiments, at the beginning of the last century, which piety reviews with horror, which the most pointed terms of reprobation cannot sufficiently expose, the apes of Epictetus appeared as the apostles of the Redeemer. In this void of truth, this dearth of the pure word of God, Mr. Walker received his first religious impressions. But the harbingers of a brighter day were approaching; and the Director of Cornelius had not forgotten to be gracious.

The

It was at this juncture that professional duties called him up to the metropolis, and under the controul of that Providence, which never forsook him, curiosity withdrew the curtain from the light of life. The nation and the church had been roused to inquiry, by what ignorance or indifference called the novel opinions of the Rev. John Wesley. He and his associates were treated as the ominous propagators of error and fanaticism. While learning and talent were vainly employed to repel the * 3 P 2*

invasion of such unheard of doctrines, malignity gave currency to such a frenzy of falsehood, as scarcely meets comparison, but in the injurious accusations preferred against the primitive christians. Time has disabused the public mind, and methodistic doctrines are found to accord with the formula of the establishment; and it is pretty generally admitted, that the members of a community so much defamed, are not deficient in talent, religion, or morality. The Rev. W. Romaine, M.A. was, at the time of Mr. Walker's arrival in London, one of the most popular preachers, who taught the doctrine of Justification by Faith, and that of the sanctifying influences of the Spirit of God. The celebrity of this preacher attracted his notice, and he attended his ministry.— Under his discourses, he first received the effectual intimation of error, and discovered the deplorable condition of our fallen nature. He saw the foundation on which his hopes rested was untenable, and wanted every proof of scriptural evidence. This discovery evinced the disability of his whole project of salvation, and disconcerted the conclusion which he had drawn, that morality embraced every thing of importance in christianity. A painful, but eventually happy revolution succeeded in his mind; and the pharisee, without reluctance, laid his righteousness at the foot of the cross. With a conflict of feeling, convinced of mistake, bnt without a distinct perception how a sinner must go to Christ, he left the city in order to return to Chester; but he must needs go through Samaria. Mr. J. Walker, an elder brother, at that time resided in Birmingham, and it was his intention to pay him a visit on his return home. His brother had been converted to God, and was at that time a member of the Methodist Society. This respectable character was an ornament of his religious connexions, and it is difficult to say which excellency predominated, his piety, zeal, or talents. His private worth, and public spirit, deserved not that obscurity in which they are left. He did not inactively love the cause which he espoused, but at a period when individual countenance and support were of different estimation from what they are at present, he was found in the first ranks among the friends and advocates of vital religion. He was then, or soon afterwards, a respectable Local Preacher; but he is

no more.

"All must to their cold graves,

But the religious actions of the just,

Smell sweet in death, and blossom in the dust."

Prepared, as Mr. G. Walker was, for more enlarged and apposite views of revelation, he arrived in Birmingham. Never could he forget that providence, which so directed, that, when the basis of his insecure foundation was shaken, and the whole fallacy of his hopes was discovered to him, he should meet in his own

family an able and unsuspected instructer. Mr. John Walker explained to him the way of salvation more perfectly. By scripture and experience he unfolded the mode which the divine wisdom had ordained, through faith, for the pardon of sin, and the renovation of our nature. Whatever reluctance he felt to unfetter his mind from established modes of thinking, it is certain, that this interview confirmed his choice.He saw, in that enigma to all reason, and to all science, God manifest in the flesh!-how God might be just, and the justifier of him that believes; and, that by "an authentic act of amnesty, the meed of blood divine," the most exalted conceptions must be entertained of the divine wisdom, justice, and mercy. On this rock of the Church, he first theoretically, and then experimentally rested his soul; and to the latest hour of his life, it was his glory and trust. Before he left Birmingham, he was strongly urged to seek the application of these truths, by constant prayer to the Almighty; to attend the ministry of the Methodists, and, on the first opportunity, to unite himself to that religious community. It is not to be imagined that advice so much in harmony with his then improved state of knowledge, would be either difficult or disagreeable. It was neither; and his promptly adopting it, is a singular proof of the sudden, but momentous alteration which had taken place in his principles, and which determined his choice of religious companions. His return to Chester was in the twentyfourth year of his age. So unexpected a change in his conversation and sentiments, could not fail to surprise his former associates. He met with the usual treatment which accompanies piety in its early stages, viz. the contempt of the careless, and the insult of the prejudiced. But this is so common an attendant, that it would be contrary to all example, were it otherwise. A confusion of conjectures respecting the cause of so unexpected an event was circulated, but any conjecture, except that to which it is referable, prevailed. At length it was concluded, that, as the sober influences of reason could not account for such apparent dereliction from former principles and attachments, he must have been infected by the delirious infatuation about religion, which at that time was spreading through the nation. This opinion was confirmed, by his intimacy with those, whom general report, ignorantly or insidiously, deemed the most fanatical. There was no remedy. He rather courted than avoided the stigma of enthusiasm. With his former friends, union was impossible. He had taken the Bible for his directory, and his choice was, this people shall be my people; I will suffer affliction with the people of God, rather than enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season. In compliance with the benevolent intentions of his brother, he became a hearer of the word. He found the religious creed of the Methodist was founded on the evident belief of the Established

Church, so that the prejudices of education became not a hinI am not aware of the derance, but an auxiliary of salvation. precise period when he became a member of the Methodist Society, but it is certain, that it was not long subsequent to his return from London. Methodism, although founded by one of the most learned and enlightened of men, met with an opposition, that is neither creditable to our liberality, nor honourable to our national characier. The doctrine of salvation by faith, as an experimental and practical principle, which was taught by the Rev. J. Wesley, had to combat the opposition of a carnal world, the mistakes of learning, and almost the extreme of persecution. Only the hostilities of fire and faggot were wanting to complete the usual penalty which self-constituted judges assumed the right of inflicting, for the suppression or annihilation of what they pronounced heretical. It is to be regretted, that the ministers of religion, upon this occasion, were not deficient in zeal. To the laity, to the genius of our unrivalled constitution, but more especially to the providence of God, we are indebted, as a people, for preservation from an equality of sufferings with those who were persecuted during the most deplored eras of papistical intolerance.

From the state of oppression and injustice under which our early ministers and societies laboured, it cannot be conceived that their accommodations for worship, would be remarkable for convenience or elegance. In Chester, their proudest temple was a barn at Martin's Ash; which humble place of devotion was not preserved from the ravages of misguided mobs. Happily for the present race of Methodists, by the better execution of the laws, and a better knowledge of their polity and doctrines, they are secured from the unmerited indignities and injuries, which their unoffending predecessors endured. It becoming necessary, from an increase of congregation, to procure larger and more improved accommodations for their assemblies, the Society erected the Octagon Chapel. It was opened, and solemnly set apart for religious observances, on the 23rd. of June, 1765, by the Rev, John Hampson, the father of the present vicar of Sunderland. The subject discussed on the occasion, was 2 Chron. vi. 41, “Let the priests, O Lord, be clothed with salvation, and let the saints rejoice in goodness." To Mr. Walker it was a discourse in Under this sermon, his views of divine truth were considerably enlarged, and he was powerfully induced to give all diligence to secure an interest in the blood of the covenant. From that hour, he found no rest for his soul, until he was satisfied of his acceptance in the Beloved. He was found in all the means of grace, sowing those tears, which he was afterwards to reap in joy.

season.

Such a state of feeling, to men who have not been under the