prelates treated Cennick not only with civility but kindness, and the bishop of Down gave him a pressing invitation to preach in the southern and western parts of Ireland.

By the end of November, 1751, a large and well-built chapel was finished and opened for public worship; and on the 28th of March, 1755, the usual regulations of a Country congregation in union with the Brethren's Church, were introduced at Ballinderry, during a visitation of bishop Watteville. In Kilwarlin, Dromore, Crosshill, and other places, societies were established and affiliated to this congregation. Some pious people in the village of Kilkeel, in the mountains of Mourne, were likewise visited from Ballinderry, and in the sequel formed into a society, built a chapel, and obtained a resident minister.

In the county of Armagh the principal society was formed in the village of Drumargan, consisting, in 1752, of one hundred and six members. Here and in the adjacent villages of Cookhill and Derryscallop chapels were built the same year, and laborers appointed for the district, who resided at Drumargan. October 5th, 1757, during the visitation of bishop Watteville, this society received its regular organization as a Country congrega tion in union with the Brethren's Church.

In the county of Derry the Brethren formed a society in the townland of Lisnamara, which, in 1751, amounted to seventy members, among whom there were several who had left the Roman Catholic communion. A chapel was built here, and likewise at Artrea in the county of Tyrone, eight miles distant. The society was provided with a resident minister; and October 10th, 1759, thirty-one members were formed into a Country congregation, among whom some, who had formerly belonged to the Roman Catholics, distinguished themselves above the rest, by the correctness of their principles and the fervor of their piety.

The blessing which God granted to the labors of the Brethren in the North of Ireland, extended also to the county of Cavan. An awakening took place here in 1751, and when bishop Boehler passed through this district in the year following, he found the people busily engaged in building a chapel in the market-town of Cootehill; and two years after, Mr. La

Trobe preached in it to more than three hundred hearers. Preaching was afterwards continued by other Brethren. The first society in this country was formed in Cootehill, in 1754, to which another at Billes, on the road to Monaghan, was affiliated. A chapel was built here, and likewise at Arvogh, lying in the mountains, about thirty miles distant, south of Cootehill. These and some other places in the neighbourhood were served with the gospel by the resident minister of Cootehill, and other Brethren.

We shall close this relation of the principal places, occupied by the Brethren in the North of Ireland, with a few general

remarks.

It is evident the Lord himself had preparad the way. Numerous as were the places they visited, they went to none without invitation; and wherever they directed their steps they not only met with people willing to hear, but found many whose hearts the Lord had opened to receive the gospel with joy, and who, aided by his Spirit, adorned their profession by a godly walk and conversation. The very hostility, manifested against them in some places, taught them the truth of the Scripture maxim, "they who will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution;" and obliged them to count the cost before they took up the cross to follow their Saviour.

Decision of character and sincere devotedness to God, were particularly required in those, who took an active share in cultivating this field. The ministers and their assistants in the different congregations were more especially exposed to the malevolence of enemies, and in more instances than one, were in actual danger of their lives. They likewise felt, in common with others, those difficulties, which arose from the poverty of the people, and the privations and inconveniences of living in a country, which was still in a very rude and unimproved state. Most of their dwellings, and even some of their chapels, were little better than mud-cabins. At the same time their labors were almost incessant. Besides diligently visiting the members of their congregations, they sometimes preached three or four times a day, in places at considerable distances from each other, the access to which, across bogs and mountains, was often not

only difficult but dangerous. And as they could obtain but little support from the people, who were mostly very poor, they were not ashamed to maintain themselves by the labor of their hands.

Each congregation and society was supplied with at least one ordained minister, who had one or more assistants of both sexes associated with him in the spiritual care of the flock. Other Brethren, whom God had endowed with gifts for public speaking, itinerated through the country, and preached wherever a door was opened unto them. The general superintendence of the whole work was committed to one or more Brethren, who resided in some central place. All the ministers generally met their fellow-laborers once a month, mostly at Gloonen, and constituted a Conference, in which the necessary resolutions for carrying on the work were taken. As the Missionary congregation had at this time its principal seat in England, one or other of its members was frequently deputed to hold a visitation in Ireland. These measures served to preserve agreement in doctrine and the unity of the spirit between the Irish congregations and those in other countries, and to prevent the intoduction of any thing contrary to the constitution of the Brethren's Church.

Before the close of this period of our history, it pleased the Lord to remove from the scene of his terrestrial labors the very man, who had been the chief instrument of making known the savor of his name in Ireland. John Cennick, having for nine years labored with unabated zeal, and but few and short intervals of absence, for the diffusion of evangelical truth, in this country, chiefly in the North, arrived in Dublin in the spring of 1755, and on April 12th opened the new church, built by the Brethren in Bishop-Street He continued preaching in it to crowded auditories till the 30th of June, when he proceeded to London, where he arrived on the 28th. When he alighted from his horse at the Brethrens' house in Fetter-Lane he complained of being very sick and feverish. He was immediately carried to bed and every means used for his recovery; but God had otherwise determined, and on the 4th of July, this faithful servant entered into the joy of his Lord.

Not long before his death he consented to have two volumes of his sermons printed. They have been long before the public, and read with profit by many; and though, considered merely as literary compositions, they can lay little or no claim to merit, yet this will not lessen their value in the estimation of the Christian, who will find the fundamental doctrines of the gospel set forth with artless simplicity, and in a manner, which could not fail to reach the hearts and consciences of his hearers. It is evident the preacher felt what he spoke. He also composed several hymns, some of which are inserted in the Brethren's hymn-book.

"Mr. Cennick," says his biographer, "was rather below the middle stature, of a fair countenance, but of a fairer mind. A good understanding, an open temper, and a tender heart, characterised the man. His Christian qualities were not less distinguishable. If unaffected humility, deadness to the world, a life of communion with God, and a cheerful reliance on a crucified Saviour, constitute the real Christian, he was one in an eminent degree. Nor were the evidences of his call to the ministry less striking. Few ministers have felt a warmer love to Jesus Christ; few were more unwearied in preaching his gospel; few triumphed more in his cross, or suffered more patiently in his cause. As to success in his labors, perhaps there was not one, in his day, except Mr. Whitfield, more highly honored in this particular. It is true, his language was not with the enticing words of man's wisdom, yet his doctrine and address were powerful, and found access to the hearts of thousands. The gospel he so diligently and faithfully dispensed was the food of his own soul. He drank deeply of the cup of religious pleasure. His altar was not to an unknown God; he exalted not a Saviour, whose virtues he had never proved; he pointed not to a Spirit, under whose almighty influence he had not lived; he directed not to heaven, the happiness of which he had not anticipated. His career was short, but if life may be estimated by the comparative quantity of good produced in it, then this truly active, spiritual, and useful man, may be said to have lived to a good old age."

* Wilks' Edition of Cennick's Discourses, vol. i. p. 39.

SECTION VI.

Further extension of the Brethren's labors in EUROPE-They form connections in SWITZERLAND-Establish congregations and Societies in HOLLAND-Enlarge their acquaintance in DENMARK, and form a Settlement in HOLSTEIN, but are obliged to quit it—Send Deputations to NORWAY and Sweden.

THERE was hardly a Protestant kingdom or state in Europe, to which the Brethren did not extend their labors during this period. This was occasioned partly by the journies of count Zinzendorf, and of Brethren and Sisters going as missionaries to the Heathen, or as colonists to North-America and other places; and partly by the desire of friends, who requested a personal interview, and by the invitation of noblemen and princes, offering them land to form settlements in their respective sovereignties. For though the Brethren had not the most distant wish to make proselytes from other Christian communities; they accounted it a privilege, whenever an opportunity offered, to make known the savor of Christ's name in every town or village through which they passed; and they considered it their duty to satisfy every enquiry respecting their own Church, and to assist other Christians in their endeavours to promote true religion and piety. In this way they found entrance into several European states.

Among these, Switzerland was one of the first countries they visited. By occasion of baron Frederick von Watteville's visit to his father and other relations at Bern, several ministers in that town, having thereby obtained a more correct knowledge of the Brethren's Church, solicited their assistance in the spiritual care of the more pious members in their congregations. In 1740, count Zinzendorf and the Missionary congregation, consisting of more than forty persons, resided for nearly three months at Geneva, observing, as far as practicable, every regulation, with respect to religious worship and external order in the family, usually attended to in a congregation of the Brethren. The object of this visit was to enter into a friendly correspondence with the Church at Geneva, whose founder, the