а his church, and in a little time found the pearl of divine and solid peace. The fire thus kindled, warmed her heart with an ardent desire for the salvation of her husband and children. Prayer was set up in the family, and my father, merely moral, consented to attend the same church. All things then seemed to go on pleasantly, till death, unrelenting death, visited us; my brother, a fine youth of nineteen, the family's hope, and my mother's favourite, was killed by a fall from his horse; he had been at the funeral of her whom he loved ; they were buried in the same grave. 6 Woes come in clusters.” My father sickened and died, and I was left an orphan at the age of fourteen, to the care of a mother, at а once pious, diligent, prudent, and careful, but in straiteued circumstances. My father during his life had a little annuity, but that ceased at his death; however, Providence, all bountiful Providence, still provided. Othat I had then hearkened to his commandments! Having now no father to control me, I became very wicked ; corrupt nature, evil company, and satanic temptation, hurried me on in the way of ruin. My affectionate and pious mother was deeply grieved ; reproof succeeded entreaty, and warning reproof; yea, with strong criės and tears would she plead with God in my behalf. Oh, my God, why didst thou not plunge the sinner into everlasting ruin! To such a pitch would the enmity of my nature rise, that I was nearly led to blaspheme God. a and curse my pious parent. Alas, what is man? a wretch, a worm, the sport of every vice! O how I envied those that were allowed an unchecked career of sin. Compelled to go to church, I invented a thousand false excuses; obliged to be reproved, I retorted upon God's people the charge of hypocrisy ; accused by conscience, I pleaded youth, and the fatal example of others; thus did I fight against God, reason, and religion, till weary of restraint, I left my affectionate parent, and with some other wicked boys, my companions, hastened to sea. Here let me deeply admire the goodness of God, in not cutting down the mad rebel in his career of iniquity. O grace, abused grace, how hast thou followed a wretch who has spurned at counsel, hated reproof, and sought death in the error of his ways! I had not been long at sea, ere a tremendous shipwreck awakened in my mind a sense of its ingratitude, rebellion, and disobedience; but though sinking in the mighty waters, at one time dashed on terrible breakers, clinging to the wreck, and washed by the surf for seven or eight hours, I had no heart to pray; remorse, lively remorse, with the black visions of my past guilt, made my heart appear as lead, God as an angry judge, the heavens as brass, and the earth as iron to my prayers. I was saved when others found a watery grave. Almighty goodness, here let me adore thee; thine arm was stretched forth to save; why not to dash the rebel to the bottom of the deep? Did my mother's prayers, did my precious soul, or rather, did not thy Son's bleeding love and interceding grace, stay thy displeasure? The cause of thy compassion could not be found in me, all vile, all polluted; was there a sin but I either found a heart or an opportunity to commit? yet still spared, still borne with; truly, thy mercy is equal to thy majesty; thou art great in goodness, and good in greatness. Alas! where was my gratitude! The impression soon wore off, the wild ass's colt was as untamed as ever. Without returning home, I went again on the ocean, was again dashed on rocks, a peculiar Providence interposed, a second deliverance was wrought out; I saw the hand of God pursuing me, returned home, and thought I would wander no more. Vain thought! Can the unstable billow cease to fluctuate? My resolutions were fleeting as the morning cloud, and transient as the early dew. I plunged anew into the gulf of sin, and had not mercy interposed, should have sunk into the fire of hell. Mercy did interpose; the rebel was arrested in his career. A pious old woman I accidentally, (better say providentially,) met, invited me to hear a Methodist preacher; I did hear him; and the words, "Whoso covereth his sins shall not prosper," touched my heart. I had often been to hear the Methodists before, as well as ministers of the establishment, but with little or no effect. ............. All pastors are alike Shall I say the set time to favour Israel was come? Bleeding mercy! thou hadst frequently, knocked at the door of my heart, but I had shut it against thee; now thou didst, with the hammer of thy word and the power of thy grace, break the bolt, the truth came home to my conscience; I would have shaken off conviction, but it fastened; I changed my company, deserted worldly amusements, while heaven, hell, and the awful realities of religion, made deeper and still deeper impressions upon my heart. Prayer and reading the scriptures became my constant employment, and whether within the venerable walls of the established church, from the pulpit of dissenters, or in a Methodist chapel, the testimony of Jesus was a cordial, a joyful sound to my listening and inquiring soul. After several months spent in conflicts with sin, in vain efforts to deepen my repentance as a good ground of my dependence, betwixt the comforts of devotion and the coldness of despondency, ny conscience checking, yet my corruptions increasing, the peace of God visited my heart, and all was light, and life, and love. I now improved all my time in reading and study, deeply regretting that I had made so poor a use of nearly nine years spent at school. : I now read many books, made short notices of profitable subjects, wrote down notes of good sermons, and almost deyoured the word of God; frequently spending my time till midnight in reading, musing, and praying, over that blessed book. In a little while my profiting was apparent. I devoted my Sabbaths to teaching poor children, visited the sick, spent much of my time in secret prayer, held public prayer-meetings, reproved sin, and from time to time invited and exhorted others to flee from the wrath to come; in short, after two years thus spent, an opening of Providence called forth the exercise of my abilities in a public manner. Missionaries were wanted for Nova Scotia : my brethren approved, and I was finally appointed one of them. Since that period I have, with various success, been labouring in the gospel vineyard, and though deeply unfaithful, the Lord has not written me childless. I trust when the Great Shepherd comes to pen his fold for immortality, some reclaimed wanderers will say, you found me on the barren mountains of sin, you brought me to the divine pasture; you were, under God, the means of my salvation. I have travelled through the woods of Nova Scotia; have preached the gospel on the shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and on the Bay of Fundy, on the rivers and lakes of New-Brunswick, and on the beautiful Sommer Islands; have been benumbed with ; intense cold, and parched with inervating heat; my residence has sometimes been the log cottage of a peasant, |