three or four years. On the 3rd of February, 1769, he was married to his first wife, of whom he had issue eleven children, two of whom survived him. Soon after the decease of his first wife in 1785, he married a widow, by whom he had three more children, who all died in their infancy. Mrs. Susannah Proud survived her beloved husband three months. In 1780 he accepted an invitation to preside over the Church at Fleet, in Lincolnshire. Here he was ordained to the pastoral office; and in 1782, such had been the success of his ministry, that the place of worship was considerably enlarged. About this time, Mr. Hunt, then a surgeon of Norwich, but afterwards of Gissing, in Norfolk, (who subsequently became a cordial receiver of the New Church doctrines, and died in 1824,) proposed to build a Chapel and residence for him in that city, and give them to him for the term of his life. He accepted the handsome offer, and a commodious place of worship, accommodating from 600 to 800 persons, was immediately erected in Berstreet. In 1786 Mr. Proud removed thither, and Mr. Hunt became his colleague in the ministry. The same year he published a little poem, entitled Calvinism Exploded, which passed through several editions. He also held a public disputation with a Minister of the Society of Friends or Quakers, which was likewise printed. Mr. Proud remained in Norwich about five years. His labours were most successful, and he continued an acceptable and distinguished Minister of the General Baptist connexion till the year 1791,-a period of twenty-five years. During this time he printed several small works, chiefly poems, besides composing many others, both in prose and poetry; one of which, entitled The Apostate's Progress, written after the style of Bunyan, was printed anonymously at the earnest solicitation of a friend to whom he had presented it, in 1825.

I now come to a new era in the religious life of our venerated friend. About two years after his settlement at Norwich, a physician, resident in that city, earnestly recommended him to read the writings of the Honourable Emanuel Swedenborg, of which only a few were at that time translated into English, and

Mr. Proud

he lent him the Treatise on Heaven and Hell. read the work, without taking any interest in it, and returned it with the expression of his opinion, that it was a record of the wild and enthusiastic reveries of a fertile yet morbid imagination. Subsequently, and directed doubtless by Divine Providence, J. W. Salmon, Esq., a well-known and zealous receiver, having heard of Mr. Proud's celebrity, was induced to take a journey from London, accompanied by a friend, expressly to visit him. Mr. Salmon was the guest of Mr. Proud during his stay, and lost no time in introducing to his earnest attention the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Church. Mr. Hunt, at once shewed a disposition to lend a favourable ear to the truths announced, in which he was at first vehemently opposed by Mr. Proud, who burst into the room where Mr. Hunt and our New Church friends were together, and in the most strenuous manner exhorted Mr. Hunt to have nothing to do with those doctrines. Anxious to suppress what he considered to be contrary to Scripture testimony, Mr. Proud undertook to convince the visitors, by public discussion, and private argument, that they were the dupes of an artful and visionary enthusiast, and that the religious sentiments they maintained were utterly unworthy the acceptance of mankind. Mr. Salmon, however, exhibited so truly meek, humble, and loving a spirit, that he finally prevailed in silencing the opposition, and complied with the intreaty of Mr. Proud to prolong his stay; during which he preached several impressive discourses, which were highly approved by the majority of the large congregations who listened to them. In his private diary, Mr. Proud recorded at the time, his impression of this visit, as follows, under date of "Tuesday morning, 17 June, 1788," "Mr. J. W. Salmon came to our house. He lives at Nantwich, in Cheshire, is a Member of the New Church, and preaches the doctrines. He preached at our Chapel nine times. Never did I hear any man preach with such power, and Divine demonstration. He appears to be the most humble, affectionate, and holy man I ever knew; and I believe I shall never forget

what he laid before me. I verily think that the Lord in great mercy sent him to me and the church for great good; and I trust we have a people prepared to receive further degrees of love and wisdom. O that we may be thus prepared! I love the man most sincerely; and bless the Lord my Saviour for sending him. He staid with us till Thursday, the 26th,—that is ten days, and I accompanied him to Dereham, where I took my leave of this dear, dear man.”

It will be seen, then, that what had been urged in favour of the doctrines of the New Church by Mr. Salmon, made a very considerable impression upon our friend's mind, who requested, before he left, that he would send him a volume of Swedenborg's works to read, which he promised that he would peruse with a serious and unprejudiced mind. Shaken in his belief as to many of his preconceived religious sentiments, he suffered great mental inquietude, but concluded, that if the doctrines of Eternal Truth were thus providentially offered for his acceptance, an obstinate rejection of them, might with justice be imputed to him as a crime. He, therefore, resolved to read in the spirit of prayer for Divine guidance and illumination, and diligently comparing what he read with the Word of God, to weigh all his conclusions in the balance of his best judgment. He anxiously waited for the book, and was not kept long in suspense, for Mr. Salmon, as soon as he returned, forwarded him a copy of The True Christian Religion, or Universal Theology of the New Church. On the morning after receiving this precious treasure, he rose early, and, according to his usual custom, retired to his study in the garden. Before he began to read, he kneeled down, and prayed fervently to the Lord, that he would be pleased to influence and guide his mind on the present momentous occasion. He supplicated for no miraculous interposition. He asked for light and understanding, and that he might be rightly directed by the Divine Word. He then opened the sacred volume, and his attention was arrested by the first passage which met his eye (Hab. i. 5), “Behold ye among the heathen and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will

work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you." These words appeared to him to describe his state, and be an express answer to his prayer. From that instant he resolved, calmly to consider the writings he had previously despised. He began to read The Universal Theology, and as he proceeded from chapter to chapter, day by day, he found his old mistaken and gloomy notions of religion gradually giving way, and new convictions springing up of the truth of the New Dispensation. These convictions grew, and were soon the established principles of his mind. How could it be otherwise, when such a work was read in such a spirit! He found the doctrines advanced, were confirmed by the most ample corroborative testimony of the Word of God, and the most cogent appeals to enlightened reason. The more he read, the deeper was his gratitude, the firmer his faith, and the more intense his delight. Swedenborg's memorable relations, indeed, "staggered" him at first very much. He had no friend at hand to help him. He could not see, from his preconceived views of the human soul and the eternal world, how they contain real, though often astounding spiritual facts, to be confirmed by inward experience, consciousness, and perception, as well as by the direct revelations made to patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, as recorded in the divinely inspired Word. The science of correspondences had not as yet unlocked these mental treasures to his soul; but, still, he was afraid to deny their verity and reality, and recoiled from the preposterously absurd thought of their being the mere inventions of a feverish, distracted, and distorted imagination. He saw that these relations were written in a lucid style, that many of the deductions harmonized with Scripture, reason, philosophy, and genuine morality. He was satisfied to pass them over for a time, till he had become better acquainted with those heaven-descended principles, which he felt assured would be sufficient, most satisfactorily to explain, all their apparent mysteries. Firmly persuaded of the truth and importance of all that he read, and could comprehend, like the apostle Paul, "he conferred not with flesh and blood," but

without hesitation and fear, proceeded openly to declare to all around him the new doctrines he had espoused. Like all novitiates in the New Church, he was impatient for the world to receive them, and expected that they would be embraced by multitudes with readiness, thankfulness, and joy,-that they needed only to be presented in order to find acceptance. In his preaching and conversation, he chiefly dwelt upon the doctrines of the Lord, and the necessity of a good life to insure salvation. Some of his hearers were convinced of the truth by his earnest and powerful appeals, others doubted, and many denied.

On the evening of Tuesday, 24th of February, 1789, nine persons were received into church-fellowship, by the rite of baptism administered by immersion. They were baptized "into the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the only God of heaven and earth, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in One Divine Person." At the conclusion of the ceremony he preached an eloquent and instructive discourse from Ezekiel xxvii. 22, 23. This sermon was printed at the request of the congregation, and may be regarded as one of the earliest discourses, (if not the very earliest,) published after the formation of the first New Church Society in London a few months before. This sermon was entitled New Jerusalem Blessings, or the Unity, Purity, and Happiness of real Christians in the last Days, in which the New Kingdom of the Lord is established— Jesus the King thereof, who is the only God of Heaven and Earth.

In July of this year he began a series of morning poetical meditations on various texts of Scripture, similar in design to a year's meditations in prose, but only continued them about three months. They are, however, full of aspirations and thanksgivings to the Lord, in relation to his introduction to the New Church.

This same year, he had occasion to visit London, where he was introduced to the receivers of the New Church doctrines, who met weekly for reading and conversation at a friend's