(children excepted,) should be alive to God, and a pattern of all holiness. Here it was that I proposed to educate a few children according to the accuracy of the Christian model. And almost as soon as we began, God gave us a token for good, four of the children receiving a clear sense of pardon. But at present the school does not in any wise answer the design of its institution, either with regard to religion or learning. The children are not religious; they have not the power, and hardly the form, of religion. Neither do they improve in learning better than at other schools: no, nor yet so well. Insomuch that some of our friends have been obliged to remove their children to other schools. And no wonder they improve so little either in religion or learning; for the rules of the school are not observed at all. All in the house ought to rise, take their three meals, and go to bed at a fixed hour. But they do not. The children ought never to be alone; but always in the presence of a master. This is totally neglected; in consequence of which they run up and down the road, and mix, yea fight, with the colliers' children.

'How may these evils he remedied, and the school reduced to its original plan? It must be mended or ended, for no school, is better than the present school.'

"This censure is perfectly correct, it was the worst school I had ever seen, and though the teachers were men of adequate learning; yet as the school was perfectly disorganized, and in several respects each did what was right in his own eyes, and there was no efficient plan pursued, they mocked at religion, and trampled under foot all the laws. The little children of the preachers suffered great indignities; and, it is to be feared, their treatment there gave many of them a rooted enmity against piety and religion for life. The parlour boarders had every kind of respect paid to them, and the others were shamefully neglected. Had this most gross mismanagement been known to the Methodist preachers, they would have suffered their sons to die in ignorance, rather than have sent them to a place where there was scarcely any care taken either of their bodies or souls.

"I found to my great discomfort, all the hints thrown out by Mr. B. and my Birmingham friends more than realized. The school has certainly been 'mended' since; and is now stated to be in a progressive state of greater improvement than ever. May it ever answer, in every respect, the great end which its most excellent founder proposed when he laid its first stone, and drew up its rules.

"But to return to the remainder of my short stay in Kingswood.

"I have already noticed that, for the sake of exercise, I often worked in the garden. Observing one day a small plot

which had been awkwardly turned over by one of the boys, I took the spade and began to dress it: in breaking one of the clods, I knocked a half-guinea out of it. I took it up and immediately said to myself, this is not mine; it belongs not to any of my family, for they have never been here; I will take the first opportunity to give it to Mr. Simpson. Shortly after, I perceived him walking in the garden, I went to him, told him the circumstance, and presented the half-guinea to him; he took it, looked at it, and said, 'It may be mine, as several hundred pounds pass through my hands in the course of the year, for the expenses of this school; but I do not recollect that I ever lost any money since I came here. Probably one of the gentlemen has; keep it, and in the mean time I will inquire.' I said, 'sir, it is not mine, take you the money, if you meet the right owner, well; if not, throw it in the funds of the school. He answered, 'You must keep it till I make the enquiry.' I took it again with reluctance. The next day he told me that Mr. Bayley had lost a half-guinea, and I might give it to him the first time I saw him; I did so :-three days afterwards Mr. Bayley came to me and said, 'Mr. C. it is true, that I lost a half-guinea, but I am not sure that this is the half guinea I lost; unless I were so, I could not conscientiously keep it; therefore you must take it again.' I said, 'It is not mine, probably it is yours; therefore I cannot take it.' He answered, 'I will not keep it: I have been uneasy in my mind ever since it came into my possession;' and, in saying this, he forced the gold into my hand. Mr. Simpson was present: I then presented it to him, saying, 'Here, Mr. S., take you it, and apply it to the use of the school.' He turned away hastily as from something ominous, and said, 'I declare I will have nothing to do with it.' So it was obliged to remain with its finder, and formed a grand addition to a purse that already possessed only three half-pence.

"Was this providential? 1. I was poor, not worth twopence in the world, and needed some important articles. 2. I was out of the reach of all supplies, and could be helped only from heaven. 3. How is it that the lad who had dug the ground did not find the money: it was in a clod less than a man's fist. 4. How came it that Mr. B., who knew he had lost a half-guinea, somewhere about the premises, could not appropriate this, but was miserable in his mind for two or three days and nights, and could have no rest till he returned it to me? 5. How came it that Mr. S. was so horrified with the poor half-guinea that he dared not even throw it into the charitable fund? 6. Did the Providence of God send this to me, knowing that I stood in need of such a supply?

"The story is before the Reader, he may draw what inference he pleases. One thing, however, I may add.--Besides two or three necessary articles which I purchased, I gave Mr.

Bayley 6s. as my subscription for his Hebrew Grammar: by which work I acquired a satisfactory knowledge of that language, which ultimately led me to read over the Hebrew Bible, and make those short notes which formed the basis of the Commentary since published! Had I not got that Grammar I probably should never have turned my mind to Hebrew learning; and most certainly had never written a Commentary on Divine Revelation! Behold how great matter a little fire kindleth! My pocket was not entirely empty of the remains of this half-guinea, till other supplies, in the ordinary course of God's Providence came in! O God! the silver and the gold are thine so are the cattle upon a thousand hills.

"At length Mr. Wesley returned to Bristol. The day he came, Mr. Simpson went in and had an interview with him; and I suppose told his own tale,—that they had not room, that it was a pity I should not be out in the general work; and I was told that Mr. W. wished to see me. I had this privilege for the first time, on September 6th. I went into Bristol, saw Mr. Rankin, who carried me to Mr. Wesley's study, off the great lobby of the rooms over the Chapel in Broadmead. He tapped at the door, which was opened by this truly apostolic man: Mr. R. retired: Mr. W. took me kindly by the hand, and asked me, 'How long since I had left Ireland?' Our conversation was short. He said, 'Well, brother Clarke, do you wish to devote yourself entirely to the work of God?' I answered, 'Sir, I wish to do and be what God pleases! He then said, 'We want a preacher for Bradford (Wilts ;) hold yourself in readiness to go thither; I am going into the country, and will let you know when you shall go.' He then turned to me, laid his hands upon my head, and spent a few moments in praying to God to bless and preserve me, and to give me success in the work to which I was called.

"I departed, having now received, in addition to my appointment from God to preach His gospel, the only authority I could have from man, in that line in which I was to exercise the Ministry of the Divine Word.

"That evening Mr. Wesley preached in the chapel from Zech. iv. 6., Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts. In this Sermon, which was little else than a simple narrative of facts, he gave a succinct account of the rise and progress of what is called Methodism: its commencement in Oxford, occasioned by himself and his brother Charles, and a few other young men, setting apart a certain portion of time to read the Greek Testament, and carefully to note the doctrines and precepts of the gospel; and to pray for inward and outward holiness, &c. With and by these God had condescended to work a work, the greatest that had been wrought in any nation since the days of the Apostles. That the instruments which he employed were, humanly

speaking, not at all calculated to produce such a glorious effect; they had no might as to extraordinary learning, philosophy, or rhetorical abilities:-they had no power, either ecclesiastical or civil; could neither command attention, nor punish the breach of order; and yet by these means was this extraordinary work wrought; and in such a manner too as to demonstrate, that as it was neither by might nor power, it was by the Spirit of the Lord of Hosts.

"Had this relation been entirely new to me, I should have felt more interest in the Sermon. But I had already acquainted myself with the history of Methodism, of which the present Sermon was an abridgment. The Sermon had nothing great in it, but was well suited to the purpose for which it was preached; viz. to lead the people ever to consider the glorious revival of religion which they witnessed, as the work of God alone; and to give him the glory; as to Him alone this glory was due. "Two days after this, (September 8,) I first saw Mr. Charles Wesley, and was not a little gratified to think that I had, by a strange series of providences, been brought to see the two men whom I had long considered as the very highest characters upon the face of the globe; and as the most favoured instruments which God had employed since the days of the twelve Apostles to revive and spread genuine Christianity in the earth. "It was not till the 26th of this month that I had my final instructions to set off to my circuit.

"A young man, named Edward Rippon, had been, on too slight an authority, recommended to Mr. Wesley at the Conference, which had been held at Bristol in the last month, as a proper person to travel, and he was accordingly appointed for Bradford, (Wilts.) When the time came, he was found to be unqualified for the work, and he declined coming out. To supply his place, I was appointed for that circuit: and this is the reason why my name was not printed in the Minutes that year; as the Conference was over before Mr. Rippon's determination was known, or my appointment had taken place. And by a blunder of all editors since that time, Rippon's name stands in that year as a travelling preacher in the Bradford circuit, though he never travelled an hour as a Methodist preacher in his life.

"I have only one thing more to add about Kingswood, before I take my final leave of it.

"When Mr. Wesley had returned and told me to hold myself in readiness to go into a circuit, I was brought out of my prison house, had a bed assigned me in the large room with the rest of the boys, (for about forty lay in the same chamber, each in a separate cot, with a flock bed,) and had permission to dine with the family. There was no question then about itch, or any thing else; whether I ever had it, or whether I was cured of it! But Mrs. S.'s authority was not yet at an end.

It was soon observed at table that I drank no person's health. The truth is, I had ever considered it an absurd and senseless custom, and could not bring my mind to it. At this table, every person when he drank was obliged to run the following gauntlet. He must drink the health of Mr. Simpson-Mrs. Simpson-Miss Simpson-Mr. Bayley-Mr. De Boudry-all the foreign gentlemen-then all the parlour boarders, down one side of the long table, and up the other, one by one, and all the visitors who might happen to be there :-after which it was lawful for him to drink his glass of beer.

"On Mrs. Simpson's insisting upon my going through this routine, and drinking all healths, I told her I had a scruple of conscience, and could not submit to it till better informed; and hoped she would not insist on it. She answered, 'You certainly shall: you shall not drink at table unless you drink the healths of the company as the others do. Mr. Wesley drinks healths; Mr. Fletcher does the same; but you will not do it, because of course you have more wisdom and piety than they have.' To this I could not reply. I was in Rome, and it would have been absurd in me to have attempted to contend with the pope. The consequence was, I never had a drop of fluid with my meat during the rest of my stay at this place. This was a sore trial to me, for I never had an easy deglutition, and was always obliged to sip with my food, in order to get it easily swallowed. I had now no help, but to take very small bits, and eat little; and then go out to the vile straining stone behind the kitchen, for some of the half-putrid pit water; and thus terminate my unsatisfactory meal.

"The tyranny of Mrs. S. in this was truly execrable. I omitted from conviction a practice which I judged to be at least foolish and absurd: and none of them could furnish the shadow of an argument in vindication of their own conduct, or in confutation of mine. I have however lived long enough to see almost the whole nation come over to my side.

"It was at this time that the Bishop of Bristol held a confirmation in the collegiate church. I had never been confirmed, and as I had a high respect for all the rites and ceremonies of the Church, I wished to embrace this opportunity to get the blessing of that amiable and apostolic looking prelate, Dr. Lewis Bagot. I asked permission; several of the preachers' sons went with me; and I felt much satisfaction in this ordinance; to me it was very solemn, and the whole was well conducted. Mrs. S., who was a Presbyterian, pitied my being so long 'held in the oldness of the letter.' I have lived nearly forty years since; and upon this point my sentiments are not changed.

"My stay was now terminated at Kingswood school. On the morning of Sept. 26th, I left it, walked to Hanham: from thence to Bath, where I heard Mr. Wesley preach: and from Bath I walked to Bradford, where I again heard him preach in