LIBRARY 
 
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 CALIFORNIA 
 
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 This Book must be kopt clean, and 
 returned before the end of Fourteen 
 Days. 
 
 Librarian - FRED DAVISON. 
 
 H 
 I
 
 REV. RICHARD MILL, 
 
 OP ST PETERSBURGII : 
 
 SELECTIONS FROM HIS REMINISCENCES, JOURNALS, 
 AND CORRESPONDENCE, 
 
 A REVIEW OF HIS CHARACTER, BY THE LATE 
 REV. JOHN ANGELL JAMES. 
 
 BY CHARLES M. BIRRELL. 
 
 iftb tfbiticm. 
 
 LONDON: 
 JAMES NTSBET AND CO., 21 BERNERS STREET. 
 
 M.DCCC.LX.
 
 BD1NKURIIH : 
 
 PRINTED P.V TiAU.ANTVNK ANII f'OMPAM. 
 PAUL'S WORK.
 
 nfatt. 
 
 THE personal reminiscences which form the basis of 
 this narrative were penned during some periods of 
 silence appointed to the venerable writer towards the 
 close of his life. The hope, however, which was at 
 first entertained, of presenting them to the reader as 
 an untouched Composition, could not be realised, as 
 they were found, on close examination, to be marked 
 by chronological inaccuracies, and the omission of 
 some interesting passages of his history. The Editor, 
 although he had the happiness of witnessing Mr 
 Knill's manner of life in the foreign capital which 
 enjoyed so large a share of his labours, as well as the 
 privilege of frequent communication with him during 
 his residence in the English city in which his useful 
 career closed, did not judge himself competent to 
 complete the story ; but a large supply of letters and 
 several volumes of journals having promised to sup- 
 ply the deficiencies of the original sketch, lie attempted
 
 iv . . PREFACE. 
 
 to unite all the documents in a continuous narration, 
 which should retain, as much as possible, the character 
 of an autobiography. 
 
 At a period when there are signs of an increased 
 desire on the part of Christians to seize the oppor- 
 tunities of usefulness which occur in common life, the 
 example of one, who, though occupying a public po- 
 sition, was distinguished for the devoutness, vigilance, 
 and success with which he applied the interviews of 
 the home and the wayside to the loftiest topics, will 
 not, it is hoped, be unseasonable, nor, by the Divine 
 blessing, without fruit. 
 
 The fervent and discriminating application of the 
 moral lessons of the book made in the concluding pages 
 by an author who has laid this generation under so 
 great obligations whose words prompted the earliest 
 serious thoughts, and guide the mature labours of so 
 many amongst us will, it is believed, be accepted by 
 the reader, as it has been by the Editor, with sincere 
 gratitude.* 
 
 EDGE HILL, LIVERPOOL, 
 1st October 185'J. 
 
 * See Postscript, page 266.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EARLY DAYS A.D. 1792-1812; JET. 5-25. 
 
 Parentage Escape His Mother's Prayers Enlistment Convic- 
 tions Residence in Bideford Rev. S. Rooker Christian Pro- 
 fession Missionary Aspirations Perils North Devon Militia 
 Touching Recognition New Work, . Pp. 1-17 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 MISSIONARY CONSECRATION A.D. 1812-1814; Mf. 25-27. 
 
 The Western Academy Review of Life Useful Conversation A 
 Student's Sermon Rev. Dr Waugh Solemn Purpose His 
 Mother's Struggle Missionary Fire Decision Faith Ac- 
 cepted by the London Missionary Society, . Pp. 19-32 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 TUTTING ON THE ARMOUR A.D. 1S14, 1S1J; Mf. 27, 28. 
 
 The Rev. Dr Boguo Gosport Studies A Stranger Street Preach- 
 ing A Generous Sailor Indian Destination Ordination at 
 Leeds Good Fruits Christian Love Conversion and Unex- 
 pected Recognition Family Reform and another Recognition 
 Farewells His Mother's Wedding-RingEmbarkation, 
 
 Pp. 33-56
 
 yi CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE FIRST CAMPAIGN A.D. 1816-1820; JET. 29-33. 
 
 Missionaries for the East The Captain The Voyage Sea Ser- 
 vices Cape of Good Hope Madras Mr and Mrs Loveless 
 A Youug Officer First Victory Military Officers- A Civilian 
 Converted " A Religious Horse " Chastening The Sky Be- 
 clouded Dr Judson Tour in South India An Elephant 
 Enlisted Ceylon Voyage Home St Helena England 
 again, Pp. 57-86 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE RUSSIAN CAPITAL A.D. 1S20-1S:!3 ; ,ET. 33-36. 
 
 Religious State of Russia Voyage to St Petersburg Winter at 
 Sea The Congregation Time of Refreshing Walter Venning 
 School for Poor Foreigners Sickness Marriage Corre- 
 spondence with Missionaries Pastoral Visits Russian Bible 
 Society The Emperor Education Fellow-Labourers, 
 
 Pp. 87-106 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 STORMS A.D. 1824, 1825; JET. 37, 38. 
 
 Position of St Petersburg Inundation Loss of Life Russian 
 Benevolence Domestic Anxiety Bereavement Useful Ser- 
 mon Cautions to a Young Christian Bible Society Imperilled 
 Death of the Emperor Civil Confusion Attempted Revo- 
 lution Extinction of Russian Bible Society, Pp. 107-124 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 GLEAMS A.D. 1826 ; ^ET. 39. 
 
 His Mother's and Father's Death Schools The Watchmaker's 
 Trophy The Russian Tailor; his Scepticism, Love, and Zeal 
 Retrospect Pp. 125 137
 
 CONTENTS. Vii 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 BLUE SKIES A.D. 1828, 1829; JET. 41, 42. 
 
 Departure of Fellow-Labourers Baltic Islanders Finnish Bibles 
 The Milkmaid Bibles Taking Wing Faith Tested Good 
 Fruits New Year's Prayer -Release of Russian Testaments 
 Large Diffusion of Scriptures Caution Severity of the 
 Government Summary of Work, . . Pp. 139-157 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SHADOWS OF THE PESTILENCE A. P. 18:10-1832; JET. 43-45. 
 
 Departure of Mr and Mrs Venning New House Consecrated 
 Alarming News of Cholera The Princess Metschersky The 
 Princess' Translations Unexpected Liberty Hannah More 
 Christian Literature A Prisoner Freed Bideford Letters- 
 North Devon Sunday-Schools Kindness of the Empress 
 Summer Retreat Peace during Peril History of Trials 
 Tracts English Sailors A Gloomy Winter Return to Eng- 
 land, Pp. 159-190 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 WIDENING HORIZON A.D. 1834-1847; JET. 47-60. 
 
 Missionary Work in England Dr Urwick's Sketch Irish Tours 
 Spirit of Prayer Home Revisited Leeds Mr Reed's Ac- 
 count Fruits of Conversations Mr Spurgeon Wotton-under- 
 Edge Time of Refreshing Rural Evangelists Removal to 
 Chester, Pp. 199-216 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 SUNSET A.D. 184S-1S-.7 ; JET. Cl-70. 
 
 Chester Preparation of the Church Domestic Trials Sketch of 
 his Son Samuel Death of his Son and Niece Fresh Zeal -
 
 Vlii CONTENTS. 
 
 Colloquies Prisoners Liberality Old Indian Friends New 
 Measures The Theatre Striking Assembly Sinners Arrested 
 Last Mission-Tour Sudden Illness The Peace of God 
 Closing Calls and Letters Home Decline Praise Depart- 
 ing Glory Funeral Personal Appearance, Pp. 217-245 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Review of Mr Knill's Life and Character by the Rev. J. A. James, 
 
 Pp. 247-265 
 
 POSTSCRIPT, P. 206
 
 ap. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 " More servants wait on man 
 Than he '11 take notice of : in every path. 
 He treads down that which doth befriend him." 
 
 HERBERT.
 
 IF the reader, in the course of a summer excursion, 
 have sailed along the fine southern shore of the Bristol 
 Channel, and, passing the rocks of Lynton and Ilfra- 
 combe, have turned into the Bay of Bideford to meet 
 the tide of the " two notable rivers " which, in the 
 words of Bisdon, the antiquary, " there, hand in hand, 
 with mutual affection, slip into the sea," he must have 
 noticed two plains of considerable extent, stretching 
 from the sea-line to the foot of the wooded hills. The 
 one on the right hand, being guarded by the singular 
 ocean-built breakwater known as the " Pebble-Ridge," 
 presents a noble sheet of pasturage for the flocks of 
 the neighbouring farms ; while the one on the left 
 hand, though not so verdant, covers the forest of a 
 former time, in which, according to the firm testimony 
 of tradition, a hardy preacher of the fourth century 
 proclaimed the gospel. The determined zeal and fruit- 
 ful toils of this primitive evangelist have imprinted
 
 4 PARENTAGE. [CHAP. I. 
 
 his name on the parish church of St Braunock's, as 
 well as on the village or township of Braunton, 
 which lies embosomed in orchards in a picturesque 
 adjacent valley. 
 
 In the modern community of this place, the father 
 of the missionary whose life is delineated in the follow- 
 ing pages held a somewhat prominent position. He 
 inherited from his ancestors, who had been known for 
 many generations in the parish, a capacity for nearly 
 all kinds of business. His original trade was that of 
 a carpenter, but, by the help of a small patrimony, he 
 gradually relinquished that occupation for pursuits 
 more agreeable to his discursive genius. While he 
 would occasionally plan and work at the construction 
 of a house, he would be found equally at home valuing 
 the timber of an estate, selling a farming stock, making 
 the draught of a lease, or drawing up the will and tes- 
 tament of a dying neighbour. These useful services, 
 united with a tall person, a benevolent countenance, 
 and a goodly wig, procured for him the familiar but 
 respectful title of " The Counsellor." He married 
 Mary Tucker, a woman of superior education and ex- 
 cellent judgment, the daughter of a substantial neigh- 
 bouring farmer, distinguished for kindness to the poor 
 and general hospitality. 
 
 Richard, named after his father, the youngest of 
 their four children, was born at Braunton, on the 14th 
 April 1787. The only incident of his childhood which
 
 1792 : AGE 5.] ESCAPE. 5 
 
 has come down to us was one which nearly cost him 
 his life. On his way to school, the boy had to cross a 
 stream spanned by a bridge of two flat stones. On 
 attempting one day to ascertain how far he could push 
 a stick under this structure, he overbalanced himself 
 and fell in. The splash reached the ear of a poor 
 widow, carding wool by her cottage door. On looking 
 up, she spied a child's hat on the surface of the stream, 
 and, darting to the spot, drew the little owner, by his 
 flaxen locks, from under the bridge. Molly Robins 
 was never forgotten by Mr Knill. " She could not 
 read/' he would say characteristically, " but she saved 
 my life : feeble powers, if well employed, will do 
 wonders." 
 
 Braunton owed little to its religious instructors. Its 
 inhabitants generally lived in moral darkness, though, 
 in addition to the parish church, it had had a commu- 
 nity of Nonconformists from the earliest period possible 
 after the Act of Uniformity in 1662. The parents of 
 Richard Knill resembled their neighbours, and were 
 not prepared, at the time when he was committed to 
 their charge, to direct him in the path of life. 
 
 "But," says he, in the reminiscences, which shall 
 now be largely quoted, "God remembered them in 
 their low estate. A young man, named Joseph Evans, 
 the son of a farmer, who had been for some years in 
 Barnstaple, came home and opened a shop. He gave 
 notice to a few of his friends that he should have a
 
 6 HIS MOTHER'S PRAYERS. [CHAP. I. 
 
 religious service at his house on Sunday evenings. It 
 was much ridiculed by the people generally, but my 
 beloved mother, who had known Mr Evans from a 
 child, attended his meeting. There the Holy Ghost 
 applied the word with such power to her soul that she 
 could not stay away. The Lord Jesus Christ became 
 very precious. She rejoiced with joy unspeakable. My 
 father was highly displeased at this ; and I never re- 
 collect his speaking unkindly to my mother, except 
 about this change in her religion. But she sought 
 comfort in prayer ; and would often take me with her 
 into her chamber, and say, ' Kneel down with me, my 
 dear, and I will pray with you ; your father and your 
 brothers will not join me.' I wondered why she wept 
 so, and where she got such remarkable prayers for my 
 father and the family ; but I understand it now, and 
 I have good reason to believe that her prayers for 
 them have been answered, and that she has met them 
 all in heaven, except myself, and I trust, through rich, 
 distinguishing grace, she will meet me there also. 
 Blessed be God for a praying mother." 
 
 " In my thirteenth year," he continues, " I was ap- 
 prenticed to business, and in my seventeenth year 
 finished my apprenticeship, and went abroad into the 
 wide world to make my fortune. I proceeded to Ilfra- 
 coinbe, and Barustaple, and Bristol, for improvement, 
 and so far I succeeded ; but I cannot look back to these 
 early travels without a pang. ' Evil communications
 
 1806 : 19.] ENLISTMENT. 7 
 
 corrupt good manners.' In the midst of wicked old 
 men, and wicked young men, I forgot the prayers of my 
 pious mother, and became fond of singing foolish songs, 
 and breaking the Sabbath, thus stifling the voice of con- 
 science, and fighting against God ; and all this before I 
 was twenty. My. fondness for music was a great snare 
 to me. The devil often took advantage of it to lead me 
 into company. At last I began to fancy that if I enlist- 
 ed into the militia I should soon get into the band, and 
 then it would be music and songs all the year round. 
 Accordingly, I enlisted. This nearly broke my mother's 
 heart. ' Now/ said she, ' body and soul are lost; oh ! 
 what can be done ? ' Mr Evans, the dear friend who 
 led my mother to Jesus, called on my parents to sym- 
 pathise with them, and offered to try and procure my 
 discharge. Their hearts were full of joy at his offer. 
 Mr Evans immediately waited on Colonel Bevis, an in- 
 timate -friend of Earl Fortescue, the Lord-Lieutenant of 
 the county. He told the colonel the story, described 
 the feelings of my parents, and offered any money that 
 might be needful. ' I will do it,' said the colonel ; 
 ' but you must get a substitute, and keep Knill out of 
 the way until the matter is settled.' It was a mighty 
 struggle,* but it succeeded ; and it is affecting for me 
 
 * The mighty struggle is said, by an early companion of Mr Knill, 
 to have arisen in part from the dissatisfaction of the major with 
 the substitute accepted by the colonel. Knill, being upwards of 
 six feet high, had been placed among the grenadiers, but the sub- 
 stitute being shorter could not occupy his place. The colonel in-
 
 8 CONVICTIONS. [CHAP. I. 
 
 to know, that the young man who became my substi- 
 tute soon volunteered into ' the regulars/ and was killed 
 in the heat of battle ; perhaps, as my mother said about 
 me, ' body and soul were lost.' 
 
 " During the proceedings with the colonel, I was shut 
 up. Mr Evans gave me a room, and I came down 
 night and morning at family prayer. This was a new 
 and strange scene to me. I had never been present at 
 a family prayer in my life. The first night that I was 
 in this good man's house, about nine o'clock he rang 
 the bell, and his shopmen and servants all came into 
 the parlour and sat down. I looked with surprise, 
 and wondered what was coming next. When all were 
 seated, he opened his Bible and read a portion, and 
 thus let God speak to his household. They then arose 
 and fell upon their knees. The sight overpowered me. 
 I trembled ; I almost fainted. At last I kneeled down 
 too. I thought of my past life ; I thought of my pre- 
 sent position ; 1 thought, Can such a guilty creature be 
 saved ? I heard but little of my kind friend's prayer. 
 All my soul seemed turned in upon myself. My con- 
 science said ' This is how true Christians live ; but 
 how have I lived ? God has not been in all my thoughts ; 
 but now I will begin to seek mercy/ 
 
 " I went to bed that night as I never had gone before. 
 
 sisting on his right to admit a man of the minimum height, pro- 
 duced a permanent coolness between himself and his brother 
 officer.
 
 1808 : 21.] BIDEFORD. 9 
 
 On entering the room, I looked around for a Bible, but 
 found none. There was a copy of ' Doddridge's Hymns' 
 on the table, some verses of which I read on my knees, 
 by the bed-side, and then poured out my heart in broken 
 prayers, and went to bed. This was just when I had 
 completed my twentieth year. I have never gone to 
 Barnstaple of late years, without going to weep over 
 the hallowed spot where God fastened the arrows of 
 conviction in my heart." 
 
 " There was from that time," he writes in 1812, " a 
 great alteration in my outward conduct, and I could 
 not commit sin without stings of conscience ; yet I was 
 a stranger to that godly sorrow which worketh ' repent- 
 ance which needeth not to be repented of.' " But a new 
 residence was to conduct to a glorious change. " Mrs 
 Isaac, of Bideford," he says, " wanted a person to conduct 
 her business, and to instruct her only son, a youth a little 
 younger than myself. I was recommended to her, and 
 agreed to go." 
 
 For some time after this removal, which occurred 
 in March 1808, he continued to attend the services of 
 the Established Church either at Braunton or at Bide- 
 ford, but gave no indications of religious progress 
 until he made the acquaintance of Mr Thomas Spencer, 
 a young man who resided next door to him. Mr 
 Spencer, while walking in his master's garden, repeatedly 
 heard his neighbour's fine voice in song, and conceived 
 that it would be of service both to the congelation and
 
 10 MR ROOKER. [CHAP. I. 
 
 to himself if he could induce him to attend the minis- 
 try of the Eev. Samuel Rooker. In this he happily 
 succeeded. The songs of the world were exchanged 
 for those of Zion, and every week the ministry of 
 Mr Rooker served to bring some fresh meaning to 
 his strains. " Mr Rooker," it is said in the reminis- 
 cences, "was a holy man of God and a sound theo- 
 logian, deeply read in the old divines. A hungry soul 
 could feed and thrive on his ministry, and an inquir- 
 ing spirit could find rest. It was just what I needed 
 for nursing my incipient piety, expanding my religious 
 views, and fitting me for active service." 
 
 The church was at this period, it seems, in a languid 
 state inclined to repose on the tradition of former 
 prosperity, and on the reputation of its then recently 
 deceased pastor, the Rev. Samuel Lavington. Mr 
 Rooker had succeeded this eminent man, his father- 
 in-law, as the sole pastor of the church, about three 
 years before, and was anxiously desiring better times. 
 A sermon which he preached at the celebration of the 
 jubilee of George III. on the 25th of October 1809, 
 was accompanied by an unusual impression; and a 
 report of it, from Mr KnilTs pen, having found its 
 way into the preacher's hands, he was led to seek the 
 acquaintance of the writer, and to begin a lifelong 
 friendship fraught with rich blessings. 
 
 It was about eight months after this incident that 
 the two friends, Knill and Spencer, sought admission
 
 1810 : 23.] CHRISTIAN PROFESSION. 11 
 
 into the church. They were hailed by Mr Hooker in 
 a fine paternal address, founded on the words, " I 
 have drawn thee with cords of love and with the bands 
 of a man," and the impulse which the little community 
 received from the accession was of the happiest de- 
 scription. Meetings for devotional purposes, which 
 had subsided into formality, were revived ; and " there 
 was," says a contemporary, "an earnestness, an unction, 
 and a breathing after holiness in Mr Knill's prayers 
 which went to the hearts of others." A Sunday school 
 had existed for* some years under the care of an illi- 
 terate teacher, and had been reduced to an almost 
 nominal attendance, when, about a fortnight after the 
 addition of the new members, Mr Rooker proposed that 
 the then novel system of voluntary instruction should 
 be tried. Knill and his companion seized the idea, 
 and threw their new-born energies into the work. The 
 poor old teacher's salary was continued ; but a staff of 
 young persons of both sexes assumed the duties, and 
 the school sprung into a new existence.* 
 
 The anniversaries of the institution were seasons of 
 
 * For several particulars in this part of the narrative, the Editor 
 is indebted to an interesting paper relative to the origin of the 
 Bideford Sunday Schools, drawn up by a lady who was one of the 
 first teachers, and who happily survives to maintain her early habits 
 of usefulness. A curious illustration of the difficulties encountered 
 in those times is thus given : " Mr Newcomen, an eminently pious 
 and benevolent man, of good property, having read of Joseph Lan- 
 caster's plan of educating children by mutual instruction, ordered 
 the books and lessons with the view of establishing such a school in
 
 12 MISSIONARY ASPIRATIONS. [CHAP. I. 
 
 great interest, which the pastor watchfully applied to 
 the highest ends. His discourse on the 20th of Sept. 
 1811 deserves particular commemoration. As a con- 
 trast to the advantages of an early Christian education, 
 he read some passages from "Buchanan's Christian 
 Kesearches in the East," a book which was then 
 awakening great attention in the country. As he 
 went over the thrilling picture of the pilgrims to 
 Juggernaut, and recounted facts which some judged 
 too revolting for the ears of an English auditory, one 
 of the teachers, sitting in the aisle at the head of 
 his class, was noticed with large moistened eyes fixed 
 on the preacher, and his manly open countenance 
 beaming with mingled wonder and compassion. "It 
 was," said he, long afterwards, " like a spark on tinder. 
 It set me on fire to go to the heathen. I did not 
 know of missionary societies, but my thoughts were 
 set to work, and I borrowed books and informed my 
 mind on the subject. I was afraid to mention my 
 impressions to my pastor, but they smouldered until 
 the Lord's time came." 
 
 Mr Knill, in later life, communicated to a small 
 periodical an account of an incident, which it is difficult 
 to imagine as having occurred at this advanced period 
 of his profession ; but the most careful comparison of 
 
 Bideford ; but being told it would injure the poor old women who 
 got their living by teaching children, and who could not earn a sub- 
 sistence in any other way, he relinqiiished the attempt."
 
 1811:24.] PERILS. 13 
 
 events does not admit of its earlier insertion. If this is 
 its proper place, it will afford a warning all the more 
 'striking to young persons of a social and trusting 
 temperament. On his way to the school one Sabbath 
 morning, he was met by three of his former com- 
 panions, who said they were bound on an excursion 
 up the river, on which the early sun was beautifully 
 gleaming. Partly by sarcasm, and partly by entreaty, 
 they induced him to join their party. The boat glided 
 up the stream, and had scarcely shut out the town 
 behind the richly-wooded banks, when " the church bell 
 rung out/' the narrator says, " signifying to the inha- 
 bitants that it was nine o'clock, and that, by and by, 
 divine service would commence. The sound of the 
 bell vibrated sweetly on the undulating wave, and pro- 
 duced a tranquillising effect on three of the party, but 
 to the fourth it was perfect agony. Perhaps a poor 
 condemned criminal, on the morning of his execution, 
 hears the prison-clock strike which warns him of the 
 fatal hour, with just the same feelings as this young 
 man heard the nine o'clock bell. That Avell- known sound 
 had been to him, for months past, the signal for com- 
 mencing the Sunday school, and now the whole of the 
 Sunday-school proceedings spread out before the eye 
 of his mind. His conscience was very busy : the Spirit 
 set his guilty conduct in terrible array before him. 
 He fancied he heard the children sing,- the teacher pray, 
 the school business begin, and every man at his post but
 
 14 NORTH DEVON MILITIA. [CHAP. L 
 
 one, and that was himself. In vain did his companions 
 laugh, and banter him, and try to cheer him. No 
 God had smitten him ; and a wounded spirit who can 
 bear? They had taken some musical instruments with 
 them with an intention to play ; but his harp was now 
 unstrung, and the whole day was spent by him in 
 perfect misery. If he could have jumped ashore he 
 would have done it, but he could not ; yet one thing 
 he did, and it was worth doing. He solemnly resolved 
 never to break the Sabbath again, and never more to 
 associate with those who fear not God, but to come out 
 from among them and be separate ; and God has enabled 
 him to perform this vow." 
 
 After this, his deepened convictions of duty found 
 expression in various efforts after usefulness, one of 
 which he thus describes : " The North Devon Local 
 Militia was about to be disbanded at Barnstaple. The 
 regiment consisted of one thousand men, who were soon 
 to return to their families in almost every parish of the 
 north division of the county. Mr Mills, with whom I 
 had become acquainted through the Barnstaple Sunday 
 School, said to me, ' What a noble opportunity there is 
 for distributing religious tracts in all the dark villages 
 around ! The regiment will give us a thousand distri- 
 butors, if we can only get them conveyed to the men/ 
 I said, 'How can it be done?' To which he answered, 
 ' I have not nerve enough to give the tracts to the sol- 
 diers ; but I will furnish you with the tracts, if you will
 
 1811 : 24.] TRACT DISTRIBUTION. 15 
 
 circulate them/ ' Agreed.' The tracts were obtained, 
 and I set about my work. The men were assembled in 
 the barrack-yard, waiting for the signal to deliver up 
 their arms. I made my way to the Pioneers, who stood 
 at the right, and said, ' Friends, will you take home a 
 beautiful little book to your families V They joyfully 
 received them. I next came to the band. I took ' Christ 
 the only Refuge from the "Wrath to Come,' and offered it 
 to the master. He looked at me, and said, ' I understand 
 that you go about converting people ; can you convert 
 me ?' I replied, ' It is not in my power to convert people ; 
 but if it were, the first person I would convert, sir, should 
 be Serjeant Reynolds.' ' Well/ said he, ' that is plain 
 enough/ ' Yes/ I added, ' and it is sincere too. Now, 
 this tract may convert you, Serjeant ; it was written by 
 that great man, Mr Hervey, who wrote " Meditations 
 among the Tombs/' ' ' Ah/ said he, ' I have read that 
 book, and I will take your tract and read it too.' This 
 was just what I wanted, for immediately all the musi- 
 cians took tracts. I proceeded next to the grenadiers, 
 who were all pleased, until I came to one meny-andrew 
 kind of fellow. He took the tract and held it up, swore 
 at it, and asked, 'Are you going to convert me?' I 
 said, ' Don't swear at the tract ; you cannot hurt the 
 tract, but swearing will injure your soul.' ' Who are 
 you ?' he exclaimed. ' Form a circle round him/ said 
 he to his comrades, ' and I will swear at him/ They 
 did so ; he swore fearfully, and I wept. The tears
 
 16 TOUCHING RECOGNITION. [CHAP. I. 
 
 moved the feelings of the other men, and they said, 
 ' Let him go ; he means to do us good/ So I distri- 
 buted my thousand tracts, and left them in the care of 
 Him who said, ' My word shall not return unto me 
 void.' Many years after I had taken leave of these 
 soldiers, I returned from India to my native country, 
 and visited Ilfracombe. There I was invited to preach 
 in the open air, a few miles distant. Preparations were 
 made for my visit ; and during the time that I was 
 preaching, I saw a tall, gray-headed man in the crowd, 
 weeping, and a tall young man, who looked like his 
 son, standing by his side, and weeping also. At the 
 conclusion of the service, they both came up to me, 
 and the father said, ' Do you recollect giving tracts to 
 the local militia at Barnstaple some years ago?' ' Yes.' 
 ' Do you recollect anything particular of that distribu- 
 tion ? ' ' Yes ; I recollect one of the grenadiers swore 
 at me till he made me weep.' ' Stop/ said he ; ' oh, 
 sir, I am the man. I never forgave myself for that 
 wicked act. But I hope it has led me to repentance, 
 and that Uod has forgiven me. And now, let me ask, 
 will you forgive me V It quite overcame me for the 
 moment, and we parted with a prayer that we might 
 meet in heaven. Is not this encouragement ? May we 
 not well say, one tract may save a soul ? " 
 
 The piety, tact, and courage which he thus early 
 exhibited, awakened in the minds of Mr Knill's friends 
 the idea that he might be destined for the Christian
 
 1812 : 25.] NEW PEOSPECTS. 17 
 
 ministry. It was evident that his heart burned with 
 an intense compassion for souls. He frequently ad- 
 dressed himself to his companions with such earnest- 
 ness, that both speaker and auditors were dissolved in 
 tears. His words in the Sunday school were well 
 chosen, and generally winged by such vivid illustra- 
 tions, that they were seldom forgotten. Branch schools, 
 which were established in the neighbouring villages, 
 having revealed the fact that the condition of the 
 parents was worse than that of the children, endea- 
 vours were made to awaken the attention of all classes. 
 In many of these cottages, as dark as those he after- 
 wards found in the East, the voice of the incipient 
 missionary told with awakening power. Under such 
 circumstances, it was not unnatural that his own 
 thoughts should venture into the future, and picture 
 opportunities of usefulness more commensurate with 
 his zeal ; but his education, although the best which 
 the endowed grammar-school of St Braunock could 
 afford, was neither various nor deep, and the greater 
 part of the family inheritance, which had been held on 
 a peculiar local principle, having been treacherously 
 alienated, he knew his finances to be too slender to 
 meet the demands of an academic course. Voices 
 from without had to come to the aid of those secret 
 whispers. The Eev. William Hooker of Tavistock, 
 brother to his pastor, during a visit to Bideford, hav- 
 ing overheard one of his public addresses, inquired of
 
 18 NEW PEOSPECTS. [1812 : 25. 
 
 him in private conversation what were his views of the 
 ministry. The answer, that he " had but one view of 
 the subject, which swallowed up everything else," led to 
 the matter being fairly laid before his friends, who at 
 once determined that every external difficulty should 
 be overcome. 
 
 That second great step of his life, upon which he 
 ever looked back with mingled trembling and grati- 
 tude, was thus taken. When he afteryvards came to 
 perceive the magnitude of the results involved in it, 
 he wondered equally at the partiality of his advisers 
 and his own temerity ; and yet no young man ever went 
 forth with a purer purpose, or was followed by the 
 prayers of a more discriminating and affectionate 
 people, than when he took his path over the hills of 
 Devon, and through the falling leaves of the year 
 1812, to seek classical and theological learning in the 
 Western Academy.
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 " There 's a voice upon the waters 
 Deeper than the sounding sea; 
 Zion ! wake thy sons and daughters, 
 Heaven and earth are in the plea." 
 
 M. G. SAFFKRT.
 
 " THE Western Academy is of ancient date among the 
 colleges for Dissenters. It usually had eight students, 
 partly supported by the King's Head Society in Lon- 
 don, and partly from other sources. My honoured 
 pastor interested himself deeply about met, and obtained 
 my admission. It was at that time under the watch- 
 ful care and instruction of the Eev. James Small, Ax- 
 minster, Devon. Into this school of the prophets I 
 was cordially welcomed in the autumn of 1812. It 
 was a fine retired, happy place for those who wished 
 to be happy in it. Many and great were its advan- 
 tages. One of these was, that the students formed 
 part of the family, took their meals at the family table, 
 and kneeled around the family altar. The presence of 
 ladies always has a refining effect on young men, who, 
 in general, need refining. This privilege we had. Mr 
 Small made a point of calling the students by name 
 between five and six every morning, and a fine was 
 levied on the person who was not down-stairs before 
 six o'clock. It gives me pleasure to recollect that I
 
 22 REVIEW. [CHAP. II. 
 
 was never fined. I learned habits of punctuality which 
 have been of use to me all through my life. 
 
 " In looking back on this movement, I feel that it is 
 a very solemn matter for a young man of twenty-five 
 to leave the business in which he has been brought 
 up, and enter upon a life of study for the ministry. 
 If he fail as a preacher he is ruined. His student's 
 life has unfitted him for returning again to business, 
 and in this way many excellent men, who would have 
 shone in secular life, have been compelled to drag 
 out a miserable existence. Ministers cannot be too 
 cautious in recommending young men to our colleges." 
 
 " My Bidcford friends considered it quite an era in 
 the history of their Sunday school, that one of their 
 first teachers should become a minister. They loaded 
 me with kindness on my departure, and always greeted 
 me with sweet fraternal affection at every subsequent 
 return/' 
 
 Nor did the young student fail to cherish tender 
 reminiscences of these early friends and scenes. To 
 his recent companion, Mr Thomas Isaac, he writes from 
 " Axminster," on the 9th February 1814 : " The re- 
 volving season forcibly reminds me of my first ac- 
 quaintance with you an acquaintance which, I trust, 
 will be strengthened and matured even to eternity. Ifc 
 is now just six years since that memorable hour ever- 
 memorable, indeed, to me. Instead of saying with Job 
 (on another occasion), ' Let it not be joined unto the
 
 1814 : 27.] FRUITFUL CONVERSATION. 23 
 
 days of the year, let it not come into the number of 
 the months/ I would pray, ' Lord, let it be engraven on 
 my heart in indelible characters,' for then I began to 
 seek the Lord then I began to live. I am astonished 
 when I consider the innumerable mercies the Lord has 
 conferred upon me since that period. Oh that I could 
 feel grateful as I ought ! 
 
 "At times I can with great perspicuity trace the 
 Lord's hand in leading me to live with you, in drawing 
 me to hear that good man Mr Hooker preach the 
 glorious gospel, in sweetly constraining me to attend 
 the prayer-meeting, and at last in bringing me to this 
 place. And cannot you behold it is the Lord's doing ? 
 Then lift up a song of praise for me." 
 
 At the midsummer vacation he returned for a short 
 time to Bideford, and afterwards had the happiness of 
 learning that his conversation had been the means of 
 leading the daughter of a neighbouring farmer, whom 
 he had frequently visited, to a life of devoted piety. 
 The manner in which the decided character of this 
 young person triumphed, by the power of God, over 
 severe domestic persecution, and led to the conversion 
 of her father and mother, and her brothers and sisters, 
 as well as to the commencement and continued main- 
 tenance of evangelical light in a benighted parish, is 
 strikingly depicted by Mr Knill's own pen, in the little 
 narrative called " The Farmer and his Family." * 
 * Houlston & Co., Paternoster Row. 32mo. Pp. 120.
 
 24 A STUDENT'S SERMON. [CHAP. II. 
 
 " On my return from Russia," he observes, in the 
 reminiscences, " I went to visit the farm on which the 
 family resided. The venerable father was sitting in 
 his arm-chair in front of the house, to see me arrive, 
 and to give me the first welcome. As he approached 
 me, with snow-white locks floating over his shoulders, 
 he burst into tears, caught me by the hand, and with 
 a faltering voice said, ' Dear Mr Knill, we are a whole 
 family going to heaven now, and Betsy has been the 
 means of it all.' " 
 
 The period spent at Axminster was devoted to study, 
 not in itself calculated to quicken the spiritual life ; but 
 his heart gave no sign of diminished sensibility. The 
 peculiar ease which he afterwards displayed in touching 
 and carrying with him the feelings of an auditory 
 evinced itself even then, and under circumstances by 
 no means such as predisposed to the expression of the 
 emotions. It was the custom for the students, after 
 the first year's residence, to read a discourse in turn 
 for the criticism of their compeers and tutor. When 
 under skilful guidance, there is probably no better 
 training for the actual duty of the pulpit. On the first 
 occasion when Mr Knill submitted a production to this 
 ordeal, he selected as his text, " Ye who sometimes were 
 far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ ; " and 
 proceeded to illustrate the words from his own experi- 
 ence, and to urge the claims of Christ to the gratitude 
 of redeemed men, with such force and pathos, that
 
 1814 : 27.] DR WAUGH. 25 
 
 several of the students, forgetting their judicial charac- 
 ter, were melted to tears. The conclusion was followed 
 by a long pause, after which the president, observing 
 the general impression, and drying his own tears, rose 
 and left the room, saying, " Brethren, criticism is dis- 
 armed to-day." 
 
 In the month of April 1814, a missionary meeting 
 was held at Bridport, Dorset, a town about twelve miles 
 distant from Axminster. 
 
 " Perhaps this was the first which had been held in 
 that part of the country. Missionary meetings were 
 great novelties then. I had never seen one, nor had 
 any of my fellow-students. Happily for us the Eev. 
 Mr Saltern wrote to our tutor, inviting him over, and 
 ' bring the students with you, sir,' said he ; 'it may do 
 them good. The Eev. Dr Waugh of London is going 
 to preach. I should like them to hear him.' So we 
 all went to Bridport, and Dr Waugh preached. He 
 took for his text, ' It shall come to pass in that day, 
 that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall 
 come which were ready to perish.' His plan was to 
 shew, first, that the heathen were perishing, and that 
 they could not help themselves ; second, that God, in 
 His boundless love, had provided a remedy for them 
 the ' blowing of the great trumpet/ Then he enlarged 
 in his own peculiar manner on the gospel, and its 
 adaptation to the wants of sinners ; and after a grand 
 display of evangelical truth, he paused, and said, ' My
 
 26 SOLEMN PURPOSE. [CHAP. II. 
 
 brethren, this great trumpet cannot blow itself, it 
 must be sounded by men redeemed, converted men 
 those who themselves have tasted the joys of pardoned 
 sin, and who, from their own happy experience, can 
 tell the heathen what a precious Saviour Jesus is. 
 We want such men, and we must have them/ He 
 then looked around, as if wishing to fix his piercing eye 
 on some object, and in melting tones said, 'Is there 
 in this congregation one young disciple of the Lord 
 Jesus who has love enough in his heart to his Master, 
 to say, " Lord, here am I, send me ? " I felt the ap- 
 peal. It entered into my soul, and I silently said, 
 ' Lord, I will go.' This was a solemn hour to me. I 
 bless God for it, and shall ever bless Him. The 
 service ended, and the students were all invited to dine 
 with the ministers ; but I had no appetite for food. 
 My heart was full. Our senior student, Mr Hart's 
 family resided in Bridport, and from them I procured 
 a little chamber, where I spent some hours alone in 
 fasting and prayer. I have had that little room in my 
 eye ten thousand times since, for there I spent some 
 of the happiest moments of my life, in saying again to 
 Him who redeemed me, ' Lord, I will go.' 
 
 " Mr Small sent for me next morning to converse 
 with me about it ; and when he found what were my 
 feelings, he wrote to the secretary of the London Mis- 
 sionary Society to make inquiries. In the meantime, 
 I went home to consult my honoured parents, and to
 
 1814 : 27.] A MOTHER'S STRUGGLE. 27 
 
 endeavour to obtain their sanction. I had given them 
 trouble enough about the army, and I wished not to 
 wound their feelings again. My father heard me with 
 great patience, and said, ' I will throw no impediment 
 in your way ; but what will your mother say ?' I thought 
 I was sure on that point, for she loved Jesus more than 
 Christians in general do; but I was mistaken. My 
 mother's feelings were too strong. She said, ' Richard, 
 how can you think of leaving me ? I am advancing in 
 years, and I have always comforted myself with the 
 hope that you would be with me to pray with me, and 
 to cheer me when I shall pass through the valley of 
 the shadow of death. I cannot give my consent. You 
 should have seen me under the clods of the valley 
 first.' 
 
 " Here I was driven to my wit's end. I knew that 
 God never smiles on a son who breaks a parent's 
 heart. I could expect no blessing if I disobeyed so 
 good a mother. But she betook herself to prayer, and 
 at last prayer prevailed. She prayed for days and 
 nights too ; and one morning, as I met her at her 
 chamber-door, the tears were dried up. Her coun- 
 tenance was again tranquil, and she caught me round 
 the neck, and with a mother's fond embrace, said, 
 ' Now, my dear son, it is all settled ; God has given me 
 grace to say to you, Go ; and I bless Him for putting 
 it into your heart to go, and I adore Him for giving 
 me an Isaac to offer on His altar. Go, my son, go ;'
 
 2>8 MISSIONARY FIRE. [CHAP. II. 
 
 and from that hour until the day that she died, she 
 did nothing but cheer me/' 
 
 That he had viewed the subject with as much pru- 
 dence as zeal, may be gathered from a few lines to 
 Mr Walter Bo wen of Bideford, dated Axminster, 16th 
 April 1814: " Perhaps you have not forgotten that 
 a spark of missionary fire was kindled in my bosom 
 through the instrumentality of our dear Mr Eooker ; 
 but now, sir, with unspeakable pleasure, I inform you 
 that spark is blown into a flame a flame which, I 
 hope, and pray, and trust, will burn increasingly bright 
 and clear till my pulse shall cease to beat, and my dis- 
 embodied spirit join the spirits of the just made perfect, 
 where the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the 
 kingdom of their Father. 
 
 " I have signified my intention to my revered tutor, 
 who readily acquiesced, and kindly offered to accelerate 
 so desirable an object. As it is an unprecedented thing 
 at Axminster Academy, Mr Small has written to the 
 committee (which I particularly solicited), in order that 
 I might have an honourable acquittal from hence, with- 
 out which principle would not suffer me to go. I expect 
 to hear the result in a few days, when it will be forwarded 
 to the directors, and I hope my orders will soon arrive 
 to go to Mr Bogue's, Qosport, or wherever they may 
 think proper to send me. After reading this, you may 
 be ready to ask, ' Have you, my dear friend, thoroughly 
 weighed the important matter?' I will tell yon air
 
 1814 : 27.] DECISIONS. 29 
 
 I have been in the habit of asking myself such questions 
 as these : 
 
 " Can you leave your dear parents ? This is, indeed, 
 a hard question : the ties of natural affection bind me 
 fast, and many other things, better conceived than 
 expressed, press sore upon me for their sakes. But if 
 Jesus calls, I must obey ; for ' he that loveth father or 
 mother more than me is not worthy of me.' Yes, I can 
 leave my parents. 
 
 " Can you part with friends ? My friends are dear 
 to me ; I love them with a Christian love, but I am not 
 my friends', yea, I am not my own, but Christ's. My 
 friends could not purchase salvation for me, and I was 
 totally incapable of effecting it myself ; surely I am 
 bought with a price, and bound to glorify God in my 
 body and my spirit, which are His. Yes, I can leave 
 my friends. 
 
 "Can you leave the enjoyments of your native 
 country ? The comforts I am favoured with here are 
 very great, and flesh and blood say, ' Enjoy them a little 
 longer.' But, my soul, confer not with flesh and blood. 
 As for soul enjoyments, they are derived from the visits 
 of my dear Redeemer, and He can visit my soul in the 
 remotest regions. John was banished on the Isle of 
 Patmos, but there he enjoyed peculiar manifestations 
 of the Divine favour. Paul and Silas were thrust into 
 the inner prison, and their feet made fast in the stocks, 
 'out Jesus drew near and caused them to burst into a
 
 30 FAITH. [CHAP. II. 
 
 song even at midnight. Then, my soul, let the 
 enjoyments of thy native country vanish when contem- 
 plating the glory of God in the salvation of the heathen. 
 Yes, I can leave this too. 
 
 " Are your bodily powers equal to the arduous under- 
 taking? My body, indeed, is weak, but the Master 
 whom I serve is the preserver of body as well as spirit. 
 He is the great Physician, and will make me immortal 
 till my work is done. It is a useful life I wish for, 
 whether long or short, and consequently I devote all 
 my powers to so good a cause. Then, such as my body 
 is, Lord, I resign it to Thee ; do with it as Thou pleasest. 
 But, my soul, the most important question remains 
 to be answered : Art thou competent to so great, so 
 arduous, so honourable a work ? Here stop and wonder. 
 The prophet complained, 'Who hath believed our report?' 
 and the apostle, under a sense of his weakness, exclaimed, 
 ' Who is sufficient for these things?' And art thou 
 greater than these ? No ; whilst I look to myself, I 
 must despair ; but while I look believingly to Jesus, 
 then I ain strong, knowing that I can do all things 
 through Christ strengthening me. Then do not be 
 discouraged ; look to the promises, they are more than 
 sufficient for thee, and His strength shall be made 
 perfect in thy weakness. blessed Jesus, here am I, 
 send me ! 
 
 ' "Tis to my Saviour I would live, 
 To Him who for my ransom died' "
 
 1814 : 27.] LONDON. 31 
 
 The steps by which he closed this stage of his journey 
 are indicated in the following communications the first 
 to Mr Isaac, and the second to Mr Eooker : 
 
 " Axminster, 30th May 1814. 
 
 . ..." I have received a letter from Mr Burder, secre- 
 tary to the Missionary Society, which states a proba- 
 bility of my being sent for to visit Mr Campbell in 
 London, who is lately returned from the Cape. It is 
 in contemplation, if I ana accepted, to send me to the 
 city of Lattakoo. Lord, support me ! Believe me, my 
 dear friend, I am almost overwhelmed, but I hope in 
 His mercy, who has helped me hitherto. Entreat the 
 sympathy and prayers of my dear Bideford friends, 
 though I firmly believe I need not entreat them." 
 
 " Islington, London, 1st September 1814. 
 
 " Being about to leave London to-morrow, and having 
 learnt from experience your concern for me, I avail 
 myself of the pleasure of sending you a little informa- 
 tion. My journey was not a very agreeable one, though 
 the weather was fine, the views delightful, and my 
 business big with importance. But we arrived in town 
 at half-past seven on Saturday morning, and shortly 
 after I found myself in the house of a mother in Israel. 
 Here, sir, I was introduced to three brethren, a Dane, 
 a Scotchman, and a Welshman. How refreshing the 
 sight ! How cheering their discourse ! For though they 
 spoke broken English, yet they spoke the language of
 
 32 ACCEPTED. [CHAP. II. 
 
 Canaan fluently and sweetly. my dear Mr Hooker, 
 how full of joy is the hope of spending an eternity 
 with some of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and 
 tongues, who shall all speak the same pure language, 
 all join in the same harmonious song, and all unite in 
 adoring our precious Redeemer ! 
 
 " Last Monday, the committee met at Grocers' Hall, 
 No. 8 Old Jewry, when Mr Evans, the Welshman, and 
 myself were examined and approved : the other two 
 had passed this before. It was resolved that we should 
 all spend some time at Gosport how long is not 
 determined. Yesterday we were favoured with an in- 
 terview with Mr Campbell at his own house. He 
 kindly shewed us a variety of curious things, which 
 he met with in his tour ; he gave us a very pleasing 
 and interesting account of his travels ; he spoke in 
 high terms of the salubrious air, the abundance of 
 cattle, the beautiful prospects, &c., which are peculiar 
 to the neighbourhood of Lattakoo. He held up to 
 view, also, a little of the dark side of the cloud, but 
 we must go there to know it all. 
 
 " Most sincerely do I thank you, sir, and your dear 
 people, for your great kindness to me at your prayer- 
 meeting after I was gone ; for valuable and numerous 
 as the kindnesses are which I have received, both from 
 minister and people, this outweighs them all"
 
 jotting 0n Ijje Armour. 
 
 CHAPTER IIL 
 
 " God hath made all things for the sake of man, and man for His 
 own sake." AUGUSTINE.
 
 THE Rev. Dr Bogue is identified with the earliest 
 movements of the London Missionary Society. Several 
 of his appeals through the public press contributed 
 more than any other single cause to the concentration 
 of the energies of thousands of good men, which issued 
 in the formation of that institution. 
 
 For several years prior to the commencement of its 
 work, he had united to his pastoral duties the task 
 of educating young men for the home ministry, and 
 the early candidates for missionary labour were natu- 
 rally added to the number of his students. His mas- 
 terly understanding, early academic training, and ardent 
 zeal, well qualified him for such a position. His own 
 capacity for labour, indeed, was so vast, that he often 
 over-taxed the powers of his pupils ; but they seldom 
 failed to acquire sound habits of thought, a thorough 
 acquaintance with the Bible, and intense thirst for 
 usefulness. 
 
 " The whole morning,'' says Dr Bennet, in describing 
 the course of instruction, "was sometimes given to 
 prayer and other devotional exercises, to prepare for
 
 36 PRAYER. [CHAP. IIL 
 
 a new session, or to implore the Divine blessing upon 
 those who were going forth to take the charge of souls. 
 On such occasions the awe of the Divine presence has 
 been very powerfully felt, and the most devout and 
 profitable intercourse has been maintained between the 
 tutor and the students, as between them and their God." 
 
 Mr Knill sometimes mentioned a circumstance which 
 impressed him with the reality of those prayers, and 
 the unreasonableness of expecting the Divine blessing 
 while any known duty was neglected. A religious 
 service in one of the neighbouring villages, which was 
 not popular with the students, because it occurred 
 on a week evening, and broke in upon their studies, 
 was one day left unprovided for. Mr Knill, whose turn 
 it was to offer the prayer which preceded the aca- 
 demic lecture, was about to proceed, when the Doctor 
 interposed. " Stop, Mr Knill, we cannot pray until 
 a supply for Elson is obtained." " I will go, sir/' said 
 the person he had arrested. " Thank you, sir," he re- 
 plied ; " now we may venture to approach the throne." 
 
 It was the spirit which breathed in such incidents 
 as this, which enabled Dr Bogue's biographer to say, 
 " No one could leave Gosport without a deep impres- 
 sion of the grandeur and responsibility of the ministry, 
 and an awful anticipation of the day when every shep- 
 herd of souls must render up his account to the Good 
 Shepherd, who laid down His life for the sheep." 
 
 " I found," says Mr Knill, in his general reminiscences
 
 1814 : 27.] GOSPORT. 37 
 
 of Gosport, " a large number of students, some for the 
 ministry at Lome, but the greater part for the heathen. 
 There was no college building. The students boarded 
 with various families, and met Dr Bogue for his lectures 
 daily in the vestry of his chapel. Mr Small's academy, 
 which I had just left, was a place of seclusion and hard 
 study, with great gates to keep us safely ; but at Gos- 
 port there was anything but seclusion. As far as mis- 
 sionaries were concerned, there was, indeed, hard work, 
 and for those who, like myself, were to remain but for 
 a short time, it was 'life in earnest.' I have often 
 wondered how any of us survived. We had to write 
 as much from the Doctor's various lecture-books, as 
 would moderately fill up a man's time. In addition to 
 this, we had to prepare for the various classes, and to 
 preach almost every Sunday. The tutor's great soul was 
 set on the conversion of sinners abroad ; but he could 
 not bear the thought that any should perish for lack of 
 knowledge at home. Hence his zeal for breaking up 
 every inch of fallow ground in Hampshire." 
 
 This laborious life, however, was varied by enliven- 
 ing scenes. 
 
 "We have lately," he writes to Mrs Isaac, on the 
 24th April 1 81 5, " parted with some more of our mis- 
 sionary brethren ; two for Surat, and one for Malacca. 
 About twenty of the brethren accompanied them to 
 the ship, which lay at the Mother-bank. You may 
 conceive what were our feelings as we talked with
 
 38 A STJIANGER. [CHAP. III. 
 
 them by the way. Sometimes we were overwhelmed 
 by the difficulties, and then we were animated with 
 the pleasing prospect, the delightful hope of bringing 
 poor heathen to Jesus. At last the moment came for 
 us to part. Some took a long farewell, not with the 
 most distant hope of seeing each other again in the 
 flesh, while others entertained the expectation of meet- 
 ing again in the Eastern world. The voyagers were 
 left apparently with a sacred calm upon their hearts ; 
 but we, in the returning bark, made the billows echo 
 with 
 
 ' Salvation, the joyful sound ! ' " 
 
 To the same correspondent he mentions an occur- 
 rence, which illustrates the tact to which he owed so 
 much of his usefulness. 
 
 " Last Sabbath-week I was supplying for Mr Hunt 
 of Chichester, who is republishing the works of the 
 great Mr Howe of Torrington. On my way thither, 
 my ears were insulted and my heart pained by the 
 vain discourse of a gentleman who sat in the coach with 
 me. After some time, I spoke very affectionately on 
 the impropriety of his conduct, and he said he thought 
 I was a 'Methodist parson.' I told him I was, and, 
 therefore, I had taken the opportunity of preaching to 
 him. ' Sir,' said he, ' if I knew where you preached 
 I would come and hear you,' and bound it with an 
 oath. I told him where I hoped to preach the follow- 
 ing day ; and the first person I saw when I entered
 
 1815 : 28.] STREET-PREACHING. 39 
 
 the chapel was my old fellow-traveller, sitting in the 
 minister's pew. His conduct during the service was 
 worthy of imitation. I was asked by some after ser- 
 vice if I knew that stranger ; they thought he was a 
 very pious man, by his marked attention to every part 
 of the service. He went out, and I saw him no more." 
 "Writing to his friend, Mr Spencer of Bideford, on 
 the 4th July 1815, he says "We have lately com- 
 menced street-preaching. I was not first on the field ; 
 but on the second Sabbath, at nine o'clock, the lot 
 having fallen on me, I ascended the market -house 
 steps, the first time, I presume, that ever they had 
 been used for preaching the glorious gospel from. The 
 market-house adjoins the beach. The congregation 
 consisted chiefly of those who never attend a place of 
 worship. I am sure you would have rejoiced to have 
 seen it. When we began to sing, the persons who were 
 buying meat left the standings ; the butchers, having 
 no customers, left their business, and stood around us 
 with their ' steels ' in their hands. The porters and 
 watermen drew near, and the sailors, with their immoral 
 associates, left the brothels. The windows of the sur- 
 rounding houses were opened, and from 150 to 200 
 were listening or looking. The sight of a crowd of such 
 characters was enough to melt a rock of ice. I preached 
 for about a quarter of an hour from the text ' I have a 
 message from God unto thee.' Mr Slater had concluded 
 by a short prayer, when two sailors were seen pressing
 
 40 A GENEROUS SAILOR. [CHAP. III. 
 
 through the crowd. We knew not their intention, but 
 we had no fear of sailors. One of them said to Mr 
 Slater ' Will you write a letter for me to my father ? 
 I fear I am breaking his heart.' The other came to 
 me, and said ' You have been speaking a long time, 
 sir, I am sure you must be thirsty ; do take this three- 
 shilling bit, and get something to drink/ ' Thank you, 
 brave fellow,' I replied, ' we did not come here to get 
 drink/ ' No, no,' said he ; ' I know what you came 
 here for it was to do us good ; but you must have 
 the three-shilling bit/ I said, ' Have you a Bible ?' 
 'No,' was his reply. ' Have you one in your mess?' 
 ' I never saw one/ said he. ' Well, then/ I added, 
 ' come with us, and I will give you a Bible for your 
 money/ He turned to his shipmate and said, ' Let 
 us go with these gentlemen/ We took them to our 
 lodgings, and gave the young man the Bible. He 
 viewed it on all sides, and then opening his breast- 
 pocket, pushed it in and exclaimed, ' There, sir, I will 
 part with that book on the day I part with my head/ " 
 On the 2d June 18] 5, he sends to a correspondent 
 the following important piece of intelligence : " My 
 destination is now fixed. My future scene of labour 
 is before me. India's burning shores lie open to my 
 view ; but God is there, and cheerfully I will go, if the 
 Lord permit. Never did I see it a greater privilege to 
 be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, nor did I ever 
 see more of the necessity and importance of an interest
 
 1815 : 28.] INDIAN DESTINATION. 41 
 
 in His merits. Bought with His blood, called by His 
 grace, sanctified by His Spirit, and upheld by His 
 power, oh, how precious ! 
 
 "Hitherto the lines have fallen to me in pleasant 
 places, and still goodness and mercy follow me. The 
 station allotted me is peculiarly pleasing for several 
 reasons. Mr and Mrs Loveless, who have been there 
 some years, are very excellent persons. Mr Bogue 
 speaks of Mr Loveless in the highest terms. When he 
 was at the Academy, his amiable manner, the meekness 
 of his disposition, and his eminent piety, gained him 
 the esteem of all I shall be under the protection of 
 the British Government, and have many of my country- 
 men around me ; and what is best of all, I shall not 
 be prevented from preaching the gospel while learning 
 the language of the natives, which must be the case in 
 many places. The students say that mine is certainly 
 the best station : may I be more grateful and labour 
 more abundantly than they all !" 
 
 " In the month of September 1815," it is said in 
 the reminiscences, " when I had been just one year 
 at Dr Bogue's, he beckoned to me one day after lecture, 
 to remain. When the students were gone, he said 
 ' I have received a letter from London, which, I think, 
 will interest you. Last year an Auxiliary Missionary 
 Society was formed at Leeds, for the West Riding of 
 Yorkshire. It will be one of our chief supports. The 
 secretary has written to Mr Burder, saying, " We have
 
 42 ORDINATION AT [CHAP. III. 
 
 never seen a missionary at Leeds, and our large popu- 
 lation needs something out of the common way to keep 
 up and increase our missionary spirit. In October is 
 our first annual meeting, and if you have a missionary 
 about to leave, we wish him to be ordained at Leeds." 
 Now, sir,' said the Doctor, ' you are one of the first 
 who will leave, and I wish you to go. What do you 
 say to it?' I felt disappointed, and replied 'My old 
 pastor and his people wish me to be ordained at 
 
 Bideford, and' ' and,' said the Doctor, ' you would 
 
 naturally like to go ; but you are public property now. 
 You must live for the whole world. We must sacrifice 
 personal feeling if we wish to be extensively useful. 
 Remember there are 80,000 people at Leeds. Take two 
 days to consider it/ On arriving at my lodgings, the 
 students wished to know why I had been detained. I 
 told them, and asked their advice. They all said, ' Go 
 to Leeds/ and I went." 
 
 The narrative is continued in a letter to Mr Tucker, 
 on the 2d of October : 
 
 " On Friday evening I reached the destined spot, after 
 travelling nearly 300 miles, without the least injury. 
 Surely journeying mercies are not amongst our smallest 
 blessings ; for though there is no fiery, cloudy pillar to 
 direct, yet a providential Hand is visible in protecting 
 amidst so many accidents and dangers. On entering 
 the town, I was beginning to fear what would become 
 of me ; but when the coach stopped, a man looked in
 
 1815 ; 28.] LEEDS. 43 
 
 at the window and said, ' Is there a gentleman here of 
 the name of Knill?' I said, 'Yes.' 'Then you must 
 go with me/ said he. ' Pray, sir/ said I, ' who are you ?' 
 ' I am Joseph, at Mr ClaphamV Now, it happened 
 that this good old faithful servant was nearly as well 
 known in Leeds as St Paul's Church in London. 
 Joseph conducted me to the hospitable mansion of his 
 master, where I spent a fortnight, which will never be 
 forgotten by me nor by them. On the Sabbath, I 
 preached three times, and on Monday gave the address 
 to the united congregations, at their missionary prayer- 
 meeting. On such occasions, the Independents and the 
 Baptists meet together. Our meeting was in a Baptist 
 chapel Bigotry will soon be a name unknown in Leeds, 
 I hope ; for all parties seem united to promote the 
 glorious cause of our Lord Jesus Christ. I was intro- 
 duced to three evangelical clergymen, and I was 
 informed that the pure gospel is preached in two or 
 three of the churches. Thursday the branch missionary 
 society meeting commenced. Mr Leifchild, of London, 
 preached one of the sermons on the occasion, and the 
 Evangelical Magazine will inform you who preached 
 the other. In the evening, the meeting for business 
 was held at Salem Chapel, which is by far the largest. 
 If you had been there, sir, I am certain your heart 
 would have leaped for joy, you would have been ready 
 to exclaim, ' Blessed are our eyes, for they see, and our 
 ears, for they hear, those glorious things which kings
 
 44 ORDINATION AT [CHAP. III. 
 
 and prophets waited for, and never found.' The large 
 place was well filled, the speeches were animating, and 
 the collection good. The next day was appointed for 
 my ordination. Ah, sir, this is important work ; never 
 did I feel more forcibly that remarkable saying of the 
 apostle, 'Who is sufficient for these things?' I was 
 almost overwhelmed : my departure, my Avork, my death 
 and judgment, were presented to my view, and scarcely 
 any one present did not deeply feel it. The Lord, I 
 trust, was in the midst of us ; all was solemn, a spirit 
 of prayer was evidently poured out, and scarcely an 
 eye was seen but in it stood a tear. This solemn day 
 was closed with the commemoration of the dying love 
 of Christ by Christians of all denominations, who were 
 admitted by tickets. On the Sabbath day I preached 
 three times again once for the Baptists, and twice 
 among the Independents ; in the evening, to the teachers 
 and scholars of the various Sunday schools, including 
 also an Arian school This was an interesting sight. 
 After the service, a deputation, consisting of five of the 
 biggest of each sex, was sent me to return me thanks. 
 When I spoke to them, the dear little creatures burst 
 into tears, and I must have been a stoic if I had not 
 mingled my tears with theirs. 
 
 " On Monday, a missionary meeting was held at a 
 village called Morley, three miles from Leeds. I walked 
 'among the tombs' of the pious dead. Some of the 
 dear ministers of Christ sleep here who were ejected
 
 1815 : 28.] LEEDS. 45 
 
 from their livings for conscience' sake. I witnessed 
 the funeral of a young man just of iny own age ; and 
 while I saw his parents weeping over their departed 
 son, I could not help saying to myself, ' No parent may 
 be near to weep when I am numbered with the dead.' 
 Yet this did not divert me from the great work, but 
 rather roused me to feel more tenderly for those poor 
 souls who are dying without the knowledge of Christ, 
 and made me long more earnestly to be among them 
 to do all in my power while my life lasts. Before the 
 meeting for business commenced, I preached a short 
 sermon to a chapelful, and as many as could hear out- 
 side, for numbers stood at the doors and windows. The 
 inhabitants of this village gave 40 last year to the 
 society, and this year is expected greatly to exceed the 
 last. On Tuesday I preached again at Leeds, in a place 
 where there is no regular pastor ; it lies in a part of 
 the town which is not very elegant, but .several hun- 
 dreds attended. 
 
 " On "Wednesday last my public services ended. I 
 preached my farewell from Who am I, Lord God,' 
 &c. I believe there never was such a scene witnessed 
 in Leeds before ; it is not in my power to describe it. 
 After the service was over, the people would not depart 
 till they had shaken me by the hand, and those who 
 could not come to me by one door went round and 
 came in by the other. 
 
 " On the Thursday evening, the ministers and people
 
 46 ORDINATION AT LEEDS. [CHAP. III. 
 
 held a special prayer-meeting to commend me to God, 
 and implore a blessing on my future labours. The 
 Rev. Messrs Eccles, Scott, Turner, and Payne took part, 
 and appeared to have their minds sweetly engaged. The 
 place resembled a ' Bochim.' No one could have per- 
 suaded me that I should have met with so much kind- 
 ness; though a total stranger a fortnight before, yet 
 then I felt myself surrounded by mothers, and brothers, 
 and sisters. The services were concluded by singing 
 that delightful hymn, 
 
 ' Blest be the dear uniting love ! ' 
 
 Now a solemn silence pervaded the whole assembly. 
 Each kept his seat, when one of the ministers said to 
 me, ' They will not depart till they have taken their 
 last farewell of you.' I arose and went to the seat door, 
 and immediately they hastened to it, when I parted 
 with them, to meet no more, till we meet around the 
 throne of God. Solemn thought ! 
 
 " On Friday I took my departure, accompanied by 
 several to the coach, almost worn out with fatigue and 
 anxiety, bringing with me many proofs of kindness, and 
 assured that I shall never be forgotten by them in the 
 most important sense. The collections were 130 ; and 
 in the town of Leeds, no less than 500 have been col- 
 lected during the past year for the Missionary Society. 
 My soul was much refreshed with what I saw and 
 heard, and my heart is cheered with the thought that 
 many precious souls are praying for me at Leeds, in
 
 1815 : 28.] GOOD FRUITS. 47 
 
 addition to those who bear me upon their hearts before 
 the Lord at Bideford. In the multitude of God's tender 
 mercies, I am brought back to Gosport in peace, where 
 I hope to enjoy my former privileges for a little season 
 how long, I know not. I anticipate the time when 
 I shall once more behold my dear friends at Bideford, 
 And pray that when we meet, and when we part, it may 
 be in the fear of God. Hoping that this may meet you 
 in the full enjoyment of those blessings which make 
 rich, and add no sorrow, I remain," &c. 
 
 The intense interest attending these services did not 
 arise exclusively from the comparative novelty of the 
 missionary enterprise, and the prepossessing aspect and 
 character of the youthful missionary ; it appears, from 
 permanent results, to have been in large measure the 
 fruit of an outpouring of the Spirit of God. One of the 
 ministers who took part in the^ervices, writing twenty 
 years afterwards, says that great effects were produced 
 in different congregations, and that many persons 
 were added to the churches, who continued to adorn 
 their profession ; while a general impulse was given 
 to the zeal of Christians. It may not be improper, in 
 illustrating the strength of this f eeling, to give a glimpse 
 of the interior of an honoured Christian family, by the 
 following note from Mrs Parsons to Mr Knill : 
 
 "When I told you, that at the little prayer -meeting 
 which I hold on the Sabbath evening from six to seven 
 with my children, your name should be mentioned with
 
 48 CHRISTIAN LOVE. [CHAP. III. 
 
 that of my dear father, with my soul I made the 
 vow, and it has been rigidly adhered to, and shall be 
 while you or I live. Blessed be God, I can truly say 
 I have had sweet communion in so doing, and often 
 a blessed foretaste of the enjoyment of heaven. After 
 prayer, my dear children often ask me about you, and 
 tell me how they love to pray for you. Do so for them, 
 and endeavour to meet us. Never, my dear sir, for a 
 moment, suppose 'you will be forgotten here ; many, I 
 trust, will have cause to bless God that you were 
 sent. Already we have heard of three who date from 
 that time their serious impressions one has pro- 
 posed himself, and talks of following your example in 
 becoming a missionary. Who knows but more may 
 come forward? When you are on the great deep, and 
 far hence among the Gentiles, you will be present in. 
 the hearts of many here; allow me to say, by none more 
 sincerely or affectionately than by those in this house. 
 You will, I am sure, be pleased to know that all things 
 here with us go on well. My dear husband is highly 
 honoured in his increasing church. We have few 
 church -meetings without several being united to us. 
 Another of my sons is truly serious, and of the others 
 I have great hopes. I do hope they will all become 
 preachers of the everlasting gospel, to win souls to 
 Christ. This is all my prayer for them." 
 
 One result of that visit was brought to the knowledge 
 of Mr Knill thirty-three years afterwards, in a singular
 
 1815 : 28.] CONVERSION. 49 
 
 manner. "When attending a public meeting at Ludlow, 
 in 1849, one of the speakers, the Rev. Samuel Tillotson, 
 a superintendent preacher in one of the branches of 
 Wesleyanism, introduced into his speech the following 
 account of his conversion : " A great feeling of delight 
 had been produced in my native town by a missionary 
 being ordained there. I was a stout lad, and a bold 
 blasphemer. One of my uncles was a godly man, a 
 deacon of Mr Eccles' church. He said to me, ' Samuel, 
 there is a young man in town who is going abroad to 
 preach to the black people, and he is to take leave this 
 evening by preaching to the young ; thou must go, lad.' 
 The chapel was very much crowded ; but being a strong 
 fellow, I pushed my way, and got where I thought I 
 should have a full view of him. We were all expectation. 
 At last he made his way to the pulpit-stairs. I watched 
 him up into the pulpit. He was a tall, thin, pale young 
 man. I thought, ' Is he going to the heathen ? Then 
 I shall never see him more ; I will listen.' He read 
 and prayed, and then gave out his text 'There is a 
 lad here/ There God met with my soul; I yielded 
 myself unto Him. Next Sunday morning, I went to 
 a Sunday school, and asked if they would have me for 
 a teacher ? They complied, and I soon began to pray 
 in the school. Then I set up prayer in my father's 
 family ; next they made me an exhorter, and God 
 blessed me to the conversion of my own father and 
 brother. I have now been a regular preacher in our 
 
 D
 
 50 AN UNEXPECTED RECOGNITION. [CHAP. III. 
 
 body for thirty years, and God has smiled on my 
 labours. I owe it all to that sermon. I have never 
 seen the preacher since, and, perhaps, I may never see 
 him ; but I shall have a glorious tale to tell him when 
 we meet in heaven." 
 
 " Little did Samuel Tillotson think," said Mr Knill, 
 in afterwards referring to this incident, " that the 
 once tall, pale, thin young man was sitting near 
 while he was giving that narration. Time had greatly 
 changed my appearance. He had never seen me but 
 on that occasion ; and when I introduced myself to him 
 in the midst of the meeting, the shock was electrical. 
 How strange, that, so far away from the original 
 scene, and after both of us had been wandering and 
 labouring for so many years, we should so providen- 
 tially meet ! It has often struck me since, that minis- 
 ters may expect strange greetings in heaven, from 
 those whom they never saw on earth, but who have 
 received good from their labours." 
 
 Mr Knill returned from Leeds to Gosport, where he 
 enjoyed, for four months longer, the instructions of 
 Dr Bogue. Having received ordination, he found some 
 new services demanded of him. " The first," he says, 
 " was to baptize a little girl who was supposed to be 
 near death. I at first refused, but afterwards applied to 
 the tutor for advice. ' The dying child,' said the Doctor, 
 ' will neither be better nor worse for it, but you may 
 be a blessing to the distressed parents ; go, sir, and may
 
 1815 : 28.] FAMILY DISQUIETUDE. 51 
 
 the Divine blessing accompany you.' On entering the 
 house, we found the "father walking up and down the 
 room, wringing his hands, weeping, and saying, ' Oh, 
 she will die ; God is punishing me for my sins/ Then 
 looking at us, he said, ' Are you come to baptize her?' 
 'Yes, sir, sit down; compose your mind, and let us 
 talk together/ The mother was sitting with the child 
 on her lap, intently looking on it, but she never said 
 a word. I began to encourage him with the hope that 
 God would hear our prayers and spare his child, and 
 then gave him good advice how he was to train her for 
 God. ' Especially/ said I, ' let her hear your voice in 
 prayer/ ' Stop,' said he, ' stop, sir ; you do not know 
 who I am/ ' No, sir,' said I ; ' but I should be happy 
 to learn/ ' We were both/ he answered, ' members of 
 a church at Ryde. I led the singing, and conducted 
 the prayer-meetings, and was a great professor. My 
 wife would never have consented to have me, if she 
 had not thought me a religious man. Our grocery 
 business was not large, still we could live comfortably. 
 But a fair prospect offered here ; we took this house 
 and business, and this was our snare. When we first 
 came, we always closed our shop on Saturday night, 
 not to open it again till Monday. But our neighbours 
 did much business on the Sunday ; and if a ship came 
 into harbour, and wanted supplies, perhaps they got 
 more on Sunday than on any day of the week. This was 
 a great temptation to us to do the same ; we tried it.
 
 52 REFORM. [CHAP. Ill 
 
 First we opened the shop so as to have business over in 
 time to go to chapel, next it encroached so that we could 
 only go out in the evening, and then our consciences 
 became so callous, that we left it off altogether; and 
 now, sir, God is going to take away our child to punish 
 us.' ' Well,' I said, ' learn wisdom by this stroke ; 
 repent, and do thy first works. Begin from this day ; 
 call in your young men, and have family prayer/ ' I 
 cannot.' ' Cannot !' I exclaimed ; ' why?' ' Oh/ said 
 he, ' they know how I used to live. 5 ' Well, if you 
 were not ashamed to serve the devil in their presence, 
 don't be ashamed to tell them you have changed mas- 
 ters. Tell them honestly the whole story, and let them 
 see your sincerity by the change of your deportment.' 
 We then went to prayer, and I baptized Sophronia, 
 and took leave. A few days after, I called at the shop 
 to inquire for the master. The servant said, ' He is up- 
 stairs/ ' How is the child ?' ' She is recovering,' said 
 the servant ; ' she began to get better after you left/ 
 ' Call your master,' said I. The girl went to the nursery 
 to call him ; and while she was absent, I looked round 
 and saw some Bibles and hymn-books on a table. On 
 her return, I said, ' What are all these books placed 
 here for ?' ' Oh/ said she, ' they are books which master 
 uses at family prayer.' So he had begun. 
 
 " In a visit which my family paid to the Isle of Wight 
 in 1836, they went into a shop, and a young person 
 serving in the shop said to my son, ( Your father bap-
 
 1816 : 29.] ANOTHER RECOGNITION. 53 
 
 tized me/ ' Indeed/ said he ; ' when and where V 'At 
 Gosport, when he was a student. Please to tell your 
 father that my father became an honourable member 
 of the Church of Christ, and my mother died happy in 
 the Lord. But before they died, they had the pleasure 
 of seeing me also on the Lord's side. Your father's 
 advice and prayers were not lost. Please to tell him 
 this from Sophronia.' " 
 
 In the month of February 181G, the time of em- 
 barkation for the East being now at hand, Mr Knill 
 went to Devonshire, to take farewell of his parents and 
 early friends, bearing with him a letter, from Dr Bogue 
 to Rev. S. Rooker, containing the following passages : 
 " I send this note by Mr Knill, to express my best 
 wishes for your prosperity and success, and to con- 
 gratulate you on having sent forth such a young man 
 into the ministry of the gospel. I never had a student 
 with me who gave me more satisfaction. His talents 
 are good, his piety eminent, his application to study 
 assiduous, and his zeal for the advancement of the 
 Redeemer's glory fervent and exemplary. He carries 
 away with him the esteem and affection of his tutor 
 and fellow- students, and of the Christian people here. 
 
 " Last Thursday evening, he repeated the chief part 
 of his ordination service, greatly to the edification of 
 the audience. I asked the questions ; and concluded 
 with an exhortation to the people, and prayer. I think, 
 sir, if you were to have this service in your congrega-
 
 54 FAREWELLS. [CHAP. III. 
 
 tion, and also in the principal congregations in the 
 West, it would be both acceptable and useful to the 
 people." 
 
 This suggestion was readily acted on by Mr Booker; 
 and a series of services took place, accompanied by a 
 remarkable blessing. The ordination of a missionary 
 was an event even more rare in those parts than in 
 Yorkshire ; while the circumstance that the individual 
 had sprung from themselves, added greatly both to his 
 own interest and to theirs. Bideford, Barn staple, 
 South Molton, Axminster, and Wellingborough opened 
 their arms to him, and parted from him with tears and 
 prayers. At one place, an aged disciple, who had for 
 years been confined to bed, on hearing what was to 
 occur, seemed to regain his youthful vigour, and begged 
 to be carried to the chapel; saying, that having prayed 
 in secret for the heathen, he must, before he died, see 
 one who was going to point them to the Lamb of God. 
 His wish was complied with. He remained during the 
 whole service, and soon afterwards departed to glory. 
 At another place, his appeal reached the heart of a 
 young man, with such power from on high, that sleep 
 departed from him until he was brought to a resolution 
 to surrender himself to Christ's service among the 
 heathen. He has for many years been a blessing to the 
 South Sea Islands. The name of Aaron Buzacott is 
 well known to the readers of the Christian history of 
 those islands.
 
 1816 : 29.] THE WEDDING-RING. 55 
 
 " Services like these, amidst weeping friends and early 
 associations, and hallowed by tokens of God's saving 
 favour," Mr Knill naturally remarks, " were very trying 
 to my feelings. I used to think sometimes that I could 
 weep no more that the fountain of tears must be 
 exhausted. But it was also very pleasant to be taken 
 by the hand by the excellent of the earth, and to have 
 a precious promise that they would pray for me, and 
 teach their children to pray for me. These were favours 
 which I could not have anticipated, and may well lead 
 me to sing 
 
 ' Oh, to grace how great a debtor, 
 
 Daily I 'm constrain'd to be ; 
 Let that grace, Lord, like a fetter, 
 Bind my wandering heart to Thee I ' 
 
 Amidst these parting scenes, there was one more 
 tender than the rest. I must not omit that. It was 
 parting with my beloved and honoured parents, but 
 especially with my sainted mother. She took off her 
 wedding-ring in the presence of my father, and said, 
 ' This is the dearest thing I possess. It was given to 
 me by your dear father, as a pledge of his love, on our 
 wedding-day. I have worn it more than forty years, 
 and now, in the expectation that I shall never see you 
 again in this world, I give it to you. Your father gave 
 it to me as a pledge of his love, and in his presence I 
 give it as a token of our united love to you.' Descrip- 
 tion fails here. Tender parents alone can understand it. 
 In addition to the ring, there was a silver cup which
 
 56 MR NISBET. [CHAP. III. 
 
 my grandfather presented my mother, I believe on her 
 wedding-day. This also she gave to me. The ring I 
 keep as a sacred relic. The cup I gave to the skilful 
 and attentive Dr Lloyd, who attended me five months 
 during the voyage from India to the Thames. 
 
 " When I had taken leave of my dearest friends, I 
 repaired to London, to wait for the sailing of the ship. 
 My residence in London was always with Mr Nisbet, 
 bookseller. He and his family were warm and affec- 
 tionate friends of missionaries. Three or four of us 
 have been at his house at once. He greatly assisted us 
 in preparing for our embarkation, and I have always 
 found a home at his house since. His friendships have 
 not been overlooked by the Master. As it was with 
 Obed-edom, so it has been with Mr Nisbet. 'The 
 Lord blessed the house of Obed-edom, because of the 
 ark.'"
 
 irst (Jantpip, 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " God doth not need 
 
 Either man's works or His own gifts ; who best 
 Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best." 
 
 MILI-OM.
 
 THE Earl of Moira, commanded by Captain Kernp, 
 sailed from Deal on 20th April 1816, with a large 
 and interesting force of missionaries for the East. It 
 included Messrs Hough and Winter, of the Church 
 Missionary Society; Mr Randall, of the Baptist Mis- 
 sionary Society ; Messrs Townley and Keith for Cal- 
 cutta, Messrs Meade and Reader for Travancore, Mr 
 Reeve for Bellary, and Mr Knill for Madras, of the 
 London Missionary Society. All these brethren, with 
 one exception, were accompanied by their wives : Mr 
 Knill was unmarried, having met with a disappoint- 
 ment, which, considering his affectionate nature, he 
 bore heroically. 
 
 " My dear, faithful, and affectionate pastor," ran a 
 few lines to Mr Rooker, at the moment of embarkation, 
 " I cannot let Britain go till I have blessed God for 
 you, and once more thanked you for your affection and 
 kindness. The Lord reward you and yours a thousand- 
 fold. 
 
 " My hand trembles, but my heart rejoices in the
 
 60 THE CAPTAIN. [CHAP. IV. 
 
 prospect of taking a long farewell of Britain, and her 
 highly-favoured children. In case the depths of the 
 sea should provide me a grave, or some fatal disease 
 put a speedy termination to my life, accept this as my 
 last tribute of grateful remembrance ; but if the Great 
 Head of the Church, in His infinite kindness, spare my 
 life to reach Madras in peace, be assured that soon 
 you shall hear from your affectionate and obedient 
 RICHARD KNILL." 
 
 The external circumstances of ship and weather 
 conspired, with the delights of intelligent Christian 
 fellowship, to make the voyage most auspicious. 
 
 " Our privileges," it is said in the reminiscences, 
 " were greatly owing to the pious feeling of the captain. 
 When he was an officer in an East Indiaman, a gay 
 and thoughtless young man, he went ashore one Sun- 
 day at Calcutta, and seeing some English people enter 
 a house which had the appearance of a chapel, he 
 followed them, and heard Dr Carey preach. The ser- 
 mon was blessed to the conversion of his soul, and 
 the swearing youth returned to England a man of 
 prayer. On his passage home he made a solemn vow, 
 that if ever Providence gave him the command of a 
 ship, and a missionary were going to Dr Carey, he 
 would give him a free passage. We had the result of 
 this daily before our eyes ; on a former occasion he 
 had taken out Dr Yates, and now he was taking Mr 
 Randall and his family.
 
 1816 : 29.] THE VOYAGE. 61 
 
 '' When we had become accustomed to the motion 
 of the ship, and had braced up our minds for action, 
 this good man said, ' Now, let us turn this ship into 
 a Bethel ; let us have family prayer every day, and 
 sermons on Sunday; it will sweeten the voyage, en- 
 dear us to one another, and draw down the Divine 
 blessing.' " 
 
 How this plan succeeded is told in a letter to Mrs 
 Isaac, dated the Cape of Good Hope, July 3, 1816 : 
 " It is an unspeakable privilege to sail in such a 
 ship. Though removed from friends and all that is 
 dear at home, we can hold fellowship with saints even 
 on the bosoin of the Atlantic. We muster no fewer 
 than nine chaplains, besides the captain, who takes his 
 part, and deservedly has our praise. 
 
 " Each chaplain acts for the day in alphabetical order. 
 We have eight preachers ; two sermons on the Lord's 
 day, and one on Thursday the Lord's Supper on the 
 first Sunday, and the missionary prayer-meeting on the 
 first Monday of the month. Think, my dear madam, 
 how great the privilege ! Surely the ship which, after 
 a twelvemonth's voyage, rested on the mountains of 
 Ararat, could not vie with ours. 
 
 " This is a part let me now tell you of the harmony 
 which exists among us, and then join with David, and 
 say, 'How good and how pleasant a thing it is for 
 brethren to dwell together in unity ! ' Our company 
 consists of clergymen, Baptists, Independents, and one
 
 62 SEA SERVICES. [CHAP. IV. 
 
 Methodist ; but we live like brethren, ' each esteeming 
 other better than himself.' The tools of controversy 
 have been thrown overboard ; we perceived they were 
 grown rusty and out of date ; we saw them ' sink as 
 lead in the mighty waters,' and they are now where, 
 I trust, your sins are viz., ' in the depths of the sea.' 
 I have reason, indeed, to hope that much of the Divine 
 presence has been experienced on board. That blessed 
 Saviour who sanctified the mountains round about 
 Jerusalem, and sometimes had a boat for His pulpit, 
 has honoured this ship with His love. For my own 
 part, I have never felt more of my own vileness and 
 unworthiness in my life ; for here is time for reflection 
 things which were once forgotten are remembered, 
 and at times death and judgment appear just at 
 hand. On the 1st June, when chaplain, and engaged 
 in family prayer, I had such an overwhelming view 
 of myself that I was forced to stop in the midst, 
 and give way to a flood of tears, while Mr Meade 
 concluded the service; but I have not always been 
 cast down. 
 
 " Shall I now tell you how we have been favoured 
 as it respects the weather ? We left Deal, under the 
 most pleasant circumstances, on the 20th April On 
 the 23d we entered the Bay of Biscay, where the 
 tremendous swell which generally pervades those seas 
 affected us but little. On the last day of the month 
 we passed the isles of Madeira. The weather being
 
 1816 : 29.] CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 63 
 
 cloudy we saw them not, but on the following morning 
 an officer perceived them at daybreak about sixty knots 
 astern the weather being still so delightful that we 
 thought we might have sailed in the long-boat without 
 danger. At dawn, on the 3d, the captain discerned 
 one of the Canary Islands, called Palma ; we all has- 
 tened on deck, glad to behold it, and gratifying indeed 
 was the sight, being the first land we had seen for 
 many days. On the 27th we crossed the line, but felt 
 nothing oppressive in the heat, though there was an 
 almost perfect calm, which reminds one of the poet's 
 words 
 
 ' More the treacherous calm I dread, 
 Than tempests bursting o'er my head. 
 
 " I am happy to inform you that, after a passage of 
 sixty-eight days, and sailing eight thousand miles, we 
 landed safely at Simon's Bay, which lies about twenty- 
 one miles from Cape Town. It happened to be on that 
 sacred day when the tribes go up to the house of the 
 Lord. There are but few houses at the place, but they 
 are exceedingly white and clean. There is a little 
 military force, a pretty little church, and a nice little 
 parson. When our blessed Eedeemer came to Jerusa- 
 lem, He first visited the temple, and we imitated His 
 example ; the bell was ringing when we came on shore, 
 and we walked immediately to the church. The les- 
 sons for the day particularly struck me; they were 
 1 Sam. ii., and Luke xv., and the text was, ' There is
 
 64 MADRAS. [CHAP. IV. 
 
 joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth/ We 
 afterwards strolled into the burial-ground, sat among 
 the tombs, and sang praises to God. We read inscrip- 
 tions on the tombs of our countrymen, who had gone 
 thither to die, and sought to imbibe the solemn lesson/' 
 
 " The next day," says another communication, " hav- 
 ing been joined by our dear brother, Mr Thorn, we 
 travelled in ox-waggons to Cape Town. There I first 
 saw a congregation of heathen, composed of persons 
 from seven different tribes of Africa ; and, having 
 spent a most refreshing time, during which great kind- 
 ness was shewn to us by the Eev. George Thorn and 
 his congregation, we again weighed anchor, and, after a 
 favourable run, anchored in Madras Eoads. Thus I 
 found myself in my adopted country, surrounded by 
 heathen gods, heathen temples, and heathen people." 
 
 The excellent man whom Mr Knill joined was the 
 first English missionary to Madras, and had at that 
 period resided there for eight years. He had formed 
 a church, of persons who had been converted through 
 his ministry, and had been of great service in the esta- 
 blishment of schools, and in the distribution of Chris- 
 tian books throughout the presidency. His wise and 
 benevolent measures had produced a considerable im- 
 pression on the public mind ; so that Mr Knill always 
 delighted to observe, " He laboured, and I entered into 
 his labours." 
 
 " Mr and Mrs Loveless," he says, " were among the
 
 1316 : 29.] ME AND MRS LOVELESS. 65 
 
 best people I ever saw. Their house was the ' Saints' 
 Rest.' Godly men of all denominations found a home 
 under their peaceful roof. They had a large and pro- 
 fitable boarding-school, which enabled them to use 
 hospitality to strangers, and to entertain angels un- 
 awares. Mr Loveless received no salary from the Mis- 
 sionary Society, but was a large contributor to its funds 
 by preventing expenses when missionaries arrived. 
 
 " We landed on a Tuesday, and the next evening I 
 preached my first sermon, from these words, ' Behold 
 the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the 
 world ;' and God blessed it to the conversion of a young 
 widow, who afterwards became the wife of Dr Med- 
 hurst, our oldest Chinese missionary. 
 
 " The next day Mr Loveless said to me : ' It has 
 long been the desire of my dear wife to have a free 
 school for girls, as large as the free school for boys ; and 
 now you are come, we must set about it. I have my 
 plan, and think we shall succeed.' In the next week I 
 obtained a sum of money, in a most remarkable way, 
 to commence it, as will appear from what follows. 
 The wife of a minister in England had a brother, a 
 captain in the Madras army. She wrote to her brother 
 about me, and one day, when he had a party of officers 
 at his house, the letter arrived. An English letter 
 always produces a great sensation in India on tender 
 spirits. The captain said to his guests, ' Permit me to 
 open my letter.' He read on, and as he read he laughed
 
 66 A YOUNG OFFICER. [CHAP. IV. 
 
 heartily. 'What is the matter?' said they. 'Oh,' said 
 he, ' it is a letter from one of my sisters, who is introduc- 
 ing a gentleman to me, and wishes me to be very kind 
 to him. Who do you think it is? a missionary.' They 
 joined in the laugh, and said, ' What will you do with 
 him ?' ' Why, I will make him drunk, and you shall 
 come and see the fun.' A young officer who was pre- 
 sent had a brother at Mr Loveless' school, and on his 
 way to the Fort, he called to see his brother. In con- 
 versing with Mr Loveless, he said, ' I am glad you are 
 going to have a coadjutor, sir. My captain has just 
 received a letter from his sister about it/ And then, 
 referring to the f fun' they had enjoyed, he said, 'I 
 advise you to put him on his guard when he arrives/ 
 
 " On the arrival of the ship, the captain saw my 
 name in the Gazette, and on the Sunday morning after, 
 he came, and brought several other officers with him, 
 to the chapel. The sight was quite novel. At the close 
 of the service, my friend inquired for me, and expressed 
 great pleasure at seeing me, asked many questions about 
 Bideford and Axminster, and added, ' When will you 
 come and dine with me V I begged to be excused just 
 then, as my baggage was still in the Custom-House, and 
 my presence was needed there. He shook hands, and 
 said, ' I will call on you/ He did so, and as soon as 
 he had retired, Mr Loveless told me of the plot, but 
 added, ' You must go. Be upon your guard. I am 
 not without hope that God will bless your visit/ I
 
 1816 : 29.] FIRST VICTORY. 67 
 
 dined with the captain and the party who knew about 
 his sister's letter. Englishmen in India are noted for 
 their hospitality. They live like princes. They fare 
 sumptuously every day. The wine passed round merrily. 
 They pressed me to drink. I politely declined. The 
 captain said, ' When you are at Eome, you must do as 
 Eome does.' I said, ' Captain, if you urge me to drink, 
 I will write to your sister about it, and what will she 
 say ?' The snare was broken. ' Well/ said he, ' do as 
 you please.' They related soldiers' stories, and I related 
 missionary stories, and by way of application, I said, 
 ' Gentlemen, we are going to build a girls' school in 
 Black Town, near our chapel, to correspond with the 
 boys' school, and as this is the first visit I have paid, I 
 should like to make it memorable by your becoming 
 the first contributors. Give me something for a founda- 
 tion-stone/ They cheerfully responded, and sent me 
 home in the captain's palanquin, with fifteen pounds 
 towards the girls' school From that time the captain 
 became a regular attendant at chapel, and sometimes 
 ten or twelve officers came with him ; one of whom was 
 converted by a sermon from Mr Reeve. The captain 
 also bought a large Bible and Hymn-book for himself, 
 and sent copies of valuable books to various parts of 
 India to his old friends. He never ceased to be my 
 friend. After I had become very intimate with him, 
 he said to me, ' If I had gone home before I saw you, 
 and my sister had inquired about the missionaries at
 
 68 LETTER TO HIS PARENTS. [CHAP. IV. 
 
 Madras, I should have said, " There are none," or, if she 
 had asked me about your chapel, I should have said, 
 " There is no such place." ' So much for the testimony 
 of worldly men on the subject of missions." 
 On the 4th February 1817, he writes : 
 " MY DEAE AND TENDER PAEENTS, Fourteen thou- 
 sand miles have not in the least abated my affection for 
 you, my brother, or the dear children. No; I have you 
 on my heart. In the beginning of January, I forwarded, 
 by the Albion, five copious letters, but, to my great 
 mortification, they are completely gone. The ship is 
 wrecked ; but every person saved. The cargo lost, and 
 the packet of letters soaked and spoiled. This comes 
 with only a few of the numerous particulars stated in 
 the one that is gone, and to none of my dear friends 
 can I write at present. 
 
 "Through the tender mercies of God, I am well, 
 very well, much better than when I last saw your face. 
 India agrees with me much better than I could have 
 even hoped for. My dear brother and sister, Loveless, 
 are most affectionate creatures. I live with them, and 
 am quite at home. I live principally on rice, which 
 suits my constitution. I take much exercise in the 
 morning before the sun rises. The morning and the 
 evening are the only seasons which are safe for 
 Europeans to go out, because the heat of the sun is 
 quick destruction. I wear very thin clothes white 
 jacket and nankeen trousers sleep very cool drink
 
 1817 : 30.] LABOURS. 69 
 
 very little preach very often study very closely 
 make some advances in the language visit the schools 
 twice a- week see some fruit of my labours and want 
 nothing but a thankful heart. This is my language : 
 
 ' Gracious Redeemer, make me bear 
 More of Thy gracious image here.' 
 
 "This is a hasty glance at myself; now let me tell 
 you of our chapel. Here we have service thrice a-week, 
 and many attend. On each side of the chapel, we have 
 a charity school. On the right side for boys 347 
 belong to it; on the left side for girls, which is in 
 its infancy, but bids fair for much good. Between 
 the boys' school and the chapel we have a school for 
 the native children, little sharp, intelligent creatures, 
 almost naked. They sit on the ground, write on the 
 sand till they can make good letters, and then on 
 the leaf of a tree with a pen of iron. We have four 
 other schools in various parts of Madras, in which are. 
 about 200 boys ; but the natives will not permit their 
 girls to learn reading even a princess does not know 
 a letter. Mr Loveless has opened the large school-room 
 for divine service ; and every Sunday evening great 
 numbers attend. We read the prayers of the Church 
 of England in this place. I have no less than twenty- 
 five officers of the army at once to hear me. In. the 
 fort, we preach twice a-week to the soldiers ; few attend. 
 They do not think (generally speaking) that they are 
 sinners. At the ' Mount,' we preach once a-week to a
 
 70 MILITARY OFFICERS. [CHAP. IV. 
 
 party of soldiers, in a house left for that purpose by a 
 pious serjeant-major. This is eight miles from Madras 
 a lovely place; the road thickly set with beautiful 
 banyan trees, which in some parts form an arch, and 
 yield a delightful shade to the weary traveller." 
 
 Mr Knill gained much influence over these officers. 
 His sincere, open, and direct manner suited their taste. 
 He seemed to know instinctively when to assault the 
 conscience, and when to touch a chord of home recol- 
 lections. "What do you missionaries mean?" said one 
 of them ; " do you think that poor black fellow will be 
 damned?" "I hope not/' was the answer; " but if he 
 is, I think his punishment will be very light compared 
 with yours, i you neglect God." The interrogator, 
 convinced, lifted up his hands, and said, " I believe it ; 
 I have long thought so ! " Another, whose conscience 
 had been aroused, but who still clung to his sins, one 
 morning called, and sought to get into an argument. 
 " There are many things in the Bible, sir, impossible to 
 be understood." "There are, sir," was the reply; " but 
 the seventh commandment is very plain." The con- 
 troversy ended. A young civilian, while engaged in 
 writing a book on infidel principles, probably visited 
 by some relentings, went one Sunday to the mission- 
 chapel. " The text," says Mr Knill, " was, ' Behold, I 
 stand at the door and knock/ I saw the stranger in 
 tears, and said to one of the deacons, ' Do you know 
 where he lives ? I must write to him.' I did so ; and
 
 1817 : 30.] A CIVILIAN CONVERTED. 71 
 
 received an answer, requesting me to ' call at once! I 
 found him in tears. ' You felt a good deal this morn- 
 ing, sir?' said I. 'Yes/ he replied; 'Christ has so 
 often knocked at my door, and been refused admission, 
 that I feared to-day that He would knock no longer/ 
 ' To prevent that/ I said, ' let us kneel down imme- 
 diately and ask forgiveness; that is the plan/ We 
 prayed ; he wept ; he resolved ; he tore his infidel 
 manuscript in pieces; left his infidel associates; aban- 
 doned his lucrative situation in the Company's service, 
 and sailed for England. Before leaving India, he wrote 
 a spirited letter to the public, calling a meeting for the 
 formation of a missionary association. We had a good 
 meeting, at which he spoke, making a public recanta- 
 tion of his former errors. A report of the proceedings 
 was drawn up, and presented to the Governor, for per- 
 mission to print it. His Excellency, with his own hand, 
 erased 'all objectionable parts/ that is, all that was 
 worth printing, and then gave us permission to proceed. 
 We carried out the object without employing the press 
 at all." 
 
 " Mr and Mrs Loveless," continue the reminiscences, 
 " would have me live with them, but they charged me 
 very little for my board, whereby I was enabled, with 
 my salary, to support seven native schools. These were 
 so situated that I could visit them all in one day ; and 
 while they gratified my heart, they aided me in attain- 
 ing the colloquial language of the people. My horse
 
 72 " A RELIGIOUS HORSE." [CHAP. IV. 
 
 and gig were seen constantly on these rounds; and 
 my horse at last knew where to stop as well as I did. 
 This nearly cost a Bengal officer his life. Captain Page, 
 a godly man, who was staying with us until a ship was 
 ready to take him to the Cape, one morning requested 
 ine to lend him my horse and gig to take him to the 
 city. The captain was driving officer-like, when the 
 horse stopped suddenly, and nearly threw him out. 
 He inquired, 'What place is this?' The answer was, 
 ' It is the " Sailor's Hospital/" They started again, and 
 soon the horse stopped suddenly, and the captain was 
 nearly out as before. ' What is this ? ' 'A school, sir/ 
 was the reply. At last he finished his business, and 
 resolved to return another way. By doing this, he came 
 near my schools, and again and again the horse stopped. 
 When he got home, he said, ' I am glad that I have 
 returned without broken bones, but never will I drive 
 a religious horse again !'" 
 
 These labours, however, were not to be without in- 
 terruption. Coming home exhausted one day during 
 the rainy season, he flung himself on his bed, and 
 fell asleep. He did not know that the bed had been 
 exposed to the rain, until he experienced effects from 
 which he did not recover for several years. The im- 
 mediate result was, that he was compelled to leave 
 Madras for a season ; and by the kindness of the Rev. 
 Charles Church, a devoted chaplain to the East India 
 Company, spent about two months at Cuddalore.
 
 1818 : 81.] CHASTENING. 73 
 
 From that place, on June 10, 1818, he thus writes to 
 the Eev. S. Eooker: 
 
 " The heat, and other things connected with this 
 country, are not favourable to a speedy recovery from 
 sickness ; yet I trust the Lord has more work for me 
 to do at Madras, and will, therefore, prepare me for it. 
 I have much reason to adore Him for this affliction ; 
 it was sent in great mercy, and has been sweetened by 
 a thousand consolations. Ah, my dear Mr Booker, 
 missionaries want chastisement as well as others, and 
 their Father loves them too well to spare them. We 
 want to learn how to suffer as well as do the will of 
 God, and I believe my soul has been as a -weaned child. 
 It is rather singular that, during my affliction, I have 
 been staying with three pious chaplains ; with Mr 
 Thompson I remained a few days, with Mr Malkin also 
 a few days, and with Mr Church I have been more than 
 six weeks, and shall not leave his habitation till the 
 hot winds have ceased, which will not be for some 
 weeks. He lives at Cuddalore, about 130 miles from 
 Madras, in one of the pleasantest places in India. I 
 mention this to shew that Churchmen and Dissenters 
 can love each other, provided they have a supreme love 
 to Christ. The doctors whom I have consulted give it 
 as their opinion that my liver is not attacked, nor are 
 my lungs affected, but my debility has arisen chiefly 
 from ' excessive labour and great abstemiousness.' This, 
 I believe, is the case ; but I did it, as I thought, for the
 
 74 GRATEFUL [CHAP. IV. 
 
 best. And, my dear sir, there i& no man who has a tender 
 concern for the glory of God and the happiness of man, 
 who can live in India without exerting every power ; 
 for sin is doing all it can do in its very worst forms ; 
 and who would not endeavour to stop the torrent ? I 
 assure you, that at Madras I had every encouragement 
 to work ; the Lord smiled upon me, which put new life 
 into all I did and said. 
 
 "About this time last year, two young men were 
 first seemingly concerned about their souls under a 
 sermon I was preaching from Eev. iii. 20. One of them 
 was a young Englishman, a very clever, and now a very 
 useful young man ; he is about to return to Europe, and 
 intends to spend the remainder of his days as a mis- 
 sionary. The other was the descendant of a Dutchman, 
 who had scarcely even seen a house of worship before, 
 or heard anything of the blessed Eedeemer. He had 
 lived on the north coast, speaks the Gentoo fluently, 
 and is now studying it with a view to proclaim the 
 everlasting gospel in that language. 
 
 " Since I have been sick, I have received several 
 letters full of encouragement, and calculated to excite 
 the most grateful feelings in my heart to the ever- 
 blessed God. Among the rest is a letter from a lady, 
 who, twelve years ago, let her house to Mr Loveless to 
 preach in; and though she had the gospel poached 
 under her roof, she seldom heard it, and never felt it 
 till one Lord's day she came to the chapel. I was
 
 1818 : 31.] REVIEW. 75 
 
 preaching on ' family prayer,' and the Lord opened her 
 heart, and now, for the first time, she began to pray. 
 These things, you know, my dear sir, are such as 
 stimulate to every holy action ; they wind up all the 
 springs, and put all the wheels in motion: every 
 power is put to the stretch in devising and acting 
 for the glorious cause. 
 
 " The last sermon I preached was from the last verse 
 of James. One of the primary objects I had in view 
 was to stir up the people to a serious concern about 
 the Sunday school It had chiefly devolved upon me 
 before my affliction. It was too much for Mr Loveless, 
 and hence it began to fall off. Thanks be to God, He 
 blessed the sermon for its desired end; nine male 
 teachers immediately volunteered their services, and 
 some females, so that I believe we muster upwards of 
 100 Sunday-school children, and 13 teachers. This, 
 for India, is wonderful. Perhaps I have already written 
 you of my giving theological lectures to a dozen young 
 men. This promised very fair for great usefulness. 
 One evening in the week was devoted to this. Mr Bogue's 
 plan was adopted, which to his students has proved a 
 very efficient one, though, I believe, it is not adopted 
 by any other academy. This, with all my other plans, 
 has been laid aside by me for many months. Oh for 
 strength, grace, and zeal, to enter on my delightful 
 work again!" 
 
 The eminently Christian character of Mr and Mrs
 
 76 THE SKY BECLOUDED. [CHAP. IV. 
 
 Church, whose acquaintance he had formed on their 
 landing at Madras, united with the fine climate, and 
 the beautiful scenery in which their residence was 
 situated, revived the buoyant spirits of the invalid, 
 but did not essentially restore his strength. " The 
 doctor of the station was unremitting in his kindness 
 to me. I had a visit from him daily ; and after one 
 of his calls, he said to my host, ' I think Mr Knill 
 cannot recover ; he has no stamina left. I wish you 
 to advise him to go back to Madras, and the sooner 
 the better.' Mr Church sought an opportunity to speak 
 to me. He first spoke very comfortingly about heaven, 
 and the prospect of going there. Then he asked me 
 about my hope. I had no doubts ; God favoured me 
 usually with bright hopes. ' Then/ said he, ' it is right 
 I should tell you the doctor's opinion.' He did so, 
 prayed with me, and then left me. It was a solemn 
 moment ; I was glad to be alone. I felt as if I had 
 received the message of death. I took a review of my 
 coming to India. The field was promising, and the 
 labourers were few. We had started many things, and 
 prosperity had crowned them all ; and it seemed mys- 
 terious, that just when I was able to speak to the 
 heathen, all the purposes of my heart should be broken 
 off. But I had left all for Christ and souls ; and if 
 God saw fit to take me to Himself, I wished to say, 
 ' Thy will, Lord, be done.' 
 
 " Very soon after this, it was reported that an open
 
 1818 : 31.] DR JUDSON. 77 
 
 boat was going to Madras, 100 miles distant ; and as 
 this was an easy mode of travelling, the doctor advised 
 me to go by it. I embarked in my palanquin, and was 
 carried safely to dear Mr Loveless's again." 
 
 About this period Mr Loveless and Mr Knill had an 
 opportunity of shewing kindness to one of the greatest 
 of their fellow-labourers, Dr Judson of Burmah. He 
 had left Rangoon in a small native vessel, of a class 
 that never can safely lose sight of land, with a view of 
 proceeding to Chittagong, ten or twelve days' sail dis- 
 tant. Tempestuous weather drove them to sea, and in- 
 volved them in horrible sufferings. After two or three 
 months' struggle with almost every species of privation, 
 the little vessel came to an anchor in the mud of 
 Masulipatam, about 300 miles north of Madras. Mr 
 Judson gathered sufficient strength to pencil a note 
 begging for a place to die in, and addressed it, " To any 
 English resident." When told, a little while afterwards, 
 that a boat was approaching from the shore, he suc- 
 ceeded in crawling to the window of his cabin, and 
 perceiving the red coat of the soldier, and the white 
 jacket of the civilian, he sank down on his knees and 
 wept. One of the officers treated him with the most 
 generous hospitality, until he set out to Madras in 
 search of a ship to Eangoon. He waited three months 
 for a passage, while his friends in Burmah were held in 
 painful suspense as to his fate. But it may easily be 
 imagined how much his sorrow was alleviated by the
 
 78 TOUR. [CHAP. IV. 
 
 friendship of the missionaries. " I received," says he, 
 in a letter to America, " such proofs of Christian affec- 
 tion from many dear friends, as rendered parting with 
 them very painful, though my detention in Madras 
 had, in other respects, been almost insupportable/'* 
 Mr Knill mentions but one incident of the visit : " A 
 young man," says he, " called on me one day to speak 
 about being baptized. Mr Judson sat and listened to 
 the conversation. The young man spoke admirably as 
 to himself, the Scriptures, and the Saviour. At last 
 Judson rose to his feet, and clasping his hands, ex- 
 claimed ' If ever I should live to see one of the 
 Burmese expressing himself as this man does, my heart 
 would leap for joy/ Happily, he did live to see his 
 ardent wish fulfilled." 
 
 Another hot season in Madras was not reckoned 
 safe for Mr Knill, and he was persuaded to pay a visit 
 to his former fellow-passenger, Mr Meade, who laboured 
 at Travancore. After an interesting journey through 
 Tranquebar, Tanjore, Trichinopoly, and Palmacotta, 
 where he became acquainted not only with new forms 
 of idolatry, but with evidences of the Divine blessing on 
 the labours of the early Danish missionaries, which at 
 once affected and cheered his mind, he was cordially 
 hailed by his friend, who, then in widowed solitude, 
 persevered in proclaiming the glad tidings near the 
 Serpent's Temple at Nagercoil. "I found him, with 
 * Wayland's " Life of Judson," vol. i. p. 154.
 
 1818 : 31.] TRAVANCORE. 79 
 
 his dear little boy, in excellent health and spirits, but 
 there seemed something wanting. When we parted at 
 Madras, I carried the dear child in my arms to the 
 ship, and Mr Loveless supported poor Mrs Meade, who 
 was then very ill ; but now she has been twelve months 
 an inhabitant of another world a citizen of a nobler 
 city. Poor, dear Meade looked forlorn ; the sight of 
 me revived his recollection of the wife of his youth ; 
 but the important duties of his station called, and he 
 obeyed ; and I had now a little time to reflect on my 
 new position." 
 
 The salubrious climate had a reviving influence on 
 Mr KnilTs enfeebled constitution, and he threw into 
 the work all the energy at his disposal. New schools 
 were opened, sermons, consisting of short questions 
 and answers, were delivered to willing auditories, and 
 native teachers, bearing the names of English benefac- 
 tors, were sent forth to the villages. With charac- 
 teristic hope, the foundation of a very large chapel was 
 laid ; and when the difficulties which invariably gather 
 round such undertakings appeared, they were met with 
 unflinching courage. There were stones enough in the 
 mountains, and trees beyond number in the forests ; but 
 the means of their transportation could not be found. 
 While this problem was waiting for solution, " I saw," 
 says Mr Knill, " a huge elephant feeding near a temple 
 with a keeper by his side. I said to the man, ' Whose 
 elephant is this ? ' The reply was, ' He belongs to the
 
 80 AN ELEPHANT ENLISTED. [CHAP. IV. 
 
 goddess who lives in the temple.' 'What does the 
 goddess do with an elephant ? ' ' She rides upon him,' 
 it was answered, 'twice a year at the processions.' I 
 thought if we could get this elephant to draw the 
 building materials for our chapel, the animal would 
 serve a new master, and be employed in a better work 
 than carrying an idol. I mentioned it to Mr Meade, 
 and through the Eesident the matter was laid before 
 the Queen. Her Majesty said, 'They may have the 
 elephant, but they must feed the animal and pay the 
 keeper.' We readily consented, and had the grati- 
 fication of seeing the monster daily engaged in drawing 
 stones and timber for the house of the Lord. The 
 chapel was some years in building, but now some of the 
 largest and most interesting anniversaries in India are 
 held in it." 
 
 In the midst of these pleasant and important labours, 
 a fearful visitation of cholera desolated that part of 
 India. The affrighted population fled to the mis- 
 sionaries for relief, and gave them little repose night 
 or day. They, having procured medicines, laboured 
 to meet the demand, and were the means of rescuing 
 many from death ; but the sudden and excessive exer- 
 tion told quickly on Mr Knill's strength. " As I rode," 
 says he, "from place to place, the distress was very 
 alarming. At one place I saw a cluster of people on 
 the roadside surrounding a man agonised by cholera. 
 I gave him medicine, and ordered the people to rub
 
 1819 : 32.] CEYLOK 81 
 
 him. At last the poor creature began to recover; and, 
 opening his eyes, said, 'Who are nay helpers?' In 
 an hour he was able to walk to the next village ; but 
 while engaged with him I was exposed to a very sharp 
 wind. Choleraic symptoms followed, which nearly 
 killed me. This was decisive. From this time there 
 could be no reprieve. On partial recovery, the doctor 
 ordered me to quit India at once. Dear Mr Meade, 
 though reluctantly, helped me away ; and on the morn- 
 ing of the 35th February 1819 I set sail for Colombo. 
 Vessels generally cross the Gulf of Manaar in twenty- 
 four hours ; but we were becalmed for five days, and 
 the sun beat upon us very much. I sat, or lay, in 
 my palanquin on the deck the greater part of the way, 
 and suffered much from the liver, which was affected 
 again by the intense heat. On our arrival at Ceylon, 
 I was removed to the Wesleyan mission-house, where I 
 was treated with all the affection and tenderness which 
 the servants of Christ are wont to shew each other." 
 
 After a short sojourn, Mr Knill succeeded in se- 
 curing a passage to England in the ship Richmond, 
 Captain Home. " The vessel had to go round to Madras 
 to complete her cargo ; and for the third time I entered 
 Madras Roads, and once more, and for the last time, 
 found myself with beloved brethren and sisters in 
 India. It was early on Sunday morning. Two of 
 the members of the church came off for me, and took 
 me direct to the chapel. They were singing when we
 
 82 VOYAGE HOME. [CHAP. IV. 
 
 entered, and I heard the verse given out by Mr Hands 
 of Bellary 
 
 ' Grace will complete what grace begins, 
 To save from sorrow and from sins; 
 The work that wisdom undertakes, 
 Eternal mercy ne'er forsakes.' 
 
 A poor creature, tossed about as I had been, and who 
 was just about to leave the land of his adoption, for, 
 perhaps, a watery grave, alone could imagine how these 
 lines soothed my troubled breast. I silently added. 
 ' Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight.' 
 " On the morning on which the ship again set sail, 
 a new mission-chapel was commenced, and, as a token 
 of my brethren's love, I was honoured to lay the foun- 
 dation-stone ; after which, amid their tears and prayers, 
 I bade farewell to India for ever. The chief officer, 
 whose cabin was very airy, kindly gave it up to me, 
 and I found it a great comfort. My health went 
 through several changes in the tropics. One night the 
 doctor considered me dying; and dear Mr Griffiths, 
 a Baptist missionary, who, with his wife and daughter, 
 was returning in the same ship, sat with me and 
 prayed with me, commending me to the care of Him 
 who received the spirit of the dying Stephen. But I 
 revived. Off the Cape of Good Hope we had stormy 
 weather, which so increased the illness of two military 
 officers a captain and a major that they both died ; 
 and their funerals exceeded in solemnity, I thought,
 
 1819 : 32.] ST HELENA. 83 
 
 any funeral I had seen on shore. The weather not 
 permitting us to land at the Cape, we put in to St 
 Helena, where we remained in lodgings for four days. 
 The charges were thirty shillings a-day, which, for me, 
 amounted to six pounds, and for Mr Griffiths and his 
 family to fifteen pounds. But when we asked for the 
 reckoning, the host answered that he had been ordered 
 to present us with our bills discharged. On begging 
 to know our benefactors, he answered, the Rev. Mr 
 Vernon, the chaplain, and Captain White. Many will 
 have to thank God for sending English ministers to 
 that rock then the lonely prison of Napoleon. The 
 chaplain accepted from me 'Cecil's Remains' as a 
 keepsake, and again we set sail for Old England. 
 
 " On the 30th November 1819, we landed at Mar- 
 gate, and after a day's rest, I set off for Mr Nisbet's, 
 where I was cordially received." 
 
 " Oh, my dear Mr Booker/' runs a note, dated a few 
 days afterwards, "how can I begin a letter to you? 
 My heart grows warm at the recollection of the 
 blessings I have received through your ministry, and 
 the favours I have received from your hands. May the 
 Lord repay you a thousand-fold ! You have heard of 
 my affliction, and I doubt not that I have shared in 
 your sympathy and your prayers. Now, let me entreat 
 you to praise the Lord for His goodness to me in bring- 
 ing me in safety to my native shores, and mercifully 
 restoring me to such a measure of health and strength,
 
 84 ENGLAND AGAIN. [CHAP. IV. 
 
 as I never could have expected. The improvement of 
 my health since I landed at Margate (30th November), 
 has been very rapid, and very great. Last Monday, I 
 saw the directors, and met with all that affectionate 
 kindness which the blessed gospel inspires. Tuesday, 
 good old Dr Waugh took me to his physician, who 
 reported well respecting me. The directors offered to 
 send me to any place which appeared most suitable to 
 ray present state. The physician did not think that 
 Devonshire was altogether suitable, as it was too damp ; 
 but I shall come down, by the help of God, for a few 
 days, and stay among my dear friends for a little. 
 .... Russia is contemplated as my future home. 
 Probably the place of my residence may be St Peters- 
 burg, but this is not yet decided/' 
 
 JOUENAL. "January 1, 1820. On this first day 
 of the new year, I set out for Bath. The weather was 
 exceedingly cold, and travelling rather dangerous, but 
 through mercy I suffered no injury, and about 8 P.M. 
 was safe in the York Hotel in this beautiful city. 
 
 " January 2. This day being the Sabbath of the 
 Lord, I had the pleasure of hearing Mr Jay preach 
 from the words, 'We thanked God and took courage.' 
 I afterwards became acquainted with the Rev. Dr 
 Haweis, one of the fathers of the London Missionary 
 Society. He was an old man, and full of days. More 
 than fourscore years had rolled over his head, and yet 
 there were moments when he was all vivacity. His heart
 
 1820 : 33.] DR HAWEIS. 85 
 
 was always warm on missionary subjects, and his eyes 
 frequently flowing with tears, while I told him of the 
 wonders of redeeming love among the heathen. The 
 venerable saint talked of going to London in May, but 
 he was removed in a few days to the rest which 
 remaineth for the people of God. 
 
 " January 3. The missionary prayer-meeting at 
 Mr Jay's. He pressed me to give the address, which I 
 did to a large and interesting congregation. 
 
 " January 4. Set off, after experiencing a thousand 
 kindnesses from the Yockney family, for Bristol. As I 
 entered this city, and was passing from the coach-office 
 to Mr Skinner's, my heart was so full that I was much 
 relieved by giving vent to tears. When I last saw that 
 city, I was a stranger to God, being far from comfort 
 and holiness. my soul, if I had died then, what 
 would have become of thee? I look back and tremble. 
 I look up to Thee, my God and Saviour, and adore 
 Thee for Thy great goodness. 
 
 "January b*. Having tarried with the truly excel- 
 lent family of Mr Skinner till to-day, I posted onward 
 to Poundsford Park, the seat of Thomas Welman, Esq., 
 the refuge of Christian ministers in the days of 
 persecution, and the hospitable home of one or other 
 of them ever since. 
 
 "February 9. Took leave of the hospitable man- 
 sion. I received the most affectionate kindness, which, 
 together with the peace and happiness I have enjoyed,
 
 86 HOME. [CHAP. IV. 
 
 has tended greatly to strengthen my body and establish 
 my health. My dear and honoured friends, Mr and 
 Mrs Welman, accompanied me to Taunton, where I 
 took coach, and proceeded to Barnstaple. 
 
 "February 10. Rev. W. H. Gardiner went with 
 me to Braunton, the place of my nativity. My dear 
 parents are greatly altered, having now exceeded the 
 lease of human life my dear father being in his 74th, 
 and my mother in her 75th year. On our arrival, my 
 mother fainted, and I thought she had sunk to rise 
 no more, but the Lord was merciful to her, and to 
 me also, in that she gradually revived, and was won- 
 derfully cheerful and happy; her mind stayed upon 
 God, her soul fixed upon the Eock of Ages. 
 
 "February 13. Preached at Braunton to my old 
 neighbours and companions with more than usual 
 energy. Lord, bless Thy holy Word ! During an ab- 
 sence of four years, I found many of the neighbours 
 dead and gone, and their places filled by others, many 
 of whom I know not. What a change does only four 
 years make ! my God, all things fade and die ; but 
 Thou remainest. Help me to seek Thee for my pre- 
 sent and eternal portion!" 
 
 For nearly three months, Mr Enill tarried among 
 the friends of his youth, in all the towns and villages 
 of that part of Devon, requiting their kindness by 
 touching and animating addresses, accompanied by a 
 large blessing from on high.
 
 Russian Capital 
 
 CHAPTEK V. 
 
 " A MAN in the right, with God on his side, is in the majority 
 though he be alone, for God is multitudinous above all populations 
 of the earth." BEECHEB.
 
 AT the period of Mr Knill's return to England the 
 religious condition of Eussia was awakening deep inte- 
 rest in this country. The Scottish Missionary Society, 
 as early as the second year of the present century, esta- 
 blished a mission in the provinces bordering on the 
 Caspian and Black Seas, which was attended with 
 small fruit; but about ten years later a series of 
 events kindled hope for the whole empire. The Eev. 
 Dr Paterson, who had been successful in promoting the 
 publication of the Bible in Sweden, conceived the idea 
 of attempting a similar work for Finland, which had 
 then been recently annexed to Russia, and in the pro- 
 secution of his purpose, arrived in Moscow, a few days 
 before that city was consumed in presence of the army 
 of Napoleon. The anxiety produced by the war, which 
 he feared would defeat his object, proved, on the con- 
 trary, to be favourable to it. The strikingly providential 
 destruction of the French legions, together with the 
 exhaustion produced by their own protracted struggle, 
 disposed several leading statesmen to solemn reflection.
 
 90 RUSSIA. [CHAP. V. 
 
 Above all, the religious impressions made, through a 
 variety of agencies, on the Emperor Alexander, inclined 
 him to look favourably on any measures which pro- 
 mised to promote the moral welfare of his people ; so 
 that when the proposal to print the Scriptures for the 
 " foreign Confessions" of the empire was laid before 
 him, he not only gave it an instant sanction, but ex- 
 pressed regret that " his own Eussians" were not to be 
 sharers of the boon. That omission, which had been 
 made to avoid the hostility of the Greek clergy, was 
 speedily supplied, and the Divine Word was eventually 
 published in as many as twenty languages, inclusive of 
 the vernacular tongue of the country. 
 
 The favour shewn to this great undertaking, not 
 only by the emperor, but by the heads of the Greek 
 Church and the ministers of state, many of whom 
 proved, on a subsequent day of trial, to be men of 
 decided Christian principle, was so great, that for some 
 time whatever the sagacious and laborious Paterson 
 asked for was promptly granted. The law permitted 
 the people of each nation to worship according to the 
 rites of its own Church, but allowed of no dissent, and 
 of no proselytism. The English residents in St Peters- 
 burg, who then numbered about two thousand, had, on 
 that principle, enjoyed the ministrations of the Episco- 
 pal chaplain ; but as these were not, at that period, of 
 an expressly evangelical character, a strong desire arose 
 in the hearts of a few persons for other services, and
 
 1820 : 33.] VOYAGE. 91 
 
 the request of Dr Paterson for such a privilege was so 
 far complied with that he was allowed to hold public 
 worship on the evening of the Lord's day in the chapel 
 of the Moravian Brethren. These ordinances, which 
 were rendered peculiarly interesting by the sometimes 
 lengthened visits of missionaries on their way to Astra- 
 chan and Siberia, received such evidences of Divine 
 approval, that after the lapse of four years, it was 
 reckoned desirable to have a resident minister, who 
 should make them the chief object of his attention. 
 This proposition had been just acceded to by the Direc- 
 tors of the London Missionary Society, when Mr Knill 
 returned from India, and no time was lost, after his 
 own concurrence and that of his medical advisers had 
 been obtained, in despatching him to St Petersburg. 
 After an extensive but exhilarating tour in England 
 on behalf of foreign missions, he sailed from London 
 in the autumn of 1820. 
 
 The season was rather too far advanced, and the 
 voyage proved protracted and wearisome. The " mul- 
 titude of his thoughts " during that interval found no 
 record; but a letter to his parents shews how affec- 
 tionately and devoutly he bore them on his heart : 
 
 "At Sea, lat. 58 N., long. 10 E., 
 October 25, 1820. 
 
 " MY DEAE AND HONOUEED PAEENTS, . . . . Often 
 have I been conversing with you, and lifting up my 
 heart to God for you, when walking the deck or
 
 92 WINTER AT SEA. [CHAP. V. 
 
 swinging in my cot. Oh, how earnestly I have longed 
 for your spiritual and eternal felicity ! This world has 
 not been such a scene of trial to you as it has been to 
 many ; goodness and mercy have followed you all your 
 journey through, and I trust that the arm of Jesus will 
 support your tottering age, and His soft hand wipe 
 away your tears. I wrote you from Gravesend, and 
 requested my kind friend Mr Nisbet, who accompanied 
 me to the ship, to say at the bottom of the page that 
 he had seen me embark. Our passage to this point 
 has been very expeditious, and we may expect soon to 
 arrive at Elsinore, whence we shall be able to send 
 letters. ..." 
 
 A baffling wind kept the ship beating within a 
 hundred miles of that port for a week ; but eventually 
 he was able to address the Rev. George Burder from 
 the " Bible Society's House," St Petersburg, on the 
 7th December 1820, and to say "I hope you will 
 never send another missionary so late in the year 
 to this cold country. On our arrival at the island 
 of Cronstadt, we found ourselves encircled with ice 
 and snow not sufficiently frozen to suffer travellers 
 to pass it. Hence I was detained there nine days, 
 at great expense and in painful anxiety. However, 
 on Saturday last the ice was so far broken as to admit 
 of our passing over to the opposite shore ; and between 
 nine and ten in the evening I arrived at this house. 
 Every mark of Christian kindness and attention I
 
 1821 : 34.] A NEW CONGREGATION. 93 
 
 received from our dear friends, Dr Paterson and Dr 
 and Mrs Henderson. On Sabbath morning we met 
 around the table of our Lord, and found it a time 
 of refreshing from His presence. It was to me as 
 life from the dead, after being shut out of Christian 
 society for many weeks." 
 
 Mr Knill thus entered a sphere in which he was 
 destined to receive and to impart great blessings. 
 It was a position requiring unusual circumspection; 
 for the Government was proverbially jealous, the Greek 
 clergy were suspicious of every encroachment on the 
 religious province, and not a few among the English 
 were disposed to treat contemptuously those who dis- 
 countenanced their general worldliness. But Mr Knill, 
 though of a highly sanguine temperament, was dis- 
 tinguished by a simplicity of purpose and a fine per- 
 ception of propriety in speech and conduct, which 
 served, through the Divine blessing, to keep him be- 
 yond the reach of his enemies. The congregation, 
 too, which he found awaiting him, though small, in- 
 cluded several persons of great intelligence and fervent 
 piety, by whom his principles were strengthened, and 
 every good enterprise which his fertile invention sug- 
 gested was cordially sustained. 
 
 The entries in his private journal shew a growing 
 sense of responsibility. He writes on June 1, 1821 : 
 " my God, give me grace to love and serve Thee 
 more and better! Grant that every token of Thy
 
 94 REFRESHING. [CHAP. V. 
 
 favour to myself, and to the people, may endear Thy 
 name, Thy ways, Thy work to my heart ! And wilt 
 Thou, most gracious Spirit, pour out Thy holy influence 
 on the people in such a plentiful manner that they 
 may all become fellow-workers with me in warning 
 and encouraging, in drawing and inviting sinners 
 to Thee, and in building them up in their most holy 
 faith ? Make us a holy and consecrated band ! Though 
 despised by many, may we be rich in faith, full of good 
 works, honoured by Thy love and presence ; and then 
 all will be all must be well." 
 
 Nor did these, and similar petitions, remain un- 
 answered. Persons who had forgotten the professions 
 they had made in their native land, and yielded them- 
 selves up to the prevailing indifference of the city, were 
 restored ; and others, to whom the gospel in its simpli- 
 city and fulness was a new message, were graciously 
 brought under its power, so that, in a few months, the 
 band of communicants was doubled, and the general 
 congregation augmented in an even greater ratio. 
 
 The gladness of this " time of refreshing " was chas- 
 tened by the sudden death of Mr Walter Yenning, 
 whose brief career contributed so much to form the 
 character of the little church, that a passing notice is 
 due to his memory. 
 
 Mr Venning, when resident in London in 1815, was 
 attracted by the Society for the Improvement of Prison 
 Discipline, formed at that period under the presidency of
 
 1822 : 35.] WALTER YENNING. 95 
 
 the Duke of Gloucester; and having succeeded in reform- 
 ing some juvenile offenders at a time when that was 
 judged hardly possible, he resolved to devote his remain- 
 ing life to the enterprise. Proceeding to St Petersburg 
 with mercantile views, he found so much room for the 
 exertions of a philanthropist, that he totally surrendered 
 his original pursuits, and gave himself over to the work of 
 ameliorating the national prisons. No personal dangers, 
 and no considerations of ease or wealth, restrained him. 
 He plunged into the receptacles of disease and crime ; 
 and by a skilful organisation of noblemen of great 
 influence, he was enabled, in a marvellously short time, 
 to correct flagrant abuses. So deep and general was 
 the impression produced by his disinterested conse- 
 cration, that when he died of a fever, contracted in 
 gaol, shortly after completing the thirty-ninth year of 
 his age, Prince Galitzin, in proposing the monument 
 to his memory, which now stands in the Smolenskoi 
 Cemetery, said, " While Eussia has to shew near one 
 frontier the ashes of his countryman who produced 
 the first traces of amelioration in the condition of 
 prisoners and of the sick and suffering, let her shew 
 here the monument of a second Howard, a worthy 
 follower and emulator of the good deeds of the first." * 
 The dying words of this devoted man " I wish to 
 say to you, Knill, labour for Jesus Christ as long as you 
 
 * Memoir of the Life and Character of Walter Venniug, Esq., by 
 Richard Knill. London, 1822. 8vo.
 
 96 SCHOOL. [CHAP. V. 
 
 have breath in your body" were long remembered, so 
 perfectly had they been illustrated in the life which was 
 then closing, and so fully did they accord with the 
 purposes of the heart upon which they fell Not less 
 influential was the example of Mr Venning on the sub- 
 sequent life of his own brother, whose name will here- 
 after often occur in these pages ; while an educational 
 institution, which occupied much of Mr Knill's atten- 
 tion, and which flourishes to this day, sprang almost 
 immediately from his ashes. 
 
 " Mr Walter Venning, the philanthropist," says Mr 
 Knill, " met with a hopeful penitent in the prison, and 
 requested Mr Gray, one of our members, who spoke 
 four languages, to read the Scriptures to him and con- 
 verse with him on religion. This work quite suited 
 Mr Gray's mind, and he expressed a strong desire to be 
 constantly employed in it. He suggested to Mr John 
 Venning the idea of a school for poor foreigners ; and 
 he mentioning it to me, I drew up a paper, which the 
 Princess Metschersky shewed to the Emperor. The 
 Emperor, in his own prompt way, ordered the thing to 
 be done, granting at the same time 5000 rubles for the 
 establishment of the school, and appointing me as 
 superintendent, with an annual salary of 2000 rubles, 
 and Mr Gray as master, with an annual salary of 1 000 
 rubles. It came upon us as sudden and as genial as 
 an April shower." 
 
 This institution, which offered elementary instruction
 
 1822 : 35.] FOR POOR FOREIGNERS. 97 
 
 through the medium of Euss, German, and English, to 
 the children of persons not of the Greek Church, had 
 to encounter at the beginning all the old prejudices 
 against the education of the humbler classes. But on 
 the 26th July 1823, Mr Knill was able to write to a 
 friend : 
 
 " Our boys' and girls' schools go on well. Dear 
 Princess Metschersky is a nursing mother to them, 
 and the young Princesses Sophia and Marie are fol- 
 lowing their honoured mother's steps. At present we 
 have 270 boys and 70 girls a most interesting sight 
 Upwards of 300 have been refused admission since the 
 ] st of January, which has made our hearts ache ; but 
 we had no room. We sometimes talk of taking a larger 
 house, but we are afraid. It is a new thing ; a charity- 
 school for poor foreigners was never heard of, and we 
 have much to struggle with. We did not, indeed, 
 expect that an object so decidedly religious would meet 
 with general support ; but we had no idea that the con- 
 trary disposition would have been so prevalent. But 
 there are happy exceptions ; a gentleman from your 
 side of the Tweed lately called at the school, and after- 
 wards meeting me, gave me 200 inbles to its funds, 
 saying, ' I will vindicate it wherever I go ; it is the 
 best thing ever set on foot in this country by the 
 English.'" 
 
 The following entries carry on the view of his inner 
 and domestic history :
 
 98 DEVOTION". [CHAP. V. 
 
 JOURNAL. " May 29, 1822. Heading this morning 
 an account of Dr Bateman's life and death, I was par- 
 ticularly edified and delighted. My soul melted at the 
 goodness of God, and I longed to glorify Him in my 
 death, if it should be His heavenly will. Lord, grant 
 that when my heart and flesh fail, I may find Thee 
 precious to my soul, and may be enabled to declare to 
 all around my dying bed how precious, how glorious 
 Thou art." 
 
 " October 30. I would devoutly adore Thee, my 
 God, for Thy great goodness to us. Oh, favour us, 
 favour us with more of ' the mind which was also in 
 Christ Jesus,' that with meekness, love, zeal, and use- 
 fulness, we may pass through this world of sin to perfect 
 joy in Thy presence. My father's letter informs me of 
 the joyful tidings that my nephew, about seventeen, 
 comes and prays with my dear mother. Hallelujah!" 
 
 " December 2. This day two years ago I arrived 
 at St Petersburg, and in tracing the finger of Pro- 
 vidence, how striking does it appear ! Gracious Lord, 
 Thy love in time past forbids me to think Thou wilt 
 ever leave me. May every successive year of my life, if 
 years are given, be increasingly instrumental ,in drawing 
 sinners to the Eedeemer. Lord, Thou kuowest all 
 things ; Thou knowest that I love Thee, and that to 
 honour Thee is my supreme delight. This day do I 
 give up myself to Thee, and would seal my covenant 
 with my God, my Father, and my all. Amen."
 
 1822 : 35.] SICKNESS. 99 
 
 " December 17. The bridge was carried away by 
 the ice, which prevented me visiting my friends on the 
 islands. 1 therefore visited the school, and then ac- 
 companied my dear friend, Mr Venning, to the prison, 
 at which place, I think, I caught a cold. It increased 
 rapidly, and by midnight I was in a violent fever. The 
 thought of dear Walter Venning's prison-fever and death 
 ran much in my mind, and during one part of the night 
 I was a little dek'rious. It was a serious and anxious 
 time. The communication being cut off from my 
 dearest Sarah by reason of the floating ice, I knew not 
 but that her next intelligence of me might be that I 
 was dead and buried. Blessed be the Lord, He has not 
 cut me off as in a moment, but has raised me up again. 
 The kindness of dear Dr Paterson was very great, as, 
 indeed, it has always been ever since I knew him. I 
 received from him some medicine, which wonderfully 
 abated the fever ; but I was unable to rise during the 
 Wednesday, and he preached for me in the evening, to 
 the great edification and comfort of the people. The 
 inquiries and attentions of those of the little church 
 who knew of my affliction made me shed tears of joy. 
 I adore Thee, Lord, for placing me among so 
 pious and affectionate a people. Multiply the number 
 of such Christians by thousands and thousands. Then 
 shall Thy name be glorified from the rising to the 
 setting sun/' 
 
 "December 20. I was so far recovered as to be able
 
 100 MARRIAGE. [CHAP. V. 
 
 to go to the Rev. Edward Law, to request him to publish 
 the banns of marriage between me and my Sarah. 
 Gracious Father, who hast united our hearts to each 
 other, pour down upon us much of Thy Holy Spirit, 
 that we may be preserved from dishonouring Thee in 
 thought, word, or deed, and be assisted in glorifying 
 Thee in all our ways. Amen." 
 
 The event thus introduced to the reader's notice 
 occurred at the chapel of the British Factory, on the 
 9th of January ] 823 ; and it may be permitted here 
 to record a few words, penned by Mr Knill towards 
 the close of his life, relative to the lady who, from that 
 day, contributed so much to his personal happiness, 
 and to his usef ulness as a minister : " She was the 
 daughter of James and Isabella Notman, a Quaker 
 family, originally resident in Newcastle-on-Tyne. Her 
 father served under the two Emperors, Paul and Alex- 
 ander, as the founder of tanneries in different parts of 
 the empire. He won a fair fame for the Quakers long 
 before the Emperor Alexander saw William Allen or 
 Daniel Wheeler. Sarah was born in St Petersburg, and 
 after being educated in England at ' Friends' schools/ 
 accompanied her parents to Kazan, in Asiatic Russia, 
 where her father, in the midst of his extensive labours, 
 fell sick and died.* Looking back over our happy 
 
 * Mrs Notman 's life was once singularly preserved by an oppor- 
 tune visit of Howard the philanthropist. During the absence of 
 her husband on a long journey, she was seized with a typhoid fever, 
 and sunk under it to the point of losing all external signs of life.
 
 1823 : 36.] CORRESPONDENCE. 101 
 
 union of more than thirty years, I deliberately consider 
 it, next to my soul's salvation, the greatest blessing of 
 my life." 
 
 About this time Mr KnilTs labours were much 
 increased by his having accepted the appointment of 
 the London and the Scottish Missionary Societies as 
 a medium of communication between them and their 
 missionaries in the remote parts of Eussia. This 
 work gratified his early and unquenched interest in 
 the heathen, and he threw himself into it with his 
 whole heart, maintaining an extensive and enlivening 
 correspondence with those brave men, who, under the 
 impression, which proved too correct, that even the 
 hard lot which they had chosen among barbarous and 
 warlike tribes would soon be denied to them by the 
 Greek Church, devoted themselves with intense appli- 
 cation to translations which might survive their per- 
 sonal labours. Upon men pursuing such toil, in such 
 
 The servants were proceeding with preparations for the interment 
 of the body, when Howard, who greatly respected the family, 
 travelling near their house, came in, and was informed of the 
 circumstance. He requested to see the body, and suspecting 
 that life was not extinct, administered some powerful restoratives, 
 which proved, by God's favour, successful. In a little while, 
 " she arose and ministered unto them," having, during her utter 
 helplessness, heard distinctly the conversation of the servants re- 
 garding her funeral, and the commands of Howard respecting the 
 measures for her restoration. When she afterwards accompanied 
 her daughter to a " Friends' school " in England, the first object of 
 interest to which she conducted her was the statue of her deliverer 
 in St Paul's Cathedral.
 
 102 PASTORAL VISITS. [CHAP. V. 
 
 regions, uncheered by Christian society, or even by 
 successful evangelism through the living voice, the 
 letters of one more pleasantly situated, and ever over- 
 flowing with love and hope, came down " like showers 
 that water the earth/' 
 
 Not less welcome did his personal visits continue 
 to be to numbers of his own countrymen in the 
 capital, who had long been estranged from the privi- 
 leges of their native land. He reckoned, and perhaps 
 justly, that such direct communications, in his position, 
 formed the most important department of his duties. 
 It certainly was one to which he was singularly adapted, 
 and in which he was permitted to observe very distinct 
 proofs of the Divine blessing. The spirit in which the 
 work was pursued is thus expressed : 
 
 JOUENAL. "February 19, 1823. In my pastoral 
 visits during this week my soul has been much com- 
 forted by the pious conversation of my dear people. 
 They are very dear to me indeed. Many of them are 
 my children in the faith. my God, how greatly dost 
 thou comfort me and bless me, in giving me such 
 tokens of Thine approval ! Dearest Lord and Saviour, 
 thou knowest that I love Thee and Thy service ; nor 
 would thousands of gold and silver so rejoice my heart 
 as to see Thy kingdom advancing among us." 
 
 Particular cases are often recorded, and made the 
 occasion of special prayer or praise the golden thread 
 which ran through the whole texture of his life : " Mr
 
 1823 : 36.] RUSSIAN BIBLE SOCIETY. 103 
 
 M. was deeply affected when conversing with me on 
 spiritual things. His little daughter observed her father 
 affected, and with much concern looked at him and 
 then at me, as if I knew the cause. May she soon hear 
 a father's prayers, and know that his tears are those 
 both of sorrow and of joy." Again : " Spent the day 
 at the V/s in the country. Had much delightful con- 
 versation with Mrs V., and could not but admire the 
 goodness of God in making her so devoted." Then, 
 at a dying bed : " Oh, how my soul was comforted to 
 behold the apparent penitence, solicitude, love, hope, 
 and obedience of this poor dying woman ! I thank 
 Thee for bringing me acquainted with that poor, de- 
 praved family." Of a public person of great influence : 
 " The censor purchased good books for his domestics. 
 Was much delighted with his moistened and intelligent 
 eye, and his apparently warm and devoted heart. Lord, 
 let there be ten thousand such instances of piety in 
 this city ! Amen." 
 
 Towards the close of this year the Russian Bible 
 Society, which for the ten previous years had con- 
 tinued to pour forth its treasures in an uninterrupted 
 stream upon the country, began to experience some 
 premonitory difficulties. The metropolitan, Michael, 
 who had been its true friend, died, and was succeeded 
 in his ecclesiastical office by Seraphim, its decided 
 enemy. The complaints of the inferior clergy could 
 now find their way to influential persons in the Church,
 
 104 THE EMPEROR. [CHAP. V. 
 
 and from thence to the ears of Arakcheyeff, the chief 
 minister of state, upon whom the burden of govern- 
 ment began more and more to be devolved. The em- 
 peror, however, continued to shew his personal favour 
 to the promoters of evangelical measures, and while he 
 did so, no open hostility was to be dreaded. Mr Knill 
 thus cautiously and devoutly alludes to the imperial 
 kindness in a letter to his young friend, Mr Parkinson, 
 then in England : 
 
 "August 15, 1823. The great friend of good men 
 and good things in this empire lately took tea with Mr 
 and Mrs Venuing. He was there for an hour and a 
 half, and never was so warm in the things of God. 
 Let us pray daily for him ; for in his days the right- 
 eous flourish." 
 
 At a somewhat later period, he writes to Miss Ross 
 of Edinburgh, to whom he was often indebted for a 
 deep and practical interest in his endeavours: "I 
 enjoy the fullest liberty, and the Lord is pleased to 
 bless us with many proofs of His loving-kindness, and 
 though I know not what may be my lot to-morrow, 
 yet He has taken from me all fear and disquietude. I 
 was greatly agitated and distressed at one time, but I 
 cried unto the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered 
 me from all my fears. Hallelujah ! . . . . Decided and 
 almost universal hostility to vital religion is a marked 
 feature of the present time, and it is to my mind an 
 evidence that it is greatly on the increase, that it is
 
 1823 : 36.] EDUCATION. 105 
 
 striking its roots deeply in the hearts of the Lord's 
 people, and that the energies of the Church will be 
 called forth mightily. It is a very eventful period, 
 and I trust that we shall be assisted to advance the 
 "Redeemer's kingdom." 
 
 The same letter mentions the continued stability of 
 the school : " The announcement of your great kind- 
 ness to our school, through Dr Brown's letter, was 
 quite cheering to the hearts of the committee. It 
 came most opportunely; for, owing to the want of 
 religion among all ranks, we meet with very little 
 assistance. Indeed, many strenuously oppose it, espe- 
 cially as it is in the hands of those whom they are 
 pleased to style ' Methodists.' Notwithstanding this, 
 it nourishes, and more than two hundred boys and 
 one hundred girls are daily receiving instruction in the 
 most important things. These children are from 
 among the lower orders, and, through the Divine bless- 
 ing, may be expected to exert a great influence over 
 the morals of the present generation, and the next 
 generation also. If you have never been out of Eng- 
 land, it is not possible that you can form an idea of 
 the depraved state of a large city with little religion 
 in it. Books cannot convey a thousandth part of the 
 real state of things." 
 
 Still, too, did he enjoy the co-operation of the 
 valued friends who laid the foundations of his work, 
 and in whose usefulness he was ever as ready to
 
 106 FELLOW-LABOURERS. [CHAP. V. 
 
 rejoice as in his own. On one occasion, being seized 
 with sudden illness when about to preach, he called, 
 he says, " on Dr Paterson to pray, and with diffi- 
 culty sat down. The Doctor immediately came into 
 the pulpit, and went through the service in a most 
 solemn, animated, and edifying manner, afterwards 
 administering the Lord's Supper to the largest num- 
 ber of communicants that we have ever had. The 
 Lord was very gracious to us all in thus assisting His 
 servant to declare His counsel." At another time, 
 when detained at home by sickness, Dr Henderson and 
 Dr Paterson divided the services between them, and 
 "I bless the Lord," is his language, "that my dear 
 people were so well supplied, and that my brethren 
 were enabled to set forth the word of life in so pre- 
 cious a manner. Oh that I may hear, on some future 
 day, of sinners being converted under these faithful 
 discourses ! " Nor were his sympathies limited to his 
 own flock. He watched with deep interest signs of 
 advancing life in the other English congregation. " It 
 is very gratifying," is the entry in the Journal of March 
 14, 1824, " to hear of the Eev. Edward Law's faithful 
 preaching to so large a congregation. May Thy word 
 be made like a fire and a hammer that breaketh the 
 rock in pieces ! May there be a shaking among the 
 dry bones, and a great ingathering of precious souls to 
 Christ ! Amen."
 
 Storms. 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 Oh, fear not in a world like this, 
 And thou shalt know ere long 
 
 Know how sublime a thing it is 
 To suffer and be strong ! " 
 
 LONGFELLOW.
 
 THE series of trials, both public and domestic, which 
 now approached, was ushered in by the inundation and 
 threatened destruction of the city. Peter the Great, it 
 is well known, chose the site of his capital more with 
 reference to his political and commercial designs than 
 from regard to the comfort of its future inhabitants. 
 A position fifty miles below the largest lake in Europe, 
 at the head of a magnificent gulf, and commanding 
 communications with the Eastern and Western hemi- 
 spheres, was not to be rejected, because it was so soft 
 that the foundations of palaces required to be as deep 
 as the walls were high, and so low as to be in no part 
 twenty feet higher than the surrounding waters. The 
 imperial determination so far prevailed, that one of the 
 most imposing cities of the world now rests on the 
 quivering surface of those marshy islets ; but a higher 
 law is said perpetually to hold over it the possibility of 
 a complete submergence. Whenever it shall happen 
 that a powerful west wind shall blow during the fort- 
 night which witnesses the breaking up of the ice, the 
 waters of the Gulf of Finland, it is affirmed, will meet
 
 HO INUNDATION. [CHAP. VL 
 
 the current from Lake Ladoga, and, rising together, 
 they will roll over the city, and involve its four hun- 
 dred thousand inhabitants in a fate not less terrible 
 than that of Herculaneum and Pompeii. Such a com- 
 bination of circumstances may, of course, never occur ; 
 but even the modified form of it, which must now be 
 noticed, brought consequences sufficiently dreadful 
 
 In the middle of November 1824, a gale of unusual 
 violence swept through the British Channel, the North 
 Sea, and the Baltic, and, passing up the Gulf of Fin- 
 land, reached St Petersburg on the 19th of that 
 month. Trees which had stood every winter-blast, 
 from the foundation of the city, were levelled with the 
 ground, and the iron roof of the Bible House was 
 " rolled up like a sheet of paper, and carried into the 
 air." This peril of the wind brought the greater peril 
 of the w r aters. 
 
 " On Thursday night," writes Mr Knill to Mr Alers 
 Hankey, on the 23d November, "the wind was high, 
 and the waters rose very much, so that guns were 
 fired to warn the inhabitants of those apartments 
 which were nearly on a level with the river. The next 
 morning the guns fired again, as the waters had greatly 
 increased. About ten A.M. some of the streets near 
 the Neva were beginning to be covered ; but the people 
 would not believe that the waters could rise much 
 higher, forty-seven years having rolled away since the 
 city was inundated. By half-past ten it was too late
 
 24 : 37.] LOSS OF LIFE. Ill 
 
 to attempt the removal of any property, and all the 
 people were thrown into confusion. Those who could 
 run, ran ; and those who could not, cried for deliverance 
 from immediate death. In some instances assistance 
 reached the sufferers ; but in many more they were suf- 
 focated in the flood. 
 
 " By two P.M. the city presented a scene the most 
 awful that can be conceived. Every place was deserted. 
 There was nothing visible that had life, and the streets 
 were occupied by ships, and boats, and watch-houses, 
 and floating trees, and even coffins from the cemeteries, 
 with property of various kinds. Several entire villages 
 were carried away, with the exception of a cottage here 
 and there to make known where they once stood. 
 
 " The havoc which has been made among the poor 
 surpasses anything that I have ever heard of in modern 
 times. Many thousands were hurried in a moment to 
 meet their Judge. This is the most affecting part of 
 the story ; for the loss to the commercial world, though 
 great, and the miseries among the trades-people, though 
 pressing, may all be remedied; but those who are 
 gone ! ! ! those who are gone ! ! 1 May I never lose the 
 impression which I now feel of the value of the soul 
 and the necessity of redemption through Jesus Christ, 
 as well as the importance of making every sermon to 
 abound with those particular truths which are calcu- 
 lated to lead men to Christ, and to be ready to depart ! 
 Oh, what would I have given for an angel's voice, and
 
 112 HOSPITALITY, [CHAP. Vfr. 
 
 an eagle's wings, to flee and tell the drowning peasants 
 of the Lamb of God ! but now it is over." 
 
 About noon, the wind, though it did not abate in 
 force, by God's merciful appointment, shifted a few 
 points, and the city was saved from complete destruc- 
 tion. By two o'clock the waters had decreased several 
 inches, and by six it was possible to walk in the streets. 
 Next morning, those who had been driven from their 
 dwellings, and were still alive, returned to witness the 
 desolation, to seek for traces of lost friends, and to 
 save the remnants of their property. 
 
 " I am happy to know," Mr Knill continues, " that 
 many of my dear people were much engaged in prayer 
 during the dreadful hours, and some of them were made 
 inexpressibly happy in the prospect of death and eter- 
 nity. It is very delightful to see that a great spirit of 
 love and sympathy is manifested towards the sufferers. 
 Almost every family that has comfortable lodgiugs has 
 taken another family, or part of a family, to share its 
 comforts, or in some other way to alleviate its sorrows. 
 ^Dear Mr Mortimer, the Moravian minister, has suffered 
 a good deal. He and his family are for the present 
 residing with me. The Moravians have often sue- 
 
 o 
 
 coured others, and I felt very thankful, and considered 
 it a great privilege, to afford him a little temporary 
 accommodation. There is reason to fear that, as the 
 winter is begun, the wet rooms will remain cold and 
 damp, and produce much sickness. A subscription is
 
 1825 : 38.] RUSSIAN BENEVOLENCE. 113 
 
 begun, which I have no doubt will be very liberally 
 supported." 
 
 The misery, indeed, which followed the flood was 
 much greater than that which had been experienced 
 during its prevalence. Thousands had been driven 
 from their homes without food or clothing ; and instant 
 exertions were necessary to prevent wide-spread star- 
 vation. The Russians, who are a compassionate people, 
 threw themselves with energy into the work of mercy ; 
 and it was a tribute as honourable to them as to the 
 foreigner whom they trusted, that some of the most 
 influential nobles and gentlemen placed themselves 
 under the leadership of Mr John Venning. When 
 the news of his measures reached the Imperial family, 
 they, also, sent him liberal pecuniary support; the 
 Grand Duke Michael putting into his hands ^lOOO 
 sterling. Arakcheyeff, the chief minister, demanded 
 that those funds should be placed at the disposal of 
 government ; but Venning boldly declined obedience, 
 and, after relieving the wants of the sufferers with 
 unimpeachable integrity and discretion, he proposed 
 that the balance of the fund should be augmented, 
 and applied to the establishment of a permanent 
 House of Refuge, which, to this day, opens its gates 
 to the afflicted and the destitute. 
 
 The gloom of the closing year was not relieved by 
 the events of the spring : the first cloud which darkened 
 
 the pastor's house, drew near. 
 
 II
 
 1 14 DOMESTIC ANXIETY. [CHAP. VI 
 
 JOURNAL. "March 10, 1825. Returned, and found 
 my dear wife and child in perfect health. My lovely 
 Julia met me at the door, and congratulated me. I 
 sat down at my writing-desk to prepare letters for 
 England. At half-past two the babe became very 
 uneasy, and would not be quieted. Her dear mother 
 attempted various ways to quiet her, but all was 
 unavailing." 
 
 The account is continued in a note to Mr and Mrs 
 Parkinson, dated March 17, 1825 : 
 
 " The delight which you appeared to take in our 
 beloved Julia causes me to take up my pen, and with 
 a trembling hand, to inform you that last Wednesday, 
 between four and five in the afternoon, she left the 
 
 abodes of mortals to join the spirits of the just 
 
 When I saw that death was rapidly approaching, I sat 
 at her feet, and my dear Sarah at her side, while Mrs 
 Yenning was kneeling near her head. There we called 
 upon God to support us, and help us to bear the shock. 
 Gracious and merciful has He been in this trying hour; 
 blessed for ever be His name. She expired a few 
 hours before the first anniversary of her birth. We 
 had been fondly anticipating the pleasure of the society 
 of a few of our friends to commemorate the interesting 
 event, and little did we expect, instead, to have her 
 laid in her coffin, and nearly all our acquaintances 
 coming to sympathise with us." 
 
 JOUENAL. "March 1 2. The dear babe is laid out
 
 1825:38.] BEREAVEMENT. 115 
 
 in iny study. Oh that the circumstance may be attended 
 with the most salutary effects on my mind, on my 
 studies, on my prayers, on my sermons ! Thus may the 
 death of my darling be overruled for great good to the 
 parents and children of my little flock ! 
 
 " March 14. Rose this morning at five, and repaired 
 to my dearest Julia. After I had kissed her sweet 
 forehead, and her clay-cold purple lips, I took her dear 
 hands in mine ; and my soul at this moment received 
 unspeakable comfort. Eor, I thought, this hand will 
 never be lifted up against God this heart will never 
 indulge a thought contrary to His holy will this silent 
 tongue will never utter a word of rebellion nor shall 
 the little feet ever be found in the broad road that leads 
 to death ! I cannot describe how happy I felt at the 
 thought of this, while the tears rolled down my cheek 
 with all the tender emotion of a fond father. I thanked 
 God, and took courage, and hastening to my wife, 
 related to her how the Lord had comforted me. She 
 also was greatly consoled ; and we prayed together for 
 the Lord to help us through the day. Ah ! it was a 
 day never to be forgotten, and to make our grief 
 complete, neither of our dear brothers, Paterson and 
 Henderson, being confined to their chambers, could 
 come to help us, and pray with us, or bury the babe. 
 Thanks be to God, I was enabled to do this also. A 
 few friends came, and I read the 90th Psalm, prayed 
 for a blessing to follow from it, and then took the body
 
 116 USEFUL SERMON. [CHAP. VL 
 
 to the grave in the Smolenskoi burying-ground. It was 
 truly astonishing to see how the Lord supported both 
 myself and the dear mother on the way, and at the 
 grave. We committed the dear little body to the dust, 
 in full assurance that it shall rise again all triumphant 
 and all glorious. (1 Cor. xv. 42.) Tears have since 
 been our meat day and night, but they are sometimes 
 tears 'of tenderness sometimes of sorrow sometimes 
 of gratitude. Oh, what a precious gospel is our gospel! 
 What life and immortality are brought to light by it! 
 Without it we should not know what would become of 
 little children, or what will become of ourselves. But 
 blessed be God, we have a sure word of prophecy, to 
 which we do well to take heed ! 
 
 "March 15. Lord's day morning. Preached my 
 dearest Julia's funeral-sermon from ' Be ye ready also/ 
 It was a very solemn morning. What a mercy it will 
 be if some one be enabled to say in truth, 'From 
 the death of Julia Knill I date my spiritual life ! ' 
 August 10. My prayer has been answered; dear 
 M. H. has told me this day that this sermon was 
 blessed to her soul, and brought her to give up herself 
 to the Lord. Thus, my God and Father has given us 
 another daughter. September 23, 1827. Mr D. told 
 ine he also was impressed by this sermon. How good 
 are all His ways!" 
 
 To the young friend to whom he communicated this 
 first domestic sorrow, and who was maintaining a
 
 1825 : 38.] CAUTIONS TO A YOUNG CHRISTIAN. 117 
 
 Christian profession in an ungenial atmosphere, he 
 wrote, at this time, in the following strain: "We 
 were much delighted to hear of the decided conduct 
 
 of Mr . No doubt it will become known here ; 
 
 and I hope that grace will be given him to act with 
 the same decision in Petersburg, that he may become 
 a truly good man, and a great blessing. He has a 
 talent for communication ; and if his heart be warm in 
 the things of God, he will speak to the advantage of 
 some, and the confutation of others. Your being in 
 Moscow has no doubt been a blessing to him, and we 
 ought to hope and expect that it will prove a blessing 
 to many. Great wisdom and purity should be sought 
 after by you from the source of all, and God will give 
 it you if you seek Him. I see and feel how much I 
 need this, and so will you. The more public our pro- 
 fession of religion becomes, the more need there is of 
 an increase of grace, that all may correspond with that 
 profession. A star may set, and few observe it, but if 
 the sun be eclipsed, it is seen and conversed about by 
 all the people in the nation ; so a Christian, in some 
 obscure corner, may pass on calmly with low attain- 
 ments in religion, but if he fills a conspicuous station, 
 many eyes are upon him, and many ears are waiting to 
 hear something evil of him. You were known before 
 
 now, but since your return, both you and Mr 
 
 will be considered more decided than ever. I pray 
 God that He may give you a large share of every
 
 118 BIBLE SOCIETY IMPERILLED. [CHAP. VI 
 
 heavenly grace, and make your house the gate of heaven 
 to many!" 
 
 The shadows of the year deepened as it approached 
 its close. The Emperor, although maintaining, as it 
 has been intimated, the most friendly relations to the 
 men who sought the religious good of the people, had 
 permitted the influence of the priesthood to obstruct 
 their plans. The removal of Prince Galitzin from the 
 presidency of the Bible Society, and the substitution of 
 the new metropolitan, Seraphim, was a marked, and, 
 as it proved, a fatal concession to their malice. The 
 meetings of its committee became infrequent ; and the 
 doctrine was at length announced from the chair, that 
 the undirected reading of the Bible was fraught with 
 danger, both moral and political. These omens were 
 rendered more alarming by the increasing disinclination 
 of Alexander to public business. His nervous system 
 appeared to be shattered, and his mind depressed. He 
 spent much time in retirement, and devoted himself to 
 religious duties with an ardour which some pronounced 
 superstitious. In the early part of the autumn, the 
 Empress, who was in delicate health, was advised to 
 reside during the winter in the south of Russia, and the 
 Emperor willingly seized the opportunity of withdraw- 
 ing from the publicity of the capital by joining her at 
 Taganrog. 
 
 While there, his depression was fearfully increased 
 by the intelligence of a latent conspiracy in the army.
 
 1825 : 38.] DEATH OF ALEXANDER I. 119 
 
 The energy requisite to grapple with this difficulty no 
 longer remained to him ; and not perceiving that the 
 disaffection was directed rather against the unprin- 
 cipled men whom his declining force had suffered to 
 rise into power than against himself, he exclaimed, 
 as if heart-stricken, " They have not known uie." A 
 cold caught during a rapid tour in the Crimea, acting 
 on his enfeebled condition, produced typhus fever, 
 under which he sank on the 19th of November. The 
 event produced unfeigned grief in St Petersburg, for 
 the monarch was sincerely beloved by his people, and 
 by none so much as by those who had the best oppor- 
 tunities of studying his private character. Mr Knill's 
 note, on the morning when the fact became known, 
 expressed the real feeling of thousands : 
 
 JOURNAL. " November 27, 1825, Friday. This 
 morning I was informed that His Imperial Majesty the 
 Emperor Alexander was very ill, and that the family 
 had been praying for him. It was painful intelligence, 
 but left hope that we should soon hear of his restoration. 
 I went to the school, then called on a friend who was 
 very much distressed at hearing the report, and before I 
 reached home I learned that it was certain the beloved 
 monarch was no more. I saw the soldiers marching 
 from the palace, whither they had been to take the oath 
 of allegiance to the Emperor Constantine. The whole 
 city seemed impressed with the awful and solemn scene. 
 Every person I met seemed to feel that a friend was
 
 120 CIVIL CONFUSION. [CHAP. VI 
 
 gone. Oli, what a day was this ! Ho\v unexpected 
 how sudden was the removal of this much-revered and 
 greatly-beloved Emperor ! Lord, sanctify this awful 
 stroke. Support the bereaved widow, and fill her soul 
 with peace and consolation, and may the honoured and 
 distressed mother find in Thee a comforter. Lord, have 
 mercy on me and my dear little congregation. Incline 
 the heart of the Emperor Constantine towards us, and 
 let none be permitted to disturb or distress us. May 
 we be assisted to walk in the most exemplary manner, 
 so as to fear God, honour the king, love the brother- 
 hood, and do good unto all men. Amen." 
 
 It is well known that Constantine did not ascend 
 the throne ; but it is not necessary to the elucidation of 
 this memoir to do more than glance at the fact. It was 
 at his own urgent entreaty that Alexander, three years 
 before his death, executed a document releasing him 
 from the responsibilities of that position, and passing 
 them downwards to Nicholas, his younger brother. This 
 paper was deposited in three separate places, and its 
 contents were not divulged to more than two or three 
 persons, of whom one was Alexander's most trusted 
 friend, Galitzin. Nicholas, either unacquainted with 
 it, or desiring to establish his claim on a firmer basis, 
 went instantly, on hearing of the Emperor's death, to 
 take the oath to Constantine. Galitzin met him on 
 the way to the altar, and mentioned the fact; but he 
 would not listen. He swore allegiance to his brother,
 
 1825:38.] ATTEMPTED REVOLUTION. 121 
 
 and was followed in the deed by the ministers and the 
 army. The consequences of this precipitancy were 
 instantly foreseen, and occasioned deep anxiety. When 
 Constantine, then in Poland, transmitted his absolute 
 refusal to act, and the army was required immediately 
 to transfer their fealty to another sovereign, the leaders 
 of the conspiracy saw that their hour was come. They 
 issued orders to . the troops to keep to the oath which 
 they had already taken, and thus adroitly seized the 
 sentiment of loyalty to do the work of sedition. When, 
 on the morning appointed for taking the second oath, 
 the soldiery poured into the city, Nicholas rode up to 
 them, and saluted them with cordial frankness ; but 
 they refused to return the compliment, and doggedly 
 marched past with the muzzle of their guns depressed. 
 Dr Paterson witnessed this from the window of Count 
 Lieven's mansion. "It was," says he, "an awfully 
 critical moment. I could not help pitying tho Emperor, 
 who appeared pale and dejected, but behaved well 
 through the trying scene. The horse were ordered to 
 charge, but the mutineers at once formed into squares, 
 and held them at defiance ; and on retreating to their 
 former position fired some shots after them, by which 
 several were wounded, and some killed, among whom 
 were some of the chief officers/' * 
 
 Night drew on before extreme measures were permit- 
 
 * " The Book for Every Land : the Autobiography of John 
 Paterson, D.D. Edited by W. L. Alexander, D.D. London, 1857."
 
 1 22 FOREBODINGS. [CHAP. VL 
 
 ted, but the artillery were then commanded to open fire, 
 and the insurgent ranks were broken. " I had left the 
 city," says Mr Knill, " in the morning with my family, 
 when all was quiet. But as we returned at night, we 
 saw large heaps of something piled up on the great 
 square. Many soldiers were standing about, and the 
 usual thoroughfares were shut up. On inquiry, we 
 found that the heaps, among which we had been pass- 
 ing, were dead bodies that the soldiers had revolted 
 that the governor, Miloradovitch, had been slain 
 that a dreadful day had passed in the city, and that 
 still greater troubles were expected. We felt that our 
 situation was very awful, but God took care of us. In 
 the night, the Place was cleared of the dead, the bodies 
 having been put through large holes in the ice into 
 the deep and peaceful river." 
 
 For the first few months of his reign, the Emperor was 
 too much engrossed with measures for the extinction 
 of the conspiracy, and the rectification of the general 
 disorder to which public affairs had been reduced by 
 the misrule of Arakcheyeff, to give any indication of 
 his policy relative to religious institutions. But when 
 the official representatives of all public bodies were 
 invited to the funeral of the deceased Emperor, those 
 of the society which he regarded as the chief gem of 
 his dominions were omitted a circumstance which 
 was regarded as significant of a design to permit it 
 quietly to subside into oblivion. It was not till 13th
 
 1825 : 38.] RUSSIAN BIBLE SOCIETY. 123 
 
 February 1826 that the obsequies were observed ; and 
 when Mr Knill, under that date, writes in his Journal 
 " On returning from the grand and solemn proces- 
 sion, conveying a very affecting view of human great- 
 ness, a few of us met at the Bible House, and united 
 in prayer to God for grace to live more and more to 
 His glory," he reveals the thoughtful and expectant 
 posture of. the little band. 
 
 It may be true, that imprudent oratory in England 
 alarmed some faithful adherents of the Greek Church, 
 and even that, in some places, conspirators had met 
 under the guise of a Bible Society Committee ; but the 
 tide had risen and rushed on, independently of such 
 accidental auxiliaries. More than half a million of 
 copies of the New Testament, in the mother tongue of 
 the people, could not have found their way to all parts 
 of the empire without producing effects unpleasant to 
 the Church authorities ; and no human instrument, but 
 the will of the reigning prince, could have held the 
 opposition in check. The new Emperor had not, like 
 his predecessor, fathomed the deep springs of this en- 
 mity, and could not have foreseen the consequences of 
 his own decisions. When told by Galitzin that the 
 priesthood wished the conductors of the Bible Society 
 to quit Kussia because they were heretics, he exclaimed 
 that he could not " endure such bigotry," and after- 
 wards treated them in a manner which proved his words 
 to be sincere. It was, therefore, probably more from
 
 124 RUSSIAN BIBLE SOCIETY. [CHAP. VL 
 
 an excessive desire of having everything, as he con- 
 ceived, in its right department, than from any denned 
 hostility to the diffusion of the Scriptures, that he trans- 
 ferred all the operations of the society to the " super- 
 intendence of the Holy Synod/' But this he did in a 
 ukase, dated 15th August 1826, and by that act closed 
 a fountain of life which, except to the small degree 
 hereafter to be related, has not been re-opened to the 
 present moment.
 
 dlemns. 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 "EUKAIROS, AKAraos: in season, out of season." 
 
 ST PAUL. 
 
 " For the heart grows rich in giving ; all its wealth is living grain ; 
 Seeds, which mildew in the garner, scatter'd, fill with gold the plain." 
 
 E, C.
 
 "March 29, 1826. The bridge of boats set up again! 
 Spring returning ! Thou who makest summer and 
 winter, warm and invigorate my heart, and make all 
 my beloved friends joyful in Thee ! Shed down upon 
 us all the precious and invigorating influences of Thy 
 Spirit, and make us fruitful in every good word and 
 work. I have lately sent forth some of my sermons. 
 Gracious Father, break not the bruised reed, quench 
 not the smoking flax, but accept and bless this feeble 
 effort to serve Thee. Amen." 
 
 It was thus that Mr Knill, amid increasing difficulties, 
 girded himself afresh for his work. Only by a nearer 
 approach to God, and a steadier faith in His promises, 
 could he have rightly met these difficulties. The faith- 
 ful fellow-labourers, who hailed him on his arrival in 
 the country, and had proved most able and affectionate 
 counsellors in times of perplexity, retired from the 
 scene, and left him more sensibly dependant on the 
 Divine arm. His domestic sorrows had been leading 
 in the same directioa To his correspondent at Bide-
 
 128 HIS MOTHER'S DEATH. [CHAP. VIL 
 
 ford he writes, " I think I have never had my mind so 
 much in heaven as since the death of my beloved 
 daughter. Thus our gracious God makes all things 
 to work together for good/' The death of his parents, 
 too, which now occurred, awoke many solemn and 
 tender recollections of his former life : 
 
 JOURNAL. "June 20, 1826, Lords-day. Preached 
 in the evening, from Rev. xiv. 13, a funeral sermon for 
 my honoured mother. She and my father were married 
 about 55 years, and, I think, for about 30 years she 
 has been a disciple of Jesus. For four or five years 
 she has been confined almost every hour to her bed, 
 and latterly she seemed to have lost all recollection. 
 A few hours only before her departure she had the 
 use of her reason restored, and she began to pray. 
 Her last words were 'Eliza, pray ;' and so she yielded 
 up the ghost, having just completed her 80th year. 
 Lord, give rne grace to follow Thee, as she followed 
 Thee. Oh, how warm was her love, how great her 
 attachment to the Word and house of God ! May 
 all her relatives be like her ! " 
 
 "December 11. A letter from my niece states that 
 my dear father is very ill ; that she had received a 
 letter from him on one week, and on the next, a mes- 
 sage, that he was not able to write." 
 
 Perhaps the following touching passage in a letter 
 to the family at Loveacott ought not to be withheld : 
 
 " Often have I exclaimed, when passing through the
 
 1826 : 39.] HIS FATHER'S DEATH. 129 
 
 streets of this splendid city, ' Oh that all was right with 
 my father's soul, and that he considered his latter end!' 
 I am happy to think there is any change of a consoling 
 nature ; but we want things to be very sure for ourselves 
 and our friends before we can take comfort in their 
 death. People who know not what conversion is, take 
 it for granted that all their friends go to heaven, par- 
 ticularly if they receive the sacrament on their death- 
 bed ; but we know how deceptive all these things are. 
 A new heart and a right spirit a creation unto holiness 
 by the Spirit of Christ is what we need, and without 
 it we must perish." He was not without reason to 
 hope that such prayers had been graciously answered 
 before the event which he thus records : " In the 
 afternoon, received a letter announcing the death of my 
 dear and honoured father, on the 15th December 1826." 
 Meanwhile, the peace and usefulness of the little 
 church suffered no interruption. "I am happy to 
 inform you/' he writes to his faithful correspondent in 
 Edinburgh, "that a few have been united to us in 
 church fellowship since Dr Paterson left us. The 
 Lord gives us unbounded reason for thankfulness for 
 personal and domestic comforts. I heard from good 
 Princess Metschersky last week. She is at her estates 
 near Tver, living among her serfs, and trying to do 
 them all the good in her power. I never perceived her 
 heart so much affected with their spiritual misery as 
 she appears now to be. She is capable of doing much
 
 130 SCHOOLS. [CHAP. VII. 
 
 to enlighten their darkened minds. Oh, Miss Ross, 
 how shall we sufficiently adore the Lord for His good- 
 ness to us in making us experimentally acquainted 
 with His love and power, in giving us to taste and see 
 that He is good ! How shall we praise that matchless 
 Redeemer who undertook our cause, and gave us His 
 Holy Spirit to be our Comforter ! Is it not wonderful 
 that we think so little of it ? May we in future feel it 
 more, and exemplify our attachment to Him in a more 
 lively manner. Amen." 
 
 To the same correspondent, a few months later, he 
 mentions the continued prosperity of one of the most 
 useful of the institutions : " The gentlemen of the 
 committee charged me to return their sincere thanks 
 for your continued favours to the school ; the Lord 
 reward you, and all who contribute to its support. A 
 few days since we had our annual examination. Oh, 
 how gratifying was the sight ! Many of the young 
 people attended who were formerly scholars with us, 
 but are now apprenticed to various tradesmen in the 
 city. Their appearance was peculiarly encouraging. 
 We never had so many children in attendance as we 
 now have. Sometimes there are sixty girls simul- 
 taneously at work on various kinds of garments and 
 useful articles for families. They can make every gar- 
 ment usually worn by women, which enables some of 
 them already to support themselves, and many who have 
 left the school support also their friends."
 
 1826:39.] THE WATCHMAKER'S TROPHY. 131 
 
 His pastoral vigilance continued to be attended by 
 many encouraging incidents. On the 29th of June 
 1826, he writes to the Eev. J. Arundel, "I one day 
 called on a watchmaker, lately become pious, to ask 
 him where I could buy a good spy-glass. ' If you want 
 a good spy-glass,' said he, ' I should like to speak with 
 you on that subject/ ' Proceed, if you please/ ' The 
 summer before you arrived, I bought a beautiful spy- 
 glass in a walking-stick, for my amusement on Sun- 
 days ; but God in His mercy has enabled you to direct 
 me to objects more glorious than that glass discovers. 
 I have now better work for Sundays, and have no fur- 
 ther use for the glass. I beg you to accept it as a 
 trophy of the grace of God$ keep it, sir, as an encour- 
 agement in your labours of love, and be assured that 
 it was only the same power that sent the Otaheitan 
 idols to the Missionary Museum that brought that 
 glass to you/ I have it as a valuable and precious 
 testimony to the power of God. The former owner of 
 it is a bright Christian ; many also of his relatives have 
 become pious." 
 
 A circumstance of a similar kind affords a lively 
 illustration of his manner, which was at once kind, 
 bold, and discriminating. A Eussian whom he had em- 
 ployed in the capacity of a tailor having called one day 
 when he was engaged with a gentleman, he asked him 
 to sit down, handing him at the same moment a tract 
 in the English language, which he knew he could read.
 
 132 THE RUSSIAN TAILOR. [CHAP. VII. 
 
 " I soon returned, and paid him his bill, and as he 
 was going away, he said 
 
 ' I hope you are pleased with your coat ? ' 
 
 ' Yes,' I replied, ' I am much pleased with my coat ; 
 how are you pleased with my book ? ' 
 
 ' Oh/ said he, ' I never trouble myself about books.' 
 
 ' Do you not ? I am sorry for that, sir ; you are 
 getting an old man, and if you do not trouble yourself 
 about books, I fear there is something else which you 
 neglect.' 
 
 'What is that, sir?' 
 
 ' Why, your precious soul. " And what is a man 
 profited, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own 
 soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his 
 soul?"' 
 
 ' Ah/ said he, ' I guess what you mean ; you think 
 I ought to become religious/ 
 
 ' Yes, that is it." 
 
 ' Bless you, sir/ he replied, ' it would be impos- 
 sible for me to carry on my large business if I were 
 religious.' 
 
 ' You astonish me, sir. How would religion inter- 
 fere with your business ? ' 
 
 ' Why, if I were religious, then I must go to church 
 on Sundays.' 
 
 ' To be sure you would ; ay, and you would rejoice 
 when Sunday came, that you might hear something of 
 God and salvation/
 
 1826 : 39.] THE AGED SCEPTIC CONQUERED. 133 
 
 ' I tell you, sir, that would be impossible with my 
 business. I have thirty men, and I pay most of my 
 bills, and receive most of my money on Sunday ; it 
 is my busiest day/ 
 
 ' What ! do you never go to church ? ' 
 
 ' Never.' 
 
 ' This is worse and worse, sir. You say you do not 
 read good books, and you do not go to church ; depend 
 upon it you are going to hell. I have long thought 
 that no man would go to heaven merely because he read 
 the Bible and went to church ; but I am deeply con- 
 vinced that the man who neglects these things is not 
 going to heaven. How can you live so ? Do you not 
 believe there is a God ? ' 
 
 "At this he looked angrily at me, and said, 'God, 
 sir ! God ! Have you ever seen God ? ' 
 
 " At this I trembled to think how far down a man 
 might sink in his iniquity, and I replied ' I have not 
 seen God, but I have seen you, and you are one of 
 God's works/ 
 
 ' Very well/ said he, ' when you meet with any one 
 who has seen God, please to let me know it. Good 
 morning, sir/ 
 
 " The old man then took his leave, and I saw him 
 no more until I met him at the funeral of the friend who 
 had introduced him to me. This excellent man was 
 seized with typhus fever, and died ; and great lamen- 
 tation was made over him. The funeral sermon was
 
 134 GRATITUDE. [CHAP. VII. 
 
 numerously attended, and among them I saw the Rus- 
 sian tailor, and the tears rolling down his aged cheeks, 
 but I could not tell whether it was anything that I 
 said, or the death of my friend that so deeply affected 
 him. On the following Sabbath, I saw him present 
 again ; on the second Sabbath again ; and on the third 
 Sabbath again. This was very strange to see ; yet I 
 was afraid to call upon him, lest he might take the 
 alarm, and keep away altogether ; but I said to one of 
 my friends, ' Did you see Mr B ? ' 
 
 ' Yes,' said he ; ' I can tell you something very in- 
 teresting about that old man.' 
 
 ' Indeed ! what, sir ? ' 
 
 ' He has purchased an English Bible, and says he is 
 determined to read it ; yes, and to read it all through, 
 to see whether what you say is true or not/ 
 
 'Then,' said I, 'there is hope of him. There is 
 always hope of a man when he begins to read the Bible 
 with attention/ 
 
 " I now found him a constant attendant on week- 
 days as well as Lord's-days, and I often saw his coun- 
 tenance lighted up with joy ; but I never spoke to him, 
 until one Saturday night I was sitting in my study, 
 when my wife entered, saying, 'There is a stranger 
 inquiring for you/ 
 
 'Who is it?' 
 
 ' I do not know, but I think it is the Russian tailor/ 
 
 " So I walked out, and there I saw him. He began :
 
 1826 : 39.] LOVE. 135 
 
 ' Saturday night is not just the time to call on you, 
 Mr Knill, but I have a little business.' 
 
 ' What business, sir ? ' 
 
 ' One of your hearers wished to present you with 
 a new coat, and I have brought it ; I hope you will not 
 be angry.' 
 
 " I answered ' I am not in the habit of being angry 
 with any person, but especially with one who would 
 give me a new coat ; pray, what kind friend has done 
 this ? ' 
 
 ' Ah/ said, he ' that is a part of the business ; he will 
 not tell you his name.' 
 
 ' Is it a young man ? ' 
 
 " He answered ' No.' 
 
 ' Is it an old man ? ' 
 
 ' Yes, an old man with a gray head.' 
 
 " There he stood by my side, with his hair as white 
 as milk, but I had no conception that he was the man. 
 
 ' Perhaps, sir, you will tell my wife who it was ? ' 
 
 ' Yes, I am not bound to keep it from' Mrs Km'lL' 
 
 " So I left them, and he told my wife that he was the 
 person who had given me this coat. Of course, I soon 
 knew it ; and very peculiar were the feelings produced 
 in my mind by the transaction. 
 
 ' Now, sir, I know who my benefactor is, and I am 
 greatly obliged to you for this kindness ; but do tell 
 me what induced you to give me the coat ? ' 
 
 " At this he burst into tears, and said ' Ah, sir, if
 
 136 ZEAL. [CHAP. VII. 
 
 God had not changed my heart, I never should have 
 thought of giving you the coat/ 
 
 ' Thank you/ said I, ' for this explanation, and if it 
 be connected with a change of heart, then the coat is 
 invaluable/ 
 
 " He then gave me a striking proof that his heart 
 was changed indeed. He began to consult me about 
 the spiritual good of his people. 
 
 'I want to ask you, sir, what I should do for my 
 men ? I feel very much about their souls. What do 
 you think I should do for them? Should I give them 
 copies of the Testament?' 
 
 " I was delighted to behold this mark of spiritual life, 
 and urged him by all means to give them the Scriptures. 
 This encouraged him. His youth seemed renewed like 
 the eagles'. He ran home, and called his men together, 
 and said to them 'Can you read?' 
 
 ' Yes, sir, I read Swedish/ 
 
 " To another ' Can you read?' 
 
 ' Yes, sir, I read German/ 
 
 " To a third' Can you read ?' 
 
 ' Yes, I read Finnish/ 
 
 " To a fourth ' Can you read ?' 
 
 ' Yes, I read Russ/ 
 
 " Having ascertained how many of his people could 
 read, and in what languages, he came to me again, 
 saying 'Now, sir, so many books in so many lan- 
 guages ; for I am resolved that no man shall remain in
 
 1826 : 39.] RETROSPECT. 137 
 
 my employ, who is able to read, without a copy of the 
 blessed New Testament/ 
 
 " The inquiry he thus made led to another discovery. 
 He not only found out who could read, but he also 
 found out who could not read, and for them he bought 
 spelling-books, and set the readers to teach them ; for 
 he also resolved that every man and boy in his works 
 who could not read should be instructed. 
 
 " In addition to all this, he usually spent half an 
 hour in the evening with them in reading and expound- 
 ing the Scriptures. The sight was at once novel, 
 amusing, and affecting. The old man would fix upon 
 a chapter, then they would all read the same verse in 
 their different languages, and then the master would 
 give them a short exposition of it in the Russian lan- 
 guage, which they all understood. By this means, his 
 house passed through as great a change as the master. 
 Instead of being polluted with worldly occupations on 
 the Lord's-day, now every day was turned into a 
 Sabbath. Prayer, and praise, and religious instruction 
 were carried on daily. The voice of joy, thanksgiving, 
 and praise, was heard in the tabernacle of the 
 righteous."* 
 
 In the midst of these and other evidences of the 
 Divine blessing, which cheered his naturally trustful 
 and hopeful spirit, the year approached its close. 
 
 "December 26. Mr Mirrielees has arrived from 
 
 * " The Russian Tailor." Religious Tract Society.
 
 ] 38 RETROSPECT. [CHAP. VII. 
 
 Moscow, and gives a veiy interesting account of all 
 our friends. It is now finally settled (D. F.) that Mr 
 Parkinson shall leave for Rotherham College, about 
 June next. Thus from our dear little congregation, 
 Mr Von Essen, Mr James Lyon, and Mr Parkinson 
 have chosen that blessed work, which surely is to be 
 preferred above all others. Gracious Lord, Thou hast 
 all fulness in Thyself; in mercy supply these Thy 
 servants out of Thy infinite store. Amen. 
 
 " Wednesday, 29. Preached in the evening on those 
 beautiful words, ' Thou crownest the year with Thy 
 goodness/ and it becomes me to look back with 
 gratitude on a year of mercies. 
 
 "Blessed be Thy holy name, for every temporal 
 comfort and every domestic blessing: for the means of 
 grace precious Sabbaths and sacramental feasts not 
 one of which has failed; for help from dear Dr Pater- 
 son when I was sick; for several excellent persons 
 added to the Church, and for others who give evidence 
 of a concern for their souls. my God and Father, 
 my Saviour, Friend, and Portion, bless Thou my dear 
 people cause true and undefiled religion to increase 
 and flourish ! "
 
 rie Sluts. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 " Who best 
 
 Can suffer, best can do ; best reign who first 
 Well hath obeyed." 
 
 MILTON.
 
 Two years from the period of the Bible Society's 
 suppression had scarcely passed, before the darkness, 
 which then threatened to close in upon all evangelical 
 efforts in the country, began to clear away, and to dis- 
 close a field of exertion somewhat proportioned to Mr 
 KnilTs large desires and irrepressible energy. Such a 
 blessing could have come only to the watchfulness and 
 patience of true faith. The haste of an indevout zeal 
 would have been fatal to its approach ; for, while the 
 law had not forbidden the circulation of existing copies 
 of the Scriptures in any language, a premature activity 
 would have excited alarm and opposition. When the 
 right time came, the prison doors were opened, as by 
 the touch of an angel. Mr KnilTs review of the cir- 
 cumstances is as follows: 
 
 " After the departure of my honoured friends, Drs 
 Paterson, Pinkerton, and Henderson, the Bible Society's 
 house was transferred to other hands, and tens of 
 thousands of precious books were shut up in ware- 
 houses ; a small dep6t being kept open, and a poor
 
 142 THE BALTIC ISLANDERS. [CHAP. VIII. 
 
 monk put in charge to sell them. Few persons seemed 
 to have courage to ask for a book ; but God, who is 
 'wonderful in counsel and excellent in working,' at last 
 raised up an instrumentality to bring out the buried 
 treasure. There is a small island in the Baltic called 
 Hogland, containing a few hundred inhabitants, who 
 subsist chiefly by fishing. They speak the Finnish 
 language, and belong, nominally, to the Lutheran 
 Church. They had neither doctor nor minister among 
 them, when a pious young Lutheran clergyman, hear- 
 ing of their situation, hired a small vessel in order to 
 visit them. As the little bark neared the island, the 
 adults came to the landing-place to see what he wanted. 
 ' I want/ said he, ' to see all the grown-up people in the 
 island; call them, for I have a message to deliver/ The 
 people collected, and he preached to them, for about an 
 hour, on the words, ' Behold, I bring you good tidings 
 of great joy, which shall be unto all people. For unto 
 you is born this day a Saviour, which is Christ the 
 Lord.' The people were astonished and delighted, and, 
 at the close of his address, said ' This is an angel. 
 Oh! will you stay among us, and be our pastor? If 
 you will, we shall give you fish, and oil, and candles, 
 which is all we have.' 
 
 " He was not a little pleased with his ' entrance in 
 unto them/ but replied, ' I cannot live upon what you 
 kindly offer, but I will go to St Petersburg and see if 
 I can get a few friends to help me, and, if I succeed, I
 
 1828 : 41.] THE FINNISH BIBLES. 143 
 
 will come to you.' He then took leave, and started for 
 St Petersburg; told his story to Madame Gb'tzen, the 
 widow of an admiral, who often attended my ministry, 
 and asked, 'Will you support me?' The lady said, 
 ' Mr Knill is often speaking on such subjects to his 
 congregation, and I think, if I call and inform him 
 about it, his people will stand by you.' ' Yes/ I replied, 
 when she came to me, 'I know they will; I know my 
 men, and I never applied in vain/ The admiral's widow 
 went to encourage the missionary, and I set off to my 
 pious and devoted friends. They immediately sub- 
 scribed what was needful, and he sailed soon for the 
 island, leaving two boxes in my possession, which I was 
 to send by a vessel a few weeks after. I was preparing 
 his boxes, putting in clothes, medicines, and other 
 needfuls, and, on the top, some Finnish Bibles, with 
 which Mrs Mirrielees had furnished me. Now came 
 the memorable moment. Just as the Bibles were 
 passing through my hands, a milkmaid from a village 
 called with milk As she passed me, I said, 'Good 
 woman, can you read?' 'Yes, sir, in my own 
 language.' 
 
 " ' What language is it?' 
 
 '"The Finnish.' 
 
 " ' Oh, here is a Finnish Bible ; read the 23d Psalm/ 
 
 " She read very fluently until she came to the words, 
 ' Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow 
 of death, I will fear no evil : for Thou art with me ; Thy
 
 144 THE MILKMAID. [CHAP. VIII. 
 
 rod and Thy staff they comfort me,' and then her voice 
 faltered; she began to weep, and returned to me the 
 book. 'Have you a Bible?' I inquired. 
 
 " ' No, sir ; I never had money enough to buy one.' 
 
 " 'How much money have you now?' 
 
 " ' Only a ruble ' (lOd.) 
 
 " ' Then give me,' I said, ' the ruble, and I will give 
 you the book' 
 
 " She looked at me with astonishment, but I said I 
 meant what I told her, when she fumbled in her dress 
 for the ruble, and gave it to me, and I handed her the 
 Bible. The ecstasy of the woman cannot be described. 
 She looked at it, opened it, shut it, and looked again, 
 then pressed it to her heart, kissed it, and burst into 
 tears. Seeing her so delighted, I said 'Have your 
 neighbours any Bibles?' 
 
 " ' I believe not,' she replied ; \ I never saw one among 
 them.' 
 
 " ' Well, tell them of this, and inform them they 
 may have a Bible for a ruble too/ 
 
 " 'May I?' she exclaimed, and away she went. 
 
 " It happened to be market-day, when great crowds 
 assemble. She rushed in among the people, and hold- 
 ing up her book, cried, ' A Bible ! ' ' Where did you 
 get it ?' came from numerous voices. ' From a foreign 
 pastor/ ' What cost it?' 'A ruble/ ' Impossible !' 
 ' No,' said the milkmaid, ' for the man told me to say 
 that, if you wished for one, you may have it at the
 
 1828 : 41.] BIBLES TAKING WING. 145 
 
 same price.' On hearing that, they took her Bible 
 from her, and gave her two rubles, saying, ' Get two 
 Bibles for these two rubles, and we will give your 
 Bible back again, and something for your trouble ; but 
 if not, we will keep this, because you have deceived us.' 
 
 " The poor creature came back to me, weeping, to re- 
 late the story. But I gave her the two books, and said, 
 ' Continue to tell your neighbours of it/ She did so, 
 and the news flew on the wings of the wind. The 
 people went home that day with a new story, and my 
 house was soon beset with customers. Persons who 
 had to travel fifty versts (thirty-three miles) were at 
 my house at the break of day, to make sure of a copy." 
 
 The emotions which this work awoke are indicated 
 in many sentences of the Journal, such as these: 
 
 "October 25, 1828. Ordered another hundred copies 
 of Finnish Bibles. The glad tidings are spreading, 
 and the people welcome the joyful sound. Lord, bless 
 the precious Word, and make it a guide to heaven to 
 every one who possesses it ! Several of my friends 
 begin to help me in this benevolent work." 
 
 " 27th. Wrote to Dr Pinkerton to request him to 
 send me 10 to help forward the glorious work. Two 
 hundred Bibles are sold this week." 
 
 " November 10. Sent for one hundred Bibles. This 
 has been a remarkable week. The Lord has blessed me 
 with many mercies ; at present, that which appears to 
 me the chief mercy, is the privilege of circulating the
 
 146 FAITH TESTED. [CHAP. VIIL 
 
 Holy Word. To whom can I go for aid, but to the 
 friends of the Bible ? Lord, incline their hearts to help 
 me, and crown the whole with Thy blessing ! I am 
 now in the seventh hundred, and they are nearly gone. 
 More than seventy have been sold to-day." 
 
 " lUh. Bought another hundred Bibles. Preached 
 in the evening from Psalin 116, 'What shall I render 
 to the Lord for all His mercies towards me \' n 
 
 " 19th. The poor Tins are still coming in great 
 numbers for Bibles ; but there are no more. Oh, how 
 grievous to see them go away without the blessed book ! 
 My God and Father, I bless Thee for enabling me to 
 circulate so many. Sanctify Thine own Word, Lord!" 
 
 His faith had often been put to the test. " One 
 day," he says, " there had been a great run, and I was 
 at a loss what to do. I went to my wife, and said I 
 was in trouble. 
 
 " ' What is the matter V 
 
 " ' I can never meet the demands of the Fins at the 
 rate I have fixed, for they are coming upon us like bees. 
 But if I do not fulfil my promise, I am undone.' 
 
 " She very calmly replied, ' It is God's book and God's 
 work, and, depend upon it, He will help us. Go on.' 
 
 " Being thus encouraged, I put a hundred rubles in 
 my pocket, and was on my way for more Bibles, when 
 the thought struck me that fifty rubles would be enough 
 for me in the circumstances, and with the claims of rny 
 family. At that moment, passing the end of a street, I
 
 1828 : 41.] GOOD FRUITS. 147 
 
 lifted up my eyes, and saw a funeral. It was enough. 
 That funeral preached me a sermon from the text, 
 'Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy 
 might ; for there is no work nor device in the grave, 
 whither thou goest/ I felt ashamed' and humbled at 
 the thought which had been working in my breast, and 
 went off, and invested my money in the Bibles. Then 
 I drew up a short letter, and sent it round to my friends, 
 to ask their co-operation, when the Lord did help us, 
 for in a short time the money came in, and in six weeks 
 I sold 800 volumes." 
 
 " In distributing the Bible among strangers," he re- 
 marks in a letter, " it is not likely we shall know much 
 of the effects produced by them while we remain in 
 the present world ; but a few happy instances have 
 occurred within my own circle, which may be con- 
 sidered a fair specimen of what others may have ob- 
 served. One of the most efficient of my numerous 
 helpers is a young officer, who spends almost every 
 holiday among the poor in the distant villages. To 
 these poor people he carries New Testaments and tracts, 
 and sometimes travels fifty, eighty, or even a hundred 
 versts a-day in his labours of love. In one of his 
 excursions he met with a very pious Tin. My young 
 friend said to him, ' I rejoice to hear and see these 
 things in this little cottage ; pray, how long have you 
 been a partaker of this felicity?' '0 sir,' said the 
 cottager, ' I am only a young Christian. Once I was
 
 ] 48 GOOD FRUITS. [CHAP. VIII. 
 
 addicted to drunkenness the common sin of our 
 people. But last year I heard of Bibles selling at a 
 cheap rate at Pastor Knill's. Wishing to have a Bible 
 as well as my neighbours, I bought the book, and God 
 has blessed it to my soul, yea, and to my wife's also. 
 There is no intemperance in our house now, sir/ 
 
 "Again. A man, whose birthplace is far distant, 
 came hither in the spring, and, calling at my house, 
 bought a New Testament, which he took to his lodg- 
 ings, where thirty other men boarded and lodged. 
 Last week he called again to purchase more books. 
 He said to Mrs Knill, ' You have no idea of the bless- 
 ing that book has been which I bought in the spring. 
 At that time every night was spent at cards, and in 
 drunkenness ; but now the scene is completely changed. 
 We assemble every night around the man who reads 
 the Word of God, and cards and drink are shut out of 
 the place.' 
 
 " We do all we can/' he adds, in the letter in which 
 these facts are mentioned, "to promote this blessed 
 work in a quiet and unofficial manner. The wisdom 
 of the serpent is needed, as well as the innocence of the 
 dove. Pray for us, that the Word of God may run 
 and be glorified, ' even as it is with you.' " 
 
 This busy and prosperous year closes, and another 
 opens with the following entries: 
 
 " December 31, 1828. my God and Father, all 
 these things concur to increase my debt of gratitude !
 
 1829 : 42.] NEW-YEAR'S PRAYER. 1 49 
 
 By Thy grace I am what I am. Thy bounty feeds and 
 clothes me, and every good and perfect gift cometh 
 down from Thee. I feel, Lord, that in everything I 
 am deficient. I end the year lamenting Over my cold 
 and selfish heart, yet adoring Thy rich, free, and sove- 
 reign love. Hallelujah. 
 
 "January ], 1829. New- Year's Day. The good- 
 ness of God to me is very great. Few among the 
 human race have so much reason for gratitude. Lord, 
 have mercy upon me, and help me to honour Thee ! 
 Let my services be acceptable in Thy sight, through 
 Jesus Christ, my Lord. Make this year peculiarly 
 useful in the conversion of sinners ; the increase of 
 piety among true believers ; the zeal of the Church ; 
 the circulation of the Holy Scriptures and other good 
 books, and the prosperity of all things 'connected with 
 Thy cause. Oh, prosper the work of our hands upon 
 us the work of our hands, Lord, prosper Thou it !" 
 
 The circulation of Bibles in the languages of the 
 foreign populations of the empire was followed by a 
 blessing still less anticipated in the dispersion of the 
 Eussian Testaments lying buried under the guardian- 
 ship of the Holy Synod. Though no edict forbade the 
 purchase of these books, the old monk left in charge 
 of them held but a nominal office. His peace was in- 
 vaded in the following manner : 
 
 " A young person in my congregation, who was con- 
 verted to God, and threw a good deal of energy into
 
 150 ENCOURAGEMENT. [CHAP. VIII. 
 
 her religion, one morning called on me, and said, 
 ' Next week is my name's day, and our servants will 
 expect a present. They can all read, and what can I 
 give them so good as a Eussian Testament ?' 
 
 " ' Nothing,' I replied. 
 
 " ' Well, will you please to get some Eussian Testa- 
 ments for me?' 
 
 " ' I will try,' I responded ; and set off with a light 
 heart to the dear old Bible House. 
 
 " ' Can I have some Eussian Testaments ?' I inquired, 
 cautiously. 
 
 " ' Yes/ said the keeper ; ' you can have 10,000 this 
 week, and 10,000 next week, if you please. The damp 
 is rotting and the moth devouring them.' 
 
 " Alas ! I thought on my way home, this is dreadful ! 
 Oh, that I ccfuld indeed get out 10,000 ! It soon 
 occurred to me that we had one warm friend in Scot- 
 land, who had taken an interest especially in the Jew- 
 ish children of the schools, and had written in a way 
 which convinced me she had much love to God. This, 
 I thought, is the friend to apply to in this emergency. 
 I gave her an account of what we had been doing, and 
 what we wished to do, and said that, if she could set 
 us agoing with ^lO, we should not, when once in mo- 
 tion, soon stop." 
 
 JOUKNAL. "January 31, 1829. To the glory of 
 God be it recorded, that I this day received a letter 
 from dear Miss Eoss of Edinburgh, in answer to mine
 
 1829 : 42.] RELEASE OP RUSSIAN TESTAMENTS. 151 
 
 of the 17th of November, authorising me to draw for 
 50 to carry on the delightful work of circulating the 
 Holy Scriptures. my soul, never forget this loving- 
 kindness ; let it encourage thee and stimulate thee to 
 be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the 
 blessed Master's work, nothing doubting that He will 
 raise up friends to aid His own cause." 
 
 " I asked you," he writes to this lady, " for ^10, 
 and you sent me 5Q, which made me feel in a very 
 remarkable manner that the Lord was with me. I 
 knelt down and adored Him, and entreated blessings 
 for you and for the friends who might have helped 
 you to send so large a sum. I soon communicated the 
 glad tidings to those excellent friends who are my 
 coadjutors in every good work, and they have assisted 
 me in giving an extensive circulation to the precious 
 Word. About thirty copies a-day for the last two 
 weeks has been the average demand. I have sold forty 
 to-day with my own hands." 
 
 " Among many pleasing instances of usefulness, one 
 is that of a Eussian servant in my own house. When 
 she first came to us, she could read a little, and my 
 wife encouraged her to persevere, and for this purpose 
 a Psalter and Testament were given to her. She seemed 
 to take great delight in reading, and we were gratified 
 to perceive how she improved every 'spare moment for 
 this sacred employ. The first time she evinced any 
 emotion was one evening when she had been reading
 
 152 BLESSING. [CIIAP. VIII. 
 
 the history of Cornelius. She came to my wife with 
 an anxious and inquiring look, and said, 'Please to 
 explain this to me : Cornelius fasted, prayed to God 
 always, and gave much alms to the people ; yet he was 
 commanded to send for Peter to obtain information 
 what he ought to do. Pray, how is this ? What could 
 he do more ? Is any more required of us than to pray, 
 give alms, and keep the fast?' 
 
 " Mrs Knill answered, ' If something more had not 
 been necessary, the angel would not have commanded 
 it; therefore, proceed with, the narrative, and mark 
 what Peter said.' She proceeded ; and when she read 
 these words, ' To Him gave all the prophets witness, 
 that through His name, whosoever believeth on Him 
 shall receive remission of sins/ the poor young creature 
 was overcome. She burst into a flood of tears, and 
 soon exclaimed, ' Now, I see it ; it is by believing on 
 the Lord Jesus Christ that we obtain forgiveness of 
 sins.' From that day to this her delight has been in 
 the Scriptures. Her diligence in business, and her zeal 
 for the salvation of her relatives, makes her very highly 
 esteemed by us ; and, as far as we can judge, she adorns 
 the doctrine of God her Saviour in all things." Erena, 
 which was the name of this young woman, proved a 
 great treasure to Mr Knill's family. 
 
 As no funds existed for the supply of Bibles, sold 
 considerably under the cost price, Mr Knill was obliged 
 to add to the labour of distribution that of an exten-
 
 1829 : 42.] LARGE DIFFUSION OF SCRIPTURES. 153 
 
 sive correspondence. In the following letter to Joseph 
 Nunneley, Esq. of Leicester, a general view is given of 
 his position on the 21st May 1829 : 
 
 " A delightful work is going on amongst us, far, 
 very far beyond what I ever anticipated. The Word 
 of the Lord is spreading extensively amongst people 
 who had not possessed a copy of the Divine volume 
 before, many of whom had scarcely ever heard of it, 
 and who, a few years ago, were unable to read. During 
 the reign of the Emperor Alexander, the education of 
 the lower orders became an object of consideration, 
 and tens of thousands were taught to read. This was 
 a notable feature in the reign of Alexander, and it is 
 an animating thought that his Majesty the Emperor 
 Nicholas is carrying on the great work on an enlarged 
 and improved scale. By this means, books will be more 
 and more called for, and what more important than 
 the Book of God? Blessed, for ever blessed be His 
 holy name for giving us the means, the disposition, 
 and the opportunity of circulating it ! 
 
 " In my last to you, I stated that 800 Bibles had 
 been sold, since which time I have circulated above 
 2,200 other books, some Bibles, chiefly New Testa- 
 ments, and a few hundred Psalters. These are not 
 confined to any particular language, but embrace the 
 Sclavonian, Eussian, German, Swedish, Finnish, Polish, 
 Esthonian, French, and English. I have now entered 
 or the sale of the fourth thousand, and, by the help of
 
 154 CAUTION. [CiiAP. VIII. 
 
 the Lord and His people, shall not cease to attempt 
 thousand upon thousand until I can work no longer. 
 Please to accept my grateful acknowledgments for your 
 liberal assistance. I trust the Lord will bless it to the 
 good of many a poor sinner. It was a timely aid ; for 
 though I wrote eighteen letters, I received an answer 
 only from you and three others the Tract Society, 
 Mr Lewis of Islington, and a lady of Edinburgh ; but 
 I have great hopes that many other friends have by 
 this time sent me something, though I have not yet 
 heard from them. The British and Foreign Bible 
 Society, with their usual generosity, offered me 500 
 copies of the Finnish Testament, but I have declined 
 receiving books; it might be dangerous. Here are 
 books in abundance, sanctioned and authorised to be 
 sold ; so that, in circulating them, I violate no law. 
 But strange books from other countries might be viewed 
 in a different light. I hope, however, they will grant 
 me pecuniary aid, for I shall soon exhaust the bounty 
 of private friends. At present I am about 30 in 
 advance, which a dear friend here has lent me, and I 
 am proceeding with the work. I cannot relax, for 
 surely the Lord will send us help ; He began the work, 
 and hitherto He has carried it on. Will He now per- 
 mit it to cease ? I think not. 
 
 " I assure you, dear sir, it was a great relief to my 
 mind to see this door of usefulness opening to me ; 
 for my congregation is very small, and most of them,
 
 1829 : 42.] BIBLE SOCIETY. 155 
 
 thanks be to God, are pious. I felt, therefore, that 
 something was needful to afford useful occupation, and 
 now we have it. Several of my little flock are most 
 actively employed in disposing of the sacred volume ; 
 they have tasted its sweetness, and they are as thankful 
 as I am to have the present opportunity." 
 
 The committee of the Bible Society, recognising the 
 propriety of Mr KnilTs unwillingness to introduce 
 books from abroad, very liberally came to his aid with 
 money. A correct estimate, indeed, cannot be formed 
 of this work, without keeping in view the peculiar 
 union of boldness and caution, of energy and self-con- 
 trol, which it demanded, and which was graciously 
 given from on high. A few lines, enclosing letters 
 from Siberia, addressed to the Rev. William Orme, on 
 the 12th May 1830, will iUustrate this: 
 
 " It is well known to Dr Henderson, and he can explain 
 it much better than can be done in a short letter, that 
 missionaries in this country must always stand on very 
 precarious ground. No certainty can be attached to 
 their stay for an hour. People who have never lived 
 here, can hardly form an idea of the state of our feel- 
 ings at times, though I acknowledge with gratitude 
 that I have never experienced anything but kindness 
 since my arrival here, nor, I think, is it otherwise with 
 the brethren in Siberia ; still our situation is what is 
 stated, uncertain. 
 
 " Two of the most excellent and intelligent young
 
 156 SEVERITY OF THE GOVERNMENT. [CIIAP. VIII. 
 
 men I have ever seen, an officer in the Russian service, 
 and an English physician, both members of my little 
 church, were lately apprehended for circulating New 
 Testaments and tracts. The former was imprisoned, 
 and the latter was sent across the frontier, banished 
 from the realm, in the depth of winter, at twenty-four 
 hours' notice. This so alarmed us, that we did not 
 know what to do ; my name was associated with the 
 affair in a certain degree, as I had supplied them with 
 the Scriptures, and they belonged to my congregation. 
 This they stated at their examination. I therefore 
 expected to be seized every hour, and prepared for the 
 event. But, blessed be God, I am permitted to remain ; 
 and although there was an interruption for some time, 
 we have circulated 2000 Testaments and Psalters 
 during the last three months, and tracts and school- 
 books in great numbers. I cannot but mark the care 
 and kindness of my adorable Redeemer in this matter. 
 Oh for a more entire devotedness to Hun!" 
 
 In the review of this period, Mr Knill could easily 
 have replied to the arguments of some who questioned 
 the necessity of two English congregations in St Peters- 
 burg, and who could appreciate only palpable facts, 
 such as he here enumerates. 
 
 " October 28, 1829. Is it asked, Have you a Bible 
 Society ? I answer, We distributed about 6000 Bibles, 
 Psalters, and New Testaments last year. Is it asked, 
 Have you a Missionary Society? I answer, We sup-
 
 1829 : 42.] WORK. 157 
 
 port six native teachers in India, and one missionary 
 printer in Georgia, besides sending 100 rubles annu- 
 ally for general missionary purposes, to the London 
 Missionary Society. Is it asked, Have you a School 
 Society? Several of my congregation keep schools, 
 and have upwards of 200 children under their tuition. 
 Is it asked, Have you a Tract Society ? I answer, We 
 distribute tracts in various languages, and have more 
 than 50,000 on hand for distribution. Is it asked, 
 Have you a School-book Society? I answer, We fur- 
 nish hundreds of people with the authorised school- 
 books of the country, at a low price. Is it asked, Do 
 you provide clothes, for the poor ? I answer, We have 
 a Dorcas Society, by which hundreds are clothed. Is 
 it asked, Do you take care of the sick ? I answer, We 
 have two pious doctors, besides other friends, who give 
 every possible attention to these. God ! the author 
 of every good and perfect gift, what shall I render to 
 Thee for all these mercies, and all these favours ? How 
 blessed is the man who lives among so devoted^and 
 loving a people ! " 
 
 The people who accomplished these things were not 
 numerous. Their power lay in their spirit. The tone 
 of general society in the city was such as to require 
 them to avow their principles with decision, and to 
 seek satisfaction almost exclusively in each other's 
 company a necessity which certainly contributed to 
 the strength of their religion, and the concentration of
 
 158 INFLUENCE. [1829 : 42. 
 
 their benevolent efforts. The pastor moved among 
 their families with a sustaining and regulating influ- 
 ence. His sermons, though never profound in thought, 
 nor even elaborate in exposition, were always fresh, 
 healthful, and elevating ; while in the devotional re- 
 unions in the spacious saloon of his own house he 
 particularly shone. His ardent spirit, glowing in ex- 
 temporaneous observations on Scripture, in narrations 
 of the work of Christ, and in simple prayer, which em- 
 braced by delicate allusions the most minute require- 
 ments of the assembly, blended all hearts : " strangers 
 and sojourners " on that northern soil, felt that they 
 had found a true home, and men wearied with the 
 cares of commercial life, were braced for the higher 
 enterprises of the kingdom of God.
 
 fyatofos rf % 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 " The tree 
 
 Sucks kindlier nurture from a soil enrich'd 
 By its own fallen leaves ; and man is made, 
 In heart and spirit, from deoiduous hopes, 
 And things that seem to perish,"
 
 MR KNILL did not expect, of course, that his path in 
 God's service would long remain unmarked by tribula- 
 tion; but he scarcely anticipated that the pestilence, 
 which dismissed him from India, would confront him 
 again among the snows of Eussia. Yet that terrible 
 messenger was commissioned to give a sober colouring 
 to all the transactions of the two years upon which we 
 now enter, and finally to cast a deep shadow over his 
 cheerful home. The year after the cholera ravaged the 
 peninsula of India, it proceeded to China, and the 
 islands of the adjacent archipelago. Three years later, 
 it entered the Russian territory, at Astrachan, and, 
 having warned Europe, withdrew for seven years. At 
 the close of that period, it reappeared in the same city, 
 and steadily advancing along the shore of the Volga, 
 reached Moscow in the autumn of 1830, and St 
 Petersburg in the summer of 1831. 
 
 The sense of the presence of this power will make 
 itself apparent in most of the letters and entries now 
 to be quoted ; but as it did not interrupt, but rather
 
 162 DEPARTURE OF MR AND MRS YENNING. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 quickened exertion, the usual record of the mixed 
 occurrences of successive days, will convey the most 
 faithful picture of the time. Early in the summer, a 
 family, which had conferred no small honour on the 
 little church, and had contributed incalculably to the 
 personal happiness of Mr Knill, sailed for their native 
 country. 
 
 "June 25, 1830. Wednesday. At five this even- 
 ing I set off in Mr Baird's steamer for Cronstadt, with 
 our dear friends, Mr and Mrs Venning, on their way 
 to England. I spent a part of every day with them 
 this week, breakfasted with them this morning, and 
 united with them for the last time in prayer. It was 
 a most affecting season. Lord, sanctify these trying 
 scenes ! I know Thou art able. Oh yes; Thou canst 
 make darkness light before us, and every bitter thing 
 sweet. The recollection of what they have done for 
 me calls for my deepest gratitude, and the knowledge 
 of the good they have received from my ministry, 
 should ever fill my heart with praise. Paul planteth, 
 Apollos watereth, but Thou, God, givest the increase. 
 We went on board the Dutch steamship, which is to 
 carry our friends to Travemunde, and at half-past nine 
 we took an affectionate farewell, and left them. my 
 God, do Thou be ever with them, to guide, comfort, 
 strengthen, and make them very useful. Wherever 
 they go, do Thou make them to shine as lights in the 
 world.
 
 1830 : 43.] NEW HOUSE CONSECRATED. 163 
 
 " June 26. At Cronstadt. Slept little during the 
 night ; thought being busy with the dear friends from 
 whom I had parted. They have been for many years 
 the most kind, tender, generous, loving friends that 
 ever I had in my life, and, blessed be God, their love 
 increased rather than diminished, as our separation 
 drew near. They have left me their house to dwell in 
 for a season. What a favour is this ! 
 
 "July 21. Galernay Street. Many and great 
 were the blessings which God granted me in the last 
 house. Thousands of poor sinners have seen or heard 
 of that house in the Fanarnay, from which they 
 received Bibles, Testaments, Psalters, prayer-books, 
 and tracts. Lord, I will praise Thee for that mercy ; 
 graciously grant that the house into which I have now 
 entered may also prove to be a house for Thee. It has 
 already been a 'house of prayer/ a 'refuge for the 
 needy,' and ' as the shadow of a great rock in a weary 
 land.' Lord, help me here to honour Thee, for Jesus' 
 sake. 
 
 "August 11. Heard from the Rev. W. Glen of 
 Astrachan. Great distress prevailing on account of the 
 cholera,-morbus. Mr G. has told me where to find his 
 will in case of his death. Yet, Lord, preserve him 
 to advance Thy glory. Amen." 
 
 Mr Knill received the letter referred to in this notice 
 on the evening of Saturday, and when he appeared on 
 the Sunday morning, his people instantly perceived its
 
 164 ALARMING NEWS. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 effects on his countenance. To explain himself, he read 
 those parts of it which described the entrance of th3 
 disease into the Mission House at Astrachan ; how it 
 struck down one of the missionaries, and then the 
 wife of the Sarepta Commissioner ; and how, after the 
 funeral of that lady, the bereaved husband, fleeing with 
 his three motherless children, was overtaken and buried 
 by the roadside, three stages from the city. The pain- 
 ful picture was relieved by an account of the almost 
 miraculous recovery of Mrs Glen ; and when the words 
 of her husband were given, " I cannot tell you how it 
 comforted me, while I stood in awful suspense by her 
 side, to see her confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ as 
 the Saviour of sinners," Mr Knill turned to the con- 
 gregation, and addressed to them the most moving 
 appeals to make instant preparation for meeting God, 
 and closed with an invitation to all who felt that they 
 had committed themselves to Christ, to commemorate, 
 with the church, on that morning, at His table, His 
 dying love. " Tt was a season/' says one who was pre- 
 sent, " not to be forgotten ; and, after the lapse of nearly 
 thirty years, is still fresh on the page of memory." 
 
 " September 15, 1830. Held a meeting at my house 
 to beseech the Lord to preserve us from the cholera. 
 
 "September 21. Remarkable day. In the morning 
 a man from the hospital came for Hebrew, Tartar, 
 Finnish, and Russian Testaments ; and I had the 
 pleasure of supplying them.
 
 1830 : 43.] THE PRINCESS METSCHERSKY. 165 
 
 " September 28. In the evening preached on the 
 ministry of angels : a solemn and delightful theme in 
 times like the present, when men's hearts are failing 
 them for fear. A letter arrived to-day from Mr 
 Mirrielees, dated sixty versts from St Petersburg, 
 where he is performing quarantine ; many are detained 
 there, and many more at the next station. Every 
 precaution is adopted to keep the cholera from the 
 city. Lord, bless the measures of government, and 
 hear our prayers ! 
 
 "September 29. This is the anniversary of the 
 beginning of my Bible operations. Lord, I will 
 praise Thee. In these two years nearly 14,000 have 
 been circulated ; besides prayer-books, school-books, 
 and tracts, to the amazing number of 120,000 copies. 
 Sanctify this, Lord, to the good of families and 
 individuals, and towns and villages. Amen." 
 
 The Tracts to which reference is here made were 
 those which had been prepared by the Princess 
 Metschersky. This admirable person, whose name has 
 now several times occurred on these pages, was brought 
 to a knowledge of Christ during the residence of Mr 
 (afterwards Dr) Pinkerton as a tutor in her family. 
 While he instructed her daughters she remained in the 
 room, and became by degrees deeply interested in the 
 religious ideas which he expressed. She was thus led 
 to a close private examination of the Scriptures, and 
 at length exclaimed to her friend, " While you have
 
 1 66 THE PRINCESS'S TRANSLATIONS. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 taught my children, the Spirit of God has taught me." 
 From that time, though retaining connexion with the 
 Greek Church in accordance with the absolute law of 
 the country and her own general convictions, she sur- 
 rendered her property and fine talents to the dis- 
 semination of the gospel in her native land. Her 
 first work was to translate into Eussian the delightful 
 narratives of Legh Richmond " The Negro Servant," 
 " The Young Cottager," and " The Dairyman's Daugh- 
 ter ; " and her intimate acquaintance with the Emperor 
 Alexander enabled her to put these translations, toge- 
 ther with various sermons and select passages from 
 the writings of the more evangelical authors of her 
 own church, into extensive circulation. They were 
 finding their way over the length and breadth of 
 Russia, when the opposition of the priesthood to the 
 Bible Society took a visible form. Fearing that all 
 was over at that period, she placed the entire stock, 
 amounting to about 200,000 copies, in the hands 
 of Mr Knill, by whom a large number were assorted 
 and bound in volumes, and all of them at length so 
 skilfully used, that in a few years hardly a single copy 
 remained on the shelves. 
 
 Even he scarcely ventured to hope that while the 
 ecclesiastical temper remained as it did, any of those 
 narratives would be reprinted. But in this, as in many 
 other instances, the mercy of God "prevented him." 
 " A few weeks since," he writes to Mr Alers Hankey,
 
 1830 : 43.] UNEXPECTED LIBERTY. 167 
 
 on the 14th of October 1830, "I had one of the 
 happiest days of my life. We had applied for per- 
 mission to print a new edition of Legh Eichmond's 
 ' Young Cottager/ and were kept in suspense for 
 many days. At last the licence came, signed and 
 sealed by the spiritual censor, who is the highest 
 authority in these matters. It was translated many 
 years ago by our dear Princess, but we have no copies 
 on hand, and have often feared that we should never 
 see it reprinted. It was an answer to many prayers, 
 and when it came, I called my family together to praise 
 the Lord for His peculiar favour. 
 
 "Remembering the good adage, 'Make hay while 
 the sun shines,' we immediately set to work to print 
 an edition of 10,000 copies. The kingdom is tne 
 Lord's, and He is the governor among the nations. 
 He will provide the means. I have paid for the paper, 
 and we are expecting the needful help from friends to 
 whom application has been made." 
 
 The work thus recommenced proceeded most auspi- 
 ciously. Applications made to the censor for permis- 
 sion to issue new editions and new translations, not 
 only of tracts, but of elementary school-books and 
 Scripture-lessons, were received with uniform favour. 
 In some instances in which leave was withheld, the 
 reasons assigned shewed' so correct a knowledge, not 
 only of the requirements of the Russian mind, but of 
 religious truth, that the refusal had a greater value
 
 HANNAH MORE. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 than would have belonged to an indiscriminating 
 licence. 
 
 "Last week," he writes to Mr Alers Hankey, on 
 14th October, "we put into circulation 1400 New 
 Testaments, 526 Psalters, 550 school-books, and 6700 
 tracts. We never had such a week before, and of 
 course it cannot be considered an average specimen of 
 our labours. I merely mention it as an interesting 
 fact. I sent away all that remained of the ' Shepherd 
 of Salisbury Plain.' In the year 1819 the dear Prin- 
 cess Metschersky printed an edition of this tract at her 
 own expense, and I have no doubt that the Lord has 
 blessed her pious efforts, for it was a favourite book 
 with the peasantry. But they are gone. The shelf on 
 which they stood is empty. I have therefore reserved 
 two copies to print from, and one I have sent to Han- 
 nah More, its celebrated authoress. I have told her 
 our exact situation, and implored her aid to print 
 another edition. A word from her lips, or a line from 
 her pen, to the opulent friends of the Eedeemer, would 
 quickly procure for us all we want." 
 
 A few months later, he says to another correspon- 
 dent, " In the autumn I wrote to that aged disciple, the 
 eminent Hannah More, requesting her to aid us in 
 reprinting the 'Shepherd of Salisbury Plain;' and a 
 few weeks ago I received a letter from a friend of hers, 
 with 2Q, for an edition of 5000 of this beautiful 
 tract. Hallelujah ! We are at the same time printing
 
 1830 : 43.] CHRISTIAN LITERATURE. 16;) 
 
 several others, such as ' The Doctrine of the Cross of 
 Christ/ ' An Address to those who Neglect the Great 
 Salvation,' ' Eeflections at the Close of the Year,' &c., 
 making altogether, in the course of twelve months, 
 about one million three hundred pages of tracts. O 
 God of mercy, pour out Thy Spirit to prepare men's 
 hearts, and to water the seed, that an abundant harvest 
 of holiness, righteousness, and peace may be reaped 
 here, and 'in the world to come eternal life V Do you 
 know a little book, entitled, ' Hymns for Infant Minds,' 
 by Jane Taylor, and her sister, Mrs Gilbert? This 
 sweet work has lately been translated into Russ. One 
 edition has gone, and another is in the press. The 
 translator, who is a fine character, has also translated 
 Dr Watts' ' Divine and Moral Songs for Children,' of 
 which an edition has been printed. This is likely to 
 be of unspeakable advantage to the rising generation. 
 The Lord grant it ! " 
 
 This year, also, closes with gratitude. 
 
 "December 24, 1830. Arrived at Cronstadt this 
 day ten years ago. Lord, how rich and free have been 
 thy mercies towards me ! In looking back on these 
 years, how much have I to bless Thee for! I am 
 stronger in body surrounded by new friends have a 
 dear wife and three sweet little boys a good prayer- 
 meeting, and as large a congregation as I could expect 
 in a foreign land many pious people raised up through 
 my labours, and others helped forward in the good
 
 1 70 AN HONOURABLE PRISONER FREED. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 way books circulating continually ten thousand 
 tracts printed already, and more expected my house 
 open all day long for the ignorant, the poor, the 
 wretched, and friends here almost daily providing for 
 their wants. Oh, help me, Lord, to shew forth Thy 
 praise ! Text in the evening, ' Surely goodness and 
 mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will 
 dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.'" 
 
 The Journal opens the new year with the sentence 
 " Mr Drury dined with us." But except by an em- 
 phatic line below the words, it was not reckoned pru- 
 dent, even in that private record, to do more to explain 
 their meaning. The allusion is to the officer in the 
 Russian service who had been imprisoned for circu- 
 lating Testaments and tracts, and of whose release Mr 
 Knill afterwards wrote thus : 
 
 " On Passion Week the week when Russians 'do ex- 
 ploits,' in the way of favours and forgiving offences 
 an order was sent to the captain to come to the palace 
 for his sword. To our delight we saw him pass our 
 window in full uniform. Dear fellow, he almost faint- 
 ed when he entered our house. When he recovered, 
 he said, ' Go and make my mother acquainted with 
 this ; but do it gently, for she thinks she shall never 
 see me any more.' I carried the news, but could 
 scarcely gain credence for it. In the course of two 
 hours, however, he was in the bosom of his family. 
 He was afterwards honourably received by his comrades.
 
 1831:44.] BIDEFOED LETTERS. 171 
 
 On Easter-day, the princes, governors, and chief 
 men of the state, visit the palace to congratulate the 
 Emperor ; and on Easter Monday, generals hold levdes 
 to receive the congratulations of all their officers. Cap- 
 tain Drury went when the audience-hall was thronged. 
 On his name being announced, the general arose and 
 kissed him, and then introducing him to the officers, 
 said, ' Here, brothers, is Captain Drury, the first officer 
 of our army who was ever imprisoned for doing good.' " 
 Notwithstanding his interest in Kussia, Mr Knill 
 never forgot North Devon. " You have scarcely any 
 conception," he writes to Mr Hooker, " of the feelings 
 a Bideford letter produces on me. It awakens a 
 thousand slumbering ideas, and furnishes a boundless 
 source of thought, meditation, prayer, and praise. 
 What, then, do you think were my feelings, two days 
 ago, when not fewer than three letters arrived ? They 
 were, indeed, written eight months ago, and have been 
 travelling almost ever since ; but after visiting our mis- 
 sion at Selinginsk, Siberia, in the 106th degree of east 
 
 longitude, they have reached me safely My 
 
 delighted spirit frequently hovers over the consecrated 
 spot which you inhabit. In one of my preaching visits 
 to Chichester, I purchased a second-hand volume of 
 the ' History of Bideford/ and I often read a few of 
 the pages with a kind of melancholy pleasure, on 
 account of joys departed. For you, my dear sir, I feel 
 a growing love and veneration. Perhaps we shall
 
 172 NORTH DEVON SUNDAY SCHOOLS. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 never more meet in this world, but we shall meet 
 before the throne of our great Redeemer, to tell His love, 
 and to sing His praise." The interest often expressed 
 in sentences similar to these, exhibited itself also in 
 various actual endeavours to promote the religious 
 welfare of his native county. While denying him- 
 self many additions to his personal comfort, and 
 using every exertion to find means for maintaining 
 his projects for the good of Russia, he contributed 
 largely to the education of several young persons in 
 Devonshire, who afterwards filled situations of use- 
 fulness. He frequently sent also, in the kindest 
 manner, pecuniary presents to poor and aged persons, 
 as an expression of his love ; and village ministers 
 were often comforted by a timely gift, under the form 
 of a provision for preaching a sermon for the Sunday 
 school, or to the young. Even during this year 
 of anxiety he found time to originate, and carry 
 through all its details, the little plan which he thus 
 describes : 
 
 " Sunday night is generally a sleepless one with me, 
 arising from the excitement of the past day. During 
 one of these nights my thoughts wandered back to the 
 scenes of my early days, and when I arose, I penned 
 the following particulars, which I presented to my 
 friends : ' When I was young, the place of my 
 nativity, and the numerous villages which surrounded 
 us, were enveloped in gross moral darkness. I never
 
 1831 : 44.] KINDNESS OF THE EMPRESS. ] 73 
 
 heard of more than one pious person living at that 
 time in any of those places ; but it has pleased God 
 since that period to make a glorious change. At pre- 
 sent I believe there are a few pious people in all these 
 villages. In the greater part of them the gospel is 
 preached, and each village has its Sunday school. It 
 is to assist these Sunday schools that I particularly 
 desire your aid.' " 
 
 This introduction was followed by the name and a 
 brief notice of each village ; and the paper having found 
 its way into the palace, prompted the very kind act of 
 the Empress which is thus noted in the Journal : 
 
 "May 25, 1831. In the course of the week a sin- 
 gular providential circumstance brought my intention 
 of assisting the eleven Sunday schools to the notice of 
 her Imperial Majesty the Empress. She was so pleased 
 with the proposal that, unsolicited, she gave one hun- 
 dred rubles, which I ordered to be laid out in twenty- 
 two Bibles, two to be assigned to each school." 
 
 " This peculiar kindness," he writes to his brother, 
 when defining the terms on which the books were to 
 be given, " in one so exalted, shews us how easy it is 
 for God to raise up friends to His cause ; and I sincerely 
 hope, that when the teachers and children know this, it 
 will excite an unusual degree of interest among them, 
 and that every young person in the various villages 
 will strive to obtain the imperial gift. It will be very 
 gratifying to me to know that, in connexion with these
 
 174 SUMMER RETREAT. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 books, hundreds of young persons have treasured up in 
 their memories the precious chapters appointed." 
 
 On each of the twenty-two Bibles were inscribed the 
 words : " The gift of her Imperial Majesty the Em- 
 press of Russia ;" and on each of double the number 
 of Testaments : " The gift of an English lady at the 
 Court of Eussia." 
 
 From this characteristically ingenious and kind at- 
 tempt to benefit the villagers of Devon, he was called 
 to receive solemn instruction within the circle of his 
 own family. In the early part of June, he escaped 
 from the sudden and excessive heat of the city, and 
 thus wrote to Mr Hooker : " My wife and children 
 are with me in a summer residence, provided for us by 
 the munificence of an American merchant, where, after 
 a seven months' winter, we have the lovely sight of the 
 green grass, the butter-cup, the lily of the valley, and 
 the mountain ash; where we can walk in the seques- 
 tered grove, listen to the notes of the nightingale, and 
 gaze upon all God's wondrous works. It is a great 
 comfort to my children to have this sweet liberty, for 
 they were shut up in the house for the space of five 
 months that is, while the severity of the winter lasted. 
 It is a peculiar mark of Divine favour to us that I 
 became acquainted with this American friend, and I 
 trust he has been a gainer by it too, as it respects the 
 
 things which are eternal Our Samuel is growing 
 
 a fine boy ; so is John ; and Joseph bids fair to be a
 
 1831 : 44.] PEACE DURING PERIL. 175 
 
 stout, healthy, and kind-hearted child. They were all 
 born in August: Samuel, August 12, 1825; John, 
 August 1, 1827; Joseph, August 3, 1829. I should 
 not write these little things to you, if I were not sure 
 that you would be gratified to know them." 
 
 From this pleasant retreat he suddenly returned, 
 under circumstances afterwards to be explained ; 
 and on the 26th of June, O.S., 1831, addressed W. 
 Alers Hankey, Esq., thus : " I write to you, honoured 
 and dear friend, to let you know that, up to this 
 hour, my dear wife, the children, and myself, are 
 free from cholera-morbus, but the attacks on some 
 of our acquaintances have been very sudden, and 
 from all appearances they are likely to be fatal. If 
 it should please my Divine Master to send for me 
 now, I trust He will graciously admit me into His 
 presence, ' where there is fulness of joy.' I am happy 
 to inform you, also, that my wife has no fears on this 
 head, neither are we at all afraid of the malady. 
 God in His mercy keeps us tranquil, and we go 
 wherever duty seems to call. This is the case with 
 several of my most active friends. Now is the time 
 for the fruits of faith to appear, and I rejoice that they 
 do appear. I write as from the brink of eternity ; and 
 if I die suddenly, and have not another opportunity of 
 writing, I beg you, and the society at large, to take 
 care of my wife and children; and I pray God to draw 
 your hearts .towards them, and be to them fathers,
 
 176 HISTORY OF TRIALS. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 guardians, and friends, and I believe He will He 
 knows, for He knows all things, that I have endea- 
 voured, though feebly, yet sincerely, to serve Him, and 
 He will not abandon His servants, nor their seed. 
 Praise, honour, glory, and thanksgiving be unto His 
 name ! All my accounts with you, and with the Bible 
 Society, stand fairly written out in two separate books, 
 by which, at a glance, it will be seen how matters 
 stand." 
 
 The history of the following month can be written 
 only by his own pen. The directors of the London 
 Missionary Society he thus addressed, on the 20th 
 July, O.S., 1831:- 
 
 " HONOURED AND BELOVED, The dealings of our 
 heavenly Father with me for the last few weeks have 
 been peculiarly solemn! Tears have been my meat 
 day and night. My wife and myself, and our children 
 and servants, have been brought very low, and two of 
 my darling children are numbered with the dead. 
 These trials came upon us so rapidly, that I was struck 
 dumb. I was overwhelmed. My flesh trembled for 
 fear of His judgments, yet my heart cleaved to Him as 
 my God, my Father, and my Friend. 
 
 " My mind is now regaining its tranquillity, and my 
 poor frame is daily recovering strength, and I feel that 
 it would be a relief to write to you. I shall therefore 
 give you a distant view of the scenes through which 
 we have passed.
 
 1831 : 44.] HISTORY OF TRIALS. 177 
 
 "A little before brother Swan left us, we re- 
 ceived 300 rubles from our dear friend, J. D. Lewis, 
 Esq., for the express purpose of procuring a summer 
 residence in the country; and thither my wife and. 
 children repaired, on Tuesday the 26th of May. O.S. 
 I stopped a few days with them now and then, as 
 circumstances permitted, and found it very invigorating 
 after the busy scenes of a long winter. 
 
 "On Wednesday the 17th of June, there was great 
 alarm in the city, on account of the cholera. It was 
 reported that the city would be shut, and a cordon 
 placed round it. Three families near us immediately 
 returned to town, that they might procure medical aid 
 if needed, &c. My duty was plain as it regarded 
 myself I ought to be with my flock ; but it was not 
 so plain respecting my family for it is a serious step 
 to take a family, in full health, into a place infected 
 with disease. We thought and prayed much on the 
 subject; and on Thursday evening I addressed a few 
 friends on these words, 'I beseech you therefore, by 
 the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living 
 sacrifice, acceptable unto Cod, which is your reasonable 
 service.' We then committed ourselves into His 
 gracious hands, and determined not to be separated 
 from each other, but to go and try to do what we could 
 for the honour of God, and the benefit of our suffering 
 fellow-creatures. 
 
 " Friday the 19th, we returned to town. The disease 
 
 M
 
 ] 78 HISTORY OF TRIALS. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 was going on with its ravages ; but nothing particular 
 happened among our friends until Wednesday the 
 24th, when Mrs Dixon, one of our earliest friends, 
 was attacked, and was soon thought to be dying. I 
 went to see her, and took, as I thought, my last fare- 
 well but she is now recovered. 
 
 " 2oth. My dear little Joseph was seized with con- 
 vulsions. These are alarming at all times, but were 
 rendered peculiarly so at present. But this was not 
 enough. God had more in reserve to exercise our 
 faith and patience, and love and resignation. About 
 midnight, Mr Venning's steward sent us word that he 
 was seized with cholera, and entreated us to come to 
 him. We ran and after consulting for a few minutes 
 what should be done, I hastened for a doctor, and 
 found one, who administered immediate assistance and 
 relief. By the prompt aid afforded to this man his 
 life was preserved. Indeed, in almost every instance 
 where immediate aid could not be procured, the 
 patient died. I remained up all night to watch, lest 
 the malady might take any sudden change. This, 
 together with the circumstances of my dear suffering 
 child, greatly affected me. But I was not permitted 
 to rest; for early on Friday (26th) a note came from 
 Mrs Chapman, the excellent mistress of our Lancas- 
 terian school, written with her own hand, saying that 
 she was very ill. Our good friends Mr Gellibrand 
 and Mr Mirrielees immediately went to her, and
 
 1S31 : 44.] HISTORY OF TRIALS. 179 
 
 procured for her all possible assistance but, alas! it 
 was all of no avail. This was a dreadful day in St 
 Petersburg. Among the hundreds of people who were 
 attacked with cholera, I never heard of one who re- 
 covered. A kind and excellent doctor came home at 
 night and wept like a child every one whom he had 
 visited that day died under his hands. Dear Mrs 
 Chapman left a delightful testimony. She rejoiced 
 in God her Saviour. On Saturday morning, at four, 
 she. expired. Dear Mrs Gellibrand took her little 
 orphan daughter to live with them. In the afternoon 
 I performed the funeral service, and, together with the 
 members of the school committee, accompanied the 
 body to the ground expressly appointed for persons 
 who died of cholera. Here the scene was truly awful. 
 Numerous coffins were resting, some on carts, and 
 others on the ground, waiting till graves could be dug 
 for them. We procured two men to dig a grave for 
 our friend, and saw her committed to the dust in sure 
 and certain hope of a joyful resurrection to eternal 
 life. Little did I then think that her grave would 
 soon be opened to receive one of my sweet boys but 
 so it came to pass. 
 
 " About ten in the evening I returned from the fui^-' 
 ral, and found my wife unwell. This was Saturday 
 night. My next business was to go in search of a 
 doctor, and happily met with one at home. He ordered 
 bathing, bleeding, &c. This kept me up all night. A
 
 1 SO HISTORY OF TRIALS. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 dear Christian friend watched with us. It was a good 
 preparation for the pulpit, as far as it respected the 
 subject, but it exhausted my strength. Our morning 
 service was thinly attended. Some were sick, others 
 were watching, and others were afraid to venture out. 
 My text was, ' Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, 
 when he cometh, shall find watching.' It was my last 
 text; and I have often thought since that I should 
 never preach again. Monday passed over pretty peace- 
 fully ; but on Tuesday the 30th, my little Joseph was 
 seized with symptoms nearly resembling cholera ; yet 
 we fondly thought that children were exempt from the 
 malady. The night came on, and the child grew worse. 
 It was a night long to be remembered. It was spent 
 in watching and prayer. The dear little fellow fre- 
 quently said, ' I thirst ; ' and I believe he never repeated 
 it but I thought of the Redeemer and His agonies, and 
 drew comfort from His dying love. At four the fol- 
 lowing morning, when the child appeared to be dying, 
 I called my wife into the adjoining room, where our 
 other two boys were sleeping, and we kneeled down 
 together, and once more gave up ourselves and our 
 offspring to the Lord, committing in an especial man- 
 ner the spirit of our Joseph into the Saviour's hands. 
 Ah ! dear fathers and mothers, who have been bereaved 
 of your children, you will understand what were our 
 feelings. And now, while we stood in silence waiting 
 to see the child expire, another wave was preparing to-
 
 1831 : 44.] HISTORY OF TRIALS. 181 
 
 roll over us. A sound from another quarter pierced 
 our hearts ' Johnny is seized ! ' This seemed like a 
 sword in our bones. I hastened to a dear friend, Mr 
 Ropes, from America, who was now staying with us, 
 and begged him to arise and help us. Two doctors 
 came. My wife, and servants, and friends were em- 
 ployed in bathing, rubbing, blistering, &c., this lovely 
 boy, while I was left to watch and weep over the other 
 dying child. The cholera made dreadful havoc on 
 John. He seemed death-seized, and amidst tears, and 
 sighs, and groans, and efforts of no common kind, he 
 sank into the arms of death before noon. So rapidly 
 did death execute his commission ! In the evening, 
 our friends conveyed his body to the cholera burying- 
 ground, and placed him in Mrs Chapman's grave. 
 ' Glory be to God ! Glory be to God ! Glory be to 
 God ! ' were the only words which my wife and myself 
 could utter, when we saw ourselves so suddenly be- 
 reaved ; and I hope these will be the burden of our 
 song through the ages of eternity. 
 
 " My heart sinks at the recital, but I must go on. 
 At this moment, when we needed every assistance, our 
 servant-man became alarmed, and requested his wages, 
 that he might go to his family in the interior ; and I was 
 actually compelled to dismiss him when the undertaker 
 was putting my darling John into his coffin. Thus 
 wave after wave rolled in upon us, redoubling all our 
 woa But this was not all As soon as the corpse
 
 182 HISTORY OF TRIALS. [GHAP. IX. 
 
 was carried out of the house, my beloved wife, who had 
 rallied all her strength to nurse her lovely children, 
 immediately sank, and was confined to her bed for 
 several succeeding days. I felt amazed and bewildered, 
 and threw myself on my couch, to compose my troubled 
 mind for a few minutes ; but another wave was pre- 
 paring. I had scarcely laid my head on my pillow, 
 when a person came and aroused me with, ' Your 
 kitchen-maid is attacked with cholera ! ' ' Is it possible ? ' 
 said I. ' Is it possible ?' I really trembled. There 
 was no time for reflection. If I thought about any- 
 thing at all at the present moment, it was this, ' Surely. 
 God is going to make a short work of it with us ; but 
 we shall not be lost ; for He is our God.' We ran to 
 the kitchen, and found the woman suffering, and gave 
 her powerful medicine. Two doctors were called in ; 
 and, I rejoice to add, she is now convalescent. 
 
 " My house was now in complete confusion and dis- 
 tress. One child dead another in the agonies of 
 death my wife confined to her bed and one servant 
 also sick in bed. 
 
 "The next morning dear Mrs Mirrielees took our 
 eldest and now only child, to reside with them. 
 
 " On Saturday, about mid-day, our sweet little Joseph 
 expired; and in the evening, our friends carried him 
 to the grave, where he rests with his dear sister our 
 first-born. I was now unable to support myself any 
 longer ; both body and spirits were exhausted. I took
 
 1831 : 44.] HISTORY OF TRIALS. 183 
 
 to my bed also, and was much afraid of cholera, though 
 the fear was checked at the commencement, and was not 
 permitted to prey upon me. As my dear partner 
 and myself lay bemoaning our afflicted state, and en- 
 deavouring to comfort each other with the consolations 
 of the gospel, we looked around and rejoiced to see 
 our pious nurse Erena still spared to us. But, as if 
 to complete the scene of our distress, about midnight 
 this faithful servant was also seized. Now the house 
 was turned into an hospital; and we were thrown into 
 the hands of strangers. 
 
 " Thus, in the course of ten days, my happy, healthy 
 family was shattered in pieces ; and we are now attempt- 
 ing to repair the wreck against another storm. When 
 that will come, God only knows. 
 
 "During this short sickness we have had seven 
 doctors, as we were happy to call in the first we could 
 meet with. Three silent Sabbaths have been our 
 portion. This has grieved me, but we cannot resist 
 the will of God. I believe that the best relief for a 
 preacher with an afflicted mind is to preach ; but the 
 duty of a preacher with an afflicted body is to be quiet; 
 for by attempting to preach when he is unable, he 
 may injure his usefulness through all his future days. 
 On this plan I have acted. We are now in the country, 
 but I hope to be able to preach next Sunday. 
 
 "The scenes which I have attempted to describe 
 seldom fall to the lot of one man. In reviewing them,
 
 181 HISTORY OF TRIALS. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 I tremble and rejoice. There is much in them to make 
 me tremble, but I also behold many things to call for 
 my loudest praises. 
 
 "I.I believe that, from the beginning of our distress 
 until now, we have not uttered a rebellious word, nor 
 cherished one murmuring thought. We have felt and 
 felt deeply; but we have been wonderfully supported, 
 and strengthened, and comforted. .The High and Holy 
 One has not forsaken us no, not for a moment; and 
 we can recommend Him to all future sufferers as a 
 very present help in time of need. 
 
 " 2. None of our particular friends who live near us 
 were afflicted, and they were incessant in their atten- 
 tions, night and day. Had they or their families been 
 sick, they could not have attended to us, and then we 
 should not have known where to look for help. 
 
 " 3. It was a great mercy that we could procure 
 people to work for us in the room of our afflicted 
 servants. If the people had taken the alarm, as we 
 were afraid they would, then no one would have come 
 near us, and we should have perished alive. Oh, if 
 the Lord had continued His strokes only a few days 
 longer, we can easily perceive how deplorable our 
 situation would have been ! 
 
 " 4. It was very consoling to us that two of our 
 spiritual children good Mrs Mickleson, who sold her 
 watch to buy Bibles for the Finns, and our pious
 
 1831 : 44.] HISTORY OF TRIALS. 185 
 
 nurse were enabled to perform the last kind offices 
 for our John and Joseph. 
 
 " 5. Though we know of no other family who have 
 been afflicted like ourselves, yet we do not view it as 
 a mark of the Almighty's displeasure. Whom the 
 Lord loveth He chasteneth, and we bless Him for His 
 fatherly chastisement. May it make us more than 
 ever the partakers of His holiness ! ' Every branch in 
 me that beareth fruit, he pruneth it.' He has pruned 
 off two boughs from us at a stroke, but our prayer is 
 that it may render us more fruitful. It became the 
 Moral Governor of the world to make the Captain of 
 our salvation perfect through sufferings, and we hope 
 and pray that our sufferings may be so sanctified as to 
 render us fitter instruments for bringing many sons 
 unto glory. Pray for us, dear fathers and brethren ! 
 Pray that this may be the happy result of the Lord's 
 dealings with us. Amen." 
 
 The Princess Metschersky expressed the solicitude 
 and the trust of many hearts when, at the close of this 
 storm, she wrote : " Are you all alive, my dear friend, 
 are you all safe ? Yes, you are all safe under the 
 mighty arm of our heavenly Father ; but in this time of 
 trial in a moment when His chastening hand plunges 
 
 o .1 O 
 
 every human feeling into dread and grief in these 
 sorrowful hours are your souls in peace ?" And although 
 Mr Knill could not reply that he and all his loved ones 
 were "alive," he could affirm that all were "safe"
 
 186 TRACT WRITINGS. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 and " in peace." " Dear Madam," he asks of his now 
 widowed friend, Mrs Hooker, " does not heaven appear 
 more desirable since you had three children and a 
 husband there ? Although we wish to be there, chiefly 
 because we shall be ' ever with the Lord/ I do not 
 think our heavenly Father is angry with us for cherish- 
 ing the anticipation of unmingled bliss with beloved 
 relatives. I believe I never thought so much of heaven 
 as I have done since my Julia, and John, and Joseph 
 were there, and in this way I think the dispensation 
 has worked for my good/' 
 
 As soon as his mind had attained to some degree of 
 tranquillity, he drew up an interesting account of his 
 son John,* which was published by the Religious Tract 
 Society. The charming simplicity which pervades the 
 little sketch led to its extensive circulation in the 
 Russian, Mongolian, and other languages ; and every 
 testimony to its usefulness sent a fresh tide of grati- 
 tude through the father's heart. 
 
 Of his tracts generally, Mr Knill afterwards wrote 
 " My first effort was one entitled, ' The Influence of 
 Pious Women in Promoting a Revival of Religion/ It 
 found favour, and after being published by the Tract 
 Society, was translated into my old language, the 
 Tamil, and God blessed it at Travancore. I went on 
 sending home papers, whenever circumstances occurred 
 which afforded good historical notices. Some were 
 
 * " An Account of John Kuill : by his Father."
 
 1832:45.] TRACT WRITINGS. 187 
 
 printed by the American and English societies, and 
 others by private persons at their own expense, and 
 they are now moving through the world in ten lan- 
 guages the numbers printed already amounting to 
 between six and seven millions. Oh, the wonder- 
 working God ! I stand amazed at the grace that 
 taught my heart to love, my head to plan, my hands to 
 work ! It has frequently been my happy lot to meet 
 with persons who have been awakened, directed, com- 
 forted, and I hope saved through these humble mes- 
 sengers. Mr Jones, of the Tract Society, told me that 
 they printed an edition of thirty thousand of the ' False 
 Hope ' for the London City Mission, because the repre- 
 sentations of its usefulness compelled them. In the 
 blessing of God on these tracts, I have noticed much 
 of the Divine sovereignty. For instance, I wrote ' John 
 Knill ' to comfort bereaved parents ; but God blessed it 
 to the conversion of a man in Newgate under sentence 
 of transportation. Lady Pirie took me to see him. 
 Again, I wrote ' The Dying Thief and the Dying 
 Saviour,' with a hope that it would be blessed in our 
 prisons ; but two gentlemen of high moral character 
 were converted by it, who have entertained me in their 
 mansions, and given me the cheering account with 
 their own lips. Should not every young minister be 
 stirred up to write short pithy tracts, and hope for the 
 Divine blessing on them ?" 
 
 The return of the Rev. William Swan, with the early
 
 188 ENGLISH SAILORS. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 ships, cheered the little Christian circle in St Peters- 
 burg, and gave Mr Knill an opportunity of prosecuting 
 visitations among the English sailors in Cronstadt, in 
 which he had always delighted. "I have lived," he 
 says, on 31st August, " on board ship, and have not 
 been up to the town at all. The congregations have 
 been large, and deeply interesting ; but the field is so 
 vast about one thousand English and American ships, 
 with about ten thousand men, annually and demands 
 so many kinds of labour, that my heart is almost full of 
 
 it I find the sailors in general very destitute of 
 
 good books, and I am most desirous to supply a thou- 
 sand men next summer, if I live, with a copy of such 
 a work as Baxter or Doddridge, which they may call 
 their own, and take with them as a chart and compass 
 over the great ocean of life. I have ordered five hun- 
 dred volumes, at my own expense, to be ready for next 
 spring's ships." 
 
 These interesting and useful visits were necessarily 
 terminated on the approach of winter ; but the same 
 agency which closes the seaward, facilitates the land- 
 ward communications. When the snow-mantle de- 
 scends on the green cupolas, the bronze statues, and 
 the gravelled promenades of the city, the rugged high- 
 ways of the country become paved in a style which 
 renders travelling a luxury. The passenger-steamer, 
 therefore, in which he had been made free by the 
 generous owner to navigate the Neva all the summer,
 
 1832 : 45.] A GLOOMY WINTER. 189 
 
 was now exchanged for the sledge; and the diligent 
 Siberian missionary, being detained by the labour of 
 copying a recently discovered version of the Scriptures, 
 Mr Knill was enabled to visit periodically several 
 neighbouring villages, in which English artisans were 
 employed by the Eussian government. In these excur- 
 sions he took deep interest, and his visits were always 
 hailed with gratitude, though no lengthened memorials 
 of them remain.* 
 
 The winter proved to be one of unusual sickness and 
 mortality among the English residents in St Peters- 
 burg, and Mr Kuill was called, in the midst of all 
 his energetic labours, to follow several beloved friends 
 to the grave, some of whom had been among his most 
 intelligent and affectionate coadjutors in every good 
 endeavour. After such a season of gloom and sickness, 
 the genial airs of the spring were more than usually 
 welcome. They brought with them, too, a new prospect 
 and a new mode of life. In the month of May, he 
 received from the directors of the London Missionary 
 Society a request that he would visit England, and de- 
 vote some time to the work of representing the society, 
 and stirring up a missionary spirit through the country. 
 In making this proposal the directors appear to have 
 been prompted by a desire to afford to him some 
 change after the sorrows and toils he had undergone, 
 
 * At Alexandroffsky, one of those villages, a church was formed, 
 which now maintains an English pastor of its own.
 
 190 INVITATION TO ENGLAND. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 as well as by a knowledge of his remarkable adaptation 
 to the work to which they called him. He, at the 
 same time, was the more inclined to accede to their 
 request, as a desire which he had long cherished of 
 having a chapel for the exclusive use of his congregation 
 was now more than ever likely to be realised, and the 
 time had come when application for pecuniary aid 
 might be properly made in England. The hand of God 
 thus seemed to him to be in the proposition. " Your 
 letter," he writes to the Rev. William Ellis, on the 18th 
 January 1833, " overwhelmed me. I opened it in the 
 street, and wept aloud when I read that part which 
 referred to my return to Britain, and could not help 
 saying, ' Lord, thou knowest I am not equal to this. 
 It is too much. The directors have formed too high 
 an opinion of me, and their hopes will be blasted/ 
 Yet this will not prevent me doing what I can. I 
 have had two or three meetings with my friends about 
 it, and I shall leave for England as soon as possible."
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 "As ships meet at sea, a moment together, when words of greet- 
 ing must be spoken, and then away upon the deep, so men meet 
 in this world ; and I think we should cross no man's path without 
 hailing him, and, if he needs, giving him supplies." 
 
 BEECHEB.
 
 MR KNILL fully expected that after a brief sojourn in 
 England, he would be able to return with the means of 
 completing a chapel in which he should continue to 
 hold forth the word of life in St Petersburg. But 
 his services among the churches in England proved so 
 valuable, that he was induced by the directors, from 
 time to time, to prolong his stay; and having met 
 with one well qualified to occupy his vacant place, he 
 eventually perceived that he was to prosecute and to 
 finish his labours for Christ in his native country. 
 The work on which he entered is one almost equally 
 useful and perilous. To awaken the Christian mind of 
 the country to the duty of disseminating the gospel 
 over the earth, is to render, not only to the heathen, 
 but to England, one of the highest services ; but to 
 maintain a thoughtful and devout spirit during inces- 
 sant journeys, in the atmosphere of public meetings, 
 and among successive crowds of strangers, cannot be 
 easy, and is never really accomplished, but when the 
 ruling motive is of unusual power. Mr Knill entered
 
 194 R URWICK'S SKETCH. [CHAP. X. 
 
 Dn the task with a full knowledge of its peculiarities ; 
 and during the eight ^consecutive years in which he 
 pursued it, received in such measure the blessing of 
 the Holy Spirit, as to make that period one of the 
 most valuable of his life. Materials, however, for 
 giving it full illustration do not exist. There was 
 no such leisure for entries in journals, and no such 
 necessity for epistolary correspondence as had existed 
 in the quietude and remoteness of the Russian capital : 
 the journals now containing little more than lists of 
 engagements, and the letters being confined almost 
 entirely to affectionate notes to his family and his more 
 intimate friends. 
 
 The following communication from the Rev. Dr 
 Urwick of Dublin, opportunely supplies a characteristic 
 general sketch. 
 
 "The first time I had the pleasure of seeing and 
 hearing Mr Knill, was in the summer of 1820 ; I was 
 not then resident in Dublin, but came up to attend a 
 public meeting for fully organising the Hibernian 
 Auxiliary to the London Missionary Society. A 
 deputation from the parent society was present, con- 
 sisting of the Rev. John Arundel, its Home Secretary ; 
 the Rev. Dr Stewart, of the Scotch Church, Liverpool ; 
 and the Rev. Richard Knill, who had just returned 
 from India. Evangelism in our city was in the sim- 
 plicity and susceptibility of its early youth. The 
 arrival of such a deputation in behalf of missions to
 
 1834 : 47.] PREACHING. 195 
 
 the heathen, produced no small stir among those 
 who are called the Christian public ; for to many of 
 them the missionary enterprise was a new thing to 
 the claims of which they then awoke as from a sleep, 
 the rising of an orb they had not before seen. 
 The admirable exhibition which the deputation pre- 
 sented of the catholic principle and practice of the 
 society, added to the excitement. Especially was it 
 extraordinary and interesting to have the sacred cause 
 pleaded in Dublin, by a young man of good speaking 
 powers, with a soul of fire, direct from the far-off mis 
 sion field who could largely and affectionately tell 
 from his own knowledge, what abominable idolatries 
 and other evils prevailed in heathendom, and what 
 blessed results had already followed upon the intro- 
 duction of the glorious gospel in the dark places of the 
 earth ! 
 
 " Sixteen years passed by, and Mr Knill was again 
 in Dublin. During the interval he had been fulfilling 
 his ministry in Russia. He came alone, but the event 
 proved ' he was a host in himself ! ' The first service 
 in which he was engaged was on a Sabbath morning 
 in my own chapel. It was, throughout, one of great 
 efficiency. His prayers, his reading of the Scriptures, 
 with short comments as he proceeded, and his sermon, 
 all conspired to gather up the hearts of the congrega- 
 tion into communion with his own. 
 
 " There was no pretence of greatness ; there was no
 
 190 STYLE OF ADDRESS. [CHAP. X. 
 
 attempt at display; there was no elaborate composi- 
 tion ; there was not what would entitle him to be placed 
 high as a reasoner, or as an original thinker, or as an 
 orator ; but there was good sense, pure and rich gos- 
 pel truth, living earnestness, a spirit glowing as if 
 kindled from the altar of God, and a directness which 
 made the hearers feel that what he said was spoken in 
 honest purpose of heart. Rarely had I heard a preacher 
 who was more happy in illustration by anecdote, or 
 who better combined and blended statements adapted 
 to convert and edify, with those which bore for the 
 consecration of talent and property to aid Christian 
 missions. His style was simple ; his sentences short ; 
 and every word seemed to be an outbreathing of his 
 soul. His countenance was most expressive ; whatever 
 affected himself appeared to affect others ; you might 
 read his mind in his face ; and the smile or the tear 
 the look that wins, or melts, or awes, came spontane- 
 ously with his ideas. He was tellingly graphic in 
 description, and moving in appeal ; and withal he had 
 an unction of sterling piety which proved him to be 
 truly a man of God. Those who attended his ministry 
 in other places of worship in our city, formed a like 
 estimate of him. 
 
 " As Mr Knill was unaccompanied by another dele- 
 gate from the society, I went with him on a short tour 
 to some places south of Dublin, and on a round to the 
 west, including Sligo. We had hospitality and God
 
 1834:47.] IRISH TOURS. 197 
 
 speed from excellent ministers and members of the 
 Established Church, as well as from other friends. Two 
 of our meetings were held in episcopal places of wor- 
 ship, according to arrangements made by the clergy- 
 men of the respective parishes. Wherever we went, 
 we found hearts open to receive our friend's statements, 
 and respond liberally to his appeals. I much enjoyed 
 the opportunity which this joint-travelling gave me, 
 for becoming more intimately acquainted with him ; 
 and the better I knew him, the more I loved him. I 
 found him to be as real in private, as he appeared to 
 be in public. His residence in India, and afterwards 
 in Eussia, had given him a good knowledge of the 
 world. He could ' beware of men,' while he was free 
 and lively in conversing with them. He maintained 
 his position among them without aping what he was 
 not. Nothing of what is justly called ' cant ' ever es- 
 caped him ; but he was never at a loss for pointed, 
 appropriate remarks, wisely and pleasantly made, to 
 whomsoever he met. He had great vivacity in con- 
 versation, with not a little wit and humour, and uniform 
 good tempsr. "When opportunity was given, he spent 
 his time alone, partly in writing, partly in prayer, and 
 partly also in resting and recruiting his not over-strong 
 bodily frame. He had great power of observation and 
 quickness in adapting incidents to illustrate cases. 
 What struck me perhaps as yet more remarkable, was 
 his faculty for repetition. Anecdotes and appeals
 
 198 SPIRIT OP PRATER. [CHAP. X. 
 
 which he had given out often in other places, he de- 
 livered in the same words and with the same warmth 
 of spirit, tone of voice and expression of countenance, 
 as if he were then speaking them for the first time. 
 This habit would with most men have been merely 
 mechanical an artistic acting to produce effect. I 
 feel assured that in him the freshness and kindling 
 which came on many occasions in the same form, were 
 genuine, and were sustained by close communion with 
 God in and for His work.* 
 
 " I may add that he was in the habit of making a 
 request, that the Christian friends with whom he was 
 to be engaged, would occupy themselves beforehand in 
 special, private, and social prayer for the Divine bless- 
 ing upon his visit. I need not observe how well this 
 served to open and make ready the way for him, and 
 to bring with him a presence and a power, far higher 
 than his own. Were the visits of missionary and 
 other Christian deputations always preceded by the 
 same devout preparations, they would be received with 
 a more cordial welcome, and the advantage derived 
 from them would be much greater than is realised in 
 cases not a few/' 
 
 The value which Mr Knill placed on the prayers of 
 the people whom he was about to visit, was in keep- 
 ing with the importance which he attached to it in his 
 
 * Cornelius Winter thus explains the same peculiarity in 
 Whitfield.
 
 1834 : 47.] SPIRIT OF PRAYER. ] 99 
 
 own practice. " I think," said a friend to him, " I 
 should feel the want of retirement in your present 
 mode of life, more than anything/' " So I do, my 
 brother/' he replied, " and particularly that I have so 
 little time for prayer; I mean quiet prayer in the 
 closet without any noise, any hurry, any disturbance. 
 This is what I want, and what every minister of the 
 gospel wants. What can we do without prayer? 
 How can we study, how can we preach, how can we 
 visit the sick, how can our words reach the heart, with- 
 out prayer ? A minister needs to be surrounded con- 
 tinually with a devotional atmosphere." 
 
 Of seasons of solemn retrospect and devotion, there 
 occur many traces in the journal, such as these : 
 
 "May 1, 1834. I am now at Kibworth where the 
 blessed Doddridge began his ministry. my God, 
 make me as holy, and preserve me as spotless make 
 me as zealous and devoted as thou madest him ; and 
 though I have not his learning, yet thou canst make 
 me as useful ! Lord, bless me, and make me a bless- 
 ing! The last month has been very cheering. Ten 
 thousand mercies have followed me exposed by night 
 and day constantly preaching and living among 
 strangers, yet preserved and well to this moment ! O 
 Lord, to thee I ascribe the praise for ever, and to thee 
 on this first day of the month, I afresh give up myself 
 to be more than ever consecrated to Thy service. If I 
 am spared through this month, there will be many calls
 
 200 HOME REVISITED. [CHAP. X. 
 
 upon my feeble powers. Lord, help me safely through I 
 Thy grace is sufficient for all Thy servants : help me to 
 lay hold of it by faith. Amen." 
 
 The scenes of his own early life awakened a similar 
 class of feelings in a very interesting manner. 
 
 "September 30, 1836. Proceeded to Braunton my 
 native place, and found my brother alive, but weak in 
 body ; and, I trust, improving in spiritual things. My 
 soul was greatly comforted by his conversation, espe- 
 cially on the majesty and glory of the Saviour. 
 
 " At night I was accommodated with the same bed I 
 had often occupied before. The furniture remains 
 just the same as when I was a boy. But my busy 
 thoughts would not let me sleep ; I was thinking how 
 God had led me through the journey of life. At last 
 the light of morning streamed through the little win- 
 dow, and my eye caught a sight of the very spot where 
 my sainted mother, more than forty years ago, took my 
 hand, and said, ' Richard, my dear, kneel down with 
 me, and I will go to prayer.' I seemed to hear the 
 tones of her voice : I recollected some of her expressions. 
 I burst into tears, and rising from my bed, fell on my 
 knees, just on the place where my mother kneeled, 
 and adored the Divine goodness for giving me such a 
 parent. Bless the Lord, my soul, at every remem- 
 brance of this mercy ! " 
 
 " October 2, Lord's-day. Preached at Barnstaple. 
 The scenes of youthful folly pressed sore upon me, and
 
 1836 : 49.] AIM AT USEFULNESS. 201 
 
 I was nearly overwhelmed. When reading the second 
 of Ephesians, I could not proceed, but shut the book ; 
 when the congregation rose, and we prayed. I re- 
 covered, but it was a weeping day to myself and to 
 hundreds." 
 
 " October 8. Walked about among my old neigh- 
 bours, and humbled myself before God at the recollec- 
 tion of youthful transgressions. I bless Thee for light 
 and life, and peace and joy, through Christ Jesus, my 
 Lord." 
 
 " October 9. I dined at Bideford with dear Spencer, 
 and preached to about a thousand old and young, in 
 the old meeting, where I have enjoyed so much. Fine 
 sight ! Religion is greatly on the increase here, and in 
 every part of North Devon. The Lord be praised !" 
 
 Proceeding through the country in such a spirit as 
 this, it will be readily understood that he aimed pri- 
 marily at the increase of religion in the hearts of the 
 people before him. " I like/' he said, " the missionary 
 sermon which brings the people to dwell on the love of 
 Christ. It is not the brilliant oration which does the 
 work at our missionary meetings, but the earnest and 
 direct appeal to the conscience. 'How much owest 
 thou to my Lord ?' that is the question to bring home ; 
 and when it is brought home, the money will not be 
 wanting." The predominance of this feeling gave him 
 an almost intuitive perception of opportunities of use- 
 fulness. " Sir," said a working-man to him, " I went
 
 202 A JOINT DONATION. [CHAP. X. 
 
 last night to the missionary meeting, and I heard you 
 speak of the love of Christ, and of the responsibility of 
 Christ's people to seek the salvation of the heathen. I 
 have professed many years to be a Christian, but I 
 have never yet given anything to the Christian cause. 
 I have come now to say that, by good health and con- 
 stant work, I have saved up 10 ; and I have brought 
 it, begging your acceptance of it, as my first contribu- 
 tion to the Missionary Society." 
 
 Mr Knill inquired, " Does your wife know of this ?" 
 
 " No ; she is not a godly woman, and I am afraid to 
 tell her," replied the man. 
 
 " Well, I will tell you what to do. I cannot take it 
 without her knowledge. Go home ; take courage and 
 say to her, ' You are my nearest and dearest friend. I 
 want you to kneel down with me and pray with me for 
 five minutes, and then I want to ask your permission 
 for something that I will not do without that permis- 
 sion.' Do not be afraid; but go tenderly and affec- 
 tionately to her. See what the result will be, and come 
 again to-morrow/' 
 
 The next morning the man came, and with tears 
 said, " It is a most wonderful thing ! My wife has 
 always been opposed to these things. But I went 
 home ; I had the courage to do what you told me : I 
 asked her to kneel down with me. I then told her 
 everything; and she has sent me here to-day to say 
 she gives it cordially* and with all her heart."
 
 1839 : 52.] LEEDS. 203 
 
 The following communication from Mr Charles Eeed 
 gives an additional proof that arduous as were the 
 duties in connexion with the mission to which he was 
 pledged, there was hardly a proposal for the good of 
 the population around him with which he was not 
 ready to comply : 
 
 "Early in the year 1839, Mr Knill visited Leeds. 
 He was the guest of Mr C , an influential magis- 
 trate in that borough, and at his house we first met. 
 I had resided through several years in the town, and 
 was a member of the church under the pastoral care 
 of the Eev. John Ely. During the winter of 1838, this 
 excellent minister had been making an effort to pro- 
 mote the revival of religion among the people of his 
 charge, and a great awakening had taken place in both 
 the church and congregation. Drawing-room and 
 kitchen meetings were held from house to house, at 
 which persons of all classes were assembled the Scrip- 
 tures expounded, religious experience given, and free 
 prayer united in. These were hallowed seasons. Break- 
 ing in upon the ordinary festivities of the winter, no 
 opportunity seemed to be left for mere evening parties ; 
 for the families were all concerned in higher and more 
 important interests. Among the inquiring people, John 
 Ely was like an apostle; and "Winter Hamilton and 
 Thomas Scales rejoiced in the proofs of usefulness by 
 means of these holy and prevailing influences. Hav- 
 ing at the time the charge of a large factory in the
 
 204 BRITANNIA MILLS. [CHAP. X. 
 
 town, where many hundreds of young people were 
 employed, I was led, amidst much discouragement, to 
 attempt something for their religious welfare. Most 
 of the families employed in Britannia Mills were Irish, 
 and of these most were Romanists. No difficulty, how- 
 ever, had arisen in setting on foot a good library of 
 books for circulation ; and classes for instruction had 
 been arranged. The great difficulty seemed to be, the 
 connecting with the scheme a religious service, which 
 it was desired, by some of the pious workmen, to hold 
 at least once in the week. On a certain Wednesday 
 evening, the experiment was to be made ; and in the 
 face of some open contempt, and much more apathy, 
 we had issued the notice that the works would stop an 
 hour earlier than usual on that evening. 
 
 " I believe it was in answer to prayer that, on -the 
 very night when this notice had been posted on the 
 outer gates of the mill, and we were questioning the 
 policy of the act, a stranger came into the town. 
 Quite unexpectedly to me, I met him at the house of 
 our mutual friend ; and, before he knew my name, or 
 I was acquainted with his, my eye had met his search- 
 ing and affectionate look, at the startling question, 
 'What are you doing for the Saviour?' I hesitated; 
 and our host said, ' Mr Knill, he is at work in a 
 corner of the vineyard, which you must see.' From 
 that moment he was my friend. He fell in my way at 
 a time of sore trial ; and he no sooner heard of our
 
 1839 : 52. J POPULAR RECEPTION. 205 
 
 plans and difficulties, than he entered into them with 
 the greatest interest. He offered to go with me to 
 the houses of some of our people ; and while he asto- 
 nished them by the suddenness and pointedness of his 
 questions, he won their respect by his kindness and 
 essential goodness. Thus I remember that he went 
 with me from cottage to cottage, and, standing by 
 the looms, his wonderful tact broke through all the 
 obstacles which had barred my effort to be useful. 
 The poor people were all delighted, and through the 
 day the principal topic of conversation in the factory 
 was the visit of the Kussian missionary. On the 
 morning of the day in question, a great event hap- 
 pened. Mr Knill visited our works, and so great was 
 his popularity, that people, not unused to stand by 
 their machines while peers and nobles passed along, 
 were with difficulty kept at their work while he visited 
 the various departments. He was received in all the 
 rooms with great manifestations of interest by the 
 groups surrounding him ; and the strong men in the 
 forge, the dye-house, and the engine-room, vied with 
 the little children piecing the endless threads, in soli- 
 citing the tracts, hundreds of which he distributed 
 during his visit. With his own hand he wrote a 
 notice, and posted it in the principal entrance ' Mr 
 Knill will give an account to-night of " A Yorkshire- 
 man's Funeral'" I shall never forget the scene. The 
 great bell rang out at seven o'clock, the last beat of
 
 206 NOVEL AUDITORY. [CHAP. X. 
 
 the throbbing engine was heard, the gates were thrown 
 open, and the people were free to go or to remain. 
 In one room, of immense proportions, a platform was 
 raised, and on that platform stood a home-made pulpit, 
 fresh from the carpenter's shop. Rushing in like a 
 mighty tide came the congregation. Pious Sunday- 
 school girls led the way ; old women, to whom the 
 blessed Word had long been a strange story; little 
 children, attracted by the novelty of the scene ; and 
 behind them all, a compact body of men. Catholics, 
 and plenty of them infidels, and not a few men of 
 every creed, and more, I fear, of none mingled in 
 that promiscuous throng. The magic power of love 
 had won that congregation. 
 
 " The proprietors of the mill were punctual in their 
 attendance; the cashier, the book-keepers, and clerks; 
 the gate-keeper and the call-boys all were present; 
 indeed, I believe few were wanting when the whole 
 company stood to sing that hymn of praise, 'Come, 
 let us join our cheerful songs.' It was an impressive 
 sight, even to Mr Knill, accustomed as he was to 
 popular gatherings. I watched his face, and saw that 
 emotion was busy there. The tenderness of a loving 
 spirit betrayed itself in those large expressive eyes, 
 and the words faltered on his lips ' Jesus is worthy 
 to receive/ &c. All eyes were turned on him as, 
 rejecting the pulpit, he stood against one of the 
 columns, and raised his voice to address that crowd
 
 1839 : 52.] BIOGRAPHICAL SERMON. 207 
 
 of busy workers, in the life of daily toil, and in tlieir 
 own workshop. I doubt not that exquisite narrative, 
 since published, under the title of 'The Funeral of a 
 Yorkshireman,' was first composed and delivered on 
 this occasion. Aptly suited to the circumstances of 
 the people, and having a local interest of so powerful 
 a kind, his address was listened to with profound 
 attention. I may not say what good resulted from 
 this effort ; but if sighs, sobs, and exclamations (quite 
 unusual in that part of the country) are proofs of 
 feeling, and that feeling was sincere, surely that night 
 was one in which the angels of heaven rejoiced over 
 the faithful proclamation of the heavenly message of 
 peace and salvation. It was the beginning of a good 
 work ; a nail had been fastened in a sure place ; a 
 regular prayer -meeting was instituted, and several 
 persons were received into fellowship among the 
 Independents and Wesleyans. 
 
 " Some years after this Mr Knill visited Leeds again, 
 and he received this testimony that 'good hands 
 worked better ;' and that tract distribution and prayer- 
 meetings ' did not hinder labour,' any more than 
 psalm-singing at the loom reduced the amount of 
 profit." 
 
 It must have been observed before no\v, but it 
 merits particular attention, that, though favoured to a 
 remarkable extent, with large and exciting audiences, 
 Mr Knill's zeal was not limited to them. He was as
 
 208 PERSONAL APPEALS. [CHAP. X. 
 
 much moved by an individual as by a multitude, and 
 seemed habitually impressed by the infinite worth of every 
 human being. He therefore rarely permitted an oppor- 
 tunity of personal conversation on the highest topic to 
 pass unimproved, and numerous were his entreaties to 
 his friends to pursue this accessible, but too little fre- 
 quented path to usefulness. It was evident that he had 
 made the method of successfully approaching strangers 
 on the question of personal religion a subject of con- 
 stant study. That he occasionally made mistakes, no 
 one was more ready to admit than himself. Some- 
 times a rapidity and directness of utterance, which 
 were meant to throw off reserve, and which indeed 
 most nearly accorded with his natural manner, made 
 the timid shrink from further communication, and the 
 proud resent the familiarity by studied silence ; but 
 while the causes of such failures were carefully ob- 
 served with a view to prevent their recurrence, in by 
 far the greater number of instances, the sincerity, the 
 benevolence, and the real deference which declared 
 themselves in his transparent eye and simple manner, 
 secured the confidence which he never misused. The 
 instances are too numerous to admit of record, in which 
 his words spoken in fitting circumstances, and at a 
 critical moment came with electric power on individual 
 hearts. It is said, that as many as a hundred ministers, 
 now preaching the gospel at home and abroad, trace 
 their first purpose to give their souls to Christ, or their
 
 1839 : 52.] FRUITS OF CONVERSATION. 209 
 
 lives to the public service of his church, to his quicken- 
 ing appeals. From his frequent allusion, in conversa- 
 tion and in correspondence, to these results, some may 
 have imagined him ostentatious ; but no one who 
 properly understood the childlike openness of his 
 disposition, or perceived the unaffected tone of devout 
 praise in which such references were made, could 
 retain that impression. So far from attributing his 
 usefulness to any peculiar wisdom and excellence of 
 his own, he was continually overcome by the Divine 
 goodness which shone in it. 
 
 " This morning," he writes to an intimate friend, " I 
 
 received from Mr M the touching account of his 
 
 dear son's death, and of God's love to me, in making 
 my conversation blessed to him, while walking on the 
 road. It affected me to tears indeed to ' strong crying 
 and tears ;' for the dear youth is only one among many 
 who have been led to Christ, not by preaching, but by 
 a tender, pointed conversation. Three letters received 
 
 within a few days from K , so very useful ; from 
 
 S , an excellent preacher ; and now this from 
 
 P , is a rare occurrence, in so short a time. I 
 
 would encourage every one whom I know to speak to 
 their friends to the point. God will bless it." 
 
 If his sanguine and charitable temperament some- 
 times inclined him to judge too favourably of character, 
 it never led him to expect great results without toiL 
 Some labour without hope, and others, hope without
 
 210 MANIFOLD SERVICES. [CHAP. X. 
 
 labour : he fell iiito neither of these errors, and when the 
 prayerful spirit he maintained, and the incessant dili- 
 gence with which he pursued his work are considered, 
 no one who believes the Divine promises, can be sur- 
 prised that his path was crowded with blessings. Such 
 notices as the following frequently occur in his concise 
 journal : 
 
 "January 14, 1839. Tabernacle, Bristol. About 
 fifty-five remained after service to converse with me 
 about their souls. Many have called since at my house. 
 
 "18th. Sermon on the influence of pious women. 
 After service, about two hundred women remained to 
 speak with me. Lord, follow it with ten thousand 
 blessings ! 
 
 "March 3. Preached to seven thousand people in 
 fifteen days, and had offers from six young men to go 
 as missionaries. 
 
 "April 12. On one day I received a letter saying 
 that a sermon had been blessed to three people in Lon- 
 don, and heard that three had been awakened by the 
 sermon at ChishelL Sent books to the young person at 
 B , who appeared to get good from the service there. 
 
 " October 15. Mr H * called to tell me that God 
 
 blessed my message to him at W , and brought 
 
 him to the Saviour. Now he is going with John 
 Williams to the South Seas. What shall I render to 
 the Lord for all these mercies ! 
 
 "December 1, 1839. The month of November has
 
 1839:52.] USEFULNESS. 211 
 
 been a very instructive month to me. Mr B told 
 
 me of three persons being led to the Saviour during 
 my visit. A minister from Turvey informed me that, 
 
 when I attended the missionary meeting at P , it 
 
 pleased God to convert a poor, ignorant, careless woman, 
 who has since been blessed to the conversion of her 
 husband. When I was at Norwich, one of the deacons 
 called and told me that a person had lately been ad- 
 mitted to the church, who was converted under a ser- 
 mon I preached some years ago. Mr Yenning intro- 
 duced a man- to me who was converted during a Christ- 
 mas sermon at Bradenham Hall. Two ministers, both 
 Wesleyans, came to declare to me that the Lord had 
 been pleased to call them, through my sermons, the one 
 to the work at home, and the other to the work abroad." 
 
 Such incidents were much more numerous than Mr 
 Knill was ever aware of. Very recently, a minister when 
 preaching in Bideford, stated that when he revisited that 
 town after his return from Eussia, he took aside him- 
 self and one of his companions, and having made them 
 repeat the prayer, " Lord, convert my soul, for the 
 sake of Jesus Christ, Amen," until it was impressed on 
 their memory, he charged them in the most solemn and 
 affectionate manner to continue to offer it until it was 
 answered. They did so ; and both are now ministers of 
 extensive usefulness : one in the Wesleyan connexion, 
 and the other in the established church. 
 
 During his residence at Wotton-under-Edge, he
 
 212 MR SPTJRGEOK [CHAP. X. 
 
 visited the Kev. James Spurgeon, the minister of an 
 ancient chapel of Dr Watts' at Stambourne, Essex ; 
 and walking in the garden with his host's grandson, 
 then about ten years old, he felt, he afterwards said, a 
 prayerful concern for the intelligent and inquiring boy, 
 sat with him under a yew-tree, put his hands on his 
 head, and prayed for him ; telling him at the close, 
 that he believed "he would love Jesus Christ, and 
 preach His gospel in the largest chapel in the world." 
 When this curious prediction obtained something like 
 fulfilment in the young preacher of the Surrey Music 
 Hall, both parties, in a short correspondence, referred 
 to the old garden incident with feelings akin to wonder. 
 Who can trace the subtle influence of such suggestions 
 on the tenor of one's life ? All will at least be able to 
 appropriate the aspiration prompted by these occurrences 
 "0 Lord God omnipotent! Thine is the kingdom, and 
 the power, and the glory. Help me as Thy servant to 
 go on labouring and rejoicing. These are tokens of 
 Thy favour too great to be left unrecorded. What 
 would thousands of gold and silver be, compared to the 
 conversion of souls, and the calling out of preachers?" 
 The year is thus gratefully and devoutly closed : 
 "December 31. In looking back on the past year, 
 I find many things to call forth my praise. I have 
 laboured in twenty-five English counties, made two 
 trips to Ireland, and spent a month in Wales. My 
 general health has been wonderfully preserved. My
 
 1842 : 55.] WOTTON-UNDER-EDGE. 213 
 
 opportunities of usefulness have been very extensive, 
 I having addressed four hundred congregations of dif- 
 ferent sizes, by which the Lord has given me the privi- 
 lege of speaking to one hundred and fifty thousand per- 
 sons about the salvation of their souls. This brings 
 with it great responsibility. Lord, help me to feel it 
 as one who must give an account ! Pity and save Thy 
 servant ! Amen." 
 
 The toil, however, attending this service began to 
 tell sensibly on Mr KnilTs health, and to point to the 
 necessity of a change. " You recollect," he writes to a 
 friend in Leeds, " that in my ordination service I de- 
 clared that all my days should be spent as a missionary. 
 This was my purpose, but I was compelled to surrender 
 it from failure of health. Then, when I travelled for 
 the Missionary Society, I thought I was just in my 
 proper place, serving the same cause ; but my health 
 again failed. Indeed, the work was too exciting and 
 laborious for any man. I had eight years of it Sab- 
 baths and week-days not like the agents of the Bible 
 and Tract Societies, who generally rest on the Sabbath. 
 In July 1841, I was going through Gloucestershire for 
 the mission, my health very feeble, nerves shaken by 
 overwork, and a slight fever caught at Chatham. I 
 preached in Rowland Hill's pulpit. A deep feeling 
 pervaded the congregation, and two persons, in opposite 
 conditions of life, a young lady and an old wicked 
 soldier, were converted. The people pressed me to
 
 214 TIME OF REFRESHING. [CHAP. X. 
 
 preach for a month, and at last to become their mini- 
 ster. I knew not what to do. I sighed for rest. I 
 proceeded to London, and the directors giving their 
 consent, I went to Wotton-under-Edge on the first of 
 January 1842."* 
 
 This place, which he had repeatedly visited and 
 admired, was suited both to his state of health and 
 to the peculiarities of his ministry. The rich scenery 
 and rural quiet which it supplied, restored the tone of 
 his mind, and the neighbourhood presented facilities 
 for that union of the pastoral and missionary func- 
 tions to which his tastes impelled him. The faithful 
 labours of several of his predecessors had left impres- 
 sions on the hearts of many in the congregation, which 
 waited for the quickening influences of a spiritual 
 spring-time. That period came with the vivacity and 
 devout energy of his addresses in the pulpit, and the 
 familiar and kind intercourse which he maintained 
 with the people in their homes and by the way-sides. 
 There was an almost general revival of religious feel- 
 ing among Christians ; and numbers who had been 
 dead in trespasses and sins were " added to the Lord." 
 
 The heart of the system being animated, the warmth 
 was quickly transmitted to the extremities. All con- 
 verts were urged to bear some part in their Master's 
 
 * The Rev. Rowland Hill, soon after 1771, built a " tabernacle," a 
 range of almshouses, and a summer residence in this place, and till 
 the close of his life, in 183 3, divided his labours between it and London.
 
 1847 : 60.] RURAL EVANGELISTS. 215 
 
 work ; and he was able, in 1846, to say to a friend, 
 " Eight of our members were at work on Sunday last 
 in six parishes, and preached to about seven hundred 
 precious souls. We have five Sunday-schools in the 
 villages, which call for much care and labour. Our 
 Tabernacle Sunday-school is large, and God continues 
 to smile upon the labours of our self-denying teachers." 
 Among the sixty assistants at prayer-meetings, and 
 the twelve village preachers, whose services he directed, 
 there were, it was acknowledged, a great variety of 
 gifts ; but considering that, " in the absence of gas- 
 light, a glimmering lump is better than total dark- 
 ness," he encouraged their endeavours, and did what 
 he could to cultivate their powers. He says of the 
 British schools, which had been improved, and accom- 
 modated with a spacious school-house, through his 
 exertions i " They are likely to be a great help to us. 
 Some of our pious youth have had few opportunities 
 of reading, or writing, or speaking correctly; but 
 several, who have become concerned about their souls, 
 are now attending an evening-school. This comes 
 nobly to our help ; and I hope to live to see the day 
 when not one of our young men who engage in public 
 services shall offend the ear of a good grammarian." 
 All these villages he visited personally at short inter- 
 vals. At two of them Hawkesbury and Charfield 
 he procured the erection of suitable chapels, and the 
 services, for a season, of students from the Western 
 Academy; while the converts were either formed into
 
 216 REMOVAL TO CHESTER. [CHAP. X. 
 
 small local churches, or united to the society at the 
 Tabernacle, which, during the period of his residence, 
 was doubled in numbers. 
 
 It was Mr Knill's settled conviction that his ministry 
 was specially adapted to the awakening and gathering 
 in of sinners; and when he thought he saw that object, 
 to any marked degree, accomplished in one place, he 
 became eager to pass to "regions beyond." On ap- 
 proaching the close of the sixth year of his work at 
 Wotton, a variety of considerations conspired to im- 
 press him with the belief that it ought to be left to 
 the careful cultivation of a new labourer, and he began 
 to look around for another spot to which his peculiar 
 gifts might be advantageously applied. During several 
 visits, in the cause of missions, to Chester, the claims 
 of that city appeared to him singularly great, and, 
 under the advice of several ministers of sound expe- 
 rience, he acceded to the unanimous invitation of the 
 church in Queen Street to become their pastor. With 
 profound sorrow his flock at Wotton heard from his 
 own lips, at the last communion season of the year, 
 that he had resolved to leave them. The sensitiveness 
 of his heart prevented him allowing a long interval to 
 elapse between the announcement of this purpose and 
 its consummation. The four weeks of affectionate 
 leave-taking which followed was as much as he could 
 endure ; and on the last day of the year, bearing costly 
 tokens of love, he left a home in one of the loveliest vales 
 in England for another within the old walls of Chester.
 
 Sunset 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 1 Faith, perseverance, zeal, 
 
 Language of light and power ; 
 Love, prompt to act and quick to feel, 
 Mark'd thee till life's last hour." 
 
 MONTGOMERY.
 
 THE church of which Mr Knill now assumed the charge 
 represented the families which had enjoyed the ministry 
 of Matthew Henry, and which, when his successors fell 
 into Unitarianism, retired and formed a separate com- 
 munity. At this period it was dispirited by heavy 
 financial burdens, and was slow to believe that pros- 
 perity, either temporal or spiritual, was at hand. The 
 hope and energy, however, of the new pastor quickly 
 diffused themselves. Immediately on his settlement 
 he addressed himself to the task of becoming acquainted 
 with the people individually, at their own homes, and 
 establishing between them and himself, as far as pos- 
 sible, sympathy and unity of purpose. He then shewed 
 them that what he had in view could not be accom- 
 plished if their efforts were limited to those who already 
 attended the chapel, but that they must conjointly go 
 forth to the desolate wastes around them. He very 
 soon proved that he had no intention of sparing him- 
 self in this enterprise ; for, in addition to the exhausting 
 labours of visitation, he opened places in the neglected
 
 220 PREPARATION OF THE CHURCH. [CHAP. XL 
 
 parts of the city and its suburbs, for preaching. Bough- 
 ton, Handbridge, and King Charles' Chapel, as he 
 called the spacious hall of an old mansion in which the 
 first monarch of that name is said to have lodged before 
 the battle of Rowton Moor, became new centres of 
 light and power, and many persons who had resigned 
 themselves to a total neglect of religious ordinances 
 were awakened and introduced to the Christian course 
 which they still pursue. This activity told powerfully 
 on the members of the church themselves, whom he 
 was most anxious to make " fit company " for the new 
 converts. "No man," he said, "likes to go into an 
 ice-cellar it is too cold; few people like to be in a 
 room with dead bodies there is death ; and a sleepy, 
 lukewarm church has something in it so repelling that 
 I wonder how any one can remain in it. Let the 
 members of this church shine forth in all the splendour 
 of holy living, and the influences of it on others will 
 be astonishing. Look on them : their heads planning 
 for good their hands working for God their tongues 
 crying, ' Behold the Lamb ! ' Is there nothing in all 
 this to attract an inquiring youth ? nothing to catch 
 the sympathies of a sinner just brought out of dark- 
 ness into marvellous light ? " 
 
 As this work was beginning to expand, it pleased 
 God to draw the chief instrument in it nearer to Him- 
 self by successive trials. Scarcely had he recovered 
 from several weeks of extreme prostration, produced
 
 1848 : 61.] DOMESTIC TRIALS. 221 
 
 by having been called to give evidence in a court of 
 justice, on a trial which he had in vain laboured to 
 prevent, when his home became the scene of sickness 
 and mourning. An interesting young person, the or- 
 phan daughter of his nephew, who had been adopted 
 into his family, and brought up with an affection 
 which she cordially returned, was seized with fatal 
 illness in her eighteenth year. About the same time, 
 Samuel, his only remaining son was laid low. When 
 at school in Totteridge, this youth was attracted to 
 Christ, and became anxious to devote himself to the 
 ministiy of the gospel. He indicated, in many ways, 
 an aptitude for such duties, and was eventually re- 
 ceived into the Lancashire Independent College ; but 
 had not long pursued his studies, before his state of 
 health compelled him to desist. After remaining a 
 short while at home, in great weakness, he was induced 
 to accept the invitation of a friend to visit America. 
 His journeys, however, in the far- west of that continent 
 proved exhausting, and at the close he was "just well 
 enough to get home." He spoke with much gratitude of 
 the kindness he received in many places for his father's 
 sake. When sailing, for example, on one of the great 
 lakes, sad and disconsolate, a passenger presented to 
 him the tract called "The Russian Nurse," with the 
 request that he would peruse it. He thanked the 
 stranger, and added "This woman nursed me." 
 The communications which followed, led to acts of the
 
 222 HIS SON SAMUEL. [CHAP. XL 
 
 most considerate kindness, of which, at that time, he 
 stood particularly in need. On his return to England, 
 his health so much revived, as to permit him to ad- 
 dress occasionally the smaller meetings in Chester, 
 and at length to take charge of a congregation at 
 Sutton, not far from the city. A church consisting at 
 first of twelve members was formed under his minis- 
 try ; and having taken lodgings in the village, he was 
 in the habit of proceeding thither on the Saturday 
 evening, and returning on Monday, going back on 
 "Wednesday, and returning on Thursday thus spending 
 about four days every week among his little flock. The 
 congregations became crowded and most attentive ; 
 Bible classes and Sunday-schools were established, and 
 sinners were converted. But his strength was soon 
 spent, and his visits were frequently intermitted. After 
 a long period of silence, he expressed an intense desire 
 to be present at the first missionary meeting, and his 
 father, anxious to gratify such a wish, took him over 
 with great care. It was his last visit. A few affec- 
 tionate words, which were all he could utter, closed his 
 short ministry ; and he returned home to complete the 
 last stage of his heavenward journey under parental 
 care. 
 
 " Dear Sam," his father writes to the Rev. W. Swan, 
 on September 26, 1849, "is kept in a very tranquil 
 state, but I hear him coughing now. My dear wife is 
 able to attend to him night and day, and he wants all a
 
 1849 : 62.] DEATH OF HIS SON AND NIECE. 223 
 
 mother's love. Polly, a great-niece of mine, whom we 
 took to train for God, is also dying ; she, I trust, is 
 safe in the arms of Jesus. It is very soothing, in the 
 midst of our anxiety, to have good ground to hope 
 that they have committed their precious souls to Jesus." 
 To his old friend, the Kev. J. Lewis, he unburdens 
 his heart thus on 21st December ] 849 : " I havsjpften 
 written you, but never under such painful feelings as at 
 present. Dear Samuel, the object of our hopes, and 
 prayers, and joys, and the source of many anxieties 
 also, has left his weeping parents in the wilderness. 
 Yesterday morning his spirit left the poor, (worn-out 
 and enfeebled body, and I believe Jesus received him 
 into glory. He died with that precious name upon his 
 tongue. Our judgment approves, and faith sees him 
 in heaven ; but nature feels. My beloved wife is much 
 overcome. She has nursed him night and day for a 
 twelvemonth, and scarcely ever left him for half an 
 hour, and, though wonderfully strengthened while 
 Samuel lived, she is crushed beneath a weight of 
 sorrow not for him, but for herself, and Mary, and 
 me." 
 
 " The dear Devonshire girl, whom we brought up 
 with our daughter/' he mentions in a note to Sir 
 John B. Williams, a few days later, " died on the 26th of 
 October, while my son was dying in a room below. 
 But we were comforted in her death, and had a rich 
 reward for love to an orphan. We felt greatly com-
 
 224 FRESH ZEAL. [CHAP. XI. 
 
 forted by your few words of sympathy. There are 
 times when even a smile or a tear will produce rapture, 
 and surely, next to the favour of God, we ought to 
 esteem the kind feelings of God's servants." 
 
 These private sorrows fed the lamp of his zeal ; and 
 his religious services in the city became most abundant. 
 Though he attached the highest importance to the 
 teaching of the pulpit, he considered that he had a 
 special calling in the homes of his people. In the 
 course of a few months, he knew more of the streets 
 and antique lanes of Chester than many who had dwelt 
 among them during long lives. He seldom found any 
 difficulty in reaching the hearts of the rudest of their 
 inmates ; but, dispensing with all introduction, he 
 generally succeeded, both in suggesting his object, and 
 in placing himself on a friendly footing, by the first 
 sentence. " John," he would say, guessing at the 
 name, when he did not know it, " what, think you, 
 crossed my mind as I knocked at your door?" " Can- 
 not tell, sir." " The people who live here," thought I, 
 " have immortal souls : I wonder whether they are 
 saved and happy/' " Pray sit down, sir," would follow; 
 and the conversation, though short, would generally 
 end in a deep impression. His great kindness to the 
 poor could not remain hid; and it often exhibited 
 itself in a form so artless and cordial, as to give to it 
 a singular charm. If he saw a labourer, of whom he 
 knew nothing, eating dry bread for his noonday meal,
 
 1850 : 63.] COLLOQUIES. 225 
 
 he would stop and say, "What! only bread!" and. 
 inviting him to follow to the nearest shop, would send 
 him back with a ration of cheese. Hearing, in the 
 course of a walk, that a pious widow was in great 
 want, he went to a shop and ordered food to be sent 
 to her instantly; and entering the house some time 
 after, he found her with the tears rolling down her 
 cheeks, in the midst of her dancing children, giving 
 thanks to God for an unknown benefactor. Such a 
 sight was to him the richest gratification. 
 
 With so much vigilance did he use this remarkable 
 talent for personal communication, that he often went 
 to chapel half-an-hour before the time, that he might 
 converse with the people, and, by a few well-directed 
 remarks, prepare them for the service. When his 
 labours in different parts of the city had sent to hir 
 congregations at Queen Street persons unaccustomed 
 to the house of God, he was most anxious, by such 
 kind attentions, to make them feel at home. Occa- 
 sionally, however, the force of his thrusts would alarm 
 them. To a man who had been induced to come to 
 the Thursday -evening lecture, he exclaimed, as he 
 came up to him, " How much better to be here than 
 in the public -house, singing 'Rule Britannia!'" 
 " Now," said the man afterwards, " that was the very 
 song for which I was famous ; and as I thought he 
 must know all about me, I staid away for some 
 time ; but I afterwards found he was always throwing 
 p
 
 226 PRISONERS. [CHAP. XL 
 
 such great paving-stones as were sure to hit some 
 one." 
 
 There was no class of persons, indeed, whom he 
 feared to encounter, or despaired of blessing. When 
 about, one day, to enter a carriage at the Chester 
 Railway Station, he observed some officers putting a 
 band of chained prisoners into an apartment of an 
 inferior carriage by themselves. He was immediately 
 touched with compassion, and begged to be allowed to 
 accompany them. The officers seemed surprised at 
 his desire, but made no objection. He spoke to them 
 with such power, that most of them were in tears ; 
 and before he left, he knelt down at their request, and 
 offered up fervent prayers for their reconciliation both 
 to man and God. 
 
 In the course of his ministry, great stress was 
 laid upon family religion; and it was observed that 
 family prayer became much more carefully observed 
 among Christians, and greatly extended among the 
 poor. It delighted him to learn that a poor man's 
 house had become "sanctified by the Word of God 
 and by prayer ;" and sometimes, after a late walk 
 about the city, he would come home filled with joy 
 by the sounds of sacred song which he had overheard. 
 On one occasion, when passing near a place in which 
 there had been much wickedness, his ear was thus 
 greeted ; and, without disturbing the humble worship- 
 pers, he wrote with the point of his walking-stick on
 
 1851 : 64.] LIBERALITY. 227 
 
 the smoky ceiling of the passage, " Salvation is come 
 to Parry's Entry." The inscription continued on the 
 memories of many long after it had vanished from 
 the roof, and salvation itself still remains among the 
 inhabitants. 
 
 The church had now been so much revived, that it 
 was thought desirable to make an attempt to throw 
 off at least part of the load of debt which depressed 
 its energies, and abridged its ability to aid in the evan- 
 gelisation of the world. Nothing now seemed impos- 
 sible ; and the effort which followed, both then and at 
 a later period, tended to call out the activity and to 
 unite the hearts of the people. There were few who 
 did not taste the enjoyment of self-denial in a good 
 cause. Families in very humble circumstances worked 
 at the needle during the evenings of a whole winter, 
 and poor men gave themselves to various kinds of 
 industry in addition to their necessary toil, that they 
 might have some share in the enterprise. 
 
 Mr Knill, in the meanwhile, went over the'wide 
 range of his correspondents in all parts of the earth, 
 and in few instances failed to receive a cordial re- 
 sponse. Some incidents of that correspondence greatly 
 interested him. One of them he alludes to in a letter 
 to Dr and Mrs Henderson, dated 22d December 1851 : 
 " Before the year ends, I feel anxious to send you a 
 line, to express our hopes and prayers for your health, 
 and peace, and joy. We have a full covenant, great
 
 228 OLD FRIENDS. [CHAP. XL 
 
 and precious promises, a faithful and unchanging 
 God. I hope you feel Him very near to your souls. 
 I preached yesterday from ' They feared when they 
 entered into the cloud ;' and so, I suppose, we all have 
 at times, though Christ was there. Thirty-five years 
 ago, I had a Bible -class in Mr Loveless' boarding- 
 school. One of my favourite boys is now a merchant 
 in Madras ; but most of the others are dead, or in 
 other parts of the world. In August last, I wrote to 
 this gentleman, and told him of Chester, and of our 
 efforts to remove the debt. This month I have re- 
 ceived a very affectionate letter from him, with 25; 
 and he adds, 'When I gave your salutations to the 
 church, a member stated that he knew you ; heard you 
 preach at Shrewsbury, in November 1840, from Gala- 
 tians i. 15, 16; and that that sermon led him to be- 
 come a servant of God.' He sent 10. This is the 
 first notice I ever heard of the young man, and I 
 assure you it cheered me exceedingly I hardly slept 
 that night. I hope you will both meet with precious 
 souls in heaven, helped thither by your pens or by 
 your lips. We ought to anticipate great things, for 
 God's Word will not return unto Him void." 
 
 This work had scarcely been brought to a successful 
 termination, before an undertaking more unusual, and 
 much more congenial, presented itself to his mind. 
 His missionary longings always predominant, he was 
 in constant dread of settling down into the minister of
 
 1852 : 65.] NEW MEASURES. 229 
 
 a select congregation, to which the gospel had been 
 long familiar ; and although he had succeeded in crowdr 
 ing a spacious edifice with persons of whom a large 
 proportion had been induced to attend public worship 
 through his labours, he began to sigh for opportunities 
 of preaching to multitudes among whom Jesus Christ 
 had not been so much as named. Some might have 
 imagined that, in a city of moderate population, largely 
 supplied with clergy of the national church and non- 
 conformist divines, such persons could not be found. 
 He, however, did not entertain that impression, but 
 believed that thousands were perishing within sound 
 of the cathedral chimes, entertaining objections to 
 entering within the walls of any sacred place so strong 
 that nothing but unusual measures could overcome 
 them. Meeting a pious working-man in the street one 
 day, he said, in his usual non-prefatory style, "I am 
 just going to order gas for the theatre." 
 
 "Are you then, shy going to leave the chapel for 
 repairs?" 
 
 "Oh, no; I am going to preach there for twenty 
 Sabbaths." 
 
 "What, sir, in the play-house?" 
 
 " Yes ; the people will go to a play-house when 
 they won't go to chapels; and they must hear the 
 gospel." 
 
 Such was his resolution, and such his reason. An 
 old building, not far from the cathedral, which had
 
 230 THE THEATRE. [CHAP. XL 
 
 formerly been a chapel dedicated to St Nicholas, but 
 had long been used as a theatre, was about to pass 
 from the hands of the lessee to those of the " Chapter," 
 to be rebuilt for purposes more consonant with the im- 
 proved tastes of the day. Mr Knill, having ascertained 
 that he might, for a moderate sum, obtain the use of 
 this building on Sundays for the remainder of the lease, 
 determined on securing it. He had not so many pre- 
 cedents for the use of secular buildings in preaching to 
 the masses as he would have had a year or two later, 
 and yet it was not to be the first time that he pro- 
 claimed the gospel in a theatre. On February 7, 1836, 
 he wrote in his journal : 
 
 "In the evening, preached at the theatre, Milton 
 Street, formerly called Grub Street. The scene was 
 novel and very affecting. Pit full ; boxes full ; gallery 
 full, chiefly with rude children, affording good mate- 
 rials for future labourers. Lord, bless the efforts of 
 Thy people to illuminate and sanctify hearts in that 
 neighbourhood!" 
 
 This incident, however, he had probably forgotten, 
 as he does not appear to have mentioned it to any of 
 his friends, with a view to remove their apprehensions 
 of failure. He had himself no fears, but proceeded, 
 nevertheless, with his usual good sense, to have every 
 proper arrangement made under his own eye. He 
 earnestly requested his stated congregation not to fol- 
 low him ; but he accepted the convoy of his deacons,
 
 1852 : 65.] STRIKING ASSEMBLY. 231 
 
 and the aid of the choir, for which he had taken the 
 precaution to procure a good harmonium. 
 
 The first service was announced by placards for the 
 afternoon of Sunday, 21st November 1852. The 
 weather proved most unfavourable, and the streets 
 were deluged with rain. Few persons were observed 
 on the way, and, as he approached the place, he found 
 some coming slowly away, as if they had concluded 
 that nothing was to be done. "Won't you return?" 
 he said. " There is no more room," was the answer. 
 Such was the fact. The sight was overpowering to 
 the speaker, and the whole service produced a deep 
 impression on the auditory. This was repeated from 
 week to week " Last Sunday," he writes, " was my 
 fourth service. The place was densely crowded. We 
 do not print any bills now, but I give a verbal announce- 
 ment to fifteen or eighteen hundred. I cannot describe 
 the congregation. The theatrical appearance, the dense 
 crowd, the profound attention, the oft-falling tear, are 
 all very cheering. Two hopeful conversions, some 
 brought to decision, and pleasing appearances in more, 
 are good indications of Divine approval. God is evi- 
 dently moving among us. I know only a few faces, 
 and that was my hope and prayer. The expenses will 
 amount to about 60, and all the money is safe, either 
 in the Chester Bank, or in the Bank of Faith." 
 
 It was one of the numerous proofs of the cordial 
 feeling which existed between Mr Knill and other
 
 232 SINNERS ARRESTED. [CHAP. XI. 
 
 Christian ministers, that one of the clergymen of the 
 city, who several times- attended these services, and 
 took the deepest interest in them, entreated the privi- 
 lege of paying the cost of the gas, observing that, if he 
 could not supply the heavenly, it might be permitted 
 to him to contribute the earthly, light. 
 
 During the whole of the time occupied by this special 
 work, Mr Knill was by no means well. The gout 
 affected him so much that he could not preach in a 
 standing position, but had to rest on his knees. " It 
 seems rather remarkable," he says, " but doubtless God 
 has good reasons for it, that I am kept to the house, 
 except on Sundays and week-evening services. It 
 crossed me at first ; but it must be well." It certainly 
 did not diminish the power of his ministry. His words, 
 as arrows, pierced the consciences of some of the most 
 hardened sinners. In the upper galleries, where no eye 
 could light upon them but that of God, numbers of 
 these outcasts from all the ordinary means of religious 
 instruction congregated, and were arrested. " I was a 
 blasphemer," writes one, " and cared neither for God 
 nor man ; I got into the darkest corner of the place to 
 make game with my comrades ; but when the sermon 
 began, it drew such a picture of my life that I thought 
 some one had been telling him all about me. During 
 this discourse the terror of the Lord was on my soul ; 
 and when it was ended I went home, but found the 
 truth of the words, ' There is no peace, saith my God,
 
 1855 : 68.] LAST MISSION-TOUR. 233 
 
 to the wicked ;' until at length ' old things passed away, 
 and all things became new.' " No time was occupied in 
 these sermons with humorous introductions or general 
 dissertations on morals, but the fortress of the enemy 
 was at once assaulted by vivid exhibitions of the word 
 of life ; and numbers of persons, not only convinced of 
 the propriety of reformation, but actually reformed 
 through " the faith of Christ " and the " renewing of 
 the Holy Ghost," were united to the church in Queen 
 Street, and to various other churches in the city. 
 
 This effort increased his pastoral work, for some 
 time, to an extent which might have seemed sufficient 
 for his declining physical energies. But what he had 
 said of the great-hearted tutor at Gosport was true of 
 himself " So long as there was a spot of fallow ground 
 in the county, he could take no rest." In the summer 
 of 1855 he formed a project, which, though never fully 
 accomplished, shewed the unabated freshness of his 
 spirit. He entered into a correspondence with his 
 brethren in the chief towns of Cheshire, proposing to 
 visit them, and preach in their public rooms, streets, 
 and market-places ; remaining a day or two in each 
 locality, with the view of entering into conversation, 
 holding private conferences, and distributing religious 
 tracts. 
 
 The proposition was cordially accepted ; arrange- 
 ments were made for the tour, and in the first week of 
 July, having procured about 13,000 tracts, he sorted,
 
 234 SUDDEN ILLNESS. [CHAP. XL 
 
 packed, and sent them off to the several towns, with 
 the fearless hope and almost boyish delight with which 
 he went forth to the evangelisation of the North Devon 
 militia. He followed his printed messengers, and 
 preached every evening from Monday to Saturday. 
 On the Sunday he preached three times in Congleton, 
 with great animation ; closing his services there with 
 a discourse in the market-place on Monday evening, to 
 a very large > audience. On the following morning 
 he returned home, to prepare for another and similar 
 journey. He appeared in excellent health and spirits, 
 and spoke most gratefully of the attention with which 
 his message had been received. In a little while he 
 retired to his study; but soon afterwards called for 
 Mrs Knill, who was instantly at his side. A blood- 
 vessel had broken, and the blood flowed profusely from 
 his nostrils. It was a moment of anguish and alarm ; 
 introducing those months of prostration and waning 
 power which formed the last scene of his active life. 
 
 Through the blessing of God on the assiduous atten- 
 tion which was paid to him, he was considerably revived 
 before the autumn; and on the 15th October 1855, 
 he was able to write this comforting letter to an old 
 friend : 
 
 " DEAE ME YENNING, Our adorable Saviour ' par- 
 doneth and absolveth all them that truly repent and 
 unfeignedly believe His holy gospel.' Cheer up, then, 
 dear friend. May your evidences shine brighter and
 
 1856 : 69.] THE PEACE OF GOD. 235 
 
 brighter, till the sun sets in glory ! The tabernacle, 
 you feel, is feeble ; but a ' house not made with hands ' 
 will follow. I bless God for the hope that I shall 
 soon be 'with the Lord.' I have much to endear 
 life. I love my family ; I love my church ; I love 
 dear friends but I could joyfully part with all to 
 be for ever with Him. Pray for me, that I may be 
 kept in this heavenly frame. Death has but one 
 sting, and that has been taken out by Jesus Christ 
 our Lord. Hallelujah." 
 
 Similar language he repeats in a beautiful note, 
 written about the same time. Who would not desire 
 to close life with equal serenity ? 
 
 " My agony at Liverpool, for some hours, was greater 
 than I recollect to have ever endured before ; but I 
 was very happy and willing, if the Lord pleased, to de- 
 part and to be with Him. It has been a blessed world 
 to me, and a blessed church to me. Not one good 
 thing has failed of all that the Lord has promised. I 
 have as much happiness in my family, and with my 
 friends, as could be expected by mortals ; but I feel 
 perfectly assured that the blessedness of heaven is 
 exceeding abundant, above all that we have thought 
 or seen. I thank you for all your friendship and 
 affection." 
 
 The early months of 1856 were cold and harsh, and 
 he was much confined to the house ; but whenever the 
 weather was at all favourable, he would go out and
 
 236 CLOSING CALLS. [CHAP. XI. 
 
 be often absent for hours. He walked slowly and 
 feebly, but sometimes accomplished the entire circuit 
 of the promenade on the city walls ; diverging occasion- 
 ally to the houses of the sick or poor, where he was 
 only able, after sitting thoughtfully for a few moments, 
 to rise and take his leave, saying touchingly, "The 
 Lord be with you," or " Peace be to you." The 
 children of his flock he never passed without speak- 
 ing to them, laying his hands on their heads, and 
 returning their bright smiles. These transient minis- 
 tries, indeed, were often more fruitful than elaborate 
 exhortations. " It seemed to me," said one, " that he 
 never finished preaching ; a word or two when meet- 
 ing him on the street were as good as a sermon." 
 
 It was interesting to notice how those sympathies, 
 which had never been withheld from any class, began 
 to flow with increasing fulness towards the aged, as his 
 own infirmities multiplied. In one of the feAV notes 
 which he was now able to pen, he writes to Mr Ven- 
 ning, on the 4th December 1856 : 
 
 " It is a long time since I wrote to you, and I am 
 very anxious to hear how you are. I have ventured 
 out to-day for the first time this month, but the frost 
 and snow are too severe for my poor body. How are 
 you, dear friend ? Caji you bear the cold, or are you 
 also shut up ? You are a long distance before me in 
 point of age, but not in feebleness. I endeavour to 
 live in the expectation that it will soon terminate in
 
 1856 : 69.] BENEVOLENCE. 237 
 
 glory. ' Thanks be unto God who giveth us the vic- 
 tory, through Jesus Christ our Lord.' " 
 
 A troop of old men, appointed by the city authorities 
 to sweep the street in which he lived, frequently at- 
 tracted his attention as he came down to breakfast; 
 and fancying them to be cold and feeble, he would 
 have all the coffee poured into bowls, and, preparing it 
 to his own taste, would carry it out to them with a 
 few cheering words. The worthy " pensioners," espe- 
 cially on the colder mornings, extended their line so as 
 to reach the pastor's house at the breakfast hour : not, 
 it may be presumed, merely for the seasonable fare, 
 but from a real interest in their benefactor ; for after 
 he was no longer able to make his appearance, the 
 advanced posts inquired respectfully after his health, 
 and the word passed with great interest from one to 
 another through the whole body. 
 
 At the end of May, rooms were taken by the 
 family in a farm-house a few miles from Chester, 
 where the pure air and the rural scenery greatly 
 delighted him. " The church in the village," says 
 his daughter, "had no regular minister, and various 
 clergymen preached none too well. There was a 
 discussion among us whether it was incumbent upon 
 him to go to the service. ' Yes,' he said at last, ' I '11 
 go ; it will be long and fatiguing for me, no doubt, 
 and I may not hear the gospel after all; but the 
 only testimony I can give for Christ in this dark
 
 238 HOME. [CHAP. XL 
 
 village, is to keep His day and attend His house ; 
 therefore I'll go.' In July the weather turned sud- 
 denly cold and wet, and we returned to town, which, 
 after seven weeks' absence, he was very glad to do. 
 ' There 's no place like home,' was frequently his pleased 
 remark, as he went from room to room, and looked at 
 the familiar furniture. On the Sabbath, when able to 
 attend the services, he would be waiting with coat and 
 hat on for the opening of the chapel-doors. Having 
 stepped across and entered, he would walk up and 
 down the aisles, in front of the communion-rails ; now 
 stopping as if in meditation ; now holding open the 
 seat-door for some members of the congregation, and 
 asking, as they entered, about their bodily or spiritual 
 health ; and now going up into the pulpit, from which 
 he was never to preach again, and looking around on 
 the gradually filling pews." 
 
 Before this time the church had accepted his re- 
 signation of the pastoral office, and, by the liberality of 
 his numerous friends, a sum was raised sufficient to 
 secure to him and to his family a proper maintenance 
 for the remainder of their lives. The provision thus 
 affectionately made greatly comforted him ; and though 
 he knew he could enjoy his portion of it but for a 
 little while (only, as it proved, for one half-year), it 
 gladdened his heart to know that the capital would fall 
 into the funds of the Missionary Society, which he had
 
 1856 : 69.] DECLINE. 
 
 loved so long, for the relief of widows and orphans 
 bereaved in its service. 
 
 "The progress of decline," continues the account 
 "became more and more marked. The walks grew 
 shorter and fewer. Days of prostration of body and 
 mind were more frequent ; with later rising and earlier 
 retiring, but not to rest. In September he performed 
 his last pastoral act, in the baptism of the child of 
 one of the families of his church, but the hesitating 
 speech, the repetition of sentences, and the evident 
 forgetfulness, proved that his days of service were 
 over. 
 
 " In November another small blood-vessel gave way, 
 and we were alarmed by a fresh flow of blood from 
 the nose. ' Only another tent-pin loosened,' he said ; 
 ' the old tabernacle is coming down.' The rest of that 
 month and all December were one scene of suffering. 
 Often he would go quietly away into the study when 
 in great pain, lest we should be distressed ; and some- 
 times we used to try to look as if we did not notice it, 
 that he might have the gratification of thinking he had 
 spared us sorrow. The last month of his life he spent 
 entirely in the house, even his little walks at noon, 
 on the pavement before the door, being now too great 
 an exertion. ' I cannot sing,' he frequently said ; ' sing 
 for me.' 
 
 " ' What would you like, papa ? '
 
 240 SPIRIT OF PRAISE. [CHAP. XI. 
 
 " ' Guide me. ' And so I would go to the piano 
 and sing, to ' Rousseau's Dream/ his favourite hymn, 
 
 ' Guide me, Thou great Jehovah.' 
 
 He would always try to join in the last verse, 
 
 ' When I tread the verge of Jordan.' 
 
 And when he could do that no more, he never missed 
 the last two lines 
 
 ' Songs of praises 
 I will ever give to Thee 1 ' 
 
 " ' It is weary work travelling down the valley,' he 
 remarked, on one of his last days. ' Yes ; but Jesus 
 is with you.' ' I believe He is/ he answered, thought- 
 fully ; and then, in subdued tone, ' I will fear no evil.' 
 From his chamber * he could hear the singing in the 
 chapel, and followed the service closely. ' Now they 
 are singing now they are at prayer; there, that is 
 the second hymn now the sermon is beginning ; Lord, 
 bless my dear people ! " So wakeful was his ear 
 known to be to the sound of music, that the congre- 
 gation omitted singing in the service which preceded 
 his death ; a circumstance which at once evinced their 
 kindness, and gave a touching solemnity to their 
 worship. 
 
 In the settlement of the Rev. Charles Chapman, AM., 
 
 * The house was No. 28 Queen Street, opposite the chapel
 
 1857 : 70.] DEPAHTINQ. 24-1 
 
 his successor, he took the most lively and affectionate 
 interest. On the Sabbath before his death he expressed 
 a wish to see him ; and after speaking to him for a 
 few moments, and commending his church and family 
 to his care and kindness, he grasped his hand earn- 
 estly, and said, "Be faithful, be faithful; I hope the 
 chapel will be as full as it can hold ; and God bless 
 you." 
 
 At the commencement of his illness, he was tried by 
 great depression of spirits, chiefly arising from physical 
 causes ; but now that was over, and peace, and love, 
 and joy were with him to the end. "My dear," he 
 exclaimed to Mrs Knill, on the day before his death, 
 " I believe my Saviour will say to me, ' Well done.' " 
 Even in the wanderings of delirium, this joy of his 
 soul shone f orth. " They sent me to preach unto the 
 heathen the unsearchable riches of Christ ; and I did 
 it! I did it!" At length all power of speech left 
 him, and he lay apparently unconscious all New-year's- 
 day. He had heard and noticed the firing of the guns, 
 and the bells which rung the old year out and the new 
 year in ; and then gradually became quiet again, in the 
 early morning, looking his thanks for any attention 
 shewn him, and whispering, "Kiss me kiss me," to 
 the loved ones who were beside his bed. Within a few 
 hours before his death, observing that his head was in 
 an uncomfortable position, and that he was striving 
 
 q
 
 242 GLORY. [CHAP. XI. 
 
 ineffectually to move it, his daughter sought to relieve 
 him, saying as she did so to her mother, " Is not that 
 better?" The dying father evidently heard her, and 
 mistook the words for an inquiry if he were not 
 better, and immediately said, though with great diffi- 
 culty, "How are you, Mary?" love seeking, even in 
 death, to evade an answer that would give pain to his 
 child. These were his last words. A little after, as 
 the night was departing, he seemed to look round, as 
 though in search of some one ; and seeing this, his 
 wife drew closer to him and took his hand ; and his 
 daughter laid her hand upon his burning brow. Still 
 he appeared to gaze inquiringly, as if unconscious of 
 their presence, until the latter whispered, "We are 
 both here, dearest father, and Jesus is here, which is 
 far better." Instantly a faint smile answered her 
 words a look of heavenly gladness, and peace, and 
 rest and then his eyes gently closed in the sweet 
 "sleep which He giveth to His beloved." At six 
 o'clock in the morning of the 2d January 1857 
 he was " absent from the body and present with the 
 Lord." 
 
 On the 8th, the remains were borne through the 
 solemn streets the shops having been voluntarily 
 closed all along the route followed by a deeply affect- 
 ed multitude, and by ministers of every branch of the 
 Church of Christ ; the good Bishop of the diocese, who
 
 1857 : 70.] PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 243 
 
 joined the throng at the grave, interpreting the general 
 feeling by the remark, that there was "comfort in 
 taking the last look of a good man." The treasure 
 was deposited in the beautiful cemetery on the left bank 
 of the Dee ; where an appropriate monument, in addi- 
 tion to a mural tablet in the chapel, has since been 
 erected by his attached friends. 
 
 Even if the Editor had not regarded his office as 
 strictly historical, and endeavoured so to dispose the 
 materials at his command as to enable the reader to 
 form his own judgment of the individual to whom they 
 relate, any attempt to sum up his excellencies and im- 
 perfections would have been rendered unnecessary by 
 the contribution from another pen, with which, hap- 
 pily, the volume closes. The curiosity, however, which 
 naturally arises regarding the external appearance of 
 those in whom we are interested, may demand a few 
 additional words. 
 
 The prefixed portrait, which is taken from a painting 
 executed by an artist in the congregation at Chester, 
 very fairly represents Mr Knill in his latter years. His 
 height was about six feet, and his form well propor- 
 tioned. The complexion was fair, and the forehead 
 rather high than broad: what are understood as the 
 moral organs finely arching the head, upon which 
 rather a scanty supply of soft auburn hair was ga-
 
 244 PERSONAL APPEARANCE. , [CHAP. XL 
 
 thered. The mouth was small, and the lips so regu- 
 larly formed as to convey the idea of juvenile simpli- 
 city. The eyes were blue and full-orbed, having a 
 thoughtful more than a sprightly expression : the lids 
 being often allowed to drop as a curtain over them, 
 not only as he sat in the pulpit and on the platform, 
 but in the intervals of conversation, as if he sought 
 retirement. His voice was very powerful and me- 
 lodious, and went easily to the furthest limits of an 
 assembly. It was used without apparent art, and 
 seemed to follow the mental impulse. Prom the 
 loudest pitch he descended, without harsh abruptness, 
 to the quiet, confidential tone of conversation, in 
 which, generally, he introduced his anecdotes. It was 
 this melody and variety of intonation, united with his 
 open and manly bearing, almost as much as the con- 
 tagion of his emotions, which led to results which one 
 of the best judges of public speaking has acknow- 
 ledged. "I never saw a man/' says the Rev. Dr 
 Raffles, in the discourse preached in Queen Street 
 Chapel on the Sunday after the funeral, "who had 
 greater mastery over the assemblies of his fellow-men 
 than he ; and this was the secret, it was no studied 
 eloquence, it was no elaborate argument, it was no 
 oratorical flash that did it, it was the depth of ear- 
 nestness, that figured in the eye and found an utter- 
 ance and expression in the voice. That was it which
 
 1857 : 70.] PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 245 
 
 aroused and riveted his hearers, so that they hung 
 upon his lips and were carried onward by him, almost 
 unconsciously, as with a current they made no offer to 
 resist. How often have I seen him rise in the midst 
 of a meeting that had become all but frozen by pre- 
 vious speeches, when, with one or two sentences, the 
 whole had dissolved in a gush of intense feeling and 
 the joyous expression of satisfaction and delight ! 
 
 . . . . " Dearly beloved, departed friend ! very plea- 
 sant hast thou been to me: I cherish thy memory 
 with admiration and love ! 
 
 ' Thy chequer'd path in life is trod, 
 FiH.h changed for elory and for God."'
 
 Writfo 
 
 BY THE REV. J. A. JAMES. 
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 
 " I wish to say to you, Knill labour for Jesus Christ as 
 long as you have breath in your body." 
 
 YENNING THE PHILANTHROPIST.
 
 IN some of the paintings of the old masters there is 
 the work of more hands than one. The more import- 
 ant and prominent subjects of the picture were elabo- 
 rated by the artist who designed the piece, while the 
 subordinate parts were left for others to finish. Some- 
 thing like this occurs in the memoir of Eichard KnilL 
 My friend, Mr Birrell, has given us the portrait, and 
 has requested from me, as one who knew the original, 
 to supply some of the fillings-in of the picture ; and I 
 could not feel at liberty, in the present instance, to 
 decline this labour of love. The subject of the memoir 
 was so well known to me, and, on account of his great 
 devotedness and usefulness, held by me in such affec- 
 tion, esteem, and even reverence, that I feel honoured 
 in paying this tribute of respect to his memory, and in 
 recommending his example to notice and imitation. 
 
 The biographer has performed his office with judg- 
 ment and fidelity, and has given us a condensed account 
 of one of the most useful ministers of his age. He has 
 left him to speak for himself and tell his own story ;
 
 250 EEV. j. A. JAMES' EEVIEW. 
 
 and though we cannot but regret that he did not leave 
 behind more details of the varied scenes through which, 
 in his changeful and eventful life, he passed, yet more 
 than enough will be found for admiration and direction. 
 In this age of diluted biography, conciseness is so rare 
 that we are content to take a work which is the essence 
 of a man's life instead of a weak solution. It will be 
 found, even by those who knew some of the facts 
 before, a work of deep and instructive interest ; and it 
 is so correct a likeness, that, had it been possible to 
 conceal the name of its subject, it would, like one of 
 those truthful portraits which are without inscriptions, 
 have been recognised by all who were familiar with 
 the original. 
 
 Mr Knill was no ordinary man. His usefulness in 
 the way of conversion of souls to God was perhaps 
 greater, all things taken into account, than that of any 
 other man of his day in this kingdom. Wherever he 
 laboured, whether in the villages of Devon, in India, in 
 Russia, or in the various parts of England, he was 
 instrumental in awakening the impenitent and careless 
 to a deep concern for their eternal welfare. He entered 
 every place with that object in view, and in very few 
 instances left without having in some measure accom- 
 plished it. His usefulness lay not exclusively among 
 the poor: many persons of education, intelligence, and 
 station were brought, through him, under the influence 
 of evangelical religion. How seldom has the individual
 
 EEV. j. A. JAMES' KEVIEW. 251 
 
 been found, since "Whitfield's and Wesley's time, of 
 whom it could be said that there was reason to believe 
 he had been the instrument of converting a hundred 
 persons who, in one way or another, became preachers 
 of the gospel ! This, added to the multitude of other 
 persons who by his instrumentality were brought to 
 the Saviour of the world, is an amount of usefulness 
 which rarely falls to the lot of any minister of Christ. 
 It proves that he, above most, was "wise to win souls," 
 and that "God was with him." 
 
 Surely it should become with all, and especially with 
 the ministers of religion, an inquiry by what means 
 this amount of usefulness was accomplished. Such a 
 man's life should be a study; yet it is to be feared 
 that, in this age of " intellectualism/' many will deem 
 it beneath their notice. True, he had no splendid 
 talents, no brilliant genius, no lofty imagination ; he 
 possessed neither scholarship nor philosophy ; he was 
 neither an acute metaphysician, nor an accurate logi- 
 cian, no, nor even a profound theologian. But he was 
 something greater, higher and holier than all this, he 
 was a devoted servant of Christ, a hero of the cross, an 
 eminently successful preacher of the gospel. He made 
 no pretence to greatness; yet, if saving souls be a 
 great work, he was great. He made no attempt at 
 display ; he coveted not, he attempted not to be philo- 
 sophical or intellectual, yet he was master and preacher 
 of the profoundest of all philosophies, and the deepest
 
 252 KEY. J. A. JAMES' KEVIEW. 
 
 of all intellectualisms the gospel of salvation. He 
 was no orator, in the conventional meaning of that 
 term, yet had he the power of rousing, fixing, and 
 holding the attention of an audience, far above what 
 most elaborate and intellectual preachers possess. He 
 was no rhetorician, nor, if eloquence consist of great 
 and original conceptions clothed with glowing imagery 
 and splendid diction, could he pretend to this : his 
 eloquence was that of the heart, gushing out in streams 
 of impassioned feeling, which carried away his hearers 
 on the tide of his own emotion the eloquence of a 
 man on fire with zeal for God, and melted into com- 
 passion for souls hovering on the verge of the bottom- 
 less pit the eloquence of faith and love. Like Paul, 
 he was a man of tears, and often drew forth the tears 
 of others by the magic power of his own full eyes and 
 faltering voice; or, like Paul's Master weeping over 
 Jerusalem, Knill would often weep over the audience 
 before him. The minister who would turn from the 
 delineation of such a man because he had no claim 
 to be a genius, or a subtle reasoner, or an original 
 thinker, or a poetic sentimentalist, or a dreamy mystic, 
 and was nothing but an earnest preacher of the gospel, 
 has reason to doubt whether he knows that the salva- 
 tion of souls is the great object of the Christian 
 ministry, and is above all scholarship and all philo- 
 sophy. It is much to be desired, then, that this work 
 should be read by our whole ministry, to see what may
 
 EEV. j. A. JAMES' KEVIEW. 253 
 
 be done even by a man of moderate abilities, whose 
 heart is set in him to be useful, and who is inspired 
 and moved by the purpose of saving souls. 
 
 We now take up the inquiry after the means by 
 which he attained to so great a measure of usefulness. 
 It is evident that it was, in a great degree, to be attri- 
 buted to his intense desire after it. He set out in 
 life with the adoption of that mighty, impulsive, and 
 glorious word, USEFULNESS ; and usefulness, with him, 
 meant converting sinners. He yearned for the salva- 
 tion of souls. It was, with him, not merely a principle, 
 or a privilege, but a passion. For this he longed and 
 prayed in the closet, wrote in the study, laboured in 
 the pulpit, conversed in the parlour, and admonished, 
 counselled, and warned wherever he went. It was his 
 conviction, that his talent and temperament were more 
 especially adapted for the work of conversion, and 
 thence his sermons contained invariably a large portion 
 of the truths which conduct to it. They were to a 
 considerable extent made up of first principles, and were 
 not so much calculated for leading on a congregation 
 to perfection. As regards the pastoral style of preach- 
 ing, it is by no means necessary or proper that this 
 should be its character to the exclusion of more in- 
 structive and profound teaching. Few of our congre- 
 gations are mere nurseries for babes who are to be fed 
 with milk; in most of them there are Christians of 
 full age, young men and fathers, who require strong
 
 254 REV. j. A. JAMES' REVIEW. 
 
 meat; and, therefore, Mr Knill, though valued as a 
 preacher, cannot be held up for indiscriminating imita- 
 tion. What we desiderate is more of Ms simple, direct, 
 earnest, heart-affecting method of address, grafted, as 
 much as possible, upon a more enlarged and enlight- 
 ened course of pulpit ministration. 
 
 It is, I think, an error into which many of our 
 modern ministers, whose education has been carried to 
 a high pitch, have fallen, that everything is to be done 
 by the head rather than the heart. We know very 
 well that the true method is to reach the heart through 
 the head, and that men must be made to feel by being 
 shewn why they should feel, and what is to make them 
 feel. But in very many cases, especially in the least 
 educated, the head is to be reached by appeals to the 
 heart. We often hear the remark, " Yes, it was a clever 
 sermon, but it wanted heart. It sparkled like the 
 stars, or shone like the moon on a wintry night, but 
 it warmed no one/' I have been sometimes struck, as 
 every one else must have been, with the varying effect 
 produced by different speakers at a public meeting ; 
 and how much more power over the audience, and how 
 much more the object of the meeting has been accom- 
 plished, by a few gushes of simple eloquence from the 
 heart of some earnest and ardent advocate, than by the 
 elaborate but passionless pleader. The latter was 
 coldly admired, and admitted to be an eloquent 
 speaker ; but the former melted and moved his audi-
 
 EEV. j. A. JAMES' KEVIEW. 255 
 
 ence by the depth and intensity of his own feeling. 
 And as with speaking so it is with preaching. Mr 
 Knill often did with a few touches of genuine emotion 
 what others could not do with great and lengthened 
 elaboration. 
 
 It must be conceded, that the unction of a warm- 
 hearted preacher depends, in considerable measure, on 
 natural temperament ; a man must have an emotional 
 organisation to be an emotional preacher; and it is, 
 after all, a miserable exhibition when an excess of 
 emotion is brought forward as a substitute for a defi- 
 ciency of intelligence, and tears are made to supply the 
 place of thoughts. I am not quite sure that our friend 
 did not occasionally border on this deficiency. His 
 tears, the fountain of which was always full and always 
 open, like those of Paul, were a part of his power, and 
 often gave irresistible effect to what he said ; but now 
 and then they enervated his address. 
 
 The usefulness of Mr Knill, however, was not exclu- 
 sively the result of his preaching. The passion for the 
 conversion of souls which he manifested in the pulpit, 
 and which led him to seek it with such earnestness 
 there, he brought with him out of the sanctuary, and 
 carried into more private spheres, as the great object 
 of life and principle of action. Like the enthusiastic 
 botanist, geologist, or entomologist, he was ever in 
 pursuit of his object, and looking out for fresh means 
 of gaining it. It was his felicity to have rarely to say,
 
 256 REV. j. A. JAMES' KEVIEW. 
 
 " / have lost an opportunity." How few, how very few 
 of us have attained to this watchfulness for occasions 
 of usefulness ! Our friend, no doubt, had a peculiar 
 tact for this way of doing good a talent which exists 
 in various degrees in different persons, but \\ hich ought 
 to be, and may be, cultivated by all. Whether it was 
 the servant girl that waited upon him in the house of a 
 friend, or the host and hostess themselves, or the fel- 
 low-traveller in the railway carriage, or the porter at 
 an inn, or a person he casually met on the road, or a 
 sailor on the sea-beach, he had a tract or a word gene- 
 rally an apt word for each. In every one, he saw an 
 immortal being on his passage to eternity, and he longed 
 to be the instrument of his conversion. Oh, what 
 multitudes would be converted to God, and how changed 
 would be the face of society, if all ministers and all 
 Christians were thus set upon the work of saving souls ! 
 And why should they not be ? True, they may not have 
 Mr Knill's tact for the work ; but they may do much 
 if they have the heart to do it. Something, no doubt, 
 may in his case be set down to natural temperament. 
 He was impulsive, eager, active, and possessed of great 
 sensibility. He had an ardent, and, if we may so say, 
 an outgoing soul. Then there was dauntless moral cou- 
 rage and an unflinching boldness of address : witness 
 his distribution of religious tracts, while yet a youth, 
 to the North Devon Militia ; his venturing into the 
 company of ungodly and sneering officers in India,
 
 EEV. j. A. JAMES' EEVIEW. 257 
 
 when lie knew their object in inviting him ; and his 
 occupancy of the theatre, and his preaching in a series 
 of towns in his old age. He knew not fear in the ser- 
 vice of his Master. This is a noble quality of soul, and 
 an important aid to usefulness. We should all do 
 more good if we had more of this spiritual heroism. 
 Before such a man the proudest spirits " stand abashed, 
 and feel how awful goodness is." Have we not all too 
 often quailed before those whom we have felt afraid of 
 assailing even with the weapons of argument, persua- 
 sion, and love, and have come away from the company 
 of some whom we should have tried to save, with the 
 shame and self-reproach of a spiritual coward ? I am 
 fully aware that it requires great delicacy and caution 
 how we thus aim to do good by introducing religion to 
 those whom we casually meet, lest we disgust and affront 
 by our apparent rudeness, and rouse the prejudices of 
 those whom we wish to conciliate. I am not quite 
 sure that Mr Knill was always judicious. There were 
 instances, I believe, though rare, in which he was a 
 little too abrupt in his address, and perhaps sometimes 
 " cast his pearls before swine." Yet he never merged 
 the. politeness of the gentleman in the zeal of the Chris- 
 tian ; and there was an honesty, a frankness, a kindli- 
 ness of manner in him such an obvious benevolence 
 of intention, such affection beaming in his looks, such a 
 tone of tenderness in his words, such an unmistakable 
 design and desire to benefit the persons he addressed,
 
 258 EEV. j. A. JAMES' REVIEW. 
 
 that it was almost impossible for any one to whom he 
 spoke to be offended with him. We must beware of a 
 species of knight-errantry in religion, and of that spi- 
 ritual garrulousness in which some very talkative pro- 
 fessors indulge, who measure their zeal by their volu- 
 bility, and who are regarded by all who know them as 
 religious bores or pharisaic zealots. But oh, what an 
 enviable talent is tact in doing good by private conver- 
 sation with those into whose society we are casually 
 thrown ! By many, I know, the introduction of reli- 
 gion in the way of personal address, especially if the 
 person be treated as unconverted, is considered as a 
 breach of good manners and a mark of vulgarity ; and 
 too many pious people, and ministers also, yield to this 
 conventionalism, and pass through life without ever 
 attempting thus to do good. But can this be right? 
 Is it not a cowardly, guilty silence ? If we have found 
 the secret of happiness for both worlds, should we not 
 in all proper ways seek to make it known to others ? 
 
 There was another way in which Mr Knill extended 
 his usefulness, and that was by writing and publishing 
 short, striking religious tracts, as well as reprinting some 
 that had been written by others. His ovm contained 
 no great depth of thought, and nothing that displayed 
 genius ; but, generally founded on some fact, they were 
 eminently calculated to engage the attention and to 
 interest the feelings of the reader. They obtained, he 
 tells us. a circulation of some millions, were translated
 
 EEV. J. A. JAMES' REVIEW. 259 
 
 into several languages, and were greatly honoured for 
 the conversion of souls. It was his own pithy saying, 
 " One tract may save a soul ; " and in thousands of in- 
 stances his, by God's grace, have done this. The man 
 who writes one good, popular, useful religious tract, 
 has done a work worth living for, though he did nothing 
 else. There is a time coming when the author of " The 
 Swearer's Prayer " will have more joy in his simple 
 leaflet than Milton in the production of "Paradise 
 Lost." Why then do not Christian writers more fre- 
 quently try to send over their own land, and over 
 more lands than one, those winged messengers of mercy 
 by which, under the blessing of God, they shall convert 
 souls while they live, and speak for the same purpose 
 when they are dead ? It must be confessed, however, 
 that peculiar tact is necessary for such a work. The 
 man who could write a large and learned volume would, 
 in some cases, find it difficult to write a good popular 
 tract ; just as he who could forge an anchor might not 
 be able to make a jewel or a pin ! But are there not 
 many who could do so if they tried ? 
 
 It is not always that such ardour in the way of 
 doing good as Mr Knill evinced is associated with and 
 guided by such discretion as he generally manifested 
 throughout the whole of his career. Impulsive and 
 sanguine temperaments are always liable to erratic 
 movements ; and many a fervent spirit is set on fire and 
 consumes itself by the velocity of its own unchecked
 
 2GO EEV. J. A. JAMES' EEVIEW. 
 
 motion. Zeal, like fire, needs to be watched and kept 
 in its own place, or, instead of warming the house, it 
 may burn it down. No one can read the foregoing 
 pages without being convinced that Mr Knill, with all 
 his impetuosity in his useful career, was singularly 
 guided by wisdom. Ever active, amid the jealousy of 
 the Eussian Government and the vigilance of the Greek 
 Church, he never fatally committed himself. He knew 
 well, what is not often the case with ardent minds, 
 how to direct and when to limit his zeal. This, as 
 Avell as his watchfulness for opportunities of usefulness, 
 and his eagerness to seize them as they presented them- 
 selves, was finely manifested in his exhumation of the 
 Russian Bibles from the vaults in which they were 
 buried, and fast going to decay ; and also his extensive 
 sale of Bibles to the Finlanders. He thus did an 
 immense amount of good without alarming the fears 
 or awakening the suspicions of the authorities. How 
 important is it, in all our endeavours to be useful, to 
 study the best way of being so ! Zeal should have 
 eyes and ears as well as hands and feet ; should keep 
 both open, and make good use of their testimony. 
 
 What kept Mr Knill thus active and ardent in his 
 career of usefulness was his fervent piety. If he had 
 a tongue of fire, it was because the flame of devotion 
 was bright and ever burning in his soul. Few men in 
 modern times entered more deeply into the apostle's 
 words. " The love of Christ constraineth us." By this.
 
 EEV. j. A. JAMES' KEVIEW. 261 
 
 as a torrent, which he was as little able as he was 
 willing to resist, he was borne energetically and success- 
 fully along in his course. He lived within sight of the 
 cross, and felt the "powers of the world to come." 
 His diary exhibits the springs of his action, the source 
 of his energies, and the secret of his success. He was 
 eminently a man of prayer, and did everything in the 
 spirit of prayer. His communion with God was close 
 and constant. He came from the closet strengthened 
 for his work in the pulpit and in the city, and went 
 back to his closet, not only for repose and refreshment, 
 but to be strengthened and prepared for further labour. 
 This made him " strong in the Lord and in the power 
 of His might." And why are any of God's servants 
 feeble in action, but because they are weak in devotion? 
 "We live in days when Christians are far less in the 
 closet than they should be. The study and the count- 
 ing-house encroach upon the closet. We are preaching- 
 men and business-men, but not so much as we should 
 be ptaying-men. What mighty men in prayer were 
 our great ancestors, the Howes, the Owens, the Baxters, 
 and the Henrys ! How they must have wrestled in the 
 closet to send forth such words as they did from the 
 study ! Where is their mantle ? Doddridge and 
 Watts found it, and dropped it again for such men as 
 Payson, M'Cheyne, and Knill. They, in their turn, let 
 it fall. Would God we could find it ! What is wanted 
 among us is a deeper-toned piety, a more devotional
 
 262 EEV. j. A. JAMES' REVIEW. 
 
 spirit. Oh for a fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit 
 a revived ministry, and a revived Church a race of 
 preachers and of people whose whole character and 
 conduct shall bear, in letters which every one that sees 
 must read, the inscription on the mitre of the High 
 Priest, "Holiness to the Lord!" We complain of a 
 want of usefulness. Have we any reason to wonder 
 that we should have cause to complain ? Is our piety 
 such as to make us burning as well as shining lights ? 
 Are we as intense in devotion as we are earnest in 
 business and in study ? We should all be more useful 
 if we were more holy. 
 
 It will perhaps be asked, if I would hold up Mr Knill 
 as a standard by which all should be tried, and a 
 model which all should imitate? In some things I 
 would. In his singular devotedness, and consecration 
 to his work ; in his deep conviction and clear percep- 
 tion that the salvation of souls is the great end of the 
 ministerial office ; in his intense desire and constant 
 endeavour, in all ways, to reach this end ; in the pre- 
 vailing evangelism and earnestness of his sermons ; in 
 his eminent piety and devout spirit ; in his loving dis- 
 position and kindly bearing ; in his simplicity, fidelity, 
 and courage, in all these things I would commend 
 his example as what we should endeavour to copy. 
 Still it would be unfair and unwise to expect that all 
 should in everything exactly resemble him. Most 
 men have idiosyncrasies, and he had his, which do not
 
 REV. j. A. JAMES' EEVIEW. 263 
 
 belong to others, and should not be slavishly copied by 
 them. The God of nature had much to do in the con- 
 stitution of his mind and tendencies, as well as the 
 God of grace with the sanctification of his heart. 
 Very few could do exactly as he did. And is not the 
 wisdom of God manifested in that variety of talent 
 and gifts which is apparent in the ministers of Christ, 
 so that as there are great differences of mental 
 habitudes among the hearers of the gospel, there 
 should be corresponding differences among its preach- 
 ers? Let not, therefore, the readers of this memoir 
 make comparisons between its subject and their own 
 pastors, and querulously and unthoughtfully say, 
 " Ours are not as he." Perhaps not, and yet they may 
 be very good ministers still Nevertheless, that his 
 burning ardour for the salvation of souls, and his un- 
 wearied endeavours in that work, might and should be 
 possessed by us all, is very true ; and I am not without 
 hope, that this volume has its mission to stir us up to 
 a spirit like his own. 
 
 In the retrospect of a long life, now drawing to a 
 close, during which I have watched, of course, the 
 career, and observed the mode of action, of many of 
 my brethren, I have noticed great diversity in the 
 results of their ministry ; and I have most assuredly 
 seen, that where they have been intensely earnest for 
 the salvation of souls, and have sought this by a 
 style of preaching adapted to accomplish it, God has
 
 204 REV. j. A. JAMES' EEVIEW. 
 
 honoured their endeavours by giving them success. 
 If, without impropriety, I may refer here, as I be- 
 lieve I have done elsewhere, to the service which, dur- 
 ing fifty-four years, I have been allowed to render to 
 our great Master, I may declare my thankfulness in 
 being able, in some small degree, to rejoice that the 
 conversion of sinners has been my aim. I have made, 
 next to the Bible, Baxter's "Eeformed Pastor" my rule 
 as regards the object of my ministry. It were well 
 if that volume were often read by all our pastors, a 
 study which I now earnestly recommend to them. I 
 sometimes venture to hope that it has kindled in me a 
 spark but oh, how dim ! of that spirit which actuated 
 Mr Knill. In regard to all that constitutes earnest- 
 ness, I blush before his statue, as it rises before me in 
 this volume, and confess my shortcomings in the work 
 of the Lord. Standing, as I now do, in the prospect 
 of the close of my ministry, of the eternal world, and 
 of my summons to the presence of the great Lord of 
 all, the salvation of souls, as the object of the ministry, 
 appears to me, more than ever before, in all its awful 
 sublimity. Everything else, as compared with this, 
 seems but as the small dust of the balance ; and 
 though, perhaps, not altogether an idler in the vine- 
 yard of the Lord, it is now my grief and my surprise 
 that I have not been more devoted and more laborious. 
 Defects, omissions, and errors, come out before our 
 view in the evening of life, and especially when it is
 
 IIEV. J. A. JAMES' KEVIEW. 265 
 
 spent, as mine now must be, in retirement, solitude, 
 and suffering, which we did not perceive during the 
 burden and bustle of the day. To my younger 
 brethren I say, You are engaged in the greatest work 
 in the universe ; for in preaching for the salvation of 
 souls, you are brought into fellowship with God in His 
 eternal purposes of mercy to the children of men ; with 
 our Lord Jesus Christ in His redeeming work upon the 
 cross ; with the Holy Spirit in His mission to our 
 world ; and with prophets, apostles, and martyrs. 
 Heaven, through eternity, will resound with the 
 praises of your diligence, or hell with lamentations and 
 execrations upon your neglect. Happy will it be for 
 you, and happy for your flocks, if the perusal of this 
 volume should help you to find and to wear the mantle 
 of Bichard KnilL 
 
 J. A. J. 
 
 September 30, 1859.
 
 266 POSTSCEIPT. 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 WHILE the proofs of these concluding pages, accom- 
 panied by the Preface, are yet returning to the press, 
 the public telegrams announce to all parts of Eng- 
 land that John Angell James is no more! The 
 intelligence will travel to the utmost limits of our lan- 
 guage, and be told, at length, in all the tongues in 
 which his heart-stirring thoughts have ever been read, 
 filling thousands with such sorrow as springs only from 
 the loss of a father. With what solemnity does this 
 event stamp these his last utterances ! A life com- 
 pletely filled with labours for the highest welfare of 
 mankind could not surely have been more fitly closed. 
 [t seems as if his Lord, with touching kindness, had 
 given him this latest opportunity of bearing testimony 
 to the importance and blessedness of His service. 
 
 A bound set of the sheets of this Memoir was sent 
 to him about a month ago, with little hope that he 
 would be able to add to them. But, after glancing 
 over the volume, he was so warmed by the kindred 
 spirit of Knill that he resolved to throw his generous 
 impressions into writing. His continual sufferings 
 greatly increased the difficulty of composition, and, 
 after doing his uttermost, he wrote to say that the re- 
 sult was so unsatisfactory to himself that he could send 
 nothing. But immediately after the despatch of that
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 267 
 
 decision he happily changed his rnind, and sent the 
 manuscript, accompanied by an expression of the hope 
 that it would be found so unsuitable as to be returned. 
 It was, however, too much prized to be so treated ; 
 and, with a very few alterations, it reached him in 
 print on the day prior to his departure. He at once 
 proceeded to its revision, in the course of which he de- 
 tected several inaccuracies in the printing, which had 
 escaped other eyes, and inserted two or three qualify- 
 ing words. This was his last work on earth. He felt 
 that it was ; for as soon as it was finished, he wrote to 
 the Editor, with unusual distinctness of penmanship, as 
 if every word had been deliberately weighed, a letter 
 it is presumed his last of which the following passage 
 is the chief part : 
 
 " EDGBASTON, 30^ Sept. 1859. 
 
 "... I think it probable that with these few notes 
 on dear Knill's life and labours I shall lay down my 
 pen, which has written much : would God it had writ- 
 ten better ! But while I say this, I am not without 
 hope, yea, I may add, conviction, that it has, in some 
 measure, written usefully. In some humble degree I 
 have aimed at usefulness, both in my preaching and 
 writing, and God has, to an amount which utterly 
 astonishes and almost overwhelms me, given me what 
 I have sought. It seems a daring and almost pre- 
 sumptuous expression, but with a proper qualifica-
 
 268 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 tion it is a true one that usefulness is within the 
 reach of us all. The man who intensely desires to be 
 useful, and takes the proper means, will be useful. 
 God will not withhold His grace from such desires and 
 such labours. Oh, my brother, how delightful is it, 
 notwithstanding the humbling and sorrowful conscious- 
 ness of defects and sins, to look back upon a life 
 spent for Christ ! I thank a sovereign God I am not 
 without some degree of this." 
 
 In an hour or two after this letter was sealed, the 
 summons came from his Divine Master, and when next 
 morning dawned upon us he was with Him in glory. 
 May his mantle be found and worn by thousands ! 
 
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