him, so to preach as to aim directly at the salvation of his hearers. As he grew older, he said, he saw the vanity of all other kinds of preaching, and felt resolved to abide by the old order; and called upon all present to do the same. In the whole of this address there was a tenderness, unction, and solemnity, proceeding from the state of his own heart at the time, which can never be put into words; but it speedily awoke sympathy in others. Similar confessions were made; similar convictions were uttered; then the tenderness and solemnity spread, as if by a special illapse of the Divine Spirit; and when two or three at the close arose to speak, they were hindered by their feelings, and the room where they were assembled became a place of weeping. The late Mr. Christopher Dove, who was then present, was wont afterwards to speak of that day with loving memory. It was a day not easy for any one to forget.

"I may add, that it was by Mr. Newton's solicitation and fatherly patronage, that I began in Leeds a weekly Bible-class, for the edification and instruction of young people—a labor which has yielded much gracious fruit, and which I have never relinquished from that day.”

The Conference of 1841 was held in Manchester; and during the early part of its sittings some duties of great weight and importance devolved upon him, in consequence of the office of president which he had sustained for the last twelve months. Writing therefore to Mrs. Newton, he says: "When I get over the sermon to the Conference on Monday, and the charge to the newly-ordained men on Thursday, I shall be very thankful to Him 'whose I am, and whom I serve.'

"You will be glad to hear that the committee of the Centenary Fund has adjudged a larger sum to the missionary cause. Miss Birch has presented a thousand pounds for the

support of the Ashantee mission, and sixty for the Irish schools. May God bless her! Mr. Sutcliffe, who resides with us, is treated with great respect."

"Manchester, August 6th.-I have now discharged the weighty duties for which I was responsible to the Conference, by preaching the official sermon, and delivering the charge, which took place last evening. Truly the Lord was better to me than my apprehensions. The Oldham street chapel was crowded to overflowing. I am urged to print; and now feel myself much more buoyant than before.

"Poor Mr. Sutcliffe had to leave the Conference, having heard that his wife was very ill. She died before he reached home. He has written a touching letter to Mrs. Johnson, in which he says: 'I found her cold, and gone over the brook; and, O, I am left behind, a poor tottering old man!' What a mercy it is, that you and I are spared to each other! The respect and affection of my brethren are overwhelming."

CHAPTER XII.

On the 1st of September, 1841, Mr. Newton took leave of his friends in Leeds, and removed with his family to Cheetham Hill, in the First Manchester Circuit. The separation was an occasion of mutual sorrow. With many of them he was very intimate, and he highly esteemed them for their piety and uprightness, as well as for the countenance and aid which they had afforded him in the exercise of his ministry during the last six years. His week-day services had, indeed, been widely distributed; but the Sabbaths had been given to the town and neighborhood of Leeds, where his preaching was made a blessing to thousands. From this time, though he and his friends in Leeds were locally separated, they continued one in mind and heart.

Among many other persons who came to take leave of him before his removal was a devout woman, somewhat advanced in life, who expressed her regret at his departure, and thanked him for the ministry which it had been her privilege to attend; observing, at the same time, that his preaching was characterized by two peculiarities, which she regarded as of the highest importance. "You speak," said she, "with such clearness, and in such an elevated tone of voice, that I hear every word you utter; and your sermons are so plain, that I can understand and remember them better than the sermons

of any other man.” "I thank you very sincerely for your good opinion," was his reply: "you have paid me the highest compliment I ever received."

During the next six years his family resided in Manchester, or its immediate vicinity, spending one-half of this period in the Manchester First Circuit, and the other half in Manchester Second. The Conference still, in compliance with the expressed desire of the connection, appointed a junior minister to preach in his places on the week-nights, and discharge the duty of pastoral visitation; thus enabling Mr. Newton to pursue the course of public labor which to him had become matter of confirmed habit. He served his own circuit with strict punctuality on the Lord's day; but on the other days of the week he was the willing servant of the entire Methodist body. The circuits to which he was appointed received him with this understanding; yet they attached so much importance and value to his Sunday labors, that they were even eager to obtain his services upon these terms. As the Rev. James Dixon, the president of the Conference, was then stationed in Manchester, he, of course, was the chairman of the district so that Mr. Newton was in this respect more at liberty to visit distant places than he had been for several years.

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When he had spent twelve months in faithfully ministering the word of life in the First Manchester Circuit, and in uninterrupted journeyings to serve the English and Irish connections, he repaired to London, to attend the annual Conference. Dr. Hannah was elected the president, and Mr. Newton was again appointed to officiate as the secretary. To him this Conference was an occasion of the highest interest, Bishop Soule having been sent as the representative of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America to their brethren in England, accompanied by the Rev. Thomas B. Sargent. Mr. Newton had formed a high opinion of the bishop, from what he had seen of him in the United States, and suggested that he should be selected for this service. He was delighted to see him, and promised himself much happiness in his inter

course with that gifted man, as well as with his English brethren generally.

Yet scarcely had the Conference assembled, and he had entered upon his duties as secretary, than he found himself placed in circumstances of trial, which he had not anticipated, and which placed his fine character in a new and impressive light. He had passed through a course of extraordinary popularity with singular modesty and self-abasement; and he had endured the bitterest peltings of defamation and reproach with unruffled meekness and charity; but it was yet to be seen how he could endure the sorrows of bereavement. He was eminently distinguished by the tenderness of his domestic affections. His heart yearned over his children, and he cherished a deep solicitude for their welfare. Amidst the most urgent and pressing of his public engagements, he never forgot his children, and never ceased to commend them to the

mercy of God in earnest prayer. This is attested by every part of his correspondence with Mrs. Newton when he was from home; and his return to them every Saturday, after the exciting services and extensive journeyings of the week, always afforded him a sincere gratification. As in the case of the patriarch Jacob, his life was bound up in the lives of his children; and nothing but a deep conviction of duty could have induced him to spend so much of his time from their society. As a father, it was to him matter of thankfulness, that, with the exception of an infant who died in the birth, he had never been required to follow the remains of any of his own children to the grave. But a sacrifice of this kind was now required at his hands.

He had been absent from home about ten days, attending the committees which meet preparatory to the assembling of the Conference, and in visiting his friends at Derby. During this interval his daughter Mary Anne was seized with fever;