J. ATKINSON, 
 
 'rinter & Bookbinder, 
 
 Barnard. castle. 
 
 Stamp. office. 

 
 UCSB LIBRARY 

 
 I 
 
 -.24 
 
 Q
 
 THE 
 
 ROUND PREACHER; 
 
 OR 
 
 REMINISCENCES 
 
 Circuit Htfe, 
 
 EX-WESLEYAN. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & Co 
 
 STATIONERS' HALL COCRT. 
 BRADFORD: E. A. W. TAYLOR, 
 
 MDCCCXLVI.
 
 [ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL.]
 
 PREFACE 
 
 TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 It is with mingled feelings that the Second Edition 
 of the " Round Preacher" is issued. The extensive sale 
 which the work has commanded, is ample evidence that 
 the subject is one of no slight importance. Notwith- 
 standing the many criticisms which have appeared upon 
 it, (favourable and otherwise) it has not been deem- 
 ed advisable to make any material alterations, and for 
 the best of all reasons, that facts, however clothed, are 
 still facts, and cannot be overthrown. It is not by 
 this intended to imply that the writer is unwilling 
 to profit by the suggestions and hints which have been 
 thrown out, but as another work is in preparation 
 which may cast additional light upon the present, 
 he will reserve the main portion of his apology 
 until then. Still it may be advisable to notice what 
 he conceives to be the mistakes of those who are not 
 conversant with the workings of modern Methodism. 
 The peculiar tendencies and workings of the system 
 have heretofore been calmly stated, and deliberately
 
 IV. PREFACE. 
 
 discussed. But this mode of procedure has not borne 
 the fruit that might have been expected. Nor was 
 it likely There is so much of the fanatical, and 
 absurd in the system, that its real workings can only 
 be seen when these are fully depicted. The masses 
 of the people who are ensnared by Methodism are not 
 aware of the improprieties they perpetrate, but when 
 they see these portrayed they may, it is to be hoped, 
 learn how shocking it is to offer such confused worship 
 to the King of kings and Lord of lords. It was the 
 strong conviction of this fact that induced the author 
 of the "Round Preacher" to set down in their own 
 language the scenes here described. The task he felt 
 was an ungrateful one, and one which does as much 
 violence to his own feelings as to those of others. But 
 yet he believes that all thoughtful minds will not im- 
 pute to him, that apparent recklesness on holy subjects, 
 which he, no less than they, regrets. The blame rests 
 with those that are parties in the scenes described, and 
 who sanction them by their presence, and support, not 
 with him who merely gives a faithful delineation of 
 what he has seen, and heard. 
 
 II. It has been further urged as an objection, that 
 the making of the 'whole body responsible for the acts of 
 individual fanatics, is unfair and ungenerous. Now 
 as a general rule he candidly admits the truth of this
 
 PREFACE. V. 
 
 objection. But it by no means applies for an instant 
 to the subject of which this book treats. He has not 
 taken individual instances, and sweepingly condemned 
 the whole body because of them. In one sense there 
 is individuality in the hook, in another none. He 
 contends that he has done justice to the better inform- 
 ed, whilst he has nothing exaggerated, " or set aught 
 down in malice." The scenes here described are of 
 daily occurrence, they are not partial.* Such sad 
 confusion, irreligion, and semi-blasphemy obtain no- 
 where so much, as in Methodist Prayer-Meetings, 
 Love-feasts, &c. And all these statements made on 
 these points he defies any one to deny. And if such 
 be really the case, it is not only needful, hut an ahso- 
 lute duty, not only for the sake of those who are mis- 
 led, hut also for others who may be ensnared, to speak 
 in no stammering language of such awful desecration. 
 He has prepared cases illustrative of this. One only 
 he subjoins, taken from a Provincial paper, written 
 since this book was issued, and which shows most in- 
 disputably the truthful reality of the author's state- 
 ments. 
 
 * Of course the characters will be taken by all judicious 
 readers as merely the type of a class ; the scenes compromiso 
 the whole bodv.
 
 VI. PREFACE. 
 
 MELANCHOLY EXHIBITION OF SUPERSTITION IN BIBMINGHAM 
 " For some weeks past, a person styling himself ' the 
 Rev. J. Caughey, formerly a minister of the episcopal 
 church in America/ has been holding a series of those 
 religious meetings termed ' revivals,' in some of the 
 dissenting chapels in Birmingham, and at which some 
 very extravagant scenes are stated to have occurred. 
 His audiences have been very numerous, and composed 
 principally of females. On Sunday last, it was given 
 out that Mr. Caughey would preach at a chapel in 
 Islington, in that town. On this occasion the doors of 
 the chapel were 'litterally beseiged,' and hundreds 
 were unable to obtain admission. The rev. gentleman's 
 discourse consisted chiefly of violent appeals to the 
 passions of his auditory, in the extreme of declamation, 
 dealing out the most fierce denunciations against those 
 who would not " seek their own salvation ;" and con- 
 cluded by inviting their attendance in the afternoon, 
 when an effect would be given to the morning's dis- 
 course. In the afternoon there was a similar rush to 
 the chapel. Mr. Caughey, with several assistants, stood 
 within the altar, and invited all who wished to be saved 
 to come up to him. A party (chiefly females) obeyed 
 the invitation ; and then commenced a most indescri- 
 able scene ; some were crying, some sobbing, some 
 praying, and all appeared to be in a state of great ex-
 
 PREFACE. Vll. 
 
 citement and alarm ; which was also shared by the 
 greater part of the congregation, some of whom were 
 on their knees, others were standing erect, with their 
 arms extended, and offering up prayers, while some 
 were gesticulating violently, and muttering incoherent 
 expressions. This extraordinary scene ended by one or 
 two of the females being carried into the vestry in an 
 apparently fainting condition. One happy couple (a 
 man and his wife) were so touched, that they grasped 
 the rails of the altar, and so remained for about three- 
 quarters of an hour. One of the assistants knelt down 
 in front of the female, and very urgently begged her to 
 believe. Before a very long period had elapsed he 
 stood up and cried out, " Glory ! glory ! she believes ;" 
 upon this announcement being made, the whole assem- 
 bly within the altar took up the cry, and the phrases 
 "glory ! glory! hallelujah ! Amen," resounded through 
 the chapel. The work having advanced thus far, Mr. 
 Caughey descended from the pulpit to the altar, and 
 intimated to the audience that the woman would be 
 saved that afternoon that this fact had been revealed 
 to him by the voice of God ; he further declared that 
 her husband had been saved the previous week, and 
 was then praying that his wife might be saved too. At 
 this moment the assistant again cried out, that " she 
 was saved ;" whereupon the singing began afresh, and
 
 Vlll. PREFACE. 
 
 the poor creature, whose imagination had been dread- 
 fully worked upon, was borne, in an apparently faint- 
 ing state, from thej altar in the arms of her husband. 
 In this state she was taken to the vestry by the assis- 
 tants, and the door having been closed and order some- 
 what restored, this concluded the service. In the even- 
 ing Mr. Caughey delivered another discourse, when a 
 similar scene was enacted. 
 
 Now let it be borne in mind that this said Mr. Caughey 
 meets with a ready reception, and is regarded as a 
 most admirable revivalist. It is not therefore, unfair to 
 hold the body responsible for these and similar acts, 
 which they not only do not repress, but which they 
 actually countenance.* 
 
 The author has now only to express his thanks to 
 those critics who have meeted out their praise to the 
 work ; and to request others who have been startled at 
 its character, to hold their minds in abeyance, until 
 they have perused the work just alluded to, as being in 
 course of preparation. 
 
 * There is no need to take hold even of this particular, as 
 the whole body are undoubtedly compromised by the charac- 
 ter of their daily and weekly meetings.
 
 THE PKEACHING COUPLE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 "ATTEMPT NO MORE TO ABRIDGE ME OF MY LIBERTY WHICH 
 
 I CLAIM BY THE LAWS OF GOD AND MAN LEAVE ME TO 
 
 BE GOVERNED BY GOD AND MY OWN CONSCIENCE, THEN 
 WILL I GOVERN YOU WITH GENTLE SWAY EVEN AS CHRIST 
 THE CHURCH." Wesley's Letter to his Wife. 
 
 In the year 18 it pleased the Wesleyan 
 Conference to appoint me to a small circuit in 
 the West of England. No sooner did I hear of 
 the appointment, than I wrote to the " Chair- 
 man of my District," requesting him most ear- 
 nestly to get it changed for a small circuit in 
 the Liverpool District. I told him that I had 
 received a very pressing invitation from that 
 Circuit, which I had accepted. And this for 
 two reasons ; first, because such was the wish 
 of my parents, and secondly, I was induced to 
 A
 
 2 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 do so, by a consideration for my own health, to 
 restore which, nothing proved so effectual as 
 my native air. In answer to my letter, " The 
 Chairman of my District" assured me that he 
 would use his utmost exertions to secure for 
 me the desired appointment. 
 
 My father being a person of considerable pro- 
 perty, and very liberal to the " cause," possessed 
 some influence in the Connexion. A few weeks 
 before the Conference, he entertained at his 
 house, two members of the " Stationing Com- 
 mittee," who promised to use their interest to 
 get me appointed to the town in question. The 
 solicitations of father and son the invitation of 
 the Circuit as well as the united influence of 
 "the Chairman of the District," and private 
 friends, proved ineffectual. Neither prayers nor 
 intreaties could move the inexorable Commit- 
 tee, or rather, I ought to say, certain leading 
 members of that Committee ; for I doubt not 
 there were many belonging to it who sympa- 
 thized with me, and would gladly have lent me 
 their support, if they had had the courage
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 3 
 
 to oppose the mightier of their brethren. But 
 such a course of procedure would have endan- 
 gered their own interests a result by no means 
 desirable. 
 
 When my father heard of my appointment, 
 he exclaimed, " What ! am I still a marked 
 sheep ? have they not yet paid off the grudge ? 
 Does the Leeds organ still sound harshly in 
 their ears ?* It is surely hard," continued he, 
 " that my sin should be visited upon my son if 
 indeed it were a sin to assert and maintain my 
 rights against the aggressions of tyranny and 
 oppression !" 
 
 My father had ventured to oppose the " Su- 
 perintendent" of his Circuit in the too lordly 
 exercise of his authority. From that time he 
 was regarded as disaffected to the whole system 
 of Wesleyan government; whilst in truth he 
 was one of its firmest supporters. He had never 
 joined the rampant faction ; but had, on all oc- 
 casions, opposed the spirit of innovation. And 
 yet, he was accounted an enemy to the consti- 
 
 * Appendix A. 
 A2
 
 4 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 tution, and was treated as a rebel. The ruling 
 powers were displeased with him. In order to 
 make him feel this most acutely, I was sent to a 
 circuit three hundred miles from home. 
 
 Upon enquiry, I found that the Superintend- 
 ent of my new circuit was an avaricious, vain, 
 and envious man; his wife miserly and over- 
 bearing. Her presumption knew no bounds ; 
 she had, in fact, gone so far as to take upon 
 herself the exercise of the ministerial functions. 
 
 Before I went to my new appointment, I paid 
 a visit to my parents. Scarcely, however, had 
 three days elapsed ere I received a letter from 
 Mr. Timothy Sleekface, my new Superintendent, 
 ordering me to repair immediately to my cir- 
 cuit. In reply I informed him that my father 
 was dangerously ill, and that I was engaged in 
 settling some important family matters; but 
 would hasten to my appointment as soon as I 
 possibly could. 
 
 Judge, therefore, of my surprise when, by 
 return of post, I received the following letter 
 from Mrs. Timothy Sleekface :
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 5 
 
 " My dear Brother in Christ Jesus, 
 
 " My dear partner and fellow-labourer 
 in the Gospel, received your letter of the 20th 
 inst., and is much surprised at the very inde- 
 pendent way of acting you seem to have taken 
 upon you. We think it would have been more 
 comely in a young man on " probation,"* if you 
 had humbly asked your Superintendent's per- 
 mission to stay a few days longer with your 
 parents. We are very sorry to hear of the ill- 
 ness of your father ; but we cannot see how 
 your presence can heal his sickness. My dear 
 partner wishes me to say that you must leave 
 the ' dead to bury their dead,' and allow others 
 to transact worldly business. The Church calls 
 you to your duty ; souls are perishing daily 
 around us : oh ! hasten to save them, as an 
 angel of mercy, ere they perish for ever. Be 
 assured that your God will take care of your 
 father : leave him in his hands, and be quick to 
 help us. Both myself and my husband have 
 been labouring night and day, till our strength 
 
 * Appendix B. 
 A 3
 
 6 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 is well nigh gone. It is settled for you to lodge 
 with us, and I and my dear partner will be to 
 you as a father and mother. May the Lord 
 give you journeying mercies, and bring you up 
 among us ' in the fulness of the blessings of the 
 gospel of peace.' My partner and daughters 
 salute you ; and, not forgetting to give you and 
 your parents an interest in our prayers, 
 
 I remain 
 
 Your faithful fellow-labourer in the gospel, 
 DORCAS SLEEKFACE." 
 
 The perusal of this apostolical epistle awak- 
 ened deep reflection within my breast. I could 
 not but think that, had Mrs. Sleekface been 
 following the example of her namesake, in pro- 
 viding clothes for the poor, her time would 
 have been more profitably employed than in 
 officiously writing to me. Knowing that it was 
 a serious thing to incur the displeasure of my 
 Superintendent, I set off for my circuit on the 
 following day. I was full three days in travel- 
 ling ; I did not, however, make a convenience
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 7 
 
 of the society on my way, by sponging on their 
 hospitality. The first night, I slept at the house 
 of a relative, and the second at a neat inn ; but 
 unfortunately was put into damp sheets, which 
 gave me a severe cold. In the morning I called 
 for the landlady, and said to her " You ought to 
 see that your servants do not put people into 
 damp sheets, for nothing is so dangerous." 
 
 " You don't mean to say, Sir," said the land- 
 lady, interrupting me, " that either you or any- 
 body else, was ever put into damp sheets, or 
 damp anything else at my house." 
 
 " I mean to say," I replied, " that my sheets 
 were not properly aired, last night, and. that I 
 am now shivering with cold through it." 
 
 " Why, Sir, I put them down to the fire my- 
 self; didn't I, now, Boots ?" said she, appealing 
 to a stupid looking youth. 
 
 " Yes, ma'am, I seed you ; and I know they 
 mun be dry, for they quite smoked, and I took 
 'em away afeerd they should be gettin burnt." 
 
 " Had they been to the fire long when you 
 took them away ?" I asked.
 
 8 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 " No, they warn't at the fire two minutes ; for 
 I was afeerd on 'em gettin burned," replied he. 
 
 " They were evidently damp," I rejoined, "for 
 it was steam that the Boots saw coming from 
 them, and not smoke, as he imagines." The 
 landlady however stoutly maintained that the 
 sheets were all right, and, in a short time, she 
 mustered all the servants to testify to the truth 
 of her assertion. The cook said that she put 
 them to the fire again after John had taken them 
 away, and had turned them three times. The 
 chambermaid said she had also turned them four 
 times. The bar-maid asserted that as she passed 
 through the kitchen she saw them scorching, 
 and so removed them further off the fire. I 
 made no answer, but ordered up my breakfast. 
 
 The boots remained in the room. "Pray 
 Sir," says he, " if you woant think me too 
 forrard in axin you a question, mayn't you be 
 a methodist preacher a returnin from Confer- 
 ence?" I replied that I was a methodist 
 preacher, but that I had not been to Confer- 
 ence. " I thought," said John, " as if you was
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 
 
 ner a preacher, my eyes deceived me. Shake 
 hands, brother, for I am one a' the Local bro- 
 thers,* and preaches the gospel to poor perish- 
 ing sinners. I get planned out once a three 
 weeks, and the missus sometimes grumbles at 
 me goin. She threatened to turn me away a 
 while ago, becoz she catched me reading Mr. 
 Wesley's notes in the shoe-cleanin place ; and 
 she called me a thief becoz as I robbed her on 
 her time ; but the Lord knows as I only reads 
 a bit when I've nothin else to do, to pick up 
 a bit a fodder for my Master's sheep, and I 
 donner know any pasture so good as Mr. Wes- 
 ley's. You think the same, I suppose, donner 
 you, brother ?" 
 
 " Well, for my part," I replied, " I think the 
 Bible affords better pasture." 
 
 "Sartainly, very right, brother," answered 
 John, "p'raps I ought to ha' sed as Mr. Wesley's 
 is the best roads to the pasture : they are short 
 and straight, and no gates to open, or stiles to 
 get over. His is a sort a' railroad, and cuts 
 * Appendix C.
 
 10 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 through the hills makes all a plain stops but 
 a bit at a place, and takes you through a chap- 
 ter in no time." 
 
 The bell now rung for him. " That's for 
 me," said John, " but I've got just one parti- 
 cular thing to ax you and it's this : Some a' 
 a'ar society says as I ought to leave my place, 
 for it's not consistent, they think, for a preacher 
 to be a sarrant at a inn. Now I don't quite see 
 as they do : I consider inns as necessary, and 
 as openin a wide field for usefulness to a de- 
 voted man. Iv'e saved I known't how many 
 men from drunkenness, as comes to this house ; 
 and the missus says, as if I interfere in her cus- 
 tom, I mun leave. But I'm now a gettin too 
 divartin. Now I want to ax you this, brother : 
 if there hadna been a inn for our Saviour's pa- 
 rents to ha' gone to, they must ha' been lyin 
 out all night, and ha' got cold. Now, as it was, 
 they got a lodging ; but, alas ! a very sorry un. 
 Now supposin there had been at that inn, a 
 Boots like me, Joseph and Mary wud niver ha' 
 lodged in the stable: they should ha' had a
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 11 
 
 good comfortable bed, and I'd ha' taken good 
 care as their shoes had been well polished." 
 The bell now rung a louder peal, and John very 
 reluctantly left me. 
 
 I had not time to finish my breakfast before 
 the coach started. I shivered with cold all the 
 day, and was glad when we reached the place 
 of my destination. A few friends were waiting 
 the arrival of the coach to receive me : amongst 
 them there was a ragged and greasy currier, 
 who introduced himself to me as a leader,* shook 
 me by the hand, and invoked the blessing of 
 heaven on my labours. He left me for a mo- 
 ment, and returned bringing with him a coal- 
 porter, whom he introduced as a local-preacher. 
 "God bless you," said the porter, "the Lord 
 has answered a'ar prayers, and brought you 
 among us in safety, I hope you will hev many 
 seals to your ministry." Whilst my hand was 
 in the gripe of the coal-porter, I received a 
 friendly tap on the shoulder, and a wretched 
 looking old man, addressing me, said, "Well 
 * Appendix D.
 
 12 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 brother Sparks, how he's you ! Is your soul a 
 prosperin ? I'm glad you be come to gee us a 
 lift in this part of the vineyard, for things is in a 
 very bad state ; the devil has been a sawin the 
 seeds a dividin among us, but you'll hear plenty 
 on it from the super and his wife. I belong to 
 the Levites, that sect as looked arter the temple, 
 for I look arter the chapel cleanin out, and such 
 like. I'm come to carry your luggage." 
 
 Escorted by three tradesmen, the currier, and 
 the coal-porter, the last of whom, kindly offered 
 me his arm, of which good service however I 
 did not avail myself, I proceeded to Mr. Sleek- 
 face's. The Levite took me round to the back- 
 door, in compliance with Mrs. Sleekface's or- 
 ders, that I might divest myself of my travelling 
 dress before I made my appearance in the par- 
 lour. The door of the kitchen was open, which 
 gave me a glimpse of a young person cleaning 
 the hearth, who, on my entering, ran away from 
 her work. I asked the Levite why the servant 
 maid fled away in such haste. 
 
 " Oh brother," said he, "it was'nt the sarvant-
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 13 
 
 gal, but it was Miss Sleekface, who does all the 
 work, her and her sister together, except by 
 chance my wife now and then gives 'em a 
 helpin hand, for some broken victuals. The 
 preachers afore 'em nearly alla's has kept a 
 sarvant, and I think they is soft if they don't, 
 for they get pay for one from quarter day. I 
 think, if I ar'nt wrong informed, that they get 
 eight pound a year allowed for one. I was very 
 sorry they was'nt for keeping one, as I thought 
 as I p'raps might ha' got a'ar Mary the place. 
 So you see as she gets eight pound a year by 
 makin her daughters drudge the work. They 
 are very industrious and pious gals, and as I hear 
 will hev a big fortin, for the super is worth thou- 
 sands a thousands. I was tel'd t'other day as 
 he has got iver so many thousands in the funds, 
 whether it's the chapel fund, or contingent fund, 
 I don't know. I'm told as he is worth about 
 a thousand a year. If I may be a givin you a 
 bit of advice, brother," continued he, " I should 
 recommend you to mak love to one on em, I 
 should say the oldest, for she is the properest
 
 14 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 age for marrying, is very good-looking, and is 
 pious, and has lots a' what your preachers con- 
 sider the one thing needful. I know she would 
 like to be married, for she has often told my 
 wife so when they have been washin together." 
 
 The Levite was interrupted by the appear- 
 ance of Miss Sleekface. She apologized for 
 the absence of her father and mother, who, she 
 told me, were gone into the Circuit to a Mis- 
 sionary Meeting. We conversed together for 
 some time. I soon discovered that she was a 
 girl of quick perception, acute discrimination, 
 and tolerably well informed : but faulty in her 
 pronunciation, and sadly deficient in her know- 
 ledge of syntax. An air of melancholy shaded 
 her countenance, and the marks of sorrow were 
 on her face ; her form was slender and symme- 
 trical, and her features regular and expressive : 
 her bright dark eyes gleamed from under fine 
 arched eye -brows, and the elevation of her fore- 
 head betokened intellect. Her person derived 
 no grace from her dress, for it was vulgar and 
 old fashioned, and her manners were stiff and
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 1& 
 
 awkward ; but with a better manner and a more 
 cultivated mind, she would be, thought I, the 
 loveliest of women. Miss Esther appeared still 
 more grief-worn. Her countenance was like 
 dark marble, gloomy and cold. Her form was 
 short and thick set, and her features were very 
 irregular. She spoke more incorrectly than 
 her sister, and was more awkward in her car- 
 riage. I saw many a tale of woe written on 
 their countenances, and I longed to know the 
 cause of their wretchedness. 
 
 I retired to bed before Mr. and Mrs. Sleek- 
 face returned home from their missionary ex- 
 cursion. I had a very restless night, for what 
 with the clattering and scratching of the rats 
 and mice amongst the lumber in my bed-room, 
 the hard and uneven texture of my bed, the 
 shivering cold all over me, and my sad feel- 
 ings, I had scarcely any sleep all the night. 
 When I rose in the morning I was weary, stiff, 
 and cold. I met Mr. and Mrs. Sleekface at 
 breakfast. It would be a difficult task, accurate- 
 ly to describe the personal appearance of this-
 
 16 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 unique couple. Mr. Sleekface seemed about 
 sixty years of age, was above the middle size, 
 rather round shouldered, with his head inclining 
 forward. His forehead was contracted, and re- 
 treating, and presented a rough and wrinkled 
 surface. The crown of his head was perfectly 
 bald, and shone with a burnished lustre, and at 
 the back of it there hung a few long grey hairs, 
 which over-thatched the collar of his coat. 
 There was an unmistakeable cunning in his 
 small pale grey eye, and no little grotesqueness 
 in his huge nose, which overhung his mouth, as 
 if the dreadful guardian of its entrance. He was 
 dressed in a rusty suit of black, which had evi- 
 dently undergone several operations of scouring 
 and mending. The coat was of the most an- 
 tique make, patched in several places, and the 
 collar very greasy ; the waistcoat which was not 
 much better, sat loosely upon him, and was only 
 half buttoned, leaving room for the insertion of 
 his right hand. He wore small clothes, and 
 sooty worsted hose, which but ill suited his thin 
 and mis-shapen legs.
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 17 
 
 Mrs. Sleekface was about the same height, 
 but much more robust in her make, and appear- 
 ed about ten years younger. Her features were 
 large and irregular. Her forehead was well 
 developed, but jagged and uneven, with pro- 
 jecting eye bones, under which there dwelt large 
 and piercing eyes. If her nose had not been 
 so flat, her lips so thick, and her chin so large, 
 and so encumbered with fat, she would have 
 possessed a good countenance. She dressed 
 in a peculiar manner. She wore a plain net 
 cap, with a very narrow single border, and a 
 broad black ribbon crossed her head. Her 
 dress was made close to the neck, with sleeves 
 that fitted tight to her arms, so as not to impede 
 their motion when preaching. A white necker- 
 chief enclosing a stiifener, propped up her chin 
 which gave her a heavenly aspect. 
 
 As soon as I entered the parlour, this worthy 
 couple shook me by the hand, congratulating 
 me on my safe arrival, inquired very feelingly 
 after my parents, and invoked the blessing of 
 heaven on my labours. Mr. Sleekface bade me 
 B
 
 18 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 sit down by the fire, and make myself at home, 
 reminding me in the most humane manner that 
 we were all brethren, and assuring me with the 
 greatest tenderness that he would ever act as a 
 father to me. We drew up to the fire, which 
 was rapidly decaying, having nearly done its 
 appointed work, that of boiling the water. 
 
 "Now, Tabitha, dear," said he, " make haste 
 with breakfast : you are all behind with your 
 work here, it is half-past seven o'clock, and 
 the breakfast is not ready. Why didn't you get 
 up when I called you at half-past five ? I 
 shouted out, 'Tabitha, arise,' and you must 
 have heard me. Miss Tabitha assured him 
 that she did not remember his having called 
 her ; for being tired, and going to bed late the 
 previous evening, she had slept very soundly. 
 
 "You ought not to sleep as do others," re- 
 plied the father, ' but shake off dull sloth and 
 take time by the forelock.' Your grandmother 
 used to say that an hour in the morning was 
 worth more than two in the after-part of the 
 day. And I remember your aunts (poor things !
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 19 
 
 their spirits now rest with God) used to be 
 made to get up every morning, both winter and 
 summer, at four o'clock, and they milked half-a 
 dozen cows a-piece before breakfast. I wonder 
 how you fine ladies would like such sort of 
 work now-a-days. Yes ! and they were fine 
 bouncing women, I assure you; very different 
 to your poor sickly things of the present day. 
 Call your sister Esther, to toast the bread, and 
 I'll blow the fire, whilst your mother puts out 
 the tea-things ; and brother Sparks will please 
 to read us a chapter out of the Bible for our 
 edification." 
 
 Preparations for breakfast were now rapidly 
 made. A small round table was drawn near the 
 fire, on which was placed a tea-tray, and on it 
 was depicted the Apostles partaking of the Last 
 Supper. It was furnished with a curious variety 
 of crockery, and an old bruised metal tea-pot. 
 Mrs. Sleekface measured out three small tea- 
 spoons-full of black tea, and in doing this, she 
 dropped a few particles upon the tray, every 
 one of which she carefully picked up and depo- 
 
 B2
 
 20 THE ROUND PREACHER 
 
 sited with the rest in the pot ; she then placed 
 it on the hob for five minutes, that the strength 
 of the tea might be exhausted, and having filled 
 the pot with water, she poured out two cups, 
 and then filled up the pot again, saying that by 
 so doing, " the tea was good to the last." 
 
 The dry toast was heaped up on a blue plate, 
 and placed beside a yellow pot containing some 
 salt butter. 
 
 " Now, brother Sparks," said Mrs. Sleekface, 
 "draw up to the table ; we offer you in the name 
 of the Lord, the blessings which his kind pro- 
 vidence has bestowed upon us. Now, dear," 
 addressing her husband, " will you ask a bless- 
 ing?" Mr. Sleekface hereupon lifted up his 
 hands towards heaven closed his eyes and 
 offered up the following prayer : 
 
 " O Lord God Almighty, the maker and the 
 preserver of the universe, who hast given bread 
 for the use of man, and caused the land to flow 
 with milk and butter, and tea to grow out of the 
 earth to make his heart glad : bless, we humbly 
 beseech thee, these the creatures of thy good-
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 21 
 
 ness, to the nourishing of our bodies, the 
 strengthening of our minds, and the edification 
 of our souls. We thank thee for a good night's 
 rest, a good appetite, and good food ; may we 
 eat and drink to thy glory, and at last, by thy 
 infinite mercy attain to everlasting life, to eat 
 manna in thy kingdom. Grant these and every 
 other unmentioned favour, through our only 
 advocate, thy Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ." 
 
 " Brother Sparks," said Mrs. Sleekface, " do 
 you take sugar in your tea? I replied in the 
 affirmative. "Esther, dear," said she, "will you 
 fetch out the sugar?" Miss Esther promptly 
 obeyed her mother's command, and brought 
 out some black looking sugar in a brown pot. 
 
 " I am sorry, said Mrs. Sleekface, " that we 
 have not any refined sugar in the house to 
 offer you. We never drink sugar in our tea, 
 as we consider it a luxury that we are called 
 upon to deny ourselves for the sake of Christ 
 My daughters have not taken any for many 
 years, and for two great reasons. In the first 
 place, they thought as sugar was the produce 
 B 3
 
 22 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 
 
 of slave-labour, the consumer gave his sanction 
 to slavery assisted to uphold a system of 
 murder and oppression, which ere long will 
 bring down the vengeance of heaven on this 
 country. If you had heard the heart-rending 
 account of the sufferings of the poor negroes, 
 as related by those blessed returned missiona- 
 ries, brother Hatton and Garden, at our last 
 missionary meeting, you would say God for- 
 bid that I should lend my sanction to such a 
 system of cruelty ! In the second place, they 
 looked upon it as a needless luxury ; and 
 thought that the money which it cost might be 
 better spent if applied to the support of the 
 missions in foreign parts. And, dear brother 
 Sparks, who can calculate the number of pre- 
 cious souls that have been saved from everlast- 
 ing perdition, by the sacrifice of one small 
 article of luxury ; and that, too, of unnatural 
 taste bilious which possesses no nutriment, 
 and which spoils the taste of the tea ? They 
 have also been enabled, by the Spirit of God 
 helping them, to deny themselves of butter.
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 23 
 
 What they save by this pious sacrifice, they 
 appropriate to the support of the gospel at 
 home, namely in paying their ticket and class- 
 money. And it is remarkable how they have 
 advanced in piety since they have practised 
 these acts of self-denial. Isn't it so, dears?" 
 said she, addressing her daughters. 
 " Yes, mother," they both replied. 
 
 I did not agree with Mrs. Sleekface as to the 
 qualities of sugar, but affirmed that it was highly 
 nutritious that it agreed with most people 
 and that children were from their infancy fond 
 of it ; which proved it to be of not so unnatu- 
 ral a taste as she imagined. I asked her if it 
 were less wrong to eat brown sugar, the produce 
 of slave labour, than refined. I showed her 
 that, to be consistent, she ought not to take tea, 
 for it was as great a luxury as sugar : in short, 
 that she ought to live upon the very coarsest 
 and scantiest of provision, and be clothed in 
 the roughest and cheapest of raiment. I had 
 decidedly the better of Mrs. Sleekface in the 
 argument, which she did not at all like ; whilst
 
 24 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 the daughters seemed evidently pleased. Mr. 
 Sleekface furnished his "dear partner" with a 
 few passages of scripture in support of her 
 statements, but took no active part in the dis- 
 cussion. 
 
 "I fear, Mr. Sparks," said Mrs. Sleekface, 
 " that we cannot offer you any fresh butter, for 
 we always use the Dutch, and we think it much 
 better than any English butter." 
 
 "Why it must be better," replied Mr. Sleek- 
 face, "or it wouldn't be imported from a far 
 country." I suggested that probably it was 
 imported, not because it was better than home- 
 made, but because it was cheaper. 
 
 " We read," said Mr. Sleekface, "that ' salt is 
 good,' therefore salt-butter must be better than 
 fresh." 
 
 "WeD, Sir, then," I said, "it will equally 
 follow, that bacon is better than fresh meat ; yet 
 very few persons prefer bacon to good fresh 
 beef." 
 
 Mr. Sleekface said no more, but began to 
 hum over the hymn beginning 
 
 " Refiner's fire, go through my heart,"
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 25 
 
 which I involuntarily changed into "refining 
 fire, go through my sugar," for it gave a disa- 
 greeable taste to my tea, and the sky-blue milk 
 did not at all improve it. After breakfast, Mr. 
 Sleekface read over a chapter in the gospels, 
 and attempted to elucidate some of its difficult 
 passages ; after which his excellent wife offered 
 up a long prayer, and earnestly besought the 
 Holy Spirit, that we might " never give way to 
 pampering the flesh," nor "waste money in 
 useless luxuries." 
 
 When the family devotions were ended, Mr. 
 Sleekface asked me to follow him into his 
 study. No sooner had we sat down than Mrs. S. 
 entered, and proceeded to draw a chair to the 
 table, as if intending to join us in our confer- 
 ence, when Mr. Sleekface said "My dear, I am 
 desirous to have some private conversation with 
 our brother on matters connected with his soul's 
 health, and his ministry in the circuit." 
 
 Mrs. S., with an air of offended dignity, 
 replied, " I thought that you had retired for 
 that purpose, and that it was my duty to
 
 26 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 follow you, to give our brother some instruction 
 as to his ' behaviour in the house of God.' " 
 
 " Well, my dear," replied Mr. Sleekface, "you 
 may do so at some other time. I must have a 
 few moments with our brother alone." 
 
 " Do you intend," said Mrs. Sleekface, in a 
 vehement manner, "to order me out of the 
 room ? Is my presence disagreeable to you ? 
 Have you matters to discuss, of which I must 
 have no knowledge in which I have no con- 
 cern ? Are we not husband and wife ; and are 
 not all mine, thine; and ought not all thine 
 to be mine ? How can you think of hiding any 
 thing from me ? Waiving the undoubted right 
 I have to share your counsels, as your wife, I 
 claim the privilege on much higher ground, 
 that of the apostleship. For am I not an 
 apostle ? Am I not a fellow-labourer with you 
 in the gospel ? It is on this ground that I claim 
 an undisputed right to share in all your delibe- 
 rations concerning the circuit." 
 
 After a hot contention, in which Mrs. Sleek- 
 face accused her " dear partner" of incapacity
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 27 
 
 to manage the affairs of a circuit, and which 
 accusation she substantiated, by quoting in- 
 stances wherein he had greatly blundered, to 
 the deep injury to the " cause," she concluded 
 her angry speech, by reminding him of the help 
 she had so often given him in the composition 
 of his sermons. Mr. Sleekface in spite of his 
 " entire sanctification," was betrayed into such 
 a violent fit of anger as to make it expedient 
 for Mrs. Sleekface to kneel down and offer up 
 a prayer, that the Lord might appease his un- 
 righteous anger, and bestow upon him a meek 
 and quiet spirit. When she rose from her 
 knees, she looked at him, to see if he appeared 
 more calm, and whether he were disposed to 
 suffer her to remain. Mr. Sleekface spoke not, 
 but pointed to the door. She, however, did not 
 seem inclined to take the silent hint ; and did 
 not leave the room till he peremptorily com- 
 manded her to do so. 
 
 Mr. Sleekface now locked the door against 
 all further intrusion, and taking hold of my 
 hand, thus addressed me :
 
 28 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 " My dear brother, let us, now that we are 
 alone, turn our attention to the great duties of 
 our high vocation. You are come among us, I 
 trust, with a heart burning with love to God 
 with love to his cause, and to the whole world. 
 I heard a good account of you at Conference. 
 It was with some difficulty that you were ob- 
 tained for this circuit : several preachers plead- 
 ed hard for your going to the place of your na- 
 tivity, but the Lord thought it not good to send 
 you there, for he put it into the heart of that 
 great and good man, Mr. Bunting, to send you 
 here, and as soon as he had given his opinion, 
 every voice of opposition ceased, and you were 
 put down for us. You will find here a wide 
 field for usefulness. I am sorry to say that the 
 enemy has been sowing the tares of discord 
 among us. It has been a great trial to me I 
 assure you. The Quarter-Days, and the 
 Leaders'-Meetings have been scenes of uproar 
 and violence. Both myself and my dear part- 
 ner have been shamefully reviled. I thank 
 God that I have been enabled to do my duty
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 29 
 
 in expelling the offenders, and peace is again 
 restored in our borders. The leaders of the 
 faction have drawn away many unstable souls. 
 They hold their religious meetings (or rather I 
 ought to say their irreligious meetings) in a 
 club-room. They will do no good, for there is 
 a woe pronounced against them who make divi- 
 sions in the Church of God. We must get 
 back as many of the poor deluded creatures as 
 we can, particularly the more respectable part, 
 as our funds, I fear, will be low." 
 
 After making a few more remarks, Mr. Sleek- 
 face gave me a plan of the circuit. I conned 
 it over, and found that I was planned in the 
 circuit-town once in three weeks, and appointed 
 twice as often as Mr. Sleekface to the smallest 
 and most distant places. This discovery did 
 not surprise me, as I had found it a common 
 practice for the superintendents to appoint 
 themselves to the best places. " You perceive, 
 brother Sparks," said Mr. Sleekface, " that you 
 are appointed to night at Drisfield, and brother 
 Snuffler will expect you to dinner. It is about
 
 30 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 five miles off, and the walk will do you good ; 
 and the sooner you get ready for your departure 
 the better, and may the Lord give you great 
 success."
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Q. SHOULD WOMEN BE PERMITTED TO PREACH AMONG 
 
 US? 
 
 A. WE ARE OF OPINION, THAT IN general THEY OUGHT 
 NOT. 3finutes of Conference. 
 
 I was soon on my way to Drisfield, and 
 overtook an old man, with whom I entered 
 into conversation. 
 
 "Well friend," I said, "whither are you 
 travelling ?" 
 
 " I am travelling to the land of Canaan," he 
 replied. 
 
 " I hope you will arrive there safely," I re- 
 joined. 
 
 " I mean to do so," said he, " for it would be 
 an unpleasant thing to perish in the wilderness 
 like our forefathers." 
 
 " Have some of your forefathers perished in 
 the wilderness ?" I enquired.
 
 32 THE BOUND PREACHER. 
 
 " None to my knowledge," he answered, " but 
 I was alluding, in what I said, to them of the 
 children of Israel, who perished in the wilder- 
 ness. As you asked me where I was travelling 
 to, it's my turn to ask you where you might be 
 going, but it strikes me as I know, for if I have- 
 ner seen you before, I've seen the umbrella, for 
 I judge as it's brother Sleekface's, for there is 
 niver such another in the country, I warrant." 
 
 "Well," I replied, " you are quite right, for 
 the umbrella does belong to that gentleman." 
 
 " Don't call him, I beg," rejoined he, "or any 
 other minister, a gentleman : carnal men are 
 gentlemen, and not ministers of Christ- Mr. 
 Wesley, in particular, warns his helpers against 
 being gentlemen." 
 
 "I think, Sir," I said, "that Mr. Wesley 
 charged them not to ape the gentleman." 
 
 " It is wonderful," answered he, " how one 
 thing leads to another. I should judge, from 
 you having got Mr. Sleekface's umbrella, as you 
 are the new preacher, and is going to preach 
 at Drisfield."
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 33 
 
 I answered that he was quite correct in his 
 conjecture. 
 
 ."Well, I am right glad," said he, " as I have 
 met with you : I am the ' Leader and Society 
 Steward' at Bigby, a village a little beyond 
 Drisfield. You will preach, I expect, to-mor- 
 row night at our place, and I shall be glad to 
 see you at my house for dinner. My name is 
 Samuel Tucker, and if you'll just say what 
 you'd like to have for dinner, you shall have 
 it, if possible. I have lots of fowls, and ducks, 
 and pigeons, and bacon, and nice hams, and a 
 bit of nice roasting beef in the house : now 
 you shall have what you like of 'em, and so just 
 say, and adone with it." 
 
 I knew very well that I should be obliged 
 to fix upon something; so I said that I was 
 very fond of fowl. 
 
 " You shall have some," said Mr. Tucker, "of 
 the tenderest my yard can produce. I hope 
 brother and sister Sleekface is well." 
 
 " Very well," I replied. 
 
 " The last time," said Mr. Tucker, " as I see 
 c
 
 34 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 Mr. Sleekface was at Bigby, and undet very pe- 
 culiar circumstances. He went with me to see 
 a man in our village who has sold himself to the 
 devil, and it is most horrible to see him at times. 
 You will hardly credit the wonderful things as 
 he does. Now and then he is as strong as a 
 lion : he can cany a pair of five-barred gates as 
 easy as Samson did the gates of Gaza. He can 
 run faster than any common horse can gallop. 
 I ride a decent nag myself, but I can come no 
 where with him. Sometimes he'll lie for hours 
 on the floor, as if he was dead : in fact he is 
 very near it, for his spirit leaves his body, and 
 goes forth on arrands for the devil. He can 
 tell what people is doing a long way off. He 
 went to a house one day, and told them as a 
 relation of theirs had drowned himself: in a 
 day or two after, news came as a uncle of theirs 
 had, and did it about half an hour before this 
 man told em on it. He durs'nt go to a place of 
 worship, except he is sent by his master to pre- 
 vent good being done. If a man is under con- 
 viction for sin, he'll be alias at him ; he'll go
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 35 
 
 and sit aside of him at chapel, and do all he can 
 to hinder him from getting good. There is a 
 many men as he leads into all sort of sin ; for 
 they are afraid of offending him, if they don't 
 do as he wishes em ; and then he would tor- 
 ment em. Prayer has been made for him con- 
 tinually, but of no avail : the more he is prayed 
 for, the worse he is. At times he'll talk sensible : 
 he says as he is very miserable, but that he can't 
 help himself. Mr. Sleekface doesn't know what 
 to make on it. Mrs. Sleekface says as there is 
 no doubt but that he is possessed with the 
 devil, like those spoken of in the gospels, and 
 that the evil spirit may be cast out by much 
 prayer and fasting. I must turn off here," con- 
 tinued he, "for it's my nearest way home ; and 
 you must go straight forward, and you'll find 
 yourself in a short time at Drisfield." He bade 
 me good-morning ; and left me. 
 
 I walked along, ruminating over the case of 
 the man supposed to be possessed of an evil 
 spirit, and soon found myself at Drisfield. A 
 little girl pointed out to me where John Snuffler
 
 36 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 lived. The old man was sitting at the door of 
 his cottage, smoking a short black pipe. 
 
 " Is your name John Snuffler ?" I enquired. 
 
 " That is my name," he answered ; " I sup- 
 pose you be t' new preacher : come in and 
 mak yoursen at home ; and tak a seat, while I 
 call in Molly ; she is just agone into t' back- 
 yard to feed t' pig." 
 
 Molly came running in, rubbing her hands 
 down her apron, to wipe off some of the wet 
 and dirt, and exclaimed " God bless you, dear 
 brother, how glad we be to see you : we' en bin 
 talking on you all t' week, and now you be 
 corned, you mun mak yoursen at home. How 
 is that blessed man a' God, brother Sleekface 
 and his blessed wife ? Surely we may say a' 
 her, * blessed art thou among women:' we 
 thinken her a better hand at prachin' than her 
 husband, and there is alias good done under 
 her sarmons. The last time she war here, we 
 had seven souls savingly convarted." 
 
 " Come, Molly," said John, " let us be hev- 
 ing somut to eat."
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 37 
 
 "Let peatience her its parfect work," said 
 Molly. 
 
 " You may say so," said John, " to them as 
 isner hungry." 
 
 " Well, if you bin so hungry," replied Molly, 
 "just be a gettin out the round table and the 
 trenchers, and run over to Betty Sneaker's for 
 ahaporth o' treacle, while I tak up the dum- 
 plins." 
 
 John very soon returned with the treacle, 
 and we sat down to dinner. Molly placed on 
 my trencher one of the largest of the barm 
 dumplings. It was in vain that I tried to eat 
 it, for it stuck to my teeth like wax, and 
 dropped into my stomach like lead. 
 
 " I wonder where Jack and Jim be !" said 
 Molly. "Poor lads, we've hed hard work to 
 rear em. Polly, poor wench, is gone to glory 
 o' the meazles. Jack cotch'd em, and as we 
 might hae em over all together, we put Jim 
 to bed to em, and he cotch'd 'em ; and now, 
 blessed be God, they is as strong as iver. Jack 
 war very patient."
 
 38 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 No sooner had she spoken than the lads 
 broke in upon us. "Now, my chicks," said 
 she, " shake hands wi' the new preacher, and 
 ax how Mr. and Mrs. Sleekface be, and how 
 the cause is a prosperin in the part where 
 brother Sparks is from." 
 
 Hereupon the lads shook me by the hand, and 
 put on a very grave look, and asked the pre- 
 scribed questions ; which I answered as quick- 
 ly as possible, not liking to detain them from 
 the dumplings, towards which their eyes were 
 anxiously directed. 
 
 " Jack is my lad," cried out Molly, " and is 
 to be a pracher. Jim is Dad's lad, and we 
 mun mak on him what we can. T'other day 
 he war backing two lads a feighting, and so I 
 fetched him in, and his father leathered him. 
 He swore he war ony lookin on, and so warner 
 hafe as bad as Moses, for he set his own brothers 
 at one another again. Jack, you mun know, is 
 a very good lad; he will be fourteen next birth- 
 day, if the Lord speare him. He has bin con- 
 varted two year meets in class reg'lar and
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 39 
 
 often prays in the meetins. He has the most 
 wonderfullest gift in prayer as never war known. 
 And I catched him tother day a standin on the 
 pig-sty, a prachin to the pigs : he took for his 
 text, ' Come unto me all ye that is weary and 
 heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' " 
 
 " How did you treat your subject, John ?" I 
 asked. 
 
 " Oh ! I divoided it," replied he, " into three 
 parts, as a'ar prachers mostly does. Firstly, I 
 teld em to come : Secondly, Who to come to : 
 Thirdly, What to come for. I niver prached 
 wi' such liberty in my life." 
 
 " Do you think, Molly," I said, " that Jack is 
 really called to preach ?" 
 
 " Yes, I do," she answered, " as much as the 
 apostles was; he is like John the Baptist he 
 is sanctified from the womb to it; and all the 
 society thinks the same : Jack is alias about 
 his Master's work. The t'other day he heerd 
 a gentleman a swearin in the street : the spirit 
 moved him to speak a word in season to him. 
 The gentleman, astead a' bein thankful to him,
 
 40 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 for his kindness, scuffed and kicked him, and 
 called him a impurent scoundrel. If we had 
 money, we'd foller the law on him. Well, 
 Jack, astead a' returning evil for evil, kneeled 
 down and prayed for his parsecutor agen the 
 door a' the house as he was gone in. Jim 
 wanted him to fetch a warrun for him, and hev 
 him afore t' magistrate. Oh ! Jim is a bad 
 lad sadly parsecutes Jack ; but he caresner, 
 but goes on his way rejoicin, a trustin in the 
 Lord." 
 
 " Muther, giv's a bite o' cheese," said Jim. 
 
 "Where's your manners, lad, and then," 
 said Molly. 
 
 " If yo' please muther, for the sake o' Jesus," 
 replied Jim. 
 
 " That's summat loike," answered Molly, cut- 
 ting him a large piece. 
 
 " I'm sure I Conner eat this," said Jim, pout- 
 ing his lip, "its so dekeyed full o' leetle 
 things." 
 
 " You'r a saucy chap, Jim," said Jack, " if 
 you Conner eat what the treasury-woman in the
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 41 
 
 gospel lived on ; for she lived on mites, and she 
 had ony two on 'em left, and she cast them in 
 the treasury." 
 
 After preaching in the evening, when the 
 lads were gone to bed, I gave the parents some 
 advice, touching the education of their children, 
 and then retired to rest. 
 
 There was only one bed-room in the cottage. 
 It contained two straw-mattrasses placed on 
 some decayed bedsteads. It was customary 
 for the preacher to sleep in the one occupied 
 by the parents, whilst they slept in the one 
 used by the lads. Jack was always put to sleep 
 with the preacher, and Jim slept with his 
 parents. An old coverlet was fastened to a 
 curtain, and stretched across the room to form 
 a partition.* A rush-light was placed on an 
 old stool, in the middle of the room, and was 
 fast expiring. 
 
 " Well brother," says Jack, I'm glad to see 
 you, (which was rather a mistake,) as you'll be 
 able to throw some light on a thing as has bin 
 * Appendix E.
 
 42 THE ROUND PREACHER.. 
 
 puzzlin me sin I come to bed. My mother, if 
 you remember, said summat about John the 
 Baptist ; now I want to know how it war as 
 John war a Baptist. I should think as there 
 were no Methodists where John lived. I arner 
 fond o' them Baptists, and they warner much 
 liked in a'ar Sayiour's time, for we read as John 
 was cast into prison." As soon as I had cor- 
 rected his mistake about John the Baptist, he 
 proposed another question, when Molly cried 
 out, from the other side of the partition. "Don- 
 ner plague brother Sparks : go to sleep, you'd 
 puzzle Solomon hissen if he war alive." Jack 
 asked no more questions till I got into bed, 
 when he whispered to me, " What a blessing it 
 is, brother, to enjoy the witness of the spirit. 
 I want all the world to enjoy it, it would be 
 a fine thing, wouldn't it, brother ?" Molly 
 overheard the latter part of the sentence, and 
 shouted out " You are at it agen, are you ? if 
 you donner give over, i'll fotch you to us." 
 " That wonner be fair," said Jack, " for in the 
 t'other bed two or three is gathered together;
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 43 
 
 and its where there is, as God is in the midst 
 to bless em ; and so if I leave you, you'll be 
 we'out a blessin, brother Sparks." With these 
 remarks Jack fell asleep. 
 
 The room presented a very lively and ani- 
 mating scene, for there were rats and mice 
 running about and screaming, and hens rust- 
 ling on their roost, over my head. Sleep was 
 far from me, and I was glad when the morn- 
 ing light first glimmered through the holes in 
 the thatch. 
 
 As soon as it was day, I arose and walked in 
 the open air; I asked Molly, at breakfast, if 
 Mr. Sleekface ever stayed with them all night. 
 "Never stays all night," she replied, "we very 
 seldom see him at all ; we think as he doesner 
 sarve us quite right, for we pay as much c quar- 
 terage' as some other places as he goes a deal 
 more to ; but we donner mind, so long as he 
 sends as good preachers as you." 
 
 I could not eat any breakfast, although the 
 tea was good, and some newly-laid eggs were 
 boiled for me. I felt very ill, and was obliged
 
 44 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 to lie down on an old settle. Molly would 
 fetch the surgeon, although I wished her not. 
 He was soon by my side. He went through 
 the usual preliminaries, and then asked me if I 
 objected to being bled. I told him, that I very 
 much objected to it, unless it were absolutely 
 necessary, but that I would leave myself in his 
 hands. He bled me and bade me lie down 
 quietly, till he came back. I obeyed his order, 
 and felt somewhat relieved. He returned in 
 about half an hour, in his gig, and desired me 
 to prepare myself to return home. 
 
 " Must I really go with you ?" I enquired. 
 " Cannot I be allowed to fulfil my other ap- 
 pointment before I go home ? " 
 
 " It will not be prudent for you to preach 
 again in your present state," he replied. 
 
 " Very well," I said, " if that be your opinion, 
 I will go with you immediately. I grew worse 
 on the way, and when I arrived at Mr. Sleek- 
 face's, I fainted. I was for several days con- 
 fined to my room. Miss Sleekface waited on 
 me with tender assiduity. I can never forget
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 45 
 
 her kindness. Continual prayer was made in 
 my behalf by the society, and Mrs. Sleekface 
 had faith to believe, that I should be able to 
 preach in less than a week, though nearly a 
 fortnight elapsed before I was able to come 
 down stairs.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 " WHATEVER PAINS IT COSTS, BREAK THE WILL, IF YOU 
 WOULD NOT DAMN THE CHILD. LET A CHILD FROM A 
 VEAR OLD BE TAUGHT TO FEAR THE ROD, AND CRY SOFTLY." 
 
 Wesley's Sermons. 
 
 It happened that Mr. and Mrs. Sleekface, 
 and Miss Esther, went to spend a day in the 
 circuit: a good opportunity was thus offered for 
 satisfying my mind as to the cause of the Miss 
 Sleekfaces' unhappiness. As we sat talking 
 after dinner, I said to her " How very ill your 
 sister looks; she seems to me, to be wearing 
 away to a skeleton." 
 
 " Yes she is," replied Miss Sleekface, " very 
 ill indeed, and I fear that unless she alters soon 
 for the better, she will die." 
 
 " What is the cause of her affliction ?" I 
 asked. 
 
 " Many, and of long duration, are the causes
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 47 
 
 of her affliction," answered she. " I am the 
 lonely participator in her sorrows ; we weep 
 together, and mourn over our wretched con- 
 dition." Her eyes began to fill with tears, and 
 she heaved many burthened sighs. When she 
 had suppressed the violence of her emotion, she 
 proceeded as follows : " Both myself and my 
 sister have been very unhappy from our child- 
 hood. You will be surprised when I tell you, 
 that although we are members of society, and 
 have met in class for years, and attended all the 
 ' means of grace,' and seem very religious, yet, 
 I am sorry to say, that it is all mere profes- 
 sion, the form of religion, which we have been 
 obliged to assume for the sake of peace. We 
 have been forced to it against our will. From 
 our earliest years we have been under a system 
 of most severe religious drilling. No sooner 
 were we able to read than we had to get off by 
 heart, long hymns, and chapters in the Bible, 
 till we came to hate all hymn books and the 
 Scriptures. We used to be compelled to attend 
 my mother in her visits to the sick, and to go
 
 48 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 with her to all the ' means of grace.' We 
 were never allowed to join other children in 
 their innocent play, for fear of getting cor- 
 rupted, and wearing out our clothes. For the 
 slightest fault we were punished : if we were 
 a minute or two longer in going on an errand 
 than she had appointed if we left a bit of fat 
 on our plate, if we smiled, or was inattentive 
 at the means of grace, we were either shut up 
 in a dark room for some hours, dieted on water 
 gruel for a day, or else, set some long chapter 
 to get off. Our home, you see, was to us a kind 
 of penal settlement, and our mother appeared 
 to us a hard-hearted task-mistress. My father 
 often took our part, but my mother would not 
 suffer him to interfere. She would tell him that 
 he spoiled us by indulgence, and that she must 
 be let alone in our education. My father 
 always gave in to her, rather than have high 
 words, so that she had entirely her own way 
 with us. Poor Tom ! she could'nt so well con- 
 trol him." 
 
 " Was that a brother of yours ?" I enquired.
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 49 
 
 "Yes," she replied, "my only brother; he 
 died last year from an accident at some races 
 which he attended. To return to my narrative. 
 As we grew up, we began to be alive to what 
 tended to our interests. My mother had often 
 talked to us of the necessity of a change of 
 heart, and had often expressed her alarm for our 
 safety, telling us that we were every moment 
 exposed to everlasting damnation. She would 
 often say, how much better she could love us, if 
 we were converted. We had witnessed many 
 conversions, and it seemed to us a very easy 
 thing to feign that state. One morning, soon 
 after the thought struck me, I entered the par- 
 lour in great seeming distress, fell upon my 
 mother's neck, and wept aloud. 'Oh ! mother,' 
 I exclaimed, ' I am such a great sinner, what 
 must I do to be saved?' My mother's heart 
 was gladdened when she saw me at her feet an 
 inquiring penitent. She straightway ran up 
 stairs, to fetch down my sister to witness my 
 contrition. To her surprise she found my sister 
 in the same state as myself. Esther was found 
 D
 
 50 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 kneeling at the foot of the bed, and in tears. 
 My mother could no longer restrain her joy: 
 she sung aloud the praises of the Lord, as she 
 brought my sister down stairs. My father was 
 called out of his study to join her in prayer, for 
 our conversion. The door was locked, and 
 they set to work. They prayed earnestly, gave 
 us words of encouragement, directed us in the 
 way of salvation, eagerly pressed us to believe, 
 and eluded the Almighty for delaying the bless- 
 ing. They prayed for a long time, but found 
 us still in a state of unbelief, and wondered 
 greatly at our dulness in comprehending the 
 plan of salvation by ' simple faith.' Finding 
 that we were to be kept on our knees till we were 
 saved, and knowing that we should be as far 
 off that state at midnight as we were then, we 
 declared aloud our belief in Christ as a present 
 Saviour. On this profession being made, we 
 rose from our knees, and all of us sung * Praise 
 God from whom all blessings flow.' 
 
 "Our parents have ever looked upon us from 
 that time as converted girls. A new fount of
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 51 
 
 affection seemed opened in my mother's heart : 
 she clasped us in her arms, and told us that she 
 was now made happy. We have found great 
 difficulty in carrying out the deception with 
 effect. We found it very easy to counterfeit 
 religious experience, from having been accus- 
 tomed to attend the ' Love-feasts,'* where we 
 had become familiar with the language generally 
 used to express Christian experience. The day 
 after our supposed conversion, my sister looked 
 rather downcast, which made my mother afraid 
 that she had lost her hold on Christ. l Esther 
 dear,' said she, *I fear Satan has got the advan- 
 tage over you, he will try to persuade you that 
 your sins are not forgiven, but take no heed to 
 his devices.' Esther assured my mother that 
 she had not lost the blessing she obtained on 
 the previous day, and that Satan had never 
 tempted her to believe her sins to be still unfor- 
 given. This profession of stability reassured 
 the mind of my mother, and after exhorting 
 us to perseverance, she told us that we must 
 
 * Appendix F. 
 D2
 
 52 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 prepare to accompany her to the 'class.' 
 On our way there we called at Mr. Stroker's. 
 Mrs. Stroker is a member of society, but her 
 husband is a worldly-minded man. They had 
 company, and were in the parlour; my mother 
 went in to them. As soon as she entered, 
 she cried out 'Oh! my dear Mrs. Stroker, I 
 have such good news to tell you ; my daughters 
 are translated out of darkness into marvellous 
 light.' 
 
 " Mr. Stroker thought that she was alluding 
 to the night, and so said ' I suppose it is very 
 dark outside, but I don't think that we have 
 any such marvellous light inside either, for this 
 candle is but a sorry one.' 
 
 " ' However dark,' replied my mother, * the 
 room may be, I am sorry to say that your soul, 
 Mr. Stroker, is much darker; I was not alluding 
 in what I said to natural, but to spiritual dark- 
 ness.' She gave the company a lecture on 
 justification by faith, and entire sanctification, 
 to which they attended far less than to their 
 pipes and brandy and water. She concluded
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 53 
 
 her visit with a prayer, and we proceeded to 
 the vestry. On our way there, my mother told 
 us, that we need not speak our experience for a 
 time or two. We were rather glad to be let off, 
 although we had prepared our speeches before 
 we started from home. We have been in society 
 five years : I would I was really, what I only 
 pretend to be. I feel to hate myself for thus 
 acting the hypocrite. I know that I have 
 greatly sinned." 
 
 " Yes, Miss Sleekface," I said, " you have 
 indeed done very wickedly ; you have incurred 
 no ordinary measure of guilt, in having acted 
 so profane a part. It is a mercy, that your 
 hypocritical mockery has not provoked the 
 vengeance of the Divine wrath upon you. Let 
 me recommend you to become really what 
 you are only in pretence. Did you not speak, 
 in the former part of our conversation, of a 
 brother who met with his death on a race- 
 course ?" 
 
 " Yes, I did," she replied ; " poor Tom ! his 
 was a mournful end : he was in his twentieth 
 
 D3
 
 54 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 year when he was killed. When a boy, my 
 mother had much to do to manage him. He 
 was a lad of noble spirit, but it was broken 
 and spoiled by hard usage. Like all other 
 boys, he was very fond of play, but seldom got 
 any ; for whilst others were playing, he would 
 be kept in, reading the Bible to my mother, 
 or going with her to the religious meetings. 
 Occasionally he would run away, and hide 
 himself, about meeting time, and then he would 
 be punished for it. When he was eleven years 
 of age he went to Woodhouse-grove School,* 
 and there he made much greater proficiency in 
 wickedness, than in learning. He was often 
 punished with cruel severity. He got into great 
 disgrace through belonging to a Quarter-day 
 Club : it was a club composed of some of the 
 older boys a kind of secret society. They had 
 a society-steward and a chairman to the club, 
 and each member had a ticket, having Q. D. C. 
 written upon it. At the meetings of this club, 
 were concocted all schemes of mischief; they 
 * Appendix G.
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 55 
 
 mimicked different ministers, had mock class- 
 meetings, and love-feasts, and read novels and 
 songs. The existence and doings of this society, 
 were made known to the Governor. Tom got a 
 hint, that the Governor knew something about 
 the club : he forthwith called a meeting of it, 
 and they broke it up ; so when the Governor 
 had him up before him, on being questioned 
 about it, he was able to say that he did not be- 
 long to any such society, and that he wasn't 
 aware of its existence. Though Tom got off 
 cleverly himself, some of the other members did 
 not get through their examination so well, and 
 were found out. Tom was again had up, and 
 questioned more strictly, and was made to 
 confess himself to have been a member. He 
 received a much more severe chastisement than 
 the rest, for his prevarication, and was sent 
 away from the school. He hadn't been at home 
 very long, before he got converted, as my 
 mother believed ; but I knew that he was no 
 more converted than myself. He was put ap- 
 prentice to a surgeon turned out a wild, pro-
 
 56 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 fligate young man and met with his death in 
 the manner I told you." 
 
 Our conversation was interrupted by a loud 
 knock at the door. 
 
 " Who can this be, I wonder ?" said Miss 
 Sleekface, "a person of some consequence, I 
 should think." 
 
 " Yes ;" I answered, " it is some one who is 
 making a noise in the world, I imagine. I will 
 see who it may be." As soon as I opened the 
 door, I was saluted by a flashy looking man in 
 spectacles, with rings on his fingers, and chains 
 crossing his waistcoat at triangles ; and a huge 
 bunch of seals and keys suspended to a black 
 watered ribbon. He introduced himself to me 
 as Mr. Dollar, a local preacher from a neigh- 
 bouring circuit. By the time he had told me 
 who he was, he had made his way into the 
 parlour. 
 
 " I hope I see you convalescent," said he, to 
 Miss Sleekface, shaking hands with her. " I 
 am come," continued he, " to ask your mother, 
 if she can so constitute her arrangements as to
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 57 
 
 make it convenient to exercise her functions in 
 our chapel, on the twentieth of the existing 
 month, in behalf of our Sunday-schools." 
 
 " My mother," said Miss Sleekface, " is gone 
 into the circuit to a Missionary meeting. I 
 don't know what her arrangements are for that 
 day. When she returns, I will make known 
 your request to her." 
 
 " May I be addressing Mr. Sparks ?" said 
 Mr Dollar, directing his words to me. 
 
 " Yes, Sir, I believe you are," I answered. 
 
 "I feel myself happy," replied he, "in so 
 opportunely meeting with you. Brother Jones 
 informed me that you were come to the scene 
 of our labours. I was deeply grieved when I 
 heard from him, that the Lord had laid upon 
 you his afflicting hand. I am glad to see you 
 so far convalescent. I know, brother, what it 
 is to be afflicted to be laid aside from the 
 functions of the holy ministry. I was stretched 
 on a couch of sickness for weeks. It was par- 
 ticularly inconvenient in my case ; as I was 
 hindered thereby, from preaching several occa-
 
 58 THE ROUND QREACHER. 
 
 sional sermons, for which I had arranged. I 
 am now engaged to preach anniversary sermons 
 for a long continuity of Sabbaths. I have almost 
 more extraordinary duty than I can well prose- 
 cute, for I do not possess the most vigorous and 
 high-toned constitution, and I don't like to tear 
 myself away too frequently, from the sweet and 
 golden ties of connubial bliss. But brother, 
 you know," continued he, " that when God calls, 
 and the Church invokes, we must exhibit all 
 promptitude in obeying." 
 
 He delivered this grandiloquent address with 
 the same energy and gesture as if he had been 
 preaching from the pulpit. There was scarcely 
 a sect or system that escaped his animadver- 
 sion, or a public character who received not 
 either his extreme censure, or his unbounded 
 praise. " Calvinism," he said, " was the inven- 
 tion of the devil, that made man into a ma- 
 chine, and God into a Moloch." The Baptists, 
 he considered to be under an " awful delusion," 
 and it was his opinion, that they could never 
 become a t( truly Missionary Church," as they
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 59 
 
 would " never flourish in dry countries." The 
 Pope he believed to be an " incarnation of 
 the devil." The Church of England, he ob- 
 served, was a " vast machine of state policy, 
 that had ruined more souls than it had saved." 
 The apostasy of Pitt he said was only " sur- 
 passed by his villainy ;" and that Lord Sidmouth 
 could only find his " parallel in the monster 
 Nero." He had read Locke on the Under- 
 standing ; and for his part, he said, he " could 
 not see any thing in it, that any man of or- 
 dinary mind might not have written." Mr. 
 Wesley he pronounced the "Prince of Di- 
 vines," and Methodism the " most stupendous 
 system ever devised to save a lost and ruined 
 world." " Charles Wesley," said he, " I can 
 pronounce, without any fear of successful con- 
 tradiction, to be one of the finest poets that 
 our country has ever produced; and when Mil- 
 ton and Shakespeare are forgotten, the name of 
 Charles Wesley shall be had in illustrious re- 
 membrance, and his hymns sung in the new 
 heavens and the new earth." Thus spake this
 
 THE ROUND PREACHEK. 
 
 oracle of wisdom. When he had delivered 
 himself of the little he knew, which he ima- 
 gined would show off his talents, he bade us 
 adieu, leaving behind his benediction.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " GOD DOES NOW GIVE REMISSION OF SINS AND THE GIFTS OF 
 THE HOLY GHOST, AND OFTEN IN DREAMS AND VISIONS OF 
 
 GOD." Wesley's Journal. 
 
 I was so far recovered as to be able to attend 
 the "Love-feast" in the Circuit-town. Mrs. 
 Sleekface accompanied me to the vestry to give 
 out the " notes of admission." 
 
 "Brother Sparks," said Mrs. Sleekface as 
 we went along, " we must be very careful to 
 whom we give notes ; there are some persons 
 who are very fond of enjoying our means of 
 grace, without being members of society, and 
 contributing to its support; we must refuse 
 such persons notes of admission, after the se- 
 cond or third time." 
 
 We had not been in the vestry five minutes, 
 before a woman with three children applied for 
 a "note." Mrs. Sleekface looking sternly at her,
 
 62 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 thus addressed her : " If you wish, Mrs. Tibbs, 
 to become a partaker of the blessed means of 
 grace of our body, you must become a member 
 of our society. Our rule is, to give a person a 
 note of admission only twice or thrice ; but 
 you have had half-a-dozen. And besides, what 
 do you bring three children with you for ? 
 unless it is to eat the cake. If every woman 
 was to bring three children with her, the 
 chapel would not hold half the congregation, 
 and the cake would not go half round; and 
 besides, I know your character is not over 
 good." 
 
 The last words, stung the woman into a rage, 
 and she vehemently replied. " I'm as good as 
 you any day; though you spout away in the 
 pulpit, and tell folks as you are I knowner 
 how many miles ahead of sanctification. Give 
 your children plenty to eat, and give the poor 
 a trifle out of your stinking thousands, and 
 then sinuate your lies about me." 
 
 Regard to truth obliges me to record that 
 Mrs. Sleekface did not acquit herself with her
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 63 
 
 usual composure under this provoked attack; 
 but she stamped her foot with rage, and her 
 eyes gleamed with fury as she addressed Mrs. 
 Tibbs as follows, " Revilest thou the minister 
 of the Most High ! How dare you utter such 
 dreadful lies in the presence of God? Take 
 care that the ground does not open and swal- 
 low you and your family up. as it did Corah 
 and his company, for reviling the High Priest 
 of the Most High. " At the mention of the 
 ground opening, the poor children clung close 
 to their mother, and screamed aloud. 
 
 " I didna ken," replied Mrs. Tibbs, " that 
 you was a minister of God. Who made you a 
 minister ? I should like to know Not St. Paul, 
 I'm sure, for he doesn't allow a woman to speak 
 in public in the Church, and he cries shame on 
 you for't. If you had been living in the time 
 o' Christ, you'd ha' made Judas a good wife, if 
 you could agreed which should have carried 
 the bag." 
 
 Mrs. Sleekface could with difficulty restrain 
 her passion, as Mrs. Tibbs addressed her in the
 
 64 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 above opprobrious language. When she finish- 
 ed, however, with so base an insinuation, she 
 could no longer control it; and proved the 
 truth of her own declaration, that she was very 
 far ahead of sanctification. "Take," cried she, 
 in an exasperated tone, " this base and wicked 
 woman from my presence, and rempve her far 
 from the tents of the righteous, lest we perish 
 with her in her iniquity, for suffering her to 
 remain near us. " The command of Mrs. Sleek- 
 face was promptly obeyed, and the delinquent 
 was led forth by two local preachers. 
 
 At two o'clock we left the vestry, to open the 
 love-feast. The gallery of the chapel was 
 quite crowded, and the body was half full. 
 Mrs. Sleekface sat with me in the pulpit, and 
 opened the meeting, by giving out the usual 
 hymn and offering up a prayer. The seed- 
 cake and water were then taken round, and 
 the collection being made, Mrs. Sleekface 
 gave her " Christian experience " as follows : 
 " We read, blessed are ye when men shall per- 
 secute you, and speak all manner of evil of you,
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 65 
 
 falsely, for my sake. I thank God that I am 
 accounted worthy of being persecuted for his 
 sake. Since I came up to the Lord's house, I 
 have been sorely abused by a wicked woman, 
 because I would not give her a note of admis- 
 sion to this blessed means of grace. I knew her 
 to be an improper person, and I told her so; 
 for which she heaped upon me the most scurril- 
 ous language. May the Lord in his great mercy 
 pardon her! (Amen was lustily responded.) I 
 very sorry that my dear partner and fellow la- 
 bourer is not with you according to appoint- 
 ment ; but brother Sparks, our new preacher, 
 will edify us by giving us his Christian experi- 
 ence, and by telling us of the Lord's dealings 
 with him during his late affliction. Let every 
 heart be engaged in prayer, and we shall have a 
 glorious time. I bless the Lord," continued 
 she, "that I am still persevering in the right 
 way. I can truly say, that of late I have had 
 the most wonderful revelations of his divine 
 love. For fifteen years I have enjoyed the 
 blessing of entire sanctification have been 
 E
 
 66 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 cleansed from all sin. Press on, brethren, to the 
 attainment of this great blessing ; don't rest till 
 the last remains of sin are rooted out. Faith, 
 mighty faith, is the instrument, the blood of 
 Christ is the means, the Holy Ghost the agent, 
 and this moment the time. (Glory! glory! was 
 responded from all parts of the chapel.) I thank 
 God, my dear partner enjoys it, and I hope my 
 daughters are pressing on to its attainment. 
 Now, brethren, speak short, and to the point, 
 and give us your present experience, and don't 
 wait for each other." After Mrs. Sleekface had 
 made a few more remarks, she sat down amidst 
 a general shout of Amen ! and Glory ! 
 
 I next addressed a few words to the people. 
 As soon as I had resumed my seat, up rose a 
 little old man, dressed in a suit of rusty black, 
 and a neckerchief that once was white. He 
 performed many curious motions with his arms, 
 and spoke with great vehemence. He said : 
 
 " I bless the Lord, for what he has done for 
 my soul. It's now going a nineteen year since 
 the Lord was pleased to speak peace to my soul.
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 67 
 
 It was done as I was driving home the cows a- 
 railking. I felt so happy, as I hardly knowed 
 what I was doing ; how I got home, or how the 
 cows got home, I donner know. I remember I 
 teld the cows what the Lord had done for me, 
 and I called on 'em to praise the Lord. Before 
 I was convarted, I was a very wild, bad fellow. 
 I went to church regular, but it did me no good ; 
 I only got harder and harder, worser and wors- 
 er. How could it be anyhow else, for I never 
 heard a word about justification by faith, the 
 witness of the spirit, and experimental religion ! 
 How many is there starving on the husks of dry 
 morality ? (Thousands, cried out a woman be- 
 hind the speaker. ) Oh ! brethren, I mourn when 
 I think of my poor father and mother that is 
 dead. They was of the church-going moral 
 sort, but know'd nothing of the witness of the 
 spirit, and real inward vital godliness. They left 
 the world under a cloud, and if that cloud has 
 become thick darkness, whose fault is it but the 
 church ? I have had many fiery trials to pass 
 through, since I set out in the good way, but
 
 68 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 
 
 the Lord has delivered me out of em all. I 
 have been a preacher for twelve year, and have 
 seen scores o' souls saved under my ministry. 
 I have lately had to pass through deep waters. I 
 have lost the dear partner of my bosom, and 
 two dear children ; but, bless God ! they are 
 gone safe to glory. My wife was fetched by two 
 angels for she see em coming for her, and my 
 children died young. I mean to meet em in 
 heaven ; and may we all, preachers and people, 
 meet there, for the sake of our blessed Lord and 
 Saviour!" He thus concluded, and sat down 
 quite out of breath. 
 
 A youth about fifteen years of age next ad- 
 dressed the meeting. He spoke as follows : 
 " I've had a deal to do to maister the devil since 
 I come here. He has been tellin me not to 
 speak that I should only go and make a fool 
 o' mysen, and get laughed at : but I told him 
 to mind his own business, and I'd mind mine. 
 May the Lord give me courage to speak of 
 what he has done for my soul ! It's now about 
 three months since the Lord spoke peace to my
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 69 
 
 soul. I was awakened in a very wonderful 
 way I dreamt one night as I was on the brink 
 of hell. I seed thousands of devils, and heerd 
 the most dreadful wails. Among em I seed 
 Jack Stubbs and Tom Roper, two chaps as war 
 killed awhile ago, coming home drunk from the 
 market. Jack Stubbs cried out, ' Fetch him 
 here, Tom !' I screamed out, and waked my 
 mother. She told me to go to sleep and hold 
 my noise. I was miserable from that night, till 
 I found pardon. The Lord has found some- 
 thing for me to do for his glory : I teach in the 
 Sunday-school, pray at the prayer-meetings, 
 and speak a word for Christ wheresomever I 
 be. My companions laugh at me ; but I go on 
 trusting in the Lord. I am pressing on to per- 
 fection and I mean, if I've good luck, to have 
 it this afternoon. May the Lord help me to it, 
 for his name and mercy's sake !" The young 
 disciple sat down amidst great applause. 
 
 Mrs. Sleekfacc again rose, and addressed a 
 few words of encouragement to the promising 
 youth. She spoke of the different methods
 
 70 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 which the Lord employed, in bringing his peo- 
 ple to himself; and likened the case of the 
 youth to the call of the prophet Samuel ; and 
 concluded by urging the people to adhere to 
 their present experience, and to speak to the 
 point, and not to wait for one another. The 
 latter part of Mrs. Sleekface's order was strictly 
 obeyed, for no less than three persons were 
 standing up at the same time, all eager to tell 
 " what the Lord had done for their souls." It 
 was difficult to decide which of them was on 
 their legs first. Brother Poser maintained that 
 he was ; sister Slipper affirmed that she had the 
 precedence; whilst brother Jolls assumed his 
 priority by commencing the history of his 
 Christian warfare. 
 
 After some contention, Mrs. Sleekface deter- 
 mined the question in favour of sister Slipper. 
 She was dressed in a red cloak, and close black 
 bonnet, with a white handkerchief wrapped 
 over her head, which half covered her face. As 
 she spoke, she laid hold of the seat with her 
 hands, shook her head, and frequently leaped 
 up. Her oration was as follows :
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 71 
 
 " How pleasant a thing it is to see brethren 
 dwell together in unity. (' Speak up, old gal,' 
 was shouted out from below.) It war a pity as 
 a'ar good brothers should ha' made so much 
 ado about speakin ; but they was so full o' love, 
 as they mun let it out. (' That's right, Molly,' 
 said brother Jolls.) It isner the first love-feast 
 as I'n been at ; and I hope it wonner be the 
 last. I think em the best mean o' grace as is, 
 and class-meetins and the Supper o' the Lord 
 next. It's five and thirty year, come next har- 
 vest, sin I fun pardon to my soul ; and I'n hed 
 a deal to pass through sin then. My husband 
 very much parsecuted me ; but it pleased the 
 Lord to convart his soul, about twenty year 
 ago, come Martlemas. Me and him has seen 
 many ups and downs in the world. I'n often 
 bin as I'n hed a deal to do to get a penny a 
 week, and a shilling a quarter, for class money. 
 But I alias war able to pay that, if I pinch'd 
 mysen for't ; for I war sure I should never be a 
 loser for't i' the end, as the prachers alias tells 
 us. Well, things took a turn : my husband
 
 72 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 got into work, Mary got a place, the sow pig'd, 
 and did well, and I got a little weshin. I'n lived 
 to see three children gone to glory, and all the 
 rest is on their way there. I'n many a battle 
 wi' the devil ; but he can do nowt wi' me. If 
 I war to die just now, I should go right off to 
 glory. What a love-feast we shall hev in hea- 
 ven. I often think how I should like to hear 
 Abram, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the prophets 
 and apostles relate their Christian experience. 
 We shan't be short o' time there, sister, shall 
 we ?" (speaking to Mrs. Sleekface, who was mo- 
 tioning her to sit down.) 
 
 " I hope not, sister," said Mrs. Sleekface, " if 
 they all speak as long as you." 
 
 " If I mun sit down, I mun," continued Mol- 
 ly, and there's an end on't ; but I'n a deal more 
 to say, for I havener got into the marrar of my 
 experience yet." 
 
 " Our time, sister Slipper," said Mrs. Sleek- 
 face, " is so short, and there are so many more 
 of our brethren yet to speak, that we must leave 
 the marrow of your experience for some other
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 73 
 
 time, and be contented at the present with the 
 picking of the bones." Molly acquiesced in 
 the decision, and sat down. 
 
 Many others addressed the meeting, much in 
 the same manner as the preceding. And no 
 wonder: for so great is the similarity that 
 exists between experience and experience, that 
 we might fancy they were all provided with 
 stereotyped copies of the same. There was 
 one address, however, well worthy of being re- 
 corded that of an old soldier, who had served 
 under the Duke of Wellington. He spoke as 
 follows : " Fellow soldiers of the Captain of our 
 salvation ! I am glad of this opportunity of de- 
 claring what the Lord has done for my soul. 
 For many years I have served my country and 
 my God ; and I am sorry to say, too many 
 years I've served the prince of darkness. But 
 of all the masters I over had, he is the worst. 
 It seems a odd thing to leave a master that one 
 has served for many years, and receive no 
 wages. I did so, however, with the devil. He 
 offered me the wage, but I refused to take it.
 
 74 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 ('You did right, master sarjeant,' cried an old 
 man from the opposite gallery.) When I left 
 his service, I enlisted in the First Life Guards, 
 which is the Wesleyan regiment, that has the 
 best officers, and the best discipline, of any 
 regiment in the heavenly service. O ! I often 
 think that though there is many regiments, 
 dressed in different uniforms, yet they all fight 
 under the same great Captain, and against the 
 same common enemy. Alas ! that there should 
 be such division in the heavenly army regi- 
 ment fighting against regiment, instead o' form- 
 ing a mighty phalanx, and making a onset on 
 the powers of darkness. I wonder what would 
 have become of the brave English in the battle 
 of Waterloo, if the Scotch Greys had set to 
 fighting the Dragoons, and the 28th foot had 
 contended with the Lancers. Why, instead of 
 winning the hard fought day, and wearing medals 
 in memory of the victory, we should have been 
 totally defeated, and have been now wearing the 
 'fetters of slavery." The valiant soldier was 
 about to proceed to give an account of the
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 75 
 
 battle of Waterloo, but Mrs. Sleekface stopped 
 him, and requested him to keep to his Christian 
 experience. The son of Mars then went on to 
 say, " I have been in the good way for upwards 
 of ten years ; and have never once turned back 
 to the beggarly elements of the world. I owe the 
 salvation of both body and soul to the Method- 
 ists. I went to one of the chapels, in Ireland, 
 to make fun but came home to pray. It 
 pleased the Lord to make me happy in his love 
 when I was praying, one day, in the stable. I 
 was made so happy that I cried out for joy. 
 One of the officers was passing by at the time, 
 and came to see what was the matter. I told 
 him that the Lord had pardoned my sins, and I 
 recommended to him the Saviour, and wished 
 to pray with him. ' Thompson,' he said, * you 
 are mad, man! what do you mean by such 
 conduct to your officer?' and went away of- 
 fended. I knelt down, and prayed for him and 
 the whole regiment. I told some of my fellow- 
 soldiers, what the Lord had done for my soul I 
 but they only laughed at me. I used to go out,
 
 76 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 when off duty, and preach in the open street ; 
 and I had many seals to my ministry. I then 
 was made a local preacher : wherever I used to 
 preach, the chapels was crowded, and I had 
 many souls for my hire. I was at length called 
 abroad, to fight for my country. When I went 
 into battle, I prayed that the Lord would give 
 me courage, and preserve me. I wished myself 
 home again, for I remembered the command- 
 ment, ' Thou shalt not kill.' However I thought 
 there was no harm in fighting in self-defence. 
 I was forced into the thickest of the battle, and 
 I see many brave men cut down round me, and 
 I should have met with the same fate hadn't it 
 been for Mr. Wesley's hymns, and a pocket- 
 testament, which I had stuck in my jacket ; for 
 a bullet was hindered from passing into my 
 breast by the hymn book, and the thrust of a 
 sword was turned back by the Testament. 
 Here I am this day a monument of divine 
 mercy. (A great sensation was caused by the 
 soldier's wonderful preservation.) This is the 
 Testament and hymn book, brethren," continu-
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 77 
 
 ed he "to which I owe my life. (Pass em 
 this way, cried a voice from the gallery, and 
 they were passed on.) Put on, brethren, the 
 whole armour of God, and fight manfully under 
 the blood-stained banner of the cross. It does 
 my heart good to see our sister in the pulpit. 
 She reminds me of Queen Elizabeth, heading 
 her forces, and leading them on to victory. May 
 God ever prosper her arms ! What may we 
 expect, if our women, inspired with valour, lead 
 on our armies to conquest ? It ought to shame 
 the cowards, whilst it gives more courage to the 
 brave. May God grant that we may have the 
 sound of a King in our camp, and the army of 
 the aliens be entirely routed." He sat down 
 amidst tremendous shouts of Amen ! and Glory ! 
 As soon as the noise had subsided, Mrs. Sleek- 
 face addressed a few words to the assembly, 
 and the meeting was concluded with prayer.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 " OUR PEOPLE ARE REQUESTED NOT TO INTRODUCE PIPES 
 AND TOBACCO INTO THEIR HOUSES FOR PREACHERS, EXCEPT 
 
 IN EXTREME CASES." W. Large Minutes. 
 
 Mrs. Sleekface, with unsual generosity, invited 
 a few country friends to take tea with her. As 
 soon as we had reached home, Mrs. Sleekface 
 reproved her daughters for not having spoken 
 at the love-feast. " It is impossible," said she, 
 " for you ever to make any proficiency in reli- 
 gion, so long as you are ashamed to confess 
 Christ and him crucified before men. It is no- 
 thing but the pride of your heart which kept 
 you back, and which, long ago, would have 
 been entirely eradicated, had you pressed on 
 to the attainment of entire sanctification. How 
 dare you come away without declaring what the 
 Lord hath done for your souls ? I'm sure that 
 the people of God have gone away very much 
 disappointed."
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 79 
 
 " Yes, Mrs. Sleekface," said Mrs. Joyful, " I'm 
 sure they have ; for I'd heard what a very gra- 
 cious work the Lord had been carrying on in 
 their souls." 
 
 Miss Sleekface began to make an apology, 
 for not having spoken ; but her mother would 
 not allow her to proceed, affirming "that no 
 apology could be made to justify her sinful 
 conduct, and that, instead of apologizing, she 
 had much better be praying for forgiveness." 
 
 " Who was that bad woman," inquired Mrs. 
 Joyful, "as so shamefully abused you in the 
 vestry ?" 
 
 " Her name is Tibbs," answered Mrs. Sleek- 
 face, " she is a backslider, and I fear a very bad 
 woman. When she was in society, she was 
 very fond of going to anniversaries in the coun- 
 try, and all kinds of meetings, neglecting her 
 family, and coming home at night with some 
 brother or other, till at last her husband threat- 
 ened to leave her, if she did'nt stay at home, 
 and attend to her family. When she found she 
 could no longer go gadding about to different
 
 80 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 meetings, she fell away and left the society, and 
 this is the woman, forsooth, who has the impu- 
 dence and wickedness to be my accuser." 
 
 " She sartainly war abominable bad," said 
 James Steadfast. " I felt as if I could ha' kicked 
 the saucy creature out o' the vestry. I shouldner 
 ha bin surprised if the ground had opened and 
 swallowed her up, for I'm sure she deserved it." 
 
 "Well, brother," said Mrs. Sleekface, "the 
 Lord is merciful, and he spared her, and may 
 his long-suffering lead her to repentance." 
 
 Whilst Mrs. Sleekface was preparing tea, the 
 company amused themselves (as is their wont 
 on such occasions) with repeating the odd say- 
 ings and curious speeches of some of the love- 
 feast speakers, and indulging in sundry chari- 
 table criticisms thereon. 
 
 " I wish," said John Slipper, " as sister Sleek- 
 face had let the soldier agone on with his as- 
 cription o' the battle of Waterloo. It would a 
 bin very interestin. How wonderful was his 
 life presarved ! there's no tellin how many lives 
 might a bin saved, if the soldiers had all on 'em
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 81 
 
 had Mr. Wesley's hymns and a Testament 
 about em. It would pay the king to give every 
 soldier a copy o' each." 
 
 " A very good idea," said brother Symons ; 
 " why we should become quite convincible in 
 arms then : we should conquer the world." 
 
 Sarah Meek observed that she thought as 
 " Sister Grove's experience was the deepest 
 and the best." 
 
 " I don't think so," replied brother Steadfast, 
 " for I've heard her tell the same, almost word 
 for word, twenty times, except what she told 
 us about her sister, who was threatened by her 
 husband, to beat her if she went to the chapel. 
 It was certainly very wonderful how the Lord 
 interposed in her behalf." 
 
 " How was it ?" said Julia Meek. 
 
 " Why," replied the speaker, " when she got 
 home from chapel, her husband was drunk, and 
 he went to the fire-place to lay hold on the 
 poker, to thrash her with, but the Lord made 
 him so, that he could not catch hold of it." 
 
 " It seems," said brother Symons, " as old 
 F
 
 82 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 John Goater is as forward as ever in relating 
 his experience ; what a flaming address did he 
 give, and perhaps to-morrow he'll be in liquor. 
 He is a great liberty man now, says as Con- 
 ference >is a great engine of oppression, and 
 that he would put it down if he could ; and he 
 says, as there is plenty more as thinks as he 
 does. He says, as the rules is not properly 
 kept, and as the preachers is the very first to 
 break em. According to the rule, he says as 
 all spirit dealers, and spirit drinkers, ought to 
 be put out of society, and as the preachers have 
 no right to be called reverend. If he would 
 just look at home, and mend his own windows, 
 and put the shutters to, before he throws stones 
 at his neighbours, it would look much better of 
 him." 
 
 Mrs Sleekface now announced that tea was 
 ready, and we repaired to the sitting room. In 
 expectation of company, she had provided for 
 the occasion with unwonted liberality, half a 
 pound of Dutch butter, a small "white bread" 
 loaf, and half a pound of refined sugar. There
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 83 
 
 . , , . 
 
 were two plates of toast, sparingly buttered, 
 for the guests, and some thick bread and butter 
 for the Misses Sleekface. 
 
 " I hope your tea is as you like it, brethren," 
 said Mrs. Sleekface. 
 
 " Mine is very niste," said sister Meek. " I 
 suppose as you did as you mostly do, put the 
 tea in the oven to mash, before you went to 
 chapel. It's a good plan, as it gets all the good- 
 ness out." 
 
 " It is a very good plan," answered Mrs. 
 Sleekface, " if you take care and fill the pot up, 
 at every half-cup, or if you don't you'll have it 
 very weak at the last. If any of you, brethren," 
 continued she, "would like anything a little 
 more substantial than toast, I can give you 
 some nice cold bacon and potatoes." 
 
 " I think I could relish a bit," said John 
 Steadfast, " for it's a good while sin dinner, and 
 I've had a longish walk." 
 
 " Fetch it out, Esther," said Mrs. Sleekface. 
 
 When it was brought, she assisted him to 
 a small piece, which he placed on a slice of 
 
 F2
 
 84 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 bread, and held it in his hand, and carved off 
 large mouthsful. 
 
 " You had better," said Mrs. S., addressing 
 her daughters, " fill up your cups with water, 
 for you know that strong tea makes you so 
 nervous." 
 
 " I've heard," said John Steadfast, "as strong 
 tea is a very bad thing for the nerves, so if you 
 please, I'll hev a little more sugar and cream 
 in mine to mak it a little more agreeabler. 
 Brother Lodgers' is the place to go to to get 
 cream ; I took tea with him last Sunday after 
 preachin, and the cream was as thick as treacle, 
 and we had sich nice fresh butter ; and then 
 after preachin at night, I'd a famous good sup- 
 per, and a glass o' gin and water afore startin, 
 and sister Lodgers would mak me fill my 
 pockets with apples, for the workman, she 
 says, is worthy of his hire." 
 
 " How is that John Roper getting on there," 
 inquired Mrs. Sleekface, " who left the society 
 and joined the Independents ? It was a good 
 riddance to us when he left. I suppose he
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 85 
 
 thought he should be a greater man amongst 
 
 them, than us." 
 
 " Oh he is a very big chap among them," 
 
 answered John Steadfast, " says as he is one of 
 the elect ; and as us methodists is workmongers 
 and extracts all the glory from Christ." I says 
 to him, 'John,' says I, 'don you believe, then, 
 as a certain number is elected to everlasting life, 
 and as all the rest of mankind is to be damned ?' 
 ' I believe,' said he, ' as a certain number is 
 elected from eternity to everlasting life, and as 
 none else but them will be finally saved, but as 
 for them as is'nt elect, if they be damned, it's 
 their own fault; for Christ has died for em, 
 and mercy is offered em, and if they won't 
 accept it, it's their own fault.' ' Not just so,' 
 I said to him. ' It isn't exactually his own 
 fault, as you say ; for suppose the king should 
 grant pardon to a prisoner as is confined in 
 jail, it wo'nt be o' much good to him, till some- 
 body is sent to tak off his chains, and open the 
 prison doors, and let him go free. So with a 
 sinner, it's not o' much good to him, to tell him 
 
 F3
 
 86 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 as God gav his Son to die for him, to free him 
 from sin and the devil, unless he sends the 
 Holy Spirit to free him from slavery, to con- 
 vince him of sin, and to convart and sanctify 
 him. And beside,' I says, * you are either one 
 of the elect, or you are not. If you are, you 
 are a lucky fellow ; you are all right for time 
 and eternity. But if you arner one o' the 
 elect, you are one of the most unlucky fellows, 
 and you are all wrong for time and eternity.'" 
 
 " The doctrine of election, I consider," said 
 Mrs. Sleekface, " to be one of the most soul- 
 damning doctrines that can be preached. It 
 completely paralyses all exertion, makes man 
 go on comfortably in sin, till the effectual call 
 comes; and when that is supposed to have 
 been received, it leads the favoured professor 
 to be careless and slothful, seeing that his sal- 
 vation is as secure as the pillars of heaven. 
 I have always striven in my ministrations, to 
 guard my hearers against this delusive and 
 unscriptural doctrine. It is a matter of deep 
 regret that the more pious part of the clergy
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 87 
 
 preach this soul-destroying doctrine, and this 
 makes them haye no right to the title of evan- 
 gelical ministers. Whether John Roper be one 
 of the elect, now, I cannot tell ; I know that 
 he wasn't when he left us, for he did'nt show 
 any fruits of it. I suppose he preaches fre- 
 quently, and gets three or four shillings on a 
 Sunday, and a good dinner and tea ; and John 
 never was the man to object to a good meal. 
 I shall never forget his taking tea with us, one 
 day ; I believe that he ate half a quartern loaf, 
 and a quarter of a pound of butter ; he quite 
 emptied the cream jug, and took three lumps of 
 sugar in his tea. Not that I care how much 
 the man ate, only it looked so ; and it goes to 
 show that a good dinner or tea would never be 
 disagreeable to him." 
 
 As soon as tea was over, the brethren, and 
 two of the sisters, retired into the kitchen to 
 smoke. Mrs. Sleekface furnished them with 
 some dirty pipes, damp tobacco, and a quart of 
 ale. 
 
 " I fear," said she, " that you will not find
 
 88 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 the ale very fresh ; though I have kept it close- 
 ly covered over since last night. We never 
 keep any kind of liquor in the house, except a 
 little elderberry wine, which we find good for 
 the bowel -complaint, and whilst you are enjoy- 
 ing yourselves here I'll treat our sisters in the 
 parlour to a little of it." 
 
 Hereupon Mrs. Sleekface took half a bottle 
 of the said wine, and a jug of cold water, and 
 some wine glasses into the parlour, and mixed 
 a glass for each of the sisters, observing " that 
 unless a little water was put to it, it would get 
 into their heads." The company were so loud 
 in their praise of the liquor, that Mrs. Sleek- 
 face thought it advisable to propose an ad- 
 journment into the kitchen, to hold a prayer 
 meeting.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 " I KNOW WERE I TO PREACH ONE WHOLE YEAR IN 
 ONE PLACE, 1 SHOULD PREACH BOTH MYSELF AND MY 
 CONGREGATION ASLEEP; NOR CAN I BELIEVE IT WAS EVER 
 THE WILL OF THE LORD THAT ANY CONGREGATION SHOULD 
 HAVE ONE TEACHER ONLY." Wesley. 
 
 It happened that I went into the vestry 
 one Saturday morning, as the Levite, already 
 mentioned, was cleaning it. "Well, brother 
 Sparks," said he, (hastily cramming something 
 into his hat,) " how bin you ? I'm glad to see 
 you a coming round again ; you'n hed a bad 
 bout on it. I was afeerd we should ha lost you. 
 You mun excuse me, but I thinken you one of 
 the best preachers I ever heerd in my life ; 
 and I'm not the only one as says so. My wife 
 tells me, as Miss Sleekface says, you be sich a 
 niste man, and one o' the cleverest preachers 
 she iver heerd ; and every body says the same.
 
 90 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 1 Twixt you and me, and the pulpit, donner you 
 find the super and his wife rather a curious 
 pair ?" 
 
 I replied that they possessed some peculiari- 
 ties. 
 
 " The gals," said he, " is noicetish lasses, 
 but you mun mind your Ps and Qs, or else 
 you'll be gettin into a row with the super and 
 his wife, as the last young preacher did with 
 Miss Ester. He wanted to marry her, but the 
 super wouldner come it, coz he hadner ony 
 o' the needful. She war very fond on him, my 
 wife says, for she know'd all their secrets ; for 
 when a gal gets into love, she'll tell omost ony 
 body as 'ul hearken to her pleasant tale. He 
 made pretend to be fond o' her, but 'twixt you 
 and me and the pulpit, he war fonder o' the 
 money than her. As soon as the super got 
 wind o' what war going on, he put a stop to 
 the business, by turning him out o' the house, 
 into lodging, and then got him sent away at 
 Conference, though every body wanted him to 
 stop ; and brother, if you arner on the look out,
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 91 
 
 and keep your weather eye open, he'll sarve 
 you the same, if you havener got plenty of the 
 mammon of unrighteousness, as he preaches 
 so much agen." 
 
 " How did Mr. Sleekface manage to get the 
 young man sent away, if the circuit wished him 
 to stay?" I asked. 
 
 " Oh ! him, and the ' Chairman of the Dis- 
 trict,' got him sent away atwixt em. The 
 super made up some tale or another about not 
 tendin his appointments; which, beggin the 
 super's pardon, wasner quite true, for nobody 
 iver kept his appointments better than him, 
 though he hed as much agin work as the 
 super. The steward's wife tel'd my old woman, 
 as Mrs. Sleekface teld her, as Mr. Pepper tried 
 to get Ester away in a cart, and take her off to 
 marry her : she said this arter he war gone. 
 Brother Pepper sent word as it warn't true, so 
 what to believe one hardly knows, sin doctors 
 disagree. I rayther incline to hold wi' brother 
 Pepper, for I'm sorry to say, as Mrs. Sleekface 
 is'nt over particular about stickin to the truth,
 
 92 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 though it wouldner do for her to hear me say 
 so; or else I should m'appen lose my place." 
 
 "James," I said, " you should never say 
 anything of any one, that you would care about 
 their hearing." 
 
 " Very true," replied the Levite, " that's 
 Gospel, and no mistake ; but how few is there 
 as does so ! There's this in it, I arner ' bearin 
 false witness agen my neighbour,' I don know 
 that. I wish that I could say the same o' Mrs. 
 Sleekface, but that's unpossible, if I mun hold 
 to the truth. She beared false witness agen 
 me most abominable, awhile ago, for she teld 
 the ' steward's' wife, as I stole the Sunday- 
 school coal and candles; but there never was a 
 greater falsity teld about any poor honest man, 
 as has bin in the society for above twenty 
 year, and alias beared a better character than 
 the super and his wife. She is omost sure to 
 tell you about it, if she does you munner believe 
 a word on it. There was summat stealed I 
 know, but James Sneaker war the man as did 
 it, when he com'd to help me at ' Quarter-Day;'
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 93 
 
 and so you see the innocent gets inspected, and 
 that scoundrel passes as an honest man. A 
 nice feller he is, to be a prayer-leader, and a 
 local preacher. I'm poor, but honest, thank 
 God. I war rayther complainin t'other day to 
 Mrs. Sleekface, what a big family I hed, and 
 how hard I found it to get em food and rai- 
 ment. ' You owt'nt to complain,' said she, 'coa 
 you'n a big family, but to be thankful, for the 
 Psalmist says happy is the man that has his 
 quiver full on 'em.' I teld her as it war very 
 well for Methody preachers to say so, as they 
 got more pay, as they got more children, in 
 this way givin encouragement to hev big fami- 
 lies. I teld her as the preachers obeyed the 
 command ' multiply and replenish the earth. I 
 
 OFTEN THINK AS IF CONFERENCE HED FAIR PLAY, 
 IT WOULD SOON CONNELIZE THE WORLD. Let 
 
 me see now, sin I'n bin a Levite, we'n hed some 
 fruitful prachers; there war brother Smith, as 
 hed seven children livin, and four dead, there 
 war brother Jones, as hed eight dead, and four 
 livin ; then I munner forget brother Stodding, as
 
 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 bed three wives, and four children by the first, 
 two by the second, and five by the third. So 
 you see as these hed their quivers pretty full o' 
 arrows, but hed plenty to feather 'em, or else 
 they'd a bin none so happy ; and it isner in the 
 natur o' things to be happy wi' a empty belly, 
 whatever prachers may say to the contrairy. 
 I wish they'd try it for a wik, and see how 
 happy they'd be on it Not many hours 'ud 
 pass afore they'd crawk out for the loaves and 
 fishes, I know." 
 
 The conversation with the Levite, was inter- 
 rupted by Mr. Sleekface summoning me into 
 his study. 
 
 "I've been thinking," said he, "of selling 
 some of my books; so that, brother, if you 
 want a little sound divinity, I can let you have 
 some cheap. It's a chance not to be thrown 
 away, and now is the time for you to store 
 your mind with useful learning ; for when you 
 get the responsible duties of a circuit upon you, 
 you will find but little time for reading. I 
 wonder what I should have done in my old age
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 95 
 
 if I hadn't laid up treasures of knowledge in 
 my young days. Why, I should have had my 
 mind empty, instead of well-stocked. Now, 
 we'll just look the library through, and if you 
 see any thing you think will be useful to you, 
 I'll put it you in dirt cheap." 
 
 " I don't mind," I answered, " buying a few 
 books of you, if I see any thing that I want, 
 and you will put them hi at a reasonable 
 price." 
 
 " Well now, brother," said he, " if you want 
 a first-rate commentary, here is one as good as 
 any in the language, and a standard work in 
 our body ; in good condition, and not often to 
 be met with. It's the commentary of the late 
 Dr. Coke, that great and learned man. It's 
 exceedingly valuable now, from its scarcity: it 
 was published, if my recollection serves me, at 
 nine guineas: and I should think as perhaps 
 it's worth more now, from its scarcity. Suppose 
 then, we say, seven pound ten for it, and that 
 will be a great bargain. My wife says as I 
 shall be very silly, if I sell it for less than ten
 
 96 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 pounds ; but I don't wish to be hard with you. 
 I'll take off this calico cover for you, and show 
 it you to perfection." 
 
 Just as he was taking it off, Mrs. Sleekface 
 entered the room. 
 
 " Well, brother Sparks," said she, " are you 
 buying some bargains ? You are surely not 
 selling Dr. Coke's commentary, are you, dear ? 
 that invaluable book, concerning which, old 
 Joseph Taylor used to say every letter was 
 gold. Why, it can hardly be bought now for 
 love or money. I believe it will soon be worth 
 twenty pounds. For learning, piety, and sound 
 theology, it is allowed, on all hands, to be un- 
 equalled. But show our brother some other 
 books, and then he may choose. Now it strikes 
 me, that nothing would be so generally useful 
 to our brother as the possession of our own 
 magazines ; for they contain such a variety of 
 useful matter as to form in themselves a com- 
 plete theological library." 
 
 " These are them," said Mr. Sleekface, point- 
 ing to about thirty volumes, on the top shelf.
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 97 
 
 " Now those we will let you have on very 
 moderate terms you are aware, of course, how 
 very scarce they are and we have them from 
 the beginning. Every preacher ought to pos- 
 sess them, if he is to be throughly furnished 
 unto every good work ; but it is not once in 
 twenty years that you can get them complete 
 from the beginning. Now as to the price, 
 twelve times six are seventy -two, and seventy- 
 two pence are six shillings ; and then there is 
 the binding, three or four shillings, but I rather 
 think four. Now suppose we split the differ- 
 ence, and say three and six, and that will in- 
 clude the cover. So we shall have them come 
 to nine and six a volume: thus you see, for 
 about fifteen to twenty pounds, you will have 
 a complete theological, biblical, biographical, 
 and historical library. And you know, brother, 
 you needn't pay me just now for them all ; you 
 may pay me by instalments of five pounds at 
 a time, unless your father would prefer paying 
 for them altogether, and if so I \v ould take you 
 off two and a half, for ready money." 
 G
 
 98 THE ROUND PREACHER. , 
 
 " Nay ! dear," said Mrs. Sleekface, " say 
 three per cent." 
 
 "What little money I have to lay out in 
 books," I said, "I must take to a better market, 
 and must be content with purchasing those of 
 less scarcity and value." 
 
 "I'll tell you what, brother," said Mr. Sleek- 
 face, "it's the worst policy in the world to 
 buy cheap books, for they are always trash. 
 Let me advise you to buy none but standard 
 authors such as have been well tried and 
 approved, like those we offer you." After much 
 apparently deep thought, he said, " I am not a 
 man that makes many words, in striking a bar- 
 gain ; and so I'll tell you, at a word, what I 
 will do, to induce you to buy and I beg you'll 
 not stand in your own light. If you'll take the 
 commentary with them, I'll say twenty guineas 
 for the whole ; but if I make such a sacrifice, I 
 shall expect ready money. You'll think of it, 
 brother, and I beg you'll not be blind to your 
 own interest. 
 
 In looking through the books, I saw three
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 99 
 
 leather cases, being labelled, ' Sermons for first 
 year,' ' second year,' and ' third year.' 
 
 "A very neat and convenient way of keeping 
 your sermons, Mr. Sleekface," I observed. 
 
 " Yes," answered he, " I find it very handy ; 
 it saves me from preaching the same sermon 
 twice at a place, for I go regularly through 
 them. I am now going through the third year 
 ones. I have not made a sermon for the last 
 twenty years. I think this is one of the chief 
 advantages of our system ; for you know the 
 same sermons do for each circuit. We can 
 thus carry on a large trade with a small capital. 
 Not that I use all my capital in my trade, for 
 it's no use having more employed than is neces- 
 sary to carry it on respectably. I often think, 
 brother, that you spend more time in sermon- 
 izing than you need. If you'd preach your old 
 sermons, you would have much more time for 
 pastoral duty, and helping me in the circuit 
 business." 
 
 " You must remember," I said, " that it takes 
 me much longer to make a sermon than it does 
 
 G2
 
 100 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 yourself; and that I have not such a clever 
 wife as yours, to assist me." 
 
 " Indeed," said Mr. Sleekface, " it's precious 
 little help which she has ever given me : she is 
 much more indebted to me than I am to her. 
 She has many a time preached my sermons. 
 She has a wonderful memory, and can get off a 
 sermon in a surprising short time, and deliver 
 it without a single mistake. I know many 
 preachers can do the same ; and it strikes me 
 most of the popular men in our connexion do 
 it, and don't always preach their own sermons 
 either, and so pass for very first-rate men. 
 Awhile ago, I and my partner went into a 
 neighbouring circuit to preach for the benefit 
 of some Sunday-schools. She was to preach 
 in the afternoon, and I in the evening: this 
 arrangement she didn't altogether like, as she 
 prefers preaching to the largest congregation. 
 Well, if she didn't take for her text, the very 
 same passage that I meant to preach from. As 
 soon as she gave it out, I pulled her by the 
 gown and told her she had taken my text, and
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 101 
 
 she had better take another ; but she would 
 go on, from it. Well, as she went on, I 
 found that she preached a good part of my 
 sermon, at least the most telling parts of it. I 
 shouldn't have cared so much about her taking 
 my text, if she hadn't introduced my matter ; 
 for then I could have done as brother Tipps, 
 who ' travels ' in London, does I could have 
 tacked the sermon to another text. I was 
 very aggravated, for it was one of my best 
 efforts, prepared expressly for school anniver- 
 saries. The text was, 'Suffer little children 
 to come unto me, and forbid them not, for 
 of such is the kingpm of heaven.' I divided 
 my subject into three parts: first, the text 
 contains a privilege to be enjoyed; secondly, 
 a blessing to be obtained ; and, thirdly, a 
 command to be obeyed. On the first head, I 
 showed what was meant by ' suffer' its differ- 
 ent uses in scripture, and its particular use in 
 the text: secondly, I showed that although the 
 privilege was offered to little children, that 
 great ones were by no means excluded and 
 G 3
 
 102 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 that 'little' was synonymous with 'young': 
 thirdly, I showed how they must come by 
 prayer and faith, and that ' come ' didn't mean 
 ' to walk', as some baptists possibly might say, 
 in order to make it appear that the privilege 
 was not granted to infants, and so fetch an ar- 
 gument against infant baptism. On the second 
 head of discourse, I showed the different mean- 
 ings of 'the kingdom of heaven', as it was 
 sometimes applied to the church, at others to 
 the work of grace in the heart, and also to the 
 place of departed spirits and the dwelling-place 
 of God I showed that in the text it meant all 
 of them ; and didn't forget to give the Calvinists 
 a hard rap. And then, on the last head, I 
 noticed the various ways of forbidding children 
 to come to Christ, 1st, by not praying for 
 them ; 2nd, not instructing them when young ; 
 3rd, by setting a bad example; and, 4th, by 
 not offering them to God in baptism. I read a 
 very interesting account of the conversion and 
 happy death of a little girl of five years of age, 
 and didn't forget to warn the people against
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 103 
 
 the delusive and dangerous doctrine of bap- 
 tismal regeneration, as taught in the Church 
 catechism ; and concluded my discourse with a 
 few words of application to the children and 
 their parents, exhorting them above all things 
 to give liberally. Such a sermon as this," con- 
 tinued he, " was just adapted to the occasion. 
 I didn't know what to do: it was the only 
 appropriate sermon I had, and the only one 
 I had with me. The anxiety of mind quite 
 knocked me up, so that my wife preached for 
 me." 
 
 " How did she manage ?" I enquired. 
 
 " O ! she did very well," replied he ; "she is 
 never short of something to say ; she is like a 
 many other ministers, never at a loss for words, 
 and preaches with great energy, and so hardly 
 wants any ideas at least most of the people 
 don't care about them. But it pleases the Lord 
 to make use of the ' weak things of the world to 
 confound the mighty', both with regard to her 
 sex as well as her sermons." 
 
 " It seems, then," I said, that " Mrs. Sleek-
 
 104 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 face does not confine her labours to her own 
 sex, as our rule requires. I suppose she does 
 not violate the one which enjoins her to obtain 
 the consent of the superintendent of the circuit, 
 since I presume you grant her that." 
 
 " Oh ! those are a sort of obsolete rules, for 
 they are never enforced ; as she gets large con- 
 gregations, good collections, and many souls 
 saved, it matters not." 
 
 " Whose fault is it," I said, " that they have 
 become obsolete, but those whose duty it is to 
 see that they are not merely a dead letter, but 
 a living and active power, put into force when- 
 ever occasion requires ? t have seen enough of 
 the evil of obsolete rules: they often prove a 
 very useful auxiliary in carrying out the designs 
 of tyranny. It's just like keeping a savage dog 
 chained up, to be let loose upon any person 
 whom either caprice or malice may mark out 
 for its ferocious attack. Let every obsolete 
 rule in our connexion be rescinded ; and until 
 this be done, the liberty of neither preachers 
 nor people can be safe."
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 105 
 
 " Stop ! stop ! not so fast, if you please, 
 young man," said Mr. Sleekface, with great 
 energy. " Go, and tarry at Jericho till your 
 beard is grown, and then talk about reforming 
 rules. Things are indeed come to a pretty 
 pass, when beardless youths presume to dictate 
 to their seniors in years, piety, and ability, 
 about reforming the venerable and unequalled 
 constitution of our body. It shows a very tur- 
 bulent and disaffected spirit ; and if I ever hear 
 you utter any such factious language again, I 
 shall feel myself in duty bound to bring it 
 before the District-meeting : and then you will 
 repent having spoken so rashly. I beg you 
 will not make any such remarks to any of the 
 society, or else you'll kindle the dying embers 
 of faction, and they won't be very easy put 
 out." 
 
 " If you ever hear me say any thing," I re- 
 marked, " which lays me open to the censure 
 of the District-meeting, and you ' feel in duty 
 bound' to report it, I hope you will act accord- 
 ing to the dictates of your conscience. And if
 
 106 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 a man's wisdom increase in proportion to the 
 growth of his beard, it would be advisable for 
 some of the senior brethren to shave less fre- 
 quently than they do." 
 
 " Sir, you are now becoming impertinent," 
 said Mr. Sleekface, vehemently. "I'll thank 
 you to leave the room." 
 
 I complied with his request, and employed 
 the remainder of the afternoon in visiting some 
 of the sick members of the society. 
 
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 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 "THE CONFERENCE DIRECTS THAT NO PREACHER SHALL BE 
 ALLOWED TO RETAIN ANY PART OF THE J0LY COLLECTION, 
 FOR THE PURPOSE OF PAYING HIS OWN DEFICIENCIES." 
 Minute of Conference. 
 
 In passing the shop of Mr. Jones, one of the 
 Circuit Stewards called me in. 
 
 " Brother," said he, addressing me, " you are 
 the very man I want to see. Me and brother 
 Jones has been talking about getting, if pos- 
 sible, the circuit-debt wiped off; but how it is 
 to be done, we hardly know." 
 
 Mr. Jones was engaged in puffing off a print 
 dress, as a most splendid article colours as 
 fast as the rocks of Gibraltar the newest no- 
 velty out of London, and fit to grace a peeress 
 of the realm. As soon as he saw me, he said, 
 "Well, brother Sparks, how do you do? I
 
 108 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 hope your soul is prospering." And with the 
 same breath addressing his customer, he said, 
 " It is a splendid article, ma'am, and will give 
 you great satisfaction." " Me and my brother 
 in office has been talking about wiping off the 
 circuit-debt, you know," he remarked, address- 
 ing me, " but don't know how it is to be done." 
 " I assure you, ma'am, it will wash ; it will, 
 indeed, ma'am," said he to the woman ; " I 
 have sold I don't know how many pieces of it, 
 and the gentility says as it washes like a bit of 
 calico, you know. But, ma'am, if you like, you 
 shall see a little of it washed, you know." Mr. 
 Jones then cut a bit off the piece, and gave it 
 to his apprentice, to give it to Mrs. Jones to 
 wash ordering him sotto voce, to tell her to 
 wash it in cold water, and not to rub it too 
 hard. " While my young man is gone," con- 
 tinued he, "to get the print washed, can I 
 have the pleasure of showing you any other 
 article ? If you want any thing hi groceries, I 
 can serve you better than any person in the 
 trade, you know: for I have a brother in a large
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 109 
 
 wholesale house in London, who picks me up 
 very great bargains, and he has just sent me 
 down about twenty chests of tea, of unequalled 
 quality and cheapness. I can offer you tea at 
 six shillings a pound, as good as you'll give 
 eight or nine for elsewhere in the town. I 
 know, ma'am, that some of my neighbours 
 make a great puff, but they can't do it as I can, 
 you know; for they havn't the ready money to go 
 to market with, as me, you know ; and nobody 
 on the spot to pick up bargains. I thought 
 the other day," said he, looking towards me, 
 " as if we got up a sort o' tea-meeting, and in- 
 vite our country friends, you know, but not tell 
 em exactly, as we shall want money from em, 
 or else they won't p'raps come ; and then " 
 " That's a cheap piece of Irish-cloth ma'am," 
 said he, addressing another customer, " every 
 shred is linen, and if I had now to buy it, I 
 should have to give as much for it as he is now 
 offering it you for." " I beg your pardon, Mr. 
 Sparks," said he ; "I was going to say, you 
 know, and then, we can just go round with a
 
 110 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 
 
 book, you know, and ask each person, what 
 they will put their name down for ?" 
 
 "That plan, I think," said Mr. Watts, "would 
 work admirably." Mr. Watts was here inter- 
 rupted by Mr. Jones calling out, "Has that 
 lady got what she wanted ?" 
 
 " We haven't what she wanted," the young 
 man replied. 
 
 " Fetch her back," said Mr. Jones, " and I'll 
 make it." 
 
 " What remark was you making, brother ?" 
 said he, addressing Mr Watts. 
 
 "I was saying," replied he, "as your scheme 
 is a good one, provided we can get two or three 
 leading men, to come out with something hand- 
 some, to begin with. You must come down 
 with a good round sum, brother Jones. 
 
 " More likely yourself, brother," replied Mr. 
 Jones, " times is so bad with me ; there's no 
 money to be got now. I work here from seven 
 in the morning till ten or eleven at night, and 
 can hardly pay for my bread and cheese. We 
 must get Mr. Sleekface to come out liberal, you
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. Ill 
 
 know. I wish we could bleed the old gentle- 
 man, it would do him so much good." 
 
 " If you take too much blood from him, you 
 know" said Mr. Watts, "you'll kill him, you 
 knote" 
 
 "There's no danger o' that," replied Mr. 
 Jones, "just walk into the parlour: you'll find 
 Mrs. Jones there, and I'll be with you as soon 
 as possible." 
 
 Mrs. Jones was a stout, vulgar looking wo- 
 man, dressed in all the finery of the estab- 
 lishment. She had been for many years his 
 housekeeper. For a long time, she had indul- 
 ged the hope of one day becoming Mr. Jones' 
 happy bride. The day at length arrived, when 
 it was no longer prudent for her master to defer 
 it, and her sad heart was made joyful. 
 
 " How doo you doo ?" said she, as I entered 
 the room, hastening to shake hands with me, 
 "we thought you had quite forgot us. You 
 havn't bin as weeks. Susy has bin often askin 
 about you. Let me introduce you to my bro- 
 ther, which lives in the First London Circuit.
 
 112 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 I wonder where Susy is," continued she, " go 
 and find her, Maria, and tell her as Mr. Sparks 
 is here." 
 
 "Miss Susy was soon found, and hastened 
 to the drawing-room, so called. She entered 
 in her most graceful style, and shaking hands 
 with me, said, ft Oh ! Mr. Sparks, Ma and I 
 were saying, a short time ago, that you must 
 be offended, that you hadn't been of so long a 
 time. I have been wanting to see you, to 
 show you some new music, composed by a 
 musical friend of Pa's : it's called the 'Valley 
 of dry bones,' and Pa and Ma think it is the 
 finest composition they have ever heard." 
 
 Miss Jones reached the music, and showed 
 it to me, as well as a kind and love-telling note, 
 from the composer. After I had read the note, 
 she whispered to me, " Mr. Dingy is all very 
 well as a composer; and then I have said all. 
 Ma is not very partial to him. I'll play the 
 piece over, and see how you like it." The 
 piano was well adapted to the subject, for the 
 keys were just the colour of rotten bones, and
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 113 
 
 they sounded about as musical as a valley of 
 them in motion. Mrs. Jones and her brother 
 were loud in their praise of the composition, 
 and Miss Jones's execution. 
 
 " Well, Mr. Sparks," said Miss Jones, " how 
 do you like it ?" 
 
 " The music may be very fine," I replied, 
 " but I cannot say that I admire the words." 
 
 The piece began as follows : " Oh thou foun- 
 tain of wind and storm ! blow with a stupen- 
 dous blast, on this dark and fathomless valley 
 of arid bones." The language throughout, was 
 in the same bombastic style. I found by the 
 aforementioned note, that it was the author's 
 first attempt at an imitation of Handel ; and 
 that he had performed it with great eclat, at a 
 sacred concert, which took place in the chapel 
 where he was organist. 
 
 " A tune on the pieanna is very enlivenin," 
 said Mr. Jones, who entered the room just as 
 Miss Jones finished. "After fourteen hours' 
 hard work behind the counter, and being both- 
 ered to death with faddlin ladies which ruins 
 H
 
 114 THE ROUND PREACHER 
 
 one's peatience with their whimmy fancy, and 
 one's pocket with their banterin down in price, 
 a tune, you know, brother, is indeed very en- 
 couraging. There's some nice things as Susy 
 plays, 'The blue sea,' "The oak tree,' and some 
 others of the same sort. Mr. Sleekface calls 
 em profane songs, as isn't fit for any professin 
 Christian to listen to. Mrs. Sleekface happened 
 to pop in the t'other day as Susy was playin 
 ' The old manor-house,' and her pious feelings 
 was quite shocked, you know. She called us 
 carnal people, and I know not what, you 
 know ; and said, you know, as Susy couldn't 
 be allowed to remain in society, if she played 
 such worldly, profane songs. Well, I thought, 
 you know, how very great strainin ! I'll see if I 
 can't make you appear a little bit silly some o' 
 these fine days ; and so when Mrs. Sleekface 
 came to my house a few days after, you know, 
 I talked to her about the 'blue sea,' in the 
 same words, as the song does, you know ; and 
 then said to her, you know, * I fear we have 
 been talkin very profane, and worldly, and
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 115 
 
 deserve bein put out of society.' ' Why so ?' 
 says she, you know." 
 
 " Pa, we don't know, till you have told us," 
 said Miss Jones. " I wish you would get off 
 saying ' you know.' Both I and Ma have told 
 you about it a hundred times." 
 
 " It is silly, I admit, but it's only my way. I 
 must try to break myself off it." 
 
 " ' Why put out of society ?' says she. * Be- 
 cause,' says I, * we have been talkin about the 
 blue sea, about which Susy sings a song, which 
 you call profane, you know. Now I think as if 
 it's not wrong to talk about the sea, as it's not 
 wrong to sing about it.' Well, you know, she 
 hadn't a word to say to it, but brought a pas- 
 sage or two of scripture forward, which wasn't 
 at all to the point." 
 
 After tea, Mr. Jones, myself, and Mr. Watts 
 were left alone. The spirits and pipes having 
 been spread out, and the circuit stewards hav- 
 ing mixed a strong glass each, Mr. Jones thus 
 began the conversation : 
 
 " I say, brother Sparks, we have known one 
 
 H2
 
 116 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 another long enough to be able to talk a bit 
 together about circuit matters. I want to know 
 how it is, as we have been reported to Confer- 
 ence as having a many more members than we 
 really have. It's been done I don't know how 
 many times. I know the reason : it's done to 
 make em appear great and useful preachers, 
 and as they may get good circuits. If it's done 
 again, you know, I'll most assuredly appeal 
 against it ; for we have to pay ever so much 
 more to Conference for it." 
 
 "That's how the great increase," said Mr. 
 Watts, " in society is made out at the Confer- 
 ence." 
 
 "There's a good deal," said Mr. Jones, "both 
 in the super and his wife, as I don't like. They 
 won't let their daughters come up to see Susy, 
 you know, for fear of her corruptin em; and 
 when their mother comes to the shop, nobody 
 will wait on her, if they can help it, for she'll 
 banter one down, in a penno'rth o' tape, or a 
 quartern o' soap. This is what she says, you 
 know as preachers' families ought, you know,
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 117 
 
 to have their things at cost price. 'Pr'aps 
 you'd like to have your food and clothing given 
 you,' I said. The old man is always grumblin, 
 you know, about the smallness of the ' quarter- 
 age' and 'board.' He says as they have a right 
 to the profits of their self-denial. This is how 
 he argues, you know: 'The preachers, before 
 me, used so much coal and candles. I have a 
 right to use as much ; but I don't use as much, 
 so I have a right to the difference.' When he 
 was arguin in this way to me, one day, I says, 
 you know, ' the preachers before you often 
 broke windows, and crockery, and furniture, 
 and had doctors' bills and funerals ; now you've 
 kept free of all these expenses, and so you've a 
 right to the difference.' This gav the old gen- 
 tleman a poser. I've found him out a makin a 
 extra charge on some books as I have bought 
 from him. I think he ought to be satisfied with 
 the book-room allowance of ten per cent. I 
 rather admired his givin out the other day in 
 the chapel, as he could get any books, that any 
 body might order, on the shortest notice, and 
 H 3
 
 118 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 on the most reasonable terms. He told em as 
 well, you know, as they was bound to buy from 
 the book-room, as the profits went towards 
 supportin the cause of God. I don't know 
 what you may think, brethren, but I look on 
 the superintendents as neither more nor less 
 than tradesmen; which, you know, is quite 
 contrary to a particular rule on that point." 
 
 Mr. Jones was now summoned into the shop 
 to convince a customer of the absurdity of 
 supposing that the opposite grocer could sell 
 cheaper coffee than himself. Finding that he 
 would probably be detained some time, we left 
 the house.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 "IT BROUGHT FORTH ANGER, HATRED, MALICE, REVENGE, 
 AND EVERY EVIL WORD AND WORK." 
 
 Wesley's Lament over the Society. 
 
 One morning as I sat alone with Miss Sleek- 
 face, I said to her, " I have discovered one of 
 the causes of your sister's unhappiness: she 
 has been disappointed in her love. James, the 
 chapel-keeper, has told me all about it." 
 
 " Since you have heard," she replied, " I will 
 tell you how it was. Mr. Pepper I believe was 
 very fond of her, and my sister liked him very 
 much; and he was every way worthy of her 
 love. As soon as my father became aware of 
 the attachment, he suffered him no longer to 
 remain in the house, but sent him into lodg- 
 ings, and at Conference had him removed. 
 They corresponded for a short time, but it was 
 put a stop to, by the command of my father.
 
 120 THE BOUND PREACHER. 
 
 The reason why my father opposed the union 
 was, because Mr. Pepper had no money. He 
 quite expects us to do wonders in marrying, as 
 we have such chances of doing well, owing to 
 our travelling about so much. He is very 
 anxious that he should be appointed to London 
 or Liverpool, as he thinks we might meet with 
 some wealthy merchant there for a husband. 
 But I tell my father, that it is not very likely 
 that any fine wealthy merchant will have us : 
 it is possible that some half-ruined one might 
 marry us for our money, and a pretty marrying 
 that would be! Give me, I say, the man of 
 my heart, though he hasn't a farthing, rather 
 than the richest merchant in the world. I 
 smiled at Esther, the other day, when talking 
 about marrying ; she said 
 
 Father and mother is a carious pair 
 For huilding castles in the air. 
 
 For surely it is nothing less than castle-build- 
 ing in the air, to expect that rich merchants, 
 who drive their carriages, and live in never 
 such grand style, will marry uneducated and
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 121 
 
 unpolished girls like us. And besides, brought 
 up as we have been, the parade and splendour 
 of high-life would be only cumbersome to us." 
 
 At this moment the door opened ; and who, 
 to our astonishment, should enter the room, but 
 Mrs. Sleekface, who had been listening on the 
 outside for a long time. 
 
 " And so me and your father build castles in 
 the air, do we ?" said she, with a stern look. 
 " Follow me into the study," continued she. 
 
 Miss Sleekface obeyed the bidding of her 
 mother. What passed during that interview, I 
 had no opportunity of knowing, for all inter- 
 course between myself and Miss Sleekface was 
 from that time strictly prohibited. On the fol- 
 lowing morning I was summoned by Mr. Sleek- 
 face into the study. 
 
 "Mr. Sparks," said he, "have you thought 
 over my offer about those books which I spoke 
 to you about, some time ago ? I assure you, 
 brother, that you can't do better than purchase 
 them ; they are dirt cheap. I begin almost to 
 repent having offered them at so great a sacri-
 
 122 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 fice ; but as I have passed my word, I am not 
 the man to draw back." 
 
 " I assure you, Mr. Sleekface," said I, " that 
 I experience some difficulty in duly appreciat- 
 ing the liberal spirit which has induced you to 
 make so great a sacrifice in order to serve my 
 interest a sacrifice of which I feel myself al- 
 together unworthy. And, Sir, as you seem in 
 some measure to regret having offered the books 
 at so low a price, I will allow you most willing- 
 ly to retract the whole, and give you an op- 
 portunity of making a more advantageous sale." 
 
 As Mr. Sleekface was commencing his reply, 
 his "dear partner" entered the room, and hav- 
 ing taken a seat, thus addressed me : 
 
 "You have heard, I suppose, from Mr. 
 Sleekface, what our intentions are, with respect 
 to the sinister connexion which evidently sub- 
 sists between you and our eldest daughter. We 
 have had it on our minds a long time to men- 
 tion the thing to you. We have observed with 
 great anxiety a growing intimacy and attach- 
 ment between you, which we have felt it our
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 123 
 
 duty to check. We have had our eye upon 
 your tender assiduities. We have to tell you, 
 then, that any hopes which you may have 
 fondly entertained of one day having Tabitha 
 for your bride, can never be realised by you." 
 " Isn't that our determination, love ?" said she, 
 addressing Mr. Sleekface. 
 
 " Most assuredly," replied he. 
 
 " And moreover," continued she, " we marvel 
 much at your presumption, in daring to aspire 
 to the hand of a young female whose fortune 
 will be not less than six hundred a year. But 
 you young preachers are always aiming at 
 marrying ladies with large fortunes." 
 
 " Have you done now, madam ?" I inquired, 
 " for if you have, I will speak." 
 
 " That depends, Sir," she replied, " but say 
 what you have to say, and have done with it" 
 
 I spoke as follows : " In answer, Madam, to 
 your long and insolent address, I would use 
 the language of your daughter, which you 
 overheard, when so meanly listening at the 
 door last night
 
 124 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 ' Isn't father and mother a curious pair 
 For building castles in the air ?' 
 
 All this 'growing intimacy' 'hopes fondly en- 
 tertained of obtaining Miss Tabitha's hand' 
 'daring aspirations' and 'sinister connexion', 
 are all imaginary castles of your own building. 
 I have never wished to have Miss Tabitha for 
 a bride. I hurl back upon yourself the charge 
 of presumption, for you have all along been 
 presuming the existence of an attachment be- 
 tween myself and your daughter, without the 
 slightest ground for any such supposition. You 
 need not, I assure you, be alarmed about any 
 ' sinister connexion,' which you imagine exists 
 between us j for I have never had the least 
 wish to form any alliance with her ; and if I 
 had aimed at such an object, I hope that I 
 should have striven to compass it, by honour- 
 able and straight-forward means. I can tell 
 you, for your satisfaction, that if your daughter 
 had for her fortune ten thousand a year, and 
 she would receive my addresses, and you would 
 accept me as her suitor, I would decline the
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 125 
 
 honour. I respect Miss Sleekface; I deeply 
 pity her. She has many serious faults, blended 
 with many excellencies. For the former I 
 blame not her, as they are the effect of her 
 education ; whilst the wonder is that she pos- 
 sesses the latter in any degree. It is painful 
 to see her fair form reduced to a shadow her 
 noble mind and generous heart crushed and 
 broken by those whose duty it is to have 
 reared and fostered with loving care, a being 
 so worthy of parental regard." 
 
 " Do you mean, then," said Mrs. Sleekface, 
 earnestly, " to insinuate that we have not done 
 our duty to her, as her parents yea, that we 
 have acted with cruelty towards her? Surely, 
 Mr. Sleekface, we are not to suffer ourselves to 
 be thus vilely accused in our own house, and 
 that by a low-born stripling, who is only on 
 probation, ' a proud, conceited, talking spark,' 
 or rather sparks, as uniting in himself the bad 
 qualities of the whole species. We are not to 
 be thus insulted, surely ?" 
 
 " Don't be too violent, my dear," said Mr.
 
 126 THE HOUND PREACHER. 
 
 Sleekface ; " we are all too much excited. Mr. 
 Sparks has spoken unadvisedly with his lips, 
 and your tongue has gone a little too fast. Let 
 us kneel down and pray the Lord to quiet our 
 spirits, and give us a right understanding in all 
 things." 
 
 As soon as we rose from our knees, Mrs. 
 Sleekface left the room at the suggestion of her 
 husband. " I am very sorry," said Mr. Sleek- 
 face, " that any unpleasantness should have 
 arisen amongst us. My wife certainly was very 
 rash, in accusing you of having formed any 
 underhand connexion with our dear Tabitha ; 
 but I hope you will forgive her. And now as 
 to the very rash assertion you made, I am will- 
 ing to overlook it, knowing that you said it in 
 the heat of the moment; and being, as we are 
 now, quite calm, let us return to the settling 
 about the books. I know that I am offering 
 them to you much under their value, but do 
 you think that I repent it ? By no means, I 
 am glad to have an opportunity of serving 
 -you."
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 127 
 
 " I feel obliged to you," I replied, " for your 
 kindness, but I have no wish to lay myself 
 under so great an obligation ; and besides, if 
 you were to offer them to me at one half the 
 price you have set upon them, I would not 
 purchase them, for they would be dear to me at 
 that sum." 
 
 " Then we can't trade, can we ?" asked Mr. 
 Sleekface with a troubled look. 
 
 " We cannot," I answered. 
 
 " I have been thinking," said he, " what were 
 the exact expressions you used to my wife a 
 short time ago. Didn't you say, that we had 
 broken the heart, and reduced to a shadow, the 
 form, of our dear Tabitha ? These, I've been 
 thinking, are serious expressions, and involve 
 the neglect of the most natural duties ; in short, 
 you charge us with inhuman cruelty. I didn't 
 think that the words conveyed such a bad 
 meaning till just now. You have, indeed, as 
 my dear partner said, insulted us in our own 
 house, and it will not do to overlook such 
 wicked language. Considering, therefore, all
 
 128 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 the circumstances of the case, I must insist 
 upon your leaving my house this very day, and 
 going into lodgings ; and for the future you 
 must have no sort of communication with my 
 daughters." 
 
 I did not deign to give Mr. Sleekface an 
 answer, but left the room, and as soon as possi- 
 ble packed up my things and took my depar- 
 ture. 1 had no difficulty in procuring lodgings. 
 Mr. Jones was very anxious for me to take up 
 my abode at his house, but I declined the offer, 
 for a very good reason. A report had been 
 circulated in the society, that I paid ' parti- 
 cular attention' to Miss Jones. This originated 
 in my going to Mr. Jones's occasionally, and 
 was confirmed by my having walked home 
 once or twice with Miss Jones from chapel, 
 and was stamped as true by the authority of 
 Mrs. Snipe, who stated at a tea-party, in the 
 presence of a number of ladies, that the matter 
 was quite settled, and we should be married 
 at the next Conference. A report of this kind 
 being current, I thought it prudent to eschew
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 129 
 
 all occasion of giving it any appearance of 
 truth. Nor had I forgotten a remark, that Mrs. 
 Jones made one evening, when I was taking 
 supper there. "That she should have no ob- 
 jection for Susy to be a travelling preacher's 
 wife, provided she liked the man, and he had 
 a chance of taking good circuits." I could al- 
 most fancy at times, from her very familiar way 
 of addressing me, that she looked upon me 
 prospectively as her son-in-law. And then Mr. 
 Jones, with unheard-of liberality, made me a 
 present of half-a-dozen cambric handkerchiefs, 
 which Miss Jones neatly hemmed and marked 
 with her red hair. It was a common saying 
 in the society, 
 
 ' There is no man like Jones 
 For scraping the bones.' 
 
 And it was very true ; for no hungry dog ever 
 bestowed more pains on cleaning a bone, than 
 he did in cleaning out the pockets of his cus- 
 tomers. Not a morsel of meat would he suffer 
 to be lost : he would, with the help of a can- 
 dle, diligently search around the floor of the
 
 130 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 shop, after it was closed, and pick up every 
 morsel either of string, or paper, and every 
 bent pin. He also counted over the copper 
 in the till, lest the apprentice early in the morn- 
 ing should appropriate a few pence to his own 
 use. He never suffered either his apprentices 
 or journeymen, to go out after the shop was 
 closed, for fear, as he said, " lest their hearts 
 should get corrupt, and turn out bad, and then 
 he would have the blood of their souls on his 
 garment ;' whereas his chief motive was, to 
 keep them from running into expenses, to 
 defray which, they might find it difficult with- 
 out borrowing occasionally from their master. 
 Such was the character of the man, who made 
 me a present of the handkerchiefs. Judge ye, 
 then, whether Mr. Jones would have made me 
 such a present, if he had not some idea of my 
 becoming his son-in-law, of which I had no 
 more idea than of becoming his father-in-law ; 
 and so I resolved at once that I would not lodge 
 at his house. He was much surprised that I 
 declined his kind offer, and Mrs. Jones express-
 
 THE PREACHING COUPLE. 131 
 
 ed her deep regret, at not being favoured with 
 the holy privilege of a minister's daily converse. 
 I was soon comfortably fixed in my new 
 lodgings. I had plenty of fire, and candles, 
 and soap, and other articles of need, with which 
 I had been but sparingly supplied at Mr. Sleek- 
 face's. During the rest of the year I had no 
 communication with either Mrs. Sleekface or 
 her daughters. They never came to chapel 
 when I preached. Whenever I met Mrs. Sleek- 
 face in the street, she passed me, with her eyes 
 turned towards heaven, as if praying for me. 
 The family left the circuit at the following Con- 
 ference. I have never seen any of them since 
 that time. Mr. Sleekface, at the earnest request 
 of the Conference, (for it knew not where to 
 station him,) at length consented to become a 
 supernumerary. He regularly received the usual 
 allowance from the " preacher's fund." He set- 
 tled down in Liverpool, judging it a good mart 
 for the disposal of his daughters. He succeeded 
 in his design, without much difficulty. A half- 
 bankrupt merchant, who was a class-leader,
 
 132 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 married Miss Sleekface ; and a lawyer, whose 
 credit was tottering, married Miss Esther. 
 These were the only two occasions wherein 
 Mr. Sleekface can be said to have helped a 
 person in distress; and certainly his assistance 
 came very timely to these unfortunate indivi- 
 duals. The merchant soon lost his wife's for- 
 tune by rash speculation, and Mr. Sleekface had 
 to save him from going to jail. The lawyer 
 made better use of his money, and contrived to 
 get the management of Mr. Sleekface's affairs 
 into his own hands ; which he turned to good 
 account. It is needless to add that Mr. Sleek- 
 face's " gray hairs were brought down with sor- 
 row to the grave."
 
 A THOUSAND A YEAE.
 
 A THOUSAND A YEAR. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 " THE METHODIST KNAVE IS THE WORST OF KNAVES." 
 
 Large Minutes. 
 
 The sun was just breaking through the 
 clouds, and gave promise of a fine day, as I 
 stepped on board the steamer bound for one of 
 the isles in the English Channel. We had both 
 wind and tide in our favour ; so we sailed along 
 in gallant style. We had merry hearts, and 
 cheerful voices on deck, and a good substan- 
 tial breakfast regaled the hungry in the cabin. 
 The sun by degrees chased away the clouds, 
 fringing them with gold, as they retreated 
 before his piercing rays; and then, melting 
 away, the heavens presented a measureless
 
 136 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 
 
 canopy of unspotted azure. The serenity of 
 the sky, strongly contrasted with the turbu- 
 lence of the sea. The waters were much agi- 
 tated. I watched the waves rising in ineffectual 
 battle with the prow, and retreating from the 
 encounter in foaming rage, along the sides of 
 the vessel, and losing themselves in the wide 
 expanse behind. As we sailed along, my fear 
 and distrust gradually left me, and I became 
 assured that no danger need be apprehended. 
 "Are these," thought I, " the perils of the deep, 
 that I was told were so fearful and the dread 
 of which made my loving mother so much 
 afraid, and my father's heart sink within him, 
 lest he should see my face no more ? Could 
 they but see us riding in such triumph over the 
 waves, how would it dispel the disquietude of 
 their minds !" 
 
 As these thoughts were passing within me, I 
 was saluted by a middle-aged, pale, small-eyed 
 gentleman, who said to me, "This is a fine 
 sight, is it not, Sir ?" 
 
 " Very," I replied.
 
 A THOUSAND A YEAR. 137 
 
 " Were you ever on the great deep, before ?" 
 he inquired. 
 
 " Never," I answered. 
 
 " Then, Sir," said he, " you never before saw 
 the wonders of the Lord. The sea is the 
 Lord's, and he made it ; the waves thereof do 
 toss and roar, but he stilleth them. He made 
 Leviathan to play therein ; and man has made 
 the steam-ship to take its pastime therein. It 
 strikes me that steam is a wonderful power. If 
 it had been told to my old grandfather, that we 
 should be able to face wind and tide, and go at 
 twenty mile an hour, by steam, O how he would 
 have laughed at it, and called it all moonshine ! 
 I consider, Sir, that steam and teetotalism are 
 the two great wonders of the age steam in 
 the temporal world, teetotalism in the spiritual ; 
 and it is a very striking fact, as they both have 
 to do with water. And as water once destroyed 
 the world, God is about to fulfil his rainbow 
 promise, now, to save it by water. It is quite 
 wonderful, that even professing Christians, and, 
 more than all, ministers of the gospel, should
 
 188 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 be so blind as not to read this great lesson, writ- 
 ten in such large characters." 
 
 By this time, what with the queer notions 
 of this singular gentleman, and the vibratory 
 motion of the vessel, I began to feel a trifle 
 squeamish ; and was about to take a little bran- 
 dy and water, as remedial of my disagreeable 
 sensation, when he laid hold of the bottle, and 
 asked me, what I was going to drink. 
 
 "Weak brandy and water," I replied. 
 
 "Touch not! taste not! handle not!" said 
 he, emphatically, "or you take poison into 
 your mouth. Call the fluid by its proper name, 
 * liquid fire and distilled damnation,' and then 
 take it, if you dare." 
 
 "Leave your hold of the bottle," I said, 
 sharply ; " for I'm sick." 
 
 " I dare not, if you were dying," he answered, 
 "for I shall be guilty of helping you to poison 
 yourself." 
 
 I snatched at the bottle, but I could not 
 wrest it from him. All at once I fell sick, and 
 he fetched me some water to drink. When I
 
 A THOUSAND A YEAR. 139 
 
 had recovered, he said to me, " Pray, Sir, is your 
 name Mr. Sparks ?" 
 
 I answered in the affirmative. 
 
 "Well, I thought," said he, "that likely it 
 was. My name is Mr. Grumpy. I am a leader 
 in the circuit, where you are stationed ; and I 
 believe that it will be your lot to take up your 
 lodgings at my house. Oh ! brother, you've no 
 pleasant times before you, I can tell you : you'll 
 have a pretty kettle of fish to fry, I assure you, 
 and over a very hot fire. Most of the preach- 
 ers have burnt their fingers over it, and you'll 
 do the same, if you don't mind. You know, I 
 doubt not, to what I allude : it's the row with 
 these Warrenites : you'll hear enough about it, 
 when you land, without my telling you now." 
 
 Just as Mr. Grumpy said this, the cook 
 passed me, carrying in his hand some scrapings 
 of a ham, and some yellow-looking cabbage, 
 the sight of which brought on the sickness with 
 redoubled violence. Mr. Grumpy led me into 
 the cabin ; and when we reached the bay, the 
 same humane individual awoke me, and an-
 
 140 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 nounced to me the glad news. He helped me 
 from the floor, and assisted me on to the deck. 
 
 " You have had a comfortable nap," said he ; 
 "the cold water did that for you. Come with 
 me, and look after your luggage, and we'll soon 
 be at home, and a cup of good tea will quickly 
 make you all right." 
 
 "A cup of cold water is a better remedy," I 
 said, smiling. 
 
 " Cold water when sick," he replied ; " but 
 tea is the best to sooth the stomach after sick- 
 ness." 
 
 Being in company with Mr. Grumpy, I was 
 saved from being pestered, like the other pas- 
 sengers, by lodging-house keepers, and inn- 
 waiters, and porters, poking cards into their 
 faces, and teasing them with importunity. Mrs. 
 Grumpy met us on the pier, and into her care 
 Mr. Grumpy delivered me, whilst he tarried 
 behind to bring home with him a few passen- 
 gers, whom he had prevailed upon to take lodg- 
 ings at his house. As we went along, the saintly 
 Mrs. Grumpy made many apologies for not
 
 A THOUSAND A YEAR. 141 
 
 having my apartments in readiness ; and asked 
 me if I should object to take tea in the public 
 room. 
 
 " Not at all," I answered. 
 
 And forthwith entering the room, I took my 
 seat near a gentlemanly looking man, who for 
 some time had been engaged in a vigorous de- 
 fence of the English Church, against the fierce 
 attacks of a Local preacher. I only heard the 
 concluding sentences of the earnest vindication, 
 which were as follow : " You say," remarked 
 the gentleman very earnestly " that the Church 
 of England decrees rites and forms that are not 
 sanctioned by Scripture. If you mean to say, 
 that there are rites and forms in use in our 
 Church, which are not expressly mentioned in 
 Scripture, I agree with you. But if on the con- 
 trary you mean to affirm that our Church has 
 ordained any ceremonies, or forms which are 
 condemned by Scripture, this I entirely deny. 
 But permit me to use the argumentum ad ho- 
 minem, and ask are there no matters of discip- 
 line in use, in your Connexion, but those for
 
 142 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 which you have the express warrant of Scrip- 
 ture ? Do you for instance read in the Word 
 of God, of District-Meetings, or Quarter-days, 
 or Theological Institutions, or the Wesleyan 
 Conference ? Did the Pastors of the different 
 Churches, which the Apostles founded, take 
 Circuits, and change them every two or three 
 years ? Did they give tickets of admission in- 
 to the Christian Church, and exclude those who 
 were unable to pay for them ? Pray never more 
 have the presumption to assert that the forms 
 and ceremonies of the Church are un-scriptur- 
 al, so long as your own system is so entirely 
 opposed both in spirit and character, to the 
 constitution and discipline of the Apostolical 
 Churches. 
 
 Then again, you indulge in bitter invective 
 against the Church because " of its alliance 
 with the State ; and you tell me to look at its 
 overgrown wealth, and how the sons of the no- 
 bility, and gentry enter the ministry merely for 
 a living." Perhaps all the while you forget your 
 own body, in a very important sense, is allied
 
 A THOUSAND A YEAR. 143 
 
 to the state. The Conference depends on the 
 Christian magistrate for the protection of its 
 property. The Poll-Deed, which gives the 
 Conference possession of all the Chapels, &c., 
 in the Connexion, is lodged in the High Court 
 of Chancery ; and only within a few years the 
 Conference has appealed to the decision of that 
 Court, in the maintenance of its secular claims. 
 Such is the nature and the extent of the de- 
 pendence of your own body on the temporal 
 power, for the enjoyment of its property. And 
 then, as to the overgrown wealth of the Church, 
 why if all its revenues were to be equally divi- 
 ded amongst the Clergy, there would not be 
 more than about a 140 a year for each ; a 
 sum, be it observed, much less than is received 
 by most of the Methodist Preachers. 
 
 And further with respect to those sons of the 
 nobility and gentry, who you say enter Holy Or- 
 ders for a living. Let me ask, are there no sons 
 of cotton-weavers, and mechanics, and small 
 shopkeepers who go into the Methodist ministry 
 for a living ? The pecuniary attractions of an
 
 144 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 Itinerant life are much greater to such men, 
 than those held out by the Church to the class 
 of men, who enter the Clerical office. The prizes 
 in the Church are only few ; and great is the 
 outlay of tune and capital, before any one can be- 
 come a competitor for them ; whilst the chances 
 are, that he comes in for a blank. But in the 
 Methodist Ministry all are prizes ; there are no 
 blanks. If you can only become ah Itinerant 
 preacher, your fortune is made. You are hand- 
 somely educated, housed, fed, clothed, and 
 buried at the expense of the Connexion and 
 at your death, your widow and family are pro- 
 vided for from the same source. And do you 
 mean to ' tell me that all these advantages of a 
 Circuit life are lost sight of by the candidates for 
 the Methodist Ministry ? There is no wonder 
 that the supply of devoted young men, should 
 so far exceed the demands of the Connexion ; 
 the competion is hot and active for the life 
 provision afforded by the Itinerant System. 
 
 And again. With regard to the similarity, 
 which, you pretend to say, exists between the 
 English Church and Popeiy. I maintain that
 
 A THOUSAND A YEAR. 145 
 
 our Church resembles the Roman Catholic, only 
 in those points, in which that Church is Scrip- 
 tural and Apostolical ; whilst your system re- 
 sembles it in some of its very worst features. 
 What are your Class Leaders and Preachers but 
 so many father-confessors, to whom the people 
 are obliged to make their weekly and quarterly 
 confessions, at a certain fixed piice. And do 
 you not forbid your preachers to marry for four 
 years ? What is this but celibacy ? And as to 
 the matter of Papal dispensations, is there no- 
 thing in methodism similar ? With respect to 
 tradition, methodism and popery are very much 
 alike. For Romanists interpret the Scriptures ac- 
 cording to the traditions of the Church ; and the 
 methodists, according to the traditionsof John 
 Wesley. And how much your local preachers 
 resemble the preaching friars ; and your legal 
 conference is not unlike the College of Cardi- 
 nals ; and your President may fairly be compar- 
 ed to the Pope. And if you come to visions and 
 apparitions, and such like fanaticism, methodism, 
 any day, will bear a comparison with the Church 
 of Rome.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 " I AM SORRY TO CONFESS THAT THERE ARE SOME AMONG 
 THE PREACHERS OF A MOST VIOLENT, UNGOVERNABLE SPIRIT." 
 
 Wesley. 
 
 As soon as breakfast and prayers were over, 
 Mr. Slice, one of the "circuit stewards," called 
 upon me. In the course of conversation, he 
 asked me, if I were a teetotaler ? On my an- 
 swering him, that I was not, he kindly offered 
 to send me as a present, a gallon of brandy, and 
 a dozen of wine, but I begged to decline the 
 gift. No sooner was Mr. Slice gone, than Mr. 
 Abel Stone, the other circuit steward, made 
 his appearance. Our interview closed, with an 
 engagement to dine with him, at his country 
 house, at three o'clock. As soon as he had left 
 me, I set off to pay my respects to the family of 
 the superintendent. Mr. Jones had not reached
 
 A THOUSAND A YEAR. 147 
 
 home from the Conference. I was a native 
 of the same place as himself, so that I was very 
 well known to the family by name. As I ap- 
 proached the fine house, I thought, " Well this 
 is a great improvement upon his residence at 
 75 Dusty Row, where he lived before he went 
 out to ' travel.' " And when I was introduced 
 to the family in the drawing-room, and beheld 
 the Misses Jones dressed in dashing muslins 
 and fine scarfs, and showy aprons, and decked 
 with brooches and rings, again I looked back 
 to former times, and thought ' preaching is bet- 
 ter than cotton weaving.' And as I looked 
 round the room so elegantly furnished, I turned 
 my eyes to 75 Dusty Row, and contrasted the 
 bright coloured carpet, the mahogany chairs, the 
 luxurious couch, the handsome pier glass, the 
 grand piano, the richly framed pictures, the 
 array of chimney ornaments, with the misera- 
 ble furniture of Mr. Jones's dwelling before he 
 "received his call." Oh ! would not old Jenny 
 Jones lift up her hands in wonder, could she 
 but see, what a fine house her son Richard 
 K 2
 
 148 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 lives in ? and would she not return God thanks 
 (as in duty bound) for all his mercies ? 
 
 I had heard Mr. Jones's father say, what a 
 fine and rich wife his son Dick had got. He 
 had only heard so, for he had never seen her. 
 He used to say, with tears in his eyes, " My 
 Dick has got so proud, sin he got married, he 
 hardly ever comes to see us, and niver axes me 
 to go over to see him. He writes p'raps once a 
 year, and I gets somebody to read me his 
 letter. If I knowed how to write, I'd tell him 
 my mind. Pride cometh before destruction, and 
 he'll be catchin it some o' these days." 
 
 Though a stranger to Mrs. and the Misses 
 Jones, I was well known to Mr. Jones. I knew 
 indeed far more of him than they themselves 
 did ; for he had diligently kept from them, 
 as far as he was able, bis origin and family 
 connexions. Mr. Jones had opposed my ap- 
 pointment to his circuit. He was afraid of my 
 disclosing, that which he desired to be kept 
 secret. He did not wish a word to be known 
 about Dusty Row. The echo of " Sloucher
 
 A THOUSAND A YEAR. 149 
 
 Dick" (the nickname he had acquired in his 
 factory) would sound gratingly on his ear. He 
 was anxious, that not a word should be whis- 
 pered concerning poor Polly Smith, a dress- 
 maker, whom he forsook when the chance of a 
 better match offered. Mr. Jones knew well, 
 that I was cognizant of all these unpleasant 
 matters, and he was greatly afraid that I should 
 disclose them. It was not to be wondered at, 
 therefore, that he opposed my appointment. 
 
 When I returned to my lodgings, Mr. Grumpy 
 said to me, " I hope you found Mrs. Jones and 
 family well ; they are very dashing sort of folks. 
 A pretty example those girls set the society, 
 dressed as fine as peacocks, and as proud as 
 Lucifer. How many poor creatures are hard 
 put to, to pay a penny a-week, and a shilling 
 a quarter, to support such howdacious pride. 
 Now-a-days," continued he, " there's a very 
 neat way o' bribing people, under the pretence 
 of offering presents. Be on your guard, brother, 
 that's all. You understand." 
 
 Mr. Abel Stone now drove up to the <loor in 
 K 3
 
 150 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 his phaeton. I took my seat, and was soon at 
 Glacier House, his country residence. It was 
 a neat and elegant mansion, built on the slope 
 of a hill, overlooking a rich landscape, which 
 stretched down to the sea. Mr. Stone, senr., 
 met me at the door, and shaking me by the 
 hand, said, " Glad, right glad, am I to see the 
 servant of the Lord, who sheweth us the way 
 of peace. Welcome, thou messenger of the 
 Highest to my house." 
 
 He led me into the dining-room, and intro- 
 duced me to a Miss Stearnes, an elderly and 
 emaciated looking person. She spoke to me in 
 a whisper ; her mind seemed at times to wan- 
 der, and she took at intervals, a draught of some 
 kind of fluid, out of a pint bottle, which she . 
 carried in her pocket. I felt anxious to know 
 something of her history, but had no oppor- 
 tunity of asking Mr. Abel any questions con- 
 cerning her. 
 
 " Well," said Mr. Stone, " how do you like 
 your lodgings, brother Sparks ? I fear you will 
 not find Mr. Grumpy one of the most pleasant
 
 A THOUSAND A YEAR. 151 
 
 men to live with. He is a very disaffected 
 man at the bottom ; though he never takes an 
 active part with the factious. We thought 
 that, by placing you to lodge at his house, you 
 might bring him to a better mind. He is a 
 zealous teetotaler, but that you need'nt mind. 
 It will, however, give you a key to many re- 
 marks which you may hear him make about 
 certain parties in the wine and spirit trade. I 
 fear that your path, in this circuit, will be but 
 a thorny one. We have among us many dis- 
 turbers of our Zion, and I have heard that 
 the man who is turning the Connexion upside 
 down, is coming here also. These things, bro- 
 ther, grieve my inmost soul. I fear that we 
 shall have a division ; but it will do good, as it 
 will separate the chaff from the wheat." 
 
 Much was said both by father aud son, to 
 impress me with a sense of their piety and 
 zeal. There was something so inexpressibly 
 bland in Mr. Abel's voice, and such an en- 
 chanting smile upon his face, and such ex- 
 treme gentleness in his manners, that an inex-
 
 152 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 perienced person would soon have been posses- 
 sed in his favour. Not so with me : I had seen 
 such gentlemen before, and was not to be de- 
 ceived by a smooth outside. The old man pos- 
 sessed a very solemn countenance ; a smile 
 never crossed his dark brow, and he spoke in 
 a deep and grave tone. 
 
 ^ I hope you had a pleasant visit at Glacier 
 House," said Mr. Grumpy, as I entered my 
 lodgings, on my return from thence. 
 
 " Oh ! middling," I replied. 
 
 " Did you see Miss Stearnes ?" inquired he. 
 
 " Yes, I saw her," I answered, " pray who is 
 she ?" 
 
 " Oh ! there's a long tale," said Mr. Grumpy, 
 "hanging to that question, which I will tell 
 you, if you'll walk into this room. This Miss 
 Stearnes, then," said he, " is a lady who is 
 worth more than a thousand a year. The house 
 in which Mr. Stone lives, and the land all 
 about it, is her property. It was left to her by 
 her father, and she was his only child. Mr. 
 Stearnes took old Stone into his family as a
 
 A THOUSAND A YEAR. 153 
 
 shoe-black, and he got on to be his groom. 
 Being a steady youth, he was very fond of 
 him. At his death, he became Miss Stearnes' 
 butler, and then a sort of bailiff or steward. 
 He was then appointed a local-preacher, and 
 got married. Miss Stearnes placed unbounded 
 confidence in him ; she could do nothing with- 
 out his advice: he was a sort of a major-domo. 
 He soon got on in the world. If there was a 
 bit of land offered for sale, he was sure to bid 
 for it, or buy it. He built ever so many houses, 
 and people began to remark that he seemed 
 getting on too fast to be doing the thing quite 
 honestly. In time he acquired such power 
 over Miss Stearnes, that he made her do just 
 what he liked ; he kept the keys in his pos- 
 session, and all the money ; so that, at last, she 
 came to be a poor pensioner on the rascal's 
 bounty for her very food and clothing. She 
 has been for many years a poor weak creature, 
 and so he took advantage of her weakness, to 
 raise himself to power. Why, sir, he has gone 
 so far as to hinder her very relations from com-
 
 154 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 ing to the house, to see her. He stints her in 
 every thing save brandy, and that he allows 
 her to drink till she raves again, hoping, no 
 doubt, that she will soon kill herself, and then 
 he'll come in for the property, for he has made 
 that all right, no doubt." 
 
 " It was brandy, then," said I, " which I 
 saw her drinking so frequently out of a bottle, 
 which she took from her pocket." 
 
 " No doubt," rejoined Mr. Grumpy, " she is 
 drinking it night and day." " The son," con- 
 tinued he, " is as great a rogue as the father ; 
 and he is so very mealy-mouth'd over it. I'll 
 tell you a little thing which he did, just to 
 show up that smooth-faced hypocrite. One of 
 my lodgers bought groceries and spirits of him. 
 When he was in his shop one day, Abel says to 
 him, ' When you go away, you may as well 
 take a little brandy with you.' Well, and so 
 accordingly he goes to the shop, on the morn- 
 ing of his departure, and Abel says, ' You had 
 better take a quart or two with you, for I can 
 put it into two bladders, and fasten them round
 
 A THOUSAND A YEAR. 155 
 
 your body, and covering them over with your 
 cloak, you will easily escape detection.' Abel 
 did so, but he got nabbed, and forfeited the 
 brandy. This is the oily-mouth'd, angel-faced, 
 Mr. Abel; who ought to have been rather named 
 Cain, for he kills his brethren by wholesale with 
 his poison. A nice man he is, to be one of the 
 chief pillars of the church ; but it's no matter, 
 so long as there's plenty of precious metal in 
 its make, and will stand boring pretty freely ; 
 the preachers will let it stand, though all the 
 rest is made up of rotten-wood, hay or stubble."
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 "THE ROMISH CLERGY CALL THEIR HERETICS, ENEMIES 
 OF THE CHURCH J THESE PREACHERS, CALL THOSE WHO 
 STAND IN THE WAY OF THEIR OWN SCHEMES OF AMBI- 
 TION AND POWER, ENEMIES OF THE WORK OF GOD, IN- 
 CARNATE DEVILS, Wesley. 
 
 On the return of Mr. Jones from the Con- 
 ference, a special " leader's-meeting," was con- 
 vened, to report to the members, the impor- 
 tant decision to which the supreme court of 
 judicature had come, with respect to the case 
 of Dr. Warren. The supporters of Methodism, 
 as it was, and the supporters of it as it 
 should be, looked to this meeting, for the final 
 adjustment of their quarrel. Each party mus- 
 tered in full force. Mr. Jones occupied the 
 chair, and after singing and prayer, he thus 
 addressed the meeting:
 
 A THOUSAND A YEAR. 157 
 
 " My Christian brethren : It is to be hoped, 
 that the important and solemn business of this 
 meeting will be carried on, and concluded in a 
 Christian spirit, without any of the ill feeling 
 and noisy uproar, which have so much dis- 
 graced our previous meetings. I have summon- 
 ed you together, to acquaint you with the 
 decision of the Conference on Dr. Warren and 
 his allies. There was a time when I entertain- 
 ed a feeling of regard towards the unfortunate 
 Doctor, but I can now feel nothing else, but 
 the most unmitigated contempt and disgust, 
 (cries of shame ! shame ! from the opposition.) 
 I am not ashamed to say it, that I do feel a 
 most thorough contempt for any man who can 
 eat his own words, as he has done. He has 
 said, scores of times, that a ministry ought to 
 be well educated ; and accordingly he was the 
 first to promote the establishment of the Theo- 
 logical Institution. All went on very well with 
 him till the appointment of President ; and when 
 he found that truly great and good man Mr. 
 Bunting, (great groans from the opposition,)
 
 158 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 Yes, I say again," continued the speaker, 
 *' that great and good man, Mr. Bunting, (in- 
 creased groaning,) was appointed President, 
 instead of himself, he then turned round and 
 opposed its establishment, and said that learn- 
 ing was a bad thing ; that it would make the 
 preachers proud, and so on. (' That couldner 
 be, for they are so already,' cried one of the 
 opposition,) He who, to the disgrace of him- 
 self and the cause, wore a red rag fastened to 
 his coat laps, to get the degree of L.L.D. 
 tacked to his name, declaims against pride and 
 learning. Oh, ' tell it not in Gath, publish it 
 not in Askelon,' that one of our body could so 
 far degrade himself. There is no doubt but he 
 has been made the stalking horse of a faction, 
 whose object is to change and subvert the 
 whole system. He has been hurried along by 
 the violent pressure of a seditious mob, to 
 lengths which he never meant to go, when he 
 set out with them ; and now he is as bad him- 
 self, as the very worst. (' No foul play,' cried the 
 opposition.') It is not foul play, as you
 
 A THOUSAND A YEAR. 159 
 
 meanly insinuate," continued the speaker, with 
 awful vehemence. " I would say the same if 
 he were here." 
 
 " Mr. Chairman," said Mr. Abel Stone, rising 
 with great emotion from his seat, " permit me. 
 Sir, to say half a dozen words. I am really 
 quite surprised that some of my brethren are so 
 void of good breeding (ironical coughs) as to 
 interrupt a person when speaking, and especi- 
 ally our superintendent, to whom we are com- 
 manded to be in subjection, and to honour, as 
 being placed over us by the Lord." 
 
 The speaker's voice was now quite drowned 
 by the noise, and he was obliged to resume his 
 seat. 
 
 Mr. Tiggs, a bookseller, one of the disaf- 
 fected, rose to address the meeting; but the 
 chairman insisted on his sitting down. 
 
 " I will not be put down by no man : righ- 
 teous Abel has had his say, and I will have 
 mine." (' You shall !' cried out the opposition.) 
 It was finally settled, that he should be heard 
 after the Chairman had concluded his address.
 
 160 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 Mr. Jones then proceeded to say, " Inasmuch 
 as Dr. Warren has joined the subverters of our 
 Zion, and has spoken many things of a wicked 
 and calumnious nature, the Conference, in the 
 solemn discharge of its duty to God, and his 
 church, has suspended him from the Ministry, 
 (great groaning.) The Conference has come to 
 the resolution to suffer no such innovations in 
 the polity of our vast body, as the disaffected 
 wish to bring in ; and the superintendents are 
 earnestly required to exercise their rightful 
 authority, in removing from our Zion, all those 
 who go about sowing division and strife. It 
 must never be forgotten that ours is quite a 
 voluntary society, and if any person is not 
 satisfied therewith he can leave it, and join any 
 other Christian communion. This is the na- 
 tural course. But do we find the discontented 
 acting thus ? No, quite the contrary. They 
 stay among us, and by falsehood and misrepre- 
 sentation, strive to make others as discontented 
 as themselves ; and when they have got a suffi- 
 cient number to form a society, they then leave,
 
 A THOUSAND A YEAR. 161 
 
 and take them off with them. Thus they draw 
 unstable souls into the dreadful sin of schism, 
 and make divisions in the church of God. For 
 a local-preacher or a leader to abuse the power 
 given him by the connexion, to work its down- 
 fall, is a species of the blackest ingratitude, of 
 the most enormous wickedness. (Oh ! oh ! from 
 the opposition.) May the prayer of our hearts 
 be, ' Give peace in our time, Oh Lord, and scat- 
 ter them who delight in war.' " 
 
 The speaker now sat down amidst mingled 
 cheers and groans. 
 
 As soon as the noise had subsided, Mr. Tiggs 
 addressed the meeting as follows : " I hope of 
 your clemency that you will hear me, brethren, 
 whilst I make a few remarks upon the speech 
 of the Chairman, and state what we, who are 
 called the disaffected, object to, in the manage- 
 ment of the concerns of our body. I consider 
 that you, Mr. Chairman, have spoken very 
 uncharitably of Doctor Warren. You said 
 that he ' eat his own words, and that he began 
 to oppose the Institution, as soon as that great 
 L
 
 162 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 and good man Mr. Bunting, was made Presi- 
 dent.' His opposition began before that junc- 
 ture, and when he found that the greatest tyrant 
 in the Connexion was to be the President, he 
 opposed it with all his might. And he did 
 quite right. As to your insinuation, that his 
 opposition sprung from disappointment of the 
 office, it is truly worthy of the quarter from 
 whence you got it. I have been thinking, 
 how very suddenly you changed your opinion 
 about the Doctor. So long as he agreed with 
 yourself and the Conference, in opinion, you 
 had the greatest regard for him, but no sooner 
 did he differ from you, than you felt towards 
 him the most unmitigated disgust; and now 
 you pronounce him the worst of a seditious 
 mob. And for the charge of sedition, I allow 
 that he is a seditious man, after the manner, 
 which you call sedition ; that is, one who ex- 
 poses the crying abuses of the Connexion, and 
 calls for their reformation. St. Paul was call- 
 ed a mover of sedition, because he brought the 
 gainings of the craftsmen into danger. Wick-
 
 A THOUSAND A YEAR. 163 
 
 liffe, and Luther, and Ridley, were seditious 
 men; because they exposed the disgraceful 
 corruptions of the Romish Church. And Mr. 
 Wesley himself was a mover of sedition, for 
 he spoke out against the corruption in the 
 Church in his time. (Hear, hear, from the 
 opposition.) Then again, as to the enormous 
 sin which those commit, who abuse the power 
 given them by the Connexion, to work its 
 downfall, the same charge stands against Mr. 
 Wesley ; for did not he abuse the power given 
 to him by his Church, in endeavouring to work 
 its downfall, if showing up its abuses had 
 such a tendency. Again, you say, 'it is the 
 duty of the discontented to leave the society,' 
 we think, that it is their duty to continue, and 
 reform abuses. You sir, have been declaiming 
 against the awful sin of schism, which the dis- 
 affected cause those to commit, whom they 
 draw away from your communion; and then, in 
 the next breath, you insist upon it that it is 
 their duty to commit this 'enormous wicked- 
 ness.' In this, as in all things else, we wish to 
 L 2
 
 164 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 take our great founder as our example, who 
 never left the Church, and said that he never 
 would, till he was put out. It is really quite 
 amusing to hear the Conference declaim so ve- 
 hemently against the sin of schism, when every 
 minister belonging to that conclave is himself 
 a schismatic from the Church. Let them all go 
 back, from whence they have come out, and 
 then such talk against schism will come with 
 some sort of grace. (Great applause from tfee 
 the opposition, and silence on the ministerial 
 side.) And as for Mr. Abel Stone's speech, it 
 was perfectly in character with that honey- 
 mouth'd and asp-tongued hypocrite." 
 
 " I cannot allow," said the Chairman, " such 
 abusive language to be applied to our brother." 
 
 "Abusive, did you say?" continued Mr. 
 Tiggs, " I'll soon make that all right. If I read 
 the rules of our society rightly, no person is 
 allowed 'to buy or sell, or drink, spirituous 
 liquors except in case of great necessity, for a 
 medicine' under pain of expulsion. Now here 
 Mr. Abel Stone is selling ardent spirits hourly,
 
 A THOUSAND A YEAR. 165 
 
 as a common beverage. And is it only in our 
 own isle, that this rule is so openly violated ? 
 No, it is general throughout the connexion. 
 This rule is daily violated, and superintendent 
 after superintendent winks at it. And do I 
 wonder? By no means; for they themselves 
 drink as much or more than the members, and 
 so sanction the forbidden traffic. If Mr. Wes- 
 ley's sermon be reckoned sound doctrine, spirit 
 dealers are 'poisoners-general of his majesty's 
 subjects ; they drive people to hell, and their 
 houses are stained with blood.' Rid the society 
 of such men as these, before you go to expel 
 good and honest men, whose only sin is, that 
 they speak the truth. ('Hear, hear,' from the 
 opposition.) 
 
 "Again, it is worthy. of remark, that whilst 
 there is ample provision made in the trust- 
 deeds for securing to the society the preaching 
 of Mr. Wesley's doctrines, at least so much as 
 is contained in fifty-four sermons, and his notes 
 on the New Testament, there is not any provi- 
 sion made for securing to the people his discip- 
 L 3
 
 166 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 line. The Conference may make almost any 
 changes it thinks fit in the constitution of the 
 body, and nothing on earth can hinder it. 
 Yes, the Conference may usurp what power it 
 pleases, may encroach upon the liberties of the 
 people, and no power can stay its tyrannical 
 oppression." (' Well done ! at them again, old 
 fellow,' cried the opposition. (' Put him down,' 
 shouted the ministerial side.) Putting down 
 Mr. Tiggs would have been dangerous, for his 
 party was much the stronger. " I say that the 
 Conference" continued the speaker, with great 
 energy, "with Pope Bunting and Cardinal 
 Newton at its head, is the mightiest engine of 
 spiritual oppression that has been in the world 
 since the overthrow of the Papacy.' What do 
 we see ? Why we see a hundred men (for that 
 number composes the legal conference) joined 
 hand and heart to enslave half a million of peo- 
 ple, and they will succeed in doing it, unless a 
 few stout hearts are willing to be denounced as 
 seditious men, and join in opposing them. 
 The only way to bring them to their senses is
 
 A THOUSAND A YEAR. 167 
 
 to stop the supplies ; but even then, that would 
 succeed but partially, for they would have 
 enough to live upon by the sale of Conference 
 property. The chapels of the rest of the 
 dissenters (for it's all moonshine to say we are 
 not dissenters from the Church) belong to 
 those who are the trustees of them. And it 
 is nothing but just. The churches of the 
 Establishment belong to the people. Whilst, 
 in our body, the most monstrous anomaly ex- 
 ists. All the chapels in the connexion, with 
 the houses and land belonging to them, are in 
 the possession of the Conference; and the 
 trustees of all this property, whilst they are 
 held responsible for the debts upon them, have 
 no more real interest in them than the Great 
 Mogul. I must not pass by the renowned 'plan 
 of pacification,' drawn up at Leeds. I look on 
 it as the greatest imposture ever palmed upon 
 the world. (' Put him out, put him out,' cried 
 the ministerial side; but the opposition put 
 themselves in a defensive attitude, and all was 
 quiet.) I say, then, that it is a perfect farce.
 
 168 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 It pretends to provide for the equitable man- 
 agement of the funds, by making the commit- 
 tees to consist half of laymen and half of 
 preachers ; but takes care to reserve in its own 
 hands the appointment of the laymen, and to 
 have a preacher for the chairman ; so that vir- 
 tually, the Conference has the management of 
 the funds in its own power, for they take care 
 to have no one as a committee-man that does 
 not meet their own views. ('Very good, very 
 good,' cried the opposition.) Again, this cele- 
 brated plan professes to leave the appointment 
 of the stewards in the hands of Quarter-Day ; 
 but, mark ye ! it places their nomination in the 
 hands of the superintendent, so that they can 
 only elect the man whom he approves. Again, 
 that magna charta of liberty pretends to pro- 
 tect the members and leaders from any unjust 
 exercise of power by the superintendent, in 
 f requiring the offence to be proved at, or in 
 conjunction with a leader's meeting ;' but then 
 the power of punishment is left with the super- 
 intendent, who can either pass over the offence
 
 A THOUSAND A YEAR. 169 
 
 or else inflict an unjustly severe punishment 
 " I shall only mention one more grievance, 
 and that certainly one of the worst. 'If you 
 have any grievances,' says the Conference, 
 ' make them known to us by means of petition- 
 ing, and then you shall have them remedied.' 
 Now this seems all very fair. But how does it 
 work ? Why in this way. No petition can be 
 got up without the consent of the superintend- 
 ent. Petitions have been got up, and taken to 
 the leader's meeting to be passed; and when 
 the superintendent has found what was about 
 to be done, he has vacated the chair, and pro- 
 nounced the meeting as dissolved. It was by 
 degrees that the Papal power encroached upon 
 the liberties of Europe, till it came at last to 
 place its cloven foot upon the necks of princes, 
 and to hold nations in bondage ; and it is by 
 degrees that the Conference is encroaching up- 
 on the religious liberties of the connexion, till 
 at length it will bind the members in fetters of 
 iron, and there shall be no man to loose them." 
 Mr. Tiggs here sat down, amidst mingled 
 groans and cheers.
 
 170 THE ROUND PREACHER 
 
 The Chairman now rose to speak, but the 
 opposition would not hear him a second time. 
 He was highly indignant at this treatment, and 
 vacated the chair. " This meeting," said he, 
 "is dissolved, and all its proceedings in my 
 absence will be illegal." With this, he pushed 
 his way to the door, to make his way out ; but, 
 to his annoyance, found it locked. Some one 
 of the opposition had secured it, in order to pre- 
 vent the chairman playing upon them the trick 
 of dissolving the meeting before they had 
 stated their grievances. 
 
 Mr. Jones was naturally an irritable indivi- 
 dual hard to be pleased, at the best of times, 
 and one whom the slightest provocation would 
 exasperate. His limbs trembled, and his teeth 
 chattered with rage, as he stammered out 
 "Who has locked the door? Who has? I 
 wish I knew. He shall suffer for it, that he 
 shall. Unlock the door, this instant. I say, 
 this instant! What a state of things ! What 
 dreadful audacity to dare to imprison the 
 minister of God !"
 
 A THOUSAND A YEAR. 171 
 
 Mr. Jones and his friends made some inef- 
 fectual attempts to shoot the lock. When he 
 found that he could not possibly get out, he 
 resumed his seat, and the uproar soon sub- 
 sided. 
 
 Mr. Snuffler, one of the Missionary treasur- 
 ers, next addressed the meeting. He said 
 " Mr. Chairman": I rise with emotions of the 
 most acute kind. I have heard and seen things 
 to-night, Sir, which have truly horrified me. 
 The audacious individual who has dared to 
 lock you in, Sir, little thinks that he is liable 
 to an action for false imprisonment; and, Sir, 
 I shall be glad to come forward and help you 
 to bring that insolent and seditious person 
 to punishment. (Great groaning.) You may 
 groan ; you'll have enough of groaning some 
 time. The abusive language which has been 
 used this evening would disgrace a low pot- 
 house. My feelings have been harrowed up, 
 Sir. (' No doubt,' cried the opposition, ' so very 
 tender.' ' Is your father out of the workhouse, 
 yet, Tommy ?') It was in vain for Mr. Snuffler
 
 172 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 to proceed, for the groaning was quite over- 
 powering ; so he sat down. 
 
 Several on both sides strove to obtain a 
 hearing, but without success. When, however, 
 a Samuel Flood, a shoemaker, asked for an 
 audience, it was granted, for all were anxious 
 to know which side he would take. He spoke 
 as follows : 
 
 "Mr. Chairman, I don't intend to make a 
 long speech. I have carefully kept myself aloof 
 through the whole of this contest. I have 
 watched for a long time the movements of each 
 party, I have read carefully what has been 
 written on both sides, and I have made up my 
 mind upon the matter. It seems to me that the 
 plan of admitting lay delegates into Conference 
 would be highly advantageous to the con- 
 nexion, and would put an end to these unhappy 
 disputes. It would be but carrying out the 
 system of committees, only I would have every 
 delegate nominated by the circuit, and not by 
 the preacher. (' Hear, hear,' from opposition.) 
 For it is not to be denied that there are local
 
 A THOUSAND A YEAR. 173 
 
 preachers and leaders in every circuit as com- 
 petent to manage the affairs of the connexion 
 as any of the travelling preachers. For what 
 is fairer than that the money payers should be 
 the money managers ; that those who give their 
 time, and labour, and property to support the 
 society, should have a hand in making the 
 rules for its government. If you look into the 
 sixteenth chapter of the first epistle to the Co- 
 rinthians, you will find that the Apostle pro- 
 poses that there should be associates with him- 
 self in the management of the public money ; 
 persons elected for that purpose by the contri- 
 butors themselves. And we find that this was 
 done to guard his character against any impu- 
 tation that might be brought upon it in the 
 management of the public trust. I would that 
 the Conference had a like regard to its charac- 
 ter. What are the travelling preachers more 
 than any of us ? Why nothing, except that 
 they have much less work, and get better paid 
 for it ; ride or walk into the country more 
 frequently, and drink a little wine and spirits.
 
 174 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 (' Right, brother, right !' from the opposition.) 
 Why, I ask, then, should they lord it over 
 God's heritage ? Let the Conference be open : 
 let the close borough system be broken up. 
 (' Down with the rotten boroughs !' from the 
 opposition.) I shall not touch upon those 
 points so ably dwelt upon by my excellent 
 brother Tiggs, but confine my remarks to a 
 few things which he had not time to introduce. 
 I would ask the chairman, whether the rule 
 which forbids the use of instrumental music, 
 and the performance of a kind of concert, in 
 chapels, is not shamefully violated ? and the 
 violation passes unnoticed by the superin- 
 tendents. (* Yes, it is broken !' from the op- 
 position.) 
 
 " Then, again, Sir, I put it to you, whether 
 the rule which prohibits any preacher engaging 
 in secular concerns, even to the ' selling of 
 pills,' is not shamefully violated by the super- 
 intendents, who all sell books, and plans ? 
 ('Yes, it is,' cried the opposition.) 
 
 "Further, I would ask whether those preach-
 
 A THOUSAND A YEAR. 175 
 
 ers who smoke, or drink spirits, or take snuff, 
 are dealt with as the rules require ? (' By no 
 means,' shouted the opposition.) I wonder 
 what Mr. Wesley would say, if he were to rise 
 from the dead ? Oh ! he wouldn't say a word, 
 but shake his head, shocked that his rules 
 should be openly broken. And if he were 
 to put to the present preachers the same ques- 
 tions which he used to put to the helpers, in 
 his time, I wonder how many would be able to 
 give a true and satisfactory answer ? (' Not 
 one ! cried out the opposition.) 
 
 " I want to know, Mr. Chairman, how it is 
 that the Conference makes fifty-three only, of 
 Mr. Wesley's sermons, and not the whole one 
 hundred and thirty-five, the test of doctrine ? 
 I know why, I imagine. It is because it would 
 have been inconvenient to have included the 
 fifty-fourth. Because, in it he says, ' We will 
 not form any separate sect, but, from prin- 
 ciple^ remain what we always have been, true 
 members of the Church.' It would not do for 
 every candidate for the ministry to be obliged
 
 176 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 to subscribe to such a statement : he would 
 look too ridiculous be carrying perjury a little 
 too far. 
 
 " I submit these questions to the Chairman 
 for him to answer to his own conscience. 
 Only one answer can be given by him, ' Verily, 
 we are indeed guilty in these matters.' Let us 
 either renounce the name of Wesleyan, or else 
 conform to Mr. Wesley's rules. ('Hear, hear,' 
 from the opposition.) It is really a painful 
 sight, to see the law-makers the greatest law- 
 breakers. The Conference shows great earnest- 
 ness in upholding Mr. Wesley's rules, when 
 they support their authority ; but make no 
 bones of departing from them when it suits 
 their convenience. Innovations are to be stre- 
 nuously opposed when they tend to abridge 
 their power, but countenanced when they fill 
 their coffers, and augment their lordly autho- 
 rity. One must be blind not to see these 
 things, and dumb not to speak of them. It 
 requires no long reach of foresight to see what 
 will be the ultimate consequence of all this
 
 A THOUSAND A YEAR. 177 
 
 pride, worldly policy, and tyranny. Verily, 
 nothing less than the entire overthrow of the 
 constitution." With the utterance of this pre- 
 diction, Mr. Flood sat down, amidst loud cheers 
 and groans. 
 
 The door was now unlocked, but by whom 
 neither Mr. Jones nor any of his party had any 
 knowledge, and the meeting broke up. 
 
 M
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " HOW LITTLE BROTHERLY LOVE ! WHAT GOSSIPPING EVIL 
 SPEAKING ! WHAT WANT OF MORAL HONESTY !" 
 
 Wesley's Lament over the Society. 
 
 It were much to be wished that the good old 
 lady Dorcas were now alive, that she might at- 
 tend one of those precious meetings which are 
 called after her name ! How would it cheer 
 her heart, to see both young and old of her 
 own sex, engaged in making garments for the 
 poor! Probably, too, she might not disdain 
 the excellent tea and muffins, and other good 
 cheer, which make these meetings so very plea- 
 sant ! But as she listened to the uncharitable 
 and unprofitable conversation of the company, 
 how would her heart be grieved at seeing time 
 so mis-spent, and character so maligned. One 
 can imagine the good old woman, with tears in 
 her eyes, thus addressing the party : " Alas !
 
 A THOUSAND A YEAR. 179 
 
 how, in this world, is the good mixed with evil, 
 and how often does the evil prevail over the 
 good! You are employed in a good work 
 that of making raiment for the poor ; but alas ! 
 how greatly is it marred by that which is evil. 
 What do I see ? I see Christian women as busy 
 in cutting up their neighbour's character as in 
 cutting out a coat; as quick in inventing a 
 calumny as in threading a needle ; as clever in 
 varying and exaggerating a report, as in alter- 
 ing and enlarging a garment. 
 
 "Is it thus ye fulfil the command 'Speak 
 evil of no man' ? Were things thus at Joppa ? 
 No ! There the women behaved as those pro- 
 fessing godliness. Their conversation was 'to 
 the edifying of one another.' We met not 
 there in large parties, and at stated times, to 
 make 'coats and garments' for the poor; but 
 made them at our own houses, whenever we 
 had a little spare time, and so every day was 
 blessed by some litfle work of charity. As ye 
 call this meeting after my name, I may surely 
 ask that ye follow my example." 
 M 2
 
 180 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 It was at one of these meetings that I re- 
 ceived the intelligence of Miss Stearnes' death. 
 The president of the society, Mrs. Jones, told 
 the company, that there was no doubt but she 
 had killed herself by drinking neat brandy, as 
 she drank a bottle and a half a day ; and she 
 assured the party that Mr. Stone was not able 
 to prevent her taking so large a quantity. 
 
 "I am quite sure," said Mr. Snibbs, "that 
 Mr. Stone has always behaved with the greatest 
 kindness to Miss Stearnes. It would be a very 
 strange thing if he had done to the contrary, 
 since she has left him all her property." 
 
 Her illness was very short. She was taken ill 
 in the morning, and before noon was a corpse. 
 No one besides Mr. Stone went near her, to 
 minister to her wants. He did not, he said, 
 send for a doctor, because he thought she 
 would rally in a very short time. He gave her 
 medicine, and she died. 
 
 She was buried in the graVe of her father, in 
 the quiet church-yard, and her funeral sermon 
 was preached on the following Sunday in the
 
 A THOUSAND A YEAE. 181 
 
 chapel. A short account of her conversion, 
 personal excellencies, virtues, and pious deeds 
 had been drawn up, and was read over by Mr. 
 Jones, after the sermon. 
 
 Few eyes were dry ; for a fate so mournful, 
 touched their hearts with pity. 
 
 Mr. Stone had erected near, a small mural 
 monument, made after the most approved fa- 
 shion of modern days, on which were inscribed 
 the following beautiful verses, composed by 
 himself: 
 
 Reader, if you have never thought 
 
 One moment upon death, 
 And ne'er for saving mercy sought, 
 
 Hear what poor Mary saith : 
 
 " I sought the Lord in early life ; 
 
 I found him at the cross : 
 I've clung to it, in every strife, 
 
 Just like the Man of Ross. 
 
 My happy fate was sudden death, 
 Which hrought me sudden bliss : 
 
 O ! give to God your every breath, 
 And heaven you will not miss." 
 
 M 3
 
 THE VILLAGE COBBLER.
 
 THE VILLAGE COBBLER. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 " WHY ARE WE NOT MORE HOLY ? 
 
 " CHIEFLY BECAUSE WE ARE ENTHUSIASTS ; LOOKING FOR 
 THE END, WITHOUT USING THE MEANS." Wedey. 
 
 " I hope we shall have a profitable and in- 
 teresting Quarter-Day,"* said my superintend- 
 ent, as we proceeded to the vestry, to attend 
 the Local-preachers' Meeting. " I hope," con- 
 tinued he, "that it will pass off a little more 
 orderly than those of late have done. A little 
 knowledge, it is said, is a dangerous thing ; but 
 it is my opinion, that a little power is much 
 more dangerous. It is the union of these two 
 which makes our local preacher's meetings so 
 very unpleasant. I cannot bear," said he, with 
 * Appendix, H.
 
 186 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 a contemptuous curl of the lip, "the imper- 
 tinent dictation of cobblers and weavers, who 
 do not even know the mere alphabet of divinity 
 and who have taken out a patent to murder the 
 king's English. I'll teach some of them their 
 place to-day, if they presume to speak imper- 
 tinently, and interfere with my office. They 
 have a little power, and so t take a pride in ex- 
 ercising it on all occasions, to the annoyance 
 of their superiors. And yet, it will not do to 
 deprive them of it, for the possession of a little 
 power is so pleasing to the human heart. This 
 is the great secret of our success as a body. Be 
 it our care to place a proper check upon its 
 exercise ; to mark out our men ; to put a bridle 
 on the refractory, and thus to hold a tight rein." 
 Mr. Chine stood for a moment at the vestry 
 door, and said, in a low tone, " But more of this, 
 at some future time. Think over what I have 
 said, and you will find that it is all true." 
 
 With this, he opened the door, and we en- 
 tered. After singing a hymn, and offering up 
 a prayer, Mr. Chine, as the chairman of the
 
 THE VILLAGE COBBLER. 187 
 
 meeting, called over the names of the local 
 preachers in succession. He asked each one, 
 if he had punctually fulfilled his appointments, 
 made the collections prescribed in the plan, 
 and faithfully taught the people ? When the 
 chairman came to the name of Simon Cove, a 
 tinker, one of the brethren rose and said, 
 
 "I have to bring a charge against brother 
 Cove, of having advanced, in a sermon, a doc- 
 trine which I consider to be unscriptural, and 
 quite contrary to Mr. Wesley's sermons. He 
 preached from 'Being justified by faith, we 
 have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ.' In the course of the sermon, he said, 
 that workmongers was worse than infidels and 
 that St. James never wrote that * a man is justi- 
 fied by works, and not by faith only', for either 
 St. Paul or St. James must be a liar; but as 
 that couldn't be, it must have been put in by 
 the Papists, or else a wrong transition, as he 
 called it, like a deal more of the Bible ; but not 
 knowing the riginal, he couldn't speak to that. 
 He also said that faith is of man's own working;
 
 188 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 and that he could believe what he liked, and 
 just when he liked." 
 
 " Do you mean to say," said the chairman, 
 " that you heard him utter such sentiments ?" 
 
 "Yes, Sir, I did," replied brother Sneape, 
 "and brother Slink is there, and he will say the 
 same." 
 
 " Brother Slink," inquired the chairman, "did 
 you hear brother Cove utter the sentiments at- 
 tributed to him by brother Sneape ?" 
 
 "Yes, I did," answered brother Slink, "I 
 heard the very words. He is one of the ' Derby 
 Faithites', who hold that faith is not the ' gift 
 of God', and have lately separated from our 
 body, in that place. I once heard a Mrs. Foam- 
 at-mouth preach in one of our chapels in Lei- 
 cestershire, and she preached that doctrine. I 
 heard a deal about them when I was in those 
 parts. There are several men and women, who 
 travel about the country, preaching and kicking 
 up a perfect bedlam, wherever they go. But 
 here comes brother Cove, and he can answer 
 for himself."
 
 THE VILLAGE COBBLER. 189 
 
 " Brother Cove, you are rather late," said the 
 chairman. 
 
 "I couldner come sooner," said he, "for I'd a 
 job or two that I hed to get done ; but my heart 
 has been wi' you." 
 
 " Well, brother," said the chairman, " I am 
 sorry to inform you that a very serious charge 
 has been made against you. You are charged 
 with having preached erroneous doctrine. Did- 
 n't you preach on the fifteenth, at Smigby, from 
 'Being justified by faith, we have peace with 
 God, through our Lord Jesus Christ' ? You said, 
 I understand, that ' saving faith is of man's own 
 origination' that 'workmongers are worse than 
 infidels' and that 'the passage wherein St. 
 James says that " a man is justified by works, 
 and not by faith only," was not written by him, 
 but is a false transition, or, more correctly, a 
 false translation ; or else 'was put in by the Pa- 
 pists." 'If we reject those suppositions,' you 
 observed, 'we must conclude that either St. 
 Paul or St. James tells a lie.' What have you 
 to say to these things, brother?"
 
 190 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 " I preached from that text," replied Simon, 
 "and possible might, in discoursin, say somat 
 like it ; but it's impossible to remember all one 
 says in sarmons, at the spur o' the moment. I 
 do remember makin some remarks about St. 
 James ; and I believe I said as one on em 
 couldner be speakin the truth, if the texts was 
 all right ; but raather than think either o' the 
 apostles to be a liar, I took to your way o' ex- 
 pleenin texts, namely that o' supposin it war a 
 wrong translation, as yo call it. And my idea 
 of a translation, I tak from scripter ; for we read 
 as how Enoch war translated, * for he was not, 
 for God took him.' So to translate from the 
 riginal is to take things out as doesner suit the 
 views o' folks, and to put things in as does. So 
 as we may say as justification by faith war 
 translated out o' St. James, so as it isner to be 
 found, for the Papists took it. I said Papists, 
 becoz you said as they hed altered a deal o' the 
 Bible." 
 
 The chairman explained to Simon wherein 
 he erred in his notion of the translating of the
 
 THE VILLAGE COBBLER. 191 
 
 scriptures, and made a bungling attempt at re- 
 conciling the apparently opposite statements of 
 St. Paul and St. James. 
 
 " Let us hear, brother Cove," said the chair- 
 man, " your views on saving faith." 
 
 " Well, I'll tell you," replied Simon, " what 
 ray views is : Faith is nothing but belief. If a 
 man tells me, as two and two makes four, I be- 
 lieve it. If you tell me as the Papists has 
 altered the scripters, I believe it. If a man tells 
 me as Lunnun is a big place, I believe it ; or as 
 Boney war a comin to murder us, I believe it ; 
 and as the Duke o' Welleton saved us, I believe 
 it. So, if I'm tel'd as the devil war comin to 
 murder us, but as Jesus stopped him on the 
 road, and has saved us, I believe it ; and in 
 believing it I hev life I am justified, or I am 
 saved. That's my doctrine, and it's common- 
 sense doctrine ; and it's as simple as a child 
 may understand. Now what is there so mighty 
 hard in this, I want to know, as a man mayn't 
 as easy do as tak his breath ?" 
 
 " Is that, brother," said the chairman, " what 
 is called the ' Derby faith" ?
 
 192 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 " You may call it," said Simon, " Derby faith 
 or whatever faith you like. I call it scripteral 
 faith saving faith. It's sich faith as has saved 
 hundreds in a wik in Derby and the neebourin 
 circuits. I wish Demas the lawyer war here, or 
 some o' them blessed women, as labours in the 
 Gospel ; they'd soon put you straight on the 
 point. Why, I've seen sich wonderful things 
 done by their prayers, as caps all in the old 
 magazines, or our blessed founder's journal. 
 Why, there were war a young man, a local- 
 preacher, in a neebourin town, who was gien up 
 by all the doctors : he couldn't stir a inch in 
 bed, and war just a dyin. Well, they met toge- 
 ther in the house, and prayed for him, and they 
 believed as God would raise him up ; and no 
 sooner hed brother Bloater cried out, 'The 
 Lord is doin it !' than he got out o' bed, dressed 
 him, and walked down-stairs, and come into the 
 room where they war prayin : and that same 
 man got quite well, from that time, and is now 
 a travellin preacher. And I've seen scores o' 
 souls saved by the same faith, and in as little
 
 THE VILLAGE COBBLER. 193 
 
 time as brother Bloater war healed. This is 
 your sorts o' faith for me, and not your poor 
 dead stuff as saves a soul a month, and hardly 
 that." 
 
 "By their works ye shall know them," said 
 brother Slink, addressing the chairman. " The 
 proceedings of these Faithites, as brother Cove 
 praises so, are most scandalous. That Demas 
 the lawyer, as he says would soon put us right 
 if he was here, is about one of the greatest ras- 
 cals under the sun. He is a robber of the 
 church of God, for he has often charged half as 
 much for the trust-deeds of little chapels as 
 the chapels have been worth ; and has got from 
 the poor their savings, to take care of em ; and 
 has got into debt every where he could, and 
 now is run away to America, and took another 
 man's wife with him. The last time I heard 
 anything of him, was, that he is preaching 
 among our body there, and has had as many as 
 fifty souls saved of a night. He is particularly 
 useful at the camp-meetings, which are held 
 there among the mountains, which are so large 
 
 N
 
 194 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 that the tents look like a town. He has been 
 at them for two or three weeks together, and 
 has done wonders." 
 
 " We have heard quite enough," said the 
 chairman, " about Demas, who hath loved the 
 present world. We must be getting on with 
 the business ^of the meeting. Brother Cove," 
 continued he, " you must call upon me in the 
 course of the week, that I may converse with 
 you upon the subject." 
 
 Simon was about to rise, to reply to the 
 speech of Mr. Slink, but was prevented doing 
 so by the chairman, who reminded him that 
 his case was disposed of. 
 
 The chairman proceeded with the calling 
 over of the names, and when he read out that 
 of William Gager, a brother rose, and said, 
 
 " Mr. Chairman, I do not rise to bring any 
 very heavy charge against our excellent bro- 
 ther. I only wish to remark, that it would be 
 better if he would avoid all curious expressions 
 and queer ideas in his sermons, as leads the 
 people to laugh, and our enemies to ridicule.
 
 THE VILLAGE COBBLER. 195 
 
 For example: I heard him preach, one day, 
 from ' When I am weak, then am I strong', and 
 he begun his sermon by saying 'Come now, 
 Mister Paul, you musn't think o' gammonin us 
 in this way, auther ; it's raather too barefaced a 
 contradiction.' At another time, he said, 'I 
 wish Jacob had a nettled hissen well, when he 
 was a gettin the herbs for the pottage.' And 
 last Sunday, when preaching from * Let us lay 
 aside every weight, and the sin which doth so 
 easily beset us, and let us run with patience 
 the race that is set before us', he said, ' Pull off 
 your clompin boots and clinkin pattens, and go 
 barefoot, you idle fools, and run like good uns.' 
 And then speaking of besetting sins, he said, 
 ' You havener hafe the sense as a hare hes ; 
 when a pointer sets him, he cuts off like light- 
 nin, and doesner stop to play with the dog, as 
 you do with your sins.' I believe brother 
 Gager to be a very good man, and he is emi- 
 nently useful; but he would be still more so, 
 was he to avoid all laughable sayings in his 
 sermons." 
 
 N2
 
 196 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 The chairman expressed himself as quite con- 
 curring in the remarks of the previous speaker, 
 and recommended brother Gager to lay aside 
 every ridiculous and laughable expression, and 
 to take Mr. Wesley's sermons for his model. 
 
 The chairman called over the rest of the 
 names ; and the only one against whom a seri- 
 ous charge was alleged, was a John Mortar, for 
 a breach of promise of marriage, to a Mary 
 Jordan. The case was stated as follows, by 
 Thomas Taper : 
 
 "Mr. Chairman, it is my peanful duty to 
 charge brother Mortar with the comtnittin of a 
 very sad offence neamly, that o' brekin his 
 promise o' marriage to a young woman o' the 
 name o' Mary Jordan, a stay-maker, livin in 
 Hodgson street ; a member o' the Society, and 
 a very worthy, industrious, and pious young 
 woman. He has kept company wi' her for 
 more than five year ; has gone to her father's 
 house night after night, and takken his supper 
 with the family. He has gone with her con- 
 stantly to all the means of grace ; and she hes
 
 THE VILLAGE COBBLER. 197 
 
 often walked with him to his appointments. 
 She hes letters from him, to prove that he had 
 engaged hissen to her, and her father will testi- 
 fy to the fact of his askin him for his consent to 
 the marriage. Iv'ry thing went on right till he 
 got a notion o' goin out to ' travel', and then he 
 gradual got cooler tawarts her ; he went to the 
 house seldomer, did not walk with her so oft, 
 and changed his tune to her. She ax'd him 
 one day, with tears in her eyes, what she had 
 done to offend him, as he war so changed in 
 his behaviour to her, and so seldom came to 
 see her. He said that he couldner come as he 
 did formerly, for he didner get away from the 
 factory so soon as he war used to do, and that 
 he had to read at night to prepare for his future 
 ministry. Things went on, and got worser and 
 worser, and omost broke the poor gel's heart. 
 At last he sends her a letter, which I'll read to 
 the meetin. It is as follows : 
 
 1 CORKER ALLEY janwary foreteen one thou- 
 sand eight hunderd and thirty my very darlinest 
 
 N 3
 
 198 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 mary you very probable is made aware, that i 
 am to be proposed next district meetin to go 
 out to travel, i beleve it is the way of Provi- 
 dence and i dursent opose it and i am very sure 
 as you will be the very last, to inder me, per- 
 shuing the Heaven appointed path, it is at my 
 everlastin gipardy, to disobey the Heavenly 
 calling Now you know, as i can't Marry for 
 four years, after i go out And i know as you 
 wonte like to Wate so long So that it will be 
 better for our Engagement to be disolvd and 
 you wonte be many days before you get a per- 
 son, Who you can love, and Who will love you 
 Be sure of this as its the Lords Will that it 
 should be so i am sure you wonte like to tra- 
 vel changein from place to place, its a unplesant 
 life for Preachers Wives trust in the Lord and 
 he will provide a good husband for you, and 
 make you happy, i Love you as much as i ever 
 did and shall Love you till i die its a bad Job 
 but cante be Helped we must both say the 
 Lord's Will be done i remane your aflfexonate 
 Lover and Everlasting Friend in Christ Jesus 
 
 JOHN MORTAR.'
 
 THE VILLAGE COBBLER. 199 
 
 " This, Mr. Chairman and brethren," said 
 Mr. Taper, " is the cool way in which this 
 heartless fellow proceeds to dissolve the con- 
 nexion after a four years' standing. Sister 
 Jordan received this letter when she was from 
 home, and I needner tell you how greatly it 
 affected her. She is nearly worn away to a 
 skeleton with trouble. She is quite willin to 
 hev him, and suffer the inconvenience of travel- 
 lin ; but he won't hear any thing on it. It is 
 quite time that this jilting system was put a 
 stop to, with the young preachers. They get 
 engaged, before they go out to travel, and 
 when they come to be called ' Reverend', they 
 all at once become great men, and of course 
 must look out for some young lady with a 
 large fortin, and desart the poor house-maid, 
 or dress-maker, or stay-maker, who they were 
 engaged to when in humbler circumstances." 
 
 " As our brother Mortar," said the chairman, 
 "is not present to answer for himself to the 
 grave charge which you have brought against 
 him, the case must stand over ; and I will take
 
 200 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 an opportunity of seeing him, respecting the 
 matter. You may rely upon this, that if the 
 case be such as has been represented, he will 
 not pass the District-meeting unless he engages 
 to marry her."
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ' I SPEAK AS PLAINLY AS I CAN; YET I FREQUENTLY MEET 
 WITH THOSE WHO HATE BEEN MY HEARERS MANY YEARS, 
 WHO KNOW NOT WHETHER CHRIST BE GOD OR MAN." 
 
 Wesley. 
 
 " We will now proceed," said the chairman, 
 " to examine those of our brethren, who have 
 finished the period of probation, as to their fit- 
 ness to be admitted on ' full plan.' Brother 
 Carson, and Hodges, and Booter, will you 
 please to come this way ?" 
 
 The candidates having placed themselves in 
 a row, close to the chairman, the examination 
 proceeded as follows : 
 
 Chairman. " Will you favour us, brother 
 Carson, with your Christian experience; and 
 declare unto us your call to the ministry ?" 
 
 Hereupon, brother Carson represented himself 
 as having been a most vile and worthless sin-
 
 202 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 ner, till it pleased the Lord to convert him at a 
 prayer-meeting, on the 15th of January, 1828, 
 at twenty-five minutes after eleven o'clock. 
 From that time, he said, he had continued in 
 the " good way," and he believed that he was 
 called to preach the gospel, and that it was at 
 his everlasting peril to disobey the command of 
 God. The other two declared their conversion, 
 but could not tell to a quarter of an hour when 
 it took place. Brother Hodges was able to 
 prove his commission to preach by very strong 
 evidence. For he had not only been inwardly 
 and irresistibly moved by the Holy Ghost, to 
 take upon himself the office of the ministry, but 
 he had also been favoured with a direct ap- 
 pointment from God, through the agency of an 
 angel, who appeared to him in a dream. Bro- 
 ther Booter was equally clear in his " accept- 
 ance" as brother Hodges, but could not adduce 
 the same supernatural proof of his ministerial 
 call. 
 
 Chairman. " Brother Carson, what are your 
 views on the Trinity ?"
 
 THE VILLAGE COBBLER. 203 
 
 Answer. "I believe as there be three Persons 
 in one God Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, 
 and these three be one God." 
 
 Chairman. " Brother Hodges, how do you 
 know that there are three Persons in the God- 
 head ?" 
 
 Answer. "Becoz, the scripture says there is ; 
 their names is down, and that proves it." 
 
 Chairman. "That does not exactly prove it, 
 as . you suppose. I want to know how you 
 prove that these three names mean three Per- 
 sons ? The Socinians, I must tell you, say that 
 there are not three Persons in the Godhead, but 
 that the names, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
 are names, not of Persons, but of operations of 
 the Godhead." 
 
 " Well, I look at it," said brother Carson, "as 
 a great mystery, and that's all about it. I tak 
 the Bible as I foind it, and I know I shanner 
 be far wrong; and donner trouble my head 
 about personality, and sich like vene philo- 
 sophy." 
 
 Chairman. " You are very wrong, brother.
 
 204 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 in calling it vain philosophy. It is of the 
 highest moment, to have right views on the 
 Trinity." 
 
 Mr. Chine then proceeded to adduce several 
 scriptural proofs of the doctrine of a Trinity of 
 Persons in the Unity of the Godhead. 
 
 Chairman. "Brother Booter, will you state 
 your views with regard to the person of Christ?" 
 
 Answer. " He was a man of sorrows and ac- 
 quainted with grief." 
 
 Chairman. "You don't quite come to the 
 point I want you. What I wish to know 
 is, whether you look upon Christ, as a mere 
 man?" 
 
 Answer. " He was God manifested in the 
 flesh ; of the seed of the woman, according 
 to the flesh, but of the Divinity, according 
 to the Spirit." 
 
 Chairman. " If, then, Christ was l God 
 manifested in the flesh,' therefore equal with 
 God, how do you reconcile that scripture, 
 where Christ himself says, "The Father is 
 greater than I "?
 
 THE VILLAGE COBBLER. 205 
 
 Answer. " I can't tell ; it seems a contradic- 
 tion or it may be a wrong translation." 
 
 Chairman. " I know that it is rightly trans- 
 lated." 
 
 "P'raps," said Carson, "you'll gee us the 
 riginal." 
 
 Chairman. " I have not got my Greek Tes- 
 tament here." 
 
 " Well, if I may gee my opinion," said Car- 
 son, "it's easy enough to be expleaned; for 
 isner a father alias greater than a son ? But if 
 I conner explain it, what matters it ? I should 
 be no better for't. I wonder whether I should 
 be able to mak a better pair o' shoes, if I 
 knowed how the leather war made ?" 
 
 Mr. Chine attempted to reconcile the seem- 
 ingly opposed passages ; and then asked bro- 
 ther Hodges to state his views of the " charac- 
 ter and office of the Holy Ghost." 
 
 Answer. " The Holy Ghost is the third and 
 last Person in the Trinity, and his duty is to 
 sanctify the heart of man, and fit him for hea- 
 ven. Bless the Lord ! I feel him a sanctifying 
 me just now."
 
 206 THE ROUND PREACHEK. 
 
 Chairman. " Brother Carson, what is the 
 extent of Christ's death ?" 
 
 Answer. " It extends to all mankind. ' For 
 as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all 
 be made alive again.' ' Where sin abounded, 
 grace did much more abound.' This is plean 
 enough for owt, as Christ died for all man- 
 kind." 
 
 Chairman. "The Calvinists are brought, at 
 length, to acknowledge that Christ died for all 
 mankind : they however put in this restraining 
 clause f although we admit that Christ died 
 for all mankind, yet the benefits of his death 
 are applied by the Holy Spirit only to the 
 elect' Do you agree with this view ?" 
 
 " Sartinly not. I think as it's makin worser 
 of a bad cause. If it doesner mak God exac- 
 tually a liar, it maks him a good deal that way 
 on. For, suppose a gentleman comes into my 
 shop some mornin, and says, ' Richard, I want 
 you to mak shoes for ivry barfoot lad in the 
 parish.' Well, I gets 'em made, and gets all 
 the lads to come to my shop, some noight to
 
 THE VILLAGE COBBLER. 207 
 
 hev 'em. Well, this gentleman, we'll suppose, 
 is gon from horn, and so he sends down his 
 brother, to gee the lads the shoes : and he looks 
 among the lads, and m'appen picks out two or 
 three, or hafe a dozen on 'em. * Now Richard,' 
 says he, ' fit these lads :' and so I fits em, and 
 very glad the lads is wi' 'em. I begins to fit 
 the tothers, but he stops me, and says, ' Oh ! 
 them isner elected,' and so the poor lads goes 
 we'out ony, grumblin at me for hevin deceaved 
 em. ( It seems odd,' says I to him, ' as your 
 brother should ha' order'd me to mak shoes for 
 all the barefoot lads in the parish, and you 
 only let hafe a dozen or so hev ony. I Conner 
 see why they mightn't as well hev 'em as not, 
 now they be ready made for 'em.' Now he mun 
 anther say, as his brother didner mean what he 
 said when he gee'd the order, and then I mun 
 conclude him to be not over particular about 
 the truth ; or else he mun say as his brother 
 left the disposal on em in his hands, and then 
 I muu conclude his brother to be a vary silly 
 feller to lay out his money so badly, and a vary
 
 208 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 wicked feller to deceave me and the poor lads 
 so sorely ; and I mun conclude him his-sen to 
 be a vary unaccountable and hard-hearted fel- 
 ler, to send lads home barfoot and a cryin, 
 when there's plenty o' good shoes made for 
 'em. And so I think as if I read as ' God so 
 loved the world, as to gee his only Son to die 
 for it,' I of course conclude as there's salvation 
 bought for it for ivry sinner ; and I tell ivry 
 body so : but I arter foind out, as only them as 
 is elected is to partak on it, and all the rest to 
 go we'out. I reckon mysen to ha' been de- 
 ceaved, and hes been, we' out knowin it, a im- 
 postor. And if there be mercy bought for all, 
 why not all be partakers on it? Why save 
 some, and damn the rest, when there's mercy 
 bought for all, and mercy offer'd to all ? It's a 
 million times a worser case nor the shoes, and 
 so I donner believe a word on it. If the doc- 
 trine o' election be scripteral, I donner quite 
 see the sense o' the stillness o' the man in the 
 gospel, who hedn't on a wedding garment. We 
 read as when he war kotch'd we'out one on, he
 
 THE VILLAGE COBBLER. 209 
 
 found nowt to say, but war quite speechless. 
 He know'd nowt about election, or etarnal de- 
 crees o' reprobation; or else he'd ha' said, in 
 answer to the question, ' Friend, how comest 
 thou in hither, not having on a wedding gar- 
 ment ?' ' Why ax sich a question ? It would 
 ha' bin a much more wonderfuller thing if I hed 
 come in one, when they war all locked up in 
 the closet o' election, and there war no gettin 
 in howsomever I knock'd and kick'd, becoz my 
 name warner down in the book for one.' He 
 know'd nowt about election, and so war speech- 
 less." 
 
 Chairman. " Your illustration, brother, is a 
 most apposite one. The doctrine of uncon- 
 ditional election, coupled, as it ever must be, 
 with that of reprobation, is abhorrent to every 
 feeling of humanity, is repulsive to reason 
 contradicts every letter of the scriptures, and is 
 awfully repugnant to the Divine character. If 
 Christ, brother Booter, died then, for all man- 
 kind, I want to know how the benefits of his 
 death are applied to the sinner." 
 o
 
 210 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 Answer. " By the means of faith. ' For being 
 justified by faith, we have peace with God.'" 
 
 Chairman. " Brother Carson, is faith all that 
 is required to save a sinner ?" 
 
 Answer. " When a man believes, he is saved. 
 It's simple faith as does the job, and good 
 works comes arter." 
 
 Chairman. " Will you, brother Hodges, give 
 me your views upon Christian perfection ?" 
 
 Answer. "I believe as it's the privilege of 
 every Christian, to live without sin, to have the 
 very last remains of the carnal mind destroyed. 
 We are commanded to be perfect, even as our 
 Father which is in heaven is perfect." 
 
 Chairman. " Do you agree with what brother 
 Hodges has advanced, brother Carson ?" 
 
 Answer. "Sartanly. I hold sinless perfec- 
 tion. For God can as easy keep a man from 
 sin as not, if he likes. I war talkin t'other day 
 to what they call a Evangelical Parson, about 
 perfection, and he said as it war a awful doc- 
 trine, as it made men proud, and as the remains 
 o' sin would be left in the heart till death. So
 
 THE VILLAGE COBBLER. 211 
 
 I says to him, according to your doctrine, the 
 more holier a man is, the more prouder he is; 
 and if God can destroy the remeans o' the carnal 
 mind at death, he can as easy do it afore death. 
 I teld him to read Mr. ' Fletcher's Checks,' and 
 he'd soon put him right" 
 
 Chairman. " Your views, brother, are very 
 sound on that important doctrine a doctrine 
 which Mr. Wesley considered as the grand dis- 
 tinguishing feature of Methodism." 
 
 The candidates were ordered to retire into 
 the adjoining room, whilst the meeting decided 
 upon their qualifications for the ministry. The 
 chairman had the pleasure of announcing to 
 them, on their return, that they had received 
 the unanimous approbation of their brethren. 
 
 o2
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 " 'TIS A POINT WE CHIEFLY INSIST UPON, THAT ORTHODOXY, 
 OR RIGHT OPINIONS, IS AT BEST BUT A VERY SLENDER PART 
 OF RELIGION IF ANY PART OF IT AT ALL." Wesley. 
 
 Mr. Chine appointed brother Carson to 
 preach his "trial sermon," on the following 
 Wednesday night, and requested me to hear 
 him. He was not without honour in his own 
 native village, for the chapel was crowded. 
 I went prepared to hear an extraordinary ser- 
 mon, and to take it down in short hand. The 
 following is as close a copy as it was possible 
 to take. The text was, 
 
 " ' /* there no balm in Gilead ; is there no 
 physician there T 
 
 " There seems to me to be a very odd and 
 new way o' makin sarmons now-a-days, or raa- 
 ther o' unmakin em, neamly a cuttin on em 
 up into I knowner how mony different peaces,
 
 THE VILLAGE COBBLER. 213 
 
 what they callen divoidin. Now I Conner chop 
 up a text in this way, as if I war choppin tatoes 
 for pigs. I shall tak the text as it stands, and 
 try to compound it as quick as I con, and then 
 mak some practical remarks. 
 
 "The prophet axes a question, 'Is there no 
 balm in Gilead ?' Now I needner tell ony on 
 you what balm is : yoe know it's what we 
 putten into bread, to mak it light to leaven it. 
 Bread would be nasty, bitter, heavy stuff, if 
 barm warner put in it. Now onybody we' hafe 
 a ee may see how this replies to the gospel. 
 Doesner the scripter say as a little leaven lea- 
 vens the wholl lump'? The wholl lump o' 
 what ? Why, o' wheat. The wold is a great 
 moighty corn-field. This corn-field mun be 
 shear' d, and the wheat put in the garner o' the 
 church; and it mun be threshed by the Holy 
 Spirit, and gran by repentance, and kneaded 
 by faith, and the barm put into't, and made 
 into loaves; and then baked in the oven o' 
 divine love, and made into a kind o' shew- 
 bread, shewing forth the praises of him ' who
 
 214 THE BOUND PREACHER. 
 
 has called us out o' darkness into his marvel- 
 lous light.' And as my Sally has tried tatoes, 
 and I knowner what, to mak bread light, but 
 couldner come it, so you may try the pleasures 
 o' the wold, or the flesh, to mak your hearts 
 happy and light, but yo'll foind as they'll mak 
 em sadder and sadder, and as nowt ul do but 
 the precious ' balm o' Gilead.' I've heerd a'ar 
 Sally say mony a time, ' Is there no barm i't 
 town to day ?' and the reply has been, 'No, not 
 a drop ;' and she's hed to put off the bakin to 
 some other day. But if ony body here axes 
 1 Is there ony balm o' Gilead here ?' I tell em 
 there's plenty; and they may hev it without 
 money and without price. 
 
 The balm o' Gilead is very good, 
 So it is, I think I hear yon say ; 
 
 The test o' ages it has stood, 
 And there's plenty here to-day. 
 
 " I mun now pass on to the next question, ' Is 
 there no physician there ?' I can answer you 
 in the firmative. There is a physician there 
 Jesus Christ, the Good Physician. Now if ony
 
 THE VILLAGE COBBLER. 215 
 
 body wants a doctor, they'll get the most clever 
 mou as possible, as is noted for his cures ; and 
 he is thowt none the worser if he is kind and 
 feelin. But all the doctors in the wold put 
 together, isner hafe so clever as the Gilead 
 Physician, nor hafe so kind-hearted. For Jesus 
 Christ is ' touched we' the feeling of a'ar infir- 
 mities.' No earthly doctor can be in this way. 
 They may tell yoe as they be sorry for yoe, but 
 at the bottom they be glad as yoe be so badly, 
 for the worser yoe are the better it be for they, 
 and they'll be iver so long o' gettin yoe well. 
 But if yoe be getten the tick-rolaroo, and 
 the doctor felt the peane as yo feel'n it, they'd 
 be gettin yoe well as soon as possible. Now 
 the Good Physician is afflicted in a'ar afflic- 
 tions, suffers in a'ar sufferings ; so as in gettin 
 his peatients well, it's gettin hissen well when 
 they be in health, he be in health. The Good 
 Physician understands all about us, for he 
 made us. Who so likely to put a watch right 
 when it goes wrong, as a watch-maker ? Who 
 so able to put the soul right, when it goes
 
 216 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 wrong, as the soul-maker ? Doctors, you know, 
 often conner tell what's the matter we' their 
 peatients. It war just so, in the case o' a'ar 
 Sally : none o' t' doctors know'd her compleant, 
 and they physic'd her till they kill'd her, and 
 omost ruin'd me. But, thank the Lord, she war 
 badly in her soul, and we called in the Good 
 Physician, and he got her well in less ner hafe 
 a hour. Doctors, yoe know, conner cure all : 
 folks is a dyin ivery day. Squire Stubbs as 
 lives by us, tried all the doctors about a'ar 
 parts, and none could do him ony good. He 
 then went to Lunnun, to try the doctors there, 
 but it war no use; they physic'd him, and 
 he soon went off. But there niver war a case 
 yet, as war above the hand o' the Good Physi- 
 cian. We hear now-a-days a great deal about 
 ' cure alls.' You'n heerd about Morison's pills, 
 they war to do wonders to do iv'ry thing, but 
 rease the dead : but that's all moonshine ; iv'iy 
 dog hes its day, and they'n hed theirs. But the 
 balm o' Gilead is a pacific for iv'ry disease a 
 unfealin cure for iv'ry compleant. Some say as
 
 THE VILLAGE COBBLER. 217 
 
 the age o' miracles is past, but I say as it isner. 
 For isner it no miracle to rease the dead ? But 
 them as war dead in trespasses and sins, the 
 Good Physician has quickened. 
 
 " But I mun be gettin on, and inquire, ' If 
 there be sich a Good Physician, and sich good 
 l)alm, why isn't the dowter of my people 
 healed ? Now, it's to be obsarved, as the pro- 
 phet doesner say the son o' my people, but the 
 dowter o' my people ; and this seems to me to be 
 the reason. Women, yoe know, is the weak- 
 er vessel; they is subject to more peans and 
 aliments than men, and so the prophet won- 
 ders more as they doesner come to be healed. 
 Why, then, doesner folks come to be healed ? 
 Some donner come, coz they donner ,know as 
 they be sick. I go to a woman, and say, 
 'Mary, yoe is sadly diseased wi' sin.' She 
 says, ' Dick, yoe be mistaen. I donner feel 
 bad : yoe thinken me worser than I be.' I re- 
 commend her to go to the doctor. ' Not so, 
 auther, Dick,' says she, ' it ul be time enough 
 for that when I'm badly.' Then I go to a mon
 
 218 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 and I says, 'James, yoe be diseased we' sin.' 
 He says, ' I know I be, and I shouldner mind 
 bein healed.' That's good, thinks I, there's 
 some chance o' Jim's rekivery. 'Yoe Conner 
 do better,' says I, 'than call in my doctor.' 
 I thowt it better to tell him what sort o' doctor 
 mine war, what physic he'd gee him, and what 
 rigement he'd put him in. When it come to, 
 I foind he doesner loike the bitter hearbs o' re- 
 pentance, and wouldner come into his rige- 
 ment; so as nowt could be done for poor Jim. 
 How many is there, as is in this way wonner 
 gee up the sweet things o' the wold wonner 
 come down to a wayter gruel diet and woll be 
 peatients o' the worst doctor in the world. 
 Which on yoe, I want to know, would employ 
 a doctor as alias kills his peatients ? Why none 
 on yoe would. And yet yoe be really employin 
 a doctor as hes kill'd ivery peatient as hes iver 
 ta'en his inscriptions. I know as he gees noice 
 physic. But whosomiver heerd o' noice physic ? 
 Yoe may be sure there's some trick i'nt ; for all 
 physic is nasty. Will you hev noice physic,
 
 THE VILLAGE COBBLER. 219 
 
 and be kill'd, or nasty physic, and be healed ? 
 Now all on yoe as is for the killin physic, stand 
 up. (No one rose.) Oh ! I see as none on yoe 
 loikes the devil's physic. Now all on yoe as 
 is for the healing physic, stand up. (All stood 
 up.) The Good Physician is now a goin round 
 for peatients ; he wonner charge you for visits, 
 nor for physic, and h'ell gee yoe no more phy- 
 sic than's nessessary, and h'ell heal all on yoe 
 afore yoe go out o't chapel. 
 
 " I mun now be a drawin ray discourse to a 
 close. I ax agean, ' Is there no balm in Gilead? 
 is there no physician there ?' I thank God as 
 there is, a Good Physician, and plenty o' balm 
 and quite fresh. His sarvants is goin' round 
 the town iv'ry day, cryin out, Barm ! barm ! 
 barm ! And thear's places built in iv'ry place, 
 whear it may be hed ony quantity and free 
 gracious for nowt. Thear's the Baptist barm- 
 shop; the Calvinist barm-shop; the Establish'd 
 Church barm-shop ; and, thank God, the Me- 
 thodist barm-shop. I say as the Methodist 
 barm-shop is the best. For the Baptists mixes
 
 220 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 water we' their barm ; and the Calvinists wants 
 a ticket o' election, afore they'll gie yo ony ; 
 and the Church keeps theirs kivered up in 
 formal pots and kettles, till it goes fusty and 
 bad. Yoe mun alias remember as t' Church 
 barm-shop isner ony better than a'ar'n, coz it's 
 established ; for it's ony establish'd by a human 
 cretur like wursens. The Methodists has got a 
 license to sell it to iv'ry body as axes for't, and 
 it's quite fresh and undulterate. And if ther's 
 ony tee-totalers here to-night, let me tell em as 
 they needner fear this barm, as it's quite unfer- 
 ment, and it ul do em no harm. We've plenty 
 o' barm here to-night, and the Good Physician 
 is here, and we shall hev a prayer-meetin arter 
 this sarvice is over, and the Good Physician's 
 assistants, a'ar brothers and sisters, ul go round 
 we' the barm. Now is the accepted time now 
 is the day of salvation. Death is at the door, 
 and afore to-morrow mornin yoe may be in 
 hell, and thear's no Good Physician there no 
 barm there. Yo'll be gettin worser and worser. 
 Hell ul be your hospital flames of fire your
 
 THE VILLAGE COBBLER. 221 
 
 bed brimston and smoke your physic the 
 devil your physician and damn'd spirits your 
 attendants. May the Lord in his mercy save 
 us from sich a case !" And all the people said 
 Amen!
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " ONE MAY BE INTEMPERATE IN SPEAKING, AS WELL AS 
 IN EATING. AND AS AFTER WE HAVE FASTED LONG, WE ARE 
 APT TO EAT TOO MUCH, SO ARE WE TO SPEAK TOO MUCH, 
 AFTER WE HAVE BEEN LONG SILENT." Wesley. 
 
 " Well brother Sparks," said Richard, as I 
 walked home with him, " what thinken you o' 
 my sarmon ? Its bin made vary useful . I'n 
 prached it on siv'ral annivarsary occasions, and 
 I'm teld as its a vary good un." 
 
 I pointed out to him its many faults, and 
 asked him, if the few lines of poetry, which he 
 introduced, were of his own composition. 
 
 " Sure they war," replied he. " I'n made a 
 good bit o' powtry, which folks, as understands 
 powtry, thinks vary superior ; and I mean to 
 publish a little book on it, when I can get a 
 bookseller to gie me somat loike its valley." 
 
 " Now there goes agean, Dick," said Sally ;
 
 THE VILLAGE COBBLER. 223 
 
 " yoe wholl use sich foine words : who can tell, 
 I wonder, beside powets and sich loike, the 
 meanin o' ' superior' ? Yoe preachers, brother 
 Sparks, dun mak use o' sich brek-jaw wods, as 
 I'n omost a mind to ax you the meanin on 'em. 
 Its just loike geein a dog a big bone as hes no 
 meat on't." 
 
 " Well you know, Sally," said Richard, " if 
 prachers hasner ony meat to gee the people, 
 they mun gee 'em bones ; and m'appen if yoe 
 could smosh 'em yoe might found some marrow 
 in 'em." 
 
 "Aye! and m'appen break your jaws o'er 
 'em," rejoined Sally. 
 
 " Brother Sparks," said Richard, " did I iver 
 till you the way I got a congregation at Stoleby 
 t' other day ?" 
 
 " Never," I answered. 
 
 " Well, I'll tell you," replied he. " I goes 
 there, and runs down the street, and shouts out 
 Foire ! foire ! and all t' town run arter me ; and 
 when I got 'em together, I gee out my text, 
 ' Where their worm dieth not, and their fire is
 
 224 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 not quenched,' and there were a jeal o' good 
 done." 
 
 " I cannot," I said, " commend your method 
 of gathering a congregation. It was certainly 
 done under a false pretence. It was ( doing evil 
 that good might come.' " 
 
 " I think," said Richard, " as it war followin 
 the example of Paul, who ' become all things, 
 to all men, that he might save some.' " 
 
 "Nay Dick," said Sally, "that wonner do. 
 Paul didner do evil that good might come, for 
 he says as them as does so ' their damnation 
 is just.' " 
 
 " Well, Sally," said Richard, " you'n rayther 
 the upper hand on me this time. If I didner 
 do quite right in that case, I war o' t' right side 
 t' other day, in what I said to the great man at 
 the hall. Yoe mun know, brother Sparks," con- 
 tinued he, ' as I mak shoes for th' sarvants at t' 
 hall. So as I war goin down there one moruin 
 for orders, I meets his lordship. ' Well, Rich- 
 ard,' says he, ' how do you do ? and how is 
 Sally?' 'Very well, thank you, Sir,' I said;
 
 THE VILLAGE COBBLER. 225 
 
 (for I didner loike to say lord, as it seems to 
 me loike blasphemy) * both in body and soul. 
 I hope you and your missus is the same.' 
 ' Very well,' said he, ' in body ; but how in soul, 
 I Conner speak to.' ' Why, Sir,' says I, ' isner 
 the soul o' much more vally than the body ? 
 " For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain 
 the whole world, and lose his own soul." That's 
 a scripter,' says I, 'as maks things look serious.' 
 * Very true, Richard,' he said, and war for leav- 
 in on me. ' Please Sir,' I said, ' I want to ax 
 you a question afore we part. Its this whe- 
 ther you'd be so good as to hold a plate, at 
 a'ar annivarsary, next Sunday ?' His lordship 
 smiled, and said. ' Certainly not.' * Well then,' 
 says I, * wholl you gee us a trifle to the good 
 cause ?' and he gee me hafe a suvrin. Sally 
 blamed me for't and said as it war vary bra- 
 zen'd; but howiver, my brass pead me very 
 well ; for I got it changed for gold. The spirit 
 moved me, and I dusner ha' done different." 
 
 " Well Dick," said Sally, " I think as it war 
 not well thowt on though as it happened it 
 p
 
 226 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 turn'd out vary well. Its a word in season, as 
 is called vary good." 
 
 " You're alias foindin fault we' me," said 
 Richard. "Sally lofis at me, brother Sparks, 
 coz as I say as the stars is wolds, and loikely 
 enough inhabited, for I Conner see, o' what good 
 they're on, if they arner. And I think as m'ap- 
 pen they be fallen like a'rn : and folks is sur- 
 prized at me thinkin so. But I say, as if it 
 warner wrong for God to let a'ar wold fall, it 
 mayner be wrong for him to let others fall. 
 And if the glory o' God is more show'd in the 
 redemption of a'ar wold, than if it hed niver 
 fallen, I donner see why the glory o' God may- 
 ner be more show'd by t' t'other wolds fallin. 
 And m'appen Christ died for other wolds beside 
 a'arn, for we read ' as all things shall be gathered 
 unto him, of things in heaven, as well as things 
 on earth ;' and m'appen Christians, when they 
 die, go to preach the gospel to the inhabitants 
 o' the stars, and I thinken sometimes, what lots 
 o' methodists there is in t'other wolds." 
 
 "Prither, Dick," said Sally, "donner gee
 
 THE VILLAGE COBBLER. 227 
 
 way so, to sich silly stuff, what dun you know 
 about other wolds ?" 
 
 " Not a jeal, Sally, I know," answered Richard. 
 " I wish I did know about 'em. I carener how 
 soon I leaven this, for its a vary poor un. I 
 often think, brother Sparks, as just in one hafe 
 hour in heaven, I shall know a jeal more o' 
 stronomy than the great Sir Isaac Newton 
 knowed ; for he only seed through a glass dark- 
 ly, but I shall see face to face. I wonder 
 what wold I shall be sent to ? M'appen to 
 Jupiter, as its a big place. I mean to prache 
 a present salvation to them Jupiterians, for 
 there's nowt loike it. And I think, brother, my 
 balm o' Gilead sarmon, we' your improvements, 
 wonner be a bad un to gee em, first start. And 
 arter Fn prached for awhile among the Jupi- 
 terians, I shall turn my attention to those Sa- 
 tanites. I fear them is a very bad set. But if 
 owt is to save em, its the doctrine of present 
 salvation. If that's prached faithful, it ul soon 
 drive Satan out, I know.'* 
 
 "Yoe be talkin," said Sally, " about what yo'll 
 p 2
 
 228 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 do when yoe getten to heaven, takin it for sure 
 as yo'll get there. I donner think its so well to 
 mak so sartain on it. Paul warner so sure o' 
 getten to heaven ; for he war afeerd lest arter 
 prachin to others, himsen should be a cast- 
 away ; and I shold think as m'appen Paul war 
 as a good a mon as thee. And beside, yoe 
 donner read about the Apostle wishin to be off 
 to t' t'other wolds ; but his wish war ' to depart 
 and to be we' Christ which is far better.' " 
 
 " Well, well, Sally," said Richard, " m'appen 
 Fn too much takken up we' philosophy, and 
 sich loike ; but howiver, there's one thing as 
 does unkimmon puzzle me, its this whether 
 we shall know one another in heaven. Most 
 prachers says as we shall, as it ul be sich a 
 source o' pleasure. I know vary well as it ul be 
 a vary pleasant thing to meet we' one's friends 
 there. It wholl be a delightful thing Sally, to 
 foind yoe in heaven. But it ud be a vary sad 
 thing, to foind yoe not there. I should be un- 
 kimmon glad, to foind a'ar Tom and Sal, we' 
 little harps in their hands, weatin at the door
 
 THE VILLAGE COBBLER, 229 
 
 o' heaven, to induce us in, but when I comes 
 to ax em, 'Hev you seen Jim and Harry?' 
 for em to say ''No, we hevner seen owt on 
 em,' that I thinken would be rayther a dam- 
 per. If we know as some's there we mun 
 know as father's not; and so I thinken as its 
 better for us to know nowt about it." 
 
 " I wish, Dick," said Sally, " as you'd let sich 
 mysteries alone ; yo'll puzzle me so till I shall 
 go off my head. Its that stronomy book as 
 puts these things into your head. I wish it 
 war bunt."
 
 GREAT ATTRACTION ! ! 
 
 THE CONVERTED NEGRO MISSIONARY 
 
 WESLEYAN MISSIONARY ANNIVERSARY, 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 BILTON BRANCH DISTRICT. 
 
 ON SUNDAY APRIL 15, 1839, 
 
 TWO SERMONS WILL BE PREACHED 
 
 FOR THE ABOVE SOCIETY, 
 
 HIS MOffiMITdJ AT BOHE S5TJKKET CHAEEIi, 
 
 BY THE REV. R. OLDTON, 
 
 AND IN THE EVENING AT SIX, BY THE 
 
 REV. DR. BELLEMONT. 
 
 ON MONDAY AFTERNOON, A SERMON WILL BE PREACHED 
 REV. PAlTtTwESLEY, 
 
 The Converted Negro Missionary, 
 
 AND IN THE EVENING, A MISSIONARY MEETING 
 
 Will "be held, when the Chair will be taken at Six o'clock, by 
 
 JOHN HOCKING, ESQ. 
 
 As this is the First Appearance in this neighbourhood of the Negro 
 Missionary and Indian Chief, no doubt there will be a very crowded 
 attendance. In order, therefore, to accommodate the friends of Missions 
 with comfortable seats, it has been agreed to admit the congregation by 
 tickets. 
 Tickets for Gallery, 2s, Middle of the Chapel, Is. Side Seats, 6d. 
 
 To be had of MR. GULL, Draper, 91, Mount Street, and of the Rev. 
 J. SINKER, at the Chapel-house. 
 
 fSisat'onarg iSmfcfast in tijeStljooUroom on &tte8&agf&ornfng, 
 
 AT EIGHT O'CLOCK TICKETS, 2s. 
 
 SEVERAL MINISTERS ARE EXPECTED TO ADDRESS THE MEETING,
 
 THE MISSIONABY MEETING. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 " 1 LOOK UPON ALL THE WORLD AS MY PARISH." Wesley. 
 
 " 111 tell you what, brother Sparks," said John 
 Steanes, Esq., showing me this placard, " it's 
 my opinion that it will excite no little sensation. 
 It quite cuts out both the Church and the dis- 
 senters. It is, indeed, a formidable affair ; it is 
 almost as long as the musical festival placards. 
 It has been drawn up with admirable judgment. 
 It almost reminds one of a play-bill, for they 
 are often headed ' Great Attraction.' I should- 
 n't wonder if the super took the idea from that, 
 and no bad idea either. We must learn lessons 
 from the wisdom of the children of this gene- 
 ration, and use them to promote the service 
 of the Lord. This Indian Chief, and Con- 
 verted Negro will make a great noise in the 
 town and neighbourhood. The ticket system
 
 234 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 will pay admirably. I think they are full little, 
 for the mere sight of the Chief is worth quite 
 that. It will be a grand treat for the country- 
 people. Whilst the world finds its happiness 
 in attending races, and theatres, and other 
 places of amusement, the Christian finds his 
 happiness in attending love-feasts and anniver- 
 saries, and missionary meetings." 
 
 " If the house of prayer," I replied, " has 
 been turned into a theatre, and if the lessee is 
 anxious to arouse attention, and to attract a full 
 house, I must acknowledge that the placard is 
 well calculated to effect that object. It must 
 also be granted that he has obtained a very 
 efficient company of performers, and will pro- 
 bably meet with considerable success. I look 
 upon missionary meetings, as now conducted, 
 as an humble attempt at the revival of the reli- 
 gious drama of the thirteenth century, and as 
 intended to supply the 'professing Christian 
 world' with a substitute for the bewitching and 
 cQmipting performances of the play-house. 
 The design has been well carried out, and has
 
 THE MISSIONARY MEETING. 235 
 
 met with liberal support ; for the union of the 
 tragic and comic parts of the drama has made 
 the missionary stage irresistibly attractive ; and 
 they whose conscience would not suffer them to 
 go to the theatre to witness the performance of 
 a Macready, resort unhesitatingly to the chapel, 
 to see that of an Indian Chief ; and they who 
 hold it wicked to be amused by the comic 
 talent of a Matthews, deem it a religious duty 
 to be diverted by that of a Dawson. The stage 
 is most certainly on the decline both the 
 sacred and the profane. Missionary meetings 
 are losing their interest; for the people are 
 growing weary of the same kind of perform- 
 ance ; they are eager for novelty, and do not 
 like the old things over and over again. If 
 they are to be kept up, there must be an annual 
 supply of foreign performers, and half-martyr'd 
 missionaries, laden with the relics of heathen 
 superstition, and the curious products of foreign 
 countries. I am no advocate for the house of 
 God being turned into either a theatre or a 
 museum. I am sick of continual excitement.
 
 236 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 I fear that our anniversaries partake too much 
 of the nature of wakes and fairs, or nice pic-nic 
 parties. They are usually occasions of jollifi- 
 cation. There is a pleasant ride, or a still more 
 pleasant walk ; plenty of good things to eat and 
 drink, the company of agreeable friends, and 
 good sermons ; all for the small charge of one 
 shilling in most instances, and frequently scot- 
 free. A day's pleasure cannot be procured at 
 a much cheaper rate. If we do not take heed, 
 I fear that our solemn feasts will become an 
 abomination to the Lord." 
 
 "I must confess," said Mr. Steanes, "that 
 there is some truth in your remarks. Til give 
 them my serious consideration. I must now be 
 leaving you, and I shall be happy to see you 
 for dinner on Monday, at two o'clock."
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 " FOR THE METHODISTS IN EVERY PLACE GROW DILIGENT 
 AND FRUGAL ; CONSEQUENTLY THEY INCREASE IN GOODS. 
 HENCE THEY PROPORTIONABLY INCREASE IN PRIDE, IN AN- 
 GER, IN THE DESIRE OF THE FLESH, THE DESIRE OF THE 
 EYES, AND THE PRIDE OF LIFE." Wesley. 
 
 As I sat in Mr. Steane's drawing room, wait- 
 ing the announcement of dinner, the thought 
 struck me, had John Wesley been expected to 
 dine here to-day, instead of Mr. Paul, how very 
 differently would the ladies have been attired. 
 They would have left at home their ornaments 
 of gold, and precious stones, and costly apparel, 
 and would have appeared " in a cheap as well as 
 a plain dress," in conformity with the rules of 
 the society. His expected presence would have 
 checked rather than stimulated Mr. Steane's 
 vulgar passion for display, for he would have 
 remembered, how with " dim eyes, and shaking
 
 238 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 hands, and tottering feet," he had advised his 
 people ' ; not to spend one pound, one shilling, 
 or one penny, to gratify either the desire of the 
 flesh, the desire of the eyes, or the pride of life." 
 The Indian Chief and Mr. Paul Wesley 
 were evidently quite dazzled with the array of 
 richly adorned female beauty, and the splendid 
 furniture of the apartment. Their surprise was 
 much increased when they entered the dining- 
 room, and beheld the massive silver service, 
 the variety of courses and fanciful dishes, and 
 the liveried servants. It was certainly a very 
 splendid entertainment. It consisted of four 
 courses of the costliest and the most delicate 
 dishes, prepared by cunning cooks; and cham- 
 pagne and sparkling moselle, and hock, were 
 more plentiful than water. The champagne 
 excited a brisk conversation during dinner; 
 and it was kept up in full glee at dessert, by 
 claret and burgundy. Mr. Paul Wesley showed 
 great prudence in the selection of his food. 
 He invariably partook of the dishes that were 
 most in demand. As the day was very hot, ices
 
 THE MISSIONARY MEETING. 239 
 
 were much in request. Mr. Wesley observed 
 this, and must of course try one himself. The 
 first spoonful set his teeth chattering. He 
 grinned and unfolded his red lips, in the most 
 frightful manner, and with difficulty restrained 
 himself from screaming. He drank " sampaigne" 
 with several ladies, which Mr. Oldton observed, 
 was far better than taking Tom-Paine with 
 them. 
 
 During dessert, Paul was heard to say, " Poor 
 pussy ! poor pussy !" 
 
 " What, are you a Puseyite ?" said Mr. Oldton. 
 
 " Yes, brother," replied Paul, " me be a very 
 great pusseyite since me come to England." 
 
 A servant, who was in the room, chanced to 
 hear Mr. Wesley's confession, and forthwith 
 conveyed the intelligence into the kitchen, that 
 Paul was a Puseyite, and that he had been 
 converted to Puseyism since his arrival in Eng- 
 land. The report soon spread abroad, and the 
 next day there appeared an article in the news- 
 paper, headed, " Frightful spread of Popery, 
 under the name of Puseyism." The article ran
 
 240 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 as follows : " We understand on undoubted au- 
 thority, that a Wesleyan converted Negro Mis- 
 sionary has imbibed Puseyite principles. So 
 greatly does he sympathize with that arch- 
 heretic and semi-papist, that he is continually 
 exclaiming, in a low and pitiful tone, ' Poor 
 Pusey ! poor Pusey !' What will the end of 
 these things be ? It is very much to be feared 
 that there are a great many Jesuits among the 
 methodists and other dissenters." 
 
 The ' undoubted authority,' on which this 
 flaming notice was founded, was that of mere 
 idle rumour, and was, as is generally the case, 
 totally false. The mistake originated in the 
 following manner Mr. Steanes' cat had ven- 
 tured into the dining-room. Mr. Wesley being 
 kindly disposed towards that domestic animal, 
 stroked him down very affectionately, exclaim- 
 ing at the same time, "poor pussy ! poor pussy !" 
 
 This exclamation of Mr. Wesley's gave rise 
 not only to a newspaper lie, but also to a very 
 earnest conversation on Puseyism. Mr. Oldton 
 was of opinion that the Puseyites were Jesuits
 
 THE MISSIONARY MEETING. 241 
 
 in disguise ; dishonest, malicious, and persecut- 
 ing men. Dr. Bellemont considered them to 
 be the Pope's legates, and the agents of the 
 devil. " The hopes of Protestantism," he said, 
 " are placed SOLELY IN OUR HANDS. Our Con- 
 nexion is the only bulwark against the progress 
 and ascendancy of Rome, in this kingdom. 
 The crisis is coming on, and may we not be 
 found wanting ! It may be delayed for a few 
 years, but it will assuredly come. The Evan- 
 gelicals will leave the Church, and the Pusey- 
 ites will remain, for they have the Prayer-Book 
 on their side, and then will the days of the 
 bloody Mary be again revived." 
 
 An old preacher observed that he had lately 
 been reading an elaborate treatise on the Greek 
 Church in Russia, and he found that the doc- 
 trines of the Puseyites approached more nearly 
 to those held by that Church than the Roman. 
 " In my opinion," said he, " it will be in the 
 end found that Newman and Pusey are agents 
 of the emperor Nicholas, and have secret de- 
 signs of establishing the Greek Church in the 
 kingdom, and enslaving us to that tyrant.' 1 
 Q
 
 242 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 "One thing is quite clear to me," said Mr. 
 Oldton, in a low tone, "that sooner or later 
 there will be a division in the Church. The 
 more pious and evangelical part of the laity will 
 be driven out by the overbearing intolerance of 
 the clergy ; and these we must try to catch. I 
 know that there are numbers in the Church, 
 who are yearning for a wider field of usefulness 
 and for increased means of grace. Our body 
 offers them precisely what they desiderate ; and 
 if we can introduce Mr. Wesley's abridgement 
 of the Church Service into all the town-chapels, 
 and wear the gown and bands, you may rely 
 upon it, that we shall reap immense advantage 
 from the division, whenever it occurs."
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 " NO PERSON TO CALL ANOTHER HERETIC, BIGOT, OR ANY 
 OTHER DISRESPECTFUL NAME, ON ANY ACCOUNT." Wesley. 
 
 When we got down to the " house." it was 
 so crowded that it was with great difficulty 
 that we made our way up to the stage. Pit, 
 Gallery, and Boxes, were filled : and the lob- 
 bies and aisles were crammed to suffocation. 
 There were scores outside, who had purchased 
 tickets, and could not even approach the doors. 
 They complained loudly and bitterly of their 
 ill treatment. They demanded a sight of the 
 Indian Chief, and the Converted Negro. In 
 order to quiet them, the manager sent word 
 that the Indian Chief should make his ap- 
 pearance in a short time. Throughout the 
 manager's speech, and the reading of the re- 
 port, the clamour outside was unabated. Every 
 one knows what chairmen's speeches at Mis- 
 Q2
 
 244 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 sionary-meetings are ; they are all full of con- 
 fessions of unworthiness to fill so responsible 
 a situation, and acknowledgements of their ap- 
 preciation of the honour conferred upon them, 
 with a few compliments to the ladies, to the 
 speakers, and to themselves. 
 
 The dulness of the report was relieved by 
 the announcement, of the sums collected by the 
 ladies ; and, as a proper reward of merit, their 
 names were duly read out. The audience were 
 delighted when they heard read over, " A drop 
 in the ocean, by a friend to Missions, five shil- 
 lings." " The produce of a year's bones and 
 rags, saved by John Snoll, fifteen shillings." 
 " Produce of self-denial of comforts, seven shil- 
 lings." Immediately after reading of the report, 
 its adoption was proposed to the meeting. No 
 opposition was offered. These preliminaries 
 disposed of, the manager informed the assem- 
 bly, that it was deemed expedient for the Rev. 
 John Sloane, and the Indian Chief to leave the 
 platform for a short time, in order to address 
 the multitude in the chapel-yard.
 
 THE MISSIONARY MEETING. 245 
 
 The Indian Chief bowed to the congregation 
 as he left the stage, and was conducted by 
 Mr. Sloane through the vestry to the field of 
 engagement. His appearance was hailed with 
 loud cheers. A ring was soon made, and the 
 wonderful man amused the spectators no little, 
 by performing sundry evolutions with his toma- 
 hawk, and exhibiting the Indian war-dance. He 
 delighted them with a large display of various 
 idols of worship, specimens of coarse manu- 
 facture, and native costumes. A great number 
 of the congregation, finding that there was 
 much more amusement going on outside the 
 chapel than within, left their places, and joined 
 the party in the yard. The disappointed tick- 
 et-buyers eagerly availed themselves of this 
 circumstance, as a favourable opportunity for 
 endeavouring to effect an entrance into the 
 chapel. A rush towards the doors was sud- 
 denly made, and there was a violent struggle 
 between those who had just left the chapel, 
 and those who were just about to enter. Mr. 
 Sloane was quite alarmed, and endeavoured to
 
 246 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 put an end to the conflict ; but could not suc- 
 ceed. But what he could not do the Chief 
 accomplished, for no sooner had he uttered one 
 of his hideous war-cries, and brandished his 
 tomahawk over the heads of the contending 
 parties, than they fled in all directions, and 
 peace was restored. After a speech had been 
 delivered by Mr. Sloane, a local brother and 
 leader went round with their hats, and gathered 
 the pence. 
 
 This disturbance in the yard had caused no 
 little interruption to the proceedings in the 
 chapel. One or two of the less gifted speakers 
 addressed the meeting, during the commotion. 
 When all had become orderly and quiet, the 
 manager called upon the Rev. Dr. Bellemont 
 to address the meeting. 
 
 The reverend gentleman forthwith run his 
 fingers through his hair, looked at his watch, 
 stepped forward to the front of the stage, bowed 
 to the manager, then to the house, and thus he 
 spake : 
 
 " Mr. Chairman, and Christian friends. It
 
 THE MISSIONARY MEETING. 247 
 
 affords me, Sir, I assure you, no ordinary plea- 
 sure, to see you occupying the chair on this 
 occasion. This is not the first time that you 
 have lent your influence and abilities to pro- 
 mote the magnificent cause of Missions. And 
 what, I ask, can confer upon any human being 
 such high dignity such ennobling honour 
 such grand distinction, as the becoming a co- 
 worker with the Almighty in the advancement 
 of the comprehensive and sublime scheme of 
 the regeneration of a fallen world? (Hear hear) 
 Gabriel the archangel would gladly wing his 
 rapid flight from the empyreal abodes of glory, 
 to occupy the place, Sir, which you this even- 
 ing fill. (Great cheers) It is an honour that 
 would be eagerly caught at by principalities 
 and powers. It hath however pleased God, 
 to confer upon man the high honour of co- 
 operation with him in the salvation of a fallen 
 world. He has passed by the nature of angels, 
 and has taken man up into his eternal counsels. 
 (Hear, hear.) Our Saviour has given forth the 
 command ' Go and preach the gospel to every
 
 248 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 creature.' As if he had said, ' I have left the 
 bosom of my Father, where I enjoyed the in- 
 finite beatitude of the Divine nature, and the 
 supreme administration of regal power, dwell- 
 ing in unapproachable glory, encircled by the 
 august assemblage of bright and holy spirits, 
 and have descended, step by step, from the 
 lofty heights of uncreated glory to this dark- 
 some earth ; and having shrouded my glory in 
 a form of clay, I have penetrated the dark- 
 est" caves of human sorrow, and have descended 
 to the deepest abyss of human degradation and 
 misery, to purchase for a lost world its re- 
 demption. Hasten then, at my bidding, and 
 proclaim to this perishing world the words of 
 salvation. Take the blood, and sprinkle it on 
 the condemned sinner, that the destroying an- 
 gel touch him not. Rest not in your career of 
 mercy, until the last son of Adam shall have 
 heard the tidings of salvation." (What with 
 the eloquence of this passage, and the violent 
 shaking of the speaker's head, and the impetu- 
 ous flow of words, the people were electrified.)
 
 THE MISSIONARY MEETING. 249 
 
 When the stamping and cheering had ceased, 
 the reverend Doctor proceeded to say, " Have 
 we, Christian brethren, fulfilled the parting com- 
 mand of our Lord ? We have not obeyed his 
 injunction ; and think ye, that we shall escape 
 retribution ? We cannot slight the commaud 
 of God with impunity. The blood of perishing 
 millions stains the skirts of our garments, and 
 will bear witness against us at the day of 
 judgment. The men of Tyre and Sidon, of 
 India and Africa, shall be the accusers of the 
 Christian. England, exalted to heaven with 
 privileges, shall be cast down to hell : and the 
 mill-stone which shall hang the heaviest, and 
 sink the nation the lowest in the pit of perdi- 
 tion, will be the sin of having neglected to 
 send the bread of life to the famishing millions 
 of the human race. (Hear, hear.) Why I ask is 
 it that a sma,ll speck in the sea should be made 
 the seat of so much greatness ? should possess 
 such unlimited dominion and power ? Why is 
 it that her dominions extend from sea to sea, 
 'so that the sun never sets upon her territo-
 
 250 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 ries'? God has given to our country this power 
 and influence to be used for his glory, to be 
 subservient to the interests of his kingdom, 
 to spread the knowledge of his gospel. But 
 alas ! this power is exercised for purposes 
 other than was intended. It is used to extend 
 our commerce, to spread mere civilization, and 
 to widen our dominions. (Hear, hear.) 
 
 " If the State be thus guilty of dereliction of 
 duty, we may surely expect that the Church is 
 not remiss in the performance of its obligations. 
 Alas, Sir, the different sections of the Church 
 are doing little else than seeing how much they 
 can hate and speak evil one of another. In- 
 stead of co-operating, they are separated into 
 fierce divisions. No great good can be accom- 
 plished till the middle wall of partition which 
 bigotry has reared, has been broken down, and 
 crumbled in the dust. (Hear, hear.) Yes, Sir," 
 said the speaker, turning to the manager, to 
 bid him listen to something good, " the strong 
 iron-breasted wall of Apostolical Succession 
 must be demolished to the earth. This great
 
 THE MISSIONARY MEETING. 251 
 
 wall of Babylon must be levelled to the ground. 
 (Great applause.) It is a matter, Sir, of deep 
 regret, that the authorised clergy of this king- 
 dom should have been so lukewarm in the mis- 
 sionary cause. For who can tell the great 
 things which might have been accomplished by 
 the successors of the apostles ! (Ironical cheers) 
 They would have been able to have wrought 
 superhuman signs and wonders, like unto the 
 apostles ; and who can tell the millions of 
 heathen who would have been converted to the 
 truth by men possessing miraculous power ! It 
 surely is a wondrous phenomenon to find men 
 attempting, in these days of enlightenment, to 
 propagate a dogma so monstrously iniquitous 
 so insanely absurd so awfully arrogant, 
 as that of the Apostolical Succession. (Hear, 
 hear.) They alone are the conductors of Divine 
 grace; through them alone does the stream of 
 electric energy pour itself which is to agitate 
 and quicken the valley of dry bones. (Great 
 applause.) It is the talismanic touch of one of 
 these conductors which constitutes one man a
 
 252 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 successor of the apostles, and another a lawful 
 priest, and makes them that they can with a 
 word turn the bread and wine into the body 
 and blood of Christ; the baptismal font into 
 more than the pool of Siloam, and absolve 
 from sins. These, Sir, are the dreadful dogmas 
 that are taught in the high places of the 
 Church ; and they are eagerly embraced by the 
 young and ambitious of the clergy. It requires 
 no great foresight to see the ultimate effects of 
 these doctrines. The Roman Church sees them 
 and rejoices. The Pope, restless on his ponti- 
 fical throne, is ready to start forward and grasp 
 the sceptre of this empire, and again light up 
 the fires of martyrdom throughout the land. 
 (Great cheers)* We have an arduous task before 
 us to fight against infidelity, popery, and hea- 
 thenism. But God is on our side ; let us not be 
 afraid, though the heathen rage, and the infidel 
 
 * Rest awhile, my gentle Doctor; take your breath, and 
 cool a little, and collect your thoughts, and inform the au- 
 dience, on what authority you found your statements with 
 respect to the doctrine of Apostolical Succession.
 
 THE MISSIONARY MEETING. 253 
 
 and the papist imagine a vain thing. I shall 
 not detain you by depicting to your imagina- 
 tion the horrors of heathenism, as that will be 
 much better done by those who have to follow 
 me. The fields are white already for the har- 
 vest, and woe be to us if we send not labourers 
 to reap them." The reverend Doctor now sat 
 down, amidst thundering applause. 
 
 The manager, as soon as the cheering had 
 subsided, rose and said, " I have the great plea- 
 sure of introducing to your notice, Tom-a-haw- 
 ra-ja, a converted Indian Chief, who will ad- 
 dress you." 
 
 The great lion of the meeting then stalked 
 forward, and exhibited the same performance 
 as in the yard, except the war-dance ; for the 
 stage was too narrow, and too many of the 
 performers were troubled with corns, for that 
 to come off. In lieu of it, however, he uttered 
 several of his wildest war-cries, which made 
 the house ring, and the ears of the audience 
 tingle. He delivered a short address in broken 
 English, wherein he declared the time and
 
 254 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 place of his conversion, and his determination 
 when he returned home, to turn his wigwam 
 into a chapel, and convert the whole of his tribe 
 to the Christian faith. He then read over the 
 motion which he had in his hands, but of the 
 meaning of which he had no distinct idea; and, 
 bowing to the company and the manager, he 
 said, " Me tank you white lady and gentleman 
 for you give ear to my words, and for bein so 
 please with my doings. I shall tell my people 
 when I go back, what fine things me see, and 
 how me like the white lady, and what the good 
 Jesus be doin in this land, and me be glad if 
 any of you Christian brother or sister would 
 come to my country, and my people shall do 
 some kind to you as you do some kind to me. 
 And now, my white brothers and sisters, and 
 you too my black brother, to you all me must 
 say, as my gud father, Mr. Bunting, told me to 
 say, 'though me cannot sake hands with you 
 all, me do so in my heart.' And dis be all I 
 have to say." He then with some difficulty,
 
 THE MISSIONARY MEETING. 255 
 
 retreated to his seat, amidst the most deafen- 
 ing cheers from all sides of the house. 
 
 The manager, as soon as silence was regained, 
 rose and said, " I have the pleasure of intro- 
 ducing to you, an old and tried friend, Mr. 
 William Lawson, whose praise is in all the 
 churches." 
 
 Mr. Lawson, having fitted his wig, and 
 hitched up his small-clothes, thus addressed 
 the meeting : 
 
 "Mr. Chairman, and Christian Friends, 
 It is not so easy a thing as some people ima- 
 gine, to speak before a large audience. When 
 a speaker has got ready a cut-and-dried speech, 
 and has delivered it forty -nine times, he won't 
 find much difficulty in delivering it the fiftieth. 
 To such a man, speaking generally is no hard 
 thing. (Hear, hear.) There may be a case, 
 however, when he will be considerably bother- 
 ed when his cut and dry won't quite answer ; 
 as when a previous speaker takes part of his 
 speech, or exhausts his pet subject ; or when 
 he has delivered his crack speech at the place
 
 256 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 before. Now, Mr. Chairman, this is my case. 
 I have spoken here so often that I am quite 
 fast for something new; and the very subject 
 on which I had collected a few thoughts has 
 been quite exhausted by a previous speaker. 
 He has robbed me, not only of my subject but 
 of many of my thoughts, and stands indicted at 
 the bar for grand larceny. (Hear, hear.) There 
 are however, two subjects which he has left 
 me, for he could not very easily have taken 
 them off without leading to detection and con- 
 viction: those are, my brethren, the Indian 
 Chief and the Converted Negro Missionary. 
 (Hear, hear.) How it was that he left them, 
 I know not; whether he had more valuable 
 spoil to capture, or whether he was put off his 
 design by some alarm, or whether it was his 
 dread of the tomahawk, which deterred him, 
 I know not. Whatever was the cause, he has 
 left them untouched, and now I have no lack of 
 matter for a short speech. 
 
 "The presence of our two foreign brethren 
 reminds me of that infidel argument which has
 
 THE MISSIONARY MEETING. 257 
 
 been brought forward time after time, to over- 
 throw the Mosaic account of the origin of man- 
 kind from one pair. The infidel used to ask, 
 how the black man, and the yellow man, and 
 the brown man could all come from a white 
 man ? What a fool to put such a question ! If 
 one of these knowing gentlemen would walk 
 with me some fine morning over my farm, I'd 
 soon show him in the different breeds of sheep, 
 horses, and oxen, full as great a variety as he 
 can find in the different races of men. Learned 
 men are now come to the conclusion that every 
 variety in the human family is easily to be 
 accounted for, by the influence of climate 
 and other outward circumstances, and that 
 mankind are sprung originally from one com- 
 mon stock. (Great cheers.) We hail you, bro- 
 ther Wesley, and you, brother Ha-re-badger, 
 as allied to us by the same blood, though your 
 colour is darker. Should I be changed into a 
 brute, I wonder, if I were to black my face? 
 (Hear, hear.) When we were for sending the 
 gospel to the poor degraded negro, 'It's no use 
 R
 
 258 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 doing that,' said these wise men, ' you may as 
 well preach it to the ourang-outang, or the 
 black bear. What use is it, to talk about sav- 
 ing the souls of those who have none to save ?' 
 We have taken the wise in their own craftiness ; 
 we have tried the experiment; we have applied 
 the load-stone of the gospel, and have fetched 
 out the immortal gem. (Hear, hear.) We have 
 found the jewel the same the casket only a 
 little darker. (Hear, hear.) We have proved 
 the gospel applicable to all nations, of what- 
 ever colour, of whatever clime. It is the great 
 civilizer, as well as christianize!' of the world. 
 There is a deal of talk, now-a-days, of civiliz- 
 ing the savages, by merely human means. Let 
 the plan be tried, and we shall soon see how it 
 will work. I say that it will not answer. (Hear, 
 hear.) They'll soon get to see that civiliza- 
 tion is but another word for unjust possession. 
 (Hear, hear.) Your fine civilizers have gene- 
 rally proved robbers and destroyers. Plant the 
 cross among them, gather them round it, preach 
 Christ to them ; and you'll soon see the dark
 
 THE MISSIONARY MEETING. 259 
 
 visage melt into softness, the cruel eye weep 
 with tenderness, the savage breast subdued into 
 gentleness, the weapons of destruction turned 
 into implements of agriculture, and the war- 
 cry changed into the song of peace. (Great 
 applause.) As I was coming along by the rail- 
 road this morning, I could not help drawing 
 in my mind a parallel between railroads and 
 Missionary operations. The different Mission- 
 ary Societies, I thought, are like so many rail- 
 way companies, established to convey passen- 
 gers from different parts of the world to the 
 land of Canaan. And, thank God, I don't 
 know any company that's so nourishing as our 
 own. We have stations in almost every part 
 of the world, (Hear, hear.) and some of them 
 on a very large scale ; and many long lines of 
 railway, and a variety of carriages, of the first 
 class, and the second class, and the third class, 
 and more passengers on our lines than are to 
 be found on any others. (Hear, hear.) Thank 
 God, we have powerful engines, and they don't 
 require much time to get up the steam; and 
 R 2
 
 260 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 there's no company on whose lines there is 
 such fast travelling as the Wesleyan. (Hear, 
 hear.) Now, brethren, I know many of you 
 would be very glad if any body would tell you 
 of a profitable way of investing your money. 
 If I were to say to you, * If there is any gentle- 
 man present who has a few thousand pounds 
 which he wishes to invest, if he will meet me 
 in the vestry after service, I can tell him of a 
 plan whereby he may quickly double it,' how 
 delighted would some of you be, and how 
 anxious to hear the plan. Now I have to 
 propose to you a scheme, which, if you will 
 engage in it, will pay you, for every pound you 
 may embark in it more than ten pounds. I 
 propose then to establish a railway in China. 
 (Hear, hear.) The sum required to form it will 
 be about five thousand pounds, to be raised in 
 five pound shares. It's a safe speculation not 
 the least risk ; and will ensure large premiums. 
 (Hear, hear.) Mr. Chairman, I must put you 
 down for a share, I suppose."
 
 THE MISSIONARY MEETING. 261 
 
 " I must see the prospectus first," answered 
 Mr. Hocking. 
 
 " Well, Sir, then," continued Mr. Lawson, 
 "I will have one sent you, and I hope that 
 there will be found a great number of persons 
 in this large town, who will buy shares. I 
 mean to take a share or two ; and if I'd plenty 
 of money, I'd take fifty shares, so sure am I of 
 its answering. We are met to-night to promote 
 the general interest of the Wesleyan Railway 
 Company. The directors are about fast on 
 some lines, for want of money. Don't suffer 
 the work to stand still for want of funds. 
 There's no lack of steam; no, bless God, he 
 will always see that there is plenty of that. 
 What we want is money to keep the engines, 
 and carriages, and stations, and lines, in repair; 
 and to make new ones. And oh ! brethren, what 
 a large splendid place must the New Jerusalem 
 terminus be! How delightful it will be to 
 stand, and watch the different trains come in, 
 and to see some poor African, or Chinese pas- 
 sengers get out of our carriages, and hear them
 
 262 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 praising God for a methodist rail-road. How 
 glad shall we then be to be able to think I 
 had a share in that line, and so a share in their 
 salvation." The speaker now sat down, amidst 
 the most deafening applause from all sides of 
 the house. 
 
 When the cheering had subsided, the mana- 
 ger proposed to the meeting the motion which 
 had been moved by the Indian Chief, and not 
 seconded by Mr. Lawson. He said "I have the 
 satisfaction of calling upon the reverend Paul 
 Wesley, a converted Negro Missionary, to ad- 
 dress the meeting." 
 
 The reverend gentlemen, having advanced to 
 the front of the stage, and laid hold of the rail, 
 spoke thus : " Mr. Chairman, and dear English 
 friends, I feels it to be a hard task, uncustom'd 
 as I am to public speech before a big number 
 of white laties and gentleman. (Hear, hear.) 
 But as de former speaker did say, dat though 
 me be black man, yet me be brudder to you all. 
 (Hear, hear.) I wish me be a Romish Priest, 
 den me would transubstantiation poor black
 
 THE MISSIONARY MEETING. 263 
 
 man into a fine white man, and den you would 
 gib attentive ear to my word. (Hear, hear.) 
 Me read in de Bible, dat de great God, made of 
 one blood all nations dat do live on de earth ; 
 so though me be black man, de same red blood 
 runs in my veins. (' Let us see it,' cried out a 
 man in the pit.) Look here," said the speaker, 
 seizing his under lip, and pulling it down to 
 the extremity of his chin, "you see de red blood 
 as bright a red, as de white man. And-if you 
 see de blood dat run down de back ob de poor 
 negro, when flogged by de slave driver, you no 
 more doubt ob de blood not being red. What 
 dreadful afflictions has been put upon de black 
 man. I see many time, poor children and poor 
 women lying bleeding on de road. (Great 
 moans.) Dis patch on my head was from de 
 blow ob a slave driver. And I hab a bad place 
 on my arm, vich I will sow you. (Mr. Wesley 
 was about to take off his coat, but Mr. Oldton 
 stopped him.) I bless God dat ever de Mis- 
 sionary come to my country. Me be knowing 
 noting about Jesus Christ, if he neber come
 
 264 . THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 to teach poor negro. (' Speak up, Mr. black 
 man,' cried a voice from the lobby.) Me try 
 to speak up, Mr. white man ; and me tell you, 
 dat de devil not like me going to hear de Mis- 
 sionary. He tell me dat he would have noting 
 to do wid me, if I go to de chapel. 'Vedy 
 well,' I said, ' me don't care ' bout dat ; me vill 
 go to de chapel, for me find it good to my 
 soul.' ( You hab no soul,' said de devil. 'De 
 Missionary tell you a lie when he say you hab 
 a soul : he want to make you tink you hab, dat 
 he may get you to de chapel, and he murder 
 you some dark night.' 'Missionary a good 
 man,' I said, 'he no murder black man : he 
 tell me about Jesus Christ how he die for me, 
 and now is gone to heaven.' ' He none die for 
 black man,' said de devil, 'he die but for de 
 white man : the Missionary tell you lie.' Den 
 I kneel down and pray, and said, ' Oh Jesus 
 Christ, dat is in heaven, tell me if you die for 
 de black man ; tell me if you die for me ; and 
 I seem to hear a roice say, Jesus Christ do die 
 for de black man, and me felt so happy, dat I
 
 THE MISSIONARY MEETING. 265 
 
 shout out ' blessed Jesus, die for poor negro !' 
 and I go to tell de Missionary as me feel dat 
 Jesus die for me ; and he sing, ' Praise God 
 from whom all blessing flow,' and he tell me 
 dat me be converted. (Hear, hear.) It be a day 
 vich me neber forget, when me was mancipate 
 from slavery ; but dat is noting to de manci- 
 pate from sin, and de devil. Me vant de poor 
 negro to know dat Jesus die for him. Oh, 
 Christian people, send him de gospel, make a 
 big railroad in de black man's country, to take 
 de poor negro to de heavenly Canaan. Put 
 on de steam, and let de smoke come out of 
 your pocket; (Hear, hear.) and den wen you 
 meet de black man train, at de big station, the 
 negro tank you for de railroad, and you sail, 
 sine forth as a star ob de first mangitude, in 
 de kingdom of heaven." Mr. Wesley read over 
 the motion, and resumed his seat amidst a 
 mingling of cheers, stamping, and clapping of 
 hands, that could only be surpassed by the 
 dinning plaudits excited by a brilliant piece of 
 acting at Drury Lane.
 
 266 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 " It is my pleasing task," said the manager, 
 " to introduce to your notice, two very old and 
 intimate friends Mr. Oldton, and the collec- 
 tion." (Immense cheering.) 
 
 The reverend orator arose and stood, with a 
 half-jocose and half-benevolent countenance, 
 waiting for the plaudits to cease. When si- 
 lence was obtained, he said, " Mr. Chairman, 
 and my Christian friends. I believe, Sir, that 
 I should, through the kindness of my old 
 friends, succeed very well, if it were not that I 
 am always compelled to stand godfather to the 
 collection. (Hear, hear.) 
 
 "Supported, however, by the remembrance 
 of past favours, I will address myself to my 
 task. It is now, Sir, thirty years since I first 
 raised my voice in behalf of the glorious cause 
 of Missions. (Hear, hear.) I have travelled 
 since that time many thousand miles, and deli- 
 vered many hundred speeches, for the benefit 
 of Missions. And, Sir, do I repent my labours ? 
 Am I growing weary in the good cause ? Oh ! 
 no, Sir. When I see two such splendid trophies
 
 THE MISSIONARY MEETING. 267 
 
 of Missionary enterprize as are now on this 
 platform, my heart expands afresh with earnest 
 zeal, and heaven- inspired energy for the salva- 
 tion of the poor degraded heathen. (Hear, hear) 
 Let the mouth of the infidel and the scorner be 
 for ever stopped, who would tell us that the 
 Negro is a being only half a remove from an 
 irrational brute. We, Sir, have had a full and 
 demonstrative proof this evening, that a man of 
 colour possesses all the faculties and capabili- 
 ties of a rational being. (Hear, hear.) I, for 
 one, Sir, am not ashamed of calling a man of 
 colour my brother. I give to both my foreign 
 brethren the right hand of Christian fellowship, 
 (Mr. Oldton here shook hands with Mr. Wes- 
 ley and the Chief.) and give them too, Sir, 
 the hearty shake of Christian love. (Great 
 cheers.) 
 
 " I am happy, Sir, to inform you and this 
 congregation that a strong Missionary feeling 
 is excited in the Presbyterian church of Scot- 
 land. I have been over there, Sir, lately ; and 
 can tell you that Christian charity is there pre-
 
 268 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 vailing; bigotry, that scourge of the church, 
 is giving way before the benign influence of 
 Christian love. (Hear, hear.) I had the privi- 
 lege, Sir, of pleading the cause of Missions in 
 the pulpit of the illustrious Chalmers; (Hear, 
 hear.) and I wore, too, the mantle of that great 
 man. I preached, Sir, an hour and a half with 
 more than ordinary freedom ; and we got, Sir, 
 at the collection, the noble sum of one hundred 
 and ten pounds, fifteen shillings, and fourpence 
 halfpenny. (Hear, hear.) 
 
 "I have also been in Ireland lately, Sir ; and 
 there, too, there is a revived Missionary feeling. 
 (Hear, hear.) When I think, Sir, of that fine 
 and rich country the Eden of Europe, I am 
 ready to weep! How long shall the enemy 
 triumph how long shall Popery desolate that 
 fair region ? The doom of the Babylonian har- 
 lot is sealed, and though the Puseyites may try 
 to prolong her life, yet all will be in vain ; her 
 fate is irrevocably sealed. (Hear, hear.) I was 
 very much struck, the other day, Sir, with a 
 remark made by an old woman, who came up
 
 THE MISSIONARY MEETING. 269 
 
 to me, after I had done preaching at a village 
 in Staffordshire. ' Brother Oldton,' said she to 
 me, 'there are a sort of devils abroad now, 
 which can only be cast out by much prayer, 
 and strong faith, and great self denial.' There 
 is a deal of truth in this remark. Sir. If we 
 expect to see the Papacy demolished idolatry 
 overthrown, and pure Christianity universally 
 established, we must pray more earnestly, and 
 exercise much stronger faith, and practise great- 
 er self-denial. (Hear, hear.) I was very much 
 pleased a few weeks ago, with an instance 
 of self-denial, in the case of an old man in 
 Cornwall. At a Missionary Meeting, at which 
 I had the pleasure of attending in that county, 
 a poor collier rose up, and said, 'From this 
 time, I shall give up tobacco, and give what I 
 spend in that luxury, to save the poor heathen 
 from perishing.' (Hear, hear.) Retrench, my 
 brethren, your luxuries ; deny yourselves even 
 of your comforts. (Hear, hear.) This is the 
 practical proof of our love to Christ, and of our 
 love to souls, when we give out of our penury.
 
 270 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 Your love, my friends, to the noble cause of 
 Missions has ever been conspicuous. You have 
 ever given abundantly of your money, and now 
 you are about to give of your own selves to the 
 Lord. It delights me, Sir, to inform you that 
 our excellent brother Cropper has come for- 
 ward, and offered himself as a missionary to 
 the benighted tribes of Africa. (' But he shan- 
 ner go !' cried out a poor weeping woman ; 
 'he's been suaded to it, and he shanner go: he 
 is my only child, and all I'n got to trust to for 
 a livin.') We cannot imagine," continued the 
 speaker, " the painful feelings which must ago- 
 nize the heart of an affectionate mother, when 
 about to be separated, perhaps for ever, from 
 her only child. I can sympathise with you, 
 dear sister, in your heavy distress. It is indeed 
 a severe trial for you. If you cast your care 
 upon the Lord, be assured that he will enable 
 you to bear it, with cheerful submission. The 
 prospect of your son, being employed in the 
 glorious work of evangelising the perishing 
 heathen, should make you rejoice rather than
 
 THE MISSIONARY MEETING. 271 
 
 weep. For his will be the distinguished hon- 
 our of unfurling the blood-stained banner of 
 the cross, amongst the degraded and polluted 
 sons of the apostate Ham." 
 
 Turning to Mr. Cropper, the speaker pro- 
 ceeded to say, " Magnanimous is the resolve of 
 your high-toned mind, generous is the impulse 
 of your benevolent spirit, glorious is the object 
 at which you are aspiring, and illustrious is the 
 recompense that shall crown your career. Go 
 on, then, brother, for yours is the noblest en- 
 terprise the most glorious work that can en- 
 gage the thoughts and exertions of a human 
 being. (' Go on yorsen, if it's sich a grand 
 thing,' said the heart-broken mother, as she left 
 the chapel.) 
 
 " I am grieved to say, Sir," continued the 
 speaker, " that the expenditure of our Society 
 has, within the last year, gone far beyond the 
 income ; and unless some great and extraordi- 
 nary effort is made, the Committee will be 
 obliged to break up some of the stations, and 
 take off some of the carnages. But, Sir, t
 
 272 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 know the feeling of this congregation too well 
 to think for one moment that they will allow 
 this to be done. (Hear, hear. ) They will one 
 and all come forward, and furnish to the Con- 
 nexion and to the world, a convincing proof of 
 their firm resolve to meet to the utmost of their 
 ability the increasing demands on their Chris- 
 tian liberality." The reverend orator resumed 
 his seat amidst long-continued applause. 
 
 The Chairman rose, and ordered the collec- 
 tion to be made, and advised the people to keep 
 their places, to prevent confusion. 
 
 The collection being made, a vote of thanks 
 was proposed to the chairman for the very able 
 manner in which he had discharged the respon- 
 sible duties of his office. A second vote of 
 thanks was proposed to the deputation for their 
 most valuable assistance. A third vote of 
 thanks was proposed by Mr. Oldton to the 
 ladies, for the zealous discharge of their duty 
 as collectors ; in doing which, he said, " The 
 ladies, Sir, demand from us our warmest 
 thanks. They are ever the foremost in every
 
 THE MISSIONARY MEETING. 273 
 
 good work. We could not carry on our mis- 
 sionary operations without them. They are 
 the secret springs of the machinery. May God 
 bless them in their work of love." 
 
 The benediction was pronounced, and the 
 meeting broke up. 
 
 The whole company of the performers, and a 
 great number of wealthy friends, took supper 
 at Mr. Steanes'. The entertainment was of a 
 most sumptuous description, and the evening 
 was passed in drinking spirits, smoking pipes, 
 cracking jokes, and talking big things of the 
 Connexion, the whole concluding with a hymn 
 and prayer.
 
 THE CONVEBTED SQUIEE.
 
 THE CONVERTED SQUIRE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 "l THINK, VERILY IF THE GOSPEL BE TBDE, I AM SAFE." 
 
 Wesley. 
 
 The conversion of James Rivers, Esquire, is 
 accounted an event so wonderful, that I cannot 
 do better than give the history of it in the 
 convert's own language. It was at a love-feast 
 where I first heard it. The substance of it 
 is as follows : 
 
 " Dear Christian brethren and sisters. If 
 ever there was a poor sinner, that need be 
 thankful, I am he. I was born in sin, and 
 shapen in iniquity, and I went astray from my 
 mother's womb. I was not blessed with pious 
 parents. They were of the moral church-going 
 s3
 
 278 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 sort; as good as their neighbours, and so, of 
 course, all right. The watchmen on the walls 
 of the Established Zion were all asleep, and 
 their lamp of truth was out. And they would 
 have been in this state now, had not our bless- 
 ed founder and his colleagues gone round the 
 walls, and blown a loud blast with the gospel 
 trumpet, and roused them from their slumber. 
 I grew up a wild harum-scarum fellow; took 
 pleasure in nothing but hunting, racing, and all 
 sorts of mad sports. I gambled away my money 
 to the ruin of my soul. I went by the name of 
 madman Rivers, and I must have been mad. I 
 often think I was possessed with a legion of 
 devils. Every body began to think that all 
 hope of my amendment was cut off-^-and I was 
 safe to go to hell. And the devil, I've no 
 doubt, had got ready a pretty warm place for 
 me, and had written over it in flaming letters, 
 ' This is taken for James Rivers, who is expect- 
 ed here soon.' But I was not quite such sure 
 game for the infernal poachers as they ima- 
 gined. May God grant that the spiritual game-
 
 THE CONVERTED SQUIRE. 279 
 
 keepers may be always on the watch, and drive 
 the poaching devils out of the heavenly pre- 
 serves, down to their infernal prison. Well, to 
 come to the point. I was going down the vil- 
 lage one Sunday, and in passing our chapel, I 
 stopped at the door to listen. The preacher 
 was speaking from the parable of the prodigal 
 son. The word came home to my heart. I 
 thought I was that prodigal son , I had wasted 
 my property in riotous living. I determined to 
 go to both my earthly and Heavenly father, 
 and crave forgiveness. I went straightway 
 home, opened my heart to my father, and 
 promised amendment. He frankly forgave me 
 all that was past. I then went up-stairs, and 
 knelt down to pray ; and was overwhelmed with 
 grief. I prayed aloud for mercy, but all was 
 of no use ; I felt no peace of mind. I went 
 to chapel the next Sunday, and stayed the 
 prayer-meeting : many fervent prayers were of- 
 fered up for my conversion, but they were not 
 then answered. Another week went on, and 
 sometimes I thought T had got the blessing,
 
 280 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 and then at others I thought I had not. I had 
 given up racing and hunting; and sold my 
 hunters, and sporting-books, and all my dogs, 
 except one. I kept a greyhound back. I would 
 not give up all for Christ, and so he wouldn't 
 have me for his disciple. Let me ask if there 
 is a soul here, that is seeking for liberty, and 
 cannot find it. I tell you, whoever you are, 
 that there is some idol to which you cling, and 
 which you must give up before you can be saved. 
 Well, you must know, that one morning about 
 five o'clock, I was wrestling in prayer for deli- 
 verance, and I was enabled to give up the grey- 
 hound; and then, praise the Lord! I entered 
 into liberty. I sang aloud the praises of the 
 Lord, and quite raised the house. My father 
 thought I must be insane ; all wondered at me ; 
 and I am still a wonder unto many. I am 
 going on to perfection. Thank God, the last 
 remains of sin are destroyed. I have disap- 
 pointed the devil and the infernal poachers ; 
 and I hope the place he prepared for me will 
 ever remain unoccupied, having written over it,
 
 THE CONVERTED SQUIRE. 281 
 
 ' To be let.' ('Unfurnished,' cried out a man in 
 the congregation) And now, glory be to God, 
 I have a mansion prepared for me in heaven 
 a mansion of light and glory. My name is 
 written on the door, so that you will all know 
 it ; and I can't conclude my long address in a 
 more christian-like manner, than by giving an 
 invitation to both young and old, to my hea- 
 venly mansion, assuring them of a hearty wel- 
 come and a cordial reception."
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 "l CAME TO MR. DELAMOTTE's, WHERE I EXPECTED A COOL 
 RECEPTION. BOX GOB PREPARED THE WAY BEFOBE ME, I WAS 
 
 WELCOMED IN SUCH A MANNER." Wesley. 
 
 Mr. Rivers immediately upon his conversion, 
 became a regular attendant upon the Wesleyan 
 ministry, and a member of the society. His 
 father being a consistent Churchman, was very 
 much opposed to his joining the Wesleyan so- 
 ciety, or attending the chapel. When he found, 
 however, that all his efforts to dissolve his con- 
 nection with a people whom he regarded as 
 schismatics and wild enthusiasts, were all in 
 vain, he quietly submitted to it, and comforted 
 himself with the reflection, " Well, it is cer- 
 tainly better for him to be a wild religious en- 
 thusiast, than a profligate and reckless gambler, 
 and I must wait awhile, and he will become 
 more sober-minded."
 
 THE CONVERTED SQUIRE. 283 
 
 It was a grand thing for Methodism at Stand- 
 field, that Mr. Rivers joined the society. The 
 " cause" had been for many years at a very low 
 ebb. There was a heavy debt upon the chapel ; 
 the Sunday-school had sadly fallen off, for want 
 of money to purchase books ; and the required 
 quarterage was with difficulty raised. Mr. Tozer 
 the superintendent, regarded the extraordinary 
 conversion of Mr. Rivers as an interposition of 
 Divine Providence, to raise up an instrument, 
 to revive and support the declining cause at 
 Standfield. Mr. Tozer and his colleagues made 
 no delay in doing their part in carrying out the 
 gracious designs of Providence, so clearly indi- 
 cated to them. Accordingly, Mr. Rivers was 
 soon appointed to the offices of class-leader, 
 Sunday-school treasurer, and society-steward. 
 He stood as a king on the little hill of Zion, 
 and ruled in the midst of the society. He 
 caused the chapel to be cleaned and painted ; 
 made for himself a large square pew, and lined 
 it with crimson cloth ; gave the society a vel- 
 vet pulpit cushion, and a handsome bible ; and
 
 284 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 proposed purchasing an organ to improve the 
 singing. Immediately on his accession to his 
 various offices, the funds were doubled. His 
 influence drew many to the chapel who had 
 never before passed its threshold ; and through 
 his exertions, numbers were added to the 
 society. 
 
 It occurred to Mr. Tozer, that he was in 
 some measure thwarting the designs of Provi- 
 dence in neglecting to make Mr. Rivers a 
 trustee to some of the circuit chapels. There 
 were great advantages to be obtained by this 
 step it would bind the Squire more fully to 
 the society, invest him with fancied power, 
 and would prove a profitable speculation to the 
 several trusts. He was pushed forward into 
 every position and engagement which might af- 
 ford a vent for his impetuous zeal and ready 
 liberality. He was eminently serviceable at 
 missionary meetings; for the bare announce- 
 ment in the hand-bills, that " the chair would 
 be taken by James Rivers, Esq., of Standfield 
 Hall," drew crowds of people to see the man
 
 'THE CONVERTED SQUIRE. 285 
 
 who had acquired such great notoriety. The 
 singularity of his manner, and his odd speeches 
 afforded great amusement on all missionary 
 occasions. 
 
 The clear-sighted representative of the Con- 
 ference saw, with unerring precision, that the 
 services of Mr. Rivers might be made useful to 
 the connexion generally, in replenishing the 
 treasury with money, and the class-books with 
 names. Mr. Tozer, therefore, took the earliest 
 opportunity of impressing upon the mind of 
 Mr. Rivers that the Lord designed him for a 
 wider sphere of usefulness than any he had 
 hitherto occupied. "For what purpose," said 
 he, with a divinely amiable tone, " brother 
 Rivers, have you been called out of darkness 
 into the marvellous light of the gospel, but in 
 order to let that light shine out to others? 
 You have been snatched, as a brand from the 
 burning, that you may be made an instrument 
 of snatching others from the fire. Look around, 
 and see the thousands there are, who are hurry- 
 ing on to destruction, and no one to stay them
 
 286 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 from ruin. Oh ! surely we cannot witness this, 
 and be unmoved. Woe be unto us, if sinners 
 perish, whom we might have saved. God calls 
 you to go forth, and stand between the living 
 and the dead, and stay the plague. Say not 
 within yourself, I am not qualified for so res- 
 ponsible an office. Every needful qualification 
 you possess ; you have a heart burning with 
 love for souls, and in the abundance of the 
 heart your mouth will speak. I shall propose 
 you at the next quarter-day, as a fit and proper 
 person to be received on the Plan. I commis- 
 sion you, however, to preach at Morton next 
 Sunday, and you must call upon me and tell 
 me of your success." 
 
 Mr. Rivers listened with the most profound 
 attention to Mr. Tozer's address, and thus re- 
 plied : 
 
 " I am glad, brother, that you have spoken 
 to me on the subject of the ministry. I have 
 had it a long time on my mind to speak to you 
 on the subject. I did not do it, for fear you 
 should think that I wanted to run before I was
 
 THE CONVERTED SQUIRE. 287 
 
 sent. I have for some time felt a deep im- 
 pression on my mind, that it was my duty to 
 call sinners to repentance. This conviction 
 has troubled me much of late. I prayed to 
 the Lord that, if it was his will that I should 
 preach, he would open the way for me. I 
 asked him to get you to mention the subject to 
 me, and it seems that he has done so. I feel 
 my unworthiness and insufficiency for so great 
 a work, but I look to God for strength. Sup- 
 pose we pray a bit, brother." 
 
 Having risen from their knees, Mr. Rivers 
 said, " I feel, brother, as if anointed with the 
 unction of the Spirit, for the office." 
 
 "Yes, brother," replied Mr. Tozer, "our 
 prayers ascended to the throne, and the bless- 
 ing has been given : you, brother, will prove a 
 polished shaft, in the Almighty's quiver." 
 
 "I called upon you," said Mr. Rivers, "to 
 pay you my subscription of five guineas to the 
 Auxiliary fund ; and I have been thinking over 
 what you said about Kingswood and Woodhouse 
 Grove schools, and I will subscribe five guineas
 
 288 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 annually to them. And, if we can raise a mis- 
 sionary meeting annually at Standfield, I will 
 give a sovereign at the collection, in addition 
 to my regular subscription." 
 
 "What a pleasure it is, brother," said Mr. 
 Tozer, with a heavenly smile, " to give of one's 
 money to promote the cause of God." How 
 apt we are to forget that property is a talent for 
 the use of which we shall have to give an ac- 
 count. What a sad thing it is, that so many 
 professing Christians should seem to entirely 
 lose sight of this serious fact. You, my brother, 
 feel the force of it : you are resolved to employ 
 your property to further the cause of Christ, 
 and in this way to lay up treasure in heaven. 
 
 " Now I think of it, brother," continued Mr. 
 Tozer, with an anxious look, "I have a little 
 matter to mention to you, about which I wish 
 for your advice. It is with respect to the horse 
 which the Circuit has lately bought for our use. 
 I was deputed by the Quarter-day to purchase 
 a nag for the use of myself and my colleagues. 
 No sooner did brother Nibbler, one of our local
 
 THE CONVERTED SQUIRE. 289 
 
 brethren, hear of it, than he waited upon me to 
 inform me that he had a mare, that would be 
 just the thing for me. ' Not,' said he, ( that I 
 want to part with her, for never was I so well 
 suited, and never shall be again: yet as you 
 are in need of one, and may find it difficult to 
 get suited, I will let you have my brown beauty; 
 and you shall have her, too, at a cheap rate, 
 seeing that she is wanted for the promotion of 
 the cause of God.' I agreed that he should 
 bring up his brown beauty for inspection. He 
 accordingly brought her up, and she certainly 
 looked uncommonly well. He assured me she 
 was only four years old, perfectly sound, as 
 quiet as a lamb, and went well in harness. 
 Being no great judge of horse-flesh, I trusted 
 to his honesty, and paid him sixteen pounds 
 for her. She turns out to be very unsound, an 
 undateable age, and frightfully unmanageable 
 in harness. I have seen brother Nibbler res- 
 pecting her, and he asserts that she was per- 
 fectly sound when she left his hands, that he 
 never told me her age, and that he did not say 
 T
 
 290 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 a word about her being quiet in harness. The 
 finest part of the business is, that he threatens 
 to report me to Conference, as having damaged 
 his character. This is how the case stands. I 
 should like you to see the brown beauty, and 
 advise me how to act in the matter. I have 
 been very much blamed by some of the bre- 
 thren for making so bad a bargain. They 
 ought rather to blame themselves, for deputing 
 so bad a judge of horse-flesh to make the pur- 
 chase. I don't suppose that we shall be able 
 to obtain any compensation in a court of jus- 
 tice, even if I could consent to go to law 
 before unbelievers. The only satisfaction to be 
 gained, is by expelling him from the society, 
 which shall speedily be done. What has 
 grieved me most in this unfortunate affair, is 
 the very unkind, yea, cruel remark, that was 
 made by one of the circuit stewards, respecting 
 the affair. He said that I ought to make up 
 the loss to the Circuit, out of my own pocket. 
 A likely thing, with my large family and slen- 
 der means ! How to get out of the difficulty I
 
 THE CONVERTED SQCTIRE. 291 
 
 know not. It is true that Conference is near, 
 and I shall then leave the circuit. In that way 
 I shall get out of it ; but I had rather go away 
 with the matter amicably settled." 
 
 "Be not alarmed," replied Mr. Rivers, "I 
 will see the matter peacefully concluded. I 
 have a horse that will just suit you, which you 
 shall have in exchange. I will sell the old 
 hack, and give whatever she fetches to the 
 missionary cause. 
 
 " I have not forgot, and I hope I shall never 
 forget, the sermon you preached a short time 
 ago at Standfield, on the right use of riches. 
 May God give me grace to employ all my tal- 
 ents to his glory." 
 
 " As you are about to engage in the work of 
 the ministry," said Mr. Tozer, "you had better 
 purchase some Wesleyan divinity. You should 
 have Mr. Wesley's works, and Mr. Watson's, 
 and Mr. Benson's Commentary: these are in- 
 dispensable. I can order them for you, from 
 the book-room. I have a second-hand copy of 
 Mr. Benson's Commentary, which I could sell 
 T 2
 
 292 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 you cheap. But as you want to go now, we 
 will talk over the matter of the books some 
 other time."
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 " MV SISTER RECEIVED THE ATONEMENT ON ST. PETER'S 
 DAY. AT THAT HOUR, ONE WHO HAD LONG CONTINUED IN 
 SIN, FROM A DESPAIR OF EVER FINDING MERCY, RECEIVED A 
 FULL CLEAR SENSE OF PARDONING MERCY, AND POWER TO 
 
 SIN NO MORE. Wesley. 
 
 Mr. Rivers preached on the following Sun- 
 day, at Morton, to a large congregation. He 
 returned with a heart gladdened by success. 
 No doubt now remained on his mind, as to his 
 call to the ministry, for God had given witness 
 to his divine mission by signs and wonders 
 such as had never been seen before in Morton 
 chapel. Seven persons professed to have re- 
 ceived the blessing of pardon, and he left a 
 great many under deep conviction, " wrestling 
 for the liberty of the gospel." His fame soon 
 spread through the neighbouring circuits, and 
 he received numerous "invitations" to preach
 
 294 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 occasional sermons. . His renown spread with 
 wonderful rapidity throughout the whole king- 
 dom. Each day brought additional applica- 
 tions for his services, in behalf of embarrassed 
 funds. Mr. Tozer became quite convinced that 
 Mr. Rivers was called to do the work of an 
 Evangelist, and he accordingly advised him to 
 dedicate himself to it. This advice was readily 
 taken, and speedily acted upon. 
 
 It was during one of his excursions, that I 
 heard him preach the following 
 
 SERMON 
 
 "'The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, 
 and all flesh shall see it together.' 
 
 " Isaiah was a good man ; he prophesied of 
 the coming of Christ. Why ! he has told us of 
 what we never could have known, hadn't he 
 declared it. Just read what he says about 
 the life and death of Christ. I am sure you 
 will think that he must have known him, and 
 all about him. How very grand are some of 
 the things which he says! How he feels for
 
 THE CONVERTED SQUIRE. 295 
 
 his kindred according to the flesh ! At the be- 
 ginning of the chapter, he seems to wish that 
 they may be comforted. ' Comfort ye, comfort 
 ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye com- 
 fortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that 
 her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity 
 is pardoned; for she hath received at the 
 Lord's hand double for all her sins.' Here's 
 comfort for you! to tell the people that all their 
 iniquity was pardoned ; yea, that it was doubly 
 pardoned. Here's mercy for you! that gives 
 twice as many pardons as sins committed. It 
 is like giving two good shillings for one bad 
 one. Take then, your bad shillings, which you 
 and the devil have forged, and change them for 
 good ones. Here's a chance for you to make 
 your fortune! it's a safe speculation. Take a 
 share in the Christian joint-stock banking-com- 
 pany, which is established by royal authority, 
 and has a capital of untold millions. It's 
 established to save those poor souls from ruin, 
 whohave been cheated by the forgers of hell. 
 Make haste ! delay not ! the policeman is after
 
 296 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 you on his white horse, and if he finds any 
 false coin upon you, you will be convicted of 
 forgery, and be transported for life to the bot- 
 tomless lake. Bring this night all your sins, 
 and you shall receive at the hands of the Lord, 
 double for them. I have made the exchange, 
 and a good bargain I have made. The Lord 
 had hard work to bring me to it. I was a very 
 rough one ; but he filed me down, and smooth- 
 ed me. I was a very crooked one ; but, bless 
 his name ! he softened the metal in the hot fire 
 of repentance, and then straightened me. And 
 now, here I am ! doing what ? scampering over 
 hedge and ditch after a fox ? No ! bless God, 
 I'm pursuing the devil full cry ; and I'll chase 
 him down to his infernal cover. 
 
 "It is now high time to be coming to my 
 text. But stop ! let us sing a verse. 
 
 The verse having been sung, Mr. Rivers then 
 proceeded, saying 
 
 " Well, now for it ! We remark in the first 
 place, that the glory of the Lord is revealed in 
 nature. The sun, moon, stars, fruitful seasons,
 
 THE CONVERTED SQUIRE. 297 
 
 plants, flowers, all things in nature, are full of 
 his glory. But in man the glory of the Lord 
 shines the most. He is nothing now, to what 
 he was in paradise. I should like to have seen 
 Adam and his sweet companion in the garden 
 of Eden, before they fell from their high estate. 
 It must have been a most delightful place to 
 have lived in, but it seems they were not satis- 
 fied with it ; they must try the forbidden fruit 
 O, Eve ! why didn't you keep your fingers off? 
 surely there was enough of pleasant fruits in 
 the garden, without taking of the forbidden 
 tree ! But she must be prying and meddling, 
 and so she tried it, and then she gave some to 
 Adam, and he tried it, and then it was all over : 
 the curse of God fell upon them and all their 
 posterity. Now you pray, whilst I preach. 
 
 " This leads us, secondly, to notice the glory 
 of God in redemption. Well, you know, when 
 they had eaten of the forbidden tree, they were 
 conscious that they had sinned; and were 
 frightened, and skulked behind the bushes, 
 and dursn't face the Almighty. In the evening
 
 298 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 the Lord walked in the garden as usual, and 
 called Adam out of his hiding-place : he came 
 forth trembling. 'Adam,' said the Almighty, 
 ' have you eaten of the forbidden tree ?' He 
 confessed that he had, but laid the blame on 
 his wife. Eve was then questioned in the 
 same way, and she laid the blame on the ser- 
 pent. If the serpent had been questioned, he 
 would, no doubt, have laid the blame on the 
 devil. And if the devil had been questioned, I 
 suppose he would have boldly taken all the sin 
 and blame upon himself. God had said, ' the 
 day that thou eatest of the fruit, thou shalt 
 surely die.' 
 
 "They waited in great fear, the infliction of 
 the punishment. The Lord, however, had de- 
 vised a plan, whereby he was able to be just, 
 and yet the justifier of the ungodly. You 
 know what plan that is : It was that the seed 
 of the woman should bruise the serpent's head ; 
 and -the seed of the woman came in due time 
 Jesus Christ, the great serpent-bruiser. He 
 has given the old serpent many hard blows :
 
 THE CONVERTED SQUIRE. 299 
 
 may God grant that he may give him a good 
 one to-day. When he was in the flesh, he 
 drove the devils out of their man-houses ; and 
 on the cross, he gave the serpent a blow on the 
 head, from which he has never recovered ; and 
 soon he will quite crush him. Keep your faith 
 up, whilst I pass on to the third part of our 
 subject, namely, glory in heaven. 
 
 " Heaven, I understand, is a very fine place. 
 Now we do not and cannot know much about 
 it. St. Paul was there, but we are no wiser for 
 his going, except that he tells us that he can- 
 iiot tell us anything about it. What a wonder- 
 ful man Paul was ! How mad he was against 
 the harmless Christians, breathing out threat- 
 ening and slaughter against them. He was fine 
 and glad as he went to Damascus, hoping to get 
 a feast of blood there. But the Lord had some- 
 thing better for him to do than going about 
 murdering his people. The Lord met him on 
 the road, and fetched him down to the ground ; 
 and he cried out. I wonder what you fine 
 ear'd Christians would have said, if you had
 
 300 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 been passing by, and heard him cry out. 
 Methinks you would have told him to get up 
 and hold his noise, and get on his horse, and 
 act like a rational being. Bless the Lord ! we 
 had some crying out for mercy this afternoon ; 
 six or seven were wrestling for liberty : bless 
 their precious souls, how they did sweat to get 
 loose. And, bless the Lord ! he set them at lib- 
 erty, and made them happy in his love. And 
 he is here this evening, as willing, and as 
 powerful as ever to save you from all your 
 sins. You in the gallery, and you below, look 
 to Jesus, and keep your faith up. 
 
 " Glory in heaven ! There will be many in 
 heaven, that Isaiah never knew, and the Apos- 
 tles never knew, out of all nations under hea- 
 ven. See how they crowd the throne. I hear 
 the rumbling of the chorus now. There will 
 be many there as the Lord saved under me. 
 And if you will go full lengths with his love, 
 he will save you. Many of you are on the 
 brink of hell. May the Lord have mercy upon 
 you ! Now sing a verse ; I am out of breath."
 
 THE CONVERTED SQUIRE. 301 
 
 After singing the verse beginning "I'll praise 
 my Maker whilst I've breath," he proceeded as 
 follows : 
 
 " What does St. Paul say ? Why he says, 
 that the afflictions of the present life are not 
 worthy to be compared with the glory that 
 shall be revealed. He was a good calculator ; 
 he knew what he was about ; he was not a 
 man that beat the air ; he held the scales in his 
 hand; he put into one, all his afflictions and 
 sufferings, and into the other the crown of 
 righteousness, and the crown bump'd the scale. 
 ' Now I'm off,' said he ; ' come world, come 
 devil, come fire, come sword ; I care for none 
 of you, I'm more than a match for you all, 
 through Him that hath loved me and given 
 himself for me.' And do you think that Paul 
 repents his bargain ? Not he, indeed. He is 
 now singing the praises of the Lamb, close to 
 the throne : I hear the rumbling of the chorus 
 now. When I get there I will sing as loudly 
 as any of them. I shall go up the golden 
 streets, and meet Abraham and shake hands
 
 302 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 with him, and ask him, how he felt when he 
 went up to Mount Moriah, to offer his darling 
 son Isaac, and make some inquiries after the 
 health of Lazarus. Then I shall meet David, 
 and get him to give me a tune on his harp 
 with solemn sound, and ask him to introduce 
 me to Elijah, and give me a sight of the chariot 
 of fire, in which he mounted up to heaven. I 
 shall then get an angel, perhaps Gabriel, to 
 take me to the mansion where the three He- 
 brew children live, and talk to them about 
 their state, when in the fiery furnace. I shall 
 drink of the fountain of life, play a tune on my 
 harp to try my instrument, and get up as near 
 to the throne as possible. 
 
 "I was a great rebel: God had much to 
 manage me. Glory be to God, I am a thorough 
 Methodist, blood, flesh, bones, all Methodist. 
 I wish you were all converted to God. Why 
 won't you ? You may if you "like. Yes, every 
 one in this chapel may be converted this very 
 night. 
 
 "You remember the case of the Philippian
 
 THE CONVERTED SQUIRE. 303 
 
 jailer. Paul and Silas, you know, were at 
 Philippi, and Paul cast an evil spirit out of a 
 damsel, who brought much gain to her masters 
 by divination. Now when her masters perceived 
 that the gains of their craft were all gone, they 
 were enraged at Paul, and got him cast into 
 prison, being thrust into the dampest and dark- 
 est cell. Paul will tell me all about it when I 
 get to heaven. Well, Silas says to Paul, 
 1 These irons rather hurt, Paul, and I fear this 
 damp cell will give us cold.' Paul says ' Never 
 mind Silas, so long as our hearts are warm and 
 free, let us sing a verse.' And they sang praises 
 to God. Not much to sing about, I dare say, 
 some of you think. Then Paul says ( Now 
 Silas, let us pray a bit.' ' I am quite willing,' 
 said Silas, and so Silas began to pray with great 
 power and freedom, and Paul joined him with 
 much fervour till they both got out of breath and 
 made a sudden stop, and the silence was broken 
 by a rumbling kind of noise. Then Paul says, 
 " what's up Silas ? That's a queer sort of noise 
 I hear, and some how or other the prison seems
 
 304 tHE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 to tremble. Don't you feel it shake ? "Just so," 
 says Silas, " for it makes my chains very much to 
 rattle." And no sooner had they spoken, than a 
 great earth-quake shook the prison, and their 
 chains fell off, and the doors of the prison flew 
 wide open. The jailer came to the apostles, 
 trembling, and cried out, ' What must I do to be 
 saved ?' and Paul replied, ' Believe in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.' * Let us 
 kneel down,' said Paul, * and pray for our friend 
 the jailer.' And they prayed with power, and 
 to the point. ' The blessing is coming,' said 
 Silas. ' It is come !' said the jailer : ' how mighty 
 happy I am. You must go home with me,' 
 said he, ' and get some refreshment.' So they 
 went with him. The jailer called up his wife ; 
 no pleasant thing to be called up in the middle 
 of the night, out of a warm bed. When she 
 saw her husband bringing to his house the two 
 prisoners, she was displeased with him ; but 
 when she found what they had done for the 
 soul of her husband, she received them with 
 joy. ' Now my dear,' said the jailer, ' let us
 
 THE CONVERTED SQUIRE. 305 
 
 have something to eat and drink for the serv- 
 ants of the Lord, and so she fetched out the 
 best meat she had in the house, and drew them 
 some drink from the best tap. After they had 
 eaten and drunken, Paul says, * we must have 
 the whole household saved, before we depart ;' 
 and so they set to praying again, and young 
 and old were all made happy in the love of 
 God, and they were all baptised. And if there 
 is any Baptists here, I should like to be asking 
 where they got the water from, if the household 
 was dipped ? (' From the same place,' said a 
 voice from the crowd, ' as the wife fetched the 
 drink from.") 
 
 There is one point in the text, to which I 
 must for a short time call your attention, name- 
 ly, the universal spread of the Gospel ; for the 
 text says, f that all flesh shall see the revealed 
 glory of God.' There does not seem much 
 appearance at present of the fulfilment of 
 this prophecy. The whole world is lying 
 in wickedness. The devil is deceiving the 
 nations. The old whore of Babylon is filling 
 u
 
 306 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 the earth with her abominations. So long as 
 popery prevails, the glory of God cannot be 
 revealed. Popery is the devil's masterpiece : 
 he may give up now, for he will never beat it. 
 Then there is the accursed system of Mahom- 
 medanism, half-Christian, half-Jewish, half- 
 Heathenish, a coat of many colours, which 
 the father of lies has made for his sons. And 
 then, there are the millions of heathens, who 
 are still in darkness. The time is coming when 
 all shall know the Lord, from the least to the 
 greatest. It will be uncommon nice, then, to 
 travel into foreign parts, for wherever you may 
 go, you will find a brother in Christ Jesus. 
 Steam will be very useful then to take Chris- 
 tians from one country to another, and for the 
 preachers to change their circuits. Think for 
 a moment what would be the blessed effect, 
 in our own country, if all people knew the 
 Lord. Why the Queen and Prince Albert 
 would go occasionally to City Road Chapel, 
 and give, what they now spend in worldly 
 show, to the cause of God. The houses of
 
 THE CONVERTED SQUIRE. 307 
 
 Parliament would be houses of prayer, and 
 the members would hold a sort of missionary 
 meetings in them. The prisons would be 
 turned into chapels, and the police would be- 
 come ministers of the gospel. Peace and love 
 would reign around. Who is there in this 
 chapel, that is not a well wisher of his coun- 
 try ? If, then, you wish to see your country 
 great and happy, come forward and give some- 
 thing to promote so good an object. We 
 want money for the chapel. If we have not 
 chapels, we cannot have preaching and public 
 worship, through which our land is to be made 
 glorious. Some of you are going to give cop- 
 per, others will give silver, and I hope some 
 will give gold, but I fear that many will give 
 nothing at all. If the devil tries to button up 
 your pocket, knock him down. Now go round, 
 and collect, and take your time."
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 "THE FIRST NIGHT i PREACHED HERE, HALF MY WORDS 
 
 WERE LOST THROUGH THE NOISE OF THEIR OUTCRIES. LAST 
 NIGHT, BEFORE I BEGAN TO PREACH, I GAVE PUBLIC NOTICE, 
 THAT WHOSOEVER CRIED SO AS TO DROWN MY VOICE, SHOULD 
 BE GENTLY CARRIED TO THE FURTHEST CORNER OF THE 
 ROOM BUT MY PORTERS HAD NO EMPLOYMENT THE WHOLE 
 
 NIGHT." Wesley. 
 
 As soon as the tinkling of the money had 
 ceased, Mr Rivers addressed the congregation 
 respecting the prayer-meeting, which was to 
 take place immediately on the close of the ser- 
 vice. He said, " I hope that none of you will 
 leave this chapel in an unsaved state. You 
 who are still in your sins and in your blood, 
 must by no means leave till your sins are par- 
 doned, and the favour of heaven smiles upon 
 you. The devil will want you to leave, for he
 
 THE CONVERTED SQUIRE. 309 
 
 does not like prayer-meetings; they damage 
 his kingdom too much for him. He found it 
 so this morning, for we had seven precious 
 souls converted. And if you will stop, we 
 shall have some more saved. And as for you, 
 my brethren, who have been saved by the 
 grace of God, you must by all means stay ; for 
 we shall want you to give us a helping hand 
 to some of these poor sin-sick folk who are 
 waiting for the moving of the waters, that they 
 may be healed, for some of them are so heavily 
 laden with sin that it will take at least half-a- 
 dozen strong-faith'd Christians to lift them into 
 the pool. We will sing a verse whilst our 
 brethren prepare for their work ; and when all 
 things is in readiness, my faithful servant John, 
 who has been my coachman for many years, 
 will address a few words to you." Whilst they 
 were singing " Come to Jesus," preparations 
 were being made for the prayer-meeting. Mr. 
 Rivers descended from the pulpit, and estab- 
 lished himself within the Communion-rails, 
 placing his hat and top-coat upon the Commu-
 
 310 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 nion-table. Whilst the people were seating 
 themselves, Mr. Rivers went into the vestry to 
 get a little port wine to invigorate him for the 
 work that was before him. Long forms were 
 placed near the Communion-rails for the use of 
 the penitents. The travelling preachers stood 
 with Mr. Rivers, against the Communion-table, 
 and several local preachers and leaders seated 
 themselves near to them. In a small seat near 
 the pulpit, was stationed a pressgang, whose 
 business it was to fetch obstinate penitents up 
 to the consecrated forms, using physical force, 
 if moral suasion failed. 
 
 The body of the chapel was densely crowd- 
 ed, and many were in vain trying to force their 
 way in. The pressure was so great, that many 
 cried out Mr. Rivers thought that they were 
 calling out for mercy ; so he exclaimed " Bless 
 the Lord ! there are signs of good doing ; I 
 hear some poor sinners crying out for mercy." 
 Some of the females fainted, and it was diffi- 
 cult to persuade Mr. River's coachman that they 
 were not in a trance. A great number were
 
 THE CONVERTED SQUIRE. 311 
 
 obliged to leave the chapel, on account of the 
 excessive heat. Mr. Rivers in vain attempted 
 to stop them, asking them if they could not 
 bear so little, how would they bear the fire that 
 would never be quenched ? A local preacher, 
 who stood near the door, closed it, and called 
 the chapel-keeper to lock it. "A good hit," 
 said the chapel-keeper, "for we shall in this 
 way lock the sinners in and the devil out ; so 
 that we must have them all saved." 
 
 As soon as the confusion and noise had in 
 some measure subsided, Mr. Rivers addressed 
 the people as follows : 
 
 " Let every heart be engaged in prayer. The 
 powers of darkness are here ; but prayer will 
 drive them out. Perseverence is the watch- 
 word of the saints. I met with a woman the 
 other day who had a deal to do to master the 
 devil. She could not find peace to her soul, 
 the devil so greatly buffeted her. She prayed 
 in her bed-room, but there the devil persecuted 
 her; she then went into the cellar to pray, 
 but there the devil followed her: she then
 
 312 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 went into the barn, and the devil was there 
 at her right hand. At last she got into a 
 barrel, and there the devil couldn't come, and 
 she obtained the pardon of her sins, and was 
 made happy in the love of God. Let us per- 
 severe in this way, to night, and we shall have 
 great rejoicing in our camp." 
 
 After the address, Mr. Rivers offered up the 
 following prayer : 
 
 " Oh Lord, God of hosts, who didst lead thy 
 ancient people out of Egypt, and didst drive 
 out of the land of Canaan the heathen nations ; 
 go forth this night with thy saints, and lead 
 them on to victory. (' Amen, Amen.') May the 
 devil and his infernal hosts be driven back to 
 their own place. ('Glory! glory!') Oh! snatch 
 the prey from the teeth of the mighty. Break the 
 chains of the captive. ( ' Break' em Lord.' ) Oh 
 Lord, we must have every soul here saved this 
 night. (' We mun.') May the word preached 
 this night be as a nail fastened in a sure place, 
 so that the devil with his hammer and infernal 
 pincers may not be able to wrench it out.
 
 THE CONVERTED SQUIRE. 313 
 
 (* Amen ! ' ' Glory !') We bless thee, we feel 
 thee drawing near. (' We do ! we do !') Send 
 us a Philippian earthquake and shake these 
 hard hearts, through Jesus Christ. Amen." 
 
 " And now," said Mr. Rivers, " our excellent 
 brother, the Rev. Jonathan Decoy, from the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church of America, will 
 delirer a short address, and may the Lord 
 bless his soul, and loosen his tongue, and bring 
 home his words with mighty power to the 
 hearts of all the sinners in the chapel." 
 
 Mr. Decoy did not hear Mr. River's an- 
 nouncment, as he was in the gallery, adminis- 
 tering a severe rebuke to some young men and 
 women, who were making merry sport of the 
 tumultuous doings that were going on in the 
 body of the chapel. A middle aged lady, of 
 good fortune, one of the reverend gentleman's 
 converts, (who followed him, from place to 
 place, to facilitate the fulfilment of a dream 
 which indicated to her, that she was to become 
 his wife) conveyed to him the purport of Mr. 
 River's speech. Mr. Decoy forthwith proceed-
 
 314 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 ed to the front of the gallery, and delivered the 
 following address. 
 
 " My dear British friends : as this is my first 
 visit among you, in this immediate vicinity, I 
 must needs tell you from whence I come, and 
 whither I go; and why I am found in this 
 chapel this evening. Whence do I come then ? 
 I come from the glorious and noble and free 
 land of America. (' Well done, Jonathan ! ' 
 said a voice from the corner of the chapel 
 ' very glorious, and free ! when they won't pay 
 their debts ! Go and convert the Pennsyl- 
 vanian rascals.') I must tell you my Christian 
 brethren," continued the reverend gentleman, 
 "that the Holy Spirit is being poured out upon 
 the people of America, in such overpowering 
 effusions, as to surpass all the predictions of 
 the word of God. Prophecy tells us that the 
 spirit shall descend like the gentle dew upon 
 the grass, but blessed be God, he is descending 
 like the falls of Niagara. ('I wish a few drops 
 would fall upon those Pennsylvanian rogues,' 
 said the same voice in a lower tone) I wish a
 
 THE CONCERTED SQUIRE. 315 
 
 good many drops," continued Mr. Decoy, " may 
 fall upon the individual who has the impiety 
 to interrupt me in my address. May the Lord 
 have mercy upon him ! Brethren, pray for 
 him, and we will have him converted, before 
 he leaves this chapel. I am just reminded 
 of a vision I had last night. I saw a man 
 of the middle size, dressed in black, with a 
 drab top-coat on, stand up in this chapel, 
 and lift up his voice against me, and I saw 
 the saints of the Lord gather around him, and 
 as they prayed for him, the spirit of the Lord 
 fell upon him, and he was changed from a 
 persecuter and blasphemer to a converted and 
 happy Christian. This perverse bawler, un- 
 doubtedly is the man, that I saw in my vision ; 
 so gather round him, faithful Christians, and 
 pray for him, and he is sure to be saved." 
 
 There were several gentlemen collected in 
 the corner, from whence the voice proceeded, 
 so that it was impossible to tell which was the 
 guilty party. One of the persons answered to 
 the description, of the man, whom Mr. Decoy
 
 316 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 had seen in the vision; he was accordingly 
 fixed upon as the transgressor, and was imme- 
 diately hemmed round by a troop of praying 
 saints. It was to no purpose, that he either 
 avowed his innocence or attempted to make his 
 escape. All were convinced of his guilt, all 
 were determined on his conversion. Nothing, 
 therefore, remained for the unfortunate gentle- 
 man, but to patiently bide his time. 
 
 " Blessed be God," said Mr. Decoy, continu- 
 ing his address, " we are having thousands, 
 every week, added to our societies in the United 
 States. People leave their business, shut up 
 their shops and their houses, and retire into the 
 mountain districts, and hold camp-meetings, 
 for weeks together, spending their time in 
 prayer and praise, having all things common, 
 like the first Christians. It must be left till 
 the day when God writeth up the people, for it 
 to be known how many thousands have been 
 born there. If I stay over the summer in this 
 country, I mean to try if I can't get up some of 
 these glorious meetings; and I doubt not but
 
 THE CONVERTED SQUIRE. 317 
 
 that we should find them blessed with the most 
 plentiful effusions of the Holy Spirit. I must 
 tell you, my dear Christian friends, that my 
 labours in this country have not been in vain. 
 It has pleased the great Head of the Church to 
 give me some thousands of precious souls for 
 my hire, since my arrival in this country ; and 
 my Master tells me, that he has given into my 
 hands, some hundreds in this town, and I am to 
 have fifty souls saved this very night. In the 
 gallery there are some wicked young people, 
 who if they go out of this chapel unsaved, will 
 never have another offer of mercy. I see a man 
 standing near the pulpit, who is an adulterer. 
 I tell him that unless he immediately repents, 
 he will undoubtedly perish. I warn every 
 man, woman, and child, in this chapel, as they 
 fear the fiery streams, and sulphureous clouds 
 of the pit of hell, over which they are now 
 standing, and into which they may at any 
 moment be hurled, not to depart from this 
 chapel unsaved." 
 
 Mr. Rivers requested the people to kneel
 
 318 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 whilst his servant John addressed a few words 
 to them and prayed. John was soon upon a 
 seat in the middle of the chapel, and addressed 
 the attentive audience as follows : 
 
 " Christian brethren and sisters ; I feel it 
 good to be here. I'n bin at maany a good 
 meetin, but to none so good as this. I'm glad 
 to see a'ar good brothers and sisters gettin all 
 on em agate for their work. As we war com- 
 ing here, my exallent master observed to me, 
 how very dull things was among you, and as 
 we mun bring down some fire to liven you a 
 bit. Thank God, we'en done it for you, in 
 some sort. May we feel conshumed in the fire 
 o' divine love. What we wanten is more faith. 
 If we bed but a mustard-tree full o' faith, we 
 might move the kingdom of the devil into the 
 midst of the sea." 
 
 When John had delivered this short address, 
 he thus prayed : 
 
 " Oh, Jesus Christ ! I see you at the right 
 hand o' the Father, a-pleadin for poor sinners, 
 and showing your five bleedin wownds. Oh !
 
 THE CONVERTED SQUIRE. 319 
 
 plead fectual for us poor sinners, ('Amen !') and 
 let the Sperit now come among us. We want- 
 en iv'ry soul in this place to be saved ; and we 
 believe as we shall hev em saved, if we pray in 
 faith. ('We shall! we shall !') Come down now, 
 oh, thou mighty to save, and if you Conner 
 come, send your son, and shake this chapel. 
 May the prison doors fly wide hop'n, and tak 
 the prisoners out, and give em a great salva- 
 tion. ('Amen !' 'glory !') May Satan fall as 
 lightnin from heaven !" (' Turn him out Lord 
 with the pole of thy love.') 
 
 No sooner had these words escaped his lips, 
 than, losing his equilibrium, he fell backwards, 
 near a cluster of weeping penitents, who were 
 groaning for a present salvation. Two women 
 and a man were hurt by his fall, whom Mr. 
 Rivers consoled, by reminding them how much 
 better their case was than that of the men on 
 whom the tower of Siloam fell; "and perhaps," 
 said he, "you are much greater sinners than 
 they." 
 
 A local preacher, a school-master, thinking
 
 320 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 that the accident might be improved to the 
 edification of the people, addressed the au- 
 dience thus : 
 
 " The Psalmist tells us," said he, " that there 
 is nothing done under the sun, but the Lord 
 doeth it; therefore the falling down of our 
 brother was not without the divine permission, 
 and no doubt is intended for good. It may be 
 that, as we read in the Romans, through the 
 fall of the Jews, salvation came to the Gentiles, 
 so by the fall of our brother, salvation may 
 come to some precious souls this night. It is 
 perfectly wonderful, considering the distance 
 which he fell, that he is unhurt. He might 
 have broken some of his bones, or fractured his 
 skull : from these he has been preserved, and 
 he stands before us uninjured. It is the Lord's 
 doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. Let us 
 return God our devout thanksgiving, for his 
 merciful preservation of his servant." Kneeling 
 down, he thus prayed : 
 
 " Oh ! thou Almighty and eternal Being, 
 who art exalted above the celestial spheres,
 
 THE CONVERTED SQUIRE. 321 
 
 ('Amen!') and rulest over the planetary sys- 
 tems, and dost take cognizance of the earth on 
 which we live ; ('Amen !') we return thee our 
 energetic thanksgiving, for protecting our dear 
 brother from injury. ('Glory !') We thank thee 
 for every elucidation of thy goodness; inspire 
 our hearts with ennobling gratitude ; and may 
 we be thy dedicated servants, ('Glory !') so long 
 as we live on this terraqueous globe. Shower 
 down upon our brother Rivers the full glory of 
 the new dispensation, and make him pre-emin- 
 ently useful in the salvation of immortal souls. 
 ('Amen,' 'Amen !') May the Paraclete be sent 
 into our hearts, whilst we remain at the foot- 
 stool of thy sovereign mercy. ('Amen !' 'Glory!') 
 Grant these, and every other unmentioned 
 favour, through the alone advocacy of thy well- 
 beloved Son." (Grant em' oh! Lord.) 
 
 A verse having been sung, John Stubbins 
 was called upon to pray. It seemed that John 
 was well known to be a man to be near whom, 
 when engaged in public prayer, was very dan- 
 gerous ; for no sooner was he called upon, than 
 v
 
 322 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 all within the reach of his arms moved away, 
 beyond the limit of their swing. He thus 
 prayed : 
 
 " Oh, Lord ! we bless thee we are not in hell, 
 burning in red-hot fire, and choked with brim- 
 stone, and tormented with devils. (' Bless God, 
 no !') We bless thee we are not cut down as 
 cow-cumbers of the ground. ('Praise God!') 
 We bless thee that there is some souls here, 
 as is near the kingdom; they be gettin their 
 head and shouders through the door, and the 
 devil is trying to pull em back. While we 
 shove, do thou draw, and save em from the 
 roaring lion. ('Amen, and Amen !' ' pull on, 
 lads!') Convart ivry soul here present. Send 
 us the extreme unction. ('Amen!' 'Amen!') 
 God of heaven, save our highly-favoured coun- 
 try, and hasten the Million, for thy name and 
 mercy's sake." ('Amen!' ; Amen!' 'Glory!' 'Glo- 
 ry !' was shouted out, till the chapel rang again.) 
 
 The local preachers, together with the male 
 and female leaders, were all now engaged in 
 different parts of the chapel, searching out the
 
 THE CONVERTED SQUIRE. 323 
 
 penitents, and bringing them up to the forms 
 which had been placed for them against the 
 communion rails. Many weeping individuals 
 were led up to the sacred spot. There were a 
 few whom they could not persuade to " take up 
 the cross." Some of them, the press-gang, 
 under the command of Mr. Rivers, forced to 
 the place of healing. 
 
 There remained only two places to be filled 
 up. Mr. Rivers perceived a cluster of persons 
 in the gallery, and heard cries and sobbings, as 
 if some of them were in distress. He imme- 
 diately despatched John thither to bring them 
 down to the penitent form. John forthwith 
 departed to execute his master's orders. He 
 found, in a dark corner of the gallery, a fair 
 young woman, suffused in tears, and loudly 
 sobbing. John went to her, and with his 
 hand he lifted up her head, saying unto her, 
 "Daughter of Israel, why weepest thou so 
 much?" She answered him only by sobbing 
 louder and louder, and enveloping her face in 
 her handkerchief. John, after a slight struggle,
 
 324 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 pulled away the covering from her fair features, 
 sat down beside her, and spoke to her of the 
 love of Christ, and the joy and the peace in 
 believing. Her agitation by degrees subsided. 
 She sobbed less violently, and the tears tric- 
 kled more slowly from her bright eyes, as John 
 imparted to her the consolations of the gospel. 
 
 John had been gone a long time, and no 
 penitents were brought to the form. Mr. Rivers 
 was at a loss to know what could detain him ; 
 accordingly went into the gallery to ascertain. 
 As soon as John heard the footsteps of his 
 master, he began to pray still more earnestly 
 for the salvation of the maiden, and whilst his 
 master stayed, she obtained the pardon of her 
 sins. Mr. Rivers going to the front of the 
 gallery, announced the delightful fact to the 
 congregation, and gave out " Praise God from 
 whom all blessings flow," which was sung with 
 exultation. 
 
 At this time the body of the chapel presented a 
 most stirring scene. Some were praying aloud, 
 surrounded by groups of responding hearers ;
 
 THE CONVERTED SQUIRE. 325 
 
 others were addressing different sets of atten- 
 tive listeners ; whilst Mr. Rivers was engaged 
 in crossing the forms, from one party to ano- 
 ther, praying a bit with some, and talking to 
 others. The mingled sounds of screams, groans, 
 shouts, and beating of the forms, made such a 
 confused din, as to drive any one distracted. 
 
 The penitent forms were quite full. The 
 penitents had either a brother or a sister kneel- 
 ing by their side, directing them in the way of 
 salvation. The spiritual helpers had one uni- 
 form method of instruction, in the form of in- 
 terrogation. The questions were after the fol- 
 lowing manner, and the answers given by the 
 penitents were much the same : 
 
 Helper. Do you know that you are a sinner? 
 
 Penitent. Yes, I do. 
 
 Helper. Do you feel that if you had your 
 deserts you would now be in hell ? 
 
 Penitent. I feel that I should. 
 
 Helper. Do you know that Christ died for 
 you? 
 
 Penitent. Yes, he died for all mankind.
 
 326 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 Helper. Do you believe that Christ is able 
 and willing to save you ? 
 
 Penitent. I know he is. 
 
 Helper, Do you believe he is able and wil- 
 ling to save you just now ? 
 
 Penitent. I hope he is. 
 
 Helper. There is no hope about it; we are 
 quite sure he is. Do you feel that he is now 
 saving you ? 
 
 The penitent will generally hesitate at this 
 point, and decline for a time to answer that he 
 feels Christ to be saving him. He will gener- 
 ally only admit that he believes Christ will 
 save him. This answer is considered by the 
 helpers to be very hopeful ; and they then press 
 the penitent to go the next step, and to believe 
 that he has saved them. 
 
 Helper. A step farther, and you have it. Be- 
 lieve that Christ has saved you. 
 
 After many awful throes and struggles, a wo- 
 man at length cried out, " Bless God, I believe 
 it, I believe it saves me. I feel the blood ap- 
 plied."
 
 THE CONVERTED SQUIRE. 327 
 
 Another woman, kneeling by her, rose up, 
 and danced about with frantic joy, shouting out 
 " The chains is broken, the load is gone ! I'm 
 a sinner saved by grace." 
 
 The work of conversion spread along the 
 forms like an electric fluid, and all the peni- 
 tents were quickly saved, except two country- 
 men, whose case seemed almost hopeless. The 
 helpers strove in vain to drill into them the 
 plan of salvation, "by simple faith." "Why 
 don't you believe ?" said the helpers. " It's the 
 easiest thing in the world." " You don't half 
 try." The result was that after long prayer and 
 earnest pressing to exercise faith, they declared 
 that they believed, and so were made happy in 
 the love of God. 
 
 Mr. Rivers now shouted out, " Thank God ! 
 the money is all gone." This will require some 
 explanation.- Mr. Rivers put into his right- 
 hand trowsers pocket as many shillings as there 
 were penitents at the forms ; and as each one 
 was saved, he transferred a shilling from his 
 right-hand pocket to his left. When he shout-
 
 328 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 ed out " Thank God, the money is all gone !" 
 he had transferred the last two shillings to his 
 left-hand pocket, and his right-hand pocket was 
 now empty, as all the penitents were saved. 
 
 " I knew," said Mr. Rivers, " that we should 
 have them all saved, and it is our own fault if 
 we haven't ten times as many saved every Sun- 
 day night. You have only got the first-fruits ; 
 you must now look for the harvest. You must 
 keep the fire burning, by strong prayer; and 
 the blood of Christ flowing, by mighty faith ; 
 and you'll soon have the chapel crowded with 
 inquiring penitents. You must remember that 
 the devil will be at work with the first-fruits. 
 Get them to the class this very week. And 
 may God shine upon you, and give you his 
 blessing." 
 
 A hymn was sung, and the meeting separated 
 at half-past eleven o'clock ; a somewhat late 
 period for servants and young people gener- 
 ally. This is not the least evil of the system.
 
 THE MYSTEKIOUS VISITOB.
 
 THE MYSTERIOUS VISITOR. 
 
 " For as many as belong to God, and Jesus Christ, these 
 are with the Bishop ; and as many as repent them of their 
 sins, and return to the unity of the Church, these also will 
 he God's, that they may he alive in Jesus Christ. Be not 
 deceived my brethren, if any one follow a schismatic he in- 
 heriteth not the kingdom of God." Ign. Epist. 
 
 It was on an evening in December, that I 
 was sitting alone in my study, reading Bishop 
 Jewel's masterly defence of the Church of 
 England ; when I was startled by the entrance 
 of an aged personage, of grave and dignified 
 mien. There was a sweet serenity, and an in- 
 tellectual dignity in his countenance, and a
 
 332 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 singular melody in his voice. I rose from my 
 seat, to salute him, when he thus accosted me : 
 
 " I trust, Mr. Sparks, that you will excuse a 
 stranger intruding upon you in the midst of 
 your anxious studies. You will, I think, deem 
 any apology for my abrupt appearance, altoge- 
 ther unnecessary, when you understand who I 
 am, and the object of my visit. Although you 
 have never seen me before, you have read my 
 writings, and I am come to explain some things 
 in them, which appear to you to be obscure or 
 contradictory, and to converse with you on the 
 condition and prospects of the Connexion." 
 
 As the unknown visitor uttered these words, 
 his countenance underwent a gradual and mys- 
 terious change, discovering features somewhat 
 familiar to me. I at length thought that I 
 recognized the features of Mr. Wesley. I was 
 greatly startled, and a mingled feeling of fear 
 and veneration possessed me. The suavity of 
 his manner, and the benignity of his counten- 
 ance allayed my apprehension, and having col- 
 lected my spirits, I ventured to address him.
 
 THE MYSTERIOUS VISITOR. 333 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 Is it Mr. Wesley ? 
 
 MR. WESLEY. 
 
 The same. 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 As the object of your visit is to converse 
 upon the condition and prospects of the Con- 
 nexion, I should have thought that you would 
 have chosen the president of the Conference, as 
 the fittest person with whom to hold inter- 
 course. 
 
 MR. WESLEY. 
 
 Alas ! he is a man of too high thoughts, 
 and proud designs swayed too much by ambi- 
 tion, and love of power, to be a meet person for 
 my communion. I cannot hold intercourse 
 with a man who treats with contempt my au- 
 thority, and tramples underfoot my rules. I 
 have selected you because you have ever striven 
 to conform to my rules, and have always lifted 
 up your voice against every departure therefrom. 
 It gladdens me to find you eagerly enquiring 
 after truth, and resolved to follow it, whither-
 
 334 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 soever it may lead you. If you pursue the 
 path, it will conduct you where I would wish 
 you to be. Do you wonder how I know so 
 much of your state of mind ? Your wonder will 
 cease when I tell you that the invisible world 
 is in much closer connection with the visible 
 than is generally imagined. The stroke of 
 death does not terminate all that occupied 
 our thoughts on earth. Around them we still 
 fondly linger, and watch with interest those 
 plans on which our labor was expended. 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 " As the tree falls, so it lies," is the language 
 of inspired record; and I have ever thought 
 that the spirit in the intermediate state finds its 
 punishment or its reward in those habits and 
 affections which it indulged on earth. May I 
 ask whether departed spirits hold intercourse 
 with our world ? 
 
 MR. WESLEY. 
 
 My object in appearing to you, is not to 
 make revelations of the condition and employ- 
 ment of the invisible world. What you know
 
 THE MYSTERIOUS VISITOR. 335 
 
 not now, you will know hereafter. Indulge 
 not in any fanciful speculations, concerning 
 the future state, for you cannot but err. What 
 was my hypothesis of the restoration of the 
 brute creatures, but a mere vagary of unre- 
 strained imagination ? Ever keep in mind that 
 what a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 
 This is the true key to man's future condition. 
 Would that I had been more careful, as to the 
 kind of seed which I have sown ! To watch 
 the growth and propagation of one single grain 
 of the bad seed which I unfortunately scattered, 
 and to note its fatal fecundity, as I am now 
 able to observe it, occasions me great sorrow ; 
 for as yet all tears are not wiped away from all 
 faces, for the works of the departed are yet to 
 undergo a trial, so as by fire. When the spirit 
 is loosened from the bondage of the flesh, it 
 puts forth its nascent energies, and the sphere 
 of its operation becomes greatly extended. 
 It gathers into its enlarged comprehension the 
 doings of its earthly life-time, and draws from 
 this source the chief food for either bitter or 
 sweet reflection.
 
 336 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 I gather from what you have observed, that 
 departed spirits are conscious of all that passed 
 within them, and without them, during their 
 residence on the earth ; and that they are not 
 unconscious of what is going on in our world. 
 MR. WESLEY. 
 
 It is impossible for me to give you any con- 
 ception of the wonderful power which the 
 memory exercises, recalling in vivid reality the 
 long forgotten transactions of an earthly proba- 
 tion. The mind cannot, however it may strive, 
 detach itself from the earth. The ties of kin- 
 dred are not dissolved by death. The father's 
 affection and solicitude for his family, are rather 
 increased than diminished by his separation 
 from it. The patriot's love for his country is 
 not extinguished when he dies, but it glows 
 with increasing ardour. The Christian's love 
 and zeal for the Church, expire not when the 
 soul leaves the body, but burn with a brighter 
 and a purer flame. 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 I am led to conclude from these remarks, that
 
 THE MYSTERIOUS VISITOR. 337 
 
 you are perfectly conscious of what is passing in 
 
 the Connexion, which is called after your name. 
 
 MR. WESLEY. 
 
 You do well in styling it the Connexion, 
 called after my name. I have been an anxious 
 observer of all that has passed within it, ever 
 since my departure, and have found my very 
 worst fears more than realized. Oh ! Sir, one 
 false step in a person's career may be produc- 
 tive of irretrievable mischief, and one false step 
 will almost infallibly lead to many others ; at 
 least such is my experience. You will per- 
 haps wonder to hear such a confession from the 
 lips, of one, to whom you have been taught to 
 ascribe little short of infallibility. When the 
 veil of human flesh, which at once corrupts 
 and blinds the understanding, is cast off, the 
 soul sees things as they really are and its judg- 
 ment of them is guided by the unerring stan- 
 dard of eternal truth. But enough for the pre- 
 sent. Duty calls you away. Farewell. 
 
 The apparition vanished leaving me some- 
 what agitated. After a time, 1 regained my 
 composure. w
 
 338 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 SECOND COLLOQUY. 
 
 ' He cannot have God as his father, who has not the Church 
 as his mother." St. Cyprian. 
 
 A few evenings after this interview, I was 
 sitting in my study, reading Mr. Wesley's 
 " Further thoughts on separation," when my 
 new acquaintance from the world of spirits en- 
 tered the room. 
 
 MR. WESLEY. 
 
 When you compare my conduct with what 
 I have said, in the work, which you are read- 
 ing against the evil of separation, it may appear 
 to you that my acts have been inconsistent with 
 my words. Whilst I am heard to condemn 
 separation from the Church, as a heinous sin, I 
 perhaps may appear to you to have given my 
 sanction to schism, by having made provision 
 for the establishment of a separate community. 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 I must acknowledge, that there has appeared
 
 THE MYSTERIOUS VISITOR. 339 
 
 to me, some degree of inconsistency in your 
 proceedings. 
 
 MR. WESLEY. 
 
 When you reflect upon my position, and the 
 object which I contemplated in my arrange- 
 ments, you will not think me so inconsistent. 
 Immediately before my death, I made provision 
 for the permanent maintenance of the discipline 
 of the societies, which I had formed. The so- 
 cieties you know, before my death, had grown 
 very numerous, many chapels had been built, 
 and a great number of preachers were employ- 
 ed. I found that many both of the helpers 
 and people were much opposed to the constitu- 
 tion and discipline of the Church, and would 
 undoubtedly separate themselves from it. Find- 
 ing that such would be the case, in spite of all 
 that I could do to the contrary, I deemed it 
 advisable to draw up a code of laws for their 
 government. It was as if I had said, I see 
 plainly that after my decease, you will, contrary 
 to my wishes, form yourselves into a separate 
 communion, take then these rules for your dis-
 
 340 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 cipline, and let them ever be a standing witness 
 against your hardness of heart, and opposition 
 to my wishes. 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 I think that I have now a clue to your con- 
 duct. You seeing that some would separate 
 from the Church, thought it advislable to give 
 the stamp of your authority to a set of rules 
 for their regulation, rather than leave them to 
 draw up a code of laws for themselves, knowing 
 that where all are striving for the mastery, 
 legislation is very difficult. 
 
 MR. WESLEY. 
 
 Precisely so. But, Sir, I erred in bringing 
 myself into such a position, for I ought never to 
 have disobeyed the canVons of my Church, or 
 opposed the authority of her Bishops. I set up 
 for a great reformer and had abundance of zeal, 
 but far too little knowledge. I see, now, that I 
 might have done much more good in a regular 
 than I did in an irregular way, whilst all the 
 evil would have been avoided. Had I remained
 
 THE MYSTERIOUS VISITOR. 341 
 
 at Oxford, and gathered round me some of those 
 who were designed for holy orders, and assisted 
 them in their preparation for the ministry, with 
 God's help, I should have accompished a much 
 greater revival of religion in the Church, and 
 there would have been avoided the sin of irre- 
 gularity in myself and of schism in others. 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 I have often thought, that if you had acted 
 like that excellent man, Mr. Simeon, you would 
 have been a greater blessing to the Church, 
 and would have achieved a mighty work in 
 an unexceptionable manner. 
 MR. WESLEY. 
 
 When I admitted the assistance of lay- 
 preachers, I called up a spirit which I found it 
 impossible to allay, and very difficult to control. 
 I was reluctant to employ an unordained per- 
 son, but at length yielded to the force of cir- 
 cumstances and suffered the innovation. Like 
 Saul, "I forced myself, therefore, and offered 
 a burnt offering."
 
 342 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 It appears that the reading of Lord King's 
 book on Episcopacy, and Stillingfleet's Ireni- 
 cum, first convinced you that the office of pres- 
 byter and bishop belonged to the same order, 
 and that consequently you had power to ordain 
 ministers. 
 
 MR. WESLEY. 
 
 It does not require very strong arguments to 
 convince us of the truth of that which we wish 
 to believe. I was half determined to take upon 
 myself the power of ordination before I read 
 those books. I had, however, some scruples of 
 conscience which kept me back. No sooner 
 had I read Lord King's account of the primitive 
 Church than they were removed. I now felt 
 unshackled and at liberty to confer ordination 
 on whomsoever I thought fit. 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 I think you gave Lord King's book a too 
 hasty perusal. 
 
 MR. WESLEY. 
 
 Much too hasty. I ought to have examined
 
 THE MYSTERIOUS VISITOR. 343 
 
 ancient author's for myself, and then I should 
 have detected his mis-quotations and false 
 reasonings. And with regard to Stillingfleet's 
 Irenicum, I ought to have weighed that work 
 far more carefully than I did. When the author 
 wrote it he was only twenty-five years old. I 
 ought to have inquired whether he maintained 
 in his old age, the opinions which he held in his 
 youth. Had I done this, I should not have 
 judged the Irenicum to be unanswerable, for 
 the author showed in after life the weakness of 
 its arguments. If I had stayed at Oxford and 
 given my attention to the Fathers' of the first 
 three centuries, for whom I professed such vene- 
 ration, I should never have been led astray either 
 by Lord King, or young Mr. Stillingfleet. Or 
 if I had read carefully the works of Andrews, 
 Field, Hammond, and Taylor, I should have been 
 preserved from my wayward career, and arro- 
 gant presumption. My brother Charles, through- 
 out, was a much more consistent Churchman 
 than myself. He often warned me of the evil 
 tendency of my measures, and greatly blamed
 
 344 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 me for attempting to exercise Episcopal author- 
 ity in the case of Dr. Coke, for he rightly as- 
 serted that there was not a single instance 
 recorded in history, of a Presbyter possessing 
 the power of excercising Episcopal authority. 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 It has been represented of late, that your 
 opinions respecting separation from the Church, 
 changed a few years before your death. 
 MR. WESLEY. 
 
 How dare any one make such an assertion, 
 when I said only a year and nine months before 
 my death, that I would not leave the Church of 
 England by law established, while the breath 
 was in my nostrils ; and only a few months be- 
 fore my death I avowed that I live and die a 
 member of the Church of England, and that 
 none, who regarded my judgment or advice 
 would ever separate from it. And the last 
 prayer that I uttered on earth, I now repeat, 
 Bless the Church and King, and grant us truth 
 and peace through Jesus Christ our Lord. I am 
 glad that you are about to become a member of
 
 THE MYSTERIOUS VISITOR. 345 
 
 that branch of the One, Holy, Catholic and 
 Apostolic Church established in this Kingdom. 
 I hope that your example may be followed by 
 many of the preachers ; but, alas ! there are no 
 grounds for such a hope. Each year the gulph 
 of separation becomes wider. Hostility to the 
 Church, reigns predominant amongst the mem- 
 bers of the society, and many of the preachers 
 have no friendly feeling towards her. Judging 
 at least from late events and present signs, I am 
 of opinion that the time is not far distant, when 
 the Conference as a body, will join the ranks of 
 Dissent, Infidelity, and Popery in their exter- 
 minating warfare against the Church. But 
 every blow which they may strike at that good- 
 ly fabric, will be found to recoil with destruc- 
 tive violence upon themselves. That Church, 
 whose corner-stone, is Christ himself, whose 
 foundation is composed of Apostles and Pro- 
 phets, whose walls are built of a glorious com- 
 pany of martyrs and confessors, and whose 
 pillars are the successors of the Apostles, may 
 justly be reckoned invincible to every attack
 
 346 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 of human malice, or Satanic violence. The 
 gates of hell shall never prevail against it 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 You think then that there is no prospect of 
 the breach, between the Church and our body, 
 ever being healed. 
 
 MR. WESLEY. 
 
 I do not see how it can be. All hope of 
 reunion is now vanished ; and if you weigh the 
 matter well, I think you will agree with me in 
 this opinion. In the first place, very few of 
 the preachers would submit to episcopal ordin- 
 ation, for it would amount to a tacit acknow- 
 ledgment, that they had been all their life 
 unauthorised teachers ; this, their pride could 
 not brook. In the second place, there would 
 not be a competent provision for the mainte- 
 nance of one half of the travelling preachers, 
 for of course, all the country chapels must be 
 given up, as there would be in the villages, a 
 sufficiency of Church room. Then it would be 
 found that the preachers of the greatest influ- 
 ence in the Connexion, would be greatly op-
 
 THE MYSTERIOUS VISITOR. 347 
 
 posed to the change, unless they were made 
 Bishops, or at least Arch-deacons; for they 
 would little relish changing their position of 
 supreme governors, to that of being governed. 
 You must also remember, that the system would 
 have to undergo an entire change, to bring it 
 into conformity, with the discipline of the 
 English Church, a change which would be zea- 
 lously opposed by the office-bearers, as it would 
 curtail their power and influence. The mem- 
 bers too would be just as little favourable to the 
 measure, as it would deprive them of their ac- 
 customed doses of excitement. The societies 
 I feel persuaded, will ever remain in a schis- 
 matical state ; and if the preachers will assume 
 the title of reverend and presume to arrogate 
 the functions of the Priestly office, let them not 
 commit this wickedness, under the sanction of 
 my name. Let them cease to call themselves 
 Wesleyan Methodists, and let them assume the 
 more appropriate title of Anti-church Methodists.
 
 348 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 THIRD COLLOQUY. 
 
 For let him know that he must endure any thing whatever, 
 rather than rend the Church of God. St. Dionysius. 
 
 It was a clear and frosty evening and the 
 moon poured her silvery light over the deep 
 valley, through which I was walking in my 
 way home, from my country appointment, when 
 I beheld a tall personage coming towards me, 
 and on a nearer approach I discerned the noble 
 features of the mysterious visitor. Having 
 saluted me, he turned and walked by my side. 
 MR. WESLEY. 
 
 Little probably did you expect to meet with 
 me in this solitude. I am however, no stranger 
 to these mountain districts. I have on many a 
 dark night accompanied you through wood and 
 dell. Little do men know, of the great benefits 
 which they reap from the blessed ministry of 
 spirits. And you my dear friend are uncon- 
 scious of the escapes from peril which I have 
 achieved for you. You have not forgotten the 
 night when coming home from your appoint-
 
 THE MYSTERIOUS VISITOR. 349 
 
 ment, you missed your way over the mountains. 
 You little imagined, that for more than a mile, 
 you were walking along the edge of a dreadful 
 precipice, and that a single false step would 
 have plunged you into a deep ravine. It was 
 myself that conducted you along it with safety, 
 and led you into the right path and brought 
 you to your home. If your eyes could be 
 opened as were those of the Prophet, you would 
 see the air thronged with good and evil spirits ; 
 and the heavens, would present to you a mighty 
 arena of strife, and the object of contention, you 
 would find to be the soul of man. But to re- 
 sume the subject of our former conversation. 
 Have you not observed, how the Conference has 
 of late changed its ground, with respect to the 
 Church. When it suited the purpose of its 
 members, they took pains to prove that I died a 
 Churchman, and that they, following my advice 
 had never dissented from it ; but it now serves 
 their end, when they wish to repel the charge 
 of a departure from my principles, to prove that 
 I did not continue a Churchman to the day of
 
 350 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 my death. It is folly for the Conference to 
 say that they do not dissent from the Church, 
 indeed, they are begining to see the absurity of 
 such an assertion, and to take a more consistent 
 stand. Inasmuch as societies are separated from 
 the Church, they are guilty of schism, and 
 schism is a much greater sin than people in 
 the present day are willing to believe. 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 Though schism in this age of unrestrained 
 Latitudinarism is held to be rather a virtue than 
 a crime, it was not so esteemed in ancient and 
 better times. What a horrible bigot should 
 one be thought in the present day, if one spoke 
 out against the evil of schism as Cyprian did, 
 and declare with him " Nee perveniet ad Christi 
 premia qui relinquit ecclesiam Christi."* 
 MR. WESLEY. 
 
 That language is not stronger than that used 
 by St. Augustine, when he declared, that there 
 can be no more grievous sin, than the sacrilege 
 
 * " Neither will he attain unto the rewards of Christ, who 
 leaveth the Church of Christ."
 
 THE MYSTERIOUS VISITOR. 351 
 
 of schism. Though I kept from open schism 
 myself, I cannot but be painfully conscious 
 that I have been the occasion of others falling 
 into it. If I had but considered the inevitable 
 tendency of my measures, I must have foreseen 
 that they would end in producing a separation 
 from the Church. I reaped enough of the bit- 
 ter fruits of my own irregular proceedings, to 
 have assured me that strife and contention, and 
 every evil work, would ensue, to those who 
 walk in the sparks of their own kindling. And 
 has not the whole history of the Connexion veri- 
 fied its truth ? What continual wars, and fight- 
 ings, and separations have marked its progress. 
 It has ever been a house divided against itself, 
 and it cannot stand. Its foundations are con- 
 stantly in danger of being uprooted, by the 
 sudden burst of the ungovernable passions of 
 the mass, seeking to be released from all re- 
 straint. That power, and influence, which the 
 Conference gives to the people, to gratify their 
 pride and ambition will prove in the end, its 
 own destruction. The possession of a little
 
 352 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 power, creates an appetite for more, aud when 
 the demand for its increase is met by a stern 
 refusal, a quarrel ensues, which ends in a sep- 
 aration. Never was a truer sentence uttered, 
 than that of an old father of the Church when 
 he says, "Pride is the Parent of schism." Divi- 
 sions will arise amongst sects, they are their 
 natural offspring. In societies where there 
 exists no common bond of union, and no 
 divinely appointed fountain of authority, and 
 no uniform and binding principles of faith, 
 they must in the very nature of things, fall to 
 pieces and be scattered. 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 I think that our Connexion, bids fair to out- 
 last most of the other sects, from its possessing 
 greater uniformity of discipline and faith, and a 
 more complete system of centralization. 
 MR. WESLEY. 
 
 No doubt that it will endure much longer, 
 but it cannot stand for any great length of 
 time ; and I will show you why it cannot. 
 The preachers have lost all that primitive sim-
 
 THE MYSTERIOUS VISITOR. 353 
 
 plicity aud devotedness which distinguished 
 their predecessors. The present generation of 
 preachers are for the most part ambitious, 
 proud, worldly-minded, coveteous, and slothful. 
 The people see that they are so, and they are 
 losing their respect for them, and are loath to 
 pay their money to support them, in their idle- 
 ness and pride. The members of this society are 
 many of them grown rich, and their riches are 
 fast corrupting them, from the simplicity of the 
 Gospel. The discipline of the society is but 
 little enforced, when the rich are concerned, and 
 my rules are openly violated both by preachers 
 and people. 
 
 The Conference is an arena for political 
 strife, where Whigs and Tories, engage in bit- 
 ter, and acrimonious contentions, to the de- 
 struction of all peace and amity. The Presi- 
 dentship has become the object of eager ambi- 
 tion, and earnest strife, and to obtain it, alas ! 
 how often do the competitors condescend to 
 use wily strategems, and unworthy devices, too 
 much resembling the tricks of a Parliamentary
 
 354 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 Election. And how are the minds of many of 
 the preachers hurt by being lorded over, by a 
 dominant faction, composed of a few ambitious 
 spirits, who have arrogated to themselves all 
 authority and power. And what are the grounds 
 I would ask, on which these spiritual Potentates, 
 found their pretensions to such tyrannical sway ? 
 On what save their imperfect knowledge of the 
 Greek Testament, a smattering of Divinity, a 
 ready tongue, and an American Degree. There 
 are many both preachers and people, pious and 
 devoted men, who view with sorrow, the grow- 
 ing enormities of ministerial avarice, tyranny, 
 and pride, and who forebode the entire, and 
 speedy overthrow of Conferential domination. 
 And be assured, that not many years will have 
 passed over, before this prediction, shall have 
 been fulfilled. 
 
 The Anniversaries and Public Meetings, are 
 scenes of worldly show and dissipation. The 
 vauntings of the Centenary Meetings, were 
 beyond all endurance ; whilst many of the do- 
 nations made at them, were but the robbing of 
 creditors, for burnt-offerings.
 
 THE MYSTERIOUS VISITOR. 355 
 
 The speeches delivered at the meetings, con- 
 vened for the purpose of opposing the Church 
 Education Scheme, were full of calumny and 
 abuse ; whilst the method of getting up the 
 petitions against it, embraced every artifice of 
 fraudulent dexterity. 
 
 And now, the Conference bids the world be- 
 hold its might, and its greatness, in having so 
 many thousands of people under its control, in 
 the stateliness of its chapels, and public-build- 
 ings, and in the influence, which it fancies 
 itself to have over the councils of the nation. 
 They have become vain in their imaginations, 
 and they have provoked the indignation of the 
 Lord, by their vanities; and that destruction, 
 which folio weth after pride, shall be their por- 
 tion. Get thee speedily, my dear friend, from 
 amongst them ; lest thou partake in their over- 
 throw. And mayst thou be a faithful minister of 
 that Church whose descent is from the Apostles 
 and whose ascent is towards heaven. Adieu, 
 dear friend, till we meet in the mysterious abode 
 of separate spirits.
 
 356 THE ROUND PREACHER. 
 
 As he spoke these words, an expression of 
 inconceivable sweetness glowed in his counte- 
 nance and he held forth his hand, which I at- 
 tempted to grasp, but it offered no resistance, for 
 the body was a phantom ; and it vanished from 
 my sight. I stood for a time motionless, a sort 
 of horror crept over me, and it was with diffi- 
 culty that I drew my breath. In a short time, I 
 recovered myself, and walked along meditating 
 on what I had seen and heard.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 NOTE A. 
 
 My father was suspected of sympathizing with a 
 disaffected party at Leeds, who took offence at the in- 
 troduction of an organ into one of the chapels and left 
 the Society, and formed themselves into a party known 
 at the time by the name of the " Conformists." 
 NOTE B. 
 
 The term of probation lasts four years. When end- 
 ed the novitiates are received into " full connexion," by 
 the imposition of hands. The candidates on rising 
 from beneath the manipular canopy, receive from the 
 President a neatly bound copy of the Scriptures, which 
 he enjoins them to study, and commissions them to 
 preach. The hearts of the young men bound with 
 gladness, for they are now no longer forbidden to
 
 358 APPENDIX. 
 
 marry, having finished the period of their gloomy celi- 
 bate. It certainly looks rather ridiculous, to confer 
 ordination upon those who for four years, have assumed 
 the title and discharged the duties of the ministerial 
 office. It would seem that the learned Bishop, the au- 
 thor, of " The Enthusiasm of Methodists and Papists 
 compared," has omitted to notice the striking resem- 
 blance between Methodism and Popery, shown by the 
 comparison made in the text of this work. This is the 
 more to be regretted as there is no doubt from his ta- 
 lent and knowledge of the subject, that it would have 
 been admirably treated. 
 
 NOTE C. 
 
 Local Preachers are an inferior order of ministers, 
 who are engaged during the week at the plough, the 
 loom, or the counter, and on the Sundays go forth into 
 the Circuit, and deal out to admiring congregations, an 
 equal amount of enthusiasm and heresy. Of by far 
 the greater part of this class of Preachers, it may be 
 said, that their vulgarity and ignorance, are only sur- 
 passed by their impudence and vanity. 
 NOTE D. 
 
 The Leaders are very important office-bearers in the 
 society. They are the tax-gatherers, and father-con- 
 fessors of the connexion. For to these class leaders,
 
 APPENDIX. 359 
 
 the members each week relate their " Christian experi- 
 ence" and pay their pence, the neglect of which for a 
 quarter will deprive them of church-membership. At 
 the end of each quarter, they are met by an Itinerant 
 Minister, who hears from them in succession their "ex- 
 perience for the quarter; makes a few remarks to each 
 upon their "short comings" in grace, or in copper, 
 deals out the tickets, receives the silver, and concludes 
 with a prayer, and then departs giving a reproachful 
 glance at the poor man who is behind in his payments, 
 and a smiling look and a hearty shake of the hand to 
 the rich man, whose liberality exceeds the requirement 
 of the rules. Although a penny a week, and a shilling 
 a quarter, are as much as each member are required by 
 the rule to pay, it is, however, expected that every one 
 should increase his contribution, if his circumstances 
 permit. Well may the preachers be so lavish in their 
 praise of class-meetings, as such rich means of grace, 
 since they are such a rich source of wealth. It would 
 be very interesting to know what kind of tickets of ad- 
 mission, into the Christian Church, the Apostles gave 
 to the members of the different Churches which they 
 formed, and the price set upon them as well as the 
 number of poor persons, they expelled from their socie- 
 ties for default of payment. We read of no other rite
 
 360 APPENDIX. 
 
 than that of Baptism, as entitling to the privileges of 
 the Christian Church, and of no weekly collections 
 from the poor, but for them. 
 
 NOTE E. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to observe, that the preachers 
 for many years past, have been provided with very 
 different lodgings in their country appointments, to those 
 which fell to my lot at poor John Snuffler's. In most 
 villages where there is a society, there is a good house, 
 and a well-furnished table, to which the preachers are 
 welcome. 
 
 NOTE F. 
 
 Lovefeasts are held quarterly in each Circuit-town, 
 and are presided over by an Itinerant Preacher. 
 They take place after the Quarterly visitation, and no 
 member is admitted unless he can show to the door- 
 keepers, the last Quarter's ticket, which is indicated by 
 a certain capital letter. The fear of exclusion from these 
 highly-prized " means of grace," acts as a powerful in- 
 centive to the renewal of the tickets. 
 NOTE G. 
 
 The Kingswood and Woodhouse Grove schools, are 
 seminaries for the education of the sons of the Itinerant 
 Preachers. They are supported by voluntary contribu- 
 tions, and collections which are made annually in every 
 chapel throughout the Connexion.
 
 APPENDIX. 361 
 
 NOTE H. 
 
 The Quarter-day is the day on which the salaries of 
 the Itinerant Preachers are paid, the account of the 
 Circuit audited, and other business of the society trans- 
 acted. On this day also the Local-preachers meeting 
 is held. 
 
 NOTE I. 
 
 The probable value of property in chapels, houses, 
 land, &c., belonging to the conference, may be taken 
 to be above THREE MILLIONS. 
 
 The annual means of the Connexion from its mul- 
 tifarious sources, is little less than a HALF A MILLION. 
 
 The number of public collections towards connexional 
 purposes average from THIRTY to FORTY annually. 
 Private collections at class meetings, &c., above SIXTY. 
 To all those must be added the continual demands 
 made upon the richer members for annual subscrip- 
 tions to the various funds, &c., non-compliance with 
 which, inevitably stamps them as devoid of vital god- 
 liness. In a tract entitled " Modern Methodism a 
 Schism," the following calculations are given of the 
 salary of a Wesleyan Methodist preacher, and that of 
 a Modern Methodist preacher :
 
 362 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Salary of a Wetleyan Methodist 
 preacher with six children. 
 
 . s. d. 
 Himself and Wife \2 
 
 each per annum. ... 24 
 Six Children at \ each 
 
 per ann., if required 24 
 Food for himself and 
 
 horse wherever he 
 
 goes in addition. . . . 
 
 
 
 Salary of a Modern Methodist 
 preacher with six children, 
 
 . s. d. 
 21 
 
 House Rent, Rates and 
 Taxes 
 
 Interest on Furniture, 
 Repairs of do. & Ten- 
 nan t's repairs of house 
 
 Coals aud Candles 
 
 Medicines and Medical 
 Attendance 
 
 Postage and Stationery. 
 
 Servants' Wages 
 
 Preacher's and Wife's 
 Quarterage at j4. 4s. 
 each 
 
 Board Money at 14s. a 
 week 
 
 Allowance for Six Chil- 
 dren at sG. 6s. per ann 
 
 One child at Kingswood 
 
 One Boy between 8 and 
 14, Educated at Home 
 
 One Girl above Eight. . 
 
 500 
 700 
 
 500 
 200 
 880 
 
 33 12 
 36 8 
 
 37 16 
 25 
 
 12 
 
 880 
 
 Allowed besides for each 
 Confinement of the 
 Wife, Z. 3s. 
 
 Horse-hire, and Travel- 
 ling Expenses where- 
 ever he goes. 
 
 The Superintendents 
 have also a Commis- 
 sion of jIO per cent, 
 on Books sold. 
 
 Deduct Payments 
 
 For one Boy at Kings- 
 wood, 4.. 4s. One boy 
 at Home, \. Is 
 
 201 12 
 
 550 
 
 Leaving a clear Income, 
 independent of Horse- 
 hire, Travelling Ex- 
 penses, Commission on 
 Books sold, &c. of...rfl96 7
 
 APPENDIX. 363 
 
 The preacher's and wife's board money varies in 
 different places from 10s. 6d. to 20s. a week. 
 
 What exhibitions of solemn mockery have I wit- 
 nessed about the time of conference, preachers pretend- 
 ing by their prayers to leave their circuit appointment 
 in the hands of God, whereas all the while they have 
 been scheming to appoint themselves where they would 
 have the best pay. 
 
 It will be seen from this what a very comfortable 
 maintenance a Methodist preacher enjoys, and that 
 too, be it remembered, for life. One can easily ima- 
 gine what an act of self-denial it must be for mechanics 
 and such like, to doff their working dress and leave 
 their laborious occupations, and go to one of the seats 
 of Methodist learning. There clean washed and minis- 
 terially attired, they spend two or three years in a plea- 
 sant way, at the expense of the connexion, learning to 
 hold their knife and fork, and tie their neck-cloth, to 
 read and spell and cobble a sermon ; to wonder at 
 the curious figures in Euclid, and the mysterious sym- 
 bols of the Greek Alphabet, and above all their own 
 genius and learning. When thus proficient they come 
 forth, dubbed with the title of reverend, pass for being 
 deeply learned, and receive a handsome salary for life.
 
 364 APPENDIX. 
 
 Truly great is the Mammon worship of the Wesley - 
 ans ! Well may the ministerial craftsmen be so loud 
 in their praise, and so zealous in their defence of Me- 
 thodism, since by it they gain their wealth. 
 
 E. A. W. TAYLOR, PRINTER, BRADFORD, YORKSHIRE.
 
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