Mrs. Preston. My wife, after being a month in fever, is recovering.

"I am your affectionate brother,

"WM. BRAMWELL

"Liverpool, May 2, 18

MY DEAR ANN,-I now find you much on mind; and I have a desire to see you. In this I endeavour to feel the most perfect resignation. In world we must suffer; and the absence which is cessary for our well being on earth, is certainly part of this suffering. You have one that loves with that regard which is far beyond all my affect and he will ever watch over you for your salvat Evil spirits, an evil world, with all around you, will be able to ensnare so long as you live in fellowship your God. Let all things be done with a pure des for his glory. Keep your soul in that sweet calm him. Watch to please your Lord in all things. Mary, have Mary's heart, receive of Christ's teachi and increase in all those heavenly tempers every C I long to see you eminent for holiness, for the div life, receiving the image of your God, and speaking your heavenly Master in every action. I am persua a work is before you; and, if all diligence is given every mean is used, if faith is in constant exercise hope prevails, if your soul is fixed on heaven, you will ready for all the will of God. One thing is needf which is continual prayer. All will fail unless you bour in this way. Let the times be as frequent as pos ble, and the manner as fervent as possible. Full of pectation, look for the promise, and believe for the ble ing. Be mighty in this duty. You will be strongly tem ed to neglect prayer. Satan can continue his author with all persons who do not give themselves to pray'Arm'd with all thy might, I cry to thee; In this I shall receive the victory."

Fear not, Ann! Your Lord hath bought all the glory; and I hope you will claim your part in the first resurrection. O that you may ever be an ornament to the gospel of God! I am your affectionate father,

"WM. BRAMWELL." "P. S. Can you read a chapter in Hebrew, yet not forgetting your French ?"

CHAPTER XII.

Mr. Bramwell's appointment a second time to Sheffield-His conduct and ministerial success-Remarkable anecdoteLetters-His second appointment to Birstal-His usefulness in that circuit-Letters.

ONE of Mr. Bramwell's particular friends gives the following account of his second appointment to the Sheffield circuit :

"In the year 1810, after an absence of twelve years, by the very earnest request of the people, the conference sent Mr. Bramwell a second time to Sheffield. Many of his old friends and fellow helpers, in the former revival, had put off their harness, and were taken to their eternal reward. One of his intimate surviving friends told him, that he was come to perform the last office of friendship, to commit his mortal remains to the grave, and to improve the circumstances of his life and death to the living."*

"When Mr. B. resided first in Sheffield he was a junior preacher, although his colleagues laboured with him in the bond of Christian fellowship: but now he was appointed as the superintendent, and in that office we will first consider him.

"In the commencement of his work he openly avowed that he was determined to know nothing among us but Christ, and him crucified.' 'None,' he said, ' would be permitted to inform him privately of dissensions

*We refer to the late Mr. Longden; the event accorded with this presentiment. The sermon which Mr. Bramwell preached on the occasion, was published in the large edition of the Memoirs of Mr. L.

among brethren, but that he would always have the accuser and the accused face to face, and that he would neither condemn a man, nor form an opinion upon any case, before the individual whom it concerned had answered for himself."

"Where a superintendent has to preside in a large circuit, he will often have to exercise all his wisdom, firmness, and forbearance. In the present imperfect state of our knowledge, and the shallowness of the human comprehension, there will be a difference of opinion: and even good men, desiring to promote what they believe will be for the glory of God, and the good of his church, are in danger of being carried too far by inordinate warmth of feeling and expression. On such occasions, with what mild authority, as an angel of the church among us, have we seen Mr. Bramwell quell the rising of evil, and reconcile what appeared contradictory to those of more limited views! He was able to manage the whole vessel with apparent ease. In preachers' and leaders' meetings, &c, he would kindly interrupt any circumlocution; while he gave to all a patient hearing, he facilitated the business; and, in conclusion, recapitulating the whole, he showed the strength or weakness of the different arguments, and left the decision to the majority of the meeting.

"One great object, which he always kept before him, was economy in the public expenditure. He would submit to any privation, rather than see the stewards burdened with a weight of debt; nor would he permit an increase of expenses, without the probability of obtaining a supply of sufficient funds. Our stewards

were in advance when he came into the circuit : under his direction the debt was liquidated, and he left our finances in prosperity. The same principles were extended to the building of chapels. Before a chapel was erected, he first considered the magnitude of the population in that vicinity, the present state of the work, the existing inconvenience of the worshippers, the efforts of the people to raise a sufficient subscription among themselves, and the probable help they would

want from others. If all these concurred, it then appeared that the Lord designed a house to be built for himself, in which his great name might be recorded.

"When our societies, under Mr. Bramwell's superintendence, saw that he would not permit improper appeals of private or public charity to be made, they liberally supported those plans which he patronized, rallied around him with Christian philanthropy, and tasted the blessedness of doing and receiving good. This transforming, uniting principle, amalgamated all into one effort and enjoyment.

"We beheld him as a minister, and an exemplary man of God, matured by increase of days,-shorn, it is true, of some of his masculine vigour ; yet he continued to hold a meeting for prayer, every morning at five, where many souls were quickened and saved. He had, if possible, greater importunity and power in prayer, with a richer variety of expression. As an instrument of the salvation of thousands of immortal spirits, he had become venerable. The peculiar answers of his prayers for individuals in afflictive circumstances, can only be revealed when the secrets of the heart will be brought into judgment. The dissensions which he found among us, vanished as we profited by his ministry, and drunk into his spirit. The selfish contraction of the heart, was expanded by his benign influence, and we became as members of one family, sitting under the same vine and fig tree, none daring to interrupt our sacred peace and growing prosperity.

"He unceasingly pressed upon his hearers the necessity of Christian holiness, and so preached this doctrine as to manifest he was himself habitually grounded and settled in the experience of it. He raised the standard of Christian experience as high as the Scriptures do, and yet placed it within the reach of every justified person. He gave believers no rest till they sought with all the heart to be fully saved from sin, knowing that we are in danger of counting our steps back again, if we do not press towards the mark for the prize of our high calling.' The reason,' he said, 'why many

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seek to be saved from the remains of the carnal mind, and do not obtain the blessing, is, because they have secretly backslidden, and have forfeited the Divine favour. If they were correctly acquainted with their own state, they would first seek to be justified by faith in Christ Jesus.'

"He faithfully admonished his hearers, that, conformity to the world, and inordinate love of riches, open avenues to a thousand snares, and are the great bane of Christian simplicity and holiness; that this is not a state of rest, but of labour; not of indulgence, but of self denial; and that these are sure marks of discipleship, if they spring from faith which worketh by love. His conversation was in heaven, from whence he looked continually for the Saviour. He often expressed his wonder respecting the joys and the employments of the saints in light. He frequently said respecting them, in familiar conversation, 'What are they doing, think you? How I long to be with them! To quit the burden of mortality, and, glorious as the sun, quick as thought, pass from world to world, and sphere to sphere.' No sudden alarm, no picturesque scenery, no political news, no worldly conversation, interrupted one moment his union. He breathed, and lived, in Christ, in God.

"Under the gift of such a ministry, our congregations waited for the word of life, and the brethren were 'striving together, till we should all come in the unity of the faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God, unto perfect men, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we should henceforth be no more children, but speaking the truth in love, might grow up into HIM in all things which is the head, even Christ; from whom the whole body fitly joined together by that which every joint supplieth, maketh increase of the body, unto the edifying of itself in love." "

While Mr. Bramwell was in this circuit, the following occurrence took place, which is related by the person that was the subject of it, Mr. Thomas Riley, one of the many serious among our soldiery, and who is at