" I wrote an account of it, without delay, to his mother, and had an immediate answer : she was a lady of seventy-two, of exemplary piety. She praised God for his mercy, adding, That he had now answered the prayers which she had never ceased to offer on his behalf for eleven years." Sunday 15, (Easter-day) I preached at Epworth at eight, and then rode to Haxey Church, where I was much re- freshed by the seriousness of the congregation. Between one and two I began preaching : so large a congregation was never seen here before. About five I preached at the Marketplace in Epworth. I was drawing to a conclusion when the rain began: but it drove away only a few careless hearers : the bulk of the people did not stir till I concluded. Wednesday 18, I set out for Selby. We were in hopes the roads would now be passable : and they were tolerable, till we came near the town; but here the late flood had car. ried away the bank over which we ride, and left a great hole in its place. However, we made shift to lead our horses over a narrow path, where the water was fordable. The congregation at Selby obliged me to stand in the garden, tho' the North wind was exceedingly high. in the evening I preached at York. Thursday 19, I visited two prisoners in the Castle, which is, I suppose, the most commodious prison in Europe. Both of them seemed to be much convinced, and not far from the kingdom of God. At six I preached in the shell of the new house, to a numerous and serious audience. Friday 20, The master of the Inn at Tadcaster, offering us the use of his garden, I preached to a well-behaved congregation, and about five found Mr. Grimshaw, and many of our brethren at Leeds. Saturday 21, at half an hour past ten, we reached Stainland Chapel, near Elland. handsome building, near the top of a mountain, and sur. rounded with mountains on all sides. It was filled from end to end. Mr. Grimshaw read Prayers, and I preached on part of the Second Lesson. In the room where I dressed myself were a young man and his sister, both ill of a fever. At seven It is a I know not that they ever heard the preaching ; however, I desired we might go to prayers. : They presently melted in-to tears. O may God preach his Gospel to their hearts ! I preached at Manchester in the evening, where we had, at length, a quiet audience. Wretched Magistrates, who, by refusing to suppress, encouraged the rioters, had long occasioned continual tumults here; but some are now of a better spirit; and wherever Magistrates desire to preserve the peace, they have sufficient power to do it. Tuesday 24, I rode over to Macclesfield. Abundance of people ran together, but wild as colts untamed. Their noise quite drowned my voice at first; but, in a while, they were tolerably quiet : and before I had done, all but four or five lubberly men, seemed almost persuaded to be Christians. · Sunday 29, I rode to Stockport, designing to preach at one o'clock : but we were at a loss for a place. We fixed at length on a green near the town's end : and we had a quiet and solemn opportunity. In my return, I called to see a girl, about thirteen years of age. She bad been in violent pain all over, with little intermission, for nearly twenty months. After I had spoken a few words, she said, “When I saw you before, I did not know the Lord: but now I know him, and am known of, him. I am his, and he is mine." I asked, “ Do you never repine at your pain ?” She said, “No: I have not a murmuring thought: I am happy-always happy. I would not change this bed of affliction for the palace of King George.” I asked, “ Are you not proud of this? Is pride taken out of your heart?” She answered, “I do not know : but I feel no pride. I feel that God is all.” “But do you feel no fretfulness or peevishness ?” “I cannot tell that I do. Pain sometimes makes me cry out when they stir me: but I do not fret at any thing.” “ Do you find no selfwill ?” “ Not that I know: I desire nothing but that the will of God be done.” “ Do you not desire life or death ?." “ No; I leave all to him: but, if it were his will, I should be glad to die. The world is full of danger. I should be glad to leave it, and to be with Christ.” Monday 30, We had a numerous congregation at Actonbridge, two or three miles from Northwich. Some large trees screened us both from the sun and wind. In the afternoon I rode to Chester. It was well the wind was pretty high ; for the sun shone as hot as it uses to do in the doga days. Wednesday, May 2, I rode over to Mould in Flintshire, about twelve miles from Chester. The sun was very hot, and the wind very cold : but as the place they had chosen for me, was exposed both to the sun and the wind, the one balanced with the other : and notwithstanding the Chester Races, which had drawn the rich away, and the Market-day, which detained many of the poor, we had a multitude of people, the serious part of whom soon influenced the rest : So that all but two or three remained uncovered, and kneeled down as soon as I began to pray. Thursday 3, We crossed from Chester to Liverpool. The congregations here were exceedingly large ; but many of : them seemed to be like wild asses' colts: yet God is able to ma them wise unto salvation. Sunday 3, I received much comfort at the Old Church in the morning, and at St. Thomas's in the afternoon'. It was as if both the sermons had been made for me. I pity those who can find no good at Church! But how should they, if prejudice come between, an effectual bar to the grace of God. . Wednesday 9, I rode to Downam-Green, near Wigan, a town wicked to a proverb. We had a specimen of the manners of its inhabitants, in the behaviour of a man that met us, and accosted us with such language as would have become an inhabitant of the bottomless pit. One would have thought from their looks, that a good part of the congregation was of the same spirit: but in a short time the word of God prevailed, and all their fierceness melted away. In the evening I preached at Bolton, and on Friday 11, about nine, at Lower Darwent, a small village near Blackburn. At Lancaster we were informed, it was too late to cross the Sands : however we resolved to make the : trial. We passed the Seven-mile Sand without difficulty, and reached Fluckborough about sun-set. Saturday 12, Setting out early, we came to Bottle, about twenty-four measured miles from Fluckborough, soon after eight, having crossed the Millam-Sand, without either guide or difficulty. Here we were informed, that we could not pass at Ravenglass, before one or two o'clock; whereas, had we gone on, (as we afterwards found,) we might have passed immediately. About eleven, we were directed to a ford near Muncaster-Hall, which, they said, we might cross at noon. When we came thither, they told us, we could not cross : so we sat till about one. We then found we could have crossed at noon : however, we reached Whitehaven before night. But I have taken my leave of the sand-road. I believe it is ten measured miles shorter than the other : but there are four sands to pass, so far from each other, that it is scarcely possible to pass them all in a day:.especially as you have all the way to do with a generation of liars, who detain all strangers as long as they can, either for their own gain, or their neighbours. I can advise no stranger to go this way: he may go round by Kendal and Keswick, often in less time, always with less expence, and far less trial of his patience. Reflecting to-day on the case of a poor woman, who had a continual pain in her stomach, I could not but remark the inexcusable negligence of most Physicians in cases of this nature. They prescribe drug upon drug, without knowing a jot of the matter, concerning the root of the disorder : and, without knowing this, they cannot cure, though they can murder the patient. Whence came this woman's pain: (which she would never have told, bad she never been questioned about it:) From fretting for the death of her son. And what availed medicines, while that fretting continued Why then do not all Physicians consider, how far bodily disorders are caused or influenced by the mind? and, in those cases which are utterly out of their sphere, call in the assistance of a minister; as ministers, when they find the mind disordered by the body, call in the assistance of a Physician? But why are these cases out of their sphere? Because they know not God. It follows, no man can be a thorough Physician, without being an experienced Christian. Tuesday 15, I rode over to Lorton, a little village at the foot of a high mountain. Many came from a considerable distance, and, I believe, did not repent of their labour. For they found God to be a God both of the hills and valleys, and no where more present than in the mountains of Cumberland. Thursday 17, I enquired into a signal instance of Providence. When a coal-pit runs far under the ground, it is customary here to build a partition-wall, nearly from the shaft, to within three or four yards of the end, in order to make the air circulate, which then moves down one side of the wall, turns at the end, and moves briskly up on the other side. In a pit two miles from the town, which ran full four hundred yards under the ground, and had been long neglected, several parts of this wall were fallen down. Four men were sent down to repair it. They were about three hundred yards from the shaft, when the foul air took fire. In a moment it tore down the wall, from end to end; and burning on till it came to the shaft, it then burst and went off like a large cannon. The men instantly fell on their faces, or they would have been burned to death in a few moments. One of them who once knew the love of God, (Andrew English,) began crying aloud for mercy: but in a very short time his breath was stopped. The other three crept on their hands and knees, till two got to the shaft, and were drawn up; but one of them died in a few minutes. John M-Combe was drawn up next, burned from head to foot, but rejoicing and praising God. They then went down for Andrew, whom they found senseless, the very circumstance which saved his life. For losing his senses, he lay flat on the ground, and the greatest part of the fire went over him: whereas, had he gone forward on his hands and knees, he would undoubtedly have been VOL. III. Bb |