FOR FEBRUARY, 1835.

BIOGRAPHY.

MEMOIR OF THE LATE REV. THOMAS COOPER :
WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.

(Concluded from page 14.)

Is August, 1782, I was appointed to preach in the city of Norwich. The Circuit extended far and wide. We had to labour hard to plant the Gospel in different places, and amidst great discouragements; for our Superintendent Mr. Hindmarsh never went through the Circuit but once. He had imbibed the curious and strange views of Baron Swedenborg, and with great zeal endeavoured to propagate those unscriptural doctrines to the day of his death. The feelings of my mind were at this time very variable. Sometimes I had overflowing joy, arising from a consciousness of my saving interest in Christ; and at other times the deepest depressions, as if I should be lost for ever. I have inherited from my dying mother a constitutional nervous disease. I suffer most distressingly before I attempt to preach; it is with difficulty I ascend the pulpit, my whole frame being 30 agitated; and then I have a deep sense of the vast importance of the ministry, and of my inability for so great and responsible a work. Yet woe is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel; for I know that a dispensation of it is committed unto me. And, lo, I am with you, unto the end of the world," is a word in-season to me. Whatever opposition we meet with, many persons are brought to see the necessity of fleeing from the wrath to come, and to embrace the overtures of mercy. I have been brought to the very borders of the grave by a putrid fever, so that there was not the least prospect of my recovery; and at the same time I laboured under the most dreadful apprehensions respecting my eternal safety. Mr. Hunt, a most skilful surgeon, and a truly pious man, who was my medical attendant, with strong cries and prayers, pleaded with God to rebuke the disorder, and to heal my wounded mind. The Lord in mercy heard and answered, by comforting me with the consolations of his Spirit, and by giving the healing touch; for I improved in my health from that very hour; and my kind surgeon, though he attended me for a long time, and with great assiduity, never made any charge, only requesting me to preach to him a sermon, which I cheerfully did, as soon as I was able. Here I parted with my beloved friend, Mr. Keighley, to see his face no more.

In August, 1783, I was appointed to travel in the Colchester Circuit. Except in this town, we were opposed and rejected in every part of Essex; and we were much tried with long and wearisome journeys in Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, and with many great and strong trials, which were VOL. XIV. Third Series. FEBRUARY. 1835. G

much increased by so little success attending our ministry. We thought we would make a bold attempt and venture to go to Mistley, in Essex, to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. A very genteel congregation attended, and appeared to be a people prepared of the Lord, to receive the word of truth. From thence I was encouraged to go to Manningtree, to preach to the inhabitants. By the blessing of God, the word was attended with power; I had a large congregation; many were savingly converted, and became the first members of our society in that place.

When I had been in this Circuit two years, in August, 1785, Mr. Wesley appointed me to go to Cornwall, which was upwards of three hundred miles from this place. As I was engaged to be married, and so long a removal would probably have prevented it, I begged very hard to be continued a third year, or at least to be sent to a Circuit near at hand. My honoured father, in this respect, did not see fit to indulge my request; and I found it hard to submit. I therefore married Miss Ann Pawninton, of Mistley, who with her mother built a new chapel for my sole use in Manningtree. Here I had a large congregation, and I laboured with all my power to win souls to Christ. I commenced preaching at Harwich, and the Lord gave me souls for my hire. My hearers in that town freely joined themselves to me; I therefore formed them into a society. After I had laboured alone in this manner somewhat more than a year, Mr. Wesley came to visit Colchester, where I hastened to see him; and he received me most affectionately. I informed him of my deep sorrow, and acknowledged that it had cost me many tears, that I had disobeyed his orders in not going to Cornwall; and though my prospect was very flattering, and I had every thing to encourage me in the work of the Lord, I was not happy, because I believed I was particularly called to be united to the people whom God had raised up under his instrumentality, and to my dear brethren who were joined with him, and did not count their lives dear unto themselves: I wished to bear the burden and heat of the day with them. He most kindly received me as if I had never offended; and, as a proof of it, he received me into full Connexion, making no difference on account of the time I had been stationary. As a farther testimony that he overlooked my continuance in Essex contrary to order, he put my name into the Deed of Declaration, which he enrolled in Chancery, with those of my senior brethren; and in February, after I had seen Mr. Wesley in Colchester, he wrote to me, that, with all speed, I must go into the Birmingham Circuit, Mr. Murlin having left. Here I had a great struggle to give up many of my spiritual children, who had looked upon me as their Pastor for life; but as they had never heard any thing from me but Methodist doctrine, and were initiated into Methodist discipline, they were gathered into our fold, and the chapel was occupied by our Preachers. The foundation of a Circuit was then formed there, that has continued to the present day.

I now hastened to obey my orders, and arrived at Birmingham with my wife, who only lived with me three years and a few days, and then en

tered into rest. We were most cordially received by our friends in that Circuit, and much good was done. I enjoyed great union and comfort with my colleagues, and many precious souls were brought to God. Among these was Mr. John S. Pipe, of Dudley, who was savingly converted to the Lord, and afterwards gave himself to the ministry, and was made very useful in calling sinners to repentance.

I continued in the Birmingham Circuit till August, 1788; and in August, 1789, was appointed to labour in the Wolverhampton Circuit, which was very extensive. We took in many towns and villages, besides Stafford, Madeley, and Shrewsbury, and laboured hard; and although the work did not go on so rapidly as we desired, the people were very steady. I was acquainted with Mrs. Hill, of Shrewsbury, a very pious and excellent woman, whose son resides in Liverpool, the Rev. Thomas Hill. I was honoured likewise with a particular intimacy with that blessed woman, Mrs. Fletcher; and I felt it a great privilege to go to Madeley in my turn to preach. Her conversation was very profitable. Among many other things that she mentioned to me, she stated that when her husband was dying, he promised, if his holy Father permitted him, he would always attend her as her guardian angel; and after his decease, she informed me of the certainty she had of his being near her, and knowing all her concerns; and the intimacy she felt with his spirit was greater than when he was alive. Many extraordinary things did she relate to me, as convincing proofs of her assertion, that astonished me much; but knowing that she possessed strong intellectual powers, and was no enthusiast, I could not disbelieve. I have great cause to bless God for his continued mercy towards me, and that I find access to the Father of my spirit, through my all-prevailing Advocate.

February 25th, 1790, I have again entered into the marriage state; the object of my choice being Miss Lewis, the daughter of Mr. Lewis, Attorney-at-law, Dudley, Worcestershire. In August, 1790, I was appointed to the Burslem Circuit. Here we had many respectable and kind friends connected with us; and we had reason to believe many sinners saw and felt the necessity of fleeing from the wrath to come. After we left I was very deeply affected with the information of the cruel murder of Mr. John Wood, a most pious and devoted gentleman, a ClassLeader too in our society, and most exemplary in bis conduct. One of his family being ill, a Surgeon was called in, who fell in love with Miss Wood, and did all in his power to gain her affection; but as he was not a religious man, Mr. Wood did not approve of the connexion, and sent his daughter out of the way. The young gentleman, hearing of this, called one morning with his bill, and was introduced to Mr. Wood, who was sitting in his parlour. While he was looking over the paper, the Surgeon shot him through the body. He cried out, "You have killed me!" and sunk upon the floor. After lingering three days, in great agony, he expired in peace. The young man intended to put an end to his own life by lodging the contents of another pistol in his own body; but he

was prevented, secured, and sent to jail. Great interest was used by his friends to get him off, endeavouring to prove that he was insane; but in vain. He was tried, condemned, and executed. O the effects of fallen nature, under the influence of that wicked spirit who goeth about as a roaring lion! If it were not for restraining grace, what destruction there would be,-what carnage, what bloodshed, what misery!

In 1792 I was appointed to the Sheffield Circuit, which then included Doncaster, Chesterfield, Rotherham, and many other places. Here we had a most blessed and glorious revival of religion. Hundreds were brought to God through Christ, who gave evident proofs, by their life and conversation, that they were born from above; while they were labouring to promote the interest of the blessed Jesus, some were called to preach, others to be Leaders of classes, Prayer-Leaders, Visiters of the sick, &c. Mr. William Edward Miller, a musician, and his wife, were powerfully wrought upon, and joined the society. He afterwards went out as

a Travelling Preacher, and was made very useful. When the work first broke out, I felt a kind of repugnancy at the irregularity that appeared; but I was deeply convinced afterwards it was not of man, but from the blessed Spirit, that killeth and maketh alive; and I was truly thankful to God, by whatever means he was pleased to work, so that souls were but savingly brought out of darkness into his marvellous light. We had many of the kindest and most affectionate friends in this town and Circuit; so that when the two years were expired, it was hard work to part. My soul lies humbled in the dust, that the people, in every place, wherever I have preached, wish my continuance. What am I, O Lord, but an unprofitable servant? I was much attached to Mrs. Green, of Rotherham, who was labouring under great temporal difficulties, but was most wonderfully supported by the Lord, and had an unshaken confidence in his mercy, both for the soul and the body. She did not trust in vain; for Mr. Holy, a most respectable and pious gentleman in Sheffield, allowed her yearly what would support her. Afterwards she died in the full triumph of faith.

In 1794 I was appointed to the Newark Circuit; and though it was a very great change from Sheffield, the people received us with the greatest kindness, and were very attentive to us. I was informed, before I arrived, that two men, who had been Local Preachers, and some who had been members of our society, had imbibed the dangerous and destructive views of Paine's " Age of Reason," had rejected the blessed Gospel of their Saviour, and were living without God in the world. This had a very discouraging tendency, and our friends for some time were much cast down; but the Lord in mercy dispersed the cloud, and revived his work with power.

When I had been about a year and a half in this Circuit, I was deeply afflicted, and therefore sent to invite Mr. Watson, of Lincoln, who, though only sixteen years old, was a Local Preacher, to come and help He kindly consented, and continued during the remainder of the

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year. When I arrived at the London Conference, I earnestly entreated our brethren to accept Mr. Watson upon trial as a Travelling Preacher; stating that he had been exceedingly useful while with me; and, though so young, I knew the Lord had called him to the work, and fitted him for it, and I believed he would be an able and useful Minister of the Gospel; but all my pleadings were in vain, for the senior Preachers thought he was too young for the important work. Nevertheless, when I arrived at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, in 1796, the Circuit appointed for me, I found it quite necessary to have more help; I therefore sent for Mr. Watson again, and he cheerfully came to me, and continued the whole year, and was very acceptable. At the next Conference I met with no reproof for thus acting. Mr. Watson was received with great satisfaction; the year was allowed him; and he went to his second Circuit with comfort.

When I went through this Circuit at first, I was much discouraged; but the Lord stirred up the people to join us in earnest supplications for a revival of his work. Much good was done, our congregations abundantly increased, and many a poor soul was snatched as a brand from the burning.

Before I left Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Mrs. Stubbs, of Sutton, gave me the following anecdote of the Rev. Walter Sellon, who had related it to her:-Mr. Sellon, being invited to preach in a certain parish church on a Sunday, took a walk the next morning into the churchyard, to read the inscriptions on the tomb-stones, in the hope of gaining some information of the state in which the people of that parish had left the world. After long searching in vain for expressions worthy of a dying Christian, at last he came to a monument on which was inscribed a testimony to the holy triumph of a departed believer, and an expression of grateful praise to the Lamb, through whose blood he had been saved from eternal death. While he was indulging in the pleasing sensations which this discovery had excited, he saw a woman passing by the churchyard, whom he called to him. As soon as she approached, he desired her to read the lines on the tomb-stone, which she did; but told him that they contained nothing suitable to her. He requested her to read them again, which she had no sooner done than she answered as before, that she felt no manner of interest in the blood of Jesus. Being under much concern for the woman, he asked her where she lived; and was informed she dwelt about three miles and a half distant. A few days after he inquired the way to her house, and found her in the utmost distress, having a mother dying of old age, and two children ill of the small pox, without any means of support. Mr. Sellon took occasion from these affecting circumstances to impress their minds with a proper sense of the wise and gracious designs of God, in all his dispensations towards his helpless creatures. He then commended them to the mercy of God in earnest prayer, after which he gave them a few religious pamphlets and some pecuniary assistance, and took an affectionate leave of them. About