him an unbridled career, through the whole of which he may wanton in all the varieties of criminal indulgence, and, at length, when death knocks at his door, if he just allows him time to send for his minister, and to hurry along with him, through the steps of an adjusted ceremonial, the man's passage through that dark vale which carries him out of the world, is strewed with the promises of delusion.

"O my brethren, it is piteous to think of such a preparation, but it is just such a preparation as meets the sad experience of us all. The man whose every affection has clung to the world, till the last hour of his possibility to enjoy it; who never put forth an effort or a prayer to be delivered from the power of sin, till every faculty for its pleasures had expired; who, through the varied progress of his tastes and his desires, from amusement to dissipation, and from dissipation to business; had always a something in all the successive stages of his career, to take up his heart to the exclusion of him who formed it ;-why, such a man, who never thought of pressing the lessons of his minister upon his conscience while life was vigorous, and the full swing of its delights and acceptations could be indulged in, -do we never find, even in the bosom of this reformed country, that while his body retains all its health, his spirit retains all its hardihood? and not till the arrival of that week, or that month, or that year, when the last messenger begins to alarm him, does he think of sending to the man of God, a humble supplicant for his attendant prayers. Ah! my brethren, do you not think, amid the tones and sympathies, and the tears which an affectionate pastor pours out in the fervency of his soul, and mingles with all his petitions, and all his addresses to the dying man, that no flattering unction ever steals upon him, to lull his conscience, and soothe the agony of his departure? Then, my brethren, you mistake it, you sadly mistake it; and, even here, where I lift up my voice among a crowd of men, in the prime and unbroken vigour of their days, if even the youngest and likeliest of you all, shall, trusting to some future repentance, che

rish the purpose of sin another hour, and not resolve, at this critical and important Now, to break it all off, by an act of firm abandonment, then be your abhorrence at Popery what it may, you are exemplifying the worst of its errors, and wrapping yourselves up in the cruellest and most inveterate of its delusions."

AWFUL EFFECTS OF FILIAL DISOBEDIENCE.

In the year 1738, Mr. Wesley received a letter from a friend in Lincolnshire, entreating him to serve the church of a Mr. Hume, some time before deceased, during its vacancy. Mr. Wesley, reading the letter, inquired of one of his Lincolnshire friends, whether Mr. Hume was dead? "Have you not been informed of the calamities of that family?" replied his friend. "I have not," said Mr. Wesley. "I will then," said he, "relate them to you."

Mr. Hume had four sons and one daughter. Three of the sons were educated at Oxford, and entered into holy orders; the other went into the Guinea trade, and settled on the coast of Africa.

About nine months ago, Mr. Hume was riding out, and watering his horse at a large pond, the unruly beast plunged out of his depth; by which Mr. Hume was so wetted that he caught a violent cold, which was followed by a fever, that caused his death. The person who had the gift of Mr. Hume's living, was determined that it should remain in the family as long as possible, and therefore gave the eldest son a presentation to it. Mr. Hume, the father, had just rebuilt the parsonage house before he died. The son took possession before it was dry, and the dampness of it occasioned his speedy death. The second son was then presented to the living; and he died also a few weeks after his induction. The third son (his brother dying suddenly) set off from Oxford to receive the presentation. In his way he lay at the house of an old acquaintance of his father's. The gentleman of the house had a beautiful daughter, with whom young Mr. Hume immediately fell in love.

He, therefore, before he de

parted, begged permission to return and make proposals; to which the father consented. Mr. Hume, after his induction to his living, returned, according to his engagement, and in a few days the marriage was completed; but in six weeks after the nuptials, the lady was brought to bed; and Mr. Hume, soon afterwards, died with grief. The conclusion of this mournful episode should not be omitted. Mrs. Hume, soon after the death of her third son, received a letter from the only remaining one, informing her, he was just going to sail from Africa to England with a fortune sufficient to make the whole family comfortable; and, in a few days after, she received a letter from the captain of a swift-sailing vessel, who had been hailed by the ship in which her son sailed, by whom she was informed that her son had died on his passage of a disorder which then raged in the ship. Mrs. Hume, sinking under the weight of such a complication of misfortunes, soon died of a broken heart. Miss Hume, about a month after the death of her mother, was in company with a physician, who, looking stedfastly at her, observed, "Madam, you take opium, I know it by your eyes, and I am afraid you have put it out of my power to recover you." She confessed that the misfortunes of her family had so entirely deprived her of rest, that she had taken laudanum to obtain a little repose. The physician prescribed. In a fortnight she recovered her appetite, her colour, and in a good measure her health. The physician then advised her to take a table-spoonful of jalap he had prescribed for her, whenever she found herself inclined to be sick. A few days after this, she desired the servant to bring her a spoonful of the jalap. The servant mistaking the bottle of laudanum for the jalap, brought her a spoonful of the laudanum, which she drank; and soon afterwards she fell asleep, and awoke no When Mr. Wesley received information of the death of the last of the family, he recollected a remarkable observation made to him by his mother many years before. He had been commending to her, in very strong terms, Mr Hume and his amiable family. "John," replied Mrs. Wesley," depend upon it, that

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family will come to some untimely end." Mrs. Wesley was a woman so far from being given to censure, that Mr. Wesley asked, with some surprise, Madam, why do you speak so severely of so lovely a family?" "John," ," said she, "I will tell you why: I have observed, in various instances, in the course of my life, that where persons have grossly violated the fifth commandment, "Honour thy father and mother," &c. and afterwards have been brought to the fear of God, the Lord has reversed the promise, and punished them for their transgression with temporal death. Mr. Hume and his family lie under this censure. I remember the time when his mother lived under his roof; he used her cruelly. He grudged every bit of meat she put into her mouth, and the whole family partook of his spirit. And depend upon it, God will remember them for this."

INTELLIGENCE.

ON Sunday, Dec. 5th, the Friends of Evangelical Reform at Tunstall, opened their New Chapel. The place is eighteen yards long, aud nine wide, and built in such a way, that it can easily be turned into four dwelling houses. Samuel Sayce, of Stalybridge, preached on the Sabbath, and on the Monday evening; and on the evenings of Wednesday and Thursday following, J. Barker preached in the same place. On Tuesday, the 14th, William Trotter preached in the same place. The attendance on the services was good, and the services were truly profitable and encouraging.

On Friday, the 10th, J. Barker lectured at Macclesfield on Temperance, in the National School Room. The audience was unusually large, and the principles of Temperance appeared to take hold of many minds. A number of persons at Macclesfield had endeavoured to prejudice the minds of the Temperance Friends against the lecturer; and had even gone to the Temperance Meeting, when they found that Joseph Barker was announced to visit Macclesfield, and distributed a number of the scurrilous and abusive pamphlets published against him by his persecutors; but all appeared to be

overruled for good. Instead of preventing people from coming to hear, their conduct excited people's curiosity, and caused the attendance to be larger than the friends had looked for. It is expected that J. Barker will visit Macclesfield shortly to lecture on Evangelical Reform.

On Sunday, December 12th, the preaching-room fitted up by our Christian friends at Manchester was publicly opened. J. Barker preached in the morning and evening, and after the evening service addressed the friends on the principles of Christian Fellowship, the Duties of Christian Churches, &c., and then administered to the members of the church the Lord's Supper. The congregations were very large, though the day was exceedingly wet; and at night, the room was crowded, and several, we understand, were unable to get in. It had been circulated that the room was unsafe; but it does not appear that many were prevented by these reports from attending. On Tuesday evening, the 14th, J. Barker lectured in the same room, on the Doctrine of the New Testament respecting the acquisition and use of property. On Thursday evening the friends had a tea meeting in the room, and after tea, a public meeting for the statement and inculcation of the principles of Evangelical Reform. From four to five hundred persons, it was supposed, sat down to eat and drink together, while the number attending the meeting afterwards was still greater. The meeting was addressed by J. B. Sheppard, of Bury, minister of the Wesleyan Methodist Association, by Samuel Tucker, of Manchester, Samuel Fox, Manchester, and by J. Barker. The people were exceedingly attentive, and apparently much interested and profited. The services altogether were of a very encouraging and satisfactory character.

On Monday evening the 13th Dec. J. Barker preached at Lees, near Mossley. The room, which is calculated to hold about four hundred, was crowded, and the blessing of the Lord rested delightfully upon the meeting.

On Wednesday the 15th Dec., J. Barker lectured in Oak-street chapel, Manchester, on Christian Liberty.

On Tuesday evening the 21st Dec., J. Barker lectured in the Union Hall, Barnardcastle, on Temperance, and on the Wednesday evening following he lectured, in the same place, on Evangelical Reform. The audience was much larger the second evening than the first, and the interest excited was very considerable. A number of friends in Barnardcastle and the neighbourhood appear to be fully convinced, that if Christianity is to become the religion of the whole earth, professing Christians must themselves carry out the principles of the Gospel much more thoroughly and consistently than they have hitherto done. And there appears to be a disposition among the Barnardcastle friends, to begin the work of reform at home. Several have taken a further step or two in the way of temperance and self-denial, and others have withdrawn from worldly associatians, and transferred their trust from uncertain riches to the living God. A spirit of ardent, enterprising charity also appears to have taken possession of their breasts. The proposal to issue a number of new tracts meets their approbation, and receives support. We have to acknowledge the receipt of two pounds through the medium of W, Rowntree for the tract project, with the kind assurance that a further sum can be raised if required. We hope to make a return in tracts shortly

A new chapel has been lately opened, by the friends of Evangelical Reform, at Washerwall, near the Staffordshire Potteries, but we have not heard the particulars. We expect to be furnished with an account of W. Trotter's late labours in Staffordshire and elsewhere for our next number; meanwhile we give the following, which has just reached us.

"William Trotter has been in this neighbourhood nine days, and has preached sixteen sermons, led a lovefeast, and delivered two lectures, one on Religious Reform, and the other on Temperance, to very large congregations. All the places were well filled, most of them to overflowing; and much, very much good has attended his visit: there are many that will never forget it till their dying day. The Pottery friends are doing well; they seem to live in each

other's affections; and they pull one way. There are many victims,* but they suffer willingly; they hope to stand fast, and quit themselves like men, for God and truth. William Trotter was in good spirits, and happy in his work. He lives in the affections of the Pottery friends."

On Christmas day the Trustees of Salem Chapel had a tea party, and after tea, a public meeting was held. It was one of the largest meetings of the kind they ever had, and without exception, we believe, the most delightful and profitable. The meeting was addressed on the true principles of church-fellowship, the folly of attempting to force people into a uniformity of opinion or practice, the true nature of Christian liberty, and the true principles of Christian discipline and church order. Much also was said on the ends which churches are designed by God to answer, on the obligations of churches, while they maintain their freedom, to cherish kind feelings, and affectionate intercourse with other churches,- -on the duty of all Christians who make it their great aim to exemplify and to propagate the whole religion of Christ, throughout all the nations of the earth. The church in connection with Salem Chapel is still favoured with prosperity, and the most encouraging prospects are before it. May its members and its pastor be faithful to the solemn trust reposed in them by their Heavenly Father.

The Gateshead Friends had their Quarterly Meeting on Monday: they too are favoured with prosperity. God has honoured them, and sanctioned the steps they have taken in the cause of Evangelical Reform, by making them the instruments of converting many souls. In Gateshead they have added to the church from thirty to forty, we are told, and the number added in the circuit generally is upwards of seventy or eighty, we believe.

We have heard, through a correspondent, very strange news from

the neighbourhood of Dudley. Since J. Barker was in that neighbourhood, Amos Dyson, one of the preachers of the Methodist New Connexion, in the Dudley circuit, has been brought to trial and suspended. Among the charges preferred against him were, that he had invited J. Barker and W. Trotter to his house to dinner,— that he had been seen walking with them in the street, that he had been with them at J. Brown's, Dudley, at T. Fellows's, Pennsnett,-that he had said he had read J. Barker's works on a Sunday,-and a number of others of a similar character. We hope a full account of the case will be published. It is but right that the Christian world should know what awful things are done under the Protestant name. The case of A. Dyson is one that deserves the attention of every Protestant in the world. Perhaps there is hardly such an instance, such an exemplification of the principles of intolerance to be found in the history of persecution, not even in connection with Popery itself. We have read of nothing in the history of A. Kilham, nor even in the pamphlets of T. Allin against the Wesleyan Conference one-hundredth part so bad. We never thought so favourably of the Wesleyan body as we have done, since we were led to contrast their proceedings towards dissentient members and ministers amongst themselves, with the accounts furnished by our Dudley correspondent and others. A. Dyson is a laborious and a useful minister, and we have hopes that he will prove a fellowlabourer in the cause of Evangelical Reform. We have reason to be thankful to God that he so wonderfully liberates his faithful ones, and thrusts them into their proper spheres of labour. While we lament the cruelty which has been practised towards our dear Brother, we rejoice in his emancipation, and in the prospect of his accession to the number of free labourers in the cause of Christ. We are expecting the emancipation of others shortly. There are several that would be glad at once to join our ranks, but they consider it their duty to remain where they are, till Providence shall give them an honourable dismissal. every thing in its season.

But