day Mr. Entwisle visited his sister-in-law, and found her rapidly sinking, but ready for her change. Early on Monday morning a messenger brought the tidings to Lambeth, that Mrs. Moore had entered into rest about twelve o'clock on Sunday night. Mrs. Entwisle painfully felt the loss of her last surviving sister; her spirits never rose to their former buoyancy; and she daily, and indeed hourly, from that time, waited and prepared for her own change.

On Wednesday, Sept. 3, the Rev. H. Davies, who was appointed to the Lambeth Circuit, unexpectedly arrived; and the same day, Mr. and Mrs. E. departed for Kettering, to spend a few weeks with their son, as there was no probability of the Institution House being ready for their reception for at least two months. This visit was a source of mutual pleasure and profit, both to the parents and their children; but to Mr. Entwisle, the prospect of being two months unsettled, and employed but in an occasional and irregular way, was by no means agreeable ; while the greatly enfeebled state of Mrs. E. was such as to awaken many fears. He felt too, during this season of suspense, the weight of responsibility connected with his new office. There is," he remarks, "such a combination of circumstances to exercise my mind, that it requires a constant effort to act according to Phil. iv. 6, 7. The high responsibility connected with my new situation at Hoxton, awfully affects my heart. Many things, indeed, combine to satisfy me, that the appointment is of God; and yet I feel so much incompetence, that I sometimes almost regret that I complied with the wishes of my brethren. O Lord, guide, strengthen, and help me."

66

This visit will long be remembered with pleasure by the friends in the Kettering Circuit, who esteemed it a great privilege to see and hear an aged minister whom Mr. Wesley himself had appointed fifty years before to labour in their county town. Many of them were eager to enjoy the privilege of his company either at his son's house or their own. He preached on Sunday, the 7th, at Kettering, the following Sunday, twice at Desborough; and on the 21st, in the Rev. Mr. Toller's Chapel in the morning, and at Rothwell in the evening.

During his stay, he paid friendly visits to the Rev. Mr. Corrie, minister of the Parish, and brother of the

first Bishop of Madras, who received him with great kindness and respect; also to the Rev. Mr. Hogg, another clergyman, Master of the Grammar School, who had frequently accompanied his mother, who was a Methodist at Holbeck, to hear Mr. Entwisle preach, when in the Leeds Circuit, forty years before; also to the Rev. Messrs. Toller and Robinson, the Independent and Baptist ministers residing in the town. "I find pleasure and profit," he remarks, "in friendly intercourse with pious ministers and people of other denominations."

The necessary repairs and fitting up of the Institution House, at Hoxton, rendering Mr. Entwisle's personal superintendence desirable, he accepted an invitation to spend a few weeks at Deptford, with his niece, the widow of the late Rev. Thos. Stanley. From Mrs. Stanley and her family, Mr. and Mrs. E. received the most affectionate attentions. But it was not long that she was permitted to enjoy the society of her aunt. A few days after her arrival, she became much worse; her strength rapidly failed; and on Thursday, the 16th of October, she peacefully and unexpectedly fell asleep in Jesus. The following record of the mournful event is found in my father's journal :

On

"My dear Lucy's departure was unexpected. We had no apprehension of it. Her cough, breathing, &c. were not near so bad as they had often been. On Wednesday her appetite failed. All Wednesday night she was restless at times, and I was often up. At four I made a fire. At six, Mary E. gave her some tea. She then fell asleep. Every distressing symptom disappeared. She breathed more easily. Soon after six, I left her, and went to Mr. Camplin's to see what could be done to raise her from debility. As she seemed in a comfortable sleep, I did not disturb her when I left the house. my way home, about eleven o'clock, a messenger met me to say, she had departed this life. Ah! I cannot describe my feelings. O my loss! Twenty-nine years' union and daily repetition of reciprocal kind offices had entwined our hearts together. I feel the event deeply. But the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.' My soul submits. She is gone to rest; and now my God shall be my all: and, through grace, I will serve him and my generation with all my heart and soul. O Lord, help me."

On the following Tuesday, my dear father, with a sorrowful heart, committed the mortal remains of his beloved and faithful partner to the silent tomb at City Road, "in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ." God was with him in the solemn hour, and granted peculiar support and comfort to his aged and bereaved servant.

This afflictive dispensation was greatly sanctified to him. He became increasingly dead to the world; his desires to improve every remaining fragment of time. to the good of man and to the glory of God," became more ardent; and he was enabled to live with eternity continually in view, as one who was daily looking for the coming of his Lord.

CHAPTER XX.

FROM THE DEATH OF HIS WIFE TO THE TIME OF HIS

BECOMING SUPERNUMERARY.

66

AT THE THEOLOGICAL

INSTIUTION."

My dear father was now placed in new and trying circumstances. An aged widower;-for the present, without a home of his own, without the regular work of a circuit, a work in which he delighted, and had been uninterruptedly employed for forty-seven years;-his only two surviving children at a distance ;-a new and untried situation before him, involving a serious weight of responsibility, and requiring qualifications, in which he thought himself, (though perhaps no one else thought so,) greatly deficient. Two other circumstances must be taken into the account to enable the reader to judge correctly of his position.

First, he had for some time been subject to a painful affliction, which he attributed to over-exertion in walking, &c. This had now become so serious, that he was obliged to consult a medical friend, and eventually to submit to a surgical operation. His complaint was obstinate, and, though it admitted of occasional relief, it never left him to the end of his days. This visitation was indeed “a thorn in the flesh;" and the more so, as its nature was such, that delicacy imposed upon him silence on the subject, and the general ignorance of his infirmity, the exist ence of which, none who regarded his vigorous appearance, would suspect, often placed him in circumstances of great inconvenience and suffering.

The other circumstance referred to, was, that the establishment of the Theological Institution, had been made the occasion of a mischievous and violent agitation in various parts of the Connexion, by persons who, while they professed great love to Methodism and an ardent desire to promote its purity and efficiency, were doing their

utmost to alienate its friends, and to undermine the very foundations on which it was based. He loved peace. Throughout a long and uniformly consistent public life, he had laboured to promote it; he regarded a contentious spirit as one of the greatest enemies of piety; and he was deeply pained to see the professed subjects of the Prince of Peace most industriously employed in sowing the seeds of discord: he justly characterized their vocation as "miserable employment. He remarks on this subject, "I greatly fear, parties are forming that will affect the prosperity of the work of God amongst us. Religion is love; and whatever operates against love strikes at the very root of religion. The restless spirit of the times is in operation in the church, as well as in the world. Lord preserve me unspotted in so foul a place. Amen."

Having divided the long interval between the termination of his labours in the Lambeth Circuit, and the completion of the repairs and outfit of the Institution House among his relatives and friends, he took up his residence at the Institution House, Hoxton, on Nov. 19th. Mrs. William Entwisle, his widowed daughter-in-law, having been requested to accept the office of Housekeeper, accompanied him, an intelligent and spiritual companion in whose society he found great solace and relief; while her activity in domestic matters conduced in a high degree to the order and comfort of this large and important establishment.

The premises occupied were those in which the Hoxton Academy had been conducted; but that Institution having been transferred to more commodious and extensive premises at Highgate, those at Hoxton were offered to the Committee of the Institution on favourable terms. The situation was rather low and damp; but the premises were in many respects commodious, and capable of comfortably accommodating thirty students. Mr. E. thus records his entrance upon the Institution House.

"At ten o'clock this morning, I removed to Hoxton as my residence. O may the Lord be with me in this house. Then I may call it Bethel. Thou art with me. O Lord, never leave me." He adds, "I feel quite satisfied that my appointment here is of God. O may I be faithful.” -And shortly after, while yet unsettled, "I am now in my study, a quiet solitary room, looking into the gar