Winchester's correspondence with Dr. Rush. tended notice of his conversion is given below. A more ex Mr. V. was born at Battle, in Sussex, England, May 1758. He experienced religion at the age of twenty-one, and in Jan. 1779, made a public profession by joining a Baptist church. He was ordained to the work of the ministry the following month. He had early entertained doubts on the eternity of future punishment, and having associated (during a journey to solicit aid in erecting a more commodious house of worship) with the General Baptists, and believers in the Restoration, their conversation quite unsettled his mind. In this state he returned home. Mr. Winchester's publications circulated freely in his neighborhood, and produced considerable effect. This was not lost upon him. He became more anxious to know the truth. He besought the divine direction, and diligently searched the scriptures. The result of his investigation was, a firm conviction that the Restitution of all things was the doctrine which had been proclaimed by all God's holy prophets since the world began, established by Christ, and preached by his Apostles. On the last Sabbath of the year1792, he avowed this sentiment to his people, and entered into an elaborate defence of it, which occupied three hours. The majority adhered to him, and received the doctrine gladly but the minority withdrew, and formed a church on the principles of close communion. In the adoption of the Restoration, Mr. Vidler experienced treatment not dissimilar to that suffered by Messrs. Winchester and Murray. The cry of apostacy was sounded far and wide. Reproach and expostulation flowed in upon every side. The pulpits of his brethren were immediately closed against him, and himself and church ejected from the Kent and Sussex yearly Association. By appointment he was to have delivered the annual discourse before that body; but to prevent him, the Association met the day before, expelled him, and appointed another in his stead. The discourse, though delivered by one who had been an intimate friend, was highly personal, and Mr. V. rose and stood during its delivery. He was not discouraged, however, by the fulminations, and the next Sabbath preached a sermon to his people, appropriate to their circumstances, from Isaiah lxiii. 16. "Doubtless thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not; thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer; thy name is everlasting." Having thus taken a decided stand, he soon became acquainted with Mr. Winchester, who visited Battle. An intimate friendship ensued. In Feb. 1794, he went up to London, and for a short time supplied Mr. W.'s pulpit. They formed a design of travelling and preaching alternately, but an unforeseen occurrence prevented its execution. On Mr. W.'s return to America, Mr. Vidler succeeded him at the chapel in Parliament court, where he attracted crowds scarcely less than his predecessor. He also became editor of a periodical, in which he carried on a controversy on the subject of endless misery with the celebrated Andrew Fuller. continued this work, under various titles, through thirteen volumes, when it was merged in the Monthly Repository, and his labors as editor closed. He In 1798, he assisted Mr. Nathaniel Scarlett, a member of his congregation, in the publication of an improved translation of the New Testament, which was favorably noticed by the Critical and Monthly Reviews of 1798-'99. Mr. Vidler enjoyed the happiness of witnessing an era of better feelings among the General Baptists, than those manifested by the association from which he had been thrust out for conscience sake. At a meeting of the General Assembly in London, June 8, 1802, it was voted by a large majority, that the Parliament Court Church should be admitted a member, and the next day Mr. V. preached at the ordination of Mr. Moon over the General Baptist Church at Deptford. From which circumstances it is inferred that the denomination no longer considered the doctrine of interminable misery an es sential article of belief. Mr. V. continued his ministry in London about nineteen years, and died Aug. 23, 1816, aged 58. He was a plain and faithful preacher. He was very explicit in preaching the doctrine of future punishment, to which he correctly attached high importance. His successor was Rev. Mr. Fox, a distinguished scholar and pulpit orator. CHAPTER XIII. Family affliction Mr. Winchester returns to America his reception and success. "Bear me thou restless ocean; Let the winds my canvass swell- Mr. Winchester was now in the zenith of his influence and popularity, when a painful circumstance cast a gloom over the brightness of his prospects. It has already been remarked that his last matrimonial connexion was unhappy. From all we can learn, Mrs. W. was subject to bursts of ungovernable passion, which spent the fury of its paroxysms upon a kind and affectionate husband. Sacred be the scenes of the domestic hearth. Faithfulness as a historian could alone induce us to allude to them. Suffice it to say, Mr. W's. trials increased, until they became insupportable to a constitution already greatly impaired by ill health. To obtain release, he resolved to return to America, and settle upon Mrs. W. a separate maintenance. To do this cost him many severe pangs. He was separating from kind and faithful friends, and from a society to which he was bound by many endearing ties. The state of his feelings is expressed in the following extracts from letters to an intimate friend. "No doubt you and all my numerous friends are anxious to know how I support the dreadful shock, and what my present thoughts are; and whether I find the comforts of religion of that vast importance to myself in this hour of greatest trial, as I have frequently represented them to others? To this I can answer as a dying man, I do find that my confidence in God has not failed, yet I have felt and suffered most severely, as must be imagined by reason of the amazing tenderness of my spirits, and my very low state of health. I should have found the trouble insupportable, if it had not been for the power of an Almighty arm. I have also the consciousness of innocence, and the testimony of a good conscience in the step I have been at last compelled to take, which has been before my mind for years past, and which I have often spread before the Lord in the bitterest agony of my spirit, and have begged his direction with all the powers of my soul. I may indeed say with Job, "The thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of, is come unto me. I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet, yet trouble came. Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth. Even when I remember, I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold of my flesh. Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends, for the hand of God hath touched me." "I have long felt that I was entirely crucified to the world and all its delights and glories, except that one attachment, which is now gone. I was not deceived. This trial has proved my religion genuine. O glory to God, I have not dealt in unfelt truths. "I dare to suffer, but I fear to sin, And meekly bear the cross the crown to win." On the 1st May, 1794, Mr. Winchester left London for Bristol. On the 19th of the same month he sailed from that port for the United States, and after a boisterous voyage of nearly two months, landed in Boston July 12th. He came to America alone. He purposed returning to London so soon as an arrangement for Mrs. W's. future support could be effected. Proposals of this nature were several times proposed to her by his friends, which she declined. She professed deep penitence for the past, and declared she could never be happy until she had seen Mr. W. and obtained his forgiveness. When it became certain he would not return to England while she remained there, she privately took passage for America, where she arrived March 15, 1795. She soon sought opportunity to see Mr. W. who was prevailed upon to live with her again. The society in Parliament Court sympathized with him in his domestic afflictions. They justly estimated his moral and intellectual worth, and were exceedingly anxious to regain his services. A letter, signed by several hundred persons, was addressed him, earnestly soliciting his return. It does not appear that he ever received it. Mr. Winchester's sudden arrival in his native land, was a subject of surprise to his friends. Many conjectures were broached, but the real cause none could divine. On this topic he preserved a commendable silence. Writing to a friend in London he says, 66 My return to this country was sudden and surprising to all who knew me. Various have been the conjectures and reports which have gone abroad on the occasion. The most common one was, that I had fled from persecution for fear of being taken up by the government for publishing my oration on the discovery of America, or my sermons on the Three Woe Trumpets. But I have always had the satisfaction of telling all that have asked me, that the government |