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rected my paths. I will give myself to prayer for providential appointment. Surely the Lord can fix me in the right place. I trust he will.

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April 25.-This week I have been much profited by a perusal of the Life of the late Mr. Cecil. He was much alone with God, and his face shone before men. He was a great and good man: he faithfully served his God and his generation, and then fell asleep. My mind is stimulated to seek a deeper acquaintance with the Lord, and a more abundant measure of wisdom and holy zeal, that I may do the work of an evangelist, and make full proof of my ministry. I wish to give myself wholly to prayer, and the ministry of the word; and to say with the Apostle, This one thing I do.""

On the 19th of May, the District Meeting was held at Manchester. Forty preachers were present. At this meeting, Mr. Entwisle proposed Mr. Watson's re-admission. He had had much intercourse with him during the last five months, and had heard him preach several times; he perceived that he possessed extraordinary powers of mind, and was eminently qualified for usefulness; and being "persuaded that his weight of talent and deep piety would render him an acquisition to the connexion, and a blessing to the world," he had proposed that he should allow himself to be recommended to the ensuing Conference, a measure in which his respected colleagues fully concurred with him in judgment. After mature consideration and prayer, Mr. Watson gave his consent. He was accordingly proposed at this District Meeting, and cordially recommended to the Conference; by whom he was as cordially accepted, and, without further probation, placed precisely in the position in which he stood eleven years before, and appointed, with Mr. Buckley, to the Wakefield Circuit.

Mr. Entwisle ever after reflected on this event with the liveliest pleasure he felt it an honour, and a cause of gratitude to God, that he had been in any degree instrumental in restoring to the Connexion one who proved so bright an ornament to it, and so eminently useful. And Mr. Watson ever after cherished towards him a most respectful and affectionate regard.

In the month of June, he received a letter from his esteemed friend Mr. Edmondson, in which he says, in

more than

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reference to the sermon preached by my father before the last Conference," I was glad to see your sermon in the Magazine, especially as I was not suffered to hear it. You recollect I was on a Committee, and we were locked up in the Committee Room. I think should write you do. Why do you not?" Mr. Entwisle writes in reply:-" I could hardly consent that my sermon should be printed. If I was quite sure that your mind was unbiassed by friendship, your favourable opinion would encourage me to write again. I have thought of preparing an Essay for the Magazine, founded on Agur's prayer. Prov. xxx. 7, 8, 9. The principal object would be, to shew the advantages of mediocrity, a condition which would be more common, if men's hearts were right; for their habits of industry and frugality would reduce the number of the indigent; and religion would restrain the excessive and preposterous desire of accumulating immense property in others. Just views of this subject would produce contentment in some who are discontented; would lessen the anxieties of others; and cure the ostentation and high-mindedness of others. Observations which I have made, even in our societies, on this subject, have impressed my mind with a sense of the necessity of bringing it forward. I preached on the text here, and have had the satisfaction to find, not in vain. But an essay that would be inserted in 25,000 copies of the Magazine and be read, perhaps, by 100,000 individuals, might be useful. Tell me at Leeds what you think of it; and in the mean time put down a few hints. Shonld I have more leisure, I purpose to write Я little next year." It is to be regretted that this design was not carried into execution. It is probable that the numerous official engagements of the following year compelled him to defer it; and it seems never to have been resumed.

CHAPTER XII.

FROM THE CONFERENCE OF 1812, TO THAT OF 1814.

BRISTOL.

THE Conference was held in Leeds this year, and Mr. Entwisle was elected President. His mind was graciously affected on the occasion. He loved his brethren, and valued their good opinion next to the favour of God. He could not, therefore, but be gratified with this mark of their confidence and esteem. But the honour conferred upon him had not the effect of lifting him up in his mind, but proved rather an occasion of increased humiliation before God, and a means of spiritual improvement. The responsibilities and arduous duties of this high office precluded the possibility of writing as copiously as usual in his journal; the entries made were necessarily brief; but they are sufficiently indicative of the state of his mind. A few specimens may serve to illustrate his character under the new circumstances in which divine providence had placed him.

"Woodhouse Grove, Sat. July 24.-There is talk of putting me into the chair. Should it be so, O may I be fitted for my work, and assisted in it. May I be preserved from depression and from pride. If depressed, I shall be uncomfortable and unfitted for my work; if proud, I shall fall under the condemnation of the devil. God has given me influence and respectability in the Connexion. O may I improve this talent to his glory, and never seek myself.

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Mon. July 27.-Our Conference began. Three hundred preachers are present. I am elected President, Dr. Coke, Secretary. O Lord, let not the office fall into contempt through me.

"Tues. 28th.-Hitherto hath God helped me. Business goes on well. Peace is enjoyed may it continue. My brethren seem disposed to give me as little trouble

as possible, and shew me that degree of respect which humbles me before the Lord. What am I, that I should sit among the princes of thy people, O my God! O may my whole heart and life be devoted to thee alone.

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Sun. Aug. 2.-Preached before the Conference on Phil. ii. 16. The Lord was a present help.

"Mon. Aug. 3.-Admitted in public sixteen preachers, who have been tried and found faithful. Their testimonies were satisfactory. Messrs. Thomas Taylor and Henry Moore gave them some good advice.

The Lord was

"Tues. 4.-Admitted sixteen more. very present. After the public examination, Mr. Benson delivered a charge, and Mr. Averill prayed. A time to be remembered. My hands, and head, and heart are full; but God helps me through all. We have had no bad temper, nor has one individual given me a moment's pain; but all seem to wish to make my office as easy as possible. Mr. Watson was unanimously received into full connexion, and great affection towards him was manifested.

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‘Aug. 7.—I am amazed when I consider the great variety of engagements in public and private which have necessarily occupied my time, that I am so well, and so free from fatigue. But the Lord is my helper. There are upwards of three hundred preachers at the Conference; and sometimes it is difficult to keep in perfect good order so many persons. However, it is pleasing to reflect, that we have not, in any one instance, had a bad temper manifested. Great affairs have been discussed at this Conference, of the utmost importance to the Connexion and the country."

To Mrs. Entwisle he writes :-" Aug. 12.—We shall conclude, please God, to morrow evening. Most of the brethren are gone: I suppose, not more than ninety are left, but I must stay till all the minutes are entered, and the journal signed. My soul is humbled before God, at the idea of having my insignificant name registered in a book, in which are the signatures of many worthy brethren and fathers, and that of our venerable founder, Mr. Wesley. May I never disgrace myself or the station occupy in the church."

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Being appointed to labour this year in the Bristol Circuit, with the Rev. Messrs. Thos. Kelk, Richard Treffry,

and Isaac Clayton, Mr. Entwisle took leave of his esteemed friends at Liverpool on Thurs. Aug. 26th, and on Friday night reached his destination at Bristol, where he met with a most kind and cordial reception. The humble and devoted spirit in which he resumed his labours, will best appear from his own words:

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Chew Stoke, Sept. 9.-Here I sit, in a retired room, often occupied by the preachers and Mr. Wesley, for almost half a century. O Lord, what am I, that thou shouldst look on me, employ me, and honour me amongst thy people? I am ashamed before thee, that I am not more holy. God be merciful to me a sinner. I long to know and make known the heights and depths of love divine.

"I am indulged with realizing views of God, deep impressions of his holiness and goodness, and unusual nearness and confidence. I feel myself afresh anointed by the Holy Spirit, and set apart for the work in which I am engaged. I regard myself as the Lord's servant, authorized and employed by him, and therefore warranted and encouraged to expect his presence, his aid, his influence, and his blessing. Glory be to God. From this happy hour, may I go on cheerfully in the work of the Lord, till I hear my great and good master say, 'Well done, enter into the joy of thy Lord.'

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During the last two years, my father had suffered much from violent attacks of rheumatism, which he attributed to sleeping in damp beds, in the earlier years of his itinerancy. He hoped that the removal from Liverpool to Bristol might mitigate the severity of his rheumatic pain. In this, however, he was disappointed. On the 28th of November he writes:- "A week of very great bodily pain night and day. So violent an attack of rheumatism I have not had before. I find myself more liable than formerly to be indisposed. Hereby I am premonished that I shall not live alway, but shall soon sleep with my fathers. O may I improve time while I have it, and give a good account at last."

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Sat. Jan. 3, 1813.-With the new year I endeavour to begin anew to improve my mind by reading, meditation, &c.—to live to God, and to labour for usefulness in the church and in the world. The variety and multiplicity of my vocations render it impossible that I should.

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