pleasure, and therefore no fear of punishment; yet there is a continual loathing of self-" war in the members"-dying to live. All this appears to have been known and felt by Samuel Hick, whose own statement leads to the conclusion, that he suffered much more as a believer, than as a penitent-through the union of which two characters the man of God is made perfect.

After he had risen from his favourite "flag," for which he entertained a kind of superstitious respect, and which was now rendered "doubly dear," he walked forth some time in brightness. The blessing of purity, which he had received, was never lost through actual transgression; and although he was twice in a state of deep distress respecting its evidence, it was soon regained by the exercise of the same means, and an application to the same source, through which it was first obtained. "He experienced it," says Mr. Dawson, "upwards of thirty years-lived and died in the full possession of its excellencies. O, with what warmth, affection, and pathos, he used to speak of his enjoying the perfect love of God in his heart!-that love which casts out tormenting fear, and strongly and sweetly constrains the whole soul to engage in the whole will of God, as revealed in his word! This love expanded his naturally affectionate heart, and his bowels yearned for the salvation of his friends, his neighbours, and the world."

CHAPTER IV.

Samuel's public character-his call to speak in public-a dream -reproves a clergyman-assists in prayer-meetings-visits Howden and other places-a remarkable out-pouring of the Spirit of God-his power in prayer-labours to be useful-a general plan laid down for the spread of religion in the villages of Garforth, Barwick, &c.-Samuel received as a regular local preacher—his person—intellect―influence-peculiarities ―tenderness-language-style of preaching—an apology for

his ministry.

Two things have contributed essentially to the spread of Wesleyan Methodism; first, the adaptation of its rules and regulations to every condition of man: and, secondly, the provision which its rules have made for the encouragement and exercise of every description of talent. Having risen out of circumstances, it accommodates itself to that nature which is the same in every climate to which those circumstances belong; and it can furnish employment for all, from the youth that lisps in prayer to the eloquence of the pulpitfrom the Village Blacksmith to the man crowned with academical honours. The system, under God, brought into exercise the powers possessed by Samuel Hick, who has been heard to say, "I know that the Lord has given me one talent, and I am resolved to use it. He has given friend D. ten; but I am determined that he shall never run away with my one." And to his honour it may be recorded, that he made his one go much farther in real interest to the cause of God, F

than many with ten times the intellect and influence.

He appears to have exercised occasionally in public, prior to the revival of the work of God at Sturton Grange. Mr. Dawson remarks, that "he first engaged in the prayer-meetings, and next spoke a word by way of exhortation. The last was done like himself, and always gained the attention of his hearers.' Exclusive of a distinct impression upon his mind that it was his duty to call sinners to repentance, he was not a little influenced by a dream which he had, and to which he might be excused for paying the greater attention, as God employed a dream for the purpose of rousing him from spiritual slumber; and more especially might he be excused, when revelation warrants the belief, that "In a DREAM, in a VISION of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumbers upon the bed; then" God "openeth the ears of men, and SEALETH their INSTRUCTION." The substance of it was this:He dreamed one night that he set sail to the West Indies in the character of a missionary, to preach the gospel to the poor negroes-that, on his landing, he saw a pulpit, the stairs of which he ascended-and, on unfolding the leaves of the Bible, which was laid before him, a perfect blank was presented to his eye. "A pretty thing this," said he to himself; "a Bible, and not a text in it!" He turned over the leaves again and again, and suddenly on one of the white pages several beautiful gold letters sprung into form, and dazzled his sight. The words were "Prepare ye the way of the Lord," &c. These he announced as his text, and began to preach. In the course of the sermon a poor woman was so affected

while intently listening to him, and gazing upon him, that she cried aloud for mercy. He instantly quitted the pulpit, descended its steps, directed his way to the penitent, prayed with her, and soon had the unspeakable pleasure of hearing her proclaim the mercy of God in the forgiveness of her sins. From this pleasing dream he awoke; and under its warmest impression, exclaimed to his wife, accosting her by name, "Matty, I believe I am called to preach the gospel." Martha, less awake to the subject than himself, requested him to go to sleep again, not a little infidel in her principles respecting it.

This relation was given in his own way, on a platform, at the first Wesleyan Missionary Meeting held at Selby, November 16th, 1814, before a crowded audience, when the writer of this memoir was present, together with Mr. Dawson and others, and for the first time was favoured with the sight of Samuel. The description of the vessel in which he made his voyage, which is too ludicrous to appear among graver associations-his suddenly turning to the pulpit, and pointing to it as a model of the one in which he supposed himself to have preached-the familiarity of some of his comparisons, his views rising no higher, in reference to the gold characters, from his days having been spent mostly in the country, than some of the more costly sign boards of the tradesman-his grotesque figure, and still more characteristic action, for the latter of which he was not a little indebted to his trade, his arms being stretched out, with his hands locked in each other, while he elevated and lowered them, as though he had been engaged at the anvil; varying in his movements as he rose

in zeal and quickened in delivery, becoming more and more emphatic-his tears his smiles —his tenderness-his simplicity—the adroitness with which he turned upon the text, the effects of the sermon, &c. to strengthen his call to the work--the manner in which he brought the subject to bear upon the object of the meeting-and his offering himself in the fulness of his spirit at the close as a missionary, telling the people that his "heart was good," his "health was good," and his "appetite was good;" that he wanted not their money, but would bear his own expenses; and that sustaining his own burden, he should consider it, provided family connexions would admit, the highest honour that could be conferred upon him;-the whole, in short, produced both upon the platform and among the people, an effect rarely witnessed, and a scene calculated to move on with the memory, and live as a distinct picture in the imagination.

That he had other and more substantial proofs of his call to exercise in public, there is no question; but the above shews the peculiar cast of his mind, and his attention to what was passing within, whether asleep or awake, together with his readiness to convert every thing to pious purposes-manifesting, in innumerable instances, stronger evidences of piety than of judgment.

He regularly attended Micklefield Chapel of Ease, in which service was performed about this time, once a fortnight on the Lord's day, by the Rev. T. of Monkfryson, a village about five miles distant. Mr. T. had ten shillings and sixpence per day allowed him for his labour; but neither exhibiting the morality of the gospel in his life, nor preaching its doctrines in the pul