37? 
 
REESE LIBRARY 
 
 OF THK 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Receive^. 
 Accessions No.2tJT'2~4j- Shelf No. 
 
GOD 
 
 THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 AND 
 
 THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 OR, A DISPLAY OF THE PROVIDENCES OP GOD, WHICH HAVE AT SUNDRY TIMES 
 ATTENDED THE AUTHOR. 
 
 i 
 
 BY WILLIAM ^HUNTINGTON, S. S. 
 
 Minister of the Gospel at Providence Chapel, Little Titchfield street, and at Monkwell street Meeting. 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 And he said unto them, When I sent you without pun*, arid scrip, and 
 
 , , , 
 
 hoes, lacked ye any thing f and they said, Nothing. Luke xiii. 35. 
 
 8KOOND AMEKICAN, FROM THE SEVENTH LONDON EDITION. 
 
 LOWELL: 
 
 P. D. & T. S. EDMANDS. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 SAXTON & PEIRCE. 
 
 1842. 
 
Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-one, by 
 
 P. D. & T. S. EDMANDS, 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts. 
 
 BOSTON. 
 
 PRINTED BY 8. N. DICKINSON, 
 WASHINGTON STREET. 
 
UNIVERSITY 
 
 TO THE 
 
 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES OF CHRIST, 
 
 AT 
 
 PROVIDENCE CHAPEL IN LONDON, 
 
 AND AT 
 
 RICHMOND IN SURREY. 
 
 Dearly beloved in the Lord Jesus, and longed-for in the 
 bowels of Christ whom I love in the faith, and to whom 
 the love of Christ hath constrained me to become a debtor 
 grace, mercy, and peace, be multiplied among you, 
 through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
 
 I CHOSE to dedicate this little treatise to you, because, 
 sometimes, those providences which appear rather out of 
 the common line, are hard nuts in the mouth of a weak be- 
 liever ; but some of you have known me from the beginning, . 
 and have been eye-witnesses of most of the Jfacts which I j 
 am going to relate. And if you will allow me to make an 
 honest confession, my conscience has often lashed rne for 
 not keeping a diary, or rather minuting down the many 
 conspicuous providences of God, which have appeared to 
 me in times of trouble ; but like ungrateful Israel, I went 
 the only way to forget his works, and to be unmindful of 
 the rock of my salvation ; and now I have nothing to trust / 
 to on this occasion but my own treacherous memory, un- 
 
IV DEDICATION. 
 
 less the Lord be pleased to send the Comforter to me ; and 
 if he come, he will "bring all things to my remembrance," 
 whatsoever God hath said unto me in a way of providence. 
 
 I am sure " the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof, 
 the world and all that is therein ; all the cattle of the forest 
 are his, and so are the flocks of a thousand hills yea, the 
 corn, and the wine, the oil, the wool, and the flax;" yea, 
 and even the wicked deceiver, as well as the deceived, are 
 the Lord's ; and it is he that maketh one man poor and 
 another rich ; that bringeth down and lifteth up ; " and no 
 man can add to the fixed stature of God, whether the stature 
 be in grace or in providence. 
 
 " The battle," saith the wise man, " is not to the strong, 
 nor the race to the swift, nor bread to men of skill ; " the 
 weak are often seen to win the field, and the cripple to win 
 the heavenly race; and even fools to accumulate the great- 
 est fortunes. There is no adding a cubit to this stature, 
 even in the least circumstance then why take we thought 
 for the rest ? 
 
 I believe God never intended me to be a preacher to the 
 rich, because he has ever kept me dependent on his provi- 
 dence. Had I been rich, I might have been tempted to 
 trust in uncertain riches ; and I know well that " where the 
 treasure is, there will the heart be also." It must be a hard 
 task to preach against covetousness while the heart is trad- 
 ing at the stocks. I fear this is the case with some who are 
 called ministers ; but sin always brings its own punishment 
 with it such can have no communion with God, nor 
 peace of conscience ; for it is sin that separateth between 
 God and the soul ; and the love of money is the root of all 
 evil. Nor have I any reason to believe that God ever in- 
 tended me for a preacher to please pharisees, because he 
 hath for many years given me an humbling sight, and a deep 
 
DEDICATION. V 
 
 sense of my own wretched depravity ; so that I dare not 
 place any confidence in the flesh, nor even in the fruits of 
 faith ; knowing that a man can merit nothing, allowing that 
 he were able to keep the law perfectly "When ye have 
 done all these things, say, We are unprofitable servants ; we 
 have done no more than was our duty to do." But I come 
 infinitely short of doing all, therefore can never boast of 
 doing a part. By nature we are all fond of a specious form 
 of religion; and God permitted me to use a dry form for 
 many years; but he never regarded any of those prayers 
 put up by me, nor removed the guilt of my sin, in answer 
 to them ; therefore, to use an English proverb, " I shall 
 never speak well of that bridge, because it never bore me 
 safe over the stream." 
 
 I know that God tells us to turn away from those who 
 " have a form of godliness," but deny the power thereof. 
 And dry forms of devotion, used by people who deny the 
 grace and spirit of God, is no better than a stage for anti- 
 christ, a varnish for sepulchres, Matt, xxiii. 27 ; an apparel 
 for harlots, Isa. iv. 1 ; a winding-sheet for pharisees, Isa. 
 xxx. 1 ; a bribe of dead works put into the hands of an 
 honest conscience, Heb. ix. 14 ; a trading stock for blind 
 guides, Isa. Ivi. 11; a dish of husks to stifle convictions, 
 Luke xv. 16 ; a mongrel service offered to God and Mam- 
 mon, Mat. vi. 24 ; the mimicry of hypocrites, Mat xv. 8 ; 
 a starting hole to shun the cross, Isa. xlii. 22 ; and infideli- 
 ty's last refuge. 
 
 God permitted me for many years to try what a form of 
 devotion would do for me ; but, like the poor woman in the 
 gospel, I got worse instead of better ; therefore was obliged 
 to lay it by, and let the words of my mouth be the medita- 
 tions of my heart. In this way the Holy Ghost helped my 
 infirmities ; therefore I must preach up spiritual prayer ; 
 
VI DEDICATION. 
 
 and, as Christ answered the spirit's call, I must preach 
 Jesus as the eternal God that hears and answers prayer. 
 This is a part of the ministry which I have received of the 
 Lord ; and I hope, through grace, to take heed to it, and 
 fulfil it. 
 
 I believe God intended that I should preach faith ; be- 
 cause he has kept me dependent by faith on himself both 
 for spiritual and temporal supplies. And I am persuaded 
 that he intended me for a minister to the ignorant and to 
 the poor. To the ignorant, because he sent me to preach, 
 and gave me many seals to my ministry, before I could read 
 a chapter in .the Bible with propriety to the poor, be- 
 cause he sent me without a penny in my pocket ; therefore, 
 as a minister of the poor, I hope to magnify mine office. 
 
 The vanity of worldly wisdom the excellency of divine 
 knowledge the uncertainty of worldly riches the pre- 
 ciousness of faith's wealth the blessed religion of Jesus, 
 and the insufficiency of human inventions all these seem 
 to be some of the things belonging to the gospel which is 
 committed to my trust. And I know that it becomes a 
 steward to be found faithful, and not to waste his master's 
 goods. 
 
 What farther convinces me of my being appointed by 
 God for a preacher to the poor is this that the many seals 
 of my ministry consisf chiefly of the poor, both in town and 
 country; so that I can adopt with propriety the language of 
 the apostle, and say, " You see your calling, brethren, how 
 that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, 
 not many noble, are called : but God hath chosen the fool- 
 ish things of the world to confound the wise ; and God hath 
 chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things 
 that are mighty ; and base things of the world, and things 
 which are despised, hath God chosen ; yea, and things which 
 
DEDICATION. Vll 
 
 are not, to bring to nought things that are, that no flesh 
 should glory in his presence." 1 Cor. i. 27, 28. 
 
 Although my ministry is chiefly among the poor, yet it is 
 a copy the Saviour has set, and it is very much like his 
 own ; for no man can prove Jesus a rich man after the 
 flesh, nor a scholar after the flesh, nor a doctor after the 
 flesh, nor a bishop after the flesh. And as for the followers 
 of his personal ministry, they were poor; for "unto the 
 poor the gospel was preached : " and those who received 
 the glad tidings were babes in human knowledge "I 
 thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou 
 hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast 
 revealed them unto babes ; even so, Father, for so it seem- 
 eth good in thy sight." Let us then take all the encourage- 
 ment which God has given us to be contented in our re- 
 spective stations, even though it be in servitude ; for Jesus 
 was among men as one that serveth. As Christ himself 
 then is entirely on our side of the question, let us evermore 
 rejoice in this glorious pattern. 
 
 One reason for my writing this treatise is, because we are 
 often tempted to believe that God takes no notice of our 
 temporal concerns. As the thoughts of the salvation of our 
 souls lie near our hearts, and as that is of the greatest im- 
 portance, we think God will not forget that ; but as for our 
 private concerns in life, we suppose that they are beneath 
 his notice and inspection. This latter is a temptation from 
 the devil ; and such I hope I shall make it appear in the 
 following treatise. 
 
 Another reason why I have written this book is, that the 
 word of God abounds with many similar circumstances of 
 the divine providence of God ; such as, changing the color 
 of Jacob's flocks and herds the Lord making Abraham 
 rich in cattle feeding the prophet by a raven multiply- 
 
VI11 DEDICATION. 
 
 ing the widow's oil and meal sending the apostles out 
 without purse or scrip feeding Israel in the wilderness* 
 with manna and cutting off that rich glutton Nabal, in 
 order to relieve poor hungry David. All these are striking 
 instances of God's tender regard for the poor of his flock. 
 
 I shall only treat of what hath occurred in the course of 
 my own experience, of which things many of you are liv- 
 ing witnesses. And may God bless the work for the en- 
 couragement of his children's faith, patience, and watch- 
 fulness. To this end I shall descend to tljejnostjrnmute 
 circumstances, in order to show the narrow inspection of 
 God into the affairs of those who put their trust in him. 
 
 I am aware of the reproach that will be cast upon such 
 a work, as also upon the author; but this doth in no wise 
 concern me. I only wish that I were as free from every 
 sin as I am from the carnal fear of man ; I believe I should 
 then shortly preach up sinless perfection. If we preachers 
 get proud, worldly, and lifeless, we generally fall into dis- 
 esteem with the most lively Christians : and, if the presence 
 of God doth not keep up our reputation among these right- 
 eous ones, we generally begin to undermine the reputation 
 of those who cleave closer to God than ourselves ; and en- 
 deavor to establish a character upon the ruins of other 
 men's reputation ; and, while we are carrying on this busi- 
 ness, God sets others to undermine ours. " As ye mete, so 
 shall it be measured to you again." This is God's balance. 
 And the wise man's appeal to conscience is, " Also take no 
 heed unto all words that are spoken, lest thou hear thy ser- 
 vant curse thee ; for oftentimes also thine own heart know- 
 eth that thou thyself likewise hast cursed others." Eccles. 
 vii. 21. 
 
 The first little treatise which I wrote was condemned by 
 many, who at the same time never understood it ; but God 
 
D EDI CATION. IX 
 
 blessed it to several souls, to their happy deliverance ; and 
 if God sets his seal to it, we have no cause to look to the ap- 
 probation of any other. Wh^n ' THE SKELETON' first appear- 
 ed, the complaint was that it was wrote in a bad spirit ; 
 that the divinity was tolerable but the spirit was bad. a Sound 
 divinity and zeal for God, flowing from a bad spirit, is like 
 the old contradiction we read of " How can Satan cast 
 out Satan ? " However, although there were many who 
 condemned it in private, yet I rejoice ; because several of 
 them plundered the very bowels of it to preach in public. 
 I should like to see a treatise upon the operations of the 
 Holy Ghost, written by some of those who are infallible ; 
 and then I should know, according to their views, how far 
 that blessed Spirit ought to go in his operations, and where 
 he ought to stop, according to their decree. If Elijah was 
 on earth, I believe he would be loaded with as many re- 
 proaches of uncharitableness as I have been. But why 
 should I wonder at this, when Christ himself was accused 
 by the doctors of old of preaching and working under the 
 influence of a bad spirit ! They said that he cast out devils 
 by Beelzebub the prince of devils. I would caution these 
 infallible gentlemen, however, not to be too hasty in ascrib- 
 ing a work which God owns and blesses to the dictates of 
 an evil spirit, " lest haply they be found even to fight against 
 God," the Holy Ghost. I much question if they are very 
 well acquainted with that blessed Spirit's tuition; for, if 
 they were, they would not talk at that rate. Natural affec- 
 tions are often mistaken for the operations of the spirit of 
 God ; but Christ sharply rebuked Peter for savoring the 
 things of men more than the things of God. And I know 
 that all the affections of nature are contra-distinguished from 
 the influences or fruits of the spirit, by one who is an infal- 
 lible judge. " That which is born of the flesh is flesh ; and 
 
X DEDICATION 
 
 that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Marvel not that 
 I said unto thee, Thou must be born again." The new 
 man must come forth, and the old man must be crucified 
 throughout. 
 
 I own that natural affections are some of the best rags of 
 fallen nature; but, as they are natural, they must not be 
 mistaken for, nor coupled with, the Holy Ghost. " All 
 mortality shall be swallowed up of life," when he who only 
 hath immortality shall appear. Therefore make not that 
 your celestial covering which is to be no more than your 
 grave clothes. All these cloths and napkins must be wrapt 
 together by themselves when Christ mystical shall awake 
 and sing ; for we hope to be delivered from the whole body 
 of sin and death ; because it is under this we groan, being 
 burdened. Some, indeed, have no brighter views of heaven 
 than Mahomet in his Alcoran. " I speak this to their 
 shame ; " for some professors are ready to repeat the old in- 
 quiry, " How are the dead raised up?" and with what crop 
 of natural affections do they come 1 To whom I answer : 
 The old, the natural grain, must entirely die, that the new 
 and spiritual harvest may take place. " The seed which 
 thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but 
 bare grain." 
 
 However, God hath blessed 'The Skeleton,' to many souls, 
 which satisfies me. And, whether men approve or disap- 
 prove of the work, it matters not : for I find by history, that 
 the book of the Revelations, written by John the divine, 
 though it contains a certain and full prediction of all future 
 events, both in churches and states, and a concise recapitu- 
 lation of all past occurrences, was almost universally reject- 
 ed by infallible prelates in the primitive church of Christ, 
 (though Christ sent his angels to testify it to them) they 
 being wise above what was written, though perhaps too ig- 
 
DEDICATION. XI 
 
 norant to understand the writing ; therefore it was kept out 
 of the church as uncanonical/ St. Jude's Epistle too, ap- 
 pearing such a foe to universal charity, as well as to spots 
 in their feasts of charity, and other counterfeit errors, and 
 being expressive of so much zeal and warmth for God's 
 glory, was kept out of the church for many years also ; and 
 the excuse was as weighty as some in our days make against 
 mine that it was written in a bad spirit, and that he had 
 quoted an unscriptural expression; namely, that of " the 
 devil contending for the body of Moses ; " which in my opin- 
 ion, seems scriptural enough to any discerning Christian ; 
 for, if the body of Moses be the offspring of Hagar, and fig- 
 uratively the children of Jerusalem, which are in bondage ; 
 and Jerusalem, the desolate, without God, and without an 
 husband, and her children without a father ; these children 
 are bond children under the law, and being under the law, 
 are consequently under the curse. No wonder then, if the 
 officer, the devil, accuseth them to justice, and contends for 
 this mystical body of Moses, when Moses himself accuses 
 them even before God. I hope these divines will show me 
 some lenity, although I may be of a bad spirit, because I 
 have not gone quite so far in the trial of universal charity as 
 to execute him. Neither have I cut Agag in pieces, nor 
 slain any of the prophets of Baal, as some have done at the 
 command of God, and under the immediate inspiration of the 
 Holy Ghost. But, although I had, it would have been no 
 crime, seeing God himself is a swift witness against sorcerers. 
 
 My first pamphlet being condemned as nonsense, and the || 
 second as the product of a bad spirit, so this will possibly II 
 be condemned as savoring too much of self ; more especial- 11 
 ly as I treat only of the kind providences which occurred in I 
 the course of my own experience. However, I hope to rest ' 
 satisfied till the great day arrives, when God will make mani- 
 
Xll DEDICATION. 
 
 fest the secrets of the heart, and show whom he approves 
 and disapproves ; and then it will be seen that neither uni- 
 versal charity nor natural affections shall be found among 
 the redeemed of God; for it will not be said that natural 
 affections shall be all, but that God shall be all in all. 
 
 As for the kind advice which some of you have given me, 
 I thank you, and can bear with your weaknesses ; knowing 
 that " I (once) spake as a child, thought as a child, and un- 
 derstood^as a child ; but, when I became a man, I put away 
 childish things." I have no notion of getting a renowned 
 preacher to preface any of my poor scribbling ; it appears, 
 in my opinion, too much like the Satanic art of puffing at 
 an auction. The fewer human inventions the better in di- 
 vine things. Besides, I believe that many precious minis- 
 ters of Jesus have in their young days put prefaces to com- 
 mentaries and other works merely to please a bookseller ; 
 who, when possessed of a riper judgment, were ashamed of 
 the doctrines which they had formerly recommended to oth- 
 ers ; yea, some, who I hear have condemned my book, have 
 written prefaces to works now in my possession, out of 
 which I defy all the masters of arts in Christendom to distil 
 one thimbleful of evangelical divinity, exclusive of the holy 
 name of God. Upon this principle I do not desire any good 
 man to expose his judgment to contempt, by puffing off my 
 abilities ; for I have not a single doubt but kind Providence 
 will defray my expenses at the press as long as God intends 
 that I should write any thing for him ; and, when this cruse 
 of oil fails, you will hear no more of me from thence. Be- 
 sides, if I was inclined to beg or cringe for a preface, I have 
 no such tip-top ministers to go to ; for I find, by blessed 
 experience, that I can creep into the very bosom of my dear 
 Redeemer with more ease than I can touch the robes of a 
 dignified clergyman. <. I have sometimes indeed been admit- 
 
DEDICATION. Xlll 
 
 ted into the pulpits of some of these great men ; but, if the 
 power of God has been present to heal, and the people have 
 been happy under me, I have been admitted there no more. 
 
 I am informed that it is common among horse-jockies to 
 cry a horse down if his heels are too light. This custom 
 may well become the turf, but it ill becomes the pulpit. 
 However, God has given me a pulpit of my own, so I have 
 no cause to borrow ; and this fulfils an ancient promise, 
 once applied to my soul with power, even from God himself 
 " thou shalt lend to many, but borrow of none." 
 
 I choose that my doctrine and reputation should stand 
 and fall together. It shall never be the coal-heaver and 
 company. All that I preach or write, that is divine, God 
 himself taught me ; for I never learned it of man, nor did I 
 bring any of it into the world with me : therefore it is not 
 my own, except the errors ; for I have nothing, nor am 
 nothing, by nature, but sin : of course I think it my duty to 
 be faithful in delivering what I have received to the benefit 
 of others; and to be laborious, watchful, and faithful, over 
 .those whom God hath committed to my care. 
 
 I must beg leave to lead my reader a little farther on, in 
 addition to the dedication, in order to show him what differ- 
 ent receptions the BANK of FAITH has met with in the 
 world. Indeed I did not expect that it should be in equal 
 esteem with the Bank of England no ; I know the greater 
 part of the human race have their portion in this life, whose 
 purses and bellies God fills with his hid treasure. These 
 have so far cast off God as to call their lands by their own 
 names, to the dishonor of God who gave them ; and leave 
 their substance as a trap to their posterity, who are too apt 
 to praise their sayings, and go to the generation of their 
 fathers without seeing light. 
 
 The greatest curse under heaven is an impenitent heart 
 
XIV DEDICATION. 
 
 clogged with the sorrow of this world " Give them sorrow 
 of heart, thy curse unto them," Lam. iii. 65. And the next 
 curse is an independent fortune in the hands of such grace- 
 less souls, whose infidelity turns every providential blessing 
 into a curse. "If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it 
 to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of 
 hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse 
 your blessings ; yea, I have cursed them already, because 
 ye do not lay it to heart." Mai. ii. 2. 
 
 The BANK of FAITH has dropped into the hands of some 
 of these gentlemen, and it has acted the part of Samson ; 
 that is, it has made sport for them ; and no wonder, seeing 
 they have attributed the government of the world to blind 
 fortune, and the glory that is due to God is ascribed to a 
 phantom on a wheel. 
 
 But who would have thought that men calling themselves 
 gospel ministers would have bought my book to ridicule it 
 and pour contempt on the providence of God 1 Can such be 
 called ministers of God's word, who laugh at the fulfilment 
 of it ? If they deny the inspection of God into our tem- 
 poral concerns, they must deny half the Bible, which informs 
 us that God adorns the lilies, feeds the ravens when they 
 cry, and gives the lion his prey ; when he opens his hand 
 they are filled, and when he takes away their breath they 
 die. Strange ! that professors of Christ should rob him of 
 his glory, of which he is so tender which he will never 
 give to another and which is due to him from all the 
 human race ; but much more so from professors, who pre- 
 tend to renounce all confidence in the flesh in point of jus- 
 tification, and all pretensions to a portion in this life, when 
 compared to the blessed earnest of a portion in the future. 
 Surely such must differ much in spirit from the apostles, 
 who seemed so zealous for the honor of Christ, that they 
 would let no miracle of his slip unnoticed, unacknowledged, 
 
DEDICATION. XT 
 
 nor unrecorded. They tell us of the five barley loaves, and 
 the five thousand fed of the seven barley loaves, and the 
 seven thousand fed of the baskets of fragments that 
 remained and of the Saviour's strict command that noth- 
 ing of the produce of these miracles should be lost. 
 
 They inform us of the Lord's condescension in coming to 
 them on the shore of the sea of Tiberias, and of his baking 
 bread and broiling fish upon the coals to supply their wants 
 
 of the liberality of those who were converted by their 
 ministry of their selling their inheritances to support the 
 gospel and feed the poor of Christ's flock and of Ananias 
 and Sapphira being struck dead for mimicking the hospi- 
 tality of the children of God. 
 
 Israel's forty years' journey in the wilderness abounds 
 with the miraculous providences of God, and so does the 
 book of Ruth. To ridicule then the mystery of Providence 
 is to make sport of one half of the Bible. But these gentle- 
 men have got a stock in hand, like the prodigal at his first 
 leaving his father's house ; therefore they laugh at those 
 who are obliged to fetch their supplies daily from the foun- 
 tain head. But, alas ! an independent fortune is too often 
 like the manna that Israel kept, which bred worms and 
 stunk, while that which was gathered daily was sweet food. 
 This Paul applies to Providence " He that gathered much 
 had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack." 
 Let there be an equality (says Paul) in your contributions 
 
 not one eased, and another burdened. Some have 
 affirmed, since they read this little book of mine, that we 
 have no warrant to pray for temporal things ; but blessed be 
 God, he has given us " the promise of the life that now js, 
 and of that which is to come ; " yea, the promise of all 
 things pertaining to life, and godliness ; and whatever God 
 has promised we may warrantably pray for. Those that 
 
XVI DEDICATION. 
 
 came to the Saviour in the days of his flesh prayed chiefly 
 for temporal mercies: the blind prayed for sight the le- 
 pers for a cure the lame for the use of their limbs and 
 the deaf for the use of their ears. And surely, had they 
 prayed unwarrantably, their prayers would not have been so 
 miraculously answered. Elijah prayed for a temporal mercy 
 when he prayed for rain ; and it is clear that God answered 
 him. Elisha works a miracle to produce a temporal mercy 
 when he healed the barren plains of Jericho. God hath 
 said that he " will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the 
 earth ; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and 
 the oil ; and they shall hear Jezreel." Hos. ii. 21, 22. If 
 some professors are favored with an abundant stock in hand, 
 it is not given them that they should requite the bounties of 
 Providence with contempt. If they have got houses to eat 
 in, they are not to shame them that have not ; and, if they 
 have bottled up a store of the goat's milk, they are. not to 
 cut off the breast from the poor that have none. Prov. 
 xxvii. 23, 24, 27. Is my reader a poor Christian ? Take 
 it patiently. God maketh the poor as well as the rich. 
 Envy not the rich. Riches are often seen to be a canker- 
 worm at the root of a good man's comfort, a snare in his 
 life, and an iron pillar at the back of his pride. Agur 
 prayed to be fed with food convenient for him; and you 
 may pray for the same ; and what God gives you in answer 
 to your prayers you will be thankful for. That state is 
 surely best which keeps you dependent on God and thank- 
 ful to him ; and so you shall find it in the end. Go on, 
 poor Christian, trusting in the providence of God. God 
 promised a preceding blessing on the Israelites who were to 
 keep the year of jubilee ; and, though they were neither to 
 plough, sow, nor reap, on this year of release, yet they had 
 the promise of old store for food for the following year. 
 
DEDICATION. XVli 
 
 Lev. xxv. 20, 21. God's blessing on the sixth year was to 
 produce food for three years. And shall not God provide 
 for Israelites indeed, who are released by the Gospel trum- 
 pet from spiritual bondage, and made free by the Holy 
 Ghost ! Surely such shall eat of the old store ; yea, in a 
 two-fold sense for every scribe instructed in the kingdom 
 is like an old householder who bringeth things out of his 
 treasures new and old ; and all this to feed the Israelites 
 indeed, in whom there is no guile. 
 
 In Egypt we find that God's blessing on the seven years 
 of plenty was sufficient to serve Egypt, and numbers more, 
 through the seven years of famine which followed. Surely 
 these wonders of the Lord of hosts shall never be blotted 
 out of the Bible by a few independent gentlemen, though 
 preachers; nor shall Zion's blessings be chased from tho 
 poor of her family by a few worldly professors, who " trust 
 in uncertain riches," and sneer at the daily provision that 
 God makes for the poor of his household. Reader, trust 
 thou in the Father of all mercies, and the God of all com- 
 fort, for every supply. Independent Adam, and the inde- 
 pendent prodigal, came both to bankruptcy and beggary; 
 therefore trade thou with the stock of God, and thou shall 
 never fail. 
 
 Use no unlawful means either to avoid having, or the care 
 of, a numerous family. This is the root of God-dishonor- 
 ing and damning unbelief; and the effect is Onanism; 
 which God views as an act of infidelity, and distrust cast on 
 his providence, an injury done to a fruitful womb, and the 
 sin of murder committed on unsinning innocence, which he 
 hath twice visited with immediate death in the very action. 
 Gen. xxxviii. 7 10. 
 
 I have been married upwards of twenty years, have had I 
 3 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 thirteen children ; just Jacob's number, thirteen to the doz- 
 en ; and, instead of being a beggar, am as rich as ever I 
 was : and do believe that, was I to die this day, if all mat- 
 ters were properly settled, I should be clear of the world. 
 And I am s r ure that faith is satisfied with an honorable dis- 
 charge through this world ; but, if we aim to supply the 
 wants of infidelity, all the world is not sufficient to satisfy 
 her demands. 
 
 I have been acquainted with several professors of consid- 
 erable property ; but, as God liveth, after a strict observa- 
 tion of their conduct, I never envied their happiness, nor 
 wished to exchange situations ; for I found some, who were 
 warmly attached to the form of prayer, and to the walls of 
 the established church, would give a thousand pounds to 
 support the forms and walls of the Church of England, be- 
 fore they would give five shillings to support those who 
 enforced the Spirit's work on the sQulft pf m>n And oth- 
 ers who were filled with head notions from commentators 
 rather than the grace of God in their hearts, expected every 
 preacher that partook of their liberality to say as they did, 
 and offer both conscience and affections (which are due to 
 God only) to their purse; which compliance being denied, 
 has caused great offence, and the honest servants of Christ 
 have received many wounds both in their reputation and 
 labors; which have made the cross of poverty the more 
 heavy, stirred up the corruptions of the honest suffering 
 saint to be more rebellious against God, and made his mind 
 recoil with indignation against the aspiring rival of Christ. 
 
 To be short, among all the rich professors that I have 
 known, upon a proper reflection, I have found that they 
 expended the greatest part of the bounties of Providence in 
 support of their own humors, their bigotry, their prejudices, 
 
DEDICATION. XIX 
 
 and their own personal honor ; being most liberal where 
 their liberality was received by those of dignity, and where 
 it was to "appear in print. 
 
 Such as these have their reward as they proceed, but can 
 have no reward of their Father which is in heaven. I be- 
 lieve it will appear in the great day, that the greatest part 
 of the liberality of rich professors has been expended more 
 in their own cause than in the support of the spiritual reign 
 of the Son of God. This has been made evident by the 
 many apostates who have been long held up by the spirit of 
 bigotry and the purse of wealth; whom, notwithstanding, 
 God hath cast down, in defiance of all their sanction, pat- 
 ronage, and liberality. 
 
 I am much deceived if the purse of worldly professors is 
 not a snare in our days to many a servant of Christ. The 
 liberal purse, and the besetting sin of the 'squire, has muz- 
 zled the mouth of many a poor laborer in the vineyard ; 
 while the preacher has die<jpin the ministry, the flock in 
 their souls, and the formidable 'squire who appeared as a 
 column, was ripened for damnation, under a muzzled gos- 
 pel preacher. For my part I have never yet seen any thing 
 in a rich professor that could in the least draw me to envy 
 his happiness ; but, contrary wise, to pity him, as being a 
 trap to others and an ensnared person himself. The com- 
 mon industrious persons are, in general, the happy recipi- 
 ents of grace, and such are the chief supporters of the 
 gospel; and such I have found my friends rather than my 
 traps. 
 
 Tn^jjiis narrative T shall set forth all the circumstances of 
 's providence,, which he hath brought to my remem- 
 brance. May his kind providence shine to his own honor, 
 and to the comfort of his poor flock, who are obliged to 
 
XX DEDICATION. 
 
 I trust in him or starve. O blessed object, worthy of all 
 I trust ! 
 
 I doubt, reader, we shall give a second offence, for chat- 
 ting so long together, by way of dedication. Cavillers will 
 be ready to say that we are " like children in the market- 
 place calling to their fellows;" therefore we had better part 
 than give any offence to them. 
 
 Good morning to you, Mr. Parson ; God bless you. 
 I thank thee, Christian ; but beseech thee not to put any 
 titles or compliments upon me ; give them to those who can 
 make a meal of them. Coal-heaving is hard work, and 
 coal-heavers require better food than compliments. 
 Reader, fare thee well. 
 
 Thine to serve in the bowels of Christ, 
 
 W. H. 
 
UJTIVERSITYl. 
 
 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 AND 
 
 THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 WHEN I was about seven years of age I heard a person 
 say that God took notice of children's sins. The wonder- 
 ful workings of my mind upon these words I shall not at 
 present descant on ; neither shall I mention the many trials 
 I underwent at the bar of my own conscience, while the 
 impression dwelt on my mind. I also remember to have 
 once heard a person say that all things were possible with 
 God ; which words I secretly treasured up and pondered in 
 my heart ; and as I had great desire at that time to live in 
 the capacity of an errand-boy with a certain gentleman in 
 the place, being very poorly brought up, and knowing much 
 the want of the common necessaries of life, it came into my 
 mind that, if all things were possible with God, it was also 
 possible for him to send me to live as a servant-boy with 
 'Squire Cooke ; though at the same time he had a boy who 
 I believed was well approved of. Notwithstanding this last 
 circumstance I privately asked God in an extempore way, 
 to give me that boy's place ; and made many promises how 
 good I would be if he granted me this- request. For many 
 days I privately begged of God this favor, which nobody 
 knew but God and myself, till now I relate it. I believe I 
 went on in this way of praying, sometimes under a hedge, 
 4 
 
22 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 or on my bed, for a week or two ; and I thought, if God 
 granted me this favor, I should know whether all things 
 were possible with him or not. Having prayed for many 
 days, and finding no likelihood of an answer, I readily con- 
 cluded that there was no God ; and therefore I had no cause 
 to be so afraid of sinning, nor had I any occasion to pray to 
 him any more. Accordingly I left off praying for some 
 time, and then began again, till at last I left off entirely. 
 Some few days after this, there came a man to my father's 
 house, .and said, " William, 'Squire Cooke wants a boy ; 
 why don't you go after the .place? " I said, " John Dungy 
 lives there." He answered, " No, he is turned away." I 
 asked for what. He replied, " Old Master Coly, the oyster- 
 man, went there a few days ago, to carry some oysters ; and, 
 while the old man was gone with a measure of them into 
 the house, the boy robbed the pads, as they hung on the 
 horse, while he was tied at the gate ; and the mistress, see- 
 ing him, discharged him for it." 
 
 The compunction which I felt the thoughts that I had 
 the various workings of my mind the promises I made, 
 and the petitions I put up, as I went after the place I 
 choose to conceal ; for I think they would hardly be credit- 
 ed, considering I was no more, at this time, than eight years 
 old. However, to my astonishment, I got the place, and 
 the bargain was struck at twenty shillings per annum. For 
 many days and weeks an uncommon impression about the 
 power of God, lay fresh on my mind. But soon after this, 
 a sudden temptation brought me to believe that there was 
 no God; that, if there was, he took no notice of such crea- 
 tures as we are, or of any of our affairs ; and that it was by 
 chance I got the place ; wherefore I imagined that I had no 
 occasion to pray, or to pay the vows which I had made. 
 This temptation made a sufficient breach for me to creep 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 23 
 
 out at, and proved an awful inlet to vice and vanity, which 
 for some months I gave way to. Soon after this, I offended 
 my master, was discharged from my servitude, and went 
 home as deeply stung with guilt for my folly, as I had been 
 before lifted up at the sight of God's mercy. 
 
 After this period I had sharp work in my conscience for 
 some years, at certain times, but was still pursued with 
 deistical principles that God took no notice of our pro- 
 ceedings; till at last it appeared rather fixed in my mind, 
 and insensibility and stupor naturally followed. Now it 
 was that I got wholly out of all fear of God, or thoughts of 
 futurity, and very soon learned to dance; which is just as 
 serviceable a net to ruin souls as devils could invent, or frail 
 mortals drop into. However, God put a stop to this, -by 
 laying a fit of sickness on my tabernacle, which I had never 
 before experienced. I labored hard, rather than submit to 
 go to bed ; and made a shift to keep about my business as 
 long as I was able to move a limb ; but at last I was forced 
 to yield. Then my conscience began to do her office, and 
 the wrath of God to alarm me ; so that I was fully convinced 
 God took notice of my conduct in this life, and would reckon 
 with me for it in the next. I lay in this state of mind until 
 I had an earnest of damnation in my heart ; and I had not 
 a single doubt of my portion in everlasting burnings, if I 
 died in that state. God brought me so nigh the end of all 
 flesh, that the rattles of death stopped my breath twice. I 
 tried to fly from death, and got out of the bed to run away, 
 but could not ; for I fell on the floor, and there lay till my 
 fellow-servants found me, and put me into bed again by 
 force. Soon after I heard one of the maids say, " Poor 
 William will die." "Yea," said the % other, "-Doctor Wil- 
 son has given him over." They knew not that I heard 
 them. I tried again to fly from death, but found I could 
 
24 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 not. So I began to whisper a prayer to God, which con- 
 science would not allow me to do before. As I began to pray, 
 I gathered strength, and in less than a month was out of 
 doors. I quitted my servitude, went home to my parents 
 till my recovery, and never danced any more from that hour 
 to this. Soon after I got well I was informed that one 
 'Squire Pool, of Charren in Kent, wanted a servant. I went 
 after the place, and took courage to ask of God the favor of 
 success, as he had been pleased to punish me for my past 
 folly, and had brought me to believe that I had highly of- 
 fended him. I went under a hedge, and put up a solemn 
 prayer to him, to give me success in my journey, and make 
 me an object of his care for the future : and I cut a stick 
 half through, and bent it down in the hedge, which I promised 
 to look at, on my return, and render praise to God, if he 
 granted me this favor. Somewhat like poor Jacob, in his 
 trouble, when he anointed the pillar, by pouring a little oil 
 upon the top of it ; and promising, if God would keep him, 
 then he should be his God ; and, of all that God should give 
 him, he would give God the tenth part. God heard my 
 prayer, and I got the place. Though there was a servant 
 in the parlor with the gentleman, and though they had part- 
 ly agreed when I came in ; yet he broke off the bargain with 
 him to my astonishment. The reason why he chose me in 
 preference to the other was, because he was a married man 
 and I was not. This was the secondary cause ; but I re- 
 solve it by the primary one. At my return, I looked with 
 many tears, at the stick which I had marked, and offered 
 up an imperfect tribute of praise to the God of my daily 
 mercies, whom I had neglected and much offended. 
 
 * O 
 
 For some time I endeavored, while in place, to walk so 
 as to please God, as I imagined; but alas! the vanities of 
 this world are too strong for any but those " who are kept, 
 
AND THE BANK OP FAITH. 25 
 
 by the mighty power of God, through faith unto salvation ; " 
 which power I knew nothing of, therefore my resolutions 
 were soon broken, and I forgot my God. But soon after 
 this he again put his afilicting hand on me, and laid me on 
 a sick bed for many months ; nor did I recover effectually 
 for three years after. But still distress of mind, at times, 
 followed me; and, blessed be God, he did not wholly leave 
 me without some convictions, till he brought me to know 
 the truth as it is in Jesus. One particular instance of 
 Providence I here recollect also ; which was, I had ordered 
 my box of clothes to be left at the Star Inn at Maid-Stone 
 in Kent, for the Cranbrook carrier to bring to me ; but he 
 said it was not there. So I went to search after it, fearing 
 it was lost. At this time I was so poor in pocket, that I 
 had but one shilling left in all the world. However, I 
 thought I should be able to go out arid return again in one 
 day, therefore that shilling would bear my charges; but, 
 when I came to Maid-Stone, the box was not there; I was 
 obliged to go farther ; and in my return, I found myself so 
 very weak and low that I could not get back that day. 
 The shilling was gone, my strength was gone, and the 
 weather was very wet and cold ; night, too, began to draw 
 on apace, and at this time I was two miles from Maid-Stone, 
 which was fourteen from Cranbrook. While I was think- 
 ing of, and mourning over, my miserable situation,! thought 
 if I were one that feared and loved God, as others in old 
 time had done, I might have any thing at his hands; but as 
 for me, I had made him my enemy by sin, and therefore he 
 would take no notice of me, nor of any body else, in our 
 days, for parsons and people were all wicked alike. Pres- 
 ently after this it came suddenly on my mind to go out of 
 the foot-path, which led through the fields, to go into the 
 horse-road, though at the same time the foot-path was by far 
 
26 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 the best. I had been in the road scarcely a minute before 
 I cast my eye on the ground, and there lay a sixpence. I 
 took it up ; and before I had walked many steps farther, 
 there lay a shilling also. I took that up, and it supplied my 
 necessities at that time very well. These manifold provi- 
 dences and answers to prayer, did, at times, deeply impress 
 my mind that God had some regard for me ; but when sin 
 was committed all these thoughts were blasted. 
 
 However, I never could entirely, after this time, get rid 
 of all my thoughts about the awful day of judgment the 
 dreadful consideration of an endless eternity the tremen- 
 dous tribunal of God the woful state of a guilty sinner 
 before him the certain conquest of triumphant death and 
 certain approach to God's bar the wretched figure that a 
 guilty soul would make when all his secret and open sins 
 were exposed to God, angels, and men and the miserable 
 punishment which souls must feel who have their doom fixed 
 in the gloomy receptacle of the damned : these things were, 
 at times, uppermost in my thoughts ; and though I pursued 
 many pleasures, in order to stifle them, yet I had felt 
 enough to fix a lasting conviction of the truth of them upon 
 my soul. 
 
 Having wandered about for some years in this solitary 
 way, " seeking rest and finding none," it happened that I 
 once went to work at Darnbury Park, in Essex, for one 
 'Squire Fitch. I had been there but a few days before I 
 fell sick, and was carried to the sign of the Bell, where no- 
 body knew me, and with only two shillings in my pocket ; 
 but Providence sent an old widow, whose name was Shep- 
 herd, and whose deceased husband had been a butcher. 
 This woman, being much of a doctress, doctored me, nurs- 
 ed me, watched with m, and fed me, though she never saw 
 me before or since, nor had she any thing for her trouble, 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 27 
 
 and yet took as much care of me as if I had been her own 
 child. A few years ago I was determined to go down and 
 see her, and restore her fourfold for her labor, and tell her 
 what God had done for me ; but, upon inquiry, I found that 
 she had been dead about three months before my arrival, 
 which I was very sorry for. 
 
 I do not remember any other particular providence until 
 I was married, when my wife arid I took ready-furnished 
 lodgings at Mortlake, in Surrey, where God smote my 
 conscience effectually. It so happened that I fell lame, 
 having received a wrench in my loins, which rendered me 
 incapable of labor for many days. During this time our 
 money was all gone, and we were but strangers in the place, 
 having been in it but about half a year. After I began to 
 recover a little, there fell a deep snow on the ground, which 
 prevented my working for many days. Here Providence 
 suffered us to know what it was to want. We had one 
 child, about five or six months old, which was our first-born. 
 It happened one morning early that my wife asked me for 
 the tirider-box, seemingly in a great fright, crying out, " I 
 wonder the poor child has not waked all night." She light- 
 ed the candle and took up the child ; and behold it was 
 dead, and as black as a coal! It went off in a convulsive 
 fit, as five more have done since, all of whom turned black 
 also. Here Providence appeared again ; for, about three or 
 four months before this death happened, a gentleman, in 
 whose garden I at times had wrought, desired me to look 
 after his horse in the country while he was in town, for 
 which I was to have one shilling per week. The very day 
 on which the child died the gentleman came down from 
 London, and I got my money of him for looking after the 
 horse, which just served to bury the poor infant. My 
 lameness, poverty, distress of mind, the sufferings of my 
 
28 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 wife, loss of my child, and the sense of God's wrath, were 
 the most complicated distresses I had ever felt. From this 
 time spiritual convictions began to plough so deep in my 
 heart as to make way for the word of eternal life ; which 
 brought me experimentally to know "the only true God, 
 and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent." And if God should 
 spare my life, and give me time, I may acquaint the world 
 of the whole dealings of God with my soul in a treatise by 
 itself; but in this I intend treating chiefly of the providen- 
 ces of God, lest the book swell too big for the poor to pur- 
 chase. 
 
 I do not remember any particular providence attending 
 me till about three or four years after, when I was brought 
 savingly to believe in Jesus Christ for life and salvation. 
 At this time I dwelt in a ready-furnished lodging at Sun- 
 bury in Middlesex; where my eldest daughter, now living, 
 fell sick, at about five or six months old, and was wasted to 
 a skeleton. We had a doctor to attend her, but she got 
 worse and worse. Having lost our first child, this was a 
 dear idol to us ; and I suppose it lay as near my heart as 
 poor Isaac did to the heart of Abraham. However, it ap- 
 peared as if God was determined to bereave us of her, for 
 he brought her even to death's door. My wife and I have 
 sat up with her night after night, watching the cradle, ex- 
 pecting every breath to be her last, for two or three weeks 
 together. At last I asked the doctor if he thought there 
 was any hope of her life. He answered, No ; he would not 
 natter me ; she would surely die. This distressed me be- 
 yond measure;* and, as he told me he could do no more for 
 her, I left my lodging-room, went to my garden in the eve- 
 ning, and in my little tool-house wrestled hard with God in 
 prayer for the life of the child ; but upon these conditions 
 that if my request was granted, and she should live to 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 29 
 
 arrive at the full stature in life, and in future times turn 
 wicked, and be damned for sin, and that my earnest prayer 
 should be the cause of it, I beseeched God not to regard 
 my petition for the child, though she was as dear to me as 
 my own life. I went home satisfied that God had heard 
 me, and in three days the child was as well as she is now, 
 and ate as heartily, only her flesh was not perfectly restor- 
 ed. This effectually convinced me that all things were 
 possible with God. 
 
 I had now dwelt about fourteen months at Sunbury, and 
 had served a gentleman in the capacity of a gardener at 
 twelve shillings per week. The gentleman informed me he 
 purposed to keep his carriage, and intended that his driver 
 should work in the garden; therefore he should only hire a 
 man now and then a day, but should not keep a gardener 
 constantly. I was, in consequence, discharged from my 
 work; but had the liberty offered me of staying till I could 
 get employment elsewhere. I believe my master often saw 
 the felicity of my mind, and the wisdom that God had given 
 me, by the answers I was enabled to give to his various 
 questions. Grace carries many rays of majesty with it, 
 though it take up its abode in a beggar. However, I 
 thought this world was his God, therefore I refused his offer, 
 as Abraham did the present that was offered him by the 
 king of Sodom ; that is, I would take nothing that was his, 
 " from a thread even to a shoe latchet." 
 
 After I had been three weeks out of employment I heard 
 of a place at Ewell, in Surrey : which I went after, and 
 engaged in. It was with a gentleman that manufactured 
 gunpowder ; I agreed for eleven shillings per week in the 
 summer, and ten shillings in the winter ; and procured a 
 ready-furnished room in an old thatched house on Ewell- 
 Marsh (if with propriety it might be called a furnished 
 
30 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 room) at two shillings per week. I was obliged to pawn all 
 my best clothes, in order to defray the remaining expenses 
 which attended my wife's lying-in, owing to my being out 
 of employment ; and to hire a cart to carry my personal 
 effects (which were but few) to Ewell. When the cart set 
 us down on Ewell-Marsh, on the Monday morning, and I 
 had paid the hire of it, I had the total sum of tenpence 
 halfpenny left, to provide for myself, my wife, and child, till 
 the ensuing Saturday night! But though I were thus poor, 
 yet I knew God had made me rich in faith ; and these 
 words came on my mind with power " He multiplied the 
 loaves and fishes to feed five thousand men, besides women 
 and children." We went on our knees, and turned the 
 account of that miracle into a prayer, beseeching the 
 Almighty to multiply what we had, or to send relief another 
 way, as his infinite wisdom thought most proper. The next 
 evening my landlord's daughter and son-in-law came up to 
 see their mother, with whom I lodged, and brought some 
 baked meat, which they had just taken out of their oven, 
 and brought for me and my wife to sup along with them. 
 These poor people knew nothing of us,, nor of our God. 
 The next day in the evening they did the same ; and kept 
 sending victuals or garden stuff to us all the week long. 
 We had not made our case known to any but God; nor did 
 we appear ragged, or like people in want ; no, we appeared 
 better in dress than even those who relieved us : but God 
 sent an answer to our prayer by them, who knew not at the 
 same time what they were about, nor did I tell them till 
 some months after. While we were at supper, I entertained 
 them with spiritual conversation. After supper I went to 
 prayer with them, and prayed most earnestly for them. 
 And God answered it ; for he sent the woman home deeply 
 convicted that night : nor did her convictions abate till she 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 31 
 
 was brought to see Christ crucified in the open vision of 
 gospel faith, and to receive peace and pardon from Christ 
 for herself. Some time after this God began to work upon 
 the husband also ; and then I related the fore-cited circum. 
 stance ; at the hearing of which he told how it was impres- 
 sed on his mind that I was in want of victuals ; and his 
 wife found fault with him for thinking so, and bringing it 
 to me, saying, " The people are better to pass than we are." 
 But he contradicted her, and insisted on her doing as he 
 desired. 
 
 It pleased God sorely to afflict this poor man some few 
 years after, during which time I was enabled to restore him 
 four-fold. He left a testimony for God with his dying 
 breath, and I believe he is in eternal glory. His widow is 
 this day a servant to Mr. Linsey, a tallow-chandler in Lam- 
 beth-Marsh, on the right hand side of the road which leads 
 from Westminster bridge to Clapham. Her name is Ann 
 Webb. 
 
 I found that the small pittance of eleven shillings per 
 week (as I paid two shillings for a ready-furnished lodging) 
 would amount very slowly towards the getting my clothes 
 out .of pawn, which, with the interest, amounted to near 
 forty shillings, and which I was loath to lose. It came into 
 my mind to search my Bible, to see if any instruction for 
 faith could be got about this matter. I turned promis- 
 cuously to these words, " There is a lad here which hath 
 five barley loaves and two fishes ; but what are they among 
 so many ? " I asked my wife if she had ever ate barley 
 bread. She said, " Yes, in Dorsetshire." I told her I 
 never had eaten it, but the poor Saviour and his apostles 
 had ; and I supposed it was because (speaking after the 
 manner of men) they could get no better food. And, as 
 God saw it necessary to keep us in a state of deep poverty, 
 
32 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 it ill became us to complain, or to refuse the meanest diet, 
 seeing he had blessed us wjfh an assured hope of heaven 
 hereafter. She said she was willing if I was. So she went 
 to a farmer to ask him to sell her a bushel of barley. His 
 reply was, that he sold his barley by the quarter, or load, to 
 malsters, for making malt ; and should not trouble himself 
 with measuring such a small quantity. So she went to a 
 corn-chandler in Ewell, and asked for the same article ; 
 whose answer was, " I have only the refuse of the barley, 
 or tail corn, which I sell for swine and fowls." My wife 
 told him that would da ; but did not inform him for what 
 use it was intended. This was ground at the mill, and was 
 very cordially received by us ; as the love of God, which we 
 enjoyed in our hearts, more than counterbalanced all the 
 poverty we labored under ; for I well knew it was decreed 
 by God himself that his people should have tribulation in 
 this world, but in Christ Jesus they should have peace. 
 And love made the yoke easy, and the burden light ; for, if 
 at any time a murmuring thought entered my mind, it was 
 soon quelled by considering that Christ lived on the alms of 
 his poor followers, and that he was worse off than either the 
 foxes or the birds ; as it is written, " The foxes have holes, 
 and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath 
 not where to lay his head." This has often made my bow- 
 els yearn within me, silence all my murmurings, and dis- 
 solved my heart in gospel gratitude. 
 
 My dame and I now kept house at a very cheap rate 
 two shillings and sixpence per week carried us through tol- 
 erably well. As for the world's dainties, we were satisfied 
 without them ; for we knew that the grace of God had ena- 
 bled us to choose that good part which shall never be taken 
 from us, therefore patience had, in a manner, her penect 
 work. We soon saved upwards of twenty shillings ; with 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 33 
 
 which, on the Saturday night, I set off to Kingston to get 
 some of my clothes out of pawn, leaving money in the hands 
 of my dame to get half a bushel of barley. It so happened 
 that the apparel which I went to redeem came to so much, 
 with the interest, that I had not any money left to bring 
 home. This was a great trial to us ; because our poor little 
 girl, who had been but lately weaned, had nothing to carry 
 her through the week but bare barley cakes; and, though 
 she would eat barley, yet I could not er\dure to see her live 
 on that only. On the Monday following I went heavily to 
 work, and very much distressed to know how my poor little 
 one was to live. I reflected with indignation on myself for 
 parting with my money ; thinking I had better riave gone 
 without my clothes, than have exposed my poor little one to 
 want the necessaries of life. But, as I went over a bridge 
 that led to my work, I cast my eye on the right hand side, 
 and there lay a very large eel on the mud by the river side, 
 apparently dead. I caught hold of it, and soon found it 
 was only asleep. With difficulty I got it safe out of the 
 mud upon the grass, and then carried it home. My little 
 one was very fond of it, and it richly supplied all her wants 
 that day. But at night I was informed that the eel was all 
 gone, so the next day afforded me the same distress and 
 trouble as the preceding day had done. When going to my 
 work, cruelly reflecting on myself for parting with all my 
 money, just as I entered the garden gates I saw a partridge 
 lie dead on the walk. I took it up, and found it warm ; I 
 carried it home, and it richly supplied the table of our little 
 one that day. A few days after this my master told me he 
 had found a partridge on the garden walk also, but that it 
 stunk. I told him I had found one a little before that time. 
 He said that two males had been fighting, and had killed 
 each other, which was very common. But I was enabled 
 to look higher. 
 
 5 
 
34 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 Carnal reason always traces every thing from God to 
 second causes, and there leaves them floating upon uncer- 
 tainties ; but faith traces them up to their first cause, and 
 fixes them there ; by which means God's hand is known, 
 and himself glorified. I believe this battle between the 
 plumed warriors was proclaimed by the Lord ; for, if a spar- 
 row falls not to the ground without God's leave, (as the 
 scriptures declare,) I can hardly think a partridge does. 
 
 The third day arrived, and I was still in the same case as 
 before. As I went to my work I saw a bird's nest in one 
 of the shrubs ; which, upon examination, I found to be 
 the nest of a large bird, with four young ones in it, just 
 ready to fly. It was with much reluctance I stormed and 
 plundered the little simple citadel but necessity hath no 
 law; therefore I was forced to rob the poor dam of her 
 young, and leave her mourning and lamenting, while my 
 young one lived upon her's. However, I found it was no 
 sin in God's sight. " If a bird's nest chance to be before 
 thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they 
 be young ones or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young 
 ones or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the 
 young ; but thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take 
 the young to thee, that it may be well with thee, and that 
 thou mayest prolong thy days." Deut. xxii. 6, 7. 
 
 These birds served for that day very well ; but the next day 
 found me still unprovided as before, and brought forth fresh 
 work for faith and prayer. However, the morrow still took 
 thought for the things of itself; for, when I came to take 
 the sythe in my hand to mow the short grass, I looked into 
 the pond, and there I saw three very large carp lying on the 
 water, apparently sick When my master came to me I 
 told him of it. He went and looked, and said they were 
 dead ; and told me I might have them, if I would, for they 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 35 
 
 were not in season. However, they came in due season to 
 me. And I found, morning after morning, there lay two 
 or three of these fish at a time, dead, just as I wanted them; 
 till I believe there was not one live fish remaining, six inches 
 long, in that pond, which was near three hundred feet in 
 length. 
 
 While musing on, and admiring the tender care of my 
 God in his providence, and wondering what could move 
 him thus to pity such a sinner ; who was so unworthy of his 
 grace, mercy and truth, as well as of his providential re- 
 gard ; these words came to my mind : " He turned their 
 waters into blood, and slew their fish." Ps. cv. 39. Mrs. 
 Webb, the woman before mentioned, has often partaken of 
 these spoils; and the incredulous are very welcome to make 
 inquiry into the matter, for which purpose I have informed 
 them where she lives. My master told me he thought it 
 was the heat of the sun that killed them ; and I believe it 
 was : but I knew that the sun and his heat were both from 
 God ; and that the sun shined in due season for me. And 
 it much amazed me to see God so kind, even in temporal 
 matters. It led me to search his blessed word for similar 
 circumstances. And, when I read of the distress and sim- 
 ple covenant of Jacob of God's changing the color of 
 Laban's cattle, that they might change their master and 
 of God's blessing his simple means of peeling the rods, 
 that the pregnant dams might look at them, and bring forth 
 accordingly, and so setting the dams a longing to bring forth 
 a motley progeny like the rods, which he set in the troughs, 
 and the dream of the speckled ram begetting the spotted 
 inheritance of faith I could not help weeping and admir- 
 ing the unmerited goodness of my God in setting the birds 
 of the air to war sending the sunbeams with such a hos- 
 tile force as to slay the inhabitants of the floods suffering 
 
36 
 
 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE 
 
 the eel to sleep till the hand of the necessitous had entan- 
 gled him and directing my eyes to the little lodgment of 
 birds, when all other supplies seemed to be cut off. It so 
 operated on my mind, that I cannot describe the humility, 
 compunction, love, joy, and peace, which I felt. O, the 
 goodness of God to the children of men ! I evidently saw 
 that, both in providence and grace, God is the same to us as 
 he was to the saints in days of old, and that they had no 
 preeminence over us in the covenant of grace at all ; but 
 that Jesus Christ was the same yesterday that he is to-day, 
 and will be the same for ever. Let not these providences 
 beget a notion in the weak of the flock of any partiality in 
 God to me in particular ; knowing that " God is no re- 
 specter of persons ; but in every nation those that fear him 
 and work righteousness are accepted of him." 
 
 I found that my pay would hardly support my family with 
 comfort ; and it came into my mind that I could mend shoes, 
 if I tried. I accordingly sent my dame to Kingston to ouy 
 me some materials for this business ; upon which I began, 
 and became a decent proficient in a very little time. This 
 helped me so much, that I got all my things out of pawn, 
 and kept myself entirely out of debt. But it happened one 
 night that my dame complained to me that she had nothing 
 for the child but barley cake. I told her I had a job of cob- 
 bling to do, and would sit up that night to finish it, that in 
 the morning the work might be carried home, when perad- 
 venture she might get the money. So we sat up and worked 
 together till between eleven and twelve o'clock ; when I 
 heard a person call at my window. I went down, and found 
 several men on horseback, (to appearance they were smug- 
 glers,) who inquired their way to Maiden Mills. I went a 
 little way to show them, for which one of them gave me a 
 shilling. On receiving it my very hair moved upon my 
 head, at the reflection of the daily providences of God. I 
 

 AND THE BANK OF FAI 
 
 3 
 
 mention this, because God says that the gold and the silver 
 are his; that it is he only who maketh poor and maketh 
 rich ; and that it is he who bringeth low and lifteth up. 
 These things so endeared God to me, that I often called him 
 my bank, my banker, and my blessed overseer ; and ear- 
 nestly begged that he would condescend to be my tutor, my 
 master, and my provider, and never leave me in the hands 
 of mortals, either for tuition, protection, or for temporal 
 supplies. I no longer envied the rich in this world ; for, if 
 they are .gracious, they only see one side of God's face, 
 having an independent stock in hand ; and, if graceless, 
 they are of all flesh the most miserable. I clearly perceived 
 that the most eminent sauits in the Bible were brought into 
 low circumstances ; as Jacob, David, Moses, Joseph, Job, 
 and Jeremiah, and all the apostles ; in order that the hand 
 of Providence might be watched. 
 
 When harvest came on, my dame informed me that she 
 should go to gleaning, in order to pick up some wheat to 
 make bread with. So we generally arose about three o'clock 
 in the morning ; and I gleaned with her till six, and then 
 went to my work; but she continued till eight o'clock ; then 
 went home with her corn, ate her breakfast, got the child up 
 from bed, (which all this time had been left alone,) and then 
 she went off for the day. At this time I had begun to preach 
 at Ewell Marsh, which made no small stir that way : there- 
 fore the farmers drove my dame out of the fields, and the 
 gleaners came about her like a shoal of small birds attend- 
 ing- the funeral of a dead hawk, swearing that parsons' wives 
 should not glean there. " What," said they, " wives of the 
 clergy go a gleaning ! " I own it is not a good sign, nor a 
 good sight, to see Levites gleaning; but, if the blind guides 
 steal the offerings of God, which should feed the Levites, 
 the Levites then must work or starve. 
 6 
 
38 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 In scripture a gospel minister is compared to an ox ; so 
 that he must take Christ's yoke, and learn to draw ; and, 
 when his day's work is ended, he must tread out the corn, 
 if required ; and, if God uses him to plough up the fallow 
 ground of the heart, he must expect to work hard and fare 
 hard. To be a gospel laborer is a rare thing ; but to be a 
 dumb dog, to lie at the bone and forget to bark, is very 
 common. We read in scripture of the oxen ploughing 
 while the asses were feeding beside them; Job i. 14. But 
 still God's hand was seen; for, if they drove her out of one 
 field, she was surely directed into another, where she often 
 found them carrying the corn ; and then she got the first 
 and prime gleanings of the whole field. At six o'clock I 
 went in search after her, and gleaned with her till nine, or 
 as long as we could see an ear of corn. When I went after 
 her I knew not where she was, nor how far she had been 
 chased that day ; but, whether she was one or two miles 
 distant, I always went that road where my mind led me, and 
 constantly went as straight to her as if I had actually known 
 where she was, and never missed her track ; but found her 
 every night, the whole five weeks, whether she was east, 
 west, north or south. And when I carne I was entertained 
 with an account of all the chasings her pursuers had given 
 her, and how they had threatened to rob her of her corn. 
 I told her Boaz was not in the field ; if he had been, he 
 would not have served her so. It is true we use his words 
 <in our church service, " The Lord be with you;" and the 
 pious reapers reply, " and with thy spirit," but this language 
 is now quite out of fashion in our harvest fields. 
 
 Notwithstanding their chasing the clergyman's wife from 
 field to field, she gleaned as much or more than Ruth of old 
 did. As for our harvest, that was piled up on each side of 
 our bed, which served instead of curtains : so we slept, de- 
 fended with the staff of life, having all our tithes in our bed 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 chamber ; (which, by the by, I believe was one of the small- 
 est tithe-barns in Christendom.) Our corn was threshed 
 out in the chamber, and winnowed on the marsh; a sheet 
 serving for a barn floor. The whole quantity of our wheat, 
 when measured, amounted to four bushels and a quarter, 
 exclusive of some peas and a little barley. My dame thresh- 
 ed out the corn, and baked the bread; "and I paid her so 
 much per loaf, as an encouragement to her future industry, 
 and to buy her such necessaries as she wanted. God visit- 
 ing me with such severe poverty without, and conscience 
 keeping me strictly honest within, drove me to be as severe 
 with my wife as Paul was with his flock when he made a 
 law that, if any would not work, neither should they eat. 
 
 I should not have entertained my reader with such a long 
 account about gleaning, if God had not left so much of it 
 upon record in the book of Ruth ; where we have an account 
 of that spiritual proselyte going to glean in order to sup- 
 port herself and her mother-in-law ; yea, the grain that she 
 gleaned, and the quantity also ; and of the good hand of her 
 God in guiding her to the field of Boaz, a man whom Prov- 
 idence had appointed to be her future partner in life ; and 
 who was her husband, in law-reckoning, provided the cov- 
 etous and unbelieving kinsman (whom Heaven refused to 
 honor with such a wife) declined his lawful right, for fear 
 that his obedience to God's command should brino- him to 
 
 O 
 
 poverty. But God, who commands us not to be unequally 
 yoked together, guided her to the field of Boaz ; a man who 
 did not curse her for her religion, but commended her for 
 her faith, chastity, and industry ; and added the blessing of 
 God to the begun work of grace, wishing her a full reward 
 of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings she was come 
 to trust. 
 
 In the following winter the Lord sent a very deep snow, 
 which lay a considerable time on the ground. Our wheat 
 
40 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 was now of great use to us, as it supplied us with bread for 
 two or three months. But we were shortly brought into 
 another strait through this snow. We used to buy faggots 
 of our landlady to burn, (being all the fuel we could get at 
 that time,) who one night informed us that she had but ten 
 faggots left, which she must keep for herself, as there was 
 no likelihood of th"e snow going away. Therefore she said 
 she could sell us no more. To this I replied that, if she was 
 in trouble for fear of suffering with the cold, when she had 
 so much wood by her, surely we had much more cause to 
 fear who had a young child. However, I begged of God that 
 night to take away the snow, or send us something to burn, 
 that our little one might not perish with the cold ; and the 
 next morning the snow was all gone. God had sent out his 
 word, and melted it ; he had caused his wind to blow, and 
 the water to flow. Psal. cxlvii. 18. 
 
 After some time our wheat was gone, and we were oblig- 
 ed to eat barley again ; and, having paid away our money 
 to redeem our clothes, we began to get very short of other 
 necessary apparel, which, however, we soon retrieved ; for, 
 as I worked by day, cobbled at night, and lived upon bar- 
 ley, we kept ourselves out of debt, and tolerably decent in 
 clothes. But this living on barley was attended with very 
 bad consequences; for, as I had never been used to it 
 before, and now living almost entirely upon it, without mix- 
 ing it with wheat, it threw a violent humor into my eyes, 
 and for some months I was in danger of losing my sight ; 
 but, by using one simple thing or other, they got better. 
 My second daughter brought the same humor into the world 
 with her ; and both myself and the child had it, more or 
 less, for some years, though not so violently as at first. I 
 have often viewed this affliction on the child with great 
 grief; but, in answer to prayer, God healed her eyes and 
 mine too, so that our sight was perfectly recovered. 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 41 
 
 
 
 When harvest came on again we went to gleaning, as 
 before, and got no less than five bushels of corn ; but my 
 dame was pursued as formerly ; for my continuing to preach 
 had alarmed and much offended almost the whole parish, 
 therefore they were more fierce in pursuing her. On the 
 other hand, some were afraid of going near her, lest they 
 should catch a religious infection ; it being reported abroad 
 that there was something of a power that seized upon them ; 
 and that, if we once got them to hear what we had to say, 
 there was no getting away from our religion ; as this secret 
 something, that seized them, held them so fast that they 
 must immediately change their own religion. I have known 
 some men, whom I have met, go quite out of the path, and 
 take a circle in the field, rathe* than pass me on the road ; 
 just as if that secret something could not seize them whilst 
 walking on the grass as well as on the foot-path. 
 
 I now began to lose favor with my master ; having 
 preached among the poor people till some of them refused 
 to work on the Lord's day. Wherefore he inquired into the 
 cause; and was informed that the gardener had been 
 preaching to them against profaning the Lord's day, which 
 was the reason why some would not work on that day. Oth- 
 ers murmured, because they were compelled to labor while 
 some were exempted. This provoked him much ; and he 
 said he should expect me to work in the garden on the 
 Lord's day. I told him I did not choose to do that. He 
 then swore at me, saying that, if I did not, I should not 
 work for him. I replied that I would not, if I lost my em- 
 ployment ; so, in a few days after, he told me, with several 
 imprecations, to work no more for him. He owed me a 
 trifle for a few days' work ; but as he did not offer to pay 
 me, I never asked him for it. He knew at the same time 
 that my wife was big with child, and ready to lie in ; and 
 
42 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 that we were very poor. I was informed that he expected 
 me 'to come back with a suppliant knee; but I was deter- 
 mined that I would not sell my conscience for a loaf of bar- 
 ley bread, as it had cost my Saviour so much to purge it ; 
 therefore I set off for Thames Dttton, and carried coals in 
 the river for fourteen months at ten shillings per week, and 
 preached during that time on the Lord's day, and one eve- 
 ning lecture in the week. All this time I suffered much 
 both in body and mind, and found, that the iniquity of those 
 who wrought with me began to harden my heart ; therefore 
 I was determined to leave that situation, and go to my old 
 business again. I got three or four days' work at Moulsey; 
 when a farmer came to my master, and told him to discharge 
 me, having begun to preach out of doors. It was here that 
 I committed this great offence of preaching Jesus Christ in 
 the high road. On this account I was turned out of em- 
 ployment, and remained so for three weeks ; during which 
 time a gentleman at Mitcham sent for me to come over there 
 the week following, to preach in their meeting, as he had 
 long entertained a great desire of hearing me. 
 
 A few days before this a gentleman had given me an old 
 black coat and waistcoat ; which, being very large, made 
 coat, waistcoat and breeches for me. So on the day ap- 
 pointed I put on my parsonic attire, which was the first time 
 I ever appeared clad in that color ; my usual appearance 
 being more like the ploughman or the fisherman; but now 
 I appeared in the external habit of a priest. And surely 
 the good hand of my God was with me, and I went and de- 
 livered my message in his name. As it had been reported 
 that a coal-heaver was coming to preach, there were a great 
 many people gathered together to hear me. After I had 
 finished my discourse, a lady came to me and gave me a 
 new book, and blessed me ; a gentleman, too, put a letter 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 43 
 
 in my hand, laying an injunction upon me not to open it till 
 I got home ; in which I found enclosed a guinea and four 
 shillings, with these words written : " Take this as from the 
 hand of the Lord, for the laborer is worthy of his hire." 
 Luke x. 17. 
 
 These kind providences of God did wonderfully endear 
 the Lord to me, and brought me to live by the faith of him 
 for a supply of all my wants; and indeed I was obliged to 
 do it, for I could get no employment. And, though I had 
 preaching enough for a bishop, yet I had nothing coming in 
 to live upon for so doing ; my flocks were as poor as myself, 
 at least the generality of them ; and my family still contin- 
 ued increasing. 
 
 In this dilemma, a professor of the gospel, who was by 
 trade a shoemaker, asked me one day to come to him and 
 learn to make children's shoes ; which at last I agreed to, 
 and learned to make them (though in a very rough manner) 
 in a short space of time. 
 
 I now took my work home to my house, and wrought 
 there ; and a few poor journeymen, who attended my min- 
 istry, and were single men, (and therefore not so poor as 
 their pastor,) gave me some tools ; till at length I became a 
 shoemaker, and worked at it for my bread ; while the love 
 of Christ constrained me to preach for the good of souls, 
 without making the gospel a burden to any. I was now in 
 as bad a state as poor Paul, who preached the gospel freely, 
 and made tents for his livelihood ; his own hands minister- 
 ing to his necessities, while his tongue was ministering to 
 the necessities of thousands. If he had preached up hea- 
 then morality he need not have fared so hard ; for the world 
 loves that, and the preachers of it. The Saviour says, 
 " The world loves her own ; and she never serves her own 
 children as she does the children of God." 
 
44 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 As I began this business so late in my life time, I was a 
 very slow hand at it ; and therefore was obliged to turn my 
 help-meet into a shop-mate ; that is, I taught my wife to close 
 the shoes which I made ; and both of us could earn about 
 eight shillings per week. I had now five times a week to 
 preach constantly ; on which account I was forced to lay 
 the Bible in a chair by me, and now and then read a little, 
 in order to furnish myself with matter for the pulpit. It 
 sometimes happened that I was under sore temptations and 
 desertions; the Bible too appeared a sealed book, insomuch 
 that I could not furnish myself with a text ; nor durst I 
 leave my work in order to study or read the Bible ; if I did, 
 my little ones would soon want bread ; my business would 
 also run very cross at those times. I therefore found the 
 ministry of the gospel to be work enough for any man, with- 
 out leaving the word of God to serve tables. 
 
 After I had been about eight or ten months at this trade, 
 my master failed in business, and no body else would em- 
 ploy me. I was now a fortnight, or more, out of work, 
 which sorely tried me indeed ; for it so happened that we 
 were forced to put our little ones to bed one night without 
 a supper, and their dinner was a very scanty one. When 
 they saw me look in the cupboard, and shut the door again 
 without giving them any thing, they lisped out some very 
 pathetic, though broken accents, expressive of want, which 
 touched my parental feelings very sorely, and took away my 
 rest for that night. In the morning I got up and went out, 
 but where to go I knew not ; and I could not endure the 
 thought of staying at home to see my little ones want bread. 
 But these words were sweet and suitable to me : " He hath 
 chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the 
 kingdom." And I well knew it was- " easier for a camel to 
 go through the needle's eye than for a rich man to enter the 
 
, ANDTHEBANKOFFAITH. 45 
 
 kingdom of God." In this miserable situation I knew not 
 where to go. If I left off preaching, and run from the 
 work, (as Jonah did,) I should deny the Lord that bought 
 me. Though I was willing to work, yet none would em- 
 ploy me on account of my religion ; and if I stayed at home, 
 my little ones were crying for bread. Indeed I should often 
 have run from the work of God, had not his terrors stood 
 on my conscience in battle array against me. At this time 
 no book could suit me but the Lamentations of Jeremiah. 
 To these I constantly fled for comfort; for, like him, I 
 often was for running away, but could not ; therefore God 
 fulfilled his word " They shall be my -people, and shall 
 not depart from me." I went that morning as far as Kings- 
 ton, but where I was to find relief I knew not : however, 
 just as I came into the town, it suddenly came in my mind 
 to go to Mr. Chapman, then living on Hounslow-Heath ; a 
 person who had known me for some years, even before 
 either of us knew the Lord ; and who was called by grace 
 about the same time that I was. He had often invited me 
 to come and visit him ; wherefore I now obeyed the impulse 
 which I felt, and accordingly went over Kingston bridge 
 directly to Hounslow Heath, where I found him and his 
 wife at home. I was, however, determined not to make my 
 deep distress known to them, but intended to watch the good 
 hand of my God in this journey. The good man and his 
 wife received me very affectionately ; and, after kindly en- 
 tertaining me, loaded me home with many simple dainties 
 for the children, though at that time they knew not how I 
 had left them. And it came to pass, when I departed, that 
 the good man walked two miles with me, and on the road 
 offered me a guinea, which I refused ; saying that, if he 
 would give me half a guinea, I would accept it, provided it 
 was with his wife's knowledge. He said it was. So I took 
 
46 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 the half-guinea, wondering how I should pay the fare of the 
 bridge to get home, fearing they might not be able to give 
 me change ; but I cast my eyes on the ground, and there 
 lay a penny, which served to pay the toll of the bridge. So 
 I got safe home, and was received with a hearty welcome. 
 And thus I made a better voyage of it than Naomi, who 
 went out full and returned empty. 
 
 As I had lost all my employment in shoe-making, I was 
 obliged to try another branch of business: -I therefore 
 commenced cobbler. But as none would employ me in this 
 business except those who attended my ministry, sometimes 
 I had work and sometimes I had none. So that I found 
 this branch of business attended with many inconveniences ; 
 for it often happened at the beginning of the week that I 
 had a little to .do, and at the latter end rather more than I 
 could get done ; which, with sitting up till twelve o'clock 
 on the Saturday nigTit, -and having eleven miles to walk, 
 and three times to preach on the Lord's day, rendered my 
 labors too hard for me, as my living was very inconsidera- 
 ble ; however, God made this circumstance of great use to 
 my soul ; therefore it was one of the all-things that work 
 together for good. 
 
 I had naturally a very great flow of spirits ; so that this poor 
 way of living gradually brought on me an inward weakness, 
 attended with the loss of appetite ; which rendered me in- 
 capable of taking that nourishment my labors necessarily 
 Tequired. I could drink nothing but water or small beer 
 for some years together, which at times brought me so low 
 that I was obliged to gird my stomach with a handkerchief 
 as tight as I could bear it, in order to gather strength to 
 enable me to deliver three discourses a day. At length I 
 got so low that one pint of good small beer rendered me in- 
 capable of walking steady ; and Satan violently tempted me 
 
AND THE BANK OP FAITH. 47 
 
 ,. 
 
 on this head. Some of my friends, who saw the case I was 
 in, feziring that I should shortly come to an end, labored 
 hard to dissuade me from this mode of living ; but in vain. 
 Sometimes they would mix my small beer with a little ale; 
 which I could immediately detect, and was apt to view them 
 my enemies for so doing ; but they did it thrpugh fear that 
 I should throw myself into a consumption, and that one 
 little branch of the church of Christ might thereby sustain 
 a loss. For five years I went on in this manner, till there 
 was scarce one step between me and death. But I gradu- 
 ally got rid of this habit, as the Lord appeared more precious 
 to me in a way of providence, and God sanctified it to the 
 good of my soul ; for this poverty and bad living brought 
 many infirmities on me, which have at times lain as a can- 
 ker-worm at the root of my natural levity. I now began 
 clearly to see'that God intended to establish me as a preacher 
 of the gospel, by his opening many doors for me, and be- 
 cause many souls were awakened by my instrumentality. 
 Blessed be God, such shall be my joy and crown of rejoic- 
 ing in the day of the Lord Jesus. 
 
 I found it, however, impossible to preach five or six times 
 a week, and carry on the business of cobbling at the same 
 time ; especially, as it generally came in so fast at the latter 
 end of the week a time when I wanted to study the 
 scriptures, in order to furnish myself with matter for the 
 Lord's day. Wherefore I determined to give up this em- 
 ployment, and continue in the work of God only, whatever 
 T might suffer by it. In consequence of this resolution, I 
 went to a poor cobbler, who lived in the same place with 
 me, and to him I give my kit of tools, threw myself entirely 
 on the propitious arm of kind Providence, and gave myself 
 wholly to the ministry of the word, and prayer. 
 
 At this time I had left my ready-furnished lodgings, and 
 
48 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 * 
 
 rented a little cottage at three pounds eighteen shillings per 
 annum ; and we had about half as much furniture to put in 
 it as a porter would carry at one load. 
 
 Having thus left off my cobbling business, Providence 
 exercised my faith and patience very sharply at times, and 
 suffered me to get a little behind-hand in the worljd ; which 
 caused me to cry and pray day and night; for I knew that 
 the cause in which I had embarked would be exposed to 
 contempt if I contracted a debt and could not pay it. And 
 though this is not felt by the rich, yet it lies heavy on the 
 mind of the poor, honest Christian. But in answer to 
 prayer, God sent to my house a gentleman of great proper- 
 ty, very much noted in the religious world for liberality ; 
 who, after he had stayed with me a few hours, ordered his 
 carriage, and at his departure gave me five guineas ; at 
 which I was amazed, he being a stranger to*me, and one 
 whom I had never before seen. This served to buy me 
 some few household necessaries, as also to pay off the debt 
 which I had contracted. Oh, who would not choose the 
 precious life of dependency on God, when the tender regard 
 of Providence in our poverty is so clearly seen in those rich 
 supplies which are poured forth in answer to the simple, 
 though powerful, prayer of faith ? 
 
 At this time I stood in great need of linen, and of a new 
 suit of clothes, my old black ones being almost worn out. 
 I often begged this favor of God, agreeable to his own word. 
 " If God so clothe the grass, which to-day is, and to-morrow 
 is cast into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O 
 ye of little faith?" But God exercised my patience long, 
 teaching me the necessity of importunity in prayer ; and at 
 last answered me by terrible things in righteousness ; for he 
 sent a violent storm of persecution, which, from its proving 
 intolerable, obliged me to seek redress from the law of the 
 
AND THE B'ANK OF FAITH. 49 
 
 land, as I was legally licensed. My appeal, however, prov- 
 ed in vain; for, upon the trial, my license proved an im- 
 proper one, from the word tcacln-r, or preacher, being left 
 out of it ; which was not my fault, as I had applied and 
 procured it legally. I was now obliged to go to London, 
 and get another license. And here the answer to my for- 
 mer prayers appeared. I was obliged to tarry in town all 
 night, and, as there was a person who had long wanted to 
 see me, (not from any personal knowledge of me, but from 
 various reports he had heard of the Lord's dealings with 
 me,) I endeavored to find him out, and accordingly did. 
 He received me very courteously, and kindly entertained 
 me, at a time of my undergoing a sharp trial. " A man's 
 own heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his 
 steps." 
 
 As answers to prayer now seemed to be wholly denied, 
 my faith in God's providence began to fail. And in very 
 deed I was determined to leave my ministerial work, and go 
 and settle at Guildford, where I thought I could get employ- 
 ment as a gardener, and preach to my little flock at Wook- 
 ing on the Lord's day. But alas ! " there are many devices 
 in a man's heart, but the counsel of the Lord that shall 
 stand." However, in order to accomplish this with some 
 degree of conscience, I endeavored to get a supply of min- 
 isters for the various places I preached at. But all my-efforts 
 were in vain. And indeed there wae little encouragement 
 for any to undertake to supply them, as they were so distant 
 from London, and as it was in much opposition that the 
 cause was carried on ; besides, there were, neither tithes, 
 offerings, nor surplice fees, attending their labors. Those 
 who undertook the work must have gone on this warfare 
 entirely at their own expense. 
 
 As I could not possibly get any assistance in my ministe- 
 7 
 
50 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 rial labors, I knew not how to go on, having no clothes fit 
 to be seen in. I suffered, too, even for want of the common 
 necessaries of life ; for I had as much travelling and preach- 
 ing as I was able to, do, had I lived ever so well ; but being 
 obliged to live very low, I was hardly able to go through the 
 work in any shape. I was as bad off as poor Paul I suf- 
 fered hunger, cold, and nakedness. 
 
 The good man, whom I have before mentioned, and at 
 whose house I lodged that night, purposed that I should go 
 into Sussex, to preach at the place of his nativity. I told 
 him that the apparel I then had on, was all the clothes I was 
 possessed of, wherefore I was really not fit to be seen any 
 where, and that I was likewise in debt. He asked me if I 
 would stay and preach in one of his rooms in the evening 
 to a few friends he would invite. I complied with his re- 
 quest, and accordingly preached; where three gentlemen 
 gave me each a guinea. The good man also went to some 
 of his friends, and made up the sum of nine guineas, with 
 which I got proper clothing and other necessaries; and 
 there was a little money left to pay some debts which I had 
 contracted. Thus I went home with a full answer to my 
 prayers, and in my second suit of parsonic attire. This 
 circumstance much encouraged my faith in God's providence, 
 and caused me perpetually to beg of God to be my only 
 provider, teacher and master ; and that he would always di- 
 rect my steps and supply my wants, and not leave me 
 dependent on an arm of flesh. In my prayers I often made 
 this my plea that, as he had called me, without the instru- 
 mentality of any preacher, and sent me out without the 
 approbation or disapprobation of any one, and had in a way 
 of providence opened many doors before me, and blessed 
 my labors to the good of many souls, he would also let his 
 providence appear to me as I might stand in need of it 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 51 
 
 that I might not be burdened with cares about what I should 
 eat, or what I should drink, or wherewithal I should be 
 clothed; but that I might devote body, soul, time, and tal- 
 ents to the glory of his name, and to the good of his chosen. 
 These petitions God has been pleased to answer in some 
 measure ever since. " I have been young, and now am 
 old ; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed 
 begging bread." 
 
 At my return from London, I could not help making my 
 boast of God, even in the pulpit. And, as my persecutors 
 had burnt me in effigy a little while before, I told my audi- 
 ence that God had sent me a new suit of clothes as it were 
 out of the ashes, my persecutors having burnt a suit, with 
 which they clothed the effigy, not much unlike my old one. 
 Seeing me thus clad was a great grief to the opposers of 
 God ; they were sorry to see any raised up to seek the wel- 
 fare of the children of Israel. 
 
 I had now a pleasing gale of prosperity for some time ; 
 but shortly after another cloud of frowning providences gath- 
 ered thick over my head, and kept me long in suspense, un- 
 til I had run fourteen or fifteen pounds in debt more by 
 ten pounds than I had ever owed before. But, as my faith 
 in Providence had been sharply tried, and was strengthened 
 by these trials, a greater burden was laid upon me. And 
 thus I found Faith's task to be always proportionable to her 
 strength. In the midst of this trouble, the little flock at 
 Wooking desired me to take the charge of, and to be or- 
 dained over them ; to which I consented, and gave my 
 promise. On my return home afterwards, however, Satan 
 violently tempted me ; and unbelief and carnal reason fell 
 in with the temptation. It was for having refused some calls 
 in the country, where the people would have supported me 
 as their pastor if I would have accepted their call ; but now, 
 
52 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 as I had agreed to take the charge of a flock that could not 
 support me, I should be for ever tied down from accepting 
 any other call that my family was still increasing that 
 I was deeply in debt that my clothes were got as bad as 
 ever that my year was now out and that my gracious 
 master had not given me a new livery, nor was there any 
 appearance of it. But, blessed be God, I had the inward 
 recompense, of a good conscience, Because I did not take 
 the oversight of God's flock for filthy lucre, but of a ready 
 mind. 
 
 Having waded some time in this dreadful flood, I began 
 at length to reason, from past experience, that God had 
 hitherto been gracious ; and, as he had set me to work, I 
 must look to him for my wages. But this Satan attempted 
 to overthrow, by suggesting that I was never so much in 
 debt before. Which I knew to be true ; so that my faith 
 began to fail, and I mistrusted the providence of God. But 
 these words came so sweet to my mind, and with so much 
 power, that they bore down all that the tempter could sug- 
 gest "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his right- 
 eousness, and all these things will be added unto you." " A 
 word spoken in due season is like apples of gold in pictures 
 of silver." 
 
 The next day in the evening I preached at Hammersmith ; 
 and when I came down from the pulpit a gentleman desired 
 me to call at his house, where he had ordered a tailor to 
 measure me for a suit of clothes, of which he intended to 
 make me a present. As soon as the words were out of his 
 mouth the same scripture recoiled with power on my mind, 
 " Seek ye the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and 
 all these things shall be added unto you." I hung down my 
 head and wept for joy at the goodness of my God to one 
 who was so slow of heart to believe. In a few days my 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 53 
 
 clothes were made, and I went ;md received them. This 
 was one sharp blow to my unbelief;' and led me to see that 
 God took care to order apparel for me as well as for Aaron 
 arid his sons. 
 
 Now the principal and most difficult work of faith was, 
 to reconcile my mind as to the discharge of my large debt. 
 And how this was to be done I knew not ; but this I knew, 
 that I had not imprudently presumed on God's providence, 
 having contracted it merely to supply my wants ; and, as the 
 Lord made me trust him for the fulfilment of his promises, I 
 was forced to get others to trust me till my faith could get 
 her wages in. That I scored up my blessed Master, who, 
 in his own time, always discharged my debts with honor 
 Thus God, who wrought a miracle to clear the debt of a 
 poor widow by Elisha the prophet, will surely clear the just 
 debts of his poor ministers. 
 
 Soon after this my . friend in London asked me, and I 
 agreed, to preach at his house : and on the day appointed I 
 went ; when he told me that he had consulted the managers 
 of Margaret street chapel about my preaching there ; to 
 which they had agreed, and it was advertised that I should 
 preach there that night. At this I was sorely offended, be- 
 ing very much averse to preaching in London, for several 
 reasons. First, because I had been told it abounded so 
 much with all sorts of errors, that I was afraid cf falling into 
 them, there were so many that lay in wait to deceive : sec- 
 ondly, because I had no learning, and therefore feared I 
 should not be able to deliver myself with any degree of pro- 
 priety ; and as I knew nothing of Greek or Hebrew, nor 
 even of the English grammar, that I should be exposed to 
 the scourging tongue of every critic in London. However, 
 I preached that night; and soon after found myself induced, 
 by sundry persuasions, to preach the word of God statedly 
 8 
 
54 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 in that very chapel. During many weeks I labored under 
 much distress of mind, respecting my want of abilities to 
 preach in this great metropolis. But God in due time re- 
 moved that distress, by condescending to bless his word, 
 even from my mouth ; and he was pleased to deliver a young 
 man from a capital error by the first discourse I ever delivered 
 at that place; which appeared not only a great encourage- 
 ment to me at that time, but also a prelude to that future 
 success which I might expect under God's promised blessing. 
 The above-mentioned young man is now a preacher of the 
 gospel, and has been instrumental in calling others. So 
 that I am become a grandfather from my first London dis- 
 course. 
 
 Being a native of the Wild of Kent, which is none of the 
 most polite parts of the world, I retained a .good deal of my 
 provincial dialect ; and many of my expressions, to the ears 
 of a grammarian, sounded very harsh and uncouth. This 
 circumstance caused many unsanctified critics to laugh and 
 cavil at me. But, when God permitted me to drop promis- 
 cuously into company with any of those who were so very 
 learned, and they began to pour contempt on some of my 
 expressions, I generally found them very deficient in the 
 work of the Spirit on their own souls : and though ^ome of 
 them 'seemed very wise in gospel doctrines, yet I could 
 easily find that their knowledge was borrowed from com- 
 mentators, by their appearing great strangers to the experi- 
 ence of them on their hearts, and also to the happy enjoy- 
 ment of them ; which I knew they would be able to give an 
 account of, if they had received them wet with dew and 
 warm with love from heaven, 'in answer to the prayer of 
 faith. It is true that some have often confounded me in the 
 sense and meaning of words, as also in the original texts ; 
 yet I found that I could as much confound them in the sen- 
 
AND THE IVANK OFFAITH. 55 
 
 sible operations of the Holy Ghost, agreeable to the word of 
 God ; and, by my own experience of the Spirit's work, 
 could overthrow some expressions of theirs from the Hebrew 
 language, especially those who labored to overthrow the 
 divinity of the Son of God ; the manifestation of whom to 
 my own soul, agreeable to his word, has enabled me to foil 
 the most accomplished Ariari I have ever yet contended 
 with upon that point. The only way to prove Christ's 
 divinity is to go to him when overwhelmed with guilt and 
 horror, and to pray to him as the eternal God ; and, if he 
 appear to honor our faith and to answer our prayers, and 
 deliver us from the wrath of God, the guilt of sin, the power 
 of Satan, the fear of death, the curse of the law, and eternal 
 damnation, and blesses us with pardon, peace, love, and 
 liberty, he shall be the eternal God of our soul's salvation, 
 though Satan be the God of this unhallowed world. For, 
 though the Arians talk of Christ as a stone of help, yet, if 
 they allow him to be no more than a creature, they might 
 as well call him a sandy foundation, as a rock ; for all flesh 
 is dust, and to dust it must return. If he had riot been God, 
 he certainly would have seen corruption, as well as other 
 creatures have done ; and that he was raised from the dead 
 is not owing to his being man, but to his being God " put 
 to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit." His 
 flesh was raised without seeing corruption, because he was 
 the Son of God with power, and had immortality and eter- 
 nal life in himself, as the self-existent and independent 
 Jehovah. And God the father prepared a body for him, 
 and he willingly came and took it on him to do his Father's 
 will, so he wore that fleshly garment till he had finished the 
 work his Father gave him to do, and then dipped it in blood, 
 and sanctified himself for our sakes, that he might sanctify 
 us ; he then laid it down for our life, and raised it again for 
 
56 GOD THE GUARDIAN, OF THE POOR, 
 
 our justification ; took it at last to heaven as the first fruits 
 of them that sleep ; and appears in it as in an eternal tem- 
 ple, wherein dwells the glorious Shekinah, or " all the ful- 
 ness of the Godhead bodily." All our access to God is 
 only through that rent vail of his flesh ; and he, who allows 
 Christ to be no more than a creature, denies all the intrin- 
 sic glory of the eternal Godhead that ever dwelt between 
 the cherubims, and condemns every hoping soul that ever 
 took shelter under the shadowing wings of the Almighty. 
 
 Upon the whole, 1 found my ignorance of Greek and 
 Hebrew to be no impediment in the way of the Spirit of 
 power, as I firmly believed that God had written his law on 
 my heart: and I am persuaded that what the Holy Ghost 
 writes on the mind of man is always agreeable to the origi- 
 nal text; and that, if there are any errors in our English 
 translation, the blessed Spirit will never impress the minds 
 of God's elect from a false copy, nor appear as the broad 
 seal of heaven 1 to ratify a lie. No ; " he shall guide you 
 into all truth, and he shall,glorify me." 
 
 But I shall now return to my former subject, and inform 
 my reader how my faith managed the great debt before 
 mentioned, God having long exercised my faith and 
 patience, until I began to despair of ever getting it paid. It 
 so happened that a capital error crept into the church of 
 God at Horsham in Sussex ; and some friends sent for me, 
 as it was a place where I had often preached ; indeed it was 
 the first place that I ever preached at in a public manner. 
 I therefore complied with their request ; and in my way 
 thither was blessed with one of the most comfortable and 
 lively frames of mind that I had ever enjoyed. This frame 
 was attended with a most delightful chain of heavenly med- 
 itations ; which, when I arrived at my journey's end, I com- 
 mitted to paper, and sent to a friend in town. This cir- 
 
AND THE HANK OF FAITH. 57 
 
 cumstince, under God, paved a way for rny being invited to 
 preacli at Chelsea, where I delivered a discourse from this 
 text " Children, have ye any meat?" I was afterward 
 informed that a confirmed Arian came out of curiosity to 
 hear me ; and, though I knew nothing of it, I was led in 
 the course of my sermon, to be very severe against the 
 destructive tenets of that sect. In onsequence of which 
 he went home convinced ; and upon his arrival there was 
 seized with a fit of illness, during which Christ was gra- 
 ciously pleased to manifest his atonement to his conscience. 
 When he felt the power, he cried out, " The darkness is 
 now past, and the true light shineth." He continued in 
 this divine ecstacy till his body dropped into the jaws "of 
 death, which was about a fortnight after the above discourse 
 was delivered. Thus God fulfils his word, " Those that 
 erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and those that 
 murmured shall learn doctrine." 
 
 But to return to my subject. A gentleman, famous for a 
 liberal turn of mind, asked me to lodge at his house, with 
 which I gladly complied ; and in the evening he inquired 
 about my health, ministerial success, and also concerning 
 my circumstances. As God alone knew my wants, so none 
 but God could have inclined his heart to relieve me. At 
 my departure he gave me ten guineas. This precious 
 answer to prayer, coming so seasonably in a time of need, 
 put my discontent to the blush, dashed infidelity itself out 
 of countenance, and stopped the mouth of an accusing devil. 
 " Trust in the Lord, and do good ; so shalt thou dwell in 
 the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." Psalms xxxvii. 3. 
 
 I found God's promises to be the Christian's bank note ; 
 and a living faith will always draw on the divine Banker ; 
 yea, and the spirit of prayer, and a deep sense of want, will 
 give an heir of promise a filial boldness at the inexhaustible 
 bank of heaven. 
 
58 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 Indeed the providence of God is a great mystery ; nor 
 could I unriddle it, even while I was daily exercised with 
 it. During my residence at Ewell I have often begun the 
 week with eighteen or twenty pence, sometimes with two 
 shillings, and sometimes with half a crown ; and we have 
 lived through the whole week upon that only, without con- 
 tracting any debt. And I found it impossible at the week's 
 end, upon the best reflection I could make,- to tell how we 
 had been supported through the week. At other times I 
 have found that my craving appetite had lost its keenness, 
 insomuch that I have been able to work hard for two days 
 together without any food at all. And sometimes God has 
 indulged me with such heavenly views of a glorified state, 
 and entertained my mind with such sweet contemplations 
 on futurity, that my dinner hour has passed away unnoticed ; 
 nor have I once had a thought about it till four or five 
 o'clock, or near the time of leaving my labor. But these 
 blessed acts of God's providential regard are nothing new; 
 for he took away the appetite of Moses and Elijah for forty 
 days together ; and he is the same God still. Nor is his 
 bountiful hand at all shortened, though the faith of the 
 necessitous has so often stretched it out. " I will leave in 
 the midst of thee a poor and an afflicted people, and they 
 shall trust in the name of the Lord." Zeph. iii. 12. 
 
 At my return I discharged my debt as far as the ten 
 guineas would go, and left the other standing on the book, 
 which Providence used as a future exercise for my faith. 
 About that time I was ordained over my little flock at 
 Wooking ; when I found Providence began to frown again, 
 in order to keep me humble. However, all things worked 
 together for my good ; for, being kept daily dependent on 
 God's providence by faith, I had the precious enjoyment of 
 sweet communion with God ; and every day did his provi- 
 
i fc 
 
 AND THE BANK OP FAIT 
 
 dence and gracious care appear more or less <>\rr me. I 
 generally found those blessings the sweetest which had 
 caused me the most importunity in prayer. This makes 
 the " dinner of herbs, where love is, better than a stalled 
 ox and hatred therewith." Prov. xv. 17. 
 
 Some time after this I was brought into another strait, 
 by receiving a letter that required me to give up one of my 
 little flocks, which happened to be at that time my chief 
 support. This plot was laid by a person who made a god 
 of his wealth, and therefore found fault with my sermons, 
 conceiving them levelled at him. And indeed the allega- 
 tion was certainly well founded ; for, if a man has got the 
 world in his heart, the preacher is sure of hitting him, if he 
 should only draw a bow at a venture. For, if, the love of 
 money be the root of all evil, it is impossible to wield the 
 sword of the Spirit without cutting either root or branch. 
 
 This treatment drove me to London. When I left my 
 own home on the Lord's day morning, my whole stock of 
 money amounted to no more than two pence ; of which I 
 took one half, and left my dame the other. One halfpenny 
 of this I paid at Hampton Court bridge; and soon after a 
 poor man asked alms of me, to whom I gave the other half 
 penny. Then I besought the Lord not to send any other 
 person to ask alms of me, until his bountiful hand had sup- 
 plied my own wants. However, this trial also worked 
 together for my good ; for it was the means of bringing me 
 to preach constantly in London ; and many who had heard 
 me in town, met with me at my friend's house, and invited 
 me to preach at Margaret Street Chapel. Several friends 
 also sent for me to their houses. One gave me a guinea, 
 and others half a guinea, till I had enough to discharge the 
 debt I owed. 
 
 Mentioning these minute circumstances has offended 
 
60 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 many ; and some (of an independent fortune) have con- 
 demned my prayers as carnal, in praying for such temporal 
 things ; but I know that they have taken many worse steps 
 both to accumulate and to keep their independence ; and I 
 think it is better to beg than to steal, as say those who 
 speak in proverbs. 
 
 I now wanted to return home, fearing that my family 
 would want bread ; but just before the time of my departure, 
 a friend from Richmond arrived, who informed me that he 
 had been to Ditton, and supplied the wants of my family ; for 
 he said he had been informed of the affair, and guessed how 
 my pocket stood. " Oh that men would praise the Lord for 
 his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children 
 of men ! " " Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink 
 thy wine with a merry heart ; for God now accepteth thy 
 works." Eccles. ix. 7. 
 
 At my returnhome I discharged my debts, and for a time 
 went sweetly on, under the sunshine both of Providence 
 and grace ; and God sent me back again to the flock which 
 I had been commanded to leave by the mouth of a rich and 
 covetous professor. Thus God frustrates the counsels of 
 the wicked, so that his hands cannot perform his enter- 
 prise. 
 
 But, as the life of faith consists in bearing the cross of 
 Christ, we must not expect to be long without trials. Prov- 
 idence soon frowned on me again, and I got behind hand as 
 usual. This happened, too, at a time when my wife was 
 lying in, destitute of those necessaries / of life which are 
 needful at such times. The nurse came and told her there 
 was no tea in the house. My wife replied, " Set the kettle 
 on, if there is not." The nurse (whose name was Ann 
 Webb, a daughter of mine in the faith, and the first soul 
 that God called by me,) said, " You have no tea, nor can 
 
AND THE BANK OP FAITH 61 
 
 you get any." My wife replied, " Set on the kettle." She 
 did so; and before it boiled, a woman (with whom at that 
 time we had no acquaintance,') came to the door, and ti>!<! 
 the nurse that she had brought some tea as a present to my 
 wife. Thus God, who showed Moses a stick to sweeten the 
 waters of Marah, sent a little tea to bitter the water in my 
 dame's kettle. Soon after my dame got over her lying-in, 
 tidings were brought to us that a gospel minister was com- 
 ing down to Kingston to preach an evening lecture, and to 
 break bread to the congregation. I had a great desire to 
 go to the table, and also to have my child baptized at the 
 same time ; but, as I never could go from the Lord's table 
 without offering my mite, and at this time had no money in 
 my pocket, I could not go. However, I begged of God to 
 send me a little money some way or other for this purpose ; 
 which I verily believed he would. So I waited till within 
 half an hour of the time to go, and then began to think I 
 should be disappointed ; but, just as unbelief set me to mur- 
 muring and complaining, I heard a man ride up to my door 
 as I was in my study at the back part of the house ; and 
 when he rode away again I called to my wife to get ready 
 to go. " Get ready ! " said she, " why you know we have 
 no money ! " " Poh ! poh ! " said I, " God has sent the 
 money ! " And true enough it was that GooV had sent it ; 
 for all the business the man had with us was to give us some 
 money ! Surely it was God that sent him, and none else ; 
 for, if the hairs of our heads are all numbered, we have rea- 
 son to believe that our wants are; and if God keeps our 
 hairs from falling to the ground, he certainly supplies our 
 wants too. Thus the good God and Saviour, who made a 
 fish produce money for an earthly tribute, sent the man with 
 three shillings as an offering to God, and of his own we 
 offered to him. 1 Chron. xxix. 14. 
 
62 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 Soon after this I was obliged to borrow a guinea of a cer- 
 tain friend, which I promised to pay him on the Thursday 
 night following, if he would call for it. And I begged of 
 God to send it me from some quarter or other, firmly be- 
 lieving he would. The day before my friend had appointed 
 to call on me for the money, I was to go out to preach 
 among my friends ; and I earnestly besought God to send it 
 me that day, if it was his will and pleasure, of which I had 
 no more doubt than of my own existence. However, I re- 
 turned home without it, and wondered how it could be, see- 
 ing the Saviour says, " Whatsoever ye shall ask, believing, 
 ye shall have it ; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." 
 I told the Lord that I had prayed in faith for it, firmly be- 
 lieving I should have it, but had not obtained it. This text 
 of scripture came with power to my mind : " Faith is the 
 substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things 
 not .seen." I had from that time a sweet view of that pas- 
 sage, and delivered several discourses from it, which God 
 seemed to bless with power. But to return to my subject. 
 As soon as I came home I began to fret because I had not 
 got the money that I expected ; but still the text answered 
 me, " Faith is the substance of things hoped for," &c. I 
 replied, " If it be the substance, it is as sure as the thing 
 itself." Upon this the good man came into my study, and 
 I was going to make an apology to him ; but before I open- 
 ed my mouth, he said, " I come to desire you not to think 
 of paying me the guinea, for I have made you a present of 
 it, and God bless you with it." As soon as he was gone the 
 same passage of scripture recoiled upon my mind again 
 with much comfort, " Faith is the substance of things 
 hoped for," dz/c. And indeed I clearly saw it to be so, both 
 in spirituals and temporals. Thus my faith was not con- 
 founded, nor my hope disappointed ; all my trouble sprung 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAIT II. 63 
 
 from my own sin, which was, limiting the Holy One of 
 Israel. I was expecting money to pay the debt : but God 
 took away from my creditor the expectation of payment. 
 Thus, like Joseph's brethren, I intended to show myself 
 faithful and honest, by paying the money; but our spiritual 
 Joseph was minded to show me that he had given me treas- 
 ure in the heart of my creditor. 
 
 About that time a person called upon me, and offered to 
 let me the house he then lived in, which he was going to 
 leave. I own I had a desire after it, because there was a 
 large garden belonging to it, which I could look after my- 
 self, and raise, many vegetables, that would help to support 
 my family. The garden was walled in, Joo, which I much 
 admired, being very fond of retirement. There was a sta- 
 ble, a brew-house, and every other convenience; and the 
 rent was only six pounds ten shillings per annum. But the 
 man told me it would cost seven or eight pounds to take 
 the fixtures of the house ; wherefore I gave up the thoughts 
 of it, as I had no view of raising such a sum. So I drove 
 it from my thoughts, though I much wanted it. But God 
 hath " determined the times before appointed, and the 
 bounds of our habitations ; that we should seek the Lord." 
 Acts xvii. 26. 
 
 A few days after this a friend called to see me; whom I 
 consulted about the house, and showed it to him. He per- 
 suaded me to take it, which I accordingly did; but was 
 obliged to wait a few weeks, till the person I was to succeed 
 could provide himself with another situation suitable for his 
 business. I therefore asked God in prayer to enable me to 
 purchase the fixture^ of this house, if it was agreeable to his 
 sovereign will and pleasure; for I knew that God had "set 
 the bounds of the people according to the number of the 
 children of Israel." Deut. xxxii. 8. And the providence 
 
G4 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 of God appeared so conspicuous, that I shortly obtained 
 money enough to pay for the fixtures ; but the person desired 
 me to wait a few weeks longer, as he had been disappointed of 
 the house he expected to go into; so I waited two months, 
 during which time the money was all spent. Then I begged 
 of God to frustrate my going into the house at all, if it was 
 displeasing to him, although I much wanted it; because my 
 little cot was placed in a very vulgar neighborhood, and the 
 windows were so very low that I could not study at any of them 
 without being exposed to the view of my enemies ; who 
 often threw stones through the glass, or saluted me with a 
 volley of oaths or imprecations. This was very disagreea- 
 ble to me. In my public ministrations I expected nothing 
 else but the cruel venom of asps; but to commune with my 
 God in private was the only swe^et refuge I had to flee to, 
 and the only door of hope that was open for comfort and 
 relief. However, Providence soon began to shine again ; 
 and indeed I had nothing else to live on from year's end to 
 year's end but what God sent me in answer to prayer. At 
 this time a person gave me five guineas ; which kind prov- 
 idence I rather wondered at. But the following night I had 
 a dream (I hope my brethren will not hate me yet the 
 more because of my dreams, Gen. xxxvii. 5 ; seeing we have 
 a scriptural warrant for the relation of them : " He that hath 
 a dream, let him tell a dream ; and he that hath my word, 
 let him speak my word." Jer. xxiii. 28.) I dreamed that 
 the person before-mentioned sent to inform me that he was 
 going to leave his house; that the things were to be ap- 
 praised on Friday morning; and that he should expect me 
 to pay him the money down for the fixtures. I said in my 
 dream, "Lord, thou knowest I cannot go, for I have not 
 money enough." Then came this answer "Go to Mr. 
 Munday, cutler, at Kingston upon Thames, and he will lend 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. <),"> 
 
 you as much as you want." I soon after awoke, and be- 
 hold it was a dream ! therefore I took little notice of it. 
 But in a few hours the person sent me word that he was 
 going to leave his house, and should expect me to come and 
 see the things appraised the next morning, and pay him for 
 the same. Then I began to think it was more than a 
 dream. The same night, Mr. Monday, of Kingston, called 
 on me ; and to the best of my remembrance, he had never 
 been at my house before. I asked him if he would lend me 
 a little money ; he replied, " I will .lend you all I have in 
 my pocket ; and, if you will call on me to-morrow at Kings- 
 ton, I will lend you five pounds if you want it." He ac- 
 cordingly lent me what he then had with him; and the next 
 morning, after the things were appraised to me, I paid for 
 them, having just nine shillings left. This is the end of my 
 dream. Whether this blessing came from Fortune on the 
 wheel, or from the Searcher and Disposer of hearts, I shall 
 leave those to determine who have got learning and an inde- 
 pendent fortune at command. 
 
 My year being now expired, I wanted a new parsonic 
 livery ; wherefore in humble prayer I told my most blessed 
 Lord and Master that my year was out, and my apparel bad 
 that I had no where to go for these things but to him ; 
 and as he had promised to give his servants food and raiment, 
 I hoped he would fulfil his promise to rne, though one of the 
 worst of them. Seeing no immediate signs of my livery 
 coming, I began to omit praying for it ; though God says, 
 " For all these things I will be inquired of by the house of 
 Israel, that I may do these things for them." It fell out one 
 day that I called on a poor man, who complained that he 
 could not attend the word of God for want of apparel 
 This drove me to pray again for my new suit of clothes, 
 that I might give my old ones to him. A few days after 
 9 
 
66 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 this I was desired to call at a gentleman's house near Lon- 
 don. Indeed it had been impressed on my mind for six 
 weeks before, that God would use that gentleman as an 
 instrument to furnish me with my next suit. And so it fell 
 out: for, when I called on him, upon leaving his house he 
 went a little way with me ; and while we were on the road 
 he said, " I think you want a suit of clothes." I answered, 
 " Yes, Sir, I do ; and I know a poor man that would be very 
 glad of this which I have on, if my master would furnish 
 me with another." When we parted he desired me to call 
 on him the next morning, which I accordingly did ; when 
 he sent a tailor into the room, and generously told me to be 
 measured for what clothes I chose, and a great coat also. 
 When I got the new, I furnished the poor man with my old 
 suit. This was the fourth suit of apparel that rny Master 
 gave me in this providential manner, in answer to the prayer 
 of faith. This God, who kept Israel's clothes from waxing 
 old, though in constant use for forty years, gave me a new 
 suit every year. 
 
 I was soon afterwards brought into another strait. Hav- 
 ing contracted a debt of five pounds for some necessaries 
 which I wanted, I promised to pay it on a certain day ; and 
 I put up many prayers that God would enable me to fulfil 
 my promise. At last the day arrived, and I had not one 
 farthing towards it. About ten o'clock the bell rung at my 
 gate. Supposing it to be my creditor, I kneeled down, and 
 begged of God not to let him come till he had sent me the 
 money to pay him. It proved not to be the man I expected, 
 but soon after the bell rung again, and I kneeled down 
 again, and prayed with the same words ; and was informed 
 a stranger wanted to see me. He had much to say to me 
 about the things of God ; and when he left me he gave me 
 two guineas. Soon after this I went to work in my garden, 
 and another person, who lived at a great distance, came to 
 
AND THE BANK OP FAITH. 67 
 
 speak with me, and gave me another guinea. After that I 
 took a walk in the fields, and met with two gentlemen who 
 feared God, and \vho came from London on purpose to see 
 me. They gave me two guineas. The next day my cred- 
 itor came, and his money was ready for him. This is like 
 the Lord's dealings with the poor widow by Elisha; when 
 the .creditor came to take the mother and son for bond-ser- 
 vants, God sent the creditor all his demands in a pot of oil. 
 I have omitted one providence which has just occurred 
 to my mind, and which happened at the time I carried 
 coals for my bread. It fell out one night that we were forc- 
 ed to put our little ones to bed without a supper, which 
 grieved me much, and on which account I got but little 
 sleep all night; for I lay and wept bitterly all night under 
 my hard fate. While I was weeping and praying a person 
 came to the window and told me there was a load of wooden 
 hoops come to the wharf from Dorking, in Surrey, and that 
 I must get up and unload them, which I soon did. When 
 I had done, the farmer told me he had brought me a little 
 meat pie and a flagon of cider, of which he had heard me 
 say I was very fond. As soon as he was gone I went home, 
 and endeavored to awake my young ones, but in vain ; how- 
 ever, I set them up on the bolster, and they began to eat 
 before they were fully awake. Thus God sent food from a 
 very remote place, in answer to the groaning petition of my 
 burdened heart. God grant that, if my reader be a poor 
 Christian, he may take encouragement from these accounts 
 to pray and watch the hand of God in every time of trouble ; 
 until he sees, agreeable to the promise, that God causes all 
 his goodness tp pass before him. Oh, how sweet is the least 
 mercy when fitly timed, and brought forth so seasonably ! 
 how it endears God to the soul ! When the poor widow of 
 Zarepta was gathering two sticks to bake the last cake for 
 
68 GOD THE GUARDIAN OP THE POOR, 
 
 her and her son, that they might eat once more before they 
 died, then comes the man of God, and swears that the bar- 
 rel of meal shall not fail till God send rain upon the earth. 
 1 Kings, xvii. 14. 
 
 At this time I had many doors opened to me for preach- 
 ing the gospel, very wide apart. I preached at Margaret 
 street, in London; at Richmond, at Ditton, at Cobham, at 
 Wooking, at Worplesdon, and at Farnham, in Surrey. This 
 I found too much for my strength. However, I continued 
 for a considerable time, till at last I was generally laid up 
 sick about once a month. I found I had great need of a 
 horse ; but feared I should not be able to keep it, if I had 
 one. However, it happened that I had a very severe week's 
 work to do ; I was to go to Wooking and preach on the 
 Lord's day morning, to Worplesdon in the afternoon, and 
 from thence to Farnham in the evening ; to preach at Pet- 
 worth, in Sussex, on the Monday, at Horsham on the Tues- 
 day, at Margaret street chapel on the Wednesday, and at 
 Ditton on the Thursday evening; but before I could reach 
 Ditton on the Wednesday I was so far spent, that I thought 
 I must have lain down on the road ; yet with much diffi- 
 culty I reached home ; and then I had to go to Lon- 
 don. Finding myself wholly unable to perform all his 
 labor, I went to prayer, and besought God to give me 
 more strength, less work, or a horse. I used my prayers 
 as gunners use their swivels; turning them every way as 
 the various cases required. I then hired a horse to ride to 
 town ; and, when I came there, went to put him up at Mr. 
 Jackson's livery-stables, near the chapel, in Margaret street; 
 but the ostler told me they had not room to take him in. 
 I asked if his master was in the yard. He said, yes. I de- 
 sired to see him ; and he told me he could not take the 
 horse in. I was then going out of the yard, when he step- 
 ped after me, and asked if I was the person that preached 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. ()'. 
 
 at Margaret street chapel. I told him I was. He burst 
 into tears, saying he would send one of his own horses out 
 and take mine in ; and in for mod me of his coining one night 
 to hear me out of curiosity, because he had been informed 
 that I had been a coal-heaver. He then told me that, under 
 the first sermon, God showed him the insufficiency of his 
 own wretched righteousness the carnality and hypocrisy 
 of his religion the true state of his soul and the neces- 
 sity of the spirit and grace of Christ Jesus the Lord to change 
 his heart if ever he was saved ; and blessed God for sending 
 me there. This was good news to me. He also said that 
 some of my friends had been gathering money to buy me a 
 horse, and that he gave something towards him. Directly 
 after I found the horse was bought and paid for ; and one 
 person gave me a guinea to buy a bridle, another gave me 
 two whips, a third gave me some things necessary for the 
 stable, another trusted me for a saddle and here was a 
 full answer to my prayer. So I mounted my horse and rode 
 home ; and he turned out as good an animal as ever was 
 rode. I believe this horse was the gift of God, because he 
 tells me in his word that all the beasts of the forest are his, 
 and so are the cattle on a thousand hills. I have often 
 thought that, if my horse could have spoken, he would have 
 had more to say than Balaam's ass ; as he might have said, 
 " I am an answer to my master's prayers I live by my 
 master's faith, travel with mysteries, and suffer persecu- 
 tion, but I do not know for what :" for many a stone has 
 been thrown at him. 
 
 On my road home, while meditating on the manifold bles- 
 sings I had received from God, both in a way of grace and 
 providence, how unworthy I was of them, and how unthank- 
 ful I had been for them, I told God that I had more work 
 for my faith now than heretofore ; for the horse would cost 
 10 
 
70 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 half as much to keep him as my whole family. In answer 
 to which this scripture came to my mind with power and 
 comfort, " Dwell in the land and do good, and verily thou 
 shalt be fed." This was a bank note put into the hand of 
 my faith ; which, when I got poor, I pleaded before God ; 
 and he answered it. So that I lived and cleared my way 
 just as well when I had my horse to keep as I did before ; 
 for I could not then get any thing either to eat, drink, wear, 
 or use, without begging it of God. Sometimes I found 
 much murmuring in my heart against being held in so tight 
 a rein ; for which I was sure to suffer afterwards. So I 
 found, by daily experience, that I could not add one cubit 
 to God's stature, no, not even in the least thing ; therefore 
 it was in vain for me to take thought for the rest. 
 
 Having now had my horse for some time, and riding a 
 great deal every week, I soon wore my breeches out, as they 
 were not fit to ride in. I hope the reader will excuse my 
 mentioning the word breeches, which I should have avoided, 
 had not this passage of scripture obtruded into my rnind, 
 just as I had resolved in my own thoughts not to mention 
 this kind providence of God. " And thou shalt make them 
 linen breeches to cover their nakedness ; from the loins 
 even unto the thighs shall they reach. And they shall be 
 upon Aaron and upon his sons when they come into the 
 tabernacle of the congregation, or when they come near un- 
 to the altar to minister in the holy place ; that they bear not 
 iniquity and die. It shall be a statute forever unto him and 
 his seed after him." Exod. xxviii. 42, 43. By which, and 
 three others, (namely, Ezek. xliv. 18; Lev. vi. 10; and Lev. 
 xvi. 4,) I saw that it was no crime to mention the word 
 breeches, nor the way in which God sent them to me ; Aaron 
 and his sons being clothed entirely by Providence ; and as 
 God himself condescended to give orders what they should 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 71 
 
 be made of, and how they should be cut. And I believe 
 the same God ordered mine, as I trust it will appear in the 
 following history. 
 
 The scripture tells us to call no man master, for one is 
 our master, even Christ. I therefore told my most bounti- 
 ful and ever-adored Master what I wanted ; and he, who 
 stripped Adam and Eve of their fig-leaved aprons, and made 
 coats of skin and clothed them ; and who clothes the grass 
 of the field, which to-day is and to-morrow is cast into the 
 oven ; must clothe us, or we shall soon go naked ; and 
 so Israel found it, when God took away his wool and his 
 flax, which he gave to cover their nakedness, and which 
 they prepared for Baal ; for which iniquity was their skirts 
 discovered, and their heels made bare. Jer. xiii. 22. 
 
 I often made very free in my prayers with my invaluable 
 Master for this favor ; but he still kept me so amazingly 
 poor that I could not get them at any rate. At last I was 
 determined to go to a friend of mine at Kingston, who is of 
 that branch of business, to bespeak a pair; and to get him 
 to trust me until my Master sent me money to pay him. I 
 was that day going to London, fully determined to bespeak 
 them as I rode through the town. However, when I passed the 
 shop, I forgot it ; but when I came to London I called on Mr. 
 Croucher, a shoemaker in Shepherd's Market, who told me 
 a parcel was left there for me, but what it was he knew not. 
 I opened it, and behold there was a pair of leather breeches 
 with a note in them ! the substance of which was, to the 
 best of my remembrance, as follows : 
 
 " SIR, 
 
 " I have sent you a pair of breeches, and hope they will 
 fit. I beg your acceptance of them ; and, if they want any 
 alteration, leave in a note what the alteration is, and I will 
 call in a few days and alter them. I. S." 
 
72 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 I tried them on, and they fitted as well as if I had been 
 measured for them at which I was amazed, having never 
 been measured by any leather breeches maker in London. 
 I wrote an answer to the note to this effect : 
 
 " SIR, 
 
 " I received your present, and thank you for it. I was 
 going to order a pair of leather breeches to be made, because 
 I did not know till now that my Master had bespoke them of 
 you. They fit very well, which fully convinces me, that the 
 same God, who moved thy heart to give, guided thy hand to 
 cut ; because he perfectly knows my size, having clothed 
 me in a miraculous manner for near five years. When you 
 are in trouble, Sir, I hope you will tell my Master of this, 
 and what you have done for me, and he will repay you with 
 honor." 
 
 This is as near as I am able to relate it, and I added, 
 
 " I cannot make out /. S. unless I put / for Israelite 
 indeed, and S. for Sincerity ; because you did not " sound a 
 trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do." 
 
 About that time twelve-month I got another pair of 
 breeches in the same extraordinary manner, without my ev- 
 er being measured for them. But perhaps my reader may 
 blame me for this relation ; and think that, as the good man 
 gave his alms entirely in secret, it ought not to be published 
 to the world. To which I answer Our blessed Saviour, 
 when he was on earth, spake his parables openly ; but when 
 in private, he communicated to his disciples all the rich 
 treasures of wisdom and knowledge that lay couched in 
 them. Thus Christ gave his spiritual alms in secret ; yet 
 he commanded them to proclaim the riches of his grace 
 upon the house-tops. It is true, he charged his patients 
 when he healed them not to tell any man what he had done ; 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 73 
 
 to show them that ho sought not the applause of man, but 
 the honor of God, while he remained a bond-servant under 
 the law, and in the state of humiliation ; yet, after his death, 
 they were to proclaim the whole of it to all the world. And 
 all that Christ healed by the disciples were allowed to pro- 
 claim it; and sometimes were presented before the councils 
 as witnesses of his power. And though our alms are to be 
 in secret, and we are commanded to say we are unprofitable 
 servants ; yet the Redeemer who graciously condescends to 
 receive and accept the fruits of our faith, will proclaim them 
 one day before all the offspring of Adam. "I was an hun- 
 gered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me 
 drink ; I was a stranger, and ye took me in ; naked, and ye 
 clothed me ; sick and in prison, and ye visited me." And 
 being stript of all Arminianism, they said, " Lord, when 
 saw we thee an hungered," &c. &,c. " Forasmuch as ye 
 have done it unto one of these little ones, ye have done it 
 unto me." 
 
 These things plainly show us That our alms ought to be 
 given in secret, and that the giver ought to be silent about 
 it ; but the receiver ought not to be mute, but proclaim it 
 to the honor of God, who opens the heart ; and to the praise 
 of his brother, who has done well through grace. Thus 
 Paul and John, in their epistles,commend many who abound- 
 ed in the grace of liberality. 
 
 As I was one frosty night going to Richmond to preach, 
 when there was much snow on the ground, I met a poor 
 cripple in a very deplorable condition. He solicited alms 
 of me, and I refused him, because I had but one shilling in 
 all the world, and did not choose to part with that ; however, 
 I found myself greatly distressed because I did not give it 
 to him, he appeared in such a miserable condition. I 
 thought, perhaps, in such a severe night as that was, he 
 
74 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 might perish for want of the necessaries of life. When I 
 came to Richmond I told a friend of it, and said I thought 
 him to be in a dreadful situation, because I was so much 
 distressed about refusing to relieve him; declaring that if I 
 met him again, I would give it to him, if I never had 
 another shilling of my own. The next night, as I was go- 
 ing to preach at a village adjacent, I met the same poor 
 object, and had got the same shilling in my pocket, and no 
 more. The poor creature passed me, but asked nothing of 
 me ; however, I turned back and gave him the shilling. 
 The poor man received it with great joy and thankfulness, 
 and told me a deal of his sufferings, which fully convinced 
 me he was in great want ; and this blessed passage of scrip- 
 ture came to my mind : " He that hath pity upon the poor, 
 lendeth to the Lord ; and that which he hath given will he 
 pay him again." Prov. xix. 17. I went that night and de- 
 livered my discourse, and when I had done a woman took 
 me aside into a room, and put three half-crown pieces into 
 my hand, saying, " I was commanded to give you that." 
 I asked her "By whom?" She replied, "By a gentle- 
 man ; but you are not to know his name." Thus I received 
 my shilling again, with very considerable interest ; and thus 
 also the fulfilment of the word took place. " There is that 
 scattereth and yet increaseth ; and there is that withholdeth 
 more than is meet, and it tendeth to penury." Prov. xi. 24. 
 One providence I had almost forgot. We were at that 
 time very badly off for beds and bedding ; my children were 
 no better provided than the Saviour when he laid in a 
 manger, for they slept upon bags of hay ; but prayer at a 
 long run brought in these things also. Some of my most 
 intimate acquaintances knew how I was tried in this respect, 
 though I never made it known to any body who was capable 
 of helping me out of my trouble. But one night, after I 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 75 
 
 had done preaching at Richmond, a person invited me home 
 to his house, and showed me a large bundle tied up, saying 
 it was for me. I asked who the donor was; he replied, 
 " You are not to know that." I carried it home, when lo, 
 it proved to be bedding, and the very thing I stood so much 
 in need of! Thus the blessed Saviour fulfils his gracious 
 promise which he made to his servants, " Whatsoever ye 
 ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glo- 
 rified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I 
 will do it." John xiv. 13, 14. 
 
 Some time after this I took gospel courage, and asked 
 my Master to give me a new bed ; and importuned his ever- 
 blessed and most excellent Majesty until I got it. Perceiv- 
 ing that the Lord approved of a bold, though not of a 
 presumptuous beggar, agreeable to his word, " Let us come 
 boldly unto the throne of grace," &c., I boldly asked him 
 the favor, and persevered in it, until I was one day informed 
 by a ifriend that four or five pious people were coming on 
 such a day from London to visit me. Then my faith told 
 me I should soon have the bed. Accordingly they came, 
 and we had some comfortable conversation together. To- 
 wards evening they departed, giving me four guineas. O ! 
 what Christian in his right mind would murmur and com- 
 plain at his poverty, when, with a watchful eye, he sees 
 such liberal supplies poured forth from the inexhaustible 
 stores of Providence! Thus God, who provided a comfor- 
 table lodging for Elisha the prophet, provided me " a bed, 
 a table, a stool, and a candlestick." 2 Kings, iv. 10. 
 
 I was determined to keep this money for a bed ; and 
 therefore went to a good man in London, and bespoke one ; 
 which he very soon sent me, with a rug also, and a pair of 
 very good blankets. Soon after I called to pay him for it ; 
 when he told me to pay his clerk, who gave me a receipt 
 
76 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 for the same ; but afterwards the gentleman went a little 
 way with me, and at his departure gave me all the money 
 back again. How sweet are temporal mercies, when 
 received by those who are under the influence of grace ! 
 when they are seen to come from a covenant God and 
 Father, in answer to the simple prayer of faith ! Surely he 
 that " will observe these things, even he shall understand 
 the loving-kindness of the Lord." Psalm cvii. 43. The 
 promises of God pleaded in humble prayer, and promised 
 mercies received in answer thereto, always come so as to 
 make a divine impression, being sweetened with love to us; 
 for every such mercy is " sactified by the word of God and 
 prayer." But to the unbelieving and prayerless there is 
 nothing clean, though there be ever so much stock in hand. 
 "A little that a righteous man hath, is better than the treas- 
 ures of many wicked." Psalm xxxvi. 16. 
 
 I have sometimes been proud and vain enough to think 
 that my habitation and temporal mercies, which my God 
 has sent me, attended with the blessed influences of com- 
 forting grace, have been as much consecrated to me as any 
 cathedral church or church-yard in Europe, which had even 
 the consecration of a bishop to make it sacred : being per- 
 suaded that it is the presence of God, and that only, which 
 consecrates a house of prayer ; that it is God's blessing the 
 habitation of the just with his presence that makes their 
 tents holy ; and that on whatever spot God is pleased to 
 visit a soul with his powerful and free salvation, and to man- 
 ifest himself a sin-pardoning God, through Christ, by his 
 most Holy Spirit, such spots of ground, and such only, can 
 with propriety be called holy ground. And 1 believe it 
 would puzzle even the learned themselves to show any 
 other consecration than this that is good for any thing. 
 
 As for the consecration of church-yards, which some are 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 77 
 
 so fond of laying their bodies in, I have no desire after 
 them, as I believe all the corpses that lie there were sown 
 in weakness, sown in dishonor, and sown in corruption ; 
 and living consecration doth not dwell with dead men's 
 bones and all uncleanness, but with living souls, who are 
 consecrated kings, priests, and Nazarites, to God for ever- 
 more. 
 
 I hope my reader will excuse my running so far out of 
 the way after consecration ; but indeed I am not the first 
 man that mock consecration has led astray : however, I 
 should not have meddled with it had it not intruded itself 
 into my thoughts ; wherefore, rather than displease my 
 reader, I will resume my subject. 
 
 Another year having rolled over my head, I began to look 
 about for my livery ; for I always took care to let my most 
 propitious Master know when my year was out. And 
 indeed I wanted it bad enough, for riding on horseback 
 soiled my clothes much more than walking did. However, 
 my Lord exercised my faith and patience for six weeks 
 together about this livery ; and I looked all manner of ways 
 for it ; but every door seemed shut up ; and I could not 
 see from what quarter it was to come. (You know, reader, 
 we are all very fond of running before God ; but he takes 
 his own pace.) At length I was informed by Mr. Byrch- 
 more that a gentleman in Wells street wanted to see me. 
 Accordingly I went ; and was admitted into the parlor to 
 the gentleman and his spouse. He wept, and begged I 
 would not be angry at what he was going to relate ; which 
 was, that he had for some time desired to make me a pres- 
 ent of a suit of clothes, but was afraid that I should be 
 offended at his offer, and refuse it. " Ah ! " says Envy, 
 "there need be no fear of that, for Methodist parsons are 
 all for what they can get." It is true ; for we are com- 
 
78 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 manded to " covet earnestly the best things ; " and so we 
 do, and expect a double reward of the Lord one in this 
 world, the other in the next. And this is no more than our 
 Master has promised to give us ; for we are to " receive 
 an hundred fold in this world, and in the world to come, 
 life everlasting." I told the good man that I had been for 
 some time expecting a suit of clothes, but knew not how to 
 procure them. They both wept for joy upon my accepting 
 them, and I wept for joy that they gave them so freely. 
 As they had been fearful that I should be offended at their 
 offer, anc^not receive them ; so I had been much exercised 
 in my mind, lest my Master would not give them to me, as 
 he usually had done. However, our minds were now eased 
 of our fears, on both sides, and I was clothed ; and it was 
 the best suit that I ever had. This is the fifth livery that 
 my trembling hand of faith put on my back, and every one 
 came from a different quarter. The name of the good man 
 who gave me this suit is Randall, in Wells street, Oxford 
 market. I mention his name to show that I cannot keep 
 such secrets, because he strictly charged me not to let it be 
 known. However, I have imitated the disciples of old in 
 this, for it is said of them that "the more Christ charged 
 them to keep silence, the more they spread it abroad." 
 And indeed it must be so, or else the Lord would be 
 deprived of the honor that is due to his holy name. Though 
 by the Saviour's charge it plainly appeared that he sought 
 not the applause of men, yet it is the indispensable duty of 
 every Christian to applaud the Saviour. With my reader's 
 permission, I will show my opinion why he charged them to 
 keep his miracles concealed. I believe one reason was, 
 because those whom he healed were in general very igno- 
 rant of his deity ; yea, and even his disciples themselves, at 
 that time, had but very gross, low, and shallow thoughts 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAI 
 
 and views of his being the omnipotent 'and "self-existent 
 Jehovah. We often hear them calling him by the name of 
 his manhood only : as when he rebuked the waves of the 
 sea, they said, " What manner of man is this that even the 
 winds and the sea obey him ? " And as two of them were 
 going to Emmaus, and the Saviour drew near to them, 
 asking them the reason of their being sad, they said, "Art 
 thou a stranger in Jerusalem, and knowest not these 
 things?" When he said, " What things? " they replied, 
 " concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man mighty in words 
 and deeds before God and all the people," &/c. mentioning 
 his manhood only. And Martha too, at her brother's grave, 
 had her gross thoughts lifted up no higher, when she said, 
 " But even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will 
 give it thee." The Saviour's answer was, " I am the resur- 
 rection and the life ; he that believeth in me, (mark, in me) 
 though he were dead, yet shall he live ; and he that liveth 
 and believeth shall never die. Dost thou believe this ? " 
 " Thou believest that I am prevalent with God in prayer, 
 and that God will give me what I ask of him. If thy faith, 
 Martha, centres in me, as one who is only prevalent with 
 God in prayer, thou makest me no more than Noah, Daniel, 
 and Job were. But dost thou believe that I am the resur- 
 rection itself, and that eternal life which lives in all the 
 just, and which all the just live in? Dost thou believe 
 this?" 
 
 It is to be observed that, if any came to our Lord Jesus 
 Christ with their carnal thoughts hovering altogether about 
 his manhood, they generally met with a sharp reproof. 
 " Good master, what good thing shall I do?" said one. 
 " Why callest thou me good ? " said the Saviour ; " there is 
 none good but one, that is God." But, if any approached 
 him as the Omnipotent Jehovah, the real object of faith and 
 
80 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 worship, they were sure to meet with his approbation. 
 Thus the tenth leper who was healed, worshipped him as 
 the real object of faith ; and his faith was approved, and 
 peace added to it. " Go thy way," said Christ, " thy faith 
 hath made thee whole ; go in peace." And when Thomas 
 cried out, " My Lord and my God ! " " Ay, Thomas," 
 said the Saviour, " ay." And again, " You called me 
 Lord and Master ; and ye say well, for so I am." Thus it 
 appears that our dear Lord often lifted their thoughts up to 
 his godhead, when (like the birds upon Abraham's sacri- 
 fice) they were settling upon his flesh and blood only, 
 as the Arians in our days do ; just like a shoal of eagles, 
 always working upon the carcass, but cannot see the altar 
 that sanctified the sacrifice. Job's eagle did not so ; she 
 mounted up when God commanded her, and made her nest 
 on high. She dwelt and abode upon the rock, not upon the 
 sand ; yea, she sat upon the crag of the Rock, even the arm 
 of Omnipotence, that strong place, from thenc'e she sought 
 the prey ; that is, she fed upon Christ crucified by faith. 
 And her eyes beheld afar off; that is, in hope she looked at 
 Christ glorified, now in the highest heavens ; and there she 
 saw the king in his beauty, in that land which is very far 
 off. Isa. xxxiii. 17. " Her young ones also suck up 
 blood; " they live by faith on the atonement ; " and where 
 the slain are, there is she ; " agreeable to the Saviour's 
 comment on these words, " Where the carcass is, there will 
 the eagles be gathered together." Matt. xxiv. 28. Job 
 xxxix. 27 30. 
 
 But to return to my subject. I had an invitation to go 
 and preach at Horsham, in Sussex, one Monday evening. 
 On the preceding Lord's day I preached at Wooking, in 
 Surrey, and had to ride from thence to Horsham on the 
 Monday. Then I set out to go across the country : (it was 
 
AND THE BANK OP FAITH. 81 
 
 in the winter season ;) and just as I had got out of Guild- 
 ford town it began to rain, and continued in a violent man- 
 ner all the time I was on the road. It so happened that I 
 had but one shilling in my pocket, which would only pro- 
 cure a feed of corn for my horse, and pay the turnpikes. 
 My surtout, which was a very thin Bath coat, was of very 
 little use, being almost worn out ; wherefore I was much 
 exposed to this violent storm of rain ; and I think I never 
 had been so wet before. I was obliged to strip, and even 
 to have my shirt washed before I could preach. I then 
 secretly wished for a large horseman's coat, being obliged 
 to ride in all weathers : but, as I had been begging so many 
 things of my most indulgent Master, I thought by my con- 
 tinual coming I should weary him ; not considering that 
 God commands us to open our mouths wide that he may 
 fill them ; which I believe means that our desires should be 
 as extensive at a throne of grace as God's pregnant prom- 
 ises, which he made us in the dear Son of his love. Christ 
 is the heir of all things, and the Christian is an heir of 
 promise ; therefore he has a right to ask for those things 
 that will defray his expenses through this world with that 
 honor which becomes a saint, and not a miser. 
 
 My mock-modesty would not allow me to ask God for a 
 great coat ; though I earnestly desired it, and murmured at 
 God's providence because I was kept so poor that I could 
 not purchase one. However, it was not in the power of my 
 unbelief, nor yet in the power of my sinful murmuring, to 
 close the bountiful hand of my Maker ; for, when I came 
 to London on the Wednesday following, and had preached 
 at Margaret Street Chapel in the evening, a person 
 approached me just as I came out of the chapel, saying, " I 
 want to speak to you ; " which was to inform me that he 
 intended, with the assistance of some more friends, to make 
 11 
 
82 GOD THE GUARDIAN OPTHE POOR, 
 
 me a present of a horseman's coat; wherefore he desired 
 me to be measured for it ; accordingly I was, and that gen- 
 tleman with a few others honorably paid for it. Surely to 
 deny the overruling providence of God is to deny the whole 
 journal of the children of Israel, and all the wondrous works 
 of God which daily appeared on the?r behalf for forty years 
 together. But there are some who consider not " the oper- 
 ation of God's hands ; therefore he shall destroy them, and 
 not build them up." Psalms xxviii. 5. 
 
 Thus my mock-modesty and unbelief could not make the 
 promise of God of none effect ; and God forbid it ever 
 'should. Zechariah desired a sign when the angel told him 
 that his prayer was heard, and a son was, to be given : and 
 God gave him an awful sign, but his unbelief did not hinder 
 the birth of John. After receiving this gift from God this 
 scripture came sweet to my soul. " I know both how to be 
 abased, and I know how to abound : every where, and in 
 in all things, I am instructed, both to be full and to be hun- 
 gry, both to abound and to suffer need." Phil. iv. 12. And 
 indeed I found by all these trials that I also was instructed ; 
 for I learned one blessed doctrine by this providence ; which 
 I never saw clearly before ; namely, the power of internal 
 or mental prayer ascending so prevalently to God, .under the 
 influences of the Spirit, even when the understanding and 
 the lips were both unfruitful. And the application of the 
 following texts gave me sweet views of it : " Lord, thou hast 
 heard the desire of the humble ; thou wilt prepare their 
 heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear." Psalm x. 17. 
 " Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee 
 the desire of thine heart." " Commit thy ways unto the 
 Lord ; trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass." 
 Psalm xxxvii. 4, 5. These scriptures led me to consider, 
 and apply with comfort to my own soul, the many precious 
 
AND THE BANK OF FA1TU. 83 
 
 promises which God has made in Christ Jesus to the spiritual 
 anxiety of a renewed soul at the throne of grace, even when 
 the sound of the voice, the sound of the organ, and that 
 confused gabbling of monkish mimicry, called chanting of 
 prayers, are left quite out of the promise; as will appear in 
 the following passages, which I beseech my reader to con- 
 sider. "The desire of the righteous shall be granted." 
 Prov. x. 24. " For he satisfieth the longing soul, and fill- 
 eth the hungry soul with goodness." Psal. cvii. 9. " For 
 the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now 
 will I arise, saith the Lord ; I will set him in safety from 
 him that puffeth at him." " For he looked down from the 
 height of his sanctuary ; from heaven did the Lord behold 
 the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoner; (mark that, 
 to hear the groaning of the prisoner,) to loose those that are 
 appointed to death." Psal. cii. 19, 20. Thus the Holy 
 Ghost makes " intercession for the saints according to the 
 will of God ; and God, who searcheth the heart, knoweth 
 what is the mind of the Spirit." Rom. viii. 27. 
 
 Hence observe, reader, that the promise is made to a 
 spiritual hunger a spiritual thirst an holy longing a 
 deep heart-felt sigh an earnest desire and groaning 
 from a burdened mind. All these are petitions put up by 
 the blessed Spirit of supplication alone, (without the use of 
 the lips,) who " maketh intercession for us with groanings 
 that cannot be uttered." These were the prayers which 
 our blessed Saviour put up at Lazarus's grave, " when he 
 groaned in the spirit, and was troubled." " Jesus therefore 
 again groaned" in spirit. John xi. 33, 33. Again, " And 
 Jesus looking up to heaven, sighed, and saith unto him, 
 Ephphatha ; that is, Be opened. And straightway his ears 
 were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and 
 he spake plain." Mark vii. 34, 35. Thus it appears that 
 
84 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 agonies, tears, groans, and sighs, were chiefly the all-pre- 
 vailing petitions put up by our dear Redeemer when in a 
 state of humiliation. Christian, learn thou of him who is 
 meek and lowly in heart, and thou shalt find rest for thy soul. 
 
 It is not an eloquent voice, elegant speech, lofty compli- 
 ments, swelling words, much speaking, long prayers, nor 
 yet the numberless repetitions of " We beseech thee to hear 
 us, good Lord," that shall ever prevail with God : it is " not 
 every one that saith, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the king- 
 dom." The foolish virgins were too late with, Lord, Lord. 
 God will accept of no sacrifice but that which* comes in the 
 hallowed flame of his own kindling, and perfumed with the 
 sweet-smelling savor of that blessed, ever-availing, and ever- 
 living sacrifice of his dear Son. The prayers of that man 
 who calls himself a Christian, or a follower of the Saviour, 
 but is an utter stranger to mental prayer, have never yet 
 reached the ears of God : for God is a spirit, and will ac- 
 cept of nothing short of spiritual prayer. It was the groan- 
 ings of the children of Israel that went up before God, and 
 brought him down to deliver them, as declared by God him- 
 self to Moses at Horeb. Exo. ii. 24. Let this encourage 
 thee, reader, if thou art one who cannot find words to ex- 
 press thyself at the throne of Grace. If thou canst pour out 
 thy soul before the Lord, show him thy trouble, and leave 
 thy burden with him these are precious prayers; and, if 
 thou comest from thy knees with thy mind eased, thy faith 
 strengthened, thy hope encouraged, thy bowels refreshed, 
 and with confidence that God hath heard thy prayer for his 
 dear Son's sake, oh ! these are sweet answers from God. 
 Be thankful, and pray on. Such was the answer that Han- 
 nah got when she went from Shiloh with her countenance 
 no more sad. 
 
 During the space of three years I secretly wished in my 
 
AND THE BANK OP FAITH. 85 
 
 soul that God would favor me with a chapel of my own, be- 
 ing sick of the errors that were perpetually broached by 
 some one or other in Margaret street chapel, where I then 
 preached. But, though I so much desired this, yet I could 
 not ask God for such a favor, thinking it was not to be 
 brought about by one so very mean, low, and poor, as my- 
 self. However, God sent a person, unknown to me, to look 
 at a certain spot, who afterward took me to look at it ; but I 
 trembled at the very thought of such an immense undertak- 
 ing. Then God stirred up a wise man to offer to build a 
 chapel, and to manage the whole work without fee or re- 
 ward. God drew the pattern on his imagination while he 
 was hearing me preach a sermon. I then took the ground ; 
 this person executed the plan ; and the chapel sprung up 
 like a mushroom. As soon as it was finished this precious 
 scripture came sweet to my soul, " He will fulfil the desire 
 of them that fear him." Psal. cxlv. 19. Thus the chapel 
 appeared as an answer to the earnest desire which God had 
 kindled in my heart ; and which he intended to fulfil in his 
 own good time, to the honor of his own great name, the 
 good of many souls, and to the encouragement of my poor, 
 weak, tottering faith. It is confessed in the church of 
 England service, that " all holy desires, all good counsels, 
 and just works, proceed from God ; " and I believe they do. 
 Another kind providence I experienced while I resided at 
 Thames Ditton. My surtout coat had got very thin and 
 bad, and the weather at that time was very cold. It hap- 
 pened that I was invited to preach at a little place near Lon- 
 don. As I went thither I felt the cold very severely ; and 
 as soon as I had delivered my discourse, I desired a young 
 man to fetch my old great coat in order to put it on before 
 I went out of the warm meeting-house. When he came 
 back, lo, he brought me a new one ! I told him that was not 
 12 
 
86 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 mine. lie said it was. And though I insisted upon it that 
 it was not, he persisted in saying it was. So I put it on, 
 and it fitted me very well. In one of the pockets there was 
 a letter, which informed me that my blessed Lord and Mas- 
 ter had sent it to me to wrap my poor worthless carcass in 
 during that very severe winter. Oh the tender care of our 
 most gracious Lord and Master ! Solomon says, " The favor 
 of a king is as a cloud of the latter rain." I think he must 
 mean the cloud of God's divine favor ; which blotted out 
 our transgressions as a cloud, and appears as a cloud by day 
 to screen us from the storm of wrath : and, if my reader 
 watches the bountiful hand of God, he will see this blessed 
 cloud daily discharging itself in the genial showers of grace 
 and providence ; as it is written, " And I will make them, 
 and the places round about my hill, a blessing ; and I will 
 cause the shower to come down in his season ; there shall 
 be showers of blessings." Ezek. xxxiv. 26. 
 
 They have a common saying in the Wild of Kent when 
 the daughter of an old farmer is married. If it be inquired 
 what portion the old man gave, the answer is, " He gave 
 not much money ; but the old people are always sending 
 them something there is always something sent from a' 
 farm-house." Then the observation usually is, " Ay, hers 
 is a hand-basket portion, which is generally the best ; for 
 there is no end to that." Even so our everlasting Father 
 gives to his poor children a hand-basket portion a basket 
 being that which we generally fetch our daily provisions in : 
 and God sometimes puts his blessing even in the basket, and 
 then it seldom comes tyome empty : as it is written, " Bless- 
 ed shall be thy basket." Deut. xxviii. 5. Our blessed 
 Saviour eyed this promise on the mount. When he was 
 going to feed five thousand men. besides women and chil- 
 dren, with five barley loaves and two small fishes, it is said, he 
 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 87 
 
 looked up to heaven, and blessed and brake, &c. And that 
 blessing was enough; for they were all filled, and there 
 were twelve, baskets full of fragments. Thus the blessing 
 appeared in the basket ; and that made the Saviour so fond 
 of the fragments as to give this strict charge to his disciples, 
 " Let nothing be lost." Thus, too, the proverb of the hand- 
 basket portion appears true ; and our blessed Saviour him- 
 self lived on it while he dwelt below; yea, the whole Levit- 
 ical tribe lived on the hand-basket portion : for the shew- 
 bread, that was set hot before God on the golden table, was 
 brought in a basket. * So that God himself has highly hon- 
 ored the basket. 
 
 I am firmly of opinion that the hand-basket portion is the 
 best, both for. soul and body ; because it keeps us to prayer, 
 exercises our faith, engages our watchfulness, and excites 
 to gratitude. It does not appear that the prodigal sen added 
 much to his fortune when he desired the portion of goods 
 that fell to him; that is, he desired to be an Arminian, to 
 have an independent stock of his own, and to be left to im- 
 prove it by himself; wherefore he did not choose to live 
 near his father, lest he should interfere ; but went into a far 
 country, that his father might see how he flourished in the 
 world when once he became independent. But self-will, 
 free-agency, self-sufficiency, and independency of God, sel- 
 dom gain much by trading ; for we all know that this inde- 
 pendent merchant would have been starved and damned 
 too, if free-grace had not undertook to feed him, and to save 
 him. Poor soul ! I warrant you he flourished away at first, 
 but he soon brought himself down upon a level with the 
 swine. Free-agency, with her boasted dignity, made but a 
 poor figure while she sat banqueting at the hog-trough ! And 
 one would .imagine that, if any thing would have excluded 
 boasting, this certainly would. He could not boast of the 
 
88 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 entertainment, because it was nothing but husks ; nor could 
 he boast much of company, they being only swine. I be- 
 lieve the prodigal left all boasting behind when he forsook 
 the pig's pound. If my reader, therefore, is an unbeliever, 
 and has got a stock in hand, he may murmur against his 
 portion, and view it as a snare or trap. Indeed it is a trap 
 to many who set their hearts upon it. This was the case 
 with Israel Their table "became a trap, a stumbling- 
 block, and a recompense unto them ; yea, that which should 
 have been for their welfare became a trap." But, if my 
 reader be a believer in a dear Redeemer, his stock is a 
 blessing while he is thankful to God for it, and does not 
 place his affections on it : and, if he is liberal of the stock 
 God has given him, his liberality daily sanctifies it " Give 
 alms," says the Saviour, " of such things as ye have, and behold 
 all things are clean unto you." Paul declares that the lively 
 faith of a believing husband would sanctify an unbelieving 
 wife, and make her a temporal blessing. The first sheaf 
 under the law, being given to God, sanctified the harvest; 
 therefore I refer my reader, if he be one that has a stock in 
 hand, to God's promised blessing, " Blessed shall be thy 
 store." Deut. xxviii. 5. 
 
 I once preached on the Lord's day at Wooking, in Sur- 
 rey ; and the week before that time I and my family had 
 been sorely tried for want of the common necessaries of life. 
 I was very fond of feeding my little ones when I had where- 
 withal to feed them, because I knew how much I had suf- 
 fered when young through my parents' poverty. That week 
 the little ones had lived chiefly on bread, which grieved me 
 much, as the appetite of young growing children is so crav- 
 ing after food. When I used to shut the cupboard door, 
 and give them nothing but bread, my eldest daughter would 
 look me in the face with much earnestness and solemnity, 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 89 
 
 and ask me this important question, " Is the boo all boppee 
 daddy?" which gibberish, by interpretation, signified, "Is 
 the butter all gone father?" She would at such times lean 
 her head on one shoulder, look me full in the face, and lay 
 a particular emphasis upon the particle //, which she would 
 draw out with a very long tone. Then she would use some 
 of her logic, and reason the point with me, asking me 
 many strange questions ; which I partly understood, as they 
 amounted chiefly to the inquiry when the butter would 
 come, or whether there was any ground to hope for any : 
 but at that time I could give her no promise as a ground for 
 her hope, every door being apparently shut. 
 
 We had nt that season but little fuel, though it was a very 
 severe frost and the snow laid on the ground. As I was .re- 
 turning from Wooking on the Monday morning, before I 
 came to Cobham, (having left Wooking very early without 
 breakfast,) I was exceedingly hungry and weary, and had 
 but little to expect when I arrived at home ; for I knew I had 
 nothing but bread, and perhaps not that. When I came on the 
 common which is called Fair Mile, lying between Cobham 
 and Esher, I fretted and wept bitterly at my hard fate, and 
 yet trembled for fear of offending God by my complaining, 
 as he had given me so full a persuasion of my eternal salva- 
 tion through Christ. I often feared that he would hear 
 my murmuring as he did the murmuring of Israel in the 
 wilderness, when he answered them by terrible things ; 
 namely, " He gave them meat for their lust, but sent lean- 
 ness into their souls." And I thought, if God should take 
 away#the happy enjoyment of his love from me, and lay me 
 in a stock of temporal things instead thereof, I should have 
 cause, like Job, to curse the day wherein the change was 
 made ; therefore I often prayed against that, and the blessed 
 Spirit greatly helped my infirmities in those prayers. 
 
90 GOD THE GUARDIAN OP THE POOR, 
 
 But when I got about half over the common, it came 
 suddenly into my mind to go out of the horse road into a 
 little narrow track, which leads over the hills, between the 
 hand-post and the Bath-house. I could gain but very little 
 ground by this, nor do I remember that I had ever gone 
 that way before; but I soon found what this impression 
 meant ; for there was to be a battle fought between a stoat, 
 or weasel, and a large rabbit. The stoat, or weasel, was to 
 fight the battle and to win the field, and I was to take the 
 prey. So I took up my rabbit, and gladly carried him 
 home ; and it proved as fine a one as I ever saw, being quite 
 in season, in every sense of the word, for we had nothing 
 but bread in the house. 
 
 This occurrence happened before I received the horse. 
 But I cannot recollect every circumstance so as to range it 
 in its proper place, my memory being naturally bad. I liv- 
 ed in this manner for seven or eight years together, and 
 every day afforded some providence or trial. 
 
 My dame about this time was pregnant, and not far from 
 her lying-in. She gave me a large catalogue of the necessa- 
 ries that she should want against that time. I told her I had 
 no money, nor was there any signs of my having any, and we 
 could not get them without. She went on in suspense this 
 way, till she expected her time every day, and began at last 
 to fret amazingly. I told her I thought that God tried her 
 thus because she was remiss in the blessed privilege of pri- 
 vate prayer. I also remarked to her that God would be in- 
 quired of by us, that he might -do these things for us, and 
 that if she did not pray for them, she was not like to- have 
 them. I believe this drove my dame to prayer ; for soon 
 after this there was a parcel sent from Lambeth, another 
 from Kingston, another from Richmond, and a few things 
 from some neighbors nearer home. I now asked the old 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 91 
 
 woman if she thought she had got enough. She replied, 
 " Yes, and more than enough." God had exceeded all her 
 desires, for she had feared that she should not get money to 
 buy the stuff to make up her little things; and that if she 
 did get it, it would have been so late that she should not 
 have had time to make them. " But God," said she, " has 
 sent them ready made." So Mary was very well pleased, 
 and richly supplied. Thus the universal Provider of all in 
 heaven and earth richly provides not only for them that are 
 in the world, but for them also that are coming into it. 
 This providence rather appeared strange to me, as I had not 
 made known the case to any person, to the best of my 
 knowledge; but God, who knew our straits, and heard and 
 answered our prayers, did, by some means or other, inform 
 some friends of our wants, and then touched their hearts 
 with a spirit of sympathy and liberality. And I think for 
 three or four births successively, the Almighty raised up 
 one Dorcas here, and another there, to provide for my dame 
 against her lying-in. Thus the ever-blessed God, who in- 
 flicted the judgment of sorrow on women in bringing forth 
 children, as a punishment to their sex for being first in the 
 transgression, richly supplies their wants against the hour 
 in which his own decreed and predicted sorrow comes on ; 
 so likewise the just sentence denounced in his just displea- 
 sure against the female sex, for their disobedience, only 
 makes more work for sovereign mercy, in supplying their 
 wants, supporting them in their troubles, and bringing them 
 throft<rn their sorrows. Oh how sweetly does a covenant of 
 grace (confirmed by the Saviour's death) engage the sweet 
 mercy and love of the Almighty ! for, whatever justice, ho- 
 liness, or truth, demanded of us, they brought in all their 
 bills to Sovereign Mercy in the bowels of Christ Jesus; so 
 that one perfection of the Deity became, through rich grace, 
 
92 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 a debtor to the other. If justice will not abate a mite of 
 the sinner's debt, everlasting love is determined to have a 
 gaol delivery, if the creditor himself appears in the charac- 
 ter of the debtor, and then of the surety. Thus the whole 
 bill of justice falls on the score of love, and a gaol delivery 
 is proclaimed to us; and though we contracted the whole 
 debt, yet we go free, with only acknowledging ourselves 
 debtors to grace ! A sweet way of paying debts truly ! 
 My very soul has often rejoiced and wept to see how loving 
 kindness and tender mercy have been put to their shifts to 
 pay off the unlimited demands of vindictive justice and 
 that such poor debtors and rebels as we are, who contracted 
 so great a debt as that of eternal suffering, and which \ve 
 never could pay, though we suffered to all eternity that 
 we should have a surety provided to pay both the preceptive 
 and penal sum for us ! for God's eternal Spirit to be sent to 
 proclaim a full and clear discharge from the whole, and a 
 receipt in full of all demands, written by the ringer of the 
 creditor, sealed by the Holy Ghost, and witnessed by 
 Father, Son, and Spirit, confirmed by the blood of the 
 Surety, supported by all the laws of God, and for ever set- 
 tled in heaven ! and for justice to stand bound with a 
 thousand ties never to come upon the debtor to grace 
 again ! O the sweet mystery that makes our souls tremble, 
 and yet stand so fast ! that makes us rejoice with joy un- 
 speakable, and yet weep till our bowels yearn ! 
 
 My dame having recovered from her lying-in, came with 
 another complaint; which was, that she had cut up almost 
 all her old gowns for the children, and that she stood in 
 great need of a new one. I told her that I could not buy 
 her one, for I had no money, and there was no likelihood of 
 getting any. As I often heard this complaint, I at last told 
 her that she must beg it of God if she would have it, as I 
 
AND THE BANK OP FAITH. 93 
 
 did my clothes; for God had promised us these things, and 
 his word informed me that " the gold and silver, the corn, 
 the wine, the oil, the wool, and the flax," were his own; 
 and that, if she had faith in him, she would have her request 
 granted in answer to her prayer. I had now a great desire 
 to see whether she would have any success at a throne of 
 grace or not. It passed oh, however, for a long time before 
 the gown appeared ; but at length it came, in this manner. 
 After preaching at Margaret-street chapel one evening, a 
 person delivered a parcel into my hands, which I received ; 
 and, when I opened it, there was a note with these words, 
 "This is a present for Mrs Huntington." It contained 
 twelve yards of cotton to make a gown. Who the person 
 was that gave it I never knew from that hour to this, though 
 I believe some of my friends did. I carried it home to 
 Ditton, where it gave great satisfaction ; and Mary was not 
 a little delighted to find that God had granted the request of 
 her lips. 
 
 I endeavored as much as possible to get my dame to live 
 by faith ; and often encouraged her to prayer, by telling her 
 that she had a right to expect her support from God as 
 well as myself, seeing the Almighty had taken me from 
 my daily labor to work in his vineyard ; and I supported 
 my argument from this consideration, that the whole Levit- 
 ical tribe lived of old on the offerings of the Lord, both 
 women and children, as well as those men who waited at 
 the altar. 
 
 Soon after this, Providence sent me three guineas, with 
 which I was determined to furnish my dame with some other 
 apparel. I accordingly bought her another gown, and soon 
 after a friend gave her a third. At this she seemed highly 
 pleased. Her unbelief was confounded, her murmuring 
 stopped, and all was well. However, I took care not to 
 
94 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 break through the bounds of Paul's assertion, " But he that 
 is married careth for the things that are of the world, how 
 he may please his wife ; but I would have you without care- 
 fulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that 
 belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord." 1 Cor. 
 vii. 31, 32. We must endeavor to please our Master, if we 
 cannot always please our mistress. 
 
 After this the bountiful hand of my Lord seemed to be 
 closed again for a long time ; until I got five guineas in 
 debt, and began to want even provisions. Now I began to 
 fret, and unbelief crept in apace ; but, just as the spirit of 
 murmuring and complaining began to operate, there came 
 a letter to me from a gentleman at Gainsborough in Lincoln- 
 shire. I opened it and found the following contents : 
 
 " DEAR FRIEND : 
 
 I have sent you a hamper by one of my ships, which 
 will be at London by such a time, if God permit : and I 
 have ordered it to be left at Hungerford-Stairs for you. The 
 first present is for your wife, which is two ends the other 
 is for your children, being a cow and her milk-maid attend- 
 ing her ; a cow being very useful where there is a family 
 the last article, according to my judgment, is a very useful 
 thing for you, and for every gospel minister. Tender my 
 best respects to your wife and little ones, and accept the 
 same from Your humble servant, 
 
 J. D." 
 
 Here is the riddle, and I had seven days to find it out. 
 My dame asked me if my present was a Bible. I said no, 
 I believed not. I told her that Paul called a gospel-minis- 
 ter an ox. " Thou shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox 
 that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care of oxen, 
 
AND THE BANK OP FAITH. 95 
 
 or saith he it altogether for our sakes ? For our sakes no 
 doubt this is written." "Thus," said I, "God compares a 
 preacher to an ox. Treading out the corn is unfolding and 
 explaining God's word ; muzzling the ox is not giving him 
 food to eat for his labor, as Paul explains it, ' Even so hath 
 the Lord ordained, that they which preach the gospel should 
 live of the gospel.'" 1 Cor. ix. }4. I farther added that 
 the same apostle, who compares the preacher to an ox, tells 
 us, in his epistle to the church at Colosse, to " let our speech 
 be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that we may know 
 how we ought to answer every man." Col. iv. 6. Therefore 
 I conjectured that my present was a bullock's tongue, well 
 salted ; and that my wife's, which the letter expressed to be 
 two ends, must be a flitch of bacon, cut in two pieces ; but, 
 as for a cow I could not conjecture what that could be. 
 When the hamper came, we all got round it, to see what 
 was the substance of the riddle in the carcass of the lion ; 
 and when it was opened, I found that my present was a 
 bullock's tongue dried ; my dame's was two large pieces of 
 bacon ; and the children's present was a cheese, with the 
 print of a cow and milk-maid milking her on it. Such was 
 the present, and this was the explanation of the riddle. 
 
 About this time I went once a fortnight to preach at a 
 place in Middlesex, about ten miles from London, where I 
 lived, and they gave me three shillings a time for preaching 
 to them. There was a single gentleman, who was a mem- 
 ber of the church, a man of great property, supposed to be 
 worth twenty or thirty thousand pounds. This gentleman 
 once saw me pass by his door, as I had been that way to 
 visit a sick woman. He called me into his house, and 
 expressed much love to my master Jesus, and a great satis- 
 faction in hearing my discourses on the doctrine of grace ; 
 and desired me the next time I came, to deliver a discourse 
 
96 GOD THE GUARDIAN OP THE POOR, 
 
 from this passage of scripture : "But the land whither ye go 
 to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh 
 water of the rain of heaven; a land which the Lord thy 
 God careth for : the eyes of the Lord thy God are upon it, 
 from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the 
 year." Deut. xi. 11, 12. So I promised to offer my 
 thoughts on the text when I came again to preach. At my 
 departure he gave me the right-hand of fellowship, blessed 
 me in the name of the Lord, and, putting his hand into his 
 pocket, very generously made me a present of a whole shil- 
 ling ! I took it, and thanked him kindly ; for I thought it 
 was the first fruits of liberality that ever grew upon that 
 tree, and perhaps the last ; and I mention it now to the 
 honor of his compassionate bowels. I afterwards found that 
 he had made many inquiries concerning me ; and had been 
 informed that I was a poor man, had a large family, that I 
 walked ten miles out and ten miles back again, and was 
 from home all night when I preached at that place, for 
 which I received only three shillings. These things reaching 
 his ears, conveyed that sympathetic touch to his feelings, 
 and finally dragged that whole shilling out of his pericar- 
 dium. " How hardly shall those that have riches enter the 
 kingdom of God ! " 
 
 1 believe that every man has a god of some sort or other. 
 Self is the god of the pharisee ; the belly the god of the epi- 
 curean ; Mammon the god of the miser ; and Jehovah the 
 god of the Christian. And all these have their representa- 
 tives. Hagar is the mother of the pharisees ; Nabal the 
 head of the gluttons ; Judas of the mammonites ; and Simon 
 Magus is the figurative sire of every person who is laboring 
 hard to purchase the grace of God, and the gifts of the 
 Holy Ghost, by their own supposed merit. 
 
 Having been one night to preach at Richmond, I was 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 97 
 
 invited home by my friends, Mr. and Mrs. Chapman, at 
 Petersham, near Richmond, to sleep. Tn the morning Mrs. 
 Chapman, smiling, told me she had twelve yards of stuff 
 damask by her, which she intended to make me a present 
 of, for a morning gown. I laughed, and told them that I 
 thought a coal-heaver would cut a strange figure in a morn- 
 ing gown. I should appear like a beggar in dignity ; but 
 that was better than dignity in ruins. However, they saw 
 that God had begun to lift up my head, and were deter- 
 mined their pastor should make a more respectable figure; 
 wherefore they insisted on my having it ; to which I object- 
 ed, because a gown has such a cottish appearance on a 
 laborer in the vineyard. I therefore turned it into a ban- 
 yan, or coat; and after it was made up I hid it for two or 
 three months before I could reconcile myself to appear in it. 
 I had now received a letter from a friend in the country, 
 who was in great distress, and stood much in need of a little 
 relief; but at that time I myself was four or five pounds in 
 debt, which I had been a long time in expectation that my 
 God would enable me to discharge. However, I found that 
 God now began to try my patience ; and that I ought to 
 importune, and watch, and wait upon the Lord, and to keep 
 my eye fixed on him, as a servant's eye is on the hand of 
 his master, until I obtained an answer. And I never waited 
 on his blessed Majesty in vain, for it was sure to come at 
 length. After putting up many petitions, and having been 
 kept long in suspense, I one night called on Mr. and Mrs. 
 Smith, in Chandler street, Oxford road, who were great 
 friends to me. Before I departed they generously made me 
 a present of three guineas. I humbly beg their pardon for 
 mentioning their names, and exposing their secret alms ; 
 but, as I prayed to my Father which seeth in secret, and he 
 in mercy rewarded me openly, I therefore must proclaim it 
 13 
 
93 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 upon the house-top, to encourage the weak faith of others, 
 that they may make God their Guardian and their Bank. 
 The liberality of Job's friends is left upon record to their 
 honor, when " every man gave him a piece of money, and 
 every one an ear-ring of gold." Job xlii. 11. 
 
 I now took encouragement to hope that my gracious 
 Master would add to this blessing a sufficiency for the pur- 
 pose of discharging my debt, and relieving my friend ; 
 which, in answer to prayer, he was graciously pleased to do. 
 The next morning a person knocked at my door, desiring to 
 see me. When he came into my study I looked at him, and 
 perceived him to be a gentleman that I had never seen 
 before. He told me that he had once heard me preach at 
 Dr. Giffbrd's meeting house, and once or twice in Margaret 
 Street Chapel, and that he had heard me greatly to his sat- 
 isfaction : and the reason of his coming to see me now was, 
 that he had been exercised the last night with a dream 
 that he dceamed the word of God came to him, saying, " If 
 thy brother be waxed poor, thou shalt open thy hand to thy 
 poor brother," &,c. He asked me if there was such a por- 
 tion of scripture; I answered the words were these ; "If 
 there be among you a poor man, one of thy brethren, with- 
 in any of thy gates, in the land which the Lord thy God 
 giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thine 
 hand from thy poor brother; but thou shalt open thine hand 
 wide unto him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his 
 need, in that which he wanteth. Beware that there be not 
 a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, 
 the year of release is at hand : and thine eye be evil against 
 thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought, and he cry 
 unto the Lord against thee, and it be sin unto thee. Thou 
 shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved 
 when thou givest him ; because that for this thing the Lord 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 99 
 
 thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all thatthou 
 puttest thine hand unto. For the poor shall never cease 
 out of the land. Wherefore I command thee, saying, Thou 
 shall open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, 
 and to thy needy in the land." . Deut. xv. 7 11. He 
 told me many of these words came to him in his sleep ; and 
 in the morning when he awoke, he felt the power of them. 
 In wondering who this poor brother could be, he informed 
 me it was impressed on his mind, that I was the brother 
 about whom he had dreamed ; and asked me concerning my 
 circumstances. I then told him of the trial I was in ; and, 
 as he was fully satisfied it was of God, he wondered much 
 at it. At his departure he gave me a new pair of doe-skin 
 gloves, two new white handkerchiefs, very good, and a 
 guinea. He then blessed me, and left me ; and I do not 
 remember ever seeing him before that time, nor but once 
 since. Thus God, who commanded a widow to sustain 
 Elijih, commanded this man to relieve me. 
 
 The next day a friend told me that a person had left a 
 guinea with him for me ; and, while at Mr. Byrchmore's in 
 Margaret street, a lady came to his door in a coach, inquir- 
 ing for me. When I came to the door, she put her hand 
 out and gave me a guinea, and then ordered the coachman 
 to drive away, having done all the business God sent her to 
 do. Thus our most bountiful Benefactor answered these 
 my poor petitions also, after he had been pleased for a time 
 to exercise my faith and patience, in order to encourage me 
 to a stronger confidence in his grace and providence. Arid 
 I now make it known to the honor of his veracity, and to 
 the encouragement of the poor of his flock, who are obliged 
 to live, both spiritually and temporally, " by every word that 
 proceedeth out of the mouth of God." And, as God has 
 been pleased to reveal himself as a God that will hear and 
 
100 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 answer prayer, and has appeared so to me, one of the worst 
 and least of all his creatures, I choose therefore to subscribe 
 with my hands ; (Isa. xliv. 5,) set to my seal ; and proclaim 
 to all that fear his name, that God is true ; John iii. 33. 
 
 Oh how sweet have tliQse words often been to my soul ! 
 and as applicable to my case as possible : " And thou shalt 
 remember all the ways which the Lord thy God led thee 
 these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee and to 
 prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou 
 wouldst keep his commandments or no. And he humbled 
 thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, 
 which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know ; that 
 he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread 
 alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth 
 of the Lord doth man live." Deut. viii. 2, 3. When these 
 precious answers to prayer appeared, they always came 
 attended with humbling grace, and were sweetened to my 
 soul with a blessed sense of unmerited love ; arid, though 
 at certain times, when unbelief was prevalent, I have found 
 it hard work to keep from murmuring ; especially when I 
 have seen the basest of mortals rolling in wealth and pleas- 
 ure, and spending it to support the shattered interest of 
 the devil ; while I could appeal to God that I loved him, 
 arid sought his glory, and the good of his chosen, yea, even 
 labored beyond my strength in his cause and interest, and 
 yet suffered for want of common necessaries. But these 
 two scriptures generally silenced my murmuring. " The 
 wicked have their portion in this life, whose belly God fills 
 with his hid treasure; " and " The righteous are God's wit- 
 nesses against the wicked." These words would sometimes 
 occur to my mind, " He that hath a bountiful eye shall be 
 blessed." And again, " To one it is given to gather together 
 and heap up, but never an heart given to do good there- 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 101 
 
 with ; this is a sore travail." And that in Job, " Though 
 the wicked prepare raiment as the sand, yet the righteous 
 shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver." 
 Better is gospel contentment with poverty than the sacri- 
 fices of many wicked ; and I have often found the most 
 comfort in my soul, when my outward matters have appear- 
 ed to wear the most gloomy aspect internal consolations 
 have more than once counterbalanced all my external afflic- 
 tions. These daily crosses attending me in circumstances, 
 I found were made very useful to those whom God had called 
 by me, as the means to establish them in the faith of Christ, 
 who is the Saviour of the body as well as the soul, and in 
 whom the invaluable promise is yea and amen to every soul 
 that is interested in his finished salvation. God hath given 
 us all things in Christ, whether life or death yea, we 
 have the promise of the life that now is, and of that which 
 is to come ; which promise even includes " all things per- 
 taining to life and godliness." Happy is that soul that 
 credits God's promise places his confidence in him for the 
 fulfilment of it makes use of the means God has appoint- 
 ed daily pleads his promise in the humble prayer of faith 
 patiently waits his time daily watches his hand lives 
 in a holy expectation of a daily supply of spiritual and tem- 
 poral mercies from the God of his salvation and who is 
 humbly thankful to God for every favor that flows through 
 the atoning blood and prevalent intercession of a dear Re- 
 deemer ! I say, let not such envy the crowned head nor 
 sceptred hand ; for, if there be any virtue, or if there be 
 any praise, if there be any serenity of mind, if any peace 
 of conscience, if any honor to God, if any fruit brought 
 forth to the glory of the Most High, it is to be found in such 
 a soul ; and he, with the greatest propriety, may be said to 
 think on these things. 
 14 
 
102 GOD THE GUARDIAN OP THE POOR, 
 
 At another time when Providence had been exercising 
 my faith and patience till the cupboard was quite empty, in 
 answer to simple prayer he sent one of the largest hams that 
 I ever saw. Indeed I saw clearly that I had nothing to do 
 but to pray, to study, and to preach ; for God took care for 
 me, and my family also, agreeable to his own promise, 
 " Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, 
 and all these things shall be added unto you." And I have 
 often thought the reason why our dear Lord and Master gave 
 no inheritance to the Levitical tribe, who performed the 
 sanctuary service, was, that they might learn to live by faith, 
 and likewise to exercise and try the liberality of the wor- 
 shipping tribes. And this appears to be the reason why 
 the apostles were sent out to preach without purse or scrip. 
 Certainly God could have sent them out as rich as the 
 sanhedrim, had he thought proper. But no; he left the 
 blind priest to live on the offerings and tithes of the blind 
 followers, as their portion ; and it is to be feared that was 
 the only portion that some of them ever had from God. 
 But the poor apostles were to go out with only a portion 
 of grace in their hearts ; and where they sowed these spirit- 
 ual things, God opened the hearts of the converts to bring 
 forth temporal things to them. And it often appeared that 
 as soon as the grace of God had taken the government of a 
 young convert's heart, his temporal riches appeared at the 
 apostles' feet. Thus the gospel defrayed the expenses of the 
 dispensers of it. And this I believe-was intended to try the sin- 
 cerity of the grace of those who were enabled to believe the 
 gospel ; as Paul put some of his followers upon a like trial, and 
 made liberality one of the touch-stones. " See that ye come 
 not behind in this grace also." Yea, and even our dear Lord , 
 and Master lived on the alms of his followers; for, as socn 
 as he was born, the eastern sages opened their treasures, 
 

 r 
 
 AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 103 
 
 
 and presented unto him gold, frankincense, 
 and even until his crucifixion he lived on the liberality of 
 his poor disciples, who were said to minister to him of their 
 substance. It is true, Satan offered him all the kingdoms 
 of the world, and the glory of them, upon certain conditions ; 
 but he refused ; choosing to suffer hunger rather than turn 
 stones into bread to prove his sonship, and please an accus- 
 ing devil. 
 
 Providence was pleased again to try me, till I run five 
 guineas in debt. After I had prayed and waited some time, 
 a gentleman belonging to the Stamp-office, (a very faithful 
 friend to me for many years together, during my state of 
 extreme poverty,) called upon me, and generously made me 
 a present of five guineas, which payed off that debt. Oh, 
 the goodness of God to those that fear his name and hope 
 in his mercy ! He even sent a raven to feed the prophet 
 Elijah, when he dwelt by the brook Cherith ; an angel, too, 
 was sent from heaven to bake him a cake on a fire, and 
 bring him a cruse of water, when, being weary, he slept 
 under the juniper-tree, in his road to Horeb " Arise, and 
 eat," said the celestial guest, " for the journey is too great 
 for thee." 1 Kings xix. 7. 
 
 I now began to get quite weary of living at Thames 
 Ditton, as I did not see that God had any thing more for 
 me to do there. His word had appeared a savour of life 
 unto life to some few, and a savour of death unto death to 
 many, who were indefatigable in opposing it. In short, I 
 secretly longed to leave it, but was determined not to do so 
 until I saw the Lord himself open the door; for, "when he 
 puts forth his own sheep, he goes before them." I was ful- 
 ly persuaded that I should end my ministry in London, and 
 had long tcld a friend in town of it. Another reason for my 
 wanting to quit Ditton was, the bad state of health that I felt 
 
104 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 myself in, which rendered me incapable of such long journeys 
 and so much labor. But I have generally found God to 
 kindle a desire in my heart after that which he intended to 
 bring to pass. Thus, when the time came for Israel to 
 leave Egypt, the spirit of supplication was sent to make in- 
 tercession in many of their hearts, after their deliverance 
 from bondage; and God told Moses he had heard the groan- 
 ings of his people Israel, by reason of their task-masters; 
 and " I am come down," said God, " to deliver them." And 
 so it will appear even in this matter when I have related it. 
 After preaching at Wooking one evening, I returned 
 home about twelve o'clock at night ; and before I could 
 shift myself, and take care of my horse, it was between one and 
 two. Having an infant very ill, I told my dame that I would 
 lie alone that night, as the child was so very restless I was 
 apprehensive I should get no rest myself, being very weary; 
 and, having another journey to go the next day, I was fear- 
 ful I should not be able to perform it unless I had some rest. 
 Accordingly I went into another bed, and fell into a very 
 sound sleep. When I dreamed ; and behold ! in my dream 
 I thought I heard the Lord call to me with a very shrill, 
 distinct voice, saying, " Son of man ! son of man, prophe- 
 sy ! son of man, prophesy ! " I answered, " Lord, what shall 
 I prophesy?" The voice came again, saying, " Prcphesy 
 upon the thick boughs." I immediately awoke, and felt a 
 comfortable power on my heart, and thought the voice seem- 
 ed fresh in my ears. I knew not what it meant, nor did I 
 remember ever seeing uch words as " thick boughs" in the 
 Bible. However, I got up immediately, and traced my Bible, 
 to see if I could find those words there ; thinking that, if I 
 could, I should conclude the dream to be from God. I soon 
 found the words, and perceived the thick boughs to be men ; 
 Ezek. xxxi. 3, xvii. 23. But what the command could 
 
AND THE BANK OP FAITH. 105 
 
 mean, I could not then tell, because I was employed in proph- 
 esying on the boughs almost every day. I went into my 
 dame's room and told her of it ; but observed at the same 
 time that I could not think what it meant, though I should 
 certainly know hereafter. The next day I came to London, 
 and told it to Mr. Byrchmore ; adding, that I knew there 
 was a mystery in it, and that, as it was from God, it would 
 shortly be revealed to me. " God speaketh once, yea, twice, 
 but man perceiveth it not ; in a dream, in a vision of the 
 night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumbering 
 upon the bed ; then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth 
 their instruction." Job xxxiii. 14, 15. 
 
 However, it passed on for some days entirely hid from me 
 what the meaning could be. But I knew the vision would 
 speak in time ; and, though it tarried some days, yet I wait- 
 ed for it. Hab. ii. 3. I likewise tol'd Mr. Butler, another 
 friend, of it; but he did not seem to like it, as he wished 
 me to stay at Ditton. 
 
 It so happened, that shortly after this I was taken ill, and 
 was obliged to be shut up in my room for two or three days ; 
 during which time I was ruminating in my own mind the 
 conduct of the people at Ditton ; how long I had preached 
 among them, and how unwearied they had been in persecut- 
 ing the gospel of Christ ; and that, though God had cut off 
 so many of them in their rebellion, yet they were still blind 
 both to his mercies and to his judgments. As I had ap- 
 peared in that place in the mean capacity of a coal-heaver, 
 they would not allow themselves to think that God had sent 
 such an one as me to preach to them. I then thought on 
 my infirm state of body, and of the many weaknesses I la- 
 bored under, which were brought on me by living abstemi- 
 ously, and by hard labor, and that I was bringing my years 
 " to an end like a tale that is told." And such is the poli- 
 
106 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 cy of the devil that I believe he would counterfeit holiness, 
 and tempt souls even to extreme abstinence, if he could by 
 such means rid the world of an experienced believer : who 
 he knows is a brazen wall and an iron tower against his 
 interest ; for such have weathered all his besiegers ever since 
 the unjustifiable war was proclaimed by the devil against 
 God. In short, I secretly wished that God would remove 
 me from that place. 
 
 While musing in this manner it was suddenly impressed 
 on my mind to leave Thames Ditton, and to take a house in 
 London ; that I should leave these little places in the coun- 
 try, and preach in the great metropolis, where hearers were 
 more numerous ; and that this was the meaning of the words 
 that came to me in the vision, " Prophesy, son of man, proph- 
 esy on the thick boughs." Under this impulse I found my- 
 self very happy ; and was thankful to God for my intended 
 removal, it seemed to me so clearly to be of him. I then 
 told the Lord that they hated me because of my poverty and 
 mean appearance ; when these words came to my mind with 
 power, " A prophet is not without honor, save in his own 
 country, and in his father's house." - It was farther suggest- 
 ed to my mind that God had permitted them lately to perse- 
 cute me more than usual, that they might wholly drive the 
 gospel from them. And I much question if ever God sends 
 'his word there again ! for I think they are left almost as in- 
 excusable as Chorazin and Capernaum; as no less than tei : 
 awful judgments had been conspicuously executed on them 
 in their rebellion against the word, as is related in my Naked 
 Bow of God. And I believe, in less than two years af- 
 ter I left that place, there were no less than ten who were 
 awfully destroyed by themselves or others. But to return. 
 I then sent for a friend of mine, one Mr. Felton, and inform- 
 ed him of it ; who said, he thought me justifiable in leaving 
 
AND THE BANK OP FAITH. 107 
 
 the place, observing also that a prophet has no honor in his 
 own country. I then took my horse, rode to London, and 
 informed some friends of it ; every one of whom approved 
 of my resolution. I accordingly took a house, and soon af- 
 ter ordered two carts from London to bring my household 
 furniture from Ditton. Carts, I say, for I had no need of 
 Joseph's wagons, as I had got but little in that inhospitable 
 Canaan. 
 
 Five years of the term being unexpired, of the lease of the 
 house I was going to leave, I pondered in my own mind the 
 impropriety of quitting before it was let, being fearful it 
 would lie on my hands, and that I should want the money I 
 had paid for the fixtures to carry with me, and what I had 
 expended in planting the garden. 
 
 But my most blessed Banker provided against this trial 
 also ; for it came to pass, just as I had loaded my goods, 
 that a person came and asked me if I had let my house. I 
 told him " No." Upon which he replied, " I will take it of 
 you ; and buy your fixtures, your trees, and the garden crop 
 also." In short, my landlord accepted him for his tenant, 
 the lease was assigned over to him, the fixtures and plants 
 appraised, the money paid down, the keys delivered up ; and 
 all was settled to my wish beyond all expectation. " There- 
 fore, thou son of man, prepare the stuff for removings, 
 and remove by day in their sight* and thou shalt remove 
 from thy place to another place in their sight: it may be 
 they will consider, though they be a rebellious house." 
 Ezekiel xii. 3. 
 
 Thus far my vision appeared true. The next thing I had 
 to observe was, whether the boughs were thick or not ; be- 
 cause the voice in the vision was, " Son of man, prophesy 
 among the thick boughs." I then believed that the other 
 part of the vision would be fulfilled, though all the world 
 
108 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 should oppose ; and, having opened a larger chapel than I 
 preached in at first, seemed still to confirm it more antl 
 more. I have now lived to see the boughs too thick for the 
 chapel to contain them ; and in this, as well as in every 
 thing else, I set to my seal, " that God is true." 
 
 When I first began to open my mouth for the Lord, the mas- 
 ter for whom I carried coals was rather displeased ; at which 
 I do not wonder, as he was an arminian of the arminians, or 
 a pharisee of the pharisees. I told him, however, that I should 
 prophesy to thousands before I died ; and soon after the 
 doors began to be opened to receive my message. When 
 this appeared, and I had left the slavish employment of coal- 
 carrying, others objected to my master against such a fellow 
 as me taking up the office of a minister. His answer was, 
 " Let him alone ; I once heard him say that he should proph- 
 esy to thousands before he died ; let us see whether this 
 prophesy comes to pass or not." He had, as I suppose, that 
 passage in view mentioned by Moses, " And, if thou say in 
 thine heart, How shall I know the word which the Lord 
 hath spoken ? When a prophet speaks in the name of the 
 Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the 
 thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath 
 spoken it presumptuously ; thou shalt not be afraid of him." 
 
 However, they very shortly saw that it came to pass, and 
 in a very extraordinary manner too : for God opened four 
 doors to me presently ;" and in a very little time brought me 
 to preach out of doors. 
 
 At my first beginning to speak in public, many professors 
 and possessors of grace opposed me, as well as the world : 
 some from a principle of jealousy ; others from a principle 
 of love, fearing that I should run before I was sent ; but they 
 knew not the impulse that I was under. Of their opposi- 
 tions to me, however, I often complained to God in prayer, 
 
AND THE BANK OP FAITH, 109 
 
 telling him that I expected some degree of support and en- 
 couragement from his own children ; instead of which I had 
 nothing but opposition, and a weakening of my hands. In- 
 deed some kept themselves at a distance from me, and have 
 contradicted me at times, behaving quite insolent. In an- 
 swer to my petitions the Lord applied these words to my 
 heart, and gave me a strong faith in them : " A man's gift 
 maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men." 
 Prov. xviii. 16. At length I was led to see that I must be 
 weaned from the church as well as from the world ; and these 
 words confirmed me in it, " Trust ye not in a friend, put 
 ye no confidence in a guide ; keep the doors of thy mouth 
 from her that lieth in thy bosom." Mic. vii. 5*. " The best 
 of them is as a brier, the most upright is sharper than a 
 thorn hedge." Ver. 4. 
 
 God took an effectual method to convince many of his 
 people of his having called me to the work of the ministry ; 
 for it so happened that a certain professor had engaged a 
 minister to come from London and preach out of doors, at 
 Moulsey, on the Lord's day morning. This was published 
 at our meetings, and as I had never heard a sermon out of 
 doors, I was determined to go. As he was to preach at six 
 o'clock in the morning, I could hear him without encroach- 
 ing upon those hours in which our little church met. 
 About three o'clock on the Lord's day morning I arose; 
 but, as soon as I was out of bed, (pleasing myself at the 
 thoughts of hearing a sermon, and having an opportunity of 
 trying my doctrine by the standard of a London preacher,) 
 there came a voice to me with power, which I both heard 
 and felt, saying " You must preach out of doors to-day, and 
 you must preach from this text, ' Go therefore into the 
 highways, and as many as ye find, bid to the marriage.' " 
 Mat. xii. 9. I was much amazed at this sudden impulse ; 
 
110 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 yet I thought it was from God. If, however, I happened to 
 mention any thing of the sort to some people, they would 
 call it a delusion ; but, notwithstanding this, God generally 
 showed me afterwards that they themselves had but little, if 
 any, experimental knowledge of God. 
 
 I shall now relate every circumstance of this extraordi- 
 nary affair, and leave the unprejudiced to judge whether it 
 was from God or from Satan. I sat down to look out the 
 text, but could not find it; I then got up, and went to a 
 friend about two miles off, who I knew had a little Concor- 
 dance. I called him up, and asked him to look me out such 
 a text, which he accordingly did. I turned it down, put my 
 Bible into my pocket, and went with him to hear the gentle- 
 man that was to come from London. When we came to 
 the place, I saw a great many people gathered together, and 
 the table was set for the preacher to stand on but behold 
 he never came ! So we waited till seven o'clock, when ev- 
 ery one of those who had formerly opposed me, begged me 
 to get up and preach. I could not but admire the divine 
 conduct in this matter, that those who had opposed me 
 (some because my language was bad others, because they 
 thought they had more understanding in the word than I 
 had others, because I was but a babe in grace, and they 
 of long standing) were the very people who now invited me 
 to preach. But here the cause of God was at stake, and 
 there was now no answer in the mouth of any of those who 
 had opposed me; therefore they forced that person up, 
 whom they before had tried, by their conduct, to pull down. 
 I complied with their request, and went trembling up to my 
 station. As soon, however, as my heart began to get warm 
 in the cause, all my fears left me. I now delivered my 
 message from the text God gave rne, and he was with me in 
 the work. Then it was that some were ready to cry 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. HI 
 
 "Hosannah!" However, they had so battered me about, 
 that neither their applause nor their disapprobation had any 
 weight with me. I often thought of those words spoken by 
 Eliphaz to Job. " Call now, if there be any that will an- 
 swer thee, and to which of the saints wilt thou turn?" 
 Job v. 1. Turn ! turn to none but God, for, as the most 
 upright among men is but as a brier, and sharper than a 
 thorn hedge, we have no reason, like Abraham's ram, to 
 hang our horns in a bush, lest we fall a sacrifice. " Cease 
 from man, whose breath is in his nostrils," says the Almighty, 
 " for wherein is he to be accounted of?" But there was a 
 young widow who came to hear me preach that first ser- 
 mon ; and Providence opened her heart, so that she attend- 
 ed to the things spoken by the coal-heaver, and heard the 
 gospel constantly afterward. At last she was seized with 
 most violent convictions, being obliged to leave her place, 
 and go home to Esher work-house, where a doctor was sent 
 for to lay a blister on her head ; which is not a very proper 
 remedy to draw out the bane of guilt, where the sting of 
 death has so fatally envenomed the conscience. At times 
 they found her quite delirious, and then she called earnestly 
 on the Lord Jesus Christ. They then shook her, abused 
 her fcr praying, and declared her mad ; and when they 
 found she had been among the Methodists, it was easily ac- 
 counted for ; therefore they handled her accordingly. But 
 when she got a little better, she sent for me to come and 
 pray by her, which I accordingly did ; and then she told me 
 of their cruel usage to her. I spoke to my wife about it ; 
 and we borrowed a bed, and got her home to our house. 
 My dame nursed her body, and I tried to nurse her soul ; 
 soon after which she got well in body, and happy in mind. 
 Then she took a lodging, worked for her bread, and contin- 
 ued to sit under my ministry for about six years. At last 
 
112 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 she fell into a deep decline, and soon took to her bed ; and 
 for two or three days before her death she was violently 
 tempted and distressed, even beyond measure. After this 
 she came forth from that dark cloud, shining like the rising 
 sun ; and continued in these blessed rays of glory till she 
 closed her eyes in death, launching forth into eternity in all 
 the triumph of a gospel conqueror. And here is the end of 
 that mystery. The woman's name was Simmons. One of 
 the men who forced me up to deliver that sermon was Mr. 
 Butler, now one of the ^ew-openers at Providence chapel. 
 During her first sickness I promised to pay for her board, 
 and for physic ; but alas, God kept me so poor that I could 
 not! so I sent to a lady to do it for me, arid told her my re- 
 ceipt should be her discharge. She readily complied, and 
 paid the whole bill. 
 
 I will now give my reader an account of another provi- 
 dence. A person came from Richmond to hear me preach 
 at Ditton; and when he returned, informed several persons 
 that he approved of my ministry. They accordingly sent 
 me an invitation to come over to Richmond and help them ; 
 but I refused to go : however, they sent for me a second 
 time, when I again refused. At last they went to the shoe- 
 maker I then worked for, who persuaded me to go, but not 
 to preach in the chapel, but in a house that was licensed. 
 I went very reluctantly indeed, but when I came there, I 
 found the Lord's presence sweetly with me; and, at their 
 request, I went again on the Tuesday following. Soon after 
 I found I had done wrong in going there, though God had 
 been powerfully with me; for it carne to pass that tidings 
 had been carried to London, and had reached the ears of 
 two professing gentlemen, who were the managers of Rich- 
 mond chapel. Whereupon they came down to Richmond 
 to make inquisition whether any coal-heaver had ever pre- 
 
'AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 113 
 
 sumed to preach the gospel to the poor souls at that place. 
 Upon inquiry the thing was found to be certain, and the 
 tidings were true ; so the man and woman at whose house I 
 had preached, received a very sharp reprimand, and were 
 threatened also with the penal sum of fifty pounds, for let- 
 ting me preach in their house, because I was not at that 
 time properly licensed. Soon after this a day was appoint- 
 ed for preaching and prayer at Richmond chapel, and a 
 dinner ordered at an inn for all the congregation that chose 
 to dine there, and pay for it. Two ministers were appoint- 
 ed to preach on that occasion after the commandments of 
 men, and not after Christ. An old gentleman took his text 
 out of the Acts, and preached from these words : "And 
 when Barnabas saw the grace of God he was glad," &,c. 
 Surely there was nothing in the text against my preaching 
 at Richmond, for I was as glad to see the grace of God as 
 ever Barnabas was. But he turned his text into a nose-of- 
 wax, in order to make it fit my face ; and told the people 
 they might readily suppose that Barnabas had his creden- 
 tials, or credential letters from the elders that were at 
 Jerusalem ; and so out of that supposition he spun a cat-o'- 
 nine-tails to lash me with a man whom he had never seen. 
 But where I was to go for credentials I knew not ; had he 
 required credentials from God I could have produced them. 
 Had I been there, I think I should have asked him whether 
 that sermon had been from heaven or of men : however, at 
 the long run, it appeared to be of men, because it came to 
 naught. These things wonderfully distressed and puzzled 
 me; first, because the people sent three times after me 
 before I would go at all ; and, secondly, the presence and 
 power of God seemed so visible to my comfort, and the 
 comfort of those that heard me ; and yet I was puzzled, that 
 these great men, who were called Christians, should oppose 
 15 
 
114 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 me so much. The people, however, determined to hear 
 me ; and I generally found God with me in the work, not- 
 withstanding which I always went reluctantly. In this 
 matter I set off to an arm of flesh for counsel ; though the 
 presence of God was counsel sufficient, had I been wise 
 enough to have rested on it. However, I was not as yet 
 weaned from an arm of flesh ; therefore I went to ask coun- 
 sel at Abel, and so hoped to end the matter. The counsel 
 I received from the good man I consulted (after I had rela- 
 ted the whole circumstance to him) was, that I should stay 
 away from preaching there, as it gave offence to some great 
 men. I took his advice, and came home much eased in my 
 mind, and glad that I could so get my neck out of the yoke. 
 But, when the Tuesday following arrived, being the day on 
 which I was appointed to preach at Richmond, I found the 
 broken reed on which my foolish soul had rested began to 
 give way, and I sunk again into all my distresses. Then it 
 came into my mind how that God had comforted me in the 
 work. And, if the supporting arm and comforting presence 
 of God are not a sufficient testimony of God's approbation, 
 we are not likely to get one from man. I still doubted, 
 however, whether I should not offend God by trusting to 
 this human counsel ; thinking, if God had called me to 
 preach at Richmond, and I should stay away when the little 
 flock expected me, I should much offend the righteous Maj- 
 esty of heaven, and be disobedient to the heavenly call ; 
 and, if it was wrong for me to go, I could appeal to God I 
 had no desire for it. As to selfish views, I had none ; for 
 one night they collected a parcel of money for me, knowing 
 how poor I was, and how much I had suffered in the work ; 
 which they thrust into my pocket by force ; but I positively 
 refused it, and insisted on having no more than eighteen 
 pence for my trouble in going from Ditton to Richmond to 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 115 
 
 preach. It now came suddenly into my mind to lay this 
 matter before my blessed Lord and Master, who never dis- 
 appointed nor deceived me in his counsel. I therefore left 
 my cobbling, went into my chamber, and prayed in the fol- 
 lowing manner : " Oh God, my Saviour and dear Redeemer, 
 thou knowest I have no desire to go and preach at Rich- 
 mond, but the people came after me several times. If thou 
 hast any thing to do there by me, incline my heart to go, 
 let who will oppose it ; but, if not, let not thy servant pre- 
 sume, as my heart has no desire to go there : and, as I 
 would not offend thy Majesty either by going or staying, I 
 beseech thee to convince me by the first scripture that oc- 
 curs to my mind. Oh Lord, reveal thy mind and will to 
 me in this particular, and let me not offend thee, as I am 
 willing to obey thy voice, if thou art pleased to make it 
 known to me. Amen. 
 
 As soon as I arose from my knees these words came with 
 power to my mind, " Be not weary in well-doing, for in due 
 time ye shall reap if ye faint not." This gave me some 
 comfort. But, when I went and sat down to my cobbling 
 again, I began to reason thus : " Be not weary in well-do- 
 ing true : but if it is displeasing to God for me to go to 
 Richmond, then it would be well-doing to stay at home ; 
 and, if it be displeasing to God for me to stay at home, then 
 it would be well-doing for me to go and preach at Rich- 
 mond." So, like Gideon, I tried the fleece once more, and 
 said to myself that, if God should give a text and a sermon 
 on it, I should think it was from him, and that I had a just 
 right to carry God's message. I had no sooner made this a 
 criterion than these words came with power and understand- 
 ing : " And his brightness was as the light : he had horns 
 coming out of his hand ; and there was the hiding of his 
 power." Hab. iii. 3, 4. The second and third verses of the 
 
116 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 thirty-third chapter of Deuteronomy I found were a key to 
 this text. I therefore arose and went, being determined 
 to deliver that message there at that time only, and then to 
 inform them that I would come there no more. But before 
 I began to preach I earnestly begged of God to comfort the 
 people greatly, if he approved of my preaching to them ; and, 
 if not, that he would send them away dejected, and shut me 
 up till I had little or nothing to say to them. In that night 
 God blessed us wonderfully ; and when I had done I hesita- 
 ted whether I should inform them of my intention of not 
 coming again, as it so offended the managers. But these 
 words came to my mind : "And he said unto them, The 
 kings of the gentiles exercise lordship over them ; and they 
 that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. 
 But ye shall not be so ; but he that is greatest among you, 
 let him be as the younger : and he that is chief as he that 
 doth serve." Luke xxii. 25, 26. Having received these 
 words, I published myself to preach there again the next 
 Tuesday; being fully convinced that no proprietor of a 
 building had any warrant from God to keep a gospel message 
 from the ears and hearts of God's children, unless they could 
 prove the messenger either erroneous or wicked ; which 
 they could not, for they had never either seen or heard me. 
 After I had preached there a few times, it came to pass 
 one evening, when I had finished my sermon, that a person 
 came to inform me that a woman (who was lately taken very 
 ill, and was apparently near death) desired to see me. I 
 accordingly went ; and, when I came to her bedside, asked 
 her if she had sent for me. She replied, " Yes." I asked 
 her what she had sent for me to do. She said to pray by 
 her. I asked her what I was to pray for that she might 
 be raised up again? She replied, "No; pray God to give 
 resignation to his will, and that he may not depart from me." 
 
- ;\ 
 
 AND THE BANK OF FAIT > ' 1J7 ry 
 
 ' ^ 
 
 I asked her if she was sure the Lord was with her. She 
 said, " Yes." I asked her how she came by the knowledge 
 of God's comfortable presence. She told me she was a na- 
 tive of Scotland, where she had often heard people speak of 
 their comforts and peace, but used to envy them for it, and 
 at other times thought they spoke nonsense ; but still she 
 found a secret want of something, which she had long sought ; 
 and she told me that she had never found that power until I 
 preached the sermon from the text in Habbakuk " he had 
 horns coming out of his hand, and there was the hiding of 
 his power." " Under that discourse," said she, " the Spirit 
 of power came to me. My husband is a stone-mason, and is 
 gone to Ireland, to be the foreman of a very large building 
 there, and I am in time to go after him, if God .spares my 
 life ; but, as my good man has left me for a time, the Al- 
 mighty has come in his room." She now gave me a very 
 sweet account of the operations of the Holy Ghost, and of 
 the precious liberty which he proclaimed by the revelation 
 and application of Christ crucified to her understanding, 
 mind, and conscience. These tidings made my bowels 
 yearn, as I could call to my remembrance the soul-travail I 
 had been exercised with on the day that the text was brought 
 to my mind, and the blessed mystery that was opened to me 
 in it; as also God's goodness in accompanying it with such 
 power to her soul, and now to lay her on a sick bed, that 
 she might send for me, to inform me that I had not preached 
 nor travailed in vain. O ! the conversion of such souls is 
 greater riches to me than all the treasures of Egypt ! God 
 in mercy soon after raised her up again ; and she attended 
 my ministry for about two years, appearing a most amiable 
 Christian. She always sat with her head down, and heard 
 me with all the attention imaginable ; and, when she had 
 got her portion, like Hannah, she would set off without eith- 
 16 
 
118 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 er looking or speaking to any body, as if she suspected ev- 
 ery one that spoke to her to be a robber of her conscience. 
 Indeed she was no bastard, she was my own daughter she 
 loved a private religion, that lay between Christ crucified 
 and her own conscience ; and I believe she kept her day- 
 book very strictly. Her name is Stuart. I dearly loved her 
 soul in the bowels of Christ, as I had begotten her, and had 
 sorely travailed for her. 
 
 She has now been in Baron's Court in Ireland for several 
 years, a place where there is no gospel preached ; yet she 
 corresponds with her pious friends at Richmond, still stands 
 fast in the faith of Christ, and is shortly expected in Eng- 
 land. May God land her and her spouse safe on the coast 
 of our Israel, and at last on the shore of " that land which 
 is very far off." 
 
 The conversion of this woman seemed to me such a testi- 
 mony from God, that it confirmed me more in my call to 
 preach at Richmond than the testimony of all the divines in 
 Britain would have done ; for, " if we receive the witness of 
 men, the witness of God is greater." I hope never to de- 
 spise the former but choose to stick close by the latter. 
 This conversion appeared .still more conspicuous, as her 
 head was well stocked with gospel notions ; for I have often 
 found those, whose judgments were furnished with evangel- 
 ical creeds, to be the forwardest to laugh at those who in- 
 sisted on the force, the power, and happy enjoyment, of truth 
 en the souls of God's elect. 
 
 I shall now return to my subject, of leaving Ditton, and 
 coming to settle in London. 
 
 After having seen so much of the vision fulfilled, I began 
 to watch for the developement of the words thick boughs. I 
 knew thick boughs in Ezekiel's prophecy meant sinners, and 
 the boughs of the palm-tree in the song of Solomon meant 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 119 
 
 saints ; therefore, if I could see my ministry well attended, 
 either with sinners or saints, the whole vision would appear 
 evidently to be from God ; for, if the Lord speaks, it is 
 done ; and, if he commands, it comes to pass. 
 
 After I had been some time in London, I found our 
 chapel in Margaret street was open to every erroneous 
 preacher. This stirred up the hearts of my hearers to look 
 out for another place for me, and very soon a larger chapel 
 was proposed to be built. This still appeared to pave the 
 way more and more for the fulfilment of the words brought 
 to my mind, " prophesy on the thick boughs." The chapel 
 was soon erected ; and the good hand of our God was with 
 us, in the work, to our comfort. But when it was opened, I 
 saw the strong opposition it would meet with from every 
 quarter. This at first rather surprised me ; but soon after 
 these words returned on my mind, " prophesy on the thick 
 boughs." I was enabled to rest on them, and gathered 
 much comfort to my soul from the consideration of its being 
 opposed ; for I have ever observed that when a work has 
 appeared to be of God, it has generally met with the greatest 
 opposition; and when a cause flourishes in the face of 
 many opposers, it appears still plainer to be God's work. 
 The fewer human props there are to support the ark, the 
 clearer God's hand is perceived ; for then God appears to 
 work, and none can let it, though they try at it. In this 
 way God endears himself to the instrument he employs, 
 weans the instrument from the creature, and secures all the 
 glory to himself. I have often thought that if Martin Lu- 
 ther, John Burtyan, or George Whitefield, had been alive 
 in my days, they would rather have invited me, than shut 
 me out of their pulpits. However, I believe I shall still 
 prophesy on the thick boughs ; and according to my faith, 
 so it will be unto me. I have found my very soul at times 
 
120 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 melted down with gratitude at the goodness of God to so 
 unworthy a creature as myself, when I have heard that sev- 
 eral good people in London have asked great men, employed 
 under God, to let me preach in their pulpits, as Margaret 
 street chapel was too small for me ; but this favor could 
 not be granted. I thought my case was similar to that 
 of poor sore-eyed Leah, who said, " the Lord saw that I 
 was despised, therefore he gave me this son also." And I 
 have now reason to conclude with her, that God hath endowed 
 me with a good dowry of spiritual children, though he saw 
 that I was hated, and these spotted sheep shall be for my 
 hire when they shall appear before the Lord ; so shall the 
 righteousness which I have preached answer for me in that 
 day when my ministry and the seals of it shall appear before 
 God to witness for me. 
 
 I will now inform my reader of the kind providence of 
 my God at the time of building the chapel, which I named 
 Providence Chapel ; and also mention a few free-will offer- 
 ings which the people brought. 
 
 The name that I gave to the chapel has offended many. 
 However, since it was named, I have seen a place called 
 Providence Court, and a chapel called Trinity Chapel, 
 where- the Trinity is little known, I believe ; this was not the 
 case at the naming of Providence Chapel. 
 
 But to return. They first offered about eleven pounds, 
 and laid it on the foundation at the beginning of the build- 
 ing. A good gentleman, with whom I had but little ac- 
 quaintance, and of whom I bought a load of timber, sent 
 it me in with a bill and receipt in full, as a present to the 
 Chapel of Providence. Another good man came with 
 tears in his eyes, and blessed me, and desired to paint my 
 pulpit, desk, &c., as a present to the chapel. Another per- 
 son gave half a dozen chairs for the vestry ; and my friends 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAlTH. 121 
 
 Mr. and Mrs Lion furnished me with a tea-chest well stored. 
 
 and a set of china. My good friends Mr. and Mrs. Smith 
 furnished me with a very handsome bed, bedstead, and all 
 its furniture and necessaries, that I might not be under the 
 necessity of walking home in the cold winter nights. A 
 daughter of mine in the faith, gave me a looking-glass for 
 my chapel-study. Another friend gave me my pulpit-cush- 
 ion, and a book-case for my study. Another gave me a 
 book-case ,for the vestry. And my good friend Mr. E. 
 seemed to level all his displeasure at the devil ; for he was 
 in hopes I should be. enabled, through the gracious arm of 
 the Lord, to cut Rahab in pieces ; therefore he furnished 
 me with a sword of the spirit a new Bible, with morocco 
 binding and silver clasps. Perhaps, too, he had his eyes 
 fixed on the rams' horns and silver trumpets that sounded 
 the destruction of Jericho, which some say typified two 
 sorts of ministers the illiterate and the learned ; the illit- 
 erate was represented by the rams' horns, and the learned 
 by the silver trumpets; so according to this, our blessed 
 Lord, who spake as never man spake, and all his apostles, 
 are jumbled in among the rams' horns. But I think, as a 
 ram's horn has a very rough unpleasing sound, it rather 
 typified the legal ministry under the law, where so many 
 rams are offered ; and the silver trumpets, having a more 
 pleasing sound, held forth the evangelical ministry under 
 the dispensation of the spirit ; which exceeds the old econ- 
 omy in glory as much as the sound of a silver trumpet doep 
 that of a ram's horn. The revelation of St. John holds 
 forth every sound from the death of Christ to the general 
 judgment, to be by seven trumpets, not horns. I think we 
 may speak thus without offering any violence to the scrip- 
 tures, and without nursing the pride or pedantry of a 
 scholar. 
 
122 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 A certain gentleman some time ago preached from Pha- 
 raoh's vision of the seven fat and seven lean kine. The 
 lean kine he made out to be poor, mean, illiterate people ; 
 and as he had a great many rich, dressy hearers, he made 
 out the fat kine and well-favored to hold forth the rich, 
 honorable and learned of the earth ; though God says it is 
 the rich that grind the face of the poor, and eat up his peo- 
 ple as they would eat bread ; but I never read in all the 
 Bible that the poor eat up the rich ; for I think every poor 
 man in England will hold with me in this particular, that 
 the rich are agreed to keep that person poor who is poor. 
 But I shall return to my subject, and leave these men-pleas- 
 ers to themselves ; as they serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 but their own bellies ; and with fair speeches and feigned 
 words make merchandise of souls. 
 
 But I shall show that I have yet to speak on the behalf 
 of Providence, which was so conspicuous in furnishing me 
 with money necessary for building the chapel. I never 
 went to one person to borrow money for the building who 
 denied me. God so opened their hearts, that I was amazed 
 at his providence and their kindness towards me. As for 
 my friend Mr. Lloyd, by his cheap way of going to work, I 
 believed he saved me two or three hundred pounds at least ; 
 which I should not have desired him to have done had I 
 been a man of property ; for I think it is the duty of every 
 man, who is able, to encourage trade, it being the strength 
 of a nation : and it appears to me that those who make it 
 their business to shake that pillar are sure to pull down the 
 house about their own ears. " Seek ye the peace of the 
 city, for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace." 
 
 Some time after these things, God seemed wholly to with- 
 draw his conspicuous providential acts; and I began to lay 
 aside my watchfulness and daily dependence on his bounties, 
 
AND THE BANK OP FAITH 123 
 
 as my stated income began to be tolerable. However, it is 
 the safest and sweetest way to live from hand to mouth, as 
 say those who speak in proverbs ; for it is impossible that 
 men should be so grateful to God when they have a stock 
 in hand as when they receive a daily supply from the never- 
 failing stock in God's hand. After some little time I was 
 forced to look to htm again for temporals as well as spirit- 
 uals ; for as my income increased, my family increased 
 also ; so that I was shortly brought into as great straits 
 as ever : money began to run short, and clothes were want- 
 ing. But God, who fainteth not, neither is weary, was 
 pleased to appear in a way of providence again ; and after 
 this manner showed he himself. 
 
 I had been doing a little work in my flower garden, and 
 finding that it wanted a few additional roots, I went to a 
 garden at a little distance from my house to look over a few 
 things. While I was walking about by myself among the 
 flowers, a well-dressed motherly-looking woman stepped up 
 to me, and supposing me to be the gardener, (for my appear- 
 ance was more like a slave than a prelate,) she thus addres- 
 sed me in a free and jocose manner : "Now Mr. Gardener, 
 if you please, I want a root to put in my pot ; and it must 
 be a root that will last." I looked up very seriously at the 
 lady, and replied, " Well, I believe I can tell you where 
 you may get such a root." At this answer she smilingly 
 asked, "Where?" I answered, "In the book of Job; 
 for he says ' The root of the matter is found in me.' Job 
 xix. 28. And if you can get that root into your pot, both 
 the root and the pot will last for ever." She then asked, 
 " And pray have you got that root in you ? " I answered 
 her, " I verily believe I have." Upon which she replied, 
 " It is well with you, and it is very true what you have 
 said." I then told her that I was not the gardener, but that 
 
124 
 
 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 she would find him at the bottom of the garden, attend- 
 ing some ladies and gentlemen. She dropped a courtesy, 
 and departed with a smile. I thought by her pertinent re- 
 ply, that she was not altogether ignorant of that wisdom 
 which dwells with prudence, and finds out knowledge of 
 witty inventions. Prov. viii. 12. And I secretly wished 
 that the words which I had spoken might dwell on her mind 
 until the root of gospel love struck an everlasting fibre 
 in her heart. 
 
 I believe the lady above mentioned inquired of the gar- 
 dener who I was ; for soon after both she and her spouse 
 came to hear me, and have continued so to do ever since. 
 God grant that the word of his grace may take deep root in 
 their hearts, that they may be " trees of righteousness, the 
 right-hand planting of God, that he may be glorified." 
 
 Some time after this there came a person to my house, 
 and left a letter, the contents of which were as follow : 
 
 " SIR, 
 
 I wish you would be at home on such a day, if conve- 
 nient ; as a person will call to measure you for a great coat, 
 which you are desired to accept, and to ask no questions of 
 the person who comes to measure you," &-c. 
 
 I looked upon this letter as sent from some enemy to the 
 gospel of Christ ; because it came soon after my Bank of 
 Faith had made its appearance in the world ; and I daily 
 heard of some professor or other ridiculing it, because I 
 had therein taken notice of very insignificant things, at 
 least in their opinion. However, had they been exercised 
 with a hungry belly, as the prophet Elijah was, they would 
 have been glad of a cake baked with two sticks, and have 
 thanked God for commanding the widow woman to sustain 
 him with that. 1 Kings, xvii. 9. The Holy Ghost though 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 125 
 
 this kind providence of God, which appeared in sending the 
 prophet that cake, worthy of being recorded in divine rev- 
 elation : if so, what kind of spirit must those professors be 
 of, who deem the special and minute interference of Provi- 
 dence worthy only of their public scorn and contempt? 
 Such men are rebuked even by the brute creation ; for " the 
 ox knovveth his owner, and the ass his master's crib," but 
 the carnal professor knovveth not the God of his mercies ; 
 and although he loves the crib, yet he doth not consider 
 who it is that keeps his crib full. 
 
 Some bought my book on purpose to laugh at it ; and 
 then lent it to others for them to do the same, to whom God 
 blessed it ; and who, instead of laughing at it, wept over it, 
 and had their faith encouraged by it. Those gentlemen 
 acted the part of the pharisees in the Saviour's days, who 
 would not accept of his grace themselves, yet were made 
 instrumental in bringing the poor adulterous woman to him. 
 And, when such persons called on those to whom they lent 
 my book, and learned how they approved of it, they (like 
 the pharisees) sneaked away as soon as conscience had 
 done her office. Wisdom's children will justify their ven- 
 erable mother, and disdain to slight the breasts that have 
 afforded them perpetual nourishment, or to accuse a poor 
 preacher for endeavoring to encourage the faith of his pjoor 
 brethren, by displaying the parental care, tender regard, 
 and narrow inspection, of God in his universal providence. 
 I know the word of God bears me out in it, and much far- 
 ther than I have gone ; for I have taken no notice of the 
 hairs of our head, which Christ says are all numbered, and 
 not one shall ever be lost ; nay, he affirms that there shall 
 not a hair of our head perish. Luke xxi. 18. But alas ! 
 such men are not acquainted with the Spirit of God, nor 
 with the word of God ; if they were, they would acknowl- 
 
126 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 edge the tender mercies of God to be over all his works ; 
 Psalm cxlv. 9 ; and his love, seen in executing judgment 
 for the fatherless and the widow, and even to the stranger 
 in giving him food and raiment. Deut. x. 18. 
 
 Indeed it is not worth my while to take notice of such 
 professors, or even to regard their reproaches ; for no per- 
 son's heart can ever be right with God who laughs at his 
 word or works ; nor can they fare any better for their con- 
 tempt of the truth than the pharisees did, who came to 
 accuse the poor woman even before Christ himself, whom 
 heaven had appointed for her wonderful counsellor and 
 ever-prevailing advocate. 
 
 But to return to my subject. I was deceived in supposing 
 that the letter was sent as a trap to keep me at home on 
 such a day, that they might have to laugh at my vain expec- 
 tation, as I conjectured; for it was sent by a friend; and 
 the man came as was appointed to measure me for a great 
 coat. I asked who sent him. He told me that was to be 
 kept secret. But, as I suspected the letter to be a cheat 
 sent by some enemy, I insisted on knowing who sent him. 
 He then said that he was sent by a woman who once asked 
 me for a root to put in her pot. I told him that I had got 
 two very good great coats, but stood in need of a close- 
 bodied one ; and, if the lady thought proper to make me a 
 present of 'such, I should be obliged to her ; but that I had 
 no need of a great coat. The man measured me, and 
 brought me the coat home. I offered him a small present 
 for his trouble; but he refused it, saying, that he had 
 received orders not to take any thing. Christian reader, 
 give God the glory for his wonderful works, and let not 
 fortune and luck rob him of his honor. " Jesus we know, 
 but who are they?" 
 
 Some have objected to my book, saying, that asking for 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 127 
 
 carnal things shows a carnal heart. It is true, that, if a man 
 follows Christ for loaves and fishes, it certainly does. But 
 for a believer in Christ and a laborer in the vineyard to ask 
 his heavenly Father to bless the work of his hands and to 
 send him food and raiment, shows just as much carnality as 
 the Saviour's looking up to heaven for a blessing to multiply 
 the barley loaves to feed his hungry followers, when he said, 
 " I have compassion on the multitude ; I will not send them 
 away fasting, lest they faint by the way." Mark viii. 23. 
 
 The man that robs God of his glory, and makes a god of 
 his money, shows more carnality than he does who prays 
 for neither poverty nor riches, but to be fed with food con- 
 venient for him, lest he be full and deny God (by giving 
 glory to his own wisdom or good luck;) or lest he be poor, 
 and steal, and take God's name in vain, (to escape the whip 
 or the pillory.) Prov. xxx. 8, 9. 
 
 I found at times a great desire to read some old com- 
 mentators, in order to see how my judgment agreed with 
 theirs in some particular texts of scripture. And, when I 
 have heard of a book being published, I have found a great 
 desire to have it, if I thought the author was sound. This 
 bookish fit, coming often upon me, drained my pocket of 
 now and then a guinea, which I wanted more ways than 
 one. In short, I found buying of books to be like Solo- 
 mon's account of compiling them, "In making many books 
 there is no end ;" nor is there any end in buying of them, 
 except you have plenty of money to go to market with. 
 However, the Almighty condescended to stop the rapid 
 spreading of this disease by a singular circumstance. I 
 received the following note from an unknown friend : 
 
 " MR. ANTI-ARMINIUS'S free-grace love to Mr. Hunting- 
 ton, begs his acceptance of a dish of dead men's brains ; 
 
128 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 he believes most of them are of the evangelical family ; 
 they will be with him in a day or two: he is desired to ask 
 no questions of the bearers. 
 
 " Dead-man's Place," &c. 
 
 What these dead men's brains were I could not conjec- 
 ture ; but suspected something to be sent by way of con- 
 tempt, as the doctrines which God hath taught me are point 
 blank against arminianism. ^Howbeit, in a day or two the 
 dead men's brains arrived in a very large packing-case, 
 brought by two chairmen ; which I at first refused to take 
 in, suspecting an arminian cheat ; however, I opened the 
 skull, examined the brains, and found them to be three or 
 four hundred volumes of divinity, geography, history, &c. 
 
 A few days afterwards he was pleased to send me another 
 dish of brains, or a second course ; which he informed me, 
 by note, consisted of some good and some bad. And so I 
 found them, for, among others, were the tracts of the irrev- 
 erent Dr. Priestley, clothed in a suit of red morocco, 
 embroidered with gold. I had not read much of him before 
 his priestly craft greatly disgusted me. I stripped him out 
 of his coat of many colors, and served it as I think Christ 
 will serve the author ; that is, I cut it asunder, and appointed 
 it a portion in the fire, as the Lord will do with all hypo- 
 crites and unbelievers. I confess I was much displeased to 
 find some precious old authors, who were administering 
 comfort to the people of God, with nothing but a sheep's 
 skin jacket about them ; while the doctor, that sworn enemy 
 to the God of armies, (busy in undermining and destroying 
 that comfort,) was strutting about with an embroidered 
 uniform ! " Ah, doctor !" thought I, " I will put this scar- 
 let suit on one of these old warriors who have been good 
 soldiers of Jesus Christ; they shall .walk in embroidery, 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 129 
 
 for they are worthy." There were a few more sly hypo- 
 crites crept in among them, to whom I gave house-room 
 until I found them out, when I sent them bag and baggage 
 after the doctor. 
 
 This present of books served to quench my bookish thirst 
 for the time being ; for they will take me two or three years 
 to read over, sort out, and vamp up ; and then perhaps the 
 fit may take me again. Who the friend was that sent them 
 to me I know not, nor do I believe he intends I ever shall. 
 
 Some time after I received these dead men's brains, God 
 was pleased to lay his afflicting hand upon my body, and to 
 bring me very low ; so that, as it were, he laid me aside for 
 a month. To this I very reluctantly submitted, being very 
 poor in pocket. My wife and eldest daughter were also 
 taken ill at the same time. However, the morrow took 
 thought for the things of itself; for in a day or two a person 
 brought me a guinea, another two guineas ; and a few days 
 after a lady sent me six : so that God paid me my wages 
 while I lay useless, the same as if I had been bearing the 
 burden of the day. 
 
 I learned one blessed lesson in this affliction, agreeable 
 to that holy text which affirms that " all things work together 
 for good to them that love god, and are the called according 
 to his purpose." For during my illness I was several nights 
 insensible, while the fever was at its height : and, during the 
 time that I was in a state of insensibility as to every thing 
 around me, I discerned a most glorious ray of divine light, 
 which shone conspicuously on the covenant of grace agreed 
 on in the ancient council and settlements of the Trinity, 
 sweetly executed of the stability of it to poor penitent sin- 
 ners : and, to be plain, I had no doubt of my own interest 
 in it. This taught me a lesson which I had long wished to 
 learn, having often thought with myself, " Suppose I should 
 17 
 
130 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 die delirious in a high fever, or go out of the world without 
 the use of my rational faculties, how would it be then '? " 
 I now clearly saw, by this glorious display of divine light, 
 during my state of insensibility, that the holy and blessed 
 Spirit of God can, and I believe often does, operate as the 
 candle of the Lord, as the Spirit of love and of power, 
 and make his glory appear fresh in us, even if we are delir- 
 ious ; as saith the Psalmist, " My heart and my flesh fail ; 
 but the Lord is the strength of rny heart, and my portion 
 for ever." In which words I presume something more is 
 meant than simply heart and flesh in a natural sense ; for 
 neither heart nor flesh can support a soul in a trying or 
 dying hour. 
 
 The sweet and bright views which I had during my illness 
 grew fainter as I recovered, though there still appeared a 
 glimmering ray of it at a distance ; yet I could riot collect 
 my views so as to form them into a sermon. But it afforded 
 me great satisfaction to think of the condescension of God, 
 who has promised to make our bed in our sickness ; and 
 that, as our days are, so shall our strength be. For my 
 part, I comfortably believed that a soul, once effectually 
 enlightened by the Holy Ghost, shall never totally lose sight 
 of the covenant again ; as appears by the prophets, who 
 even in their darkest seasons spoke the most glorious truths. 
 O ! happy and blessed is that soul upon whom the Sun of 
 Righteousness has risen with healing in his beams; such 
 shall find the Lor^ to be their everlasting light, and their 
 sun shall no more go down. 
 
 I once had a most glorious view of a passage in the book 
 of Daniel during a fit of sickness which I had at Thames- 
 Ditton. The text that occurred to my mind was this ; " I 
 saw in the night visions ; and, behold, one like the Son of 
 man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the An- 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 131 
 
 cient of Days, and they brought him near before him." 
 Dan. vii. 13. This text rolled over my mind perpetually 
 during a great part of m'y illness, bringing great light and 
 comfort with it ; and led me to see the clear and concise 
 views that the old testament saints had of the blessed Sa- 
 viour. One of them saw conspicuously his ancient under- 
 taking in the eternal council of the Trinity; and his goings 
 forth from of old, yea, from everlasting. Mic. v. 2. An- 
 other had clear views of his coming to assume human 
 nature. " Burnt-offerings, and offerings for sin, thou 
 wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me." Another 
 saw his birth, and says, " Unto us a child is born, unto us 
 a son is given." Another saw Herod, that wretched blood- 
 hound, grinning like a dog, pursuing or chasing the " hind 
 of the morning." Another represents Rachael as weeping 
 in Ramah over her slaughtered grand-children ; the offspring 
 of her Benoni, the son of her sorrow. Another saw Joseph 
 and Mary bring the young child out of Egypt, and says, 
 " Out of Egypt have I called my son." Another saw him 
 sitting among the doctors, and mentions the first text that 
 he publicly handled, " The Spirit of God is upon me," &c. 
 Another saw his harbinger John preparing his way before 
 him, and making ready a people prepared for the Lord. 
 Another saw him tempted in the wilderness, &c., and at 
 last placed on the ^nnacle of the temple ; and says, " He 
 shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their 
 hands they shall bear thee up, lest thou dash thy foot against 
 a stone." Another saw him in the ministry, spreading his 
 glorious light and truth ; and says, " The land of Naphtali, 
 &c., the people that walked in darkness have seen a great 
 light ; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, 
 upon them hath {he light shined." Zachariah saw Judas 
 selling his master; and tells the rabbis who bought his 
 
132 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 blood to cast the thirty pieces of silver to the potter. Da- 
 vid saw the band of soldiers apprehending him in the 
 garden, and going back and falling to the ground, when 
 Jesus said, " Whom seek ye 1 " and says, " When they 
 came to eat up my flesh they stumbled and fell." Isaiah 
 saw him nailed to the cross " as a nail fastened in a sure 
 place," that every vessel of mercy, even from the cups to 
 the flagons, might hang all their hopes on him with safety. 
 And all the glory of their salvation must hang there too. 
 Isa. xxii. 23 25. David beholds this, and says, "They 
 have pierced my hands and my feet; I may tell all my 
 bones; they stare and look upon me." Psalm xxii. 16, 17. 
 David hears his confession and complaint, " My God, my 
 God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Psalm xxii. 1. And 
 expresses the cruel insults of his murderers, which were 
 afterwards repeated, " He trusted in God that he would 
 deliver him ; let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in 
 him." He saw them giving him gall for his meat, and 
 vinegar for his drink ; parting his garments among them, 
 and casting lots upon his vesture ; and after that yielding 
 up his spirit to God, and sinking into the shades of death. 
 Isaiah saw his resurrection, and says, (speaking by his 
 spirit,) "With my dead body shall they arise." Hosea saw 
 him vanquishing death ; " O Death, I will be thy plague ! 
 O Grave, I will be thy destruction ! Rlpentance shall be 
 hid from mine eyes." David saw him ascend, after he had 
 captured the devil, sin, death, and the world ; saying, " He 
 hath ascended on high, he hath led captivity captive, and 
 received gifts from men, yea, for the rebellious also, that 
 the Lord God might dwell among them." David also saw 
 him enter the royal pavilions of heaven, when he says, 
 " Lift up your heads, ye gates; and be lifted up, ye ever- 
 lasting doors ; and the King of Glory shall enter in." This 
 
AND THE BANK OP FAITH. 133 
 
 was prefigured when the ark was brought into the taberna- 
 cle in Zion ; and realized when the anti-typical Ark ascended 
 to the right hand of the Majesty on high, as " a minister of 
 the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle which God pitched, 
 and not man." Heb. viii. 2, David likewise hears the 
 heavenly anthems sung ; " Who is the King of Glory ? 
 The Lord of Hosts; mighty in battle." He then reflects 
 on his own blessed hope, saying, " I shall be satisfied, when 
 I awake, with thy likeness." Psalm xvii. 15. 
 
 Daniel's faith takes him up where David left him ; 
 namely, just as he ascended ; and saw the son of man come 
 with the clouds of heaven. By which may be meant, first, 
 the cloud that received him out of the apostles' sight. But 
 the angelic host, and the spirits of the just made perfect, 
 seem chiefly to be intended here ; the cloud of witnesses 
 with which we are compassed about. Heb. xii. 1. Who 
 fled as a cloud to the rock of ages, or "as the doves to 
 their windows." Isa. Ix. S. And who, like a cloud, fled, 
 and spread their heavenly testimony among men, while 
 " their doctrines dropped as the rain, and their speech dis- 
 tilled as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, 
 and as the showers upon the grass." Deut. xxxii. 2. 
 
 " He came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the 
 Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him." 
 Dan. vii. 13. The angels attended his glorious Majesty as 
 their confirmative Head ; and the spirits of just men made 
 perfect followed him as their Redeemer, Saviour, and Al- 
 mighty Deliverer ; and attended him to the Ancient of 
 days ; and in all the glorious acclamations of heaven they 
 brought their glorious Head near before him ; mercy and 
 truth being met together, righteousness and peace having 
 kissed each other. The grand Creditor was well pleased 
 at the infinite satisfaction given by the Surety, while all the 
 18 
 
134 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 hosts of heaven attended the solemn coronation of the 
 King of kings and the Lord of lords, who appeared in his 
 garments (of human nature) dipped in blood. 
 
 This was typified by the coronation of Solomon while 
 the acclamations of the attendants made the earth ring 
 again. But it was verified at the coronation of Christ after 
 he had vanquished all his enemies ; there was " a crown 
 given unto him ; and he went forth conquering and to con- 
 quer." Rev. vi. 2. Or, as it is in Daniel vii. 14, " There 
 was given him dominion and glory, and a kingdom; that 
 all the people, nations, and languages, should serve him ; 
 his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not 
 pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be de- 
 stroyed." 
 
 The triumphant church above, who is the mother of us 
 all, is the mother of Christ also, as touching his human 
 nature ; even as Christ's Father is our Father (John xx. 
 17) by spiritual regeneration. Of Zion it shall be said, 
 that he was born in her, Ps. Ixxxvii. 6; even as we are said 
 to be born of God, John i. .13. Salvation is of the Jews, 
 John iv. 22 ; " of them, as concerning the flesh, Christ 
 came, who is over all God blessed for ever." Rom. iv. 5. 
 And it is plain that his venerable mother, the triumphant 
 church, dropped her crown before him, and crowned him 
 with the praise and glory of all her salvation at his glorious 
 coronation, when God set his king upon his holy hill of 
 Zion. Ps. ii. 6. And we must, while here below, copy after 
 her, and submit to the sovereignty of his grace, his mental 
 government, and eternal reign. " Go forth, oh ye daugh- 
 ters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown, 
 wherewith his mother crowned him on the day of his es- 
 pousals, and on the day of the gladness of his heart." 
 Song iii. 11. 
 
AND THE BANK OP FAITH. 135 
 
 He ascended his throne as David's son hereditary, and as 
 a lamb slain, to show that he was to appear as a perfect sac- 
 rifice once, for all his members; and now as an everliving 
 interceding priest, to make intercession for us ; " He shall 
 be a priest upon his throne, and the counsel of peace shall 
 be between them both." Zech. vi. 13. So that " he ever 
 lives to make intercession for us." 
 
 Thus God led me to trace the blessed Saviour up to his 
 glorious exaltation on his throne a blessed view ! to see 
 his human nature (which is a part of ours) exalted so high, 
 " far above all principality, and power, and might, and do- 
 minion, and every name that is named." Eph. i. 21. His 
 being a lamb slain, shows him to be both a sacrifice and a 
 priest ; and his throne shows his divine sovereignty, as it is 
 written, " And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne 
 stood a lamb, as it had been slain, having seven horns and 
 seven eyes." The seven horns were represented to me as 
 showing his perfect and universal dominion, or as repre- 
 senting his seven-fold government. First, he is " king of 
 glory." Ps. xxiv. 10. Secondly, he is " king of Zion." Ps. 
 ii. 6. Thirdly, he is "king of nations." Jer. x. 7. Fourthly, 
 he is " king of [all earthly] kings." Rev. xix. 16. Fifthly, 
 as the God of armies, he is king over all devils. Eph. iv. 8. 
 Sixthly, as the Holy One, he is king over all sin. Rom. vi. 
 14. And, seventhly, as the resurrection and the life, he is 
 king over dgath; Hosea xiii. 14; or the lord of life and 
 death ; Rom. xiv. 9. This is thy king, O Zion, who once 
 came unto thee riding upon an ass, and on a colt, the foal 
 of an ass ; who is now risen, exalted, and crowned. 
 
 God the Father delivers the book with all its seals into 
 his hand ; containing the Father's will, the number and 
 names of all the elect, and all the promises made to Christ 
 and his seed, which were these First, God promised that 
 
136 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 of the fruit of David's body he would raise up Christ to sit 
 on David's throne, and build up his throne to all genera- 
 tions ; a throne of grace to all generations of the cbvenant 
 line ; or all generations shall submit to his iron rod, or 
 peaceable sceptre. This you see is fulfilled ; he is crowned 
 and seated upon the throne of David according to the pro- 
 mise, " Of the increase of his government and peace there 
 shall be no end ; upon the throne of David, and upon his 
 kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and 
 with justice, from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of 
 the Lord of hosts will perform (hath performed) this." 
 Isa. ix. 7. 
 
 Secondly, That he would give him the heathen for his 
 inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for his pos- 
 session. Not that all the human race are the special gift of 
 God the Father to him, nor were all redeemed by him ; for 
 all are not sheep No : but God gave him power over all 
 flesh, (to awe and control them,) that he might give eternal 
 life to as many as the Father hath given him. John xvii. 2. 
 
 Thirdly, The Father promised to give him the sure mer- 
 cies of David. These mercies, given to him as a federal 
 head, were to be sure to all his seed, or offspring ; for lov- 
 ing-kindness is never to be taken from him, nor the faith- 
 fulness of God to fail them. This mercy, given to him as 
 a federal head, was given to him as a king likewise, and is 
 secured to all his subjects ; so that it is to terminate in one 
 single kingdom a kingdom that will outlive all other 
 kingdoms, and be a proof against all revolutions and com- 
 motions whatever ; as it is written, " Once more I shake 
 not only earth, but heaven ; but we, having received a king- 
 dom that cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we 
 may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear." 
 Heb. xiii. 27, 28. This kingdom shall surely demolish all 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 137 
 
 these earthly kingdoms, and make them like the chaff of 
 the summer's threshing floor; survive them all, and appear 
 the only kingdom in the " new heavens and the new earth, 
 wherein dwelleth righteousness." Thus " mercy shall be 
 built up for ever, and [God's] faithfulness shall be estab- 
 lished in the very heavens." Ps. Ixxxix. 2. 
 
 Fourthly, God promised that the Saviour should see of the 
 travail of his soul, and be satisfied that the pleasures of 
 the Lord should prosper in his hand that kings should 
 shut their mouths at him ; and that he should have dominion 
 fro-m sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. 
 That every chosen vessel should be gathered by him, and 
 gathered to him as their proper head; be governed by 
 him as their rightful sovereign, and wait for his second com- 
 ing, as the grand accomplished of the whole divine scheme 
 of man's salvation and glorification. 
 
 Then he shall appear to be admired by all that know and 
 love the truth, when the world shall be destroyed, the mys- 
 tery of God finished, the church exalted at the right hand of 
 the king ; in which will be manifested the secret intention 
 of God, which was to display " the riches of his grace in 
 glory by Christ Jesus." 
 
 The angels above, and the spirits of just men made per- 
 fect ; who are perfect in knowledge when compared to us, 
 understanding these things better than we can in this state 
 of ignorance, seem wonderfully enraptured at the exaltation 
 and coronation of their great Confirmer and Deliverer ; and 
 each host, both angels and glorified souls, sung their corona- 
 tion carols. The spirits of just men made perfect began 
 first, as it was impossible for them to keep silence when the 
 Lord of Hosts appeared in human nature, as one that had 
 trod a wine vat ; or as a man of war, with his garments roll- 
 ed in blood. They saw the scars of war on his humanity, 
 
138 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 and the sword of eternal victory by his side, a proof of his 
 Deity. " He hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name 
 written, King of kings, arid Lord of lords." Rev. xix. 16 
 I say the redeemed first began their carol. "This was pre- 
 figured when he rode triumphant into Jerusalem on an ass ; 
 the multitudes pulling off their clothes, covering the ass, 
 spreading boughs, casting their garments in the way, and 
 crying, " Save, Lord, we beseech thee," or, " We beseech 
 thee, send prosperity." But it was realized when Jesus en- 
 tered the heavenly Jerusalem above ; not on an ass, but in 
 the triumphant chariot of an Almighty Conqueror ; and 
 where he received the kingdom, while his enemies in local 
 Jerusalem sent after him saying, " We will not have this 
 man to reign over us." But when he had received the 
 kingdom he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those 
 murderers, and burnt up their city. Luke xii. 12. Matt, 
 xxii. 7. 
 
 When the Saviour entered the earthly Jerusalem he said, 
 if his infant attendants held their peace, the stones would 
 immediately cry out; how much more when he entered 
 the heavenly Jerusalem, where all knew his divine majesty, 
 his super-excellent amiableness, and what he had done for 
 them ! They did not deride him, refuse him, nor withhold 
 divine homage from him ; but began their triumphant an- 
 them (or songs) without hesitation, when the solemnity 
 of his coronation, was ended. And he came and took the 
 book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne ; 
 " And when he had taken the book, the four beasts, (or rep- 
 resentatives of all the hosts of gospel witnesses, including 
 both ministers and people but chiefly ministers,) and the 
 four and twenty elders, (or twelve patriarchs and twelve 
 apostles, the natural and ministerial foundation of the Jew- 
 ish and Gentile churches, as representatives of them both,) 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 139 
 
 fell down before the Lamb ; having every one of them harps, 
 and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of 
 saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art 
 worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof; for 
 thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, 
 out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation ; 
 and hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we 
 shall reign on the earth." And indeed the militant church, 
 whom they represent, does reign on the earth, through 
 grace ; but in the new heaven and new earth they shall 
 reign without an enemy, and their king without a rival. 
 
 The angels' coronation carol comes next, and ends with 
 a united chorus. " And I beheld, and heard the voice of 
 many angels round about the throne, and the beasts and the 
 elders ; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten 
 thousand and thousand of thousands ; saying, with a loud 
 voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive pow- 
 er, (to govern;) and riches, (to endow;) and wisdom, (to 
 direct ;) and strength, (to support ;) and honor, (as an ever- 
 lasting Father;) and glory, (as the God of all salvation;) 
 and blessing," (as the sinner's loving, immutable, and best 
 friend.) Rev. v. 12. 
 
 Now comes the united chorus ; some hymn his glorious 
 grace, some his creation work, and some his universal provi- 
 dence ; which is echoed from the heavens, the church, the 
 world, and the sea. " And every creature which is in heaven, 
 and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the 
 sea, and all that are in them, heard I, saying blessing, and hon- 
 or, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the 
 throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever arid ever. And the 
 four beasts said, Amen." Rev. v. 13. Thus the fruit of 
 David's body ascended the throne, and appeared as a lamb 
 slain. As God, he never was from the throne ; for, as God, 
 
140 GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR, 
 
 he is both throne and king. As man he was crowned ; and 
 as man he received wisdom, power, and strength : and, as 
 God-man, he received honor, and glory, and blessing ; but 
 as God he could receive nothing for all things were cre- 
 ated by him, and for him, and by him all thing consist. 
 
 Reader, I could have mentioned many more blessings 
 which came to me in a way of providence ; but, as I have 
 recited, perhaps, too many of them already, I have here 
 given the only few fathoms of heavenly meditation, with 
 which the God of all grace enabled me to sound this mys- 
 tery in a fit of sickness that befell me at Thames Ditton. 
 Then it was that I received the greatest part of this con- 
 sistent chain ; the links of which kept every faculty of my 
 soul, and every thought of my heart, so delighted and enter- 
 tained, that I sat down a most willing, submissive, and de- 
 lighted captive, at the foot of my prevailing lover and al- 
 mighty conqueror. 
 
 If my reader should meet with any wordly professor, who 
 tells him that temporal mercies are not promised to us, nor 
 to be sought by us, let him examine all the prayers that are 
 left upon record in the Bible, and he will find nine out of 
 ten of them to have temporal mercies included. And sure- 
 ly he must be a native of Ashdod, or a bastard Jew, that 
 contradicts the consecrated languages, and gives the Divine 
 Speaker the lie. Such men appear to me to be the figura- 
 tive offspring of Epicurus, who first assaulted the doctrine 
 of Providence ; of whom Cotta declares that, " by making 
 God careless of the affairs of men, he utterly subverted all 
 religion." And I think Aristotle's reply to Epicurus's sys- 
 tem of nullity is applicable to many bastard professors in our 
 days ; wherefore I shall bring him to rebuke them. " Di- 
 versity of questions," says he, " requires diversity of an- 
 swers. Some ask whether fire be hot ! These must be 
 
AND THE BANK OF FAITH. 141 
 
 answered by being made to touch it. Some ask whether 
 their parents are to be honored ! These are not to be dis- 
 coursed with, but rebuked. Others ask whether there be \ 
 any providence that rules the world, and refuse to believe it 
 without apparent demonstration ! Such men should be an- 
 swered by a whip rather than by a philosopher." 
 
 Reader, fare thee well. Grace and providence be with 
 thee, while I remain, 
 
 Thine to serve, 
 
 W. H. 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 END OF THE FIRST PART. 
 
THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 J)art STtoo. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 TO THE SPARROW ALONE. 
 
 Beloved in the Lord Jesus : 
 
 BELIEVING in my heart that the good hand of God has 
 been revealed to you, and that his providence is observed 
 by you ; and having long had a most intimate acquaintance 
 with, and a most cordial affection for your lovely family, to 
 whom I have reason to believe God has made me in some 
 measure useful ; and knowing that you are stationed at a 
 distance from the main stock of the family, and in a barren 
 land, where no water is; and being too remote from the 
 breasts of consolation to pay attendance at the nurseries ; I 
 have determined with myself to send these displays of divine 
 providence to you, hoping, under God, they may supply 
 that lack of service which the distance between you and 
 Bethel forbids in the common Bourse of the ministry. 
 
 I know that neither you nor yours are, or ever were, re- 
 duced to such a state of indigence as myself; nevertheless, 
 the long acquaintance that I have had with you, and the 
 soul-union I have felt in your company, together with the 
 pious grief I have seen manifested by you in others' calam- 
 
144 THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 ities, and your joy of countenance at the report of their 
 deliverance, convinces me of the certain indwelling of a spirit 
 of love and meekness in you, enabling you to weep with 
 them that weep, and to rejoice with them that rejoice. In 
 this confidence, and with these motives, I send these things 
 to you, hoping they will be neither unpleasant nor un- 
 profitable. 
 
 Moreover, as I have kept no diary of one single provi- 
 dence, and have nothing to trust to but a treacherous mem- 
 ory, which seldom refunds what is intrusted with it, espec- 
 ially mine, which begins of late sensibly to fail, unless it 
 should please God to bring back what has elapsed for more 
 than sixteen years. I am more inclined to pen the matters 
 down in epistles to you, than to sit down and write a volume 
 off-hand, because I shall have more opportunity between 
 the times of writing to consider and recollect the facts; 
 besides, I can redeem time for an epistle, when ,1 cannot 
 for a large pamphlet. What I request, my beloved friend, 
 of thee, is to lay them up carefully, and together, as I send 
 them, in case they should, in some future period, be called 
 for to be scattered from the press. 
 
 Among all my acquaintance in rural life, I know of none 
 whose mind is so free from incumbrance, and whose heart 
 is less engaged and less entangled in the affairs of this life, 
 than yours, and therefore you are more at leisure to attend 
 to and to keep this charge. And as you acknowledged to 
 me that you gained ground in the path of life by retirement, 
 reading, meditation and prayer, I hope these remarks will 
 add strength to your feet, prospects to your sight, encour- 
 agement to your hope, and divine love to your heart. 
 
 Adieu, S. S. 
 
 When I laid the foundation of the chapel I was twenty 
 pounds in debt for the necessaries of life, and when I had 
 
THE BANK OF FAITH. 145 
 
 finished it I was in arrears one thousand pounds more ; so 
 that I hid plenty of work for faith, if I could but get plenty 
 of faith to work : and while some deny a providence, Prov- 
 idence was the only resource I had. I had forty-seven 
 pounds per annum ground rent, and almost fifty pounds per 
 annum for interest, a large chapel, and a smaJl congrega- 
 tion ; and those who lent me the money a poor, industrious 
 people, and weak in faith, being but young in the ways of 
 God ; and there were plenty of hypocrites in Zion to tell 
 them that all who had a hand in that chapel would burn 
 their fingers. If God sends Moses and Aaron to preach, 
 Satan sends Jannes and Jambres to oppose : and if Zerub- 
 babel and Joshua begin to build, Stnballat and Tobiah 
 are raised up to discourage them. And here I must bring 
 in a circumstance which is truly laughable: A gentleman 
 who had for some time frequented Margaret-street Chapel, 
 and to all appearance he was a very penitent hearer, as he 
 was-generally bedewed with tears; but whether they were 
 tears of misery from a sense of sin, or tears of gratitude 
 from a sense of pardon, I knew not ; but I have been con- 
 vinced since that they were neither. This good gentleman 
 came to us when the chapel was in building, and hearing 
 the builder say he should want some window sills, and some 
 columns to stand in the cellar to support the ground floor, 
 he generously offered his service to go into the country to 
 buy them, as he had formerly been in the wood way himself. 
 This kind offer was gratefully accepted; and another gen- 
 tleman offered him his horse to go on. He accordingly 
 received his orders of the length of the columns, the size 
 of the heart at the small end, and that they must be the 
 ground ends of young trees, able to support the weight they 
 were intended to bear. So off he went, and in a day or 
 two returned, and informed several of my friends that he 
 19 
 
146 THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 had saved me three pounds by the journey; which to me 
 was something considerable. Soon after his return the 
 timbers came, but by no means fit for the purpose they were 
 designed, being only the lirnbs of large oaks, small, and not 
 one straight among them. The builder appearing disgusted 
 at them, he ordered the carter to reload them and take them 
 home to his own house, which he accordingly did. The 
 builder then went over the water and bought a fine, large, 
 straight stick, at the price of nine pounds, and intended to 
 cut it into proper lengths, and quarter it ; which when our 
 kind friend saw, he got a cart and brought his materials 
 back again, and threw them down on the premises, which 
 rather hindered tha helped us. He then delivered the bill 
 to me, which to the best of my remembrance, was five 
 pounds seven shillings, which with three pounds that he 
 had saved me by the bargain, made them worth eight pounds 
 seven shillings. I offered to pay his bill, and to make him 
 a present of the timber if he would accept it, but he would 
 not, nor could we use it ; so that this good man's favors 
 became a hinderance rather than a help. At last I resolved 
 to have them valued, and sent for a timber merchant, who 
 attended me to value them : he valued them at two guineas; 
 but thinking the gentleman might undervalue them through 
 partiality to me, I sent for an entire stranger, who was a 
 timber merchant also, and he fixed their price at forty shil- 
 lings. Upon this my good friend took the materials away, 
 and for this price he sold them, clearing much less for him- 
 self than he saved me. But to return to my subject. 
 These were the difficulties I had to surmount; and for 
 three years together I lost ground, for Satan waylaid me in 
 a path which I knew to be charity. My bowels were moved 
 to extricate from debt a man that I took to be a fallen saint, 
 nor could all the inward checks God gave me stop me from 
 
THE BANK OF FAITH. 147 
 
 embarking in this good work, though I had many. He 
 cost me forty guineas ; and when God unmasked the hypo- 
 crite, then I saw where the inward caution came from. 
 Three chapels were opened about the same time not far 
 from mine, and one set up an additional lecture, in order to 
 keep the sheep from straying; but the inward anointed 
 taught me that by these means I should see more clearly 
 the hand of God, for where there is no opposition there is 
 no salvation ; and where a multitude of hands are employed 
 in one work, it is not so easy to see the distinguishing 
 approbation of the employer. I must stand alone, and work 
 alone, that I might not say a confederacy, nor rely on hu- 
 man aid. Paul's companions all forsook him at Nero's bar, 
 that by him the preaching might be fully known ; for Paul's 
 doctrine was immediately from Christ, but theirs mediately 
 from him. 
 
 After this blank of forty guineas loss, another borrowed 
 three more, and another ten pounds, neither of which ever 
 paid a mite again ; and soon after thirty pounds were de- 
 manded for the follies of my youth, and another thirty 
 pounds for rent for the chapel I had left; and thirty guineas 
 more for a law-suit about a little meeting-house for which I 
 had collected forty pounds to build at Sunbury, in Middle- 
 sex. All these blanks, at three years' end, set me down just 
 where I began; and all this time my income was only 
 twenty-five pounds per quarter, and my children at one 
 time nine in number. This sailing against wind and tide, 
 not only tried the faith of the debtor, but it exercised the 
 faith of my poor creditors also; for if I could not go on, 
 they must go back ; nevertheless, most of them exercised 
 more patience than I could, though I could do no more than 
 just keep the interest paid up. At length God enabled me 
 to put out several little books, which were almost universally 
 
148 THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 exclaimed against, both by preachers and professors, and 
 by these means God sent them into all winds; so that I 
 soon rubbed off one hundred, and soon after another, so 
 that in a short time I had reduced my thousand pounds 
 down to seven hundred. The booksellers in general would 
 neither countenance nor circulate the works, being influ- 
 enced, as I suppose, by some of their employers. But as 
 the workman began to be known, so the works spread ; and 
 what some despised others admired ; and the doctrine that 
 starved the self-sufficient, fattened the poor in spirit. Peo- 
 ple who attend my ministry, coming from various parts of 
 the country, often bought them, and sent them down among 
 their friends. By these means they made their way where 
 I was not permitted to go myself. But it often happened 
 that where they came the preachers warned the people much 
 against them, which frequently excited the curiosity of 
 some to read them ; and if they found any thing in them 
 that suited their cases, they judged by the unction they felt. 
 They are calculated in some measure to suit the earnest 
 inquirer ; the soul in bondage, in the furnace, in the path 
 of tribulation, or in the strong hold of Satan ; and I have 
 heard of them from Wales, from Scotland, from Ireland, 
 from various parts of America, from Cadiz in Spain, from 
 Alexandria in Egypt, and I believe from both the East and 
 West Indies : and as they have fallen in divers hands, I accor- 
 dingly received various reports. Many vilifying and scur- 
 rilous letters from different parts; and to counterbalance 
 these, many letters of blessings to God, and thanks to the 
 author ; which put together, make it to be the good old 
 beaten path ; through evil report and good report, as deceiv- 
 ers and yet true. Beloved, farewell. 
 
 Thine to command, 
 
 W. H. S. S. 
 
LETTER II. 
 
 TO THE SPARROW ALONE. 
 
 Beloved in the Lord : 
 
 SINCE I sent off the last, many fresh things have occurred 
 to my mind. I concluded with the circulation of my books : 
 and about that time I was invited to preach a weekly lec- 
 ture in the city, by which means it pleased my God to bring 
 me more publicly forth into the world ; and as the chapel 
 filled, and the people approved, of course my pedigree, my 
 residence, my station in the camp, my family and fortune, 
 were inquired into ; and that at a time when some of my cred- 
 itors wanted their money. In a short time after this de- 
 mand, a small number of gentlemen offered to lend ine one 
 hundred pounds, without either note of hand or interest; 
 and, being a little from each of them, they took it as God 
 prospered me, till all was cleared. But poor men's dif- 
 ficulties, like women's work, are never done, for soon after < 
 fifty pounds more was called in, besides many little debts 
 which were contracted while the former sums were paying 
 off; so that I was encompassed about with a whole crowd 
 of creditors; and who can expect less who make them- 
 selves debtors to all ? A gentleman of the city, who had a 
 little house at Peckham, asked me to go on a week day 
 evening to preach in that neighborhood, and to take a sup- 
 per and bed at his house, which I agreed to; and, being 
 without either purse or scrip, gold or silver, when I set off, 
 1 called on my invaluable and never-failing friend Mr. Ba- 
 ker, of Oxford street, and asked him if there was any of the 
 chapel money in his hands? To my great comfort he told 
 me, No ; so I borrowed a few shillings and set off. But, 
 20 
 
150 THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 that I might give vent to my grief, and bemoan my hard 
 fate in secret, I called a coach, and got in, the old man and 
 the devil both following me ; so we went all three together, 
 like the adulterous woman and her accusers ; and to be 
 sure I had not one six-penny or shilling debt in all the world 
 but what the devil set before me, together with various 
 prisons for poor debtors ; and aggravated rny misery by set- 
 ting before me the power of God to help me if he would, 
 the wealth that he gave to many wicked persons, and his 
 hard dealings with those that loved him. I listened to mine 
 enemy till I was in such a frame as Elisha was, when the 
 forty children followed him, crying, Go up, thou bald head. 
 But at. length recollecting myself, I bnntered the devil. I 
 said, Satan, hast thou got any cash by thee? if thou hast, 
 bring it; I do not care where you get it, bring it if you 
 have any, I will receive it, and thank God for it; but, if thou 
 art as poor as myself, -let my debts alone. The devil left 
 me at this. Resist the dtvil, says God, and he will Jlee 
 from you; and so he did, and my soul was delivered as a 
 roe from the hand of the hunter, or as a bird from the hand 
 of the fowler. When I came to the end of St George's 
 Fields, I got out and walked the rest of the way, and that 
 night had a glorious time in the Lord's work ; Satan had 
 for a season left me, and I returned in the power of the 
 Spirit. I spent a comfortable evening with my friends, and 
 had a most uncommon time in prayer by myself at going to 
 bed, and a most sweet frame of meekness, gratitude, and 
 godly sorrow, given me when in bed ; and in the morning I 
 arose sweetly becalmed, and much resigned to the will of 
 God. However, in my road home, the old serpent set at 
 me again ; but, having found faith strong in exercise over 
 night, he could not make those inroads on my soul as he had 
 done the day before. I called on my dear friends Mr. and 
 
THE BANK OF FAITH. 151 
 
 Mrs. Baker, and tcld them that I should shortly have a lift- 
 up, as I usually called it ; and that I had got it already in 
 fa th, and should shortly have it in hand. These poor souls 
 and I moved in concert, like the cherubim and his wheels, 
 for when I was down they were down, when I was exalted 
 so were they. On the next Sunday morning came a gentle- 
 man of the city into the vestry to me, with a bank note in 
 his hand, and gave it to me, saying, I am desired to give you 
 that. I asked who it came from; he replied, "You do not 
 know the person ; you never spoke to him but once ; but he 
 told me that it was strong upon his mind that you was in 
 want, and he put it into his pocket for you last Thursday, 
 and it had burnt in it ever since, but he knew not how to 
 convey it to you.'' That same Thursday was the day in 
 which Satan beset me so violently ; and while Satan was 
 reproaching me with my debts, God's good Spirit was 
 preaching to that gentleman to lessen them. The same 
 person continues in communion with me to this day. Upon 
 this a gentleman, to whom God had made me useful, gen- 
 erously offered to lend me eighty pounds to answer my pre- 
 sent demands, and to take it of me as I could pay it : this 
 I gladly accepted, and then answered the present demand of 
 those gentlemen who at times stood in need of their money. 
 At this time a gentleman from Bristol came frequently to 
 hear me, and who invited me to that place, to which I con- 
 sented, and was to have a letter previous to the time of my 
 going thither. After some time waiting, the letter came, 
 and when it came my pocket was empty ; but at that junc- 
 ture a letter came from a lady in the country, with a twenty- 
 pound note in it ; with part of this I took my journey to 
 Bristol, as Joseph and Mary took theirs to Egypt with the 
 wise men's gold presented to Christ in the stable. Soon 
 after my return, I one night, in my discourse in the city, 
 
152 THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 I 
 
 opened my mind freely and scripturally upon the^use and 
 end of the law of God, describing who were under it and 
 who not. A great man, next to a great woman, happened 
 to be there, who had light enough to see my darkness; and 
 from that time sounded the alarm, and preached up the law, 
 till he was ten times blinder than I was; this alarm spread, 
 and most pulpits rang with warnings against antinomianism ; 
 this terrified the people, and many fled from me, some 
 halted, and some few abode. However, the continual 
 warnings on every hind soon reduced a crowded audience 
 to a very small number, and the longer I preached the fewer 
 I had, till J was sure the small number could not defray the 
 expenses attending the lecture ; and now was the time for 
 my old enemy to work. He condemned my doctrine, which 
 I did not wonder at, as an accuser has nothing to work 
 upon but sin, nor any thing to work by but a broken law ; 
 for where there is no law there is no transgression, and 
 where there is no transgression there can be no accusation. 
 He harassed me with the great number of divines all 
 against me, with my debts also, with the visible disappro- 
 bation of God by the almost general absence of the whole 
 congregation ; and, last of all, that my own poor pocket 
 must defray the expenses of the place, and that money was 
 the property of others, and it is the wicked that borrow and 
 pay not again. That Tuesday was a day of darkness and 
 gloominess to me ; however, I replied, that God was not 
 tied to that congregation, he could discharge the debts I 
 should contract by keeping open that place many other 
 ways, and therefore I determined to continue there till there 
 were but ten to hear. That night the number was much 
 greater than the time before ;' and the same night I received 
 a letter with these words : " Sir, I have the honor of being 
 a steward to your Master, and am at times intrusted with a 
 
THE BANK OF FAITH. 153 
 
 trifle for the benefit of his servants, and I know of none 
 more worthy than yourself." And that was all, except a 
 ten-pound note, which bore me through that quarter ; and 
 from that night we increased, till the house was filled with 
 guests. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within 
 me bless Ms holy name. 
 
 The people had now an opportunity of trying both Sinai 
 and Zion ; many ran to and fro, and knowledge was in- 
 creased. Some found it as I had done, the more law the 
 more bondage, and the more gospel the more love. It 
 served also to separate between servants and sons : some 
 cleaved to the citizens of Jerusalem that now is, and is in 
 bondage, which Christ calls citizens of this country, who 
 feed with husks; and some cleaved to the citizens of Zion, 
 on which mountain the feast of fat things is promised, and 
 where God promises to destroy the face of the covering 
 cast over all nations, and to swallow up death in victory. 
 Never, I think, had Moses more disciples than at that time; 
 both pulpit and press proclaimed little else but the law ; but, 
 as those who preached it knew not what they said, so these 
 that published it knew not what they wrote, for not one that 
 I read had ever experienced the application of it ; and I 
 knew that I was at a point in this, namely, that I retained 
 the whole morality of the law, by enforcing holiness by the 
 Spirit of God. The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in 
 us by the faith of Christ, and love to God and the brother- 
 hood, by the love of God shed abroad in the heart; and all 
 beside these is death. 
 
 But now the eighty pounds, kindly lent me as before re- 
 lated, began to hang heavy upon my mind, and I labored 
 long to scrape together some part of it; and having got 
 together upwards of thirty pounds, I was earnestly desired 
 to have the chapel white-washed, and to buy six or eight 
 chandeliers to illuminate the gallery. These, with the 
 
154 THE BANK OP FAITH. 
 
 white-washing, cost me near forty pounds. At this I fretted, 
 and thought that both friends and foes labored to keep the 
 borrower a perpetual servant to the lender. I envied every 
 soul that was out of debt, however poor, Satan delivered so 
 many harangues from this text, Owe no man any thing, but 
 to love one another. After many long struggles I foresaw, 
 that by my books and the chapel's increase, I should shortly 
 be able to pay off forty pounds, and the time drew near, and 
 everything bid fair; but, alas! an unforeseen event took 
 place, which frustrated this design : a building next the 
 chnpel took fire, and burnt from street to street. Some of 
 the roof of my chapel was a little burnt, and the spectators 
 get poles and pushed a stack of chimneys on the building, 
 which fell through and injured the gallery. This disaster 
 cost me upwards of forty pounds more, which drove me to 
 my wits' end. I was like a wild bull in a net, entangled 
 every way ; and was determined to go and vent my grief to 
 the gentleman, and make an apology and beg his patience 
 till I could pay him. I went ; but God had been before 
 me; for, before I could find an opportunity to speak, he 
 looked up at me and said, " I shall never take that money 
 again of you which you had of me, nor did I ever intend 
 it." I knew not where to hide my head ; I was ashamed 
 of my impatience, distrust, rebellion, and murmuring, and 
 loathed myself for it; and admired the wisdom and good- 
 ness of my God to so unstable and unbelieving a wretch. 
 But this frame lasted not long; I was soon at it ag:iin ; and 
 was not God long-suffering, he would never bear with such 
 an one as I am. 
 
 For, being informed that the house I then dwelt in was 
 to be sold, and being desired by my landlord to admit any 
 person into it that came, unsettled my mind exceedingly, 
 interrupted me in my studies and in my writing, and made 
 me as peevish and as fretful as one chained to a galley. 
 
THE BANK OF FAITH. 155 
 
 However, sold it must be, and sold it was : and I being a 
 tenant at will, must prepare my stuff for removing. Some 
 of my friends attended the sale on my behalf, but the price 
 ran too high. As it was but a leasehold, a person in the 
 neighborhood, a possessor of much money and a professor 
 of religion, (who was resolved to have it,) bought it for 
 himself and family. I had expended a few pounds in 
 paving the walk to the door and the yard behind the house, 
 which the auctioneer said should be paid to me, but that 
 pay never came. 
 
 Some few days were spent in looking after a house, and 
 at length one presented itself, which was empty, and had 
 stood empty for some time ; the rent was double to that 
 which I was leaving, that being twenty pounds per annum, 
 this forty. Nevertheless I took it, longing to be settled 
 somewhere. I got the keys, and immediately began to 
 move, though it was six or seven weeks before the time ex- 
 pired of my other house, for the which I must pay rent, 
 having entered upon that quarter. When I had removed 
 all my goods I lent the gentleman who had bought the 
 premises the keys of the house, that he might get it in order 
 for his own reception, for which he was much pleased, and 
 kindly thanked me ; but he soon requited me for my kind- 
 ness, by sending me an attorney's letter for taking up a lit- 
 tle favorite tree which I had planted. Satan, upon this, 
 tempted me to take out my knife and cut off another of my 
 own phnting close by the ground. But vengeance belong- 
 eth to God, and he will repay : and so I found it, for in less 
 than nine months my successor and his wife were both in 
 their graves, and the house sold again. They removed me, 
 and God removed them. But time calls me elsewhere. 
 Beloved, farewell. 
 
 Ever thine, 
 
 W. H. S. S. 
 
LETTER III. 
 
 TO THE SPARROW ALONE. 
 
 Dear Friend : 
 
 I CONCLUDED my last with my old habitation, and shall 
 begin this new epistle with my new house. My new habi- 
 tation being so much larger than the other, my little furni- 
 ture was almost lost in it : That which is crooked cannot be 
 made straight, and that lohich is wanting cannot be number- 
 ed. Eccl. i. 15. However, the unerring and never-failing 
 providence of God, which has, in uniformity with his word 
 of promise, incessantly followed me and presided over me 
 all my days, most conspicuously appeared at this time also. 
 A lady in the country sent me in a letter a forty -pound bank 
 note. A gentleman in the city gave me a handsome new 
 bureau and two mahogany elbow chairs. Another gentleman 
 sent me anew handsome chamber-chair with stuffed back and 
 sides, and a handsome cover and cushion. While another, 
 who came to see my new habitation, said, " My friend, I 
 think you want a carpet for this large room," and left me a 
 ten-pound note to .purchase one. And here I must set up 
 mine Ebenezer, and say, with a pious prophet of old, Hith- 
 erto hast the Lord helped us. 
 
 But this stream of prosperity must not continue. I must 
 be tried, I must learn my doctrine in the furnace of afflic- 
 tion, and fetch my sermons from God's powerful application 
 and my own soul's experience ; that I may be at a point and 
 speak with authority, and that my hearers may se God's 
 fatherly goodness and severity follow me and work in me, 
 as well as hear an account of it from me. Elijah's sons 
 must see the spirit of Elijah rest upon Elisha, before they 
 
THE BANK OF FAITH. 157 
 
 can receive him and revere him as his successor. I fell 
 sick, and lay for some time ; and for three or four years, 
 one after another, I had much sickness in my family, and 
 my doctor's bills of course came heavy. Besides one young 
 child at wet-nurse, I had five more at school, and three, one 
 after another, lately dead. I had my eldest daughter at 
 a school at Greenwich, and her governess gained the ap- 
 plause of many persons for her liberality to me ; who averred 
 that she educated my child for nothing, though I paid her 
 sixteen guineas per annum for her all the time she was there, 
 with one guinea earnest at her going, which was two guin- 
 eas per annum more than she had for one half of her schol- 
 ars. A little boy, which I had at wet-nurse at Wai worth, 
 was much desired by a gentlewoman in that neighborhood, 
 as soon as it was proper to wean him ; which desire I grant- 
 ed, and she dry-nursed him, and had him for three or four 
 years. She also gained the esteem of many of my friends 
 for keeping one of my children gratis, because of my large 
 family : but God knows that I paid her after the rate of 
 twenty pounds per annum for every day she kept him. Thus 
 some made the miraculous providence of God to favor me 
 where it never appeared, while others denied the whole of 
 it, and some burnt the relation of it where it really did. / 
 am a wonder unto many, but thou art my strong refuge, 
 Psalm Ixxi. 7. 
 
 About this time I called upon my dear and unwearied 
 friends, Mr. and Mrs. Baker, of Oxford street, who, from 
 the time God first made me manifest in their consciences to 
 the present moment, never failed me, forsook me, nor turn- 
 ed their backs on me. For while the chapel was build- 
 ing, when money was continually demanded, if there was 
 one shilling in the house I was sure to have it. God never 
 suffered their souls to get one morsel of the bread of life bat 
 
158 THE BANK OP FAITH 
 
 under me; and it is seldom that one quarter has rolled over 
 my head, for these sixteen years, but what I have stood in 
 need of some assistance from them : thus God tied us to- 
 gether. As they had no* children of their own, God kept 
 them caring and travailing many years for me ; for when- 
 ever I was, like Issachar, couching down between two bur- 
 dens, my constant haunt was there for condolence, sympa- 
 thy, and succor; yea, when sorrow has quite driven sleep 
 from rny eyes, I have often called them up at three or four 
 o'clock in the morning, either to bear a part of my burdens, 
 or to unite with me in prayer to God that he would. These 
 friends, at that time, were my largest or principal creditors; 
 but I knew I was safe enough in their hands, and that they 
 would suffer themselves to starve in a ditch before they 
 would let rne die in a jail. 
 
 At the same time God sorely tried them, by various losses 
 in business, by bankruptcies and bad debts continually ; 
 and, to add a little more fire to the furnace, a very near re- 
 lation in the flesh fell into insanity, who has been confined 
 in a private mad-house at their expense for many years, and 
 is still on their hands, as I and my concerns were many 
 years on their backs; but still God supported them, meek- 
 ened them, comforted them, and kept their souls alive in 
 their trouble. Many efforts have been made, both by men 
 and devils, to disunite us, but all in vain ; for all my predic- 
 tions to them God always confirmed, and their confidence 
 in my being his servant was never once shaken. These 
 things bound us together for life and for eternity ; and we 
 have agreed, if God approve, not to be divided in death ; 
 for some years ago, they, myself, and my friend Chapman 
 at Petersham, subscribed and purchased a spot of ground in 
 that neighborhood, and erected a substantial tomb, under 
 Mr. Chapman's direction ; where we hope, if God permit, 
 
THE BANK OP FAITH. 159 
 
 to rest together in the dust, till the archangel's trump shall 
 silence that of the gospel, and proclaim an eternal jubilee 
 to the covenant seed of the Son of God. But I must get 
 me back again to another fight of afflictions, for there is no 
 living without them. 
 
 A large sum of money was now demanded of one of my 
 creditors, and it was demanded in haste, being wanted. At 
 this time my pocket had been well drained for furniture, 
 and many more things were still wanting; however, the sum 
 must be had, and it was one hundred and sixty pounds ! 
 My heart sunk at the sound. " James," says I, " what 
 shall I do ? " " Do," says he, " you shall pay it ; the wo- 
 man that has called it in does not want it, she receives her 
 interest, and is in no danger of losing the principal ; the 
 devil has stirred her up on purpose to plague you." But I 
 replied, " James, where shall I get one hundred pounds?" 
 " Why," says he, " you shall have it of James Baker." 
 " Why," said I, " have you an hundred to spare ? " " Yes," 
 said he, "one hundred more; it lies by itself; it cost me 
 eighty pounds in, and it is a good time to sell out." And 
 he sold it out for one hundred and one pounds. The rest 
 we made up, and I carried it to the person who demanded 
 it : and she purchased two hundred pounds stock, which 
 cost her two hundred and two pounds. Thus my dear friend 
 cleared twenty-one pounds by serving me, and she lost as 
 much by distressing me. 
 
 Now Satan sat another snare for my feet, and I went very 
 reluctantly into it; but unremitted importunity dragged me 
 like an ox to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of 
 the stocks. The snare was this : A person had spoke to 
 another to lend a friend of theirs in debt one hundred and 
 fifty pounds, which sum that person would lend if I would 
 pass my word for half of it ; this I did, and thus a fool's lips 
 
160 THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 are the, snare of his soul. This office of suretyship cost me 
 many a groan, for we lost every farthing of it ; and, to help 
 forward my calamity, another person, that came lately out 
 of the country, and who was set up in business in town, and 
 had newly scraped a little acquaintance with me, called on 
 me to borrow a few guineas, which were to be paid the next 
 week without fail ; but this friend vanished out of my sight 
 that very day, and I saw him no more : A poor man that 
 oppresscth the poor, is a sweeping rain that leavcth no food. 
 Prov. xxviii. 3. And, as for the other person for whom I 
 and my friend became surety, he soon became bankrupt, or 
 broke to pieces. But such was the invariable providence 
 of my God, that the devil himself could never make a bank- 
 rupt of me : my invariable Banker, who stood by me in six 
 troubles, did not fail me in the seventh ; for an elderly lady 
 in town, who for some time sat under my ministry, fell sick : 
 she requested my attendance during her illness, and after her 
 departure a gentleman called and paid me ten pounds, which 
 she left me by will ; and soon after that a lady in the coun- 
 try sent me forty pounds. A most faithful and affectionate 
 friend in the city, who, times without number, has minis- 
 tered to my necessities, ordered me to go to a cabinet-ma- 
 ker and bespeak a chest of drawers for my clothes, a writing 
 desk, &,c., and sent me home with forty guineas in my 
 pocket. Thus a succession of crosses was followed with 
 perpetual blessings ; for, as sure as adversity led the van, so 
 sure prosperity brought up the rear : The heart knoiocth its 
 own bitter ness y and a stranger intermeddleth not with his 
 joy. Never, no never, did the Holy Spirit wholly withhold 
 his prevalent intercession from me in times of trouble, nor 
 did my God ever turn a deaf ear to my prayer, or fail to 
 deliver me out of that trouble : though he has at times suf- 
 fered me to labor long under them ; Many are the afflictions 
 
THE BANK OF FAITH, 161 
 
 of the righteous, but the Lord deliver eth him out of them all. 
 But now for another cross. 
 
 God takes away another of my poor children ; it died at 
 my friend Chapman's, at Petersham, and was buried in the 
 same ground where we since have erected our tomb. Upon 
 the back of this disaster I fell sick, and lay some time ; and 
 soon after my little daughter was brought home from school 
 with a violent fever, which continued on her many months : 
 but after my faith and patience had been a little tried, God 
 raised her up again. About this time I had been digging a 
 cellar and building a little room over it; had built an oven 
 also, and had been setting up a copper and purchasing brew- 
 ing vessels ; all of which, together with the building, had not 
 cost me less than two hundred pounds. Some time after a fe- 
 ver broke out in the school where my sons were, and three of 
 them came home, one of whom was ill, and had a fit of sick- 
 ness ; so that in a short time I had sixty or seventy pounds 
 to pay to different gentlemen of the faculty, for attendance on 
 me and them. Add to this, another fifty pounds of borrowed 
 money was called in ; not for want of it, but from private 
 pique : this we made shift to get together and informed the 
 person where to call for it ; but it lay a long time before it 
 was fetched away. . The grief was not from fear of losing 
 it, but at my being able to procure it : By evil report and 
 good report, as deceivers and yet true. But my God now 
 appeared again : a friend in the city gave me thirty pounds, 
 another soon after sent me twenty pounds ; and two more 
 gave me forty pounds; and an elderly gentleman, who had for 
 some time attended my ministry and who had been a member 
 of a church in the city for many years ; but I have reason to 
 believe that it pleased God to revive the work on his soul 
 under me, for he at times called on me and acknowledged as 
 much, and often lamented that this world had for along time 
 21 
 
162 THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 obscured the good work on him. Soon after this he left this 
 world, leaving me fifty pounds by will, and. several more lega- 
 cies, as I have been informed, to other indigent persons. 
 In the day of prosperity be joyful, in the day of adversity 
 consider ; God has set the one against the other. 
 
 Dearly beloved, grace, mercy, and peace, be with thee ; 
 so prays 
 
 Thine in covenant love, 
 
 W. H. S. S. 
 
LETTER IV. 
 
 TO THE SPARROW ALONE. 
 
 Dear Friend, in eternal Friendship : 
 
 I CONCLUDED my last with the sound of abundance of 
 rain ; the little hill had been watered with a shower of bles- 
 sings ; Ezek. xxxiv. 26 ; and my soul with abundance of 
 peace ; and now, in pursuit of the narrative, you must know 
 what effect this had on the debt books of my creditors. 
 Why, by the good hand of my God upon me, I had now 
 reduced the debt of my chapel down to little more than 
 three hundred pounds ; my friend Baker was almost my only 
 creditor, and I had nothing to fear from him. I considered 
 myself now as having the fore horse by the head, as they 
 say who speak in proverbs. I could now compare creditor 
 and debtor together, and see a balance in my own favor ; 
 so that I had no fears about me that any one friend would 
 lose any thing by me, should it please God to remove me. 
 I had also given forty pounds premium at the binding of 
 one of my sons, and twenty pounds more to a mantua-maker 
 with my elder daughter ; and had also curtailed some of my 
 unnecessary expenses I mean with respect to preaching 
 for other people. I had for some years been Jack at every 
 body's call ; being invited to preach collection sermons 
 continually : and wherever I went this was sure to be the 
 case : sometimes I was to collect for the minister, sometimes 
 to rub off the debt of the buildings, sometimes for the poor, 
 but always for something or for somebody, and I was gen- 
 erally desired to give it out at my own chapels, as their 
 hopes were more in the pockets of my followers than in 
 
164 THE BANK OP FAITH. 
 
 their own. A meeting which had not long been erected 
 within a few miles of Uxbridge, in Middlesex, had a debt 
 upon it which the people wished to clear off, and therefore 
 proposed to have two sermons preached on a certain day 
 annually, and a collection at each sermon, as the best 
 method of extricating the chapel out of debt ; and of course 
 I was once invited thither upon this business. I travelled 
 at my own expense, and was entertained by a friend of my 
 own at Uxbridge : I preached in the forenoon, and a gen- 
 tleman from London was to preach in the afternoon ; and 
 if I was rightly informed, my collection was fourteen 
 pounds ; what the gentleman got I know not, as I went off 
 as soon as I had finished my discourse. The year following 
 a minister of yearly fame was invited, who promised either 
 to go himself or to send his curate, upon these conditions ; 
 namely, that they would promise him " never to suffer that 
 fellow Huntington to preach among them any more ; " 
 which request the principal person of the meeting submis- 
 sively listened to, and promised to admit me there no more: 
 Who can stand before envy? Upon these conditions the 
 good man promised either to go or to send ; but at the same 
 time observed, that the travelling expenses must be borne; 
 which was making a sure bargain, and in which the vicar 
 displayed more wisdom than I did ; and this they agreed to 
 also, knowing, as every man must, that the laborer is worthy 
 of his hire. The time came round for another anniversary, 
 and the curate went and preached, and enforced the collec- 
 tion : and when the preacher's entertainment, travelling 
 expenses, &c., were defrayed, there remained two pence 
 towards the debt of the chapel. Neither their promise nor 
 their conscience would ever suffer them again to invite me : 
 and as for the curate, they found him (in money matters) 
 to be an unprofitable servant, and therefore they took coun- 
 
THE BANK OP FAITH. 165 
 
 sel, and laid the anniversary aside from that day forward ; 
 which was a better work in the sight of God than that of 
 
 O 
 
 bringing it into use. 
 
 I was formerly often invited to preach at a meeting in 
 Little St. Helens, where I preached at seven o'clock on a 
 Lord's day morning. That lecture had been long estab- 
 lished for the benefit of servants, who by reason of their 
 domestic employ, could not attend on the service of God at 
 the usual times of public worship. The persons who in- 
 vited me, informed me that most of the supporters of that 
 lecture were dead, and that whenever they had a collection 
 sermon for it they seldom got more than twenty or thirty 
 shillings. Hearing'these things I therefore promised to go, 
 and was well attended. Not long after, I was invited again, 
 and the place was so crowded that great numbers could not 
 get in ; and as I was informed, I collected ten pounds. I 
 inquired at last, as they came frequently to ask me to 
 preach, who the ministers were that preached the lectures, 
 and they told me their names, but I knew none of them ; 
 and farther, that they had a guinea a time for preaching, and 
 that they were board-ministers, or ministers belonging to 
 the board. But I was not a board-minister, therefore the 
 lecture had my labor gratis : my office was to preach the 
 guineas together, while that of the board-ministers was to 
 preach them away. I thought of a story that I once heardr 
 namely, of a man putting potatoes into the fire to roast, 
 while a monkey sitting before it observed him : the mon- 
 key wanted the potatoes, but fearing to burn his own pawj 
 took the fore foot of the cat to rake it out of the fire, 
 whilst he ate it himself. Whoever was the monkey, I was 
 the cat. At length I got sick of this; nevertheless they 
 came again, and entreated me to come and give them another 
 sermon. I replied, " There is to be a collection, I suppose." 
 22 
 
166 THE BANK OF 'FAITH. 
 
 They answered, "O yes, sir." I replied, "I have no 
 doubt of it, but depend upon it I will be your cat's paw no 
 longer ; " and I saw them no more. But soon after I heard 
 the lecture was dropped, though I think it might have been 
 kept up to this day, if the board-men had labored on as 
 reasonable terms as I did. Some years I toiled up and 
 down in this way, preaching collections for one minister or 
 other. Every where, and in all things, I am instructed, 
 says Paul ; and so am I : for the vicar's bargain for his 
 curate, and the board-men leaving off when money failed, 
 brought me a determination not to labor for nothing; es- 
 pecially, having, been , informed that some called ministers 
 have been sitting at home while I have been preaching for 
 them, who have ridiculed me after I had begged money ; 
 and well they might, for who but a fool, when God has used 
 a shepherd to collect a flock together, would lead that 
 flock from post to pillar, on purpose to shear them, and 
 give the wool to men whom I know not whence they be? 
 Bless my God, these board-men have taught me better 
 things ; I keep my flock at home, and shear them for my 
 own profit ; and sure none can have so much right to the 
 wool as those who labor day and night to feed the sheep; 
 and I have vanity enough to think that they had rather the 
 profits of the fleece fell to my share than to any other. 
 Many journeys of one hundred, two hundred, or three 
 hundred miles, which have cost ten, twenty, or thirty pounds 
 a journey, have I travelled, and at the same time paid one 
 pound five shillings per week for a supply at home in my ab- 
 sence ; but I confine my labors now, not to every place where I 
 am invited, but where I am well known, and where there are 
 poor hungry Souls to feed : to these my mouth is open, and 
 to me their heart is. God has not sons of peace in every 
 house. But I must now return from this digression, seeing 
 
THE BANK OP FAITH. 167 
 
 it is high time that some other burden be laid on my shoul- 
 ders, which soon came to pass ; but more of this at some 
 future opportunity. Excuse the length of the epistle ; the 
 largeness of its bulk was occasioned by the opportunity I 
 had of conveying it, for two shillings worth of postage 
 could not have produced half this quantity of tidings. I 
 had now and then a pleasing fit of laughter while writing 
 it, and thou wilt feel something besides a spring of tears 
 in reading it ; so I conclude, and so you will confess. 
 Beloved, adieu. 
 
 w. ft. s. s. 
 
LETTER V. 
 
 TO THE SPARROW ALONE. 
 
 Dear Fiiend : 
 
 AT the conclusion of my last, I intimated that another 
 load was much wanting : and now a council was held, to 
 consult about laying a few more sacks upon the mill : this 
 second addition, or second edition of burdens with addi- 
 tions, is what I am going next to relate ; the reading of 
 which will make you feel for me, as the weight of it made 
 me feel for myself. 
 
 The congregation began greatly to increase, and the heat 
 of the place in times of service began to be almost unbear- 
 able ; it was of course thought necessary to enlarge the 
 chapel. Now there was a spare bit of ground, which lay 
 about the middle of the chapel against the east wall, the 
 dimensions of which were thirty feet by twenty-five, and 
 this spare morsel of ground had nothing on it but a shed : 
 this ground we endeavored to get, and intended to break 
 through on that side the chapel, and so to throw the chapel 
 into a triangular form, and to move the pulpit to the centre 
 of the gallery on the west side, that so it might face the 
 new-intended erection. The gentleman who held this 
 ground by lease was applied to; and he, in company with a 
 builder, met with me and a few friends of mine, and inti- 
 mated that he was willing to accommodate us; of course 
 we wished to know his terms, or what he expected for 
 ground-rent, and he told us his price was one hundred 
 guineas per annum : The heaven, even the heavens, are the 
 Lord's ; but the earth hath he given to the children of men. 
 
THE BANK OF FAITH. 169 
 
 Psalm cxv. 16. And so I found it, and they are determined 
 to make the most of it. I have been informed, but I can- 
 not avouch it, that all the ground on which that oblong 
 pile of buildings stands within the compass of the four 
 streets, of which my chapel is a part, pays no more to his 
 Grace, the Duke of Portland, than fourteen pounds a year ; 
 but, if it was all to be let in the same proportion as was 
 demanded of me it could not (I think) bring in less than 
 ten thousand pounds per annum. But, as Canaan was to 
 be a servant of servants, so I must have been a tenant of 
 tenants. Finding nothing could be done with the earth- 
 holders, I turned my eyes another way, and determined to 
 build my stories in the heaven, (Amos ix. 6,) where I should 
 find more room and less rent : and to this my friends 
 agreed ; namely, to raise the chapel one story higher, and 
 to carry a flight of galleries all round it. The next thing 
 was to find out a man to execute this design, and one was 
 soon pitched upon as capable of the undertaking. But 
 what I wanted to get at most, was whereabouts the expense 
 would be : For the destruction of the poor is their poverty. 
 Besides, my shoulders having been kept raw for seven or 
 eight years together, and it was but lately that they had 
 begun to heal, and remaining exceeding sore and tender, I 
 was more afraid of another burden than I was of the heat 
 of the day, lest it should terminate in an abscess, and I 
 should be -left to the accusations of the devil as an incura- 
 ble. But, when the expense was named, it did not appear 
 so alarming; he told me he thought it would amount to 
 four hundred pounds; this was a shoeing-horn, only to draw 
 me on. But, as the person often sat under me as a hearer, 
 I thought it was not likely that one who could face the rays 
 of light, and stand the force of truth, would, or could, 
 willingly and wilfully deceive a servant of Christ : But 
 
170 THE BANK OP FAITH. 
 
 their inward thought and heart is deep; (Psalm Ixiv. 6:) 
 sharper than a thorn hedge. Mic. vii. 4. 
 
 When wisdom wakes 
 
 Suspicion sleeps at wisdom's gate, 
 
 And up to simplicity resigns her charge : 
 
 Where Goodness thinks no ill where no ill seems. 
 
 MILTON. 
 
 We must not measure every body's corn by our own bushel; 
 those who can make the ephah small and shekel great, will 
 abide by their own standard, till they have filled up the 
 measure of the fathers. 
 
 However, we began and went on with the work. Hith- 
 *erto the tub had stood upon its own bottom ; or, in other 
 words, I had not only the care of the church, the care of a 
 large family, and for a long time the principal care of the 
 poor, till they made me poorer than themselves ; but I had, 
 also, the whole burden of chapel debt, and ten thousand 
 cares how to get that burden off. Many, perceiving that it 
 was with the greatest reluctance that I bowed my shoulders 
 the second time, advised me to try the liberality of my 
 friends, and to see if they would not put their shoulders to 
 the work. To this I readily agreed : but we determined to 
 move only in the circle of our own acquaintance, or to call 
 upon such, and only such, as attended my ministry, leaving 
 other ministers to enjoy their own fleece ; and by this rule 
 we abode : into any other little hill of Zion, into the way 
 of the Gentiles, or into any of the cities of the Samaritans, 
 we entered not. To begging, therefore, we went ; and as 
 the work of the chapel went on, so I saw more and more 
 the necessity of pursuing this calling : for I shortly per- 
 ceived that I was in the hands of a man who could have 
 no feeling for my shoulders, nor any more mercy upon my 
 pocket than an angry God will have upon a hypocrite in 
 
THE BANK OF FAITH. 171 
 
 Zion ; and, to the honor of God and the credit of his peo- 
 ple be it spoken, there was not one we visited that frowned 
 upon us, or that showed an angry countenance, or that sent 
 us empty away. They were as generous to me with their 
 pocket as I am to them with a springing cruse in the pulpit, 
 and we found begging to be a delightful employ. Besides, 
 God kept us so happy in visiting the brethren, that we sowed 
 many spiritual things while we reaped carnal ; so that they 
 were as glad to see us as we were to rob them ; and after a 
 few of these trading tours we came to a conclusion of the 
 business ; and when we sat down under the hedge, and had 
 put the money into our hats, and had counted it up, we 
 found it to amount to the total sum of seven hundred 
 pounds : so mightily grew the word of God and prevailed, 
 not only over books of curious arts, but over the root of all 
 evil. But all this wonderful and unexpected liberality was 
 far from being sufficient to enable me to go upright : I must 
 still bow my shoulders to bear, and become a servant to 
 tribute. Gen. xlix. 15. For, when the work was finished, 
 and the bills brought in, the four hundred was swelled to 
 that degree that it amounted to one thousand two hundred 
 and thirty pounds ! I believe it to be the best job, and the 
 worst, that ever he took in hand. I cannot forget it, nor 
 do I believe that ever he will. By these exorbitant charges 
 my debts were greatly increased : but the reason he as- 
 signed for it was, that I had given the men so much victuals 
 and drink that they wasted much of his time in consuming 
 it ; and, though he and his sons shared in my liberality, yet 
 he made me redeem the time they lost, because my bounty 
 was evil : nevertheless, I would sooner bear the burden of 
 a thousand such bills, than the weight of such a builder's 
 conscience. The remains of my old debt were upwards of 
 three hundred pounds ; this new addition was five hundred 
 
172 
 
 THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 and thirty : and these, together with small debts contracted 
 while this work was doing (besides my liberality to the men,) 
 made the weight of my future burden amount to about nine 
 hundred pounds. With this load I began my second stage; 
 but before I had travelled far an additional weight was 
 added. I had got together one hundred pounds, and I had 
 it in my pocket, intending in a day or two to pay it away. 
 A friend of .mine (falsely so called) knew this, and on the 
 Lord's day morning came into the vestry to me, and in- 
 formed me that a person whom I respected was going to be 
 arrested for the small sum of sixty pounds, and pressed me 
 hard to lend, him the money I then had in my pocket. I 
 told him I was altogether a stranger to the gentleman's 
 circumstances : " But," says he, " I am not, and had I a 
 thousand pounds I would lend it him." I replied, " I have 
 no objection. to lend it to you." Upon this a friend in the 
 vestry interfered, and took him to task for dragging the 
 money from me. Nevertheless, he followed me up : but I 
 still replied, " I am willing to lend it to you." And at last 
 he replied, " Well, do then." So I gave it him. In the 
 evening he came into the vestry to me, with such a counte- 
 nance as I shall never forget, and put a scrap of paper 
 doubled up down upon the table, and departed : which, 
 when I examined, I found to be the gentleman's note, not 
 his own. In a few days after the gentleman failed in busi- 
 ness, and went to prison, and then the whole matter came 
 to light. The person who was in danger of losing the sixty 
 pounds, was brother-in-law to him who squeezed the money 
 from me: so that the plan was well laid, and well executed. 
 He that pressed me to lend the money was worth some 
 thousands himself, and so was he that got in his sixty pound 
 debt, and I had one hundred pounds more added to the 
 other nine, which set me down within twenty or thirty 
 
THE BANK OF FAIT 
 
 pounds of the same sum with which I started at first. The 
 men of this world arc in their generation wisei^than the. **^, 
 children of light ; and yet one child of light is wiser than 
 all the men of this generation. 
 
 Finding this recruiting of the burden to sit very heavy, 
 except at times when much favored with the presence of 
 God, and it being such a matter for the old accuser to work 
 upon in every time of trouble, I determined to take an 
 account of my books, I mean my own publications; and 
 when this was done, and the value of the stock cast up, I 
 found I had eight hundred pounds worth of books, and the 
 stationer and printer both clear. I resolved with myself to 
 part with them, and with my copy-right : and here I had 
 various struggles between feeling for self, and feeling for 
 others ; I thought, on the one hand, that rny books might 
 be of some service to the large family I might leave behind, 
 never expecting to leave them any thing else ; and, on the 
 other hand, being continually in debt was a sore burden, 
 and the fears of dying so would not suffer me at times to 
 sleep. I therefore resolved to part with them ; but then 
 who to apply to was the next thing to be considered ; and I , 
 knew that whoever bought them had need of some money, 
 as some of them would lie long on their hands, which I 
 also considered ; and afterwards I fixed the price in my 
 own mind, which was four hundred pounds, no more nor 
 less ; and then I mentioned it to a gentleman of the city, 
 who agreed to take them, and who paid me the money ; and 
 this reduced my debt to somewhat less than six hundred 
 pounds. Soon after this, the gentleman who failed in bus- 
 iness above mentioned, who had my hundred pounds, sent 
 me fifty pounds of it back again, which was all he could 
 ever pay, and this was more than I ever expected. A kind 
 friend of mine, at the other end of the town, about this 
 
174 THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 time gave me twenty pounds, and another sent me ten 
 pounds ; and now I was enabled to diminish my debt to the 
 sum of five hundred pounds ; and there it remained for a 
 long time, without either addition or diminution. In the 
 mean time I continually entreated the Lord to let his good- 
 ness pass before me, and to enable his own servant to 
 answer all just demands that might be made upon me ; and, 
 bless his Majesty, in his own time he did, as will appear in 
 my next. 
 
 Farewell, mercy and peace be with thee : so prays 
 Ever thine in the Lord, 
 
 W. H. S. S. 
 
LETTER VI. 
 
 TO THE SPARROW ALONE. 
 Dear Fiiend in the beat of Bonds : 
 
 You may say of me at the reception of this, as Joseph's 
 brethren said at the sight of him, Behold, the dreamer 
 cometh; for the ensuing contents were prefaced with a 
 dream. I one night dreamed that I was in a garden in 
 company with another person, but know not who that per- 
 son was. This garden was some part walled, and some 
 part of the walls was in ruins : some parts of the garden 
 were cultivated, well cropped and planted, and the plants 
 were in a very thriving condition. Other parts were undug, 
 very foul, and covered over with various heaps of rubbish, 
 and with many old slabs of oak timber thrown about, and 
 on these uncultivated parts I saw a vast number of large 
 black toads, as big as a Jersey croppo : I was not in this 
 ground as an idle spectator, but as a laborer, digging, plant- 
 ing, &-c. I got hold of a tool resembling a gardener's 
 edging-iron, and advised the man who was with me to help 
 me in killing these reptiles; and we both laid about us like 
 madmen ; and I saw that I laid the back of every one open 
 that I struck at ; and as we were killing these I saw others 
 creeping away, some under the old slabs, and others in 
 among the old bricks which lay in the heaps of rubbish ; 
 and, having killed all we saw, I said, Now let us dig, and 
 clear away all these parts where the toads lay, and let us 
 sow and plant them ; and when we have done that, then we 
 will fall upon the others ; we will turn over a slab at a time 
 and kill all we find, and then we will have at them that are 
 hid in the rubbish. To this we agreed, and to digging we 
 
176 THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 ,went; but laboring, as I thought, exceeding hard, I woke 
 myself, and behold it was a dream. Mr. Jermine, at Pad- 
 dington, and Morgan, one of my pew-openers, were that 
 morning brewing for me, and to them I told the dream, but 
 none of us could make any thing of it. 
 
 It came to pass soon after this that a gentleman from 
 Plymouth-dock came to town, and who often attended my 
 ministry during his stay ; and before he departed he wrote 
 me a very kind letter, inviting me to preach at a meeting at 
 the dock, to which himself and some of his family belonged ; 
 and gave me to understand that he thought they had the 
 gospel tolerably clear preached to them. This I considered ; 
 and, having formerly had various invitations to go to that 
 part of the country, signed by many persons, I was inclined 
 to go ; and I have no doubt now but it really was the mind 
 and will of God that I should go. But being sometimes 
 much put to it to get a supply in my absence, and the good 
 man's letter intimating that he thought the preacher they 
 had was sound in doctrine, and useful in the work, I thought 
 it best to agree with the old gentleman's request, to let their 
 preacher come up and officiate for me in my absence ; and 
 this was agreed on, and I took my journey. But, previous 
 to my going down, I had been much grieved and exercised 
 in my mind at seeing the rapid progress of the sentiments 
 and rebellion of Tom Paine; and especially when I saw 
 some simple, God-fearing people much leavened with it. 
 
 Never did I see so evil a spirit so rapidly spread before, 
 and I hope I never shall again : many of the poorer sort 
 neglected all business, and all care for their families, till 
 they brought death into .the pot. And many of the real 
 children of God, when they saw that whole families and 
 crowded societies were all moved as the trees of the wood 
 are moved, and that many ministers in the pulpit, and 
 
THE BANK OF FAITH. 177 
 
 swarms of hypocrites in the pews, were carried away with 
 it it tarnished not a few in the simplicity of the gospel; 
 and the image of Christ began to be sadly defaced in many ; 
 and instead thereof sprung up self-conceit, worldly wisdom, 
 high notions of equality, and a thirst for revenge against all 
 that differed in sentiment from them. Many professing 
 people,, as well as others, began to meet together in compa- 
 nies to read the wisdom of Tom Paine, till the strongest 
 union was cemented among them by disaffection to others : 
 wherever it came it preyed upon the very vitals of godli- 
 ness ; filial fear, tenaerness of heart, conscience before God, 
 timidity in prayer, self-diffidence, humility, meekness, watch- 
 fulness, quietude, peace, diligence in business, zeal for God, 
 and fervor in devotion, seemed to have forsaken many ; and 
 not a few that my soul loved were sadly fermented with this 
 leaven of malice and wickedness. Satan cares. not what we 
 strive and contend about, so that we do not strive at the 
 straight gate, nor contend for the faith of the saints. When 
 I saw what a hand the devil made, and the advantage he 
 gained by trading with Tom Paine, my soul was grieved 
 and my zeal inflamed against this monopoly of Satan, and 
 God filled me with power and might by his Spirit to oppose 
 it; and the farther I went on in it the more the word of 
 God opened to me, until he was pleased to show me where- 
 abouts in his word this trying hour stood. 
 
 Much displeasure did I incur at this work : some (like 
 the Galatians) who would formerly have parted with their 
 own eyes for me, now viewed me as their greatest enemy 
 for enforcing the clearest truth; not a few hissed like a 
 viper in the gallery, while I was insisting on obedience to 
 him that bruised the serpent's tyead. About this time I 
 published my sermon on The Books and the Parchments, 
 and this exasperated many still more, till one would have 
 23 
 
178 THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 thought that the former cry of Hosanna, was now changed 
 into that of Crucify him, Crucify him. But God's servants 
 have a better foundation than either the testimony or the 
 applause of men. I was upon the rock long before either 
 their applause or reproach fell upon me. The Jews re- 
 joicing in John's light added nothing to his grace, and their 
 changing their minds and calling him a devil never .altered 
 his complexion. What God doctli it is done for ever; 
 nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it ; and 
 God doth it that men might fear bcforehim. Eccl. iii. 14. 
 
 In the midst of this bustle, and under this cloud of pleas- 
 ure, I set off for Plymouth-dock, and the preacher at the 
 dock came up as a supply in my absence. The man was 
 an entire stranger to me, and so he remains still, for to this 
 day I do not know him. When I came to the place I heard 
 that there had been a division and a sub-division among the 
 people, which I never knew till then ; and during my stay 
 there I had various reports from those of my own chapel, 
 some greatly disgusted at his doctrine, and others as much 
 admiring it ; but before I left the place I heard very disa- 
 greeable things from a real friend of his own, who was 
 compelled in point of conscience to divulge what he did. 
 This sent me home with a heavy heart ; and at rny return 
 I saw a wonderful blaze, but I was sure the coals were 
 never taken from the altar of burnt-offering; they were 
 zealously affected, but not well. Wild rant and empty 
 oratory, moving the corrupt affections of depraved nature, 
 produced all these sparks ; and many poor souls walked in 
 the light of this fire, and in the sparks that they had kin- 
 dled ; but the light of this flame burns no longer than the 
 audible accents of the orator operate ; it all dies before the 
 hearer can reach the threshold of his door ; and at a dying 
 hour, and at the midnight cry, the very remembrance of it 
 
THE BANK OF FAITH. 179 
 
 shall vanish. Walk in the light of your Jire, and in the 
 sparks that you have kindled; this shall you have at my 
 hand, you shall lie down in sorrow. Isa. 1. 11. I had all . 
 these briars and thorns to cope with. And surely the man 
 that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff 
 of a spear, and they shall be utterly burnt in the same 
 place. 2 Sam. xxiii. 6, 7. 
 
 When I insisted upon fire from the altar of burnt-offer- 
 ing, and that it appertained to the tribe of Eevi, or to them 
 that were joined to the Lord, to burn incense, this brought 
 the whole company of Korah upon me ; and, if I enforced 
 obedience to rulers for conscience' sake, this stirred up all 
 the disciples of Tom Paine. And now I had need be made 
 a new sharp threshing-instrument, having teeth, to thresh 
 these mountains, and make these hills as chaff; in order to 
 fan them, that the wind might carry them away, and that 
 the whirlwind might scatter them, that those that were left 
 might rejoice in flie Lord, and glory in the Holy One of 
 Israel. Isa. xli. 15, 16. And by the good hand of our God 
 upon us we saw every word of this prophecy exactly ful- 
 filled ; for as the thffesher went on the vermin hissed in the 
 mow, the chaff flew like smoke out of the chimney, while 
 the pure grain fell not to the ground, but under a spirit of 
 meekness consolidated together into one heap, and the rest 
 were scattered in the imagination of their hearts, and soon 
 after not less than fifteen were in their graves. While it 
 pleased God to continue me at this work of threshing, the 
 Holy Ghost spoke these words to my heart : Shall not God 
 avenge his own elect? A word spoken in due season, how 
 good is it? I thanked my God, and took courage still to 
 labor at threshing the mountains, expecting more, wheat 
 as soon as the chaff was gone : for I had not a single doubt 
 but I should still prophesy upon the thick boughs. In this 
 
180 THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 I was not disappointed of my hopes, nor were my expecta- 
 tions out off; for, when the floor was purged, those that 
 were scattered sent for this new standard-bearer up, with 
 many promises of fidelity. But those who are false to the 
 true riches are never true to the unrighteous mammon, for 
 they abode less time under him than thy did under me. 
 And sure I am that this work was of God ; for some few 
 among us, who were much looked up to as something more 
 than men, were now looked away from as being less than 
 nothing : others, who had some exalting notions of their 
 own self-sufficiency to tread out the corn, set up a prayer- 
 meeting, as an introduction to the pulpit : but, not succeed- 
 ing in this, with shame they took the loioest room; while 
 many poor honest souls, who could read only the Bible 
 before, now learnt to read men ; and not a few, who long 
 had appeared all meekness and placidity, lost that garb, and 
 the envy in their bosom never suffered them to put it on 
 again. In the torm I had a five hundred pound debt upon 
 the chapel, and many, filled with envy, prophesied that I 
 should carry that burden to my grave : but all men know 
 not the thoughts of the Lord. I one^day, sitting in my 
 chair in the chapel, asked the Almighty what I had done to 
 these men, wherein I had misled them, or whom I had 
 wronged? And the Spirit of God answered, When they 
 shall make an end to deal treacherously, thou shalt deal 
 treacherously with them. Isa. xxxiii. 1. And so it fell out, 
 for not a few acted the parts of Sanballat and Tobiah; 
 when they grew weary and ashamed of hindering the work, 
 turned about and offered to assist in building : but there is 
 little trust to be put in men whose hearts are not fixed 
 trusting in God. 
 
 But time fails ; I must therefore take my leave of my 
 dearly beloved friend, with my best wishes attending these 
 
THE BANK OF FAITH. 181 
 
 scraps; and, as you seem pleased with them, and are no 
 great admirer of money, the postman will, in all probability, 
 call for another Eighteen Pence,. as soon as my head and 
 my hands can collect materials for another packet, which in 
 time will bring you to live by faith, as well as 
 
 Your humble servant, 
 
 W. H. S. S. 
 
LETTER VII. 
 
 TO THE SPARROW ALONE. 
 
 Dearly beloved in the Lord Jesus : 
 
 AFTER some persons, who had done me much wrong, 
 were returning, and offering to assist, I had another dream, 
 or rather the old dream exhibited over again. I dreamed 
 that I was in the same piece of ground that I was in before : 
 I was standing in the middle of the garden, where it was 
 well planted, and in a very flourishing state, while the out- 
 sides all round were covered with heaps of rubbish, in which 
 the large black toads were hid; to clear away that rubbish, 
 and carry it forth without the walls, and to kill the toads, 
 was the work then in hand. And it was made out to me, 
 that those who grieved for the afflictions of Joseph, and 
 bemoaned his son Ephraim, to them God would restore 
 comfort; and that those who were glad at Zion's calamities 
 must be left to the punishment of the Lord : He that re- 
 ceiveth you receiveth me, says Christ, and he that despiscth 
 you despiseth me. We therefore united as one man and 
 separated the despisers from the receivers ; the living stones 
 they cleaved together, and the rubbish we conveyed with- 
 out the pale. To accomplish this work was Absalom suf- 
 fered to rise up against David in Jerusalem, and for the 
 same cause were the false apostles permitted to enter the 
 church of Corinth. 
 
 During this time it- was the work of Samson to make 
 sport for the Philistines : I was long the principal subject 
 of a Sunday's newspaper ; and for some years was I baited 
 weekly or monthly by a club of pouters, who hired the 
 
THE BANK OP FAITH. 183 
 
 Westminster Forum for that purpose ; and if I have 
 been rightly informed, the chief men of the club, assisted 
 by a few hand-bills, have cleared thirty pounds on an eve- 
 ning, by a crowded mob paying sixpence per head for the 
 entertainment ; thus one way or other, have I kept fools 
 alive in their continual sport for upwards of seven years 
 together, besides bringing bread to their cupboard ; many 
 of whom would no doubt have suffered want, had not the 
 grace of God raised me up to lend them this assistance, 
 which they had never gratitude enough to acknowledge. 
 
 Nor are these ungrateful ones the only set of men who 
 are indebted to me : many of our young spurious missiona- 
 ries, who spring up in a night and wither in a day, when 
 they have come to town to preach, have been sadly at a loss 
 at times to fill up thirty or forty minutes, when a few 
 throws at me have made matters hang together ; and this 
 must pass for a watering time. But to return. 
 
 While numbers were rejoicing at the thinness of the con- 
 gregation, and at the apparent diminution of my income, 
 God moved the hearts of my friends to contribute among 
 themselves to clear off the debt of the chapel : they gave 
 me near four hundred pounds, and in a little time after a 
 person left me two hundred more by will. This at once 
 cleared the whole debt, and left me something in hand. It 
 is a bad wind that blows good to none. By this fanning 
 wind God not only purged the floor, but my debt also ; for 
 many of the Lord's people, who stood for some time amaz- 
 ed at the strange flame, and as -it were halting between two 
 opinions, were brought to a conclusion, by seeing how soon 
 the candle of the wicked went out; it was quenched at 
 once, and we heard no more of it, and then the affections 
 of the people came back to me : which put me in Paul's 
 path of experience, when he said, But I rejoice in the Lord 
 
184 THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 greatly, that now at last your care for me hath flourished 
 again, (Phil. iv. 10,) for they even spoke to the gentleman 
 to whom I sold my books, and he sold them back to them, 
 and contributed handsomely himself; they not only sub- 
 scribed to buy the books, but raised a fund to reprint some 
 that were out of print. God hath given us all things in 
 Christ: For your shame you shall have double, and for 
 confusion they shall rejoice in their portion ; therefore in 
 their land they shall possess double ; everlasting joy shall 
 be unto them. Isai. Ixi. 7. I had long entreated the Lord 
 to remove this load from my shoulders ; and by terrible 
 things in righteousness did the God of my salvation answer 
 me ; who is the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and 
 of them that are afar off upon the sea. Psalm Ixv. 5. 
 
 But the good hand of my God stopped not here. I had 
 told the whole company that rose up against me, and that 
 publicly in the chapel, that so far from their being able to 
 pull me down, they must not wonder to see me in my coach 
 when old age came on me ; nor was the hand of God with- 
 drawn till this came to pass. Upon the house I then lived 
 in, and on the garden, I had not expended less than three 
 hundred pounds ; my lease was only for the term of seven 
 years; but as I gave the landlord all the rent he asked, and 
 paid it punctually every quarter, I had no doubt he was 
 contented with his tenant ; yea, so much so, that he wished 
 me to get a tenant that I liked to occupy the other house 
 which joined to mine ; and moreover told a friend who paid 
 him my rent, that I might prolong my lease whenever I 
 would, so that I thought myself secure enough. But this 
 it not the first time that I have trusted in man, in whom 
 there is no help. It fell out that one night, while I was at 
 Bolney in Sussex, I had a dream : I dreamed that I was 
 standing in my yard 41 the back side of my house, and all on t 
 
THE BANK OP FAITH. 185 
 
 a sudden I saw my house fall to the ground : it fell with the 
 front downwards, and in my dream I saw it when it was 
 down, and I stood neither alarmed nor concerned about it; 
 and soon I awoke, and behold it was a dream. And as I 
 seemed so composed about the fall of it, I thought that nei- 
 ther me nor my family would be hurt by this fall, whatever 
 it meant. The next morning at breakfast, I told the gen- 
 tleman'? family, at whose house I was, the dream ; but we 
 could make nothing of it. When I returned home, my 
 dame informed me that my landlord had been to inquire 
 after me ; and in a day or two he came again to inform me 
 that he was going to sell his houses. I desired him to bring 
 a builder, and I would get another, and they two should 
 value the house ; to this he agreed. But in stead of two 
 builders meeting, he brought up an auctioneer, who set the 
 price of my house at nine hundred pounds ; whereas, not 
 many years before, both of them were sold for four hun- 
 dred pounds, and at that time they were let for twenty 
 pounds a year each. The auction came on, and they were 
 sold ; and if I remember right, my house fetched six hun- 
 dred guineas, and the other four hundred and fifty pounds ; 
 my improvements made that difference. My lease being 
 nearly out, I had another habitation to seek, and went two 
 days, but in vain, as I wanted some rural and retired spot. 
 A few friends, seeing the lease of my present residence 
 advertised to be sold, went (unknown to me) to see it, and 
 much approved of it. 
 
 But my pen must stop ; I have again exceeded the bounds 
 of a letter. Dearly beloved and longed-for, my joy and 
 crown, stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved; so prays 
 Your affectionate friend, 
 
 W H. S. S. 
 
 
LETTER VIII. 
 
 TO THE SPARROW ALONE. 
 
 Dear Friend in the Lord : 
 
 I AM contriving to put thee to a little more expense ; 
 and, if I continue at this rate, I shall make you as poor as 
 
 myself. Except the old H is a little more prolific 
 
 than in the last year, twins will never do ; but, as money is 
 no part of your God, I shall venture. 
 
 After my friends had been once or twice to see the house 
 they informed me of it, and advised me to go and see it ; 
 which I did : but the concern appeared so weighty, that I 
 set myself against it to the utmost, remembering my former 
 affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall ; nor 
 was there one in all my family who approved of it but 
 Dame, the distance appeared so far from town. However, 
 my friends mightily pressed me to it ; ami.as the time drew 
 nigh when the lease was to be sold, they determined to 
 attend the sale.* I prayed day and night that they might 
 not succeed in buying it, and charged them to bid no higher 
 than thirty pounds ; but they resolved among themselves to 
 bid to seventy pounds. It was put up at five pounds, and 
 there was not one bidder till one of my friends bid the five 
 pounds, and it was knocked down to him. At this time I 
 had another dream. I dreamed I was in a large room, and 
 the room was full of serpents, and the bodies of the ser- 
 pents were divided at the middle and so each of them had 
 two necks and two heads ; and many of them crawled 
 furiously up to me open-mouthed, but not one of them bit 
 me ; nor was I at all terrified at them. I awaked, and be- 
 
THE BANK OP FAITH. 187 
 
 held it was a dream. But, when I came to see the per- 
 son that I had to deal with, the dream came fresh into my 
 mind. I saw the serpent ; and I had no doubt but that 
 there were more heads than one ; yea, many in union with 
 him. There are serpents, and a generation of vipers ; and 
 Christ says they are of their father. And never, in this 
 world, did I see so great a likeness of him. 
 
 The things on the premises were to be taken by an 
 appraisement ; the good man was to choose one, and I the 
 other. I had, in my own mind, fixed upon one in much 
 practice ; and, had I made choice ofrhim, I should have 
 added a third head to the crooked fraternity. But this* was 
 not to be ; my God will have a hand in all my affairs ; and 
 I was directed by him to inquire after another of great note, 
 and who stands very high and honorable in his profession. 
 And this gentleman was well acquainted with the reptile that 
 I had to deal with. The gentleman that he employed went 
 through the work first, and the person who was for me soon 
 went after him ; and, when they met upon the business, 
 they could not agree together so as to settle the affairs. 
 During which time my kind friend with two heads very 
 politely offered me possession of the premises, and urged 
 the necessity of it, as the second crop of grass was fit to 
 cut, which I well knew, and took it very kindly of him 
 from one of his heads ; but I could not take my eye from 
 the other, being not ignorant of Satan's devices ; and, 
 suspecting that I must be brought to submit to any terms 
 after I had taken possession, I therefore declined it till 
 the matters could be properly adjusted. The principal 
 matter in debate was respecting a small quantity of manure, 
 worth about six pounds, and which, according to the tenor 
 of the lease, should have been laid on the land before that 
 period. My appraiser would not allow me to pay for that, 
 
188 THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 and at last he carried his point ; and, striking the dung and 
 other matters off from the inventory, they both agreed, and 
 for the stock and fixtures I paid three hundred and seventy 
 pounds ; and then took possession with all the formalities 
 and punctilios of human laws, my attorney and friends 
 being present with me. 
 
 And now I must beg my dearly beloved friend's pardon 
 for digressing a little from my intended subject, in order to 
 pursue this wriggling family a little farther, and to convince 
 thee that what God showed me in vision he afterwards 
 showed me in reality ; or, to speak more plainly, I really 
 saw with my bodily eyes those very creatures creeping upon 
 the earth, which at first appeared only in imagination ; for 
 I had not been long in possession of my new habitation 
 before I received a squib, or rather a cracker, for there were 
 many folds and doubles in its meaning. It came from an 
 honest lawyer. The contents were, " That he was absent 
 from town at the settling of our affairs; that the notion of 
 not paying for the dung was a false one ; and that, if he 
 had been at the meeting, his client should have been paid. 
 And farther, he wished to know what I thought of the 
 matter." This opened the monstrous mystery of .wo heads 
 a little more plainly. 
 
 A secret something within told me to take no notice of 
 this. I showed the letter to Father Green; and Mrs. Green 
 said she knew the honest lawyer well, and spoke very highly 
 of his wisdom in his profession, telling me that her former 
 husband, who died a member with us, had lent a person 
 twenty pounds ; and as the borrower proved a villain, her 
 husband employed this honest attorney to recover the mon- 
 ey : but he never recovered one farthing of it, only brought 
 in a bill of twenty pounds more for his trying, or not trying, 
 to get it. And surely, if the unjust steward in the gospel, 
 
THE BANK OF FAITH. 189 
 
 for reducing the debts of his lord's debtors to nearly half 
 the amount, be commended because he had done wisely, 
 this good man has a right to the same honor ; for he just 
 doubled the debt, and got the same sum of his client for 
 himself that the debtor had cheated him of before. But to 
 return. The silent contempt that I poured upon this three- 
 and-fourpenny squib brought another scrap of the same 
 price, "desiring to know where my attorney lived, that, as 
 I chose to remain silent and come to no terms, he might 
 debate the matter with him," &c. I took the wise man's 
 counsel ; I still held my peace, that I might be esteemed a 
 man of understanding ; for he that opcncth wide his lips 
 (in such cases) shall have destruction. Prov. xiii. 3. Soon 
 after I was served with a something, I know not what, as it 
 was a text that I had never handled ; but I remember one 
 of the heads of the subject was " forty pounds for dung." 
 After some little trouble of collecting witnesses and some 
 few materials together, it came into Westminster Hall. 
 My antagonist seemed quite in his element. Courts of law 
 were his sunny banks, where he folded himself in many a 
 coil, and raised his crest to such a Freight, that he was 
 heard by my friends to say that he knew law enough for 
 twenty men. I would to God that he had been taught a 
 few lessons from the old lawgiver of the Jews. Moses 
 would have made him talk less and do more. However, 
 these laws are still to be learnt, and must be learnt, sooner 
 or later, by all the offspring of Adam, at the last and grand 
 assize. 
 
 When the matter came into court his counsellor began 
 
 & 
 
 to open his mouth, and to go en with the business, till the 
 venerable judge stopped him, telling him he need not pro- 
 ceed, for he had no foundation to go upon, and showed his 
 reason for it; and added; "You must nonsuit him." Here 
 
190 THE BANK OP FAITH. 
 
 it ended for the present ; but soon after I heard that he had 
 obtained a something, but I know not what, from the twelve 
 judges. It was to try this matter over again, and to collect 
 more forces for the trial. All this time I kept my eye upon 
 my dream. I saw the creatures, and their mouths open; 
 and I know that the scriptures say of the king of Babylon, 
 Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and 
 awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto 
 them 1 Hab. ii. 7. And this is what I wanted to know, 
 whether God would suffer these to bite as well as vex, and 
 at last to make a booty of me*. In my dream they did not. 
 
 After a time this trial came on again, and then a young 
 man stepped forth, and swore and said, that the two apprai- 
 sers could not, and did not, settle the matter, but it was left 
 to be settled between me and my antagonist. This was 
 another of the crooked ones. At which time the counsel 
 for me gave the young man the inventory, and asked him 
 who wrote that on the back of it? He replied, after some 
 time, that he himself did. And the words were, " This is 
 to certify, that no one thing crossed out in this inventory is 
 to be paid for." Signed by himself. The venerable lord 
 cried out, " Villany indeed!" Here it ended, with all 
 cost and suit on his shoulders who wore the two heads. 
 And I was informed that it cost the crooked one two hun- 
 dred and seventy pounds. And all this time I was not once 
 bitten. God speaks once, yea twice, in dreams, in visions, 
 by his judgments, by his providence, by his Son, by his 
 Spirit, and sometimes by his servants ; but, let him speak 
 however he may, I set to rny seal that God is true. 
 
 Having given my dearly beloved an account how the 
 wonderful Counsellor brought his poor client through all 
 the wisdom and hissing of this venomous brood, I must 
 conclude this long scrawl, only adding, that yours came 
 
THE BANK OP FAITH. 191 
 
 safe to hand. Am sorry to hear of the late eclipse ; but 
 he did so in the eastern countries as well as in ours, and in 
 the days of old as well as now ; and so you read, He hold- 
 eth back the face of Ids throne, and sprcadeth Ids cloud upon 
 it. Job. xxyi. 9. But, when the sun breaks out again 
 thou wilt shine brighter, and see better than ever. The 
 path of the just shines more and more to perfect day. Seek 
 him, with all thy soul, in the broad ways and in the narrow 
 paths, as the spouse did. He would often withdraw himself 
 when upon earth, and sometimes stay behind, and send the 
 disciples off in a boat alone ; sometimes he went into a 
 mountain by himself, and sometimes in a house, and would 
 have no man know it : but the scriptures say, He could not 
 be hid; for God the Father is determined to reveal him, let 
 him go wherever he will. After him, follow him, call, 
 knock, beg, importune, never give it up ; for, as God liveth, 
 this is he whom Moses and the prophets did write of. 
 Heaven itself is in him ; therefore find him again, and pur- 
 sue him till you do, if you die in the pursuit. God the 
 Father, and God the Holy Ghott, all the angels in heaven, 
 and all the saints upon earth, are on your side while you 
 are seeking him ; and, as for me, my dearly beloved, the 
 language of my heart and soul, and every prayer of mine, 
 is and shall be, 
 
 Good success in the name of the Lord. 
 
 W. H. S. S. 
 
LETTER IX. 
 
 TO THE SPARROW ALONE. 
 
 Dearly beloved of God : 
 
 MY last epistle was pregnant with the disagreeable en- 
 tanglements of the litigious, and of the windings and turn- 
 ings of a crooked generation ; but, by the goodness of my 
 God, I escaped with both my coat and my cloak. 
 
 I must now prepare my stuff for removing. For some 
 few years before I was married all my personal effects used 
 to be carried in my hand, or on my shoulders, in one or two 
 large handkerchiefs ; but, after marriage, for some few 
 years, I used to carry all the goods that we had gotten on 
 my shoulders in a large sack. But, when we moved from 
 Thames Ditton to London, we loaded two large carts with 
 furniture and other necessaries, besides a post-chaise well 
 filled with children. But at this time God had given me 
 such treasure in my sack, that it was increased to a multi- 
 tude : we were almost a fortnight in getting away the stuff. 
 The many things on the premises which I had to purchase, 
 and the expenses that would attend my moving, together 
 with rent for both houses for some time to come, had pre- 
 viously exercised my mind not a little. And you know that 
 I have always kept Claremarket, but never did any business 
 at the Stocks-market in my life-; so that I could not look 
 there for any supply. But I looked to the market in Hon- 
 ey lane ; for his word has often been sweeter to me than 
 honey or the honeycomb, for it contains the promise of 
 the life that now is, and of that which is to come ; and here 
 I never sought, I never looked, I never prayed in vain. God 
 raised up a most invaluable friend, who richly supplied me, 
 
THE BANK OF FAITH. 193 
 
 and has long ministered to my necessities. But the trouble 
 of moving drove me quite out of my element ; it interrupted 
 my peace, scattered my thoughts, and prevented all medita- 
 tion. The door of hope seemed tofce off the hooks, and 
 the best members of the new man out of joint. I appeared 
 quite unfurnished for the pulpit, and my mind too unsettled 
 for any one branch of my delightful labor. No man that 
 warretJi entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, says 
 Paul ; and sad entanglements are all wordly concerns to a 
 spiritual soldier. But if this world, and the domestic con- 
 cerns of it, are a burden, and not a pleasure ; a vanity, and 
 not a substance ; a vexation, and not a delight ; a rival, and 
 not a real lover ; we must of course be crucified to it, and 
 alive to him that was crucified in it. 
 
 Being in some measure settled in my new habitation, I 
 watched, and sought, and felt, after that Friend that loveth 
 at all times ; and, blessed be his revered name, I found him. 
 If I had failed in this I had been undone ; for he is our 
 dwelling-place in all generations ; and sensible sinners have 
 no sure dwelling nor quiet resting-place but this. But now 
 many cares came on me. I was five miles from my chapel, 
 and a cold winter was coming on ; and how to get my fam- 
 ily so far to the house of God was my chief concern. A 
 person of Streatham, in Surrey, had made me a present of a 
 little sorrel horse, which is a most excellent creature, and 
 would carry me very well ; but how to get a large family 
 there was the difficulty. A man and his wife, whom I have 
 been for some years acquainted with at Streatham, and who 
 had managed a farm for a gentleman there had been for 
 some time before this out of employ, through the gentle- 
 man's letting his farm. I had spoken to two friends in Lon- 
 don about joining with me in taking a farm, and putting 
 him into it to manage it for us, for the sake of a dairy, &,c., 
 25 
 
194 . THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 to supply our three families ; but we could not hear of any 
 such thing near town that would do for that purpose. The 
 man and his wife therefore took a coal shed, and dealt in 
 green grocery, &>c. <Sc. But I found, by inquiry, that their 
 business was not likely to answer, and therefore I sent for 
 the man to come to me ; and he and his wife agreed to 
 come, she to attend to my baking and dairy, and he to the 
 business of the land. And here God granted me my request 
 in a way that I did not expect ; for being long acquainted 
 with them, and they being fond of my ministry, I did not 
 like to see them scattered from it. I had got one old cart- 
 horse that I had bought with the rest of the stock on the 
 farm, and I wanted two more, but money run short ; and I 
 determined also to have a large tilted cart to take my fami- 
 ly to chapel, and the man should drive it on the Sunday, 
 and on lecture nights, and I would ride my little horse. 
 This was the most eligible plan that I could adopt ; and on 
 this I determined, as soon as God should send money to pro- 
 cure them. I came to this conclusion on a Friday, and on 
 the next day, toward evening, came two or three friends from 
 town to see me. I wondered not a little at their coming, 
 as they knew that on a Saturday I never like to see any 
 body ; and therefore I conceived that they must be come 
 with some heavy tidings ; some friend was dead, or some- 
 thing bad had happened. But they came to inform me that 
 some friends had agreed among themselves and bought me 
 a coach and a pair of horses, which they intended to make 
 me a present of. I informed them that the assessed taxes 
 ran so high that I should not be able to keep it. But they 
 stopped my mouth by informing me, that the money for 
 paying the taxes for the coach and horses was subscribed 
 also : so that nothing lay upon me but the keep of the 
 horses. Thus, instead of being at the expense of a tilted 
 
THE BANK OP FAITH. 195 
 
 cart, God sent me a coach without cost, and two horses 
 without my purchasing them ; and which, with my other old 
 horse, would do the work of the farm, as well as the work 
 of the coach ; and my bailiff informed me that he could 
 drive it, having formerly drove one. Thus was I set up. 
 But at this time the pocket was bare, and many things were 
 wanting, both in the house and on the farm, and a place to 
 fit up for my bailiff and dairy woman to live in. And it 
 was but a few days afterward before a gentleman out of the 
 country called upon me ; and, being up in my study with 
 me, he said, " My friend, I often told you that you would 
 keep your coach before you died, and I always promised 
 that whenever you had a coach I would give you a pair of 
 horses, and I will not be worse than my word. I have in- 
 quired of father Green, and he tells me that the horses cost 
 forty-five pounds ; and there is the money." In a day or 
 two after the coach, horses, and harness, came. And, hav- 
 ing now a little money, I wrote to a friend in the country to 
 send me twelve ewes, and a male with them ; and they sent 
 me twelve excellent ones, and the male with them, but 
 would not be paid for them ; they were a present to the 
 farm. Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even 
 they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. 
 Psalm cvii. 43. 
 
 When rny coach came home, and my family had been 
 once or twice to chapel in it, and the report of it was gone 
 abroad, it was truly laughable to see the sorrow, the hard 
 labor, and sore travail that fell upon some poor souls on the 
 account of it. Their envy almost slew the silly ones. One 
 person came into my yard, and asked the coachman about 
 this matter, and what all these things meant ; but he being 
 a stranger who came with the coach, and only drove us two 
 or three times, could not inform him. Others, and some 
 
196 
 
 THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 very well-dressed gentlemen, whom I knew nothing of, and 
 whom I never saw before, came, and walked at different 
 times to and fro at the front of the house, by the hour to- 
 gether, looking up, and then down, to consider the matter, 
 and to find out what it all proceeded from, which is a mys- 
 tery they can never get at ; and the mystery of God's provi- 
 dential dealings is what I never shall be able to describe: 
 I can only look on and wonder at God, while others wonder 
 at me, and say with the Psalmist, I am a wonder unto many ; 
 but thou art my strong refuge. Psalm Ixxi. 7. 
 
 We have had some of these envious ones stand in convo- 
 cation in the by-road which leads to Hendon, and hold a 
 council, and debate upon the matter for hours together, what 
 the rent is, what the taxes, the number of -the family, the 
 keep of the horses and servants, the taxes of the house, 
 coach, &,c., and what must unavoidably be the amount of 
 the whole, yearly, while Mr. Williams stood on the other 
 side of the wall and heard the debates, and the conclusion. 
 And here they took more pains than ever I did ; for I never 
 once cast up either the income or outgoings till the income tax 
 was made ; only I observed this, that the income seldom 
 trod upon the heels of the outgoings ; there was generally 
 a little space between them, and in that gap I erected my 
 watch-tower, and in which ward I have sometimes been 
 whole nights, when other folks have been in bed and asleep. 
 At the chapel door also we were not a little troubled with 
 this sort of well-wishers, sometimes twenty or more, about 
 the coal-heaver's state coach, to examine matters, and to 
 look into things. And this continued, more or less, for near 
 two years. Indeed, it is but lately that this wonder of won- 
 ders has begun to cease. And yet my friends, who execut- 
 ed all this business for me, took care to give them all the 
 information that malice itself could expect ; for the initials 
 
TOE BANK OF FAITH. 197 
 
 of my name, W. H., together with the initials of my state, 
 S. S., were put upon every panel of the coach, upon the 
 pads of the harness, and upon the very blindfolds of the bri- 
 dles. And all this was done to satisfy those, who were the 
 principal mourners on this occasion, that the thing was real, 
 and not counterfeit ; that it was not a hackney carriage, 
 nor a glass coach ; not borrowed, nor hired, nor a job ; but 
 the despised Doctor's own carriage, which the King of kings 
 had sent him without asking for, and, at that time, without 
 any expectation of any such thing. And here I have often 
 thought of the words of the sweet psalmist of Israel. When he, 
 and the four hundred troops that were with him, all of whom 
 were in desperate circumstances, such as were in distress, 
 those that were discontented, and such as were in debt, 
 these only joining him, (1 Sam. xxii. 2,) and while he and 
 this handful of men wandered in the wilderness, and in the 
 woods, in caves, in rocks, and in strong holes, like Robin 
 Hood and Little John in the forest of Sherwood, Nabal's 
 shepherds, as appears by his famous speech to Abigail, all 
 who knew them, and all laboring and husbandmen about 
 these wild places were conversant with them, and not a few 
 of the heathen, as the Philistines also ; but, when the report 
 was spread that this wood-ranger was crowned king in He- 
 bron, and his desperate followers were the life-guards of his 
 royal person in tfrat city of Israel, then they gathered them- 
 selves together, and went in troops to see the sight ; and 
 when they saw the crown-royal and the purple robe upon 
 the son of Jesse, they assembled in different assemblies, and 
 compassed him about ; yea, the objects gathered themselves 
 together ; they walked round about the walls of his palace, 
 and fretted at his exaltation. And he seems to take notice 
 of it^ and says, They make a noise like a dog, and go round 
 about the city. And, as it seemed to amuse them, David 
 26 
 
198 
 
 THE BANK OP FAITH. 
 
 desired that they might be permitted to continue at it ; and 
 therefore adds, And at evening let them return ; and let 
 them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city. 
 Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they 
 be not satisfied. Psalm lix. 6, 14, 15. 
 
 And here I must mention one or two particulars which 
 have often been a wonder to me. And one is, when I came 
 first to reside in London I brought my poor old gray horse 
 to town with me, arid being not able to keep him, a friend 
 of mine and a dear son in the faith, who kept a livery sta- 
 ble, took him till he could be sold ; and, during this time, 
 a gentleman asked me to take a ride with him a little way 
 in the country, and we went up Edgware road, a road I had 
 never been before, and turned up toward Hampstead ; and 
 I particularly observed one house in the way, with the 
 garden, walls, and the summer-house, and a few fir trees 
 which were about it. And, being in the summer, I observ- 
 ed to the gentleman that was with me what a retired, rural 
 spot it was ; and it seemed to take my fancy, and to catch 
 my eye, more than any other that we observed ; and that 
 very house is now my residence. 
 
 The next particular is this. About four years ago I was 
 invited to preach at Woolwich ; and I engaged a few friends 
 to go with me, and begged of father Green to get some sta- 
 ble keeper to furnish us a rich coach and horses for the 
 day. He replied that he knew a man of the name of Nibbs 
 who kept coaches, and who generally drove himself, and 
 who was a very civil man, and had a large family ; and I re- 
 member we loaded the coach very heavily ; and, when we 
 came to Woolwich, I ordered the good man who owned the 
 horses to feed them to the full, and it should be at my ex- 
 pense. Toward the evening it thundered, lightened and 
 rained, at a most violent rate, and the road was very wet 
 and slippery, and being above the common number for a 
 
THE BANK OF FAITH. 199 
 
 coach to take, I had a good deal of feeling for the poor cat- 
 tle ; and, before I got in, I went and Booked at the horses, 
 to see their size and weight,*and what state they were in, 
 whether poor or in working order; whether decrepit or 
 sound ; and whether they looked full or empty ; and I much 
 admired the team. They were both grays ; and the shape 
 or mould of one of them much took my eye ; he was a dap- 
 ple gray, very spotted, and of the tabby cast. And, the 
 team much pleasing me, I desired the master of them to 
 drive slow, and not to hurt his cattle, and, as we were a 
 heavy load, we would reward him, which we did to his sat- 
 isfaction. And that horse which so forcibly struck my eye 
 is one of the pair which my friends bought for me, and is 
 now in my team. Some gentleman in town having often 
 seen him in my cart, and afterwards in the coach, took a 
 fancy to him, and made many inquiries whose he was, and 
 at last inquired of the hackneyman where he came from, who 
 informed him, and who, by the gentleman's desire, came to 
 purchase him ; and others also have bid for him ; but he is 
 still with me. God's gifts are not to be parted with but in 
 case of necessity. Thus the man that I wished to put on a 
 farm now drives me, the house I then saw, which so much 
 took my fancy, is my residence ; and the horse I took such 
 notice of is now in my team. Beloved, farewell. May the 
 goodness of God daily pass before thee as he has promised, 
 and his grace rule and reign in thee ; and may he con- 
 tinue to bestow upon thee an eye to watch his hand, and a 
 heart to feel his power : and then faith and hope will be 
 both encouraged. In the confidence of which I subscribe 
 myself, dear friend, 
 
 Ever thine in the Lord, 
 
 W. H. S. S. 
 
LETTER X. 
 
 * \ 
 
 TO THE SPARROW ALONE. 
 
 Dearly beloved of God . 
 
 IF thou art not weary of my reciting the few details which 
 a treacherous memory may refund, I shall yet add affliction 
 to your bonds, or burden your mind and memory with a few 
 more of the kind interferences of Divine Providence, which, 
 to such an one as Nabal the Carmelite, would appear a mere 
 tale of a tub, and serve only for ridicule, sport and laughter ; 
 but to such an one as the poor widow of Sidon, who was 
 gathering two sticks to bake a cake of the last handful of 
 meal, that she and her son might have one morsel more be- 
 fore they died : to such souls, in such circumstances, how 
 sweet are the tidings of the unerring, uncontrollable, all- 
 sufficient, and over-ruling providence of the Lord God of 
 Israel ! Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, 
 that I may drink ; and off she goes ; but he stops her : 
 Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. 
 And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a 
 cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in 
 a cruse ; and behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may 
 go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it 
 and die. But the prophet said unto her, Fear not ; go and 
 do as thou hast said; but make me thereof a little cakejirst, 
 and bring it unto me, and after that make for thee and for 
 thy son. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The 
 barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil 
 fai^ until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the 
 earth. And she, and the prophet, and her whole house, 
 lived upon that spring for a whole year. 1 Kings, chap. 
 
THE BANK OF FAITH. 201 
 
 xvii. Faith went to the poor woman's heart with the Lord's 
 promise, and she believed the word of the Lord by his pro- 
 phet, and ventured to make him the first cake, before she 
 cooked for herself or her son. And I have no doubt but 
 this poor enthusiastical woman was well supplied only by 
 her faith in the providence of God, while many thousands, 
 that would have laughed at her folly, perished for want while 
 they trusted in their own wisdom. And so it will be in the 
 day of judgment ; God will take the wise in their own 
 craftiness, and, by the foolishness of preaching, save all 
 that believe in Jesus. This is his own promise; and he will 
 fulfil it. 
 
 But to return. The bills for hay-rnaking, making some 
 alterations, and fitting up fire-grates, &/c., had once more 
 brought the gout into my pocket, which is what I call one 
 of my often infirmities ; and at this juncture a friend called 
 on me, and gave me fifty pounds ; and a few days after 
 another gentleman gave me fifty pounds more ; and, as a 
 cow or two were wanting, these were now procured ; and 
 other demands upon me were answered. 
 
 A gentleman in the country brought me a goose and a 
 gander ; and another in the city sent me some Guinea fowls , 
 a lady from Richmond brought me some turkeys ; and some 
 friends from Welwyri, in Hertfordshire, brought me two 
 hives of bees, and some white barn-fowls; at which time a 
 gentleman in the country sent me ten ewes, and a gentle- 
 man in town sent me six ewe lambs. The blessing of the 
 Lord maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it. 
 
 At this time I wanted to part with my old cart-horse, he 
 being in color a brown muzzle, but the coach-horses were 
 dapple grays ; and thinking these worked rather too hard, I 
 wished for one to match them, that we might occasionally 
 change them, that so one or other of them might alter- 
 
202 THE BANK OP FAITH. 
 
 nately rest. I therefore sent my foreman, my steward, my 
 bailiff, my butcher, and my coachman, (for he is Jack of all 
 these trades,) to a gentleman farmer who dealt in horses, 
 and who often keeps a fancy team of spotted ones, only for 
 the sake of serving any gentleman who may take a fancy to 
 any of them. He took one of our horses over with him for 
 the farmer to see, who informed him that his fancy team 
 was sold off, but that he expected forty horses in a few days 
 from the north country, and if any one of them would 
 match that which he brought, he would let him know by 
 sending a line. About a fortnight after this, on a Saturday 
 night, my foreman dreamed that he was looking at a gray 
 horse, which he much admired, but found some fault with 
 the shape of his neck. He awoke, and it was a dream. 
 But, upon falling to sleep the second time, he dreamed the 
 same dream again ; but still, as before, was displeased with 
 the creature's neck. He awaked up, and spoke of the 
 dream; and the same day, at the chapel, a letter came from 
 the gentleman applied to, which he had sent by the hand of 
 a friend, informing him that he had got a horse which he 
 thought would suit me. I sent him over, he saw him, and 
 he was the same horse he saw in his dream, and his neck 
 the worst part about him; but he approved of him, and 
 came and told me that the gentleman would bring him into 
 the Borough any day that I would appoint, that I might see 
 him : the price was thirty-two guineas. But the dream was 
 quite enough for me ; I made up the money, and sent for 
 the horse. He was very young, but the most docile crea- 
 ture I ever saw. And soon after this the gentleman who 
 gave me the money for the pair of horses before mentioned, 
 saw a horse in the country that he thought would match 
 mine, and gave thirty-two guineas for him, and brought him 
 up to me as a present, and took my old brown-muzzled 
 
THE BANK OP FAITH. 203 
 
 horse away from me. I then turned my little mare, which 
 was getting old, off to breeding, and she is now the dam of 
 a most beautiful colt. A friend of mine in the country 
 took her, and still keeps her. And my four horses, being 
 all of a color, they do to work in the cart, in the coach, or 
 in the saddle ; and, upon certain occasions, to make'up two 
 good cart teams. 
 
 About this time my old tabernacle got into a very low 
 condition, which continued for many months, and which 
 cost me no small sum for doctoring. However, this was of 
 great use to me, for I had too much delighted myself in the 
 living creatures with which I was surrounded on every side. 
 Solomon, when he had finished all his works, went about to 
 cause his heart to despair of all that he had taken in hand 
 to do. And my poor lingering state attracted my thoughts 
 and affections to solace themselves in the better part, and 
 in the more enduring substance. And although I often 
 viewed my base original, and my former poor, beggarly life ; 
 (beggarly life I call it, for having been once sick in the 
 lower part of Essex, upon my recovery I begged my way all 
 through that county to London,) therefore I had a large 
 field for my mind to reflect and meditate on, and no one 
 thing about me but a body of sin, but what a gracious God 
 and father in Christ had given me. I often looked back, 
 with many tears, at the undeserved and unexpected mercy 
 of my God, and with the joys of a good hope, through 
 grace, that I should one day see him whom my soul loves. 
 And with much delight did my soul exult in my bountiful 
 benefactor ; and not without a lasting sense of his unde- 
 served love to me, from which alone all real gratitude of 
 heart flows ; for all which I am deeply indebted to his free 
 and super-abounding grace. This frame of mind, and my 
 bodily infirmities, kept my temporal prosperity in its proper 
 
204 
 
 THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 place, as a nice handmaid, under God, to assist my faith, 
 but not to become a snare ; and it likewise kept my mind 
 heavenly, and rather assisted me for the pulpit than other- 
 wise; for the more we see his goodness the more boldly we 
 proclaim it. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth 
 speaketh. 
 
 At this time I wanted to enclose a bit of waste ground, 
 to lay it into my garden, to make it more retired ; and two 
 gentlemen, timber merchants in Aldersgate street, sent me 
 up all the timber and boards that I wanted, and have found 
 me in all the timber that has been required for repairs or 
 alterations ever since, without either bills or demands. But 
 God blessed the work of their hands abundantly. 
 
 When I had completed this job, a gentleman, who is a 
 seedsman in Fleet street, came to see my premises, and 
 found much fault in my having so little fruit, and so few 
 fruit trees, and pressed me to give him an order. I men- 
 tioned a few different sorts, but he went on till there was no 
 end; and wrote a letter to a noted nurseryman, ordering 
 the different kinds, and told him they must be of the prime 
 sorts, as they were for a person who was a judge of trees and 
 of fruit ; and that they were to be directed, " For the Doc- 
 tor ; to be left with Mr. Baker, No. 226, Oxford street." 
 Accordingly they were drawn and sent ; and the nursery- 
 man wrote a letter to my friend, informing him that he had 
 executed his orders ; and, let the Doctor be as good a judge 
 as he might, he would be bold to affirm, that his trees would 
 bear fruit that should exceed in flavor all the pills that ever 
 that Doctor had made up. But my friend denied it, and 
 thought that he had gathered better fruit from the Doctor's 
 ministry than the Doctor would ever gather from his trees ; 
 and which I believe to be true. The order sent was three 
 hundred gooseberry and currant plants, various sorts of 
 
THE BANK OF FAITH. 205 
 
 raspberries and strawberries, with fourscore capital standard 
 trees; all of which were immediately planted, and are now 
 in a very flourishing state; nor do I believe that above two 
 or three of them died. This gentleman has supplied me 
 with seeds and plants ever since I have had a garden ; and 
 always solicits my custom, and inquires after my orders, 
 though he has never received one farthing for them; nor 
 does he ever intend it. 
 
 About this time a fine cow was sent me, but I do not 
 know from whom she came. A gentleman in the Borough 
 sent me an excellent cloth to cover a load of hay (in wet 
 weather) going to market. Another gentleman sent me a 
 cloth to cover a rick of hay while it is in building, with ropes 
 and pulleys all complete. The wise man's proverb says, 
 A faithful man shall abound with blessings; the latter is 
 true in me, but I will not claim the former; for I am by no 
 means full of faith, but often shut up, and sadly foiled with 
 unbelief. I speak this to my own shame, not in mock mod- 
 esty, nor in feigned humility, for God knows it is truth. 
 
 It now fell out that I was earnestly invited to go a jour- 
 ney into the North to preach ; but, having the gout in my 
 pocket, I was obliged to postpone it till I was loosed from 
 this infirmity ; and when the cure came the cold winterly 
 weather was come on. However, I sent to my friends of 
 whom I had my coach, and begged the loan of a chariot. 
 These friends supply me gratis with a chariot or chaise, or 
 any light carriage that I may want, whenever I ask. They 
 sent the chariot, and off I went, with about eleven pounds in 
 my pocket, which small sum I knew would require more 
 frugality than I am master of to go so long a journey. 
 However, I set off in style with this small capital ; and, 
 having been long expected by some of the Lord's tried ones, 
 and they having now despaired of my coming, except one 
 
206 THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 or two, upon whose minds it" was impressed that I should 
 come, just before my letter of information reached them ; 
 which delay sharpened their appetites. One poor soul had 
 her work sweetly revived; another young woman, who had 
 been long in chains, came forth to the light, and showed 
 herself; and, had my hand been as open as their hearts, 
 they had sent me home with thirty guineas in my pocket ; 
 but I returned some of it back again, knowing it is more 
 falessed to give than to receive. God threw my heart quite 
 open when he first revealed his dear Son in me ; and the 
 transforming views that I have at times been favored with 
 since, has kept it open to this day ; so that I keep clear- 
 market all the year round ; as it comes in, so it goes out ; 
 so that neither my heart nor my pocket are standing pools, 
 but springing wells ; and not a few mumping professors and 
 lazy hypocrites have made an easy prey of me, the devil 
 artfully instructing his fraternity to fish after the tender 
 feelings of those whose hearts have been made soft by heav- 
 enly discipline. But of late I have found myself better 
 armed against these drone-bees than formerly. When my 
 bounty goes into the family of God I fret not ; but it hurts 
 my consequence to be duped by the devil in a serpent, or a 
 wolf in a sheep's skin. Beloved, farewell. Excuse the 
 length of the scrawl ; matters have flowed in apace, and you 
 see how my pen has run on. If my continually coming 
 doth not weary thee, in a few days you may look out again ; 
 till then, peace and truth be with thee. So prays 
 
 Yours in him, W. H. S. S. 
 
LETTER XI. 
 
 I 
 
 TO THE SPARROW ALONE. 
 
 Dearly beloved in the Lord : 
 
 I HAVE been early this morning collecting materials to 
 put you to a little more expense. I find but little union 
 with those whose hands have gotten much; many of them 
 being never in their element except they are boasting of 
 their wealth ; and I having none to boast of, it is like sing, 
 ing songs to a heavy heart. Now, that you and I may go 
 on hand and glove together, I am going to put you to the 
 expense of another double letter. I concluded my last with 
 my journey to the North. 
 
 Soon after my return from this journey I discharged 
 some small debts ; for God seldom sends rne one guinea till 
 that guinea is owing, or wanted immediately some other 
 way. He has strictly preserved this uniform and unaltera- 
 ble method with me, now near upon twenty-eight years, 
 without ever deviating in the least from it; for, when he 
 cleared the debts of the chapel, there were several small 
 debts for other things left unpaid ; so that the little overplus 
 was soon demanded. And the general method of his pro- 
 ceedings with me are, that when his hand has been for 
 sometime closed till my debts are greatly increased, then 
 the devil is let loose upon me, who is suffered to bring them 
 all to my view, one after another, even from a fifty pound 
 debt down to a shilling one. This sets me to looking up 
 and praying to God ; soon after which my creditors and 
 their demands are banished from my mind, and at which 
 time faith springs up, fully persuading me that the raven, 
 
208 THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 or the hand-basket, is on the road, which is as sure to come 
 as faith is to proclaim its coming; and when it comes it is 
 only to stop a few gaps ; to rub off a little, but not to set 
 me quite clear ; no, never once fully, since I have been the 
 servant of the King of kings. Soon after my chapel debt 
 was cleared I began to sing care away. But, alas ! I hal- 
 looed before I was out of the wood ; for, soon after that, 
 being obliged to remove to the house where I now am, I was 
 obliged to borrow a little money to defray my way into the 
 farm, the greater part of which remains to this present, but 
 some is rubbed off, and I am now preparing for another 
 rub. The devil and Dr. Sack's pride have often interfered 
 with me in the writing of this narrative, wishing me to 
 conceal some part of these things, or to keep back part of 
 the price of the field, that the Doctor's enemies may not be 
 entertained, nor his honor eclipsed ; but I am determined 
 to go on, that the poor souls of my enemies may have a 
 morsel to feed on, and those of God's family a precedent, 
 without any regard to the suggestions of Satan, or to the 
 consequence of the coal-heaver. I must confess that no one 
 part of the cross that ever was laid upon me, has so com- 
 pletely tried, exercised, crossed, humbled, or mortified me, 
 as that of being perpetually in debt. Under this I have, at 
 times, fretted, groaned, prayed day and night, cried, pleaded, 
 sued, petitioned, and entreated ; and, at other times, fretted, 
 murmured, complained, rebelled, kicked up, hung back, 
 run forward, and fell down in the furrow, like a bullock 
 unaccustomed to the yoke ; I have cursed my hard fate, 
 and thousands of times longed for death, that I might see 
 an end of it. But here I am still ; and, as no one cross 
 that was ever laid upon my shoulders since I have known 
 my God has mortified me like this, so no other cross with 
 which I have been exercised has ever appeared an abscess, 
 
THE BANK OP FAITH. 209 
 
 a setfast, or immovable, but this ; all others have come and 
 gone, but this was never removed entirely one moment 
 from my shoulders since I could first say, "The Lord is 
 my God." Not that I have any ground of fear that any 
 one person living will ever be a loser of any thing by me ; 
 for, was I to die this night, I believe one fifth of my effects 
 would discharge every debt that I owe in the world : but, 
 having naturally an uncommon aversion to being in debt, it 
 has pleased God, for near twenty-eight years, to keep this 
 grievous and immovable yoke upon my neck ; and the devil, 
 who constantly waits upon the monuments of God's mercy 
 to find out, by hearing their confessions and prayers, what 
 it is that galls them most, and, when he has learnt that, is 
 like a bloodhound after a wounded deer, or a bumbailiff 
 after a poor debtor : he pursues as long as either life or 
 property lasts. Yet I know that this is good for me ; for, 
 look which way I will, I cannot see one soul fat and flour- 
 ishing in grace that is abounding in wealth, but quite the 
 reverse. And I know that, unless the heart be well estab- 
 lished with grace, when riches increase, the heart will be 
 set upon them; and then they have either done with God, 
 or God has done with them ; or, if there be a spark left, it 
 is often sadly covered over by the continual cares of this 
 life, and the deceitfulness of riches. Seeing these things 
 so clearly, I have often trembled for fear that this lingering 
 cross should be entirely removed, knowing that the least 
 soul exercise, such as spiritual sloth, carnal security, cold- 
 ness of love, life hanging in doubt, spiritual desertion, lean- 
 ness of soul, barrenness in the ministry, deadness in the 
 service of God, legal bondage, &.C., is ten times worse 
 than this outward trial ; and therefore I often publish the 
 bands of marriage between my shoulders and this cross. 
 But unbelief and Satan produce so many causes and imped- 
 27 
 
210 THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 iments, that even to this day they are not lawfully joined 
 together in holy submission, as I wish they could be. And 
 yet I have no cause to complain, for no creditor ever comes 
 and asks me for one shilling, whether professor or hypo- 
 crite : they send in their bills and hardly ever call again ; 
 they leave them till I send or call to pay them. Not one 
 creditor ever gave me a miss word in this world; all applaud 
 me as a paymaster, and would trust me to any amount ; nor 
 has any one soul ever refused me since God first called me 
 to the fellowship of the gospel till now, except one gentle- 
 man, of whom I asked the loan of fifty pounds, which he 
 said it was not in his power to lend ; but, since that time, 
 he borrowed fifty pounds of me, which it was never in his 
 power to pay me again. This has often astonished me, and 
 I cannot to this day account for it; but so it is. If I have 
 gone to the snuff-shop, or any other shop, or even at the 
 discharging of a hackney coach, if my gold has been light, 
 or my silver bad, and I had no more, they have immediately 
 cried out, " O ! I am not afraid to trust you ; " and I have 
 often replied, "Why, you don't know me." The answer 
 always is, "O! yes; it is Mr. Huntington ; I know you 
 well enough." And I am sure they have much more confi- 
 dence in Mr. Huntington than he has in himself. But God 
 often makes his poor children appear as stars in the eyes of 
 others, when they are like bottles in the smoke in their own 
 eyes. Psalm cxix. 83. 
 
 But I must now return to the time of my returning from 
 the north country. I before observed, that some small 
 debts were then discharged. But soon after this, the hand 
 of God was fast closed again, which, by the by, 'I am as 
 sensible of as I am of the heat of the sun. This continued 
 for some time ; and for all that time I watched and observed 
 it narrowly. And at this time there was a debt due of 
 
THE BANK OF FAITH. 211 
 
 twenty pounds ; though it was never asked for nor demand- 
 ed*, yet I knew it was due. It was for tythes ; for, though 
 I am a gentleman of the cloth myself, yet, being not a reg- 
 ular, but an irregular, I am constrained to pay tythes, offer- 
 ings, dues, and fees, though I live upon nothing but offer- 
 ings myself; and these are neither few nor small. 
 
 This small sum hung long in hand. I looked different 
 ways, and chalked out different roads, for the Almighty to 
 walk in ; but his paths were in the deep waters, and his 
 footsteps were not known. No raven came, neither in the 
 morning nor in the evening. There was a gentlewoman at 
 my house on a visit, and I asked her if she had got the sum 
 of twenty pounds in her pocket, telling her, at the same 
 time, how much I wanted it. She told me she had not ; 
 if she had, I should have it. A few hours after the same 
 woman was coming into my study, but she found it locked, 
 and knocked at the door. I let her in, and she said, " I 
 am sorry I disturbed you." I replied, " You do not disturb 
 me; I have been begging a favor of God, and I had just 
 done when you knocked ; and that favor I have now got in 
 faith, and shall shortly have in hand, and you will see it." 
 The afternoon of the same day two gentlemen out of the 
 city came to see me; and, after a few hours' conversation, 
 they left me, and, to my great surprise, each of them, at 
 parting, put a letter into my hand, which, when they were 
 gone, I opened, and found a ten pound note in each. I 
 immediately sent for the woman up stairs, and let her read 
 the letters, and then sent the money to answer that demand. 
 About this time an affair happened which I do not care 
 to pass over. I had a few very fine store pigs in my yard, 
 and a neighbor of mine had the sad hap to lose one, which 
 he had kept for some time for breeding. To repair his 
 loss I made him a present of one of mine, which are of a 
 
212 
 
 THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 very good sort. Two more very poor men in the country, 
 who are obliged to live by faith as well as myself, wanted 
 each of them a pig to keep for the winter, and I made each 
 of them a present of one. A person being sick in the 
 house, had a mind to a bit of one, and I ordered one to be 
 killed ; and, soon after that, a sudden death happened to 
 another ; so that I was obliged to buy two, which cost me 
 five guineas, and not so good as my own. A day or two 
 after this, when I went home, I saw seven fat sheep and a 
 fat lamb in my field. I asked my man where they came 
 from. He said he knew not. " Last night," said* he, " a 
 man brought them, and I told him he had brought them to 
 the wrong place, for I had bought none, and I was sure my 
 master had bought none ; and therefore I desired him to 
 take them back again." The man replied, " Is this Mr. 
 Huntington's house?" The answer was, "Yes, it is." 
 " Then," says the man, " my orders were to drive them 
 here ; and here I will leave them, nor will I drive them any 
 where else." And the man was right. 
 
 Another disaster which befel me was this. The last 
 summer being^ very hot and dry, I had no latter grass to 
 mow. This I feared would fall heavy upon me, as my rowen 
 hay keeps my cows ; and I have sold as much as has brought 
 me in fifty or sixty pounds besides ; but last year I mowed 
 none, and hay being at such an high price, and being also 
 obliged to keep all my cattle on it, I should have little or 
 none to sell of the best sort, and that I should very sensibly 
 feel this. However, when the rains came on, and the latter 
 grass began to spring, some friend sent me two Scotch 
 bullocks ; and another gentleman sent me two Welsh ones : 
 and my foreman advised me to buy four more, which I did 
 at about five pounds ten shillings per head ; and, when I 
 had made them tolerably fat, they fetched me nearly, upon 
 
THE BANK OF FAITH. 213 
 
 an average, twelve pounds ten shillings apiece ; so that this 
 made up the loss of the rovven hay. 
 
 But now another difficulty presented itself to view, 
 and that was the enormous price of malt and hops; malt 
 thirteen shillings per bushel, and hops at four shillings per 
 pound. And we use a great deal of beer in the time of 
 mowing and haymaking; and I like to make it tolerably 
 good, for I cannot endure to see the poor people tread the 
 winepresses and suffer thirst. Job xxiv. 11. And another 
 sad calamity presented itself also, and that was the extrava- 
 gant price of oats, and four horses to keep ; and, though 
 my favorite young horse has been coveted by several, yet I 
 did not care to part with him ; for if I have any hobbies in 
 this world, they are most certainly my gardens and my living 
 creatures. Besides, to sell a horse would look as if the 
 Doctor was sinking in the world. And, to add to all this, 
 the Philistines had lately been upon me ; I mean the tax- 
 gatherers. I am never spared upon this head. I pay some 
 pounds per annum poor's-rates, even for the chapel ; and, 
 upon my appealing to the higher powers to know the cause, 
 a wise man informed me that chapels were nothing but 
 shops, and Lord Mansfield had declared it ; and therefore it 
 must be true. However, many gentlemen are much in the 
 dark about the goods that we shopkeepers deal in ; for, had 
 they ever bought either wine or milk without money and 
 without price, they would set more value upon such a shop 
 than they would upon the Bank of England or the Royal 
 Exchange. 
 
 But, to proceed. Brewing time came on, and no malt ; 
 and, having been shorn by the Philistines, I could procure 
 none. Nevertheless, T expected it from some quarter or 
 other ; for, if we seek the kingdom of God and his right- 
 eousness, all other things are to be added unto us; the 
 28 
 
214 THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 morrow is to take thought for the things of itself. Never- 
 theless, it pleased God to exercise me for some length of 
 time. But I have often observed, that, when the trial has 
 been sharp and long, the blessing has been the more abun- 
 dant when it came, and received with the more gratitude 
 and thankfulness. And, in process of time, the Lord sup- 
 plied all my wants without money and without price ; for 
 two gentlemen; of Ringmer in Sussex, sent me three quar- 
 ters of malt, and one quarter of peas ; another, at Lewes, 
 sent me five quarters of oats ; a gentleman, of Bolney in 
 Sussex, sent me fifteen quarters of oats ; a gentleman, in 
 Bedfordshire, sent me ten quarters of malt, and, since that 
 time, four quarters more ; so that I never was so well pro- 
 vided with beer for haymaking in this world ; and, as God 
 did not send me money to buy it, he sent it to me by the 
 hands of them that would take no money for it. Never 
 since I have been in the world have I known provision to 
 be at such an extortionate price as in the last winter ; nor 
 did God ever send me in such a stock before; my hall was 
 almost filled with sacks of corn. Behold, the eye of the 
 Lord is upon them that fear Jiim, upon them that hope in 
 his mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them 
 alive in famine. Psalm xxxiii. 18, 19. 
 
 I have likewise a few poor pensioners who, under God, 
 look to me for assistance, and hitherto I have been enabled 
 to assist them ; and I think it my duty so to do ; and this 
 labor of love contributes not a little towards bringing on 
 the gout in the pocket. I have also, when it has pleased 
 my heavenly Father to try me on this head pretty sharply, 
 been ready to conclude that the matter must unavoidably 
 terminate in a failure ; and have come to a determination 
 to adopt the mode of the miser, and, for the future, observe 
 every sixpence and every shilling that went out of my 
 
THE BANK OP FAITH. 215 
 
 pocket, and in this way I should bring myself about. But, 
 to the best of my recollection, I never continued one whole 
 day in this mind ; for, as soon as ever God sent it in again, 
 I was like the travailing woman at her deliverance, I re- 
 membered no more the anguish for joy that my good Go<J 
 had appeared again. Farthermore : when providence has 
 seemed long to frown upon me, and God's hand to go out 
 against me, as poor Naomi complains, and I have doubted 
 and feared whether he ever would appear again, the thoughts 
 of parting with my gardens, my cows, my sheep, my horses, 
 fowls, &c., has mortified me not a little; and, when this has 
 been the case, God always holds back the face of his throne, 
 and spreadeth his cloud upon it. Job xxvi. 9. But, when 
 the cross has had the desired effect, and I have been so 
 resigned to his heavenly will as not to give the turn of a 
 straw whether I had a garden or not, or whether I lived in 
 a house or a hovel, the cloud is sure to disperse, and a 
 shower of blessings to attend the dispersion ; so that I have 
 seemed more firmly established in my situation than ever I 
 was before. 
 
 Once more. As the apostle says, All things are for the 
 elect's sake, I really believe it has pleased God to raise me 
 up and send me forth, not only into the ministry, that I 
 might tell them that fear God what he hath done for my 
 soul ; but it hath pleased him to keep me depending on his 
 providence, from hand to mouth, throughout the whole 
 course of my pilgrimage, that I might publish to the church 
 at large, not a recital of what Providence has done for oth- 
 ers, but, as a living witness of the facts, what he has done 
 for me, to encourage the faith of others. And God has so 
 done it that infidelity itself cannot give this my testimony 
 the lie ; for these things were not done in a corner. The 
 persons whom God hath raised up and made use of to assist 
 
216 THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 me in times of need, being in number above five hundred 
 brethren, are all witnesses of these facts, for of these the 
 greater part remain unto this present, but some are 'fallen 
 asleep. Nor have I a single doubt but it is the will of God 
 that I should publish these things. Of this I have had a 
 most glaring proof but this week; for, after I had begun 
 this narrative, and wrote about two thirds of it, I got weary 
 of it, and cold to it, and laid' it aside for two or three 
 months, and seemed to have no inclination to meddle with 
 it any more. But, at the beginning of last week, I had 
 several debts brought to my mind, and set continually before 
 me, and being at the same time under my often infirmity, 
 the gout in the pocket, (I call it the gout ; for, when I have 
 got a little money, I am for going here and there into the 
 country to visit the brethren, and see how they do ; but, 
 when my infirmity is upon me, I am confined to my work 
 in town ;) seeing several debts set before my eyes, and being 
 at the same time afflicted with this disorder, God's hand 
 being quite shut up ever since I returned from Lewes, I 
 cast matters over in my mind, and said, What shall I do ? 
 The answer was, Sit down and finish your Bank of Faith, 
 and God will bless the sale of it, and that will answer pres- 
 ent demands. And, although every circumstance here 
 related was entirely gone both from my mind and memory, 
 having laid it so long aside, and having no heart to meddle 
 with it again, yet, when I came to a determination to shut 
 myself up in town all day long to write, and went to bed 
 with this determination, I no sooner awaked in the morning 
 but almost every circumstance that is related in these fifty 
 or sixty latter pages of the work were all brought to my 
 mind, and set in order before me, so that I had nothing to 
 do but to sit down and write them off hand ; and no sooner 
 had I begun but I found my soul remarkably happy, and 
 
THE BANK OP FAITH. 217 
 
 much delighted in the work ; and I believe the whole of 
 this was done by that sweet Remembrancer who is to bring 
 all things to our remembrance whatsoever Jesus Christ has 
 spoken unto us, whether by chastisements or by comforts, 
 by frowns or by smiles, in providence or in grace. John 
 xiv. 26. 
 
 Moreover, when I have come to some particulars, which 
 I have thought would be disclosing all my secret conflicts 
 to some that hate me, and be an entertainment to those 
 who feed upon ashes, and little better than casting pearls 
 before swine, and rather hurt the consequence of the Doc- 
 tor- than otherwise, a resolution to seek God's honor and 
 his people's good before my own, has been attended with 
 sensible sensations of heavenly comfort, insomuch that my 
 mouth has been often filled with laughter while I have been 
 writing them. I think I shall tire my dear friend with this 
 long scrawl ; but, as the subject is divine goodness to mis- 
 erable sinners, it will allow of no apology, but must be 
 admired by all that seek out God's works, and have pleasure 
 therein. Ever yours, 
 
 W. H. S. S. 
 
LETTER XII. 
 
 TO THE SPARROW ALONE UPON THE HOUSETOP. 
 
 Dearly beloved in the Lord : 
 
 I RECEIVED yours, and was not at all alarmed at the 
 contents. Spiritual desertions are some of the strange 
 things that happen to us. Strange they appear until we 
 come to know that the same are accomplished in all the 
 brethren more or less. It is one way by which God tries 
 the soundness and the sincerity of our hearts. All the 
 vanities of this world, and the glories of it, are presented 
 to our view when the Lord is withdrawn ; but if faith and 
 love be genuine, the soul feels itself crucified to all these ; 
 nothing can repair the loss ; no vanity can fill the vacancy ; 
 no rival can meet with a cordial reception. The new-born 
 soul in such circumstances, is thus described by the prophet : 
 For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and 
 grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast re- 
 fused, saith my God. This soul is described as being 
 called of God, and compared to a woman forsaken of her 
 husband, and a wife of youth, or a young woman whose 
 love was strong : she is grieved in spirit because he refused 
 to dwell with her. This is the description the Lord gives 
 of a young convert under spiritual desertions. But shall 
 the Lord turn away, and not return 1 No : / will never 
 leave thee, I will never forsake thee. It is by his going and 
 coming that we increase in the knowledge of him : his ab- 
 sence makes us mourn and fast, his presence is our joy 
 and banquet. But I must go on with my subject. 
 
 Some little time ago I was invited to preach at a distance 
 from London, the minister of the place being sick. It was 
 
THE BANK OF FAITH. 219 
 
 some time before I could raise the wind, or furnish the 
 pocket for this expedition. However, at last it came in, 
 though I forgot the quarter it came from ; and with about 
 ten pounds I set off, and stayed over two Sabbath days. 
 Just before my departure, a gentleman gave me six guineas, 
 another ten, and two others gave me five guineas each. 
 Another pressed me hard with a farther present, which I 
 refused, being full and abounding. So true is the word of 
 God Where God uses a servant of his td sow spiritual 
 things bountifully, carnal things are as bountifully reaped; 
 and in both senses, they that sow sparingly reap sparingly. 
 The liberal soitl deviseth liberal things, and by liberal 
 things shall he stand. That text hath often been a support 
 and a comfort to me ; and I can set to my seal that God 
 is true. 
 
 But I come now to a disaster which lately befel me. My 
 young horse fell sick about two months ago, and so he con- 
 tinues to be, with little likelihood of his ever recovering. 
 A valuable cow, which cost me fifteen pounds, fell ill, and 
 wasted to a skeleton. My man said that her inside was 
 decayed, so we parted with her for fifty shillings. Another 
 cow proving unfruitful, I was obliged to part with her. 
 About this time a dog came in the night and killed a lamb, 
 and ate up almost the whole of it. Three nights after he 
 came again, and killed five capital ewes, and wounded 
 another lamb. From that time two men, well armed, watch- 
 ed for three or four nights, when about one o'clock in the 
 morning, the dog came again. They both fired at him, and 
 both hit him, and brought him down. He was a terrible 
 creature, of the lurcher and wolf kind ; but he met with 
 his just deserts. I have just received a lawyer's letter de- 
 manding payment for the dog. All these things are against 
 me. But not many days after this the Lord sent me, by 
 
220 THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 different hands, twenty-seven pounds ten shillings, and thus 
 repaired my loss. Poor Jacob had many of his flock torn 
 by wild beasts, and some stolen by day and some by night; 
 and Laban made him bear the loss of them all ; but God's 
 blessing upon him always repaired his losses; and though 
 his wages were changed ten times, he went home to his 
 country two bands. I have often observed that in whatever 
 we take the most delight, there the calamity generally falls. 
 I long since saw this in the death of four or five of my 
 children, and I see it now ; for it is my favorite horse that 
 is sick, and my little flock, that are the principal part of 
 my hobby; and it is among these that the slaughter was 
 made. 
 
 I must now drop a few observations that I have made 
 upon Providence, which I hope will not be tedious nor dis- 
 agreeable to my dearly beloved friend ; I mean with respect 
 to such things as have often appeared to fulfil the desires 
 of my heart when I dared not, when I could not muster up 
 courage enough to ask or to pray for them. For instance : 
 soon after my deliverance I went to hear the word at Kings- 
 ton upon Thames, where I sometimes heard a gentleman 
 from London who was something of an orator ; and his 
 oratory had such an effect upon me, that I often wished I 
 had but property enough, I would carry that person at my 
 own expense all over the nation, that he might spread the 
 gospel of the Saviour in every place. And yet I never got 
 any comfort or establishment from his ministry, but the 
 contrary ; for I was sure to return home in legal bondage 
 whenever I heard him. This served to give me a little in- 
 sight into the deception and vanity of human oratory with- 
 out the power of divine grace. Now, though I never dared 
 to ask the Almighty for riches to enable me thus to do, yet 
 he soon afterwards opened my mouth to tell others what he 
 
THE BANK OF FAITH. 221 
 
 had done for me ; and it hath pleased God to give testimony 
 to the word of his grace. And thus the desires of the 
 righteous shall be granted. Prov. x. 24. 
 
 Another thing I much desired was, that I might be enabled 
 to build a house of prayer for the Lord, to show the love and 
 regard I had to him for his manifold mercies to me, though I 
 never dared to ask God to enable me to do any such thing. Yet 
 it fell out about two or three years afterwards, that a per- 
 son at Worpolsdon, near Guildford in Surrey, offered to give 
 a bit of ground and an old barn, and to secure it for the 
 good of the Lord's cause, if I could collect the sum of forty 
 pounds to build a meeting. I did so, and the place was 
 soon erected ; but the person who took upon himself to see 
 the writing executed, and the place secured, neglected it ; 
 and soon after, the man on whose ground the place was 
 built, lost his wife, and taking a liking to a woman of 
 some property, who was of the baptist persuasion, went 
 into the water; and after that the place was taken away 
 from me, and a baptist minister admitted in my room, where 
 he continued but a few weeks, for most of the people fol- 
 lowed me to another place. 
 
 Before I was turned out of this little meeting, the Lord 
 showed me what was coming on, and sent me these two 
 passages of scripture : Because he hath oppressed and hath 
 forsaken the poor ; because he hath violently taken away 
 an house which he buildeth not; surely he shall not feel qui- 
 etness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired; 
 Job xx. 19, 20. And, Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil 
 shall not depart from his house. Prov. xvii. 13. Previous to 
 my being turned out of the meeting I opened my thoughts 
 and views to the person on whose ground the meeting was 
 built, and told him all. that I saw coming on, as it respected 
 himself: that he was going to be married; that he must go 
 
222 THE BANK OF FAITH. 
 
 into the water before the woman would have him ; and that 
 afterwards he would take the place from me. And in this 
 I believe I told him all the intentions of his heart. He 
 wept, and said, " God forbid ! " But very soon afterwards 
 he fulfilled the prediction. And when I received my orders 
 to come there no more, I told him that evil would never 
 depart from his house. To which he replied, " It is a light 
 thing to be judged of you, or of man's judgment." How- 
 ever, soon afterwards Godsent an evil spirit among the few 
 that abode there, and divided and scattered them into all 
 winds. The premises were sold, and my little meeting 
 was sold also, for a place to put corn in. Nor did that man 
 ever prosper afterwards as long as he lived; and he died a 
 few years after this affair happened. 
 
 We afterwards built a little place at Working in Surrey, 
 and I collected about twenty-five pounds towards that ; and 
 the word is preached there to this day. Soon after, I col- 
 lected about forty pounds towards building one at Sunbury 
 in Middlesex ; and not long after, the Lord enabled me to 
 build Providence Chapel in London. In these things God 
 fulfilled the desires of my heart, though I could not muster 
 up courage to pray for them. 
 
 Farthermore, I long wished to have a situation where 
 there was plenty of garden-ground, as I understood garden- 
 ing, and found that buying garden stuff for a large family 
 took a deal of money. And it has pleased my God to grant 
 me this also : He will fulfil the desire of them that fear 
 him. Psalm cxlv. 19. 
 
 I must mention two more of the desires of my heart, if 
 my dear friend is not weary of these things. I much wished 
 for a place with two or three acres of land, being desirous 
 of keeping a cow, as there is no such thing as good milk to 
 be got in London, and milk is a very useful article in a large 
 
THE BANK OFFAITH. 223 
 
 family. I aimed no higher than a dairy of one cow, and 
 for years tried hard to get such a situation, and had nearly 
 accomplished it once, by taking a house in Cravon-hill, near 
 Bayswater, but was disappointed, and therefore gave up all 
 expectations of it. But not long after I was settled where 
 I now am ; and instead of one cow, the Lord sent me four. 
 
 Once more. Preaching once a week in the city, it often 
 happened in the winter season, that it rained or snowed on 
 the nights of my being there. At such times it was seldom 
 that a hackney-coach could be got, being generally all taken 
 up ; so that I was obliged frequently to walk to Paddington. 
 And not a few deplorable wet journeys have I had of this 
 sort, which made me often wish that my circumstances 
 would enable me to engage a glass-coach statedly for two or 
 three nights in the week. But how this desire was granted, 
 and exceeded by the gift of the coach and horses, I have 
 related before. 
 
 I have one more reigning desire in my heart, that has 
 been there for many years, which has never yet oeen fully 
 granted, though I really believe it will in God's own time 
 and way ; and when it is accomplished, perhaps my dear 
 friend may hear from me again. Till then, farewell. Be 
 of good comfort, and the God of peace shall be with thee. 
 
 Ever thine in faith and affection. 
 
 W. H. S.S. 
 
 THE END. 
 

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