further striking and important fact,-that in very few instances has a servant, or a young person, or indeed any person, passed any length of time under his roof, without appearing to be brought permanently under the influence of religious principle. I consider him as having been singularly blessed in this respect. And yet it was not much his practice to address himself closely and minutely, as some have done with very good effect, to such persons individually. It was not so much by preaching directly to them, as by living before them; making an edifying use of incidents and occasions; and being so constantly instructive, devout, and benevolent in family worship; that, under the blessing of God, he produced so striking an impression upon them. This added tenfold force to whatever else they heard from him in his public ministrations.

CHAPTER IV.

THE GREAT CHANGE OF HIS RELIGIOUS

VIEWS.

6

“WITHIN a few months after my marriage," my father proceeds, "I was led unexpectedly to exchange my curacy of Stoke for that of Ravenstone, the next village. This was done at the instance of the vicar of the latter place, the Rev. Mr. Chapman, an unmarried man, seventy years of age. He had hitherto kept no curate, but had occasionally applied to me for assistance: and now, as he wished to engage one, and I was at this time reputable, and not suspected of methodism,' he offered me his curacy, with a salary of 401. a year; 15. more than I received for Stoke. The reason of his change of plan was unknown to me at the time; but I afterwards found it to be a very considerable accession of fortune, which had come to him in rather a singular manner. A distant relation, a retail grocer in London, had, by saving habits, amassed about 12,000l. On the approach of death, he sent for Mr. Charles Higgins, (one of the Weston family, and afterwards Sheriff of London,) the head partner in the wholesale house with which he had dealt, and proposed to leave the whole to him. Mr. H., being a man of much generosity of mind, resolutely refused to accept it and urged that it ought to go to the relations, however distant. The man, however, de

clared that he would die intestate, if Mr. H. would not become his heir: and he kept his word. In consequence, after engaging in some litigation, and buying off some individuals who might have been troublesome, the vicar of Ravenstone, with his sister, a maiden lady, still more advanced in age, who lived with him, inherited the whole property. On the proposition which he made to me, all advance of salary at Stoke being declined, I became his curate."

My father removed to Ravenstone soon after Midsummer, 1775; but this was previously to his becoming curate of the parish.

"At this place," he says, "I resided about two years, and it proved, as it were, a Bethel to me. (Gen. xxviii.) Here I read the scriptures and prayed. Here I sought and, I trust, found, in a considerable measure, the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. I was not indeed brought to say with unwavering voice, as Thomas did of old, My Lord, and my God; but I learned to count all but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. Here first I was made the instrument of bringing several persons earnestly to ask the all-important question, What must I do to be saved? and here I learned, in some degree, to give the scriptural answer, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

Alluding to this period, he observed in a sermon preached at Aston, June 25, 1818, of which the Rev. Daniel Wilson has preserved and printed some memorandums: "It is above forty years since God of his mercy brought down my stubborn heart to true repentance. The first sermon I preached afterwards was from Gal. iii. 22, But the scripture hath con

cluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. This very discourse was the means of bringing some of my people to feel their danger, and to come to me saying, What shall I do to be saved? when I hardly knew how to answer the question. Begin, my brethren, and continue in the same way. Show the people that they are concluded under sin. Tell them plainly of their lost condition. Till they feel this, nothing is done. Then exhibit to them the promise by faith of Jesus Christ: this will heal the broken heart."

He proceeds: "I did not however, in my own case, enter so deeply into the practical use of the truths to which I acceded, as might have been expected; but, in many things which I have since considered as wholly indefensible, I conformed to the world, and by so doing, was, in great measure, sheltered from scorn and reproach. But in these things the narrative in the Force of Truth, from April, 1775, to about the same period of 1777, must be referred to.

"Here likewise my two eldest children were born: Anne, who died at the age of four years and a half, and of whom further notice will be hereafter taken; and John, still living."

Soon after his removal to Ravenstone, we find him thus anticipating the death of another married sister.

66.

Though I was somewhat concerned for you, yet this was all absorbed in the concern I have always felt on my poor sister Gibbons's account, whenever I have thought of her since I received your letter. I can never reflect on her fate, and the cause of it,

I have long

without the most feeling anxiety. thought of writing to her, but have been hindered by the supposition of my letter finding her departed from this troublesome scene..... May the Almighty supply her with a plentiful portion of his grace!...This most sincere and earnest prayer I do not fail daily to present at the throne of grace."

Ravenstone, it may be observed, was always the favourite scene of my father's ministerial services. Here he enjoyed greater comfort, and here more visible success attended his pastoral labours, in proportion to the time of their continuance, than in any subsequent situation. "Here," he says, in another part of the narrative, which may more conveniently be introduced in this place, "a considerable number of persons, who had previously been ignorant and careless about religion, became consistent and zealous Christians; and a general seriousness and attention were excited, beyond any thing which I have since witnessed." This account, however, of his usefulness at Ravenstone, takes in not only the period of his residence there, but that also of his subsequent residence at Weston, till the year 1781, during which time he retained the curacy of Ravenstone.

The progress of his mind at the important period which has been mentioned, from the spring of the year 1775 to that of 1777, is so amply, and in so satisfactory a manner, detailed in the Force of Truth, that I should have contented myself, as he has done, with merely referring the reader to that work, were it not for the very interesting additional lights which his letters to his sisters, now in my hands, throw on certain principal points of the history. For the sake

G