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THE PREACHER'S PROGRESS.

him to the fatal drop. on the scaffold, I then heart-sickening scene. will declare.

In the year 1825 the to Pin Somerset.

He leaned on my arm till we arrived bade him a final farewell, and left the The results of these labours "the day"

committee removed me from COne of their agents had resided here for some time, but did not succeed; and the labour of that extensive field being excessive, he resigned. I found it indeed to be as a gloomy desert or a barren wilderness; and for some time I seemed to plough on a rock. But there were in the neighbourhood a few respectable and pious friends who liberally supported the cause of the Redeemer, and cheered me on in the work of the Lord-and this lightened my burden, and softened my cares. And I hope ever to remember, with grateful emotions, the sympathy and affection they manifested towards me during a most painful operation and a protracted affliction. After labouring here for several years, amidst much discouragement, the Lord appeared for us in a remarkable manner by inclining the heart of a well-known Baronet to grant us a piece of land in his park, adjoining the town, for the purpose of building a chapel and a dwelling-house for the minister, and the friends in the town and neighbourhood subscribed liberally. Many, very many anxious days and sleepless nights did I experience during the erection. At last the top-stone was brought forth, and the chapel opened, with every prospect of success. I entered my new habitation, and, perhaps, in the pride of my heart, said, "I shall die in my nest," when a storm arose, which shook violently the tree, and sent me tumbling to the ground! About this time the Slave Emancipation and Reform Bills were introduced into parliament, and believing them to be just and righteous, I felt it my duty to take an active part in the proceedings then going on; but so doing offended the tory lord of the manor, and also some of those who supported me, one of whom said, "He wants to bring over the negroes to eat us all up!" They thought that a minister of the gospel ought not to engage in what they called politics, while to me it appeared, clear as if written with a sunbeam, that the performance of civil duties cannot be neglected without great injury to the cause of pure and undefiled religion. For the part I took in advocating liberal measures, the opposite party dressed me up in effigy, and I was paraded through the town with a band of music, and the mob was liberally regaled with beer in the different public-houses. I was then, in effigy, locked up in the

THE PREACHER'S PROGRESS.

town gaol, and without trial, condemned to be hanged at the new-drop, on the top of the market-house. After hanging the usual time, the effigy was cut down, and dragged to the castle of the proprietor, and burned in the park, while the great man sat at his window enjoying the auto-da-fe.

The Committee, whose agent I was, deemed it prudent, under these circumstances, to remove me to another station; but not approving of the arrangement, and being called to experience a very severe domestic trial, after labouring there for a few months, I gave up my connection with the Society.

It is gratifying to me to know that I was succeeded at Mby a minister whose labours have been owned of God, and who is highly esteemed by the people, who support him themselves. Surely the wrath of man shall praise him, and the remainder of wrath he will restrain."

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In taking a retrospect of my course I see cause for deep humility and contrition of spirit before God. But I have much to be thankful for. "By the grace of God I am what I am." I would glory only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I have passed through deep waters of sorrow, and drank deep from affliction's bitter cup, still I have been supported by the faithful promise, Isaiah iii. 2, 3. I have to be thankful that most of my dear relatives are now brought to the knowledge of the truth, and have cast in their lot with the once despised dissenters in my native town.

I have also to be thankful for a partner in life who has sympathized with me in my sufferings and sorrows, and who willingly renounced the advantages of the world for the cause of Christ. I have cause to be thankful too, that although I have been tossed to and fro on life's troublous sea, through divine favour, I have thus far weathered the gale, and am now moored in a peaceful port, and have a good hope that when the voyage of life is ended, I shall enter the port of eternal rest, "Where all the ship's company meet,

Who sail'd with their Captain beneath;
With shoutings each other they greet,
And triumph o'er trouble and death."

The language of my heart is now, and I hope ever will be while I continue on earth :

"Let my few remaining days,
Be devoted to thy praise;
Then the last, the closing scene,
Shall be tranquil and serene."

C.

POETRY. ANECDOTES, SELECTIONS, and 'gems.

Poetry.

POWER OF THE PRESS.

STERN Tyranny has quail'd before its glance,
And manacles have dropp'd at its behest
From many a withered hand. The chain that held
The injured negro in felonious power,

Has felt the touch of its imperial wand,

And crumbled into ashes. Kings' have watched,
With throbbing eye-balls, what the press declar'd,
And from the spirit of the oracle,

Have drawn the limits of their royal range.
The closet plan of regal enterprize,
For casting fetters on the human mind,
Has by the press been scatter'd to the winds,
Or stamp'd beneath its more than giant foot.
The statesman, trained to national intrigue,

Who play'd the spend-thrift with his country's wealth,
To aggrandize his fawning satellites,

Has felt the whip of an indignant press;

And writhed beneath the stinging chastisement.
In Church or State the trophies of its power,
In leading Truth amidst the light of day,
And fixing on her fair and noble form
The gaze of many a lover, stand admir'd
By every heart that claims a patriot's name.
And Liberty, the atmosphere of mind,
The breath Intelligence must draw or die,
May date the year of her nativity,

By that which rang the knell of Europe's night,
And brought to birth the wonders of the press!

Our Era.

Anecdotes, Selections, and Gems.

THE VILLAGE WAKE.-The village wake is still kept up, and is the occasion of much personal, domestic, and social mischief. If we review the feasting, drinking, bowling, swearing, revelling, quarreling, fighting, waste of money, and waste of time, the evil will be evident. Only think of a little village, which ought to be as quiet and friendly as a comfortable family, every year being disgraced with such vices as these, and needing two or three policemen to watch the beer-shop door! But there are too frequently other vices that follow in the train, which we shall leave to be disclosed at the awful judgment day, before the angels of heaven and hell, and all the raised dead! When a week's wages have been spent at the wake, it takes some time to fetch them up; and if this is deter

ANECDOTES, SELECTIONS, AND GEMS.

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mined on, there must be many a pinch and many a black look perhaps, before it can be done. What can a man's conscience say to him, when one of his children runs up to him and says, "Oh, father, what is the matter with your eyes, how black they look ?" And then, there is his wife, looking first at his wounds and bruises, and then upon a dish of potatoes and salt, all there is for dinner; and then they blame the wake. Oh, poor, blind, wayward, and miserable men! They hate themselves at such times. But, alas, there are other persons who keep the wake. You may see old women, young women, boys and girls, there. They have their "little drops," the old lame squeaking fidler, the wanton song, and the midnight dance. Here is a scene! What comes out of this? Why, young people begin to undergo an awful change for the worse. Vile passions are inflamed. Thoughts, wishes, words and actions, succeed each other so rapidly, that shame, suffering, and woe, are the inevitable consequences. What a pity that mothers and fathers, should perpetuate customs which promote the demoralization and ruin of their children. What will they say, if by and bye, they should follow their children into "the bottomless pit," and have to endure its endless agonies! Oh, what can people be thinking about? They must surely forget the judgment! The wages of sin is death." "The wicked go on and are punished." Consider your ways," saith the Prophet Haggai i. 5. Consider your past and present conduct. Consider your obligations to God. Consider what will become of you in the future everlasting world. Think upon Jesus Christ. Think upon the fact that man is the most remarkable being on earth. In his existence, activity, sensibility, wants, and sense of kindness and cruelty, he is not far above the material and brute creation. The rock and the tree exist-the engine and vessel move-the ass and the mule feel, and are sensible of kindness and of cruelty as well as he. But none of these possess a self-regulating principle. In this man is singular. He only has a mind and a conscience. Gravity governs the rock-light, heat, air, and moisture, contribute to the developement of vegetable life -the wind drives the vessel across the sea-steam hurries the flying engine-instinct rules the beasts that perish-but the knowledge of right and wrong, consideration and reflection, regret and remorse, responsibility and accountability, a future world of bliss or woe; all these belong to every human being. Man is a nobler or baser being than the meaner creatures, just in proportion as he does or does not shape his character according to the end for which God made him, and gave him a conscience and a bible. "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider."-Isaiah i. 3. A man ought to feel that he is degraded by his sins, and therefore all customs kept up on purpose to make men more vile, ought to be abandoned and despised. Every person who may for a time be merry at the wake, will one day bitterly lament it. Then at once,

ANECDOTES, SELECTIONS, AND GEMS.

"Consider your ways." Are your ways right or wrong? Are they honourable or disgraceful? Are they beneficial or injurious? Will they lead you to heaven or to hell? Are you walking in the way of the glutton, the drunkard, the liar, the thief, the profane, the quarrelsome, the revengeful, the infidel, the scorner, or in the way of the Lord? Do you serve yourself, or the devil, or the Most High God? Are you holy, happy, and useful; or are you wicked, miserable, and degraded? You had better consider these things, and remember that, "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God," Psalms ix. 17; but "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." Mark xvi, 16.

Dunchurch. J. K. WICKED OLD MEN.-Not all old men enjoy God's favour and presence. There are some tottering on the grave, who are yet wicked: yea, ripe in wickedness, mercenary, deceitful, crafty, and oppressive; even those sins which they can no longer act, through a failure in their natural powers, they will recal in their defiled imaginations, and repeat in conversations, to the corrupting of youth. Ah, wicked old man! God will cast you off. Age, itself entitles you to no respect from man, nor will you find mercy from God. Think particularly of two passages-The sinner a hundred years old, shall be accursed-God shall wound the hairy scalp of him who goeth on still in his trespasses.Isaiah lxv. 20; Psalms lxviii. 21. ANDREW FUller.

THE GOOD WIFE.-No man ever prospered in the world without the co-operation of his wife. If she unites in mutual endeavours, or rewards his labour with an endearing smile, with what confidence will he resort to his merchandise or his farm; or fly over lands; sail upon the seas; meet difficulty and encounter danger, if he knows he is not spending his strength in vain, but that his labour will be rewarded by the sweets of home! Solitude and disappointment enter the history of every man's life; and he is but half provided for his voyage, who finds but an associate for happy hours, while for his months of darkness and distress no sympathizing partner is prepared.

A SMILE. Who can tell the value of a smile? It costs the giver nothing, but is beyond price to the erring and relenting, the sad and cheerless, the lost and forsaken. It disarms malice-subdues temper-turns hatred to love-envy to kindness-and paves the darkest paths with gems of sun-light. A smile on the brow betrays a kind heart, a pleasant friend, an affectionate brother, a dutiful son, a happy husband. It adds a charm to beauty, decorates the face of the deformed, and makes lovely woman resemble the angel of paradise.

THE HYPOCRITE.-It is always winter with the hypocrite, in his formal, lifeless services, and yet sometimes his leaf doth never fall. He is like the box tree that knows no fruit, and yet its leaves are always green," RICHARD BAXTER.

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