of his Christianity, to acquire strength; and but for which he might have found it difficult to walk alone. He had not long, however, to bemoan his bereavement. The Lord, on removing one stay, speedily supplied its place with another. It was with Samuel, therefore, as with the child, a change of nurses, rather than a privation, or even a serious suspension of the kindly offices requisite for the support and guidance of his weakness and inexperience. "The Lord," he observed, "sent Mr. Wade to Sturton Grange, where they took in the preachers, and had a society. As I felt my want of church fellowship, I went to ask them to take me into society. They offered to take me on trial; and I continued a member till we got a society in our own place, which was not long, for I never let them alone." He had an ardent desire for the salvation of sinners; and his not letting them alone refers as much to his conversational efforts to reclaim his neighbours, as to any request that a portion of the privileges of the society to which he had united himself, which was little more than a mile distant, should be transferred to Micklefield. Thus, adverting to his situation, to promote the religious welfare of others, he remarks, "I had a good opportunity, as nearly the whole of the town came to my shop; and I was always at them. I found my share of persecution; but this did not daunt me, or prevent me from calling on sinners to repent, believe, and be converted."

It was not barely by reproof and exhortation that he sought to multiply the number of travellers to Zion, but also by earnest and affectionate invitation. The first-fruit of this description of labour-labour which has been extremely pro

ductive in a variety of instances-was a wealthy agriculturist. "Mr. Thomas Taylor," said he, "came to preach at Sturton Grange, and I invited all I could, to go and hear him. One of these was Mr. Rhodes, a large farmer, who lived in the parish; and who said, if I would call upon him, he would go with me. Blessed be the Lord! on the same night, the gospel proved the power of God to his salvation. I remember the text; it referred to the tares and the wheat. The tares were gathered, and tied into bundles. There was a bundle of sabbath-breakers, a bundle of swearers, &c. These bundles were to be burnt; and before the sermon was finished, the preacher got Mr. Rhodes bound up in one of them. From that time the Lord added to our number; we got preaching to our place, and soon had a classmeeting." This, it should seem, from a reference to the Minutes of Conference, was either in the year 1785, or 1786, when Mr. Taylor was stationed in the Leeds circuit. Such preaching was as much calculated to instruct the uneducated mind of Samuel, as it was to arrest the attention of the farmer. Keach would have been a superior preacher in his estimation to Saurin, and he would have profited more by the Metaphors of the one, than by the Sermons of the other. He could fasten upon some of the more prominent parts of a highly figurative discourse, and turn. them to good personal and practical account; but would have been in danger of running wild

* In a letter from Mr. Dawson, dated April 3rd, 1830, referring to Mr. Rhodes, he observes, "He is still living at Micklefield. I saw him yesterday. He is nearly blind, and his constitution is fast breaking up. He will not survive Samuel long. The Methodists always preached, and still preach at his house."

Iwith the remainder. He knew much better when to commence, than how to proceed, or where to close.

But it was not in criticism that he was skilled; nor was it into the niceties of Christian doctrine that he could enter. He knew the truth much better in its operation on the heart, than in its shinings on the understanding; and could tell much better how it felt, than in what position and connexion it stood. He seemed to possess the faculty in religion, which some blind people are said to possess, in a rare degree, in reference to colours-a faculty of describing it by the touch; for scarcely any thing advanced amounted with him to truth, unless it fell with power upon his heart. He had received the doctrine of justification as an experimental truth, though utterly unable, in puritanic style, to enter into a detail of its moving, meritorious, remote, immediate, and instrumental causes; and this led to another doctrine equally momentous-a doctrine of experience, no less than of theory-the sanctification of the heart to God. "After he had enjoyed the blessing of conscious pardon," says Mr. Dawson, "he discovered that there was a higher state of grace to be attained-that such state was purchased for him by the blood of Jesus Christ-and was to be applied to his soul by the Holy Ghost, through faith. This he sought in the way which God appointed, and found the promise realized, Every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.' He was enabled to believe for a higher enjoyment of divine love, and from the hour he believed, obtained a richer measure of it, through which

6

he was empowered to 'Rejoice evermore; pray without ceasing; in every thing give thanks.'

This further change was wrought in his soul in the year 1794, and the following are some of the circumstances connected with its attainment. "About this time (1794)," he observes, "there was a great revival of the work of God at Sturton Grange, near Micklefield. The meetings were held in Rig Lair.* Some hundreds of souls were converted to God, and many were sanctified. I was one of the happy number, not only convinced of the necessity of Christian holiness, but who, blessed be the Lord! proved for myself, that the blood of Christ cleanseth from sin." Mr. Dawson, in adverting to this extraordinary work of God, in connexion with Samuel's progress in religion, states that "there was an extraordinary outpouring of the Spirit upon nearly the whole of Yorkshire, and that it was most remarkably felt in the neighbourhood of Micklefield. At a solitary barn," continues he, "which stands on a farm belonging to Mr. Wade, at Sturton, near the Roman road leading from Castleford to Aberford, a prayer-meeting was held every Sunday morning and Monday evening. These meetings were especially owned of God. The glory of the Lord filled the place, and the power of God was present to wound and to heal, to kill and make alive. Two colliers,† men who gave themselves

* Lair-a BARN, in the west of Yorkshire.

† One of these men was supported by the bounty of the late Mr. Broadhurst, of Swinton, for the sole purpose of enabling him to devote his time to the visitation of the sick, &c. and died lately at Manchester, where he had resided several years. His brother William, the other person alluded to, married a person belonging to Pollington, a village about three miles from Snaith, Yorkshire, where he continued useful as an exhorter and class leader for a

summer.

to prayer, were very successful instruments in the hand of the Lord, in the conversion of scores, if not hundreds of persons, in the course of the Our late brother Hick took his full share in the work, and experienced a full share of the glory. Sabbath after sabbath the barn was filled with people; the cries of penitence were heard in different places, and were frequently succeeded by songs of praise. The colliers were invited to the neighbouring villages, whither friend Hick accompanied them in their work of faith and labour of love. Often has he been heard to relate the conquests of redeeming love, as witnessed in these journies, from which he frequently returned home rejoicing-rejoicing more than earthly conquerors, when they find great spoil."

Under the general influence referred to, Samuel was led, as stated above, to seek a further work of grace. At the midnight hour he retired to this "barn," whose solitude was deepened by the season, for private devotion. He bowed the knee in one of its most unfrequented nooks; but before he had proceeded to offer a petition to God, whom alone he supposed to be present, he heard the voice of prayer in an opposite corner. He paused-he listened-the shadows of night had fallen too thickly around, to permit him to see any one. Unexpected as it was, it was the voice of melody to his ear: still he listened, and

considerable length of time-ended his days in peace, about five years ago and left a widow and two or three children. They received the appellation of the "Praying Colliers." The one who resided in Manchester, and who was personally known to the writer, was generally designated by the title of "Praying George." Their proper name,-the one by which they were least known, was Mosely.