we must study to shew ourselves approved as workmen that need not be ashamed; or we shall sink in the public opinion, and decline in real usefulness. God forbid we should ever quit our first ground. The Head of the Church has put great honour upon a few leading truths by which Methodist sermons are characterized, and a man need never lose sight of them for the sake of variety. But much prayer, reading, and meditation will be found requisite, that we may at once strike the old Methodist string, and like well-instructed scribes, bring forth things new and old out of our treasury. "The plan in question would afford the brethren an opportunity of recommending suitable books to young preachers. They might also be directed to a regular method of improving time; and the brethren would be capable of judging what situations would be most suitable for them the first year. "Should such a plan be duly executed, it might, under the divine blessing, be a means of grounding the rising generation of preachers in those doctrines and rules of discipline which have been so greatly owned of God. And should the preachers, by any means, be preserved simple, holy, and zealous; in a word, consistent characters, as Methodist preachers, generations yet unborn will bless God for it to all eternity. 66 My brethren, I have set down these thoughts in the simplicity of my heart, though not without consulting several respectable brethren. A conviction of the need of something of the kind, has induced me to lay the plan before you. I bless God that I ever knew the Connexion. I deem it an honour and happiness to be a member of it. I hope to live and die a Methodist; and to live for ever with millions of Methodists, who shall be found in that great multitude which no man can number. I pray for the peace and prosperity of our Zion, and rejoice to see it. May it increase more and more. I leave these things to your consideration, and most devoutly pray that the Lord would direct you in this and all other important deliberations. “I am, Dear Brethren, "Your affectionate brother, "Hull, June 25, 1802." "J. E. The above proposal was carefully considered at the York District Meeting, and also at Manchester, to which place a copy of the Address had been sent by Mr. Entwisle, and by both meetings the proposal was approved and recommended to the Conference. A reference to the Minutes for that year, will shew that the plan was adopted by the Conference, and with but a slight alteration became the law of the Connexion.* * See the Minutes of Conference, 8vo. Vol. II. p. 142. CHAPTER IX. FROM THE CONFERENCE OF 1802 TO THAT OF 1804. MACCLESFIELD CIRCUIT. THE Hull people were desirous that my father should remain among them a third year, and Mr. Benson at the Conference urged him to give his consent. But at that time, and indeed for years after, he objected to a third year's appointment, unless there were some special reasons for it. He could not satisfy himself that these existed in this instance; while the declining state of my mother's health, to which the air of Hull appeared unfavourable, he regarded as a sufficient reason for persisting in his determination to remove. There were earnest solicitations also for his labours from the Bath, Oldham, Todmorden, Macclesfield, and Bristol Circuits. Todmorden had been the scene of his early labours when at Colne, and was now the head of a comfortable and prosperous circuit: his intimate friend, Mr. Lomas, used his influence in its favour. My father would have enjoyed an extensive field of usefulness in any one of these circuits, but was unwilling to choose his own lot, and therefore left the matter entirely to the Conference, who appointed him to the superintendency of the Macclesfield Circuit, with the Rev. Messrs. G. Morley and Jabez (now Dr.) Bunting for his colleagues. On his way from Hull to Macclesfield, he called at Thorner, where Mr. Pawson, who was on a visit at the same time, baptized his seventh child: his name was James. My mother was in a low, relaxed state when they left Hull, and on the journey, a distance of 130 miles, added cold to cold, until nature seemed almost exhausted. For some weeks, my father had at times but little hope of her recovery, and the gloomy idea of widowhood, with five children, often filled his mind: he sometimes had a hard struggle for resignation. But he made the Lord his refuge. He heard prayer and raised her up: through His blessing, the salubrious air of Macclesfield was the means of restoring her to a better state of health than she had enjoyed for some years. Of his new circuit and his colleagues, my father says, in a letter to his friend Edmondson, then stationed at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, with whom he regularly corresponded, "I am very happy in my colleagues. Mr. Morley is a sensible, well-informed, pious man, and a very good preacher. Mr. Bunting is quite out of the common way; -sensible, pious, and one of the best preachers in our Connexion, though not twenty-four years old. Am not 1 well off? I don't care who carries the bell, if good be done. The good work prospers in some measure. "This circuit resembles that of Colne, when you and I were in it; only it is more extensive, and thinner of inhabitants. But I believe I am in the order of God, and am content and happy." In the same letter, he thus expresses himself on a subject on which some difference of opinion and practice has existed in our body, in reply to a former communication from Mr. Edmondson. "We have no female preachers in this part of the country. I think women might with propriety exercise their gifts in a private way, or amongst their own sex; but I never could see the propriety of their being public teachers. Under the Patriarchal dispensation, the oldest male was the priest of the family. Under the Law, all the priests were men. The seventy preachers sent out by our Lord were all men. So were the twelve Apostles. Nor do we ever read of a woman preaching, in the Acts of the Apostles. Hence I conclude, women are not designed for public teachers." The following extracts from my father's diary and correspondence will supply his history during the period under review. "Mon. Sept. 6.-Visited the Woodlands. Here, in a deep valley surrounded by high mountains, I rambled into a wood to meditate and pray. The retirement of the place, the sight of the ponderous mountain opposite, and the dashing of the water of a natural cascade, combined to inspire that agreeable solemnity so favourable to meditation and devotion. I lamented my unprofitable ness, and renewed my engagements to love and serve my God and his church. Preached with great enlargement from Phil. ii. 12. In this wilderness, dwell some of the excellent of the earth,-primitive Christians. "My soul enters more deeply into the spirit of religion. Oh! how I long to know and to make known the heights and depths of love divine. Rode into Edale, praying in the Holy Ghost. After dinner, took a walk to the top of Mam-Tor. One side of it is called the Shivering Mountain,' from its mouldering and falling down at times, particularly in windy weather and after a frost, the upper strata crumbling from the top and falling down the dreadful steep to the bottom. On the summit of this hill is a good pasture for cattle. Tradition says, an army once encamped on the top of Mam-Tor; and there still appears a double entrenchment cast up on three sides; the dreadful precipice on the other, forming a sufficient barrier against an enemy. The summit of the hill commands a most delightful prospect of Hopedale, the villages of Castletown, Hope, &c. Hundreds of enclosed fields present themselves to the eye,—all either white for the harvest, or adorned with beautiful green, with cattle grazing, and a rapid rivulet gliding along for six or seven miles. My soul felt what is expressed by Milton: 'These are thy glorious works, Parent of good! Thus wond'rous fair. Thyself how wond'rous then!' How passing wonder that I should be his child. Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons of God.' O may I be a loving, grateful, obedient child. Amen. 66 Wed. 7.-A most delightful morning. My mind calmly stayed upon God. After breakfast I set off for Chapel-in-le-Frith. This ride was a treat indeed to me. In ascending the high hill from Edale, I had an extensive prospect of the Dale, the Woodlands, and a number of huge, black mountains, which exhibited a sublime scene. Descending on the other side, I was entertained with a prospect of Chinley, Chapel-in-le-Frith, the neighbourhood of Buxton, and a vast extent of country in several directions. How manifold are thy works, O |