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Massachusetts, whose name I never heard before. He gives an account of a sudden revival of religion there, much like that you had from Bala. It began since Christmas last, when every thing seemed dead or declining around him. He has been a minister there upwards of thirty years. He writes like a good old soldier. Thus, in different places, the wall of Zion is building up in these troublous times. The Lord has not forsaken the earth, bad as it is. In London we have abundance of the Gospel; and, perhaps, it never was more clearly and practically preached. But we may lament with you, the want of more accompanying power.

When we really feel our need of a revival, it is a sign that we are already, in a measure, revived. The grand symptom of a decline is insensibility. When Ephraim has gray hairs, the mark of leprosy here and there upon him, and knoweth it not : Hosea, vii. 9. But, indeed, we all need reviving in our persons, families, religious societies, and in the nations. We pray for it, and perhaps the Lord is about to answer our prayers, by the very things we are afraid of. The building of the wall may be carried on most prosperously in troublous times. And whatever report flesh and sense may make, faith will allow that those must be the best times, when the best cause flourishes most. It is to be hoped that many have been taught by famine, sword, or pestilence, after they had long heard the Gospel in vain.

In August, 1794, he says: if I was qualified to search out the best Christian in the kingdom, I should not expect to find him either in a professor's chair, or in a pulpit. I should give the palm to that person, who had the lowest thoughts of himself, and the most admiring and cordial thoughts of the Saviour. And perhaps, this may be some bedridden old man or woman, or a pauper in a parish workhouse. Our regard to the Lord is not to be measured by our sensible feelings, by what we can say or write; but by the simplicity of our dependence, and the uniform

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But, I trust, I

tenor of our obedience to his will. wish equally well to the Gospel, whether preached in a church, a chapel, a kirk, a meeting house, or a barn; and whether the preachers are of the English or Scottish establishments, seceders, reliefmen, or methodists.

The Gospel certainly spreads in the establishment. Young men of abilities and piety are ordained every season; there are four seasons in the year; and we now and then hear of clergymen awakened, after they had been blind teachers of the blind, for many years. In London we are highly favoured with many ministers of the first rank for zeal and wisdom. Such there are, likewise, in some of our great towns, as Leicester, Birmingham, Leeds, Halifax, York, Hull, Reading; and, I hope, there are several hundreds, settled in places of less note, who are diligent and useful. Add to this, the itinerants in town and country, in Whitfield's, Wesley's, and lady Huntingdon's departments, among whom are many faithful and good preachers; and many of the evangelical dissenters; and we may hope, that real religion is reviving and spreading amongst us.

This, I trust, is a token, almost the only one, for good, in this dark and threatening day. The bulk of the nation is asleep in sin; infidelity, folly and dissipation abound every where; but the Lord has a praying people, who mourn the evils they cannot prevent, and the miseries which are the fruits of sin. These, I hope, would appear a large number, if brought all together; but scattered as they are up and down, they are one in him; and for their sakes, I hope our civil and religious privileges will be still preserved

to us.

Yet in November of the same year, he writes: the profanation of the Lord's day is a great sin; but many sin through ignorance. They have neither good example to lead them to church, nor good instruction when they go. It is one of the many crying sins, which form our national character. But I do

not think it is the loudest. And I think the guilt of it lies heavily on the great, the magistrates, and the (established) clergy. If the hungry sheep look up, they are not fed; or the places where there is food for them, are very few.

In February, 1795, he says: I think the Roman Catholics in Ireland were long treated much like Israel in Egypt. I do not consider their toleration as any way connected with religion; and as a political measure, I highly approve it, upon the principle, that I am glad of liberty to worship God according to my light; and, therefore, am very willing that others should have the same liberty. Toleration, if considered as a matter of favour, is an insult upon conscience, and an intrusion on the prerogative of the Lord of conscience. I should be glad of a toleration to eat, if I might not eat without it; yet I should think it hard, if I could not breakfast or dine, without the leave of a parliament.

Popery always showed a persecuting spirit; and therefore, when the protestants got power, as they were unwilling to risk being again called to the honour of suffering for the Gospel's sake, and equally unable to trust in the providence of God, they entrenched themselves within a bulwark of cruel, unchristian, penal laws. The Jewish nation was a theocracy, and idolatry was not only a sin against God, but a crime against the state, and, therefore, punishable with death. Protestants availed themselves of this precedent: call the papists idolators, and treat them as you please. Tear away their children from them; hinder them from worshipping God at all. Let any rebellious, profligate son, claim his father's estate, if he will but renounce popery, he need not have any religion; he may be an atheist, provided he promises not to be a papist. Oppress them as much as you can, and if you do not quite murder them, admire your own mercy.

I abhor the treatment of the presbyterians in Scotland, in Charles the second's time; and I do not

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think much better of the severities against the papists in Ireland. I did not wonder at the contempt the Lord poured upon the mistaken zeal of the protestant association of the year 1780. Can the Gospel of Christ authorize such things? Are these the fruits of love? Is it thus we do as we wish to be done by? Surely, the Son of Man came, not to destroy, but to save men's lives.

In June, 1795, he says: many think, yea, many presume to say, that God does not govern the earth. He has a controversy with the nations, and especially, with our nation; which, considering our superior privileges, I deem to be the worst in Christendom. Yet the light and power of the Gospel are certainly upon the increase in England. This is the only good sign of the times I can discern. We may pray in faith for the spread of the Gospel, and the enlargement of our Lord's kingdom; for we may be sure, this is the great design he has in view; and for which the wheels of time and nature are kept in motion.

And,

This is the grand mark, to which the rise and fall of empires, and the commotions of the present day, have a direct tendency; though the way of the Lord is so in the sea, that we short sighted creatures cannot trace the connexion of events, and the dependence of one upon another. But his word warrants us to believe, what we cannot clearly see. even now, his hand is so visibly and awfully lifted up, that it becomes us to see, and acknowledge it, and humble ourselves under it; whether others will or not. The Lord has a controversy with this nation; he is pleading his own cause against the prevailing spirit of infidelity, and the abominations that abound; and he will make sinful worms know that he is the Lord, and that in all they speak proudly, he is above them.

Let us, my friend, settle it as a maxim, that it is the best time, when the best cause flourishes most; for as the life is more than meat, so is the soul more

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than the body. If one half of the kingdom was ravaged by war, provided the distress was sanctified to stir up many careless ones to seek the Lord and his salvation; such a dispensation would be more a mercy than a judgment.

In reference to his own situation, and the offence which his evangelism gave to the church establishment, Mr. Newton writes, in July, 1796: some have wondered, of late, how I could stay with comfort in my present situation. But nothing is imposed upon me, as a clergyman, that hurts my conscience. I find liberty in the service; my church is full and crowded; my auditory peaceful and attentive; there are many eminent Christians among them, and a general seriousness upon the face of the congregation. Some, and as times go, many, are successfully awakened; and we have, particularly, a fine show of young people springing up, and increasing in numbers and graces, like willows by the water courses.

In a word, the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the hungry are fed, the burdened are set at liberty. With these tokens of the Lord's presence amongst us, and his goodness afforded in my private and public work, I am well satisfied that I am where he would have me to be. If he accepts and visits us, it is a small matter, if some of our brethren are displeased. If he is pleased to smile upon us, we can bear their censures. Besides, if I leave this church, to whom must I go? The presbyterians, independents, baptists, seceders, &c. all say, with equal positiveness: we are the people. But I cannot join them all. By the grace of God, I will love, and pray for them all ; but will join none of them. I will stay where I am; and if I were to choose again, I would make the same choice to-morrow. I never did, I trust I never shall repent it. My reasons assigned in the Apologia, are more and more confirmed to me, the longer I live. In the October following, he writes: we spent the first week at Reading, where the Lord has many peo