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the first time you and Mr. Moore are together, that I may have nothing to say about these things when I shall be too weak. Now I have done with them, and shall say no more. May the Lord fully prepare me for his kingdom." Mr. Moore wept much. "Ah!" said he, "I am a poor wretch,- —a poor helpless creature. I can preach no more," and then wept again. "But," said he, I may go first, my complaint is uncertain. I am resigned to the will of God." "I assure you," says my father, in a letter now lying before me, "it was an affecting time. Should he survive his wife, he will indeed be in a pitiable state. But it will not be of long continuance. So all thought who saw his state, and yet he survived Mrs. M. nearly ten years.

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The mention of Mr. Moore's affliction suggests the propriety of quoting in this place an extract from a letter my father received from Mr. Edmondson, about this time; the extract itself will explain its connexion with Mr. M.'s affliction. Mr. Edmondson's health had improved, but his wife's was fast declining. After alluding to her illness, he says:

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"Near forty years ago, I brought my wife to Colne, where we spent a delightful year with you and Mr. Gloyne. But how rapidly has the time fled! and since then, nearly all the world has returned to the dust. But there is a heaven for the wise and good. There I hope to meet you, though I cannot think myself worthy of such an honour. We used to talk of some little cottage in the wilderness; but our mansions in heaven are more desirable.

"I was glad when I heard that the Book Committee had appointed you to examine my little Treatise on the Heavenly World: first, because I knew you were competent to the work; and secondly, because I could entirely rely on your candour. It seems you did not object to its publication; for this I thank you. Tell Mr. Moore, with my cordial love, that the work was occasioned by his paralytic stroke. When I heard of his affliction, I felt great heaviness and sorrow in my heart; but I said, there is a better world: to that I will turn my thoughts, which shall be guided by the light of divine revelation. I instantly set about the work; and one thought followed another, nearly in the order of my

book. And now, I hope to meet Father Moore in that world, where sin and sorrow are no more."

On the 1st of July, Mr. Entwisle held his last Quarterly Meeting in the Lambeth Circuit, of which he makes the following brief but grateful memorandum :— "Peace and harmony. Blessed be God. A nett increase of 338 members in three years. My last Quarter-day at Lambeth. O Lord, prepare me for my last day."

The Conference this year was held in London. Mr. E. took a lively interest and active part in its proceedings. Matters of great moment and of an exciting character had to be settled. The most important was the proposed plan for the improvement of the junior preachers. The Committee of twenty, appointed last year to prepare some plan for the consideration of this Conference, had met several times after the prolonged meeting of October, which has already been mentioned, and had fully matured their plans. At one of their last meetings before Conference, they had expressed an earnest wish that Mr. Entwisle would undertake the pastoral care and spiritual superintendence of the proposed Institution, -"to live at Hoxton, to be much with the young men out of the hours of tuition, to meet them in class," &c. "Some of my brethren," he says, "to whose judgment I pay great deference, press it upon me. They say it will give general satisfaction, and will render my last years, through God's blessing, of use to the Connexion." His own choice, had he been guided by inclination, would have been to labour in a country circuit, and Northampton appearing to be a suitable place, he had promised to go thither, subject of course to the approval of Conference. This proposal, therefore, placed him in circumstances of difficulty and perplexity. Not that he objected to the proposed institution: some, indeed, of his intimate friends questioned the wisdom of the design; and he himself had at first thought something more simple desirable yet upon mature consideration he had fully coincided with the views of the Committee; and when the proposal to take office in the projected Institution was made to him, he felt bound-regardless of his own predilections, to take the matter into serious and prayerful consideration.

"My present circumstances," he observes, "call for

much prayer and a closer walk with God. My ardent desire is, that the Lord may appoint my station and my work; and that my remaining strength, mental and physical, may be entirely devoted to him and his church. My whole heart says, 'Lord where thou wilt: as thou wilt.'

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The proposed plan was carefully considered by the Conference; and after a long and interesting discussion, in the course of which every objection that could be raised against the plan was stated and met, the Conference decided in its favour by an overwhelming majority. The first officers appointed to the Institution were as follows:

"1. The REV. JABEZ BUNTING is appointed to the office of President of the Institution, under such arrangements as may render his acceptance of that office convenient to himself, and compatible with the retention of his present situation as senior Secretary of the Wesleyan Missionary Society.

"2. The REV. JOSEPH ENTWISLE, SEN. is appointed to the office of Governor of the Institution-House; to whom shall be committed the domestic charge of the establishment, and the pastoral care and superintendence of the Resident Students. In the discharge of the last-mentioned branch of his duty, Mr. Entwisle is expected to officiate as the regular weekly Class-Leader of the Students, according to the established practice of our Societies; and to take every opportunitiy of promoting their personal piety by such other means as it may be judged proper to adopt.

3. The REV. JOHN HANNAH, SEN. is appointed to the office of Theological Tutor, with the understanding that he shall receive such assistance in that department from the President of the Institution, as the President's other duties may enable him to afford."

Among the considerations which had influenced those who opposed the establishment of the "Theological Institution," that which had the greatest weight with the true friends of Methodism, was, perhaps, the apprehension that the simplicity, piety, and zeal of the junior ministers might be impaired, and that after all, but a

smattering of learning would be secured, and that at the expense of vital godliness. It was feared also lest the plainness of dress, manners, and style, which had hitherto characterized the Methodist ministers should be exchanged for dandyish affectation and show. The wellknown characters of the officers appointed went far to dissipate these fears. They were all three remarkable for primitive Methodist simplicity in dress and manners, in happy combination with true Christian dignity. It never could be imagined that the influence of such men as Drs. Bunting and Hannah could tend to substitute mere tinsel for sterling gold: and Mr. Entwisle's appointment to the pastoral and spiritual charge of the Institution was universally regarded-even by its opposers-as furnishing every guarantee that human arrangements could supply, that no spiritual loss would be sustained by the candidates for our ministry.

Mr. Entwisle thus records his own views and feelings, when the recommendation of the Committee was adopted by the Conference, and he received the above appoint

ment:

"I now stand in a new relation to the Methodist Connexion and the Christian Church. To me is intrusted the guardianship of the morals and religion of the junior preachers, who may be admitted into the Institution' for their improvement. Important office! Awfully responsible shall I be to God and his church. Who is sufficient for these things? However, it appears to be a providential appointment. The brethren, I understand, simultaneously directed their attention towards me; and even some of those who opposed the Institution, have told me that they most cordially approve of my appointment. Well, I will give myself anew to the service of my God and his church. I believe He who employs me will help me. On him will I depend for guidance and for a right judgment in all things. Convinced that the only way to keep up proper authority is, to make the young men think I am better informed and more holy than they, by really being so,—I must be much with God, walk with him, and derive constant supplies of wisdom, power, and love from his fulness."

At nine o'clock on Thursday night, August 14th, this memorable Conference closed its sittings. The following

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."

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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

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