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the majesty, and bless the goodness of the great Creator, Preserver, and Redeemer of man. Around me stood hundreds of my fellow-creatures who have immortal souls, now making the woods echo with the praises of God;—anon, giving their hearty Amen to the petitions offered to our common Lord;-then hanging with sacred attention on my lips, while, with unusual liberty I explained and endeavoured to improve Rom. v. 5. Unto me who am less than the least of God's saints, is this honour and happiness given, not only to have that good hope, but also to recommend it to others.

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Tues. 17.-Preached in the evening at Dun-Keswick. My congregation consisted of several hundreds : my chapel was an old barn. God was powerfully present with us. After preaching I admitted eighteen new members, who have met in class some time. Sixteen of them appear to have obtained a saving knowledge of Christ. Oh what a glorious work is the Lord carrying on in these parts. There is almost a universal concern among the people. O God, let all the people praise thee; yea, let all the people praise thee.

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'Wed. 18.-A day of much communion with God. Preached at Harewood in the evening. A barn was my chapel here again. The congregation was exceeding large. Few persons were left in their houses; and many came from neighbouring villages. It was a blessed season. In the middle of the sermon my own heart overflowed with love and joy, and it seemed to be the case with all the congregation. I went out of the common way, and gave out two verses of a hymn in the middle of the sermon. It had a blessed effect. It is well occasionally to go out of the old beaten track. After preaching I was employed two full hours in speaking to persons newly brought to God, and giving them tickets. I joined ninety-seven new members to the society, most of whom, I trust, have a real work of grace upon their hearts. The Lord has made bare his holy arm in this place. Old men and children, young men and maidens are made to praise the Lord from a sense of his goodness to their souls.

"Mon. Ang. 4.-Arose this morning in a blessed frame, which continued through the day. After breakfast, rode to Leeds, expecting to find a letter from Con

ference. To my great satisfaction, I found one, which informed me of the peace and unity of the brethren, notwithstanding very great difference in judgment on some subjects. I learned, also, that I am likely to be stationed the ensuing year at Otley. I am well satisfied with it. Here, I trust, in an obscure, low situation, I shall be enabled to grow in the divine life, and be of some use to my fellow-creatures.

More copious extracts from my father's diary have been given during this year than at any former period of his itinerancy, because it was the most successful with which he had yet been favoured. From these it has been seen that he was "in labours more abundant,"preaching regularly from nine to fourteen times a week, besides holding lovefeasts, prayer meetings, sometimes of several hours' continuance,-and weekly meetings of the children of the members on Saturday afternoon, according to the almost universal usage of the day;—and meeting the societies not only on the Lord's day, but also frequently on the week-nights-services for which he was accustomed to prepare addresses with little less care than he bestowed on his more public discourses from the pulpit in addition to all which, he was exemplary in his attention to the important duty of pastoral visitation, which he regarded as not merely desirable and useful, but essential to ministerial success.

At this time his health was in but a delicate state; and the protracted services occasioned by the extraordinary influence which accompanied the word often induced a state of complete exhaustion. Still, regardless of weariness or pain, he was always to be found at his post, willing, as he often expressed himself "to spend and be spent in service so divine," and desirous to impart to those to whom he ministered "not the Gospel of God only, but also his own soul."

So great was the success which attended the united labours of the Leeds preachers this year, that the number of members in the circuit rose from 2120 to 3400; -a number exceeding that of every other circuit in the Connexion, not even London excepted, which until now had usually maintained its pre-eminence.

But this success did not lift him up: it rather humbled him. He had been prepared for it by painful exer

cises of mind, and by the deepening of the work of grace in his own heart. The abundant baptism of the Holy Ghost he had received, at once fitted him for more extensive usefulness, and prepared him to bear the honour God thus put upon him without detriment to his own spiritual interests. For such is the infirmity of human nature, and with such consummate skill and address are the wiles of Satan adapted to the character and circumstances of the servants of God, that even ministerial success is not unattended with danger; and instances have not been wanting, in which those who have been made eminently useful to others, have themselves become "exalted above measure.'

It was probably a fear of this evil, combined with other considerations, which led him to hail with gratitude and joy the prospect of comparative obscurity in the Otley Circuit, in which he was likely to be stationed.

In this, however, he was disappointed. Just before the Conference closed, Mr. Lancelot Harrison, whose wife had been dangerously ill, requested to be removed from the Colne Circuit, to which he had been re-appointed, and expressed a wish to go to Otley. A simple change was therefore made between him and my father. Mr. Harrison was sent to Otley; and my father, with Richard Seed and John Atkins, to Colne; my father, though the youngest of the three, being appointed "Assistant.'

There were certain family reasons which rendered the tidings of this unexpected change by no means agreeable, but he cheerfully submitted to the arrangements of Divine providence, and made the following record on the occasion:

"Sat. Aug. 9.—I have received a letter to-day which informs me that I am appointed for Colne Circuit. I feel power to say, the will of the Lord be done. But I fear it will be exceedingly trying to my dear wife at present. She is near her confinement; and the roads are bad and mountainous, so that I fear there will be a difficulty in getting her to Colne without injury. However, the Lord is our God, and it is his work in which we are engaged. May the Lord give strength according to the day. I trust he will."

CHAPTER VI.

FROM HIS APPOINTMENT TO THE COLNE CIRCUIT, TO THE CONFERENCE OF 1796.

HAVING taken leave of their beloved friends in the Leeds Circuit, my father and mother with their little John Pawson set out by chaise for Colne. The distance was only about thirty miles; but the country is mountainous, and the roads in those days were bad. My mother was but a poor traveller at the best of times, and was then peculiarly unfitted for such a journey. My father, who was a most tender husband, had many fears for her; but He to whom he made known his requests, gave her strength according to her day, and they reached Colne in safety in the evening. There a new trial awaited them, which is thus recorded:

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Frid. Aug. 15, 1794.-When we reached Keighley, we were informed that the small pox was very prevalent in Colne, and that Mr. Harrison had left a child in the preacher's house dangerously ill in that disorder. These tidings deeply affected us. I thought my dearest partner could scarcely have borne it. We had with us our dear John, about seventeen months old, and in a habit of body very unfit for the small pox. However, we committed him to the Lord, and left him at a friend's house in Keighley, till we should determine what to do. This was our comfort-there is a God, and a Providence. How true it is, 'In the world we must have tribulation.'

There was a striking contrast between the circuit they had left and that to which they were come. In Leeds they had every outward comfort; the congregations were large, and the societies in a lively and prosperous state: in their new circuit, they were called to the sacrifice of many temporal comforts, the congregations at Colne and some other places were small, and religion was but at a low ebb. My mother sententiously remarks in her diary: "We have removed from Leeds to Colne-from Go

shen to the wilderness." The circuit was very extensive, being about fifty miles in length, the country mountainous, the roads bad, and in many of the places the accommodations poor. Lancaster had been separated from it at the Conference, but the single preachers in the two circuits still changed once a quarter. The altered circumstances in which my father was now placed, present his character to view under a new aspect. The same all-sufficient grace which, amidst scenes of great outward comfort and of extraordinary ministerial success, had preserved him from undue elation, now raised him above that discouragement and depression which his present circumstances were calculated to produce. He dwelt rather on the bright than on the darker side of things, and received the disagreeables of his lot, as the appointments of infinite wisdom and love for his good. Encouraged by past displays of divine power, "he went forth bearing precious seed," and though he sometimes "sowed in tears," yet he encouraged himself in the Lord, and cultivated the animating hope, that he should come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him."

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In the evening of the day on which he arrived, he preached at Colne. The public announcement that one of the new ministers would preach, brought some to the chapel who did not usually attend; still, the congregation consisted of about thirty persons only!! He remarks:- "It looked strange in a chapel that will contain fifteen hundred persons; however, I found a degree of freedom, while I explained and endeavoured to improve Isaiah xxvi. 3,-O God, revive thy work in the midst of the years."

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Perhaps the history of this period cannot be better detailed than in his own words; in which he recordschiefly with a view to his own use, his labours and successes, his trials and comforts, the leading events of his personal history, and the variations of his religious experience, with occasional references to passing events in the Connexion, which at this time was greatly agitated with disputes about the Sacraments, and various matters of ecclesiastical polity.

"Wed. 20.—I have been out two days in the northern part of the circuit. I find the people few in number, and not lively. At one place, they are not willing to put

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