The life and times of the Rev. Anson Green, D.D.

Front matter

fle>i8i,osa, I from

the estate of

J. Stuart Fleming

Introduction

0 writings are more valuable than those which give a faithful picture of the early history of a people. At later periods the sources of information multiply, but the origin of things is often shrouded in impenetrable obscurity. Records not having been made at the time, the materials cannot subsequently be recovered. Canadians should be mindful of this fact now, and encourage all well-directed efforts to furnish any memoirs, narratives, or sketches, however fragmentary, that serve to throw light on the primitive times when

“ The rudiments of empire

Were plastic yet and warm, The chaos of a mighty world Then rounding into form.”

Among the early moulding forces of the Canadian nation nothing has been more powerful or more beneficent than Methodism. All honour to the other Churches now working so effectively in the common field, but the praise of pioneering, of preaching the Gospel in “ the regions beyond,” this, in Canada, as in America at large, belongs peculiarly to Methodism.

These memoirs of the Life and Times of Dr. Green are a very interesting and valuable contribution to this phase of

VI

INTRODUCTION.

Canadian history. The venerable author, though now advanced in years, still lingers among us as one of the few surviving labourers in the great work of founding Christian churches in this once northern wilderness.

Those of us who inherit the fruits of such labours cannot cherish too fondly the memory of the men who have done so much to make Canada what she is to-day, and what she is destined more and more to become — one of the freest and happiest of the nations of the globe. We should be blind as well as unpatriotic not to recognise, I will not merely say the usefulness, but the greatness, of these pioneers. There are many forms of greatness, but into all true greatness there must enter something of courage, self-reliance, unselfishness, and persevering toil amid discouragement and hardship. Such virtues we find in the early preachers of this country. Their highest qualities were doubtless of a moral kind, and sprang from their Christian principles, but the moral and religious power of the men was often accompanied by intellectual abilities of a high order. We find it hard to understand how a man could be a student, much less an extensive scholar, and live on horseback, but between living on horseback and On a railway car, the former is in our judgment the more favourable of the two, not only to mental vigour, but even to mental discipline. Books and newspapers were not so abundant in those days, but the few books were more thoroughly mastered, and the reading was made fruitful by meditation. Educational disadvantages were often compensated by native talent improved by self-culture and inspired with religious devotion ; and these again were brought into freer play by the very conditions of the country and the enterprising methods of an itinerant ministry.

The open air, the vigorous exertion, the wild scenery, the habitual converse with nature in her changes of season and

INTRODUCTION.

Vll her varying moods of sunshine and storm, the robustness of frame and freshness of spirit which belong to such a life, the sense of freedom, the unity of aim, the occasional dangers by flood and field, and above all, the spirit of the cross with the purifying effect of self-denials borne for Christ and his Gospel, these and like causes served to give even ordinary men an extraordinary power, and to clothe extraordinary men with a kind of heroic grandeur. The same influences and conditions preserved these men from some faults and malformations which cleave too naturally to the clerical character when joined to a sedentary life and a narrow range of reading. It was a further advantage that along with their hardy itinerancy they were called also to the work of ecclesiastical organization, and of doing battle betimes for civil rights. Thus they added to the graces of the Christian, and the gifts of the preacher, something of the capacities and habits of the statesman, and acquired a symmetry and healthy completeness of manhood which belong neilher to the devotee nor the worldling.

As regards eloquence, of which in our day we hear so much and see so little, we recall with a kind of wonderment the melting power and simple grandeur of those old pioneer preachers. They were no doubt specially raised up and qualified for their great work. Their religious conversion was generally striking, and their call to preach clearly marked, and the new spiritual life breaking in upon their souls, like a divine revelation, became the source of new energies, both of thought and speech. It was an eloquence born of the baptism of fire. The conveisions among the people were often of the same marvellous type. Common experiences made common sympathies, and these sympathies were not chilled by the critical and doubting spirit of our time. The cardinal truths of the Gospel were proclaimed with remarkable distinctness and simplicity, and when viii

INTRODUCTION.

pressed home upon the conscience with urgent appeals, and the now old-fashioned and well-nigh obsolete methods of exhortation, the word was with power. The divine unction was more than rhetoric, and the want of cultured tastes among those who heard did but give greater freedom and fervour to religious sensibilities. It was as if the windows of heaven were opened and the fountains of the great deep broken up. Preachers and people were alike exalted beyond the common moods of life, and brought again to the verge of that apostolic day when tbe pentecostal showers fell and the first disciples saw the tongues of flame.

No more affecting seasons are to be found in the history of the Church than those long-remembered quarterly occa sions and camp-meetings when these devoted itinerant preachers met with the multitudes gathered from places far and near — gathered not by easy pleasure trips on steamboat or railway, but by serious, honest pilgrimages in heavy waggons over rough woodland roads. The vast congregations were swayed as the summer corn is swayed by the wind, their hearts warmed and stirred as the streams under the breath of spring. The converting power still abides with the Churches, and a variety and fulness of instruction not available in the former days, but the startling conversion of daring transgressors, followed by a burning intensity of devotion, the moral revolutions putting believers in marked and courageous contrast with surrounding ungodliness, together with a certain awfulness overhanging the dispensation of God’s grace, and felt both by saint and sinner, and transferred also to the preacher as the messenger of grace, these are either not known now, or, if known, fail to draw atttention as in the days when the rarity of Christian privileges, and the simple ways of the people, made the coming of a minister like the visit of an angel, and the conversion of a soul like a miracle from heaven.

INTRODUCTION.

IX

Having been permitted to read a portion of these memoirs I have found them of great interest to myself, and I most heartily recommend them to others. The author speaks of matters that came under his own observation, and that belong to his own experience, some of them facts and incidents of moment to all Canadians, and not likely to be presented, or, at least, so faithfully presented elsewhere. The Rev. Dr. Green has had a lengthy ministerial career, and besides doing his part in the rougher itinerant work has filled all the higher positions in the gift of his Church. He has enjoyed, to a remarkable degree, the confidence of his brethren. While holding an eminent place as a preacher he has, perhaps, distinguished himself yet more highly in the legislative and financial schemes of the Church, and has repeatedly been called to represent the Connexion on important missions both to the English and American Conferences. His great penetration, his uniform self-possession, his wide experience, his dignified and courteous bearing, together with an imposing presence, all eminently qualified him for these onerous and delicateRuties. If he had not become a Methodist minister he might easily have risen to eminence as a financier or a diplomatist, and even a Methodist minister is the better of a capacity for both the one and the other. May his venerable form still continue to grace the Conference platform, and may this little volume, with its simple instructive narratives, and its often touching pictures of Canadian and Methodistic life, have a wide circulation.

Victoria University,

March 3rd, 1877.

S. S. N.

.

in

X

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Preface

wm tea' HE author presents this narrative to the reader with Bfl&Bfll much diffidence, and under a deep sense of its many imperfections. He has always endeavoured to meet the wishes and comply with the demands of his Conference in everything : the foregoing resolution will therefore plead his excuse for coming before the public in this way. Had the Conference made this request two or three years earlier, when he had more time and strength, he might have done his Church better service, and himself more credit. During the fifty-three years of his ministry he has been in the habit of keeping journalistic jottings, not for the public eye, but for his own amusement and improvement. These jottings now would fill more than a thousand such pages as these, and not having time and strength to write a new book, he has made such abridgments of, and extracts from, his journal as he trusts may give the reader a glimpse of the past, and rescue some achievements from threatened oblivion. This will account for the fact that some events, long since passed, are written in the present tense. In presenting these events, he has followed down the stream of his own life and times, in order the better to describe the circuits and districts on which he has laboured ; and present a consecutive view of the transactions of his times.

The present and rising generations know but little of the privations and persecutions which some of us, and our people, were called to endure fifty years ago ; and the writer has

XU

PREFACE. * endeavoured, in the briefest manner possible, to furnish such facts concerning the Clergy Reserves, and the efforts for a State Church, as will give some idea of the unrivalled influence exerted by the Methodist people to secure that state of religious liberty and equality which we now so happily enjoy.

The author is a Methodist, not by birth and education, but from conviction and choice ; and he has written in a plain way for a plain people. He respects and reveres other Churches, and trusts he has not offended them by speaking well of his own. He has seen great changes during his ministry. Some of his week-day appointments have now become heads of circuits, and some of his circuits embrace whole districts. Had Dunham or Case, Whitehead or Metcalf, left a history of his own life and times, written by his own hand, with what relish would we now peruse such a work. Dr. Carroll and Mr. Playtor have done good service to the Church, but the resources are not exhausted. Our aged ministers are swiftly passing away, and what they do must be done quickly. If the following pages contribute to the happiness of any, the author will be rewarded for his effort.

As the writer has devoted his whole life and energies in promoting the interests of his Church, he feels it right to give this work to her also. He has therefore presented it to our Book Room to be published for the benefit of the superannuated ministers, widows, and orphans, of the Toronto, London, and Montreal Conferences, reserving to himself a few volumes only for personal distribution.

The frontispiece is from a plate engraved for the Wesleyan Magazine in 1855, and is too young for the author now, but not for him during three-fourths of the period about which he has written.

Toronto, March 1st, 1877*

Index

Atlantic Cable, 372.

Arnold Family, 186, 193.

Augusta District, 164, 168, 173.

Ancaster Circuit, 84, 91, 114.

Arianism, 97, 218.

Autumnal Foliage, 367, 424.

Bishop Hedding, 40, 103.

British Columbia Mission Commenced, 373.

Boundary, North-West, 288.

Breakenridge, D., 39, 50, 56.

Budget Family, 161.

Bears, 66 ; Battle of Sadoa, 406.

Bay of Quinte District, 206, 209.

Bloomfield, 34, 76.

Clarke, Watson and Drew Died, 168, 178.

XIV

INDEX.

Cramahe, 49, 53.

Cavan, 51.

Camp -meetings : — Adol., 62, 78 ; Cramahe, 69 ; Briar Hill, 193 ; Grimsby, 238 ; Ancaster, 33 ; Bound Lake, 438, 444 ; Sea Cliff, 440.

Chapter of Accidents, 65, 120.

Christian Advocate Started, 90 ; Guardian Started, 135.

Church Organized, 121.

Centenary, English, 225, 228 ; American, 405.

Comet, 321.

Cold Summer, 4.

Coats, J., 85.

Census, Beligious, 317, 384, 435 ; Cobourg, 216.

City Boad, 349.

Conscience, 55.

Called Out of Bed to Preach, 34; To the Ministry, 41.

Conference, 44 ; General, 140, 441 ; Special, 240 ; Dissolved, 434 ; English, 290, 311, 314, 339, 345; Toronto, 438, 443, 446 ; American General, 274, 312, 315, 339 ; Evangelical Alliance, 297, 429 ; In Washington, 431.

Centenary and Missionary Meetings, 228, 231, 241, 258, 262, 265, 406.

Captain Pritchard, 420.

Cochran, 425.

Clerical Debate, 157, 218.

Cook, Peleg, 16, 338 ; Cook, Mrs. J. and H., 428.

Committee on Church Property, 442.

INDEX.

XV

Dr. Douglas, 439.

Daughter’s Death, 395 ; Sister’s Death, 119, 248.

Dedication of Churches: — Cobourg, 56; Kemptville, 179; Perth, ^ 182 ; Mansel, 189 ; Merrick ville, 198 ; Port Hope, 207 ;

Carrying Place, 209 ; Cramahe, 211 ; Oakville, 239 ; Barrie, 247, 399 ; Georgetown, 249 ; Simcoe, 258 ; Plains, 269 ; i Esquesing, 273 ; Peterborough, 343 ; Yorkville, 349 ; Aurora, 350 ; Milton, 350 ; Guelph, 357 ; Picton, 358 ; Brampton, 378 ; Eden, 385 ; Drummondville, 394 ; St. Catharines, 394 ; Meadowvale, 396 ; Claremont, 397 ; Collingwood, 399 ; Hamilton, 406^ Faulkners, 415 ; Newcastle, 410 ; Newmarket, 368 ; Mount Pisgah, 418 ; Metropolitan, 421 ; Wardsville, 425 ; York, 419, 386 ; Thornhill, 342 ; Richmond Hill, 324 ; Bethany, 390 ; Glenallen, 387 ; Kars, 389 ; Elora, 390 ; Teston, 421.

Dunham, 63.

Doctrinal Difficulties, 13, 91.

Dancing, 7, 381.

Dundas Street, 85 ; College, 433.

Employing Talent, 21, 268, 356.

Educational Difficulties, 25, 73.

Evangelical Alliance, 292, 297, 429, 433.

Easter Difficulties, 285.

Elizabethtown, 146.

Ernestown, 201, 121.

First Conference, 44 ; Anniversary, 71 ; Ride on Steamboat, 123. Fearful Visitation, 21.

Fire in Toronto, 321.

Four Days’ Meetings, Origin of, 148, 191, 196.

xvi

INDEX.

Fraternal Meeting with the Kirk, 412.

Funerals at Sea, 346 ; Funeral of a Drunkard, 61.

Five Points of Doctrine, 91, 14.

Fort George, 124.

Father’s Consent, 15, 61, 120.

Ferrier, Senator, 353, 370, 424.

Gulf Stream, 354.

Gold Discovered in California, 322.

(general Assembly, Addresses to, 416.

Great Eclipse, 4.

Held Back from Danger, 329, 347.

Howard, I. B., 368.

Indian Conversion, 33, 70 ; Schools, 402 ; First Baptism, 32, Infidels Converted, 194, 406 ; Deaths, 179.

Insanity, Cause of, by Dr. Workman, 402, 404.

Ireland, 303 ; Distance to, 367.

J ohnson Family, 259.

Joined the Church, 13 ; In Canada, 30.

King William IY., 142, 153 ; Death of, 213.

Last Sabbath at Home, 28 ; In Adelaide Church, 418. License to Exhort, 21 ; Preach, 37, 40, 62, 64.

La veil, C., 414 ; Lavell, Dr., 378.

INDEX.

xvii

Local Preachers, 62, 64, 275.

Lord Lindsay’s Dahlia, 229.

Memory of Early Days, 4.

Marsdon, G., 175.

Matilda, 173.

Morrow, Major, 440.

Meeting Houses, 79.

My Mother’s Grave, 120, 337, 404.

Middleburgh, 336. 445.

Millerites, 271.

My First Eucharist, 17; Quarterly Meeting, 17; Lovefeast, 19; Sermon, 34, 36 ; Circuit, 48 ; Appointment, 49 ; First Before Father, 60.

Meeker, W. H., 404.

Niagara Falls, 98 ; Table-rock, 333.

Owen Sound, 279, 433.

President of Conference, 252, 392.

Presiding Elder, 102, 161 ; Changed, 253, 278.

Paddock, 122.

Paper Money, Origin of, 401.

Property Lost, 25.

Predictions, 317.

Political Party Names in England, 198, 364.

xviii

INDEX.

Prince Consort’s Death, 385.

Presentation, 111, 356.

Privy Council Decision in Church Matters, 400.

Patrick, A., 335 , Patrick, Wm., 187.

Parliament Defends the Conference, 130.

Port Hope, First Sermon, 49, 57.

Pastoral Visiting, 109, 352.

Quakers, 37.

Ruben’s Descent from the Cross, 301.

Rebellions, 214 ; India, 369 ; Manitoba, 414.

Representatives, 294, 348, 362.

Representatives to General Conference, 275, 312, 339,

Restoration to the Pulpit, 331.

Revival in Nelson, 107 ; Cobourg, 217.

Sabbath Schools, 80, 107, 140.

Street Preaching on Horseback, 69.

Selah, 381.

Scotland, 303.

Springer, 89.

Stage Upset, 121.

Toronto District, 237 ; City, 181, 279.

Thornhill, 212, 284.

Thompson, Mrs., 51.

Tibbets, 337.

Tractarians, 261, 262.

INDEX.

XIX

University Reform, 390, 271.

Union with English Conference, 159, 239. Union with other Bodies, 418, 424, 441.

Waterloo, 300.

Wooster, Calvin, 147.

Wesley on a State Church, 191.

Witness of the Spirit, 12.

Wilson, J., 57.

Whitehead, 288.

Washington, Visit to, 432.

Young, G., 410.

Young, Wm 410

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Mft: Jjwri , ' irh

LIFE AND TIMES

OF THE

REV. ANSON GREEN, D.D.

Chapter I. Early Days Church Relations

WAS born on the 27th of September, 1801, and born again on the 27th of October, 1819. The

former was an important event, but would have proved an endless curse without the latter. Our old family name in England was Clark ; but the mutations of time and the change of property often produce a change of name, hence mine became Green. The old name has always been venerated in the family, therefore my oldest brother was called Clark.

My paternal grandfather’s name was Isaac. He had three sons. My uncles, James and Benjamin, settled in Rhode Island, where the latter filled the office of Judge for 25 years ; but Joseph, my father, went to the State of Hew York, married Miss Lydia Yorce, and settled on a farm in Middleburgh, Schoharie, where I was born. My father was an honest, upright man, but made no profession of religion. He abhorred profane or debasing language, and inflicted his first chastisement on me for calling my sister a devil. When first I attended school he gave me such a lecture on honesty as I can never forget. In company with my schoolmates, I had picked np some early apples under a tree where they had fallen in great profusion. On meeting my father I hastened, with childish pride, to offer him a ripe apple, supposing I would get great praise. But how sadly was I disappointed when he asked, “ Where did you get that apple ? ” On being told, he fixed his bright blue eyes upon me and said, “ So you have been stealing, have you ! I’ll eat none of your stolen fruit, and your mamma will make your back smart if she finds we have a thief in the family.” This was the first intimation to my innocent mind that I had done wrong, and the thought of being a thief filled me with sadness. I threw my delicious apples into a maple grove, and walked home with a heavy heart. How timely this caution against venial offences ! Never since have I seen lads picking up apples under a tree but this rebuke has come distinctly before me.

My memory of early days is very vivid. I have a distinct recollection of three events which occurred the day I was four years old, and of others which must have taken place prior to that day. I well remember the great eclipse which occurred on the 16th of June, 1806. The workmen left the fields and amused themselves in gazing at the stars. The birds ceased their songs, the fowls went to roost, and the cattle lay down for their night’s rest. On the 9 th of June, 1816 — -that fearfully cold summer — we were surprised to see snow deep enough to allow one man to drive four miles and back in his sleigh. For three nights the ice formed a quarter of an inch thick, and leaves were falling as they do in autumn. Dark spots were seen on the sun, and farmers feared their fruit was spoiled and their crops destroyed. But the dark spots disappeared, the crops measurably recovered, and we realized the truth of God’s word, which assurer us that “ while the earth remain eth seedtime and

DEATH OF MY MOTHER.

harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease.”

On the 13th of April of this gloomy year, my dear mother died when only fifty years old, and I but fourteen and a-half. She was my best earthly friend, and the loss was irreparable. She died happy, and her triumph over the last enemy surprised me much. She was the only pious member of our family, and I missed her pious example and godly admonitions. Sunday-schools were then in their infancy, and but little known in any part of the new world. In the winter of 1818, I was confined to my bed for months with a lingering fever, during which time my mind was dark and my heart hard. When spring returned I measurably recovered, and began to read the Scriptures with more relish. Religious enjoyment was low in the place, and prayer-meetings neglected until the summer of 1819, when two pious females, Mrs. Roger Gale and Mrs. Stephen Joice, came to the village and commenced holding female prayer-meetings. Mrs. J oice possessed remarkable gifts in prayer and exhortation, and she used them with marked success. The fire soon began to burn, and the brethren sought and obtained admittance to these meetings. On one Thursday evening in August my youngest sister asked my brother and me to accompany her to the prayer-meeting, which we did ; and I found the service most impressive and solemn. My sister was prayed for as the young woman who had left the ball-room. On Sunday evening we went again, and found the school-house quite full. During the services my sister arose and asked a local preacher present to pray for her, and while Mr. Joice was pouring out his soul to God in prayer for her,

Betsy C and Maria F- went and kneeled, one on

either side of her ! These being leading young women, their example produced a great sensation, and others, in different parts of the house, began to cry for mercy. My brother Andrus was among the penitents. The house seemed filled with the Divine presence, and tears came to my own eyes. I was pressed by the Spirit to follow the example of others, and kneel for prayer ; but my proud heart said, wait for a calmer moment, you can do better alone than in this excitement. I yielded to temptation, and left the house. But, oh ! the bitterness of heart, which I felt was oppressive, and for the first time in my life I went down upon my knees, sincerely, to ask for pardon. The moment was an eventful one. While I was weeping without, scores of my young companions were crying for mercy within. But if sinners wept on earth, angels rejoiced in heaven. The Holy Ghost had come to “ reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment,” and His reproofs brought pungent conviction for our transgressions, convinced us of our dangerous course, and suggested the remedy. It is the prerogative of the Spirit to convince and convict the sinner without his consent, and it may be, contrary to his desire and in opposition to his will. But wroe to the man who resists this heavenly Yisitor ! God never converts a sinner without both his concurrence and ardent desire, expressed, it may be, by cries and tears, but always by “ repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” Nor is the Holy Spirit confined to one method in bringing sinners to himself. He often speaks in “a still small voice ” — invites, allures, impresses. If these influences bring the prodigal home, well ; if not, he is taken to Sinai and made to hear the thunderings of a broken law, amidst scenes which made even Moses “ exceedingly fear and quake.” When Christ knocks at the door of the heart it is always best to let Him in at once ; for if we grieve the Holy Ghost by putting off our repentance to “ a more convenient season,” we may expect to be beaten with many stripes, and have a

DANGEROUS DELAY.

dreary night of sorrow before the morning dawns. This was my case. I was disgusted with the excitement of the house, and resolved that I would seek the Lord alone. Still, I was convinced that I ought to ask the prayers and assistance of the Church in this weighty matter. Had I done so, and publicly kneeled for prayer as others did, I might, like them, have obtained peace in a few days or hours. But my proud heart said no : and I was left for two dreary months to bear my sorrows alone. I went home that memorable night pensive and sad, brought my burdened heart of grief to the Lord in my closet, and resolved to lead a new life. I prayed daily, and sometimes earnestly, for light and peace, but strangely allowed myself to be deluded with the idea that I could obtain salvation and serve God by myself without any assistance from the Church. This is the rock on which the good desires of thousands have been wrecked ; and on this dangerous rock I came very near dashing my hopes to pieces, and losing all my desires for salvation. But God, who is rich in mercy, and willeth not the death of the sinner, graciously interposed to prevent it. I now see the hand of God in all his dealings with me during these dark hours, and can have no doubt but he designed me to take some part in building up and strengthening that very Church which I then so foolishly slighted, and whose prayers and counsels I refused to request.

But while I was thus halting and temporizing between the Church and the world ; between God and the best interests of my soul, the world was not idle. Many efforts were made to check the revival, and draw the young converts, and those who were seriously inclined, away to the follies and amusements of the world. One evening we were all invited to a social tea at the house of the village magis’ trate. The young converts, not suspecting that any trap was laid for them, went to meet their friends as aforetime. The evening passed away very pleasantly for a season ; then a tiddler was smuggled in, and commenced playing in another room ! The sound of the violin was the sign for a general movement : the giddy ones all hastened to the dance, while the converts, as promptly as though the thing had been previously arranged, all got themselves ready and started for home. I belonged to neither party and was in a strait, not knowing what to do. I did not belong to the Church, for I had slighted her counsels and refused her aid. I did not belong to the world, for I had resolved to abandon its follies and give myself to God. After a little I awoke from my reverie to find myself entirely alone in the room. Instinctively I arose, hastened to the ball-room, selected my partner, and began to dance ! But my heart was not there. My conscience upbraided me, and I knew I was doing wrong. As soon as the music stopped I handed my partner to the sofa, left the room and started for home. The truth is, my dearest friends had left, and my heart and judgment went with them. I entertained a strong conviction that they had taken the wisest course ; and, at the same time, I felt such a disgust with, and contempt for, the fantastic amusements of the dance as induced me to decide then and there to abandon forever these silly revels, with the perils and vices they entail. From that time to the present I have never violated that decision, nor felt the slightest desire so to do.

Previous to that event, I had engaged to spend Thursday evening, the 27th of October, in a social card-party with a few friends, who were anxious to keep me from the prayer-meeting. We were not to engage in games of chance for a wager — for in my worst days I was never guilty of gambling— but simply to spend a quiet evening in shuffling the cards, which I looked upon as an innocent amusement, and a pleasant way of spending an hour. But blessed, forever

CONVERSION.

blessed be the name of God, it pleased Him in bis infinite goodness and tender compassion to bless me, on the afternoon of that memorable day, with the pardon of my sins through faith in our adorable Redeemer. This joyful event made me forget the appointment with my young friends until I met them going to it when I was on my way to the house of God. We met, exchanged bows, said not a word, but passed on in silence.

My Conversion to God was on this wise. Whenever I went upon my knees to implore mercy, the compassionate Redeemer did not reject me entirely, nor turn me away in despair, but seemed to whisper in my ear, Are you reconciled to the Church 1 Do you love the brethren 1 You have sinned against God by holding his children in contempt and refusing their aid in your conversion. Christ was crucified without the gates of Jerusalem, and you refuse to “ go forth unto Him without the camp, bearing his reproach” In a word, there was a fearful struggle going on in my breast between inclination and duty. My judgment and conscience constantly upbraided me, saying, you should not be afraid nor ashamed to let the world know that you have decided for God ; and let the Church feel that you have confidence in its members, and regret your opposition to them by publicly renouncing the world, and asking God’s people to help you into the pool “ when the waters are troubled.” This my proud and stubborn heart would not do, and God would not save me in my pride. But the crisis was drawing nigh. About four o’clock p.m., while in a field near my father’s barn, musing upon my past life, I heard a strange voice floating on the ambient air, which arrested my attention. The sky was clear and serene. Hot a breeze disturbed the foliage of the trees, not a cloud moved in the heavens. All nature seemed hushed in silence, as if waiting for some great event or preparing for some startling announcement. My own mind was calm and meditative. I listened to the mellowing voice which came floating on the zephyrs. Whence can it come, thought I. Is it the voice of God come to help my faith in the struggle ? Or is it the voice of some kind angel come to remind me of the awful hell to which I am exposed 1 Soon I detected the accents of prayer. It was the voice of my brother praying for me. He had retired to a grove for secret prayer, but, like good old John Knox praying alone in a field, saying, “ Give me Scotland or I die,” he had let his voice .go out with his heart towards heaven in fervent prayer for a halting brother. Oh ! thought I, what a change in that man ! There must surely be a transforming power in God’s Spirit which I have never experienced, and, by the help of Him who came into the world to save sinners, I am resolved to have it at any sacrifice. Immediately I entered the barn, kneeled upon a bunch of corn stalks, and smote upon my breast crying, “ God be merciful to me a sinner.” The moment was an anxious one, and the interest at stake tremendous. I had broken off my outward sins, turned away from wicked companions, and prayed daily for pardon. Still, I was unforgiven. 0 where was the hindrance? Again the deep impression came home to my anxious heart, one thing thou lackest. Will you kneel in public and ask the Church to pray for you ? “ The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous