Thur. 18.-About one I preached at Beercrocomb. About five we reached Bridgewater. We expected much tumult here, the great vulgar stirring up the small. But we were disappointed. The very week before our coming, the grand jury had found the bill against the rioters, who had so often assaulted Mary Lockyer's house. This, and the awe of God, which fell upon them, kept the whole congregation quiet and serious. Before I preached, my strength was quite exhausted, and I was exceeding feverish through mere fatigue. But in riding to Middlesey I revived; and in the morning, Friday, 19, I rose quite well: "My strength will I ascribe unto thee." After a long morning's ride we came to Mr. Star's, at Waywick. Mr. S., a neighbouring gentleman, who not long since hired a mob to make a disturbance, coming in, Mrs. Star detained him till the time of preaching. He seemed struck much more than the congregation. In the evening we came to Bristol.

Mon. 22.-At eleven I preached at Paulton; about two at Oakhill; and in the evening at Coleford. Tues. 23.-I went on to Rood, where the mob threatened loud. I determined, however, to look them in the face; and at twelve I cried, to the largest congregation by far which I I had ever seen in these parts, "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near." The despisers stood as men astonished, and neither spoke nor stirred till I had concluded my sermon. Between five and six I preached at Bearfield; the next evening at Blewberry. While I was afterward meeting the society, one grievous backslider, who had been for some time as in the belly of hell, was struck to the earth, and roared aloud. He ceased not till God restored the pearl he had lost.-Does not our God “abundantly pardon?"

Thur. 25.-I came to Wycomb. It being the day on which the mayor was chosen, abundance of rabble, full of strong drink, came to the preaching on purpose to disturb. But they soon fell out among themselves; so that I finished my sermon in tolerable quiet.

Fri. 26.-Mr. B. went to the mayor and said, "Sir, I come to inform against a common swearer. I believe he swore a hundred oaths last night; but I marked down only twenty." "Sir," said the mayor, "you do very right in bringing him to justice. What is his name?" He replied, "R- D" "RD!" answered the mayor; "why, that is my son!"-" Yes, sir," said Mr. B., “so I understand."—"Nay sir," said he, "I have nothing to say in his defence. If he breaks the law, he must take what follows."

Sat. October 4.-My brother and I took up our cross, and talked largely with Mr. G. But he still insisted, 1. That there was no repentance at all, antecedent to saving faith: 2. That naked faith alone was the only condition of everlasting salvation: and, 3. That no works need be preached at all, neither were necessary either before or after faith. We took horse at nine, and soon after one came to Sevenoaks. After refreshing ourselves a little, we went to an open place near the free school, where I declared, to a large, wild company, "There is no difference; for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." They grew calmer and calmer till I had done, and then went quietly away. As we returned, a poor Shimei came to meet us, bitterly curs

ing and blaspheming. But we walked straight on, and even his companions, the mob, neither laughed nor opened their mouth.

Sun. 5.-I preached in the church at Shoreham, morning and afternoon. The congregation seemed to understand just nothing of the But God can give them understanding in his time.

matter.

Thur. 9.-The day of public thanksgiving for the victory at Culloden, was to us a day of solemn joy.

Sat. 11.-I had the pleasure of spending an hour with Mr. P. He said, "I rejoiced greatly when the Count came over, hoping now I should understand the truth of the matter; and I went to hear him, full of expectation. His text was, Neither do I condemn thee.' He began, The Saviour says, I came not to destroy the law: but the fact is contrary; for he does destroy it. It is plain, the law condemned this woman, but the Saviour does not condemn her. Again, the law commands to keep the Sabbath holy; but the Saviour did not keep it holy. Nay, God himself does not keep the law. For the law says, Put away all lying. But God said, Nineveh shall be destroyed; yet Nineveh was not destroyed.' The whole sermon was of the same thread. I understood him well, and do not desire to hear him any more."

Sat. 26.—I buried the body of George Adams, a child about twelve years old. He is the first of the children brought up at our school, whom God has called to himself. From the time God manifested his love to him, he was eminently of a meek and quiet spirit. And as he lived, so he died in sweet peace.

Sat. November 1.-I dined at J- E's. Is not this a brand plucked out of the burning? Has there been one in our memory that so signalized himself as an enemy to all serious, inward religion? But it is past. He was going out on pleasure as usual; his foot slipped, and, as he was falling, a thought came, "What if, instead of falling to the earth, thou hadst now died and fallen into hell?" He heard and acknowledged the voice of God, and began to seek his face.

Wed. 12.-In the evening, at the chapel, my teeth pained me much. In coming home, Mr. Spear gave me an account of the rupture he had had for some years, which, after the most eminent physicians had declared it incurable, was perfectly cured in a moment. I prayed with submission to the will of God. My pain ceased, and returned no more.

Sun. 16.-I was desired to pray with one in despair. I had never seen her before, but soon found she was a sensible woman, and well acquainted with the theory of religion; yet when I spoke to her some of the principles of Christianity, she cried out, as if she had never heard them before, "Hear! He says I may be saved! He says God loves me! Christ died for me! And that I may live with him in heaven! O then, what is this world? What is life, what is pain? I do not care for it. Let me die; let me suffer any thing here, so I may but live with Christ in heaven." About this time I received a remarkable account from Grimsby, in Lincolnshire :

"William Blow, John Melton, and Thomas Wilkinson, were going, on Friday last, in a boat on the sea near Grimsby. John Melton could swim exceeding well, but William Blow not at all. When they were about half a league from the shore, they were both beat overboard. John

Melton sunk to the bottom like a stone. William Blow sunk and rose several times, and was in the water near a quarter of an hour before Thomas Wilkinson could get near him. At last he saw his hand above the water. He then struck down his boat hook at a venture, and caught him by the flap of his coat, and pulled him to the boat side. He was quite sensible, and said, 'Tommy, I am afraid you can't get me in.'—' Ñay, then,' said Thomas, 'we will sink together, for I will not let thee go.' At last he did get him in, and brought him safe to land.

"We asked, how he could keep in the water so long, and not be drowned: he said, God gave him that thought to keep his mouth shut, and when he was almost choked, he gave a spring up, and got a little breath. I asked him, how he felt himself when he was under water; if he was not afraid of death? He answered, No; his soul was lifted up unto the Lord, and he freely resigned himself into his hands."

I received, likewise, from several of our brethren abroad, an account of the deliverance God had lately wrought for them :

"Bush of Brabant.

"REV. SIR,-I have long had a desire to write, but had not an opportunity till we came to our winter quarters. When we came over we thought we should have had brother Haime with us, as formerly; but we were disappointed. We were about three weeks upon our march, and endured a great deal through the heat of the weather, and for want o. water. At Villear camp, we lay so near the enemy, and were forced to mount so many guards, that we had hardly any time to ourselves, nor had John Haime time to meet with us. We left this camp in twelve or fourteen days' time, and wherever we marched, we had the French always in our view; only a few days, when we were marching through woods, and over high mountains. Coming back to Maestricht, at some camps we have lain so near the enemy, that their sentries and ours have taken snuff with one another; having then no orders to fire at or hurt each other. But the day we came off we found it otherwise; for at eleven o'clock the night before, orders came for us to be ready to turn out an hour before day, which was the 30th of September. At day break orders came to our regiment, and Colonel Graham's, to advance about a mile and a half toward the French. We were placed in a little park, and Graham's regiment in another, to the right of us. We lay open to the French; only we cut down the hedge breast high, and filled it up with loose earth. Thus we waited for the enemy several hours, who came first with their right wing upon the Dutch, that were upon our left. They engaged in our sight, and fired briskly upon each other, cannon and small shot for two hours. Then the Dutch, being overpowered, gave way, and the French advanced upon us, and marched a party over the ditch, on the left of Graham's, and fell in upon them; notwithstanding our continual firing, both with our small arms and four pieces of cannon. So when the French had got past us, our regiment retreated, or we should have been surrounded. In our retreat we faced about twice, and fired on the enemy, and so came off with little loss; though they fired after us with large cannon shot; I believe four-andtwenty pounders.

"We lost one brother of Graham's regiment, and two of ours,—Andrew Paxton, shot dead in our retreat, and Mark Bend, who was wounded, and left on the field. The Lord gave us all on that day an extraordinary courage, and a word to speak to our comrades, as we advanced toward the enemy, to tell them how happy they were that had made their peace with God. We likewise spoke to one another while the cannon were firing, and we could all rely on God, and resign ourselves to his will.

"A few of us meet here twice a day; and, thanks be to God, his grace

is still sufficient for us. We desire all our brethren to praise God on our behalf. And we desire all your prayers, that the Lord may give us to be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. I remain

"October 17.

"Your loving brother,

S.S."

Nearly the same account we received a few days before, in a letter from the camp near Maestricht. Part of this ran as follows:

"Ever since the 22d of July, our army and the French have lain so close, and marched so close together, that we have expected them to come upon us almost every night, and have had, for many nights, strict orders not to take off our accoutrements, but to be ready to turn out at a minute's warning. And almost every day, some of our out guards have had skirmishes with them. On September 29, at night, Prince Charles had intelligence that they designed to fall upon us with all their force. So we had orders to be ready, and at break of day our regiment and Graham's were ordered to march in the front of the army, with two Hessian, two Hanoverian, and a part of the Dutch. We marched a mile forward into little parks and orchards, a village being between us and our army: in this posture we remained about three hours, while their right wing was engaged with the Dutch, the cannon playing every where all this time. But we were all endued with strength and courage from God, so that the fear of death was taken away from us. And when the French came upon us, and overpowered us, we were troubled at our regiment's giving way, and would have stood our ground, and called to the rest of the regiment, to stop and face the enemy, but to no purpose. In the retreat we were broke; yet after we had retreated about a mile, we rallied twice and fired again. When we came where we thought the army was, they were all gone. So we marched good part of the night; and the next day, about four o'clock, we came to this camp. We left our brother Mark Bend in the field; whether he be alive or dead we cannot tell; but the last of our brothers that spoke to him, after he was wounded, found him quite resigned to the will of God. We that he has spared a little longer, desire you to return thanks to God for all his mercies to us."

AN EXTRACT

OF THE

REV. MR. JOHN WESLEY'S JOURNAL

FROM NOVEMBER 25, 1746, TO JULY 20, 1749

JOURNAL.-No. VII.

TUESDAY, November 25, 1746.-I laboured much to convince one who had known me for several years, that she had "left her first love," and was in the utmost danger of losing the things which she had wrought; but she was proof against argument as well as persuasion, and very civilly renounced all fellowship with me, because, she said, I was disaffected to the government. O what will not those either believe or assert, who are resolved to defend a desperate cause!

Sun. 30.-John Jones (late a zealous Calvinist) preached for the first time at the Foundery. I trust he will never rest, till He who "died for all" hath "cleansed him from all unrighteousness."

Thur. December 4.-I mentioned to the society my design of giving physic to the poor. About thirty came the next day, and in three weeks about three hundred. This we continued for several years, till, the number of patients still increasing, the expense was greater than we could bear meantime, through the blessing of God, many who had been ill for months or years, were restored to perfect health.

Mon. 8.-This week I read the Collection of Tracts published by Mr. John Fresenius, one of the ministers at Frankfort, concerning Count Zinzendorf and his people commonly called Moravians. He writes both like a gentleman and a Christian; with mildness, good nature, and good manners; and yet with all plainness of speech, so as to place their pride, guile, and various errors, in the clearest and strongest light.

Mon. 15.--Most of this week I spent at Lewisham in writing "Lessons for Children;" consisting of the most practical Scriptures, with a very few, short, explanatory notes. Sat. 20.-I had a visit from Mr. Bland, an accurate master of the Hebrew tongue; but how exceeding far from the judgment of Mr. Hutchinson! He avers, (and thinks he has demonstrated, in a tract on that head lately published,) that both the vowel and accent points are absolutely essential to the Hebrew language; and that they are far elder than Ezra, yea, coeval with the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. Thursday, 25, was a day of great consolation.