Convinced that affliction is never sent without design, and that all "who will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution," he meekly resigns himself to the compassionate mercies of his Saviour, in life submissive, in death trustful. On the other hand, I have endeavoured faithfully to discharge the duty intrusted to me by warning the impenitent amongst you, whom I have visited in sickness and in health, of the danger and fatal consequences of living and dying in your sins, as well as of the hardihood and ingratitude of resisting the loving mercy and kind rebukes of an Almighty and gracious God, who willeth not the death of a sinner," but that all should come unto him by his Son, Jesus Christ, repent of their sins, and believe in him for the pardon and forgiveness of them (Rom. ii., 4, 5; Isa. Īv., 7.)

In short, I have dwelt amongst you with no other object or intention than to be your friend and pastor, and to commune with you upon all fitting opportunities respecting the things concerning your everlasting salvation. For the first five years after the consecration of our church, a very marked alteration in this place, moral and spiritual, was apparent, and gratefully acknowledged by every unprejudiced and well conducted inhabitant; a very evident outward reformation was produced in many, and in others concern for the soul awakened. Groups of thoughtless fathers, dissolute youths, and neglected children, uneducated, unadmonished, and unnoticed, formerly accustomed to spend a great part of the Lord's-day in idle indulgence, or in lying and wandering about upon the Common or elsewhere, in the dirt and filth of sin, a disgrace to themselves, and an annoyance to others; or the two former classes, habituated to spend the remainder of the sacred day at some neighbouring public house or beer-shop, in total disregard of any observance of the Sabbath, came to church, and parents placed their children under proper training at our schools. And, I most heartily ex

press my belief and conviction, that wherever a church is planted, and Church of England principles are fully, actively, and prayerfully carried out, God's blessing will always follow; and I think that every true patriot, every well-wisher to the best and vital interests of his country, must gratefully appreciate the numberless advantages which are derived from the public worship of God, the work of the ministry, the abundant reading of the scriptures in our church, which are presented every returning Sabbath, in every parish throughout the kingdom, to all ranks of society, and especially to the poor of the land. Oh, who can estimate the blessings of an Established Church, so constituted by pure doctrines, and needful discipline, to teach the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, to check sin, to prevent misery, to promote order and regularity, to produce holiness, and to diffuse happiness throughout districts, and countries, and nations. I esteem it an honour, and would desire to kindle in others a delight so pleasurable to myself, to be a member of the Church of England, and am thankful to express my devotion and attachment to her rights and formularies; because they are so agreeable with the revealed will of God, and so conducive to the edification and salvation of souls; because they propound holy doctrines, and enforce holy practice; because they so plainly declare the fallen and perishing condition of sinners, and everywhere preach a full salvation, through justifying faith in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ; because they are so devotional that every pious worshipper must fervently join in them; because they are so simple as to be understood by the most uninstructed, and yet so full as to suit all cases, tending to impart knowledge to the ignorant, health to the sick, strength to the weak, and comfort to " all sorts and conditions of men;" because, in short, they are the safeguards, and bulwarks, and preservatives of a christian country, inculcating the fear and knowledge of God, love to Christ, sanctifica

tion of heart and life by the grace of the Holy Spirit, obedience to all in authority, whether it be to the sovereign on the throne, or the pitiable pauper parent in a union-house, kindness and liberality to the poor, honesty in all the transactions of life, sympathy for the afflicted and distressed, and good-will to all, in every rank and station.

All these benefits and mercies have been, by the blessing of God and the benevolence of the neighbourhood, friendly to our national religion and institutions, placed within your reach, for nearly nine years, by the planting of our church, together with many other spiritual and temporal blessings, the natural offspring of Church principles, viz: the erection of a school-house for a daily Infant school, and two Sunday schools, besides an Evening school for boys, and a Working school for girls, connected with which is a library of religious and instructive books, open to all who choose to read them. Other benefits, also, though of inferior importance, yet highly conducive to the temporal welfare and comfort of the place, have been afforded by the Church's influence: a road across the common, cottage gardens, and the formation and establishment of a club upon religious principles, which affords relief in times of sickness and bereavement, to numbers of the surrounding neighbourhood of the industrious and wellconducted labourers.

I recite these benefits for the alone purposes of awakening your gratitude for the great things which have been done for you by the Church, and for rekindling in you that spiritual movement which, as I have said, appeared for the first five years, to have been produced in many.

But alas! my friends, I am grieved to remark, that since that time you seem to have lost your former serious impressions, and to have fallen into a formal, careless, unprofitable state of mind. You appear no longer either to relish or value, as you once did, the

public preaching of the gospel, or the private reading and expounding of the word of God. Those things which once were, in a measure, "the joy and rejoicing of your heart," have become tasteless and unpalatable. And, as nothing can be a surer sign of bodily indisposition than loss of appetite, so nothing declares the state of the soul more than disrelish for the bread of life. So painfully, indeed, has this impression of your indifference to religious duties dwelt upon my mind, that as long ago as June last, after much prayerful consideration, I signified to the patrons of this incumbency, my intention of resigning, at Lady-day in the present year, my pastoral charge, conceiving, and earnestly hoping, that a change of ministry might at least be one means of rousing you to more serious thought and reflection, and of bringing you to a more feeling sense of the drowsy insensibility, the carnal security, the animal indulgence, and the general indifference to the means of grace, which, for the last three or four years especially, I have perceived to have so lamentably prevailed amongst you. These evils, you must acknowledge, are so dishonourable to a good and gracious God, so discouraging to a lover of souls, and so injurious, and, if persisted in, so fatal to your eternal welfare, that if you are conscious of their existence in yourselves, you will not be offended at my thus expressing to you the plain but humbling truth. Some of you may, perhaps, say, we are not worse than others! Very true; but are you less excusable on that account? Shall not every individual, of all the millions of souls, from the beginning to the end of time, answer for himself, singly, in the great day of account (Rom ii., 6; Gal. vi., 7; Eph. vi., 8; Col. iii,, 24, 25; Rev. xxii., 12.) Doctrinal points, however, are not so much my present object as a wish to express to you my grief and anxiety for your apparent disregard to God and your own souls, and allusion to subjects more immediately connected with our spiritual relation as minister and people. And

I trust I can, with sincerity, affirm that, whilst I thus lament your spiritual deadness, I desire, at the same time, to take my full share of humiliation that this fearful state of mind has, in any measure, been unrestrained by my own want of activity and watchfulness; but freely confessing my own remissness, my work here, independent of the satisfactory and flourishing state of the schools in connection with the church, has been so little encouraging since the time I have mentioned, that I had quite resolved to give place to some other minister, who, by fervency of devotion, prayerful exertion, power of preaching, clearness of evangelical views, freshness of argument, persuasiveness of doctrine, or some other means which the God of all grace uses as instruments in converting souls, might happily win you to a more lively consideration of your danger; and, consequently, awaken in you a more ardent desire and thirst for spiritual knowledge and growth in grace. But, as nearly a year has now elapsed, and no appointment been made, much difficulty having been experienced in filling the vacancy created by my anticipated removal, I have, at the kind suggestion of influential friends, consented to remain at Chipperfield

And now, secondly, I would beseech you earnestly and affectionately, my friends, to unite with me in special prayer that the renewal of my services, which I have no other desire or expectation should terminate but with life, may both increase in me more anxious solicitude faithfully to discharge the sacred trust committed to me, and, also, produce in you such a revival of God's converting and sanctifying grace, as effectually to rouse the slumbering, quicken the dead in sin, confirm the wavering, encourage the faint-hearted, and enable all "to be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might."

Amid the various means conducive to this important end, I beg to direct your attention to the three follow