vices, Sunday mornings and Friday evenings; the Independents using it always on Wednesday evenings. The aforesaid Mr. Ludlow paid the ground-rent of the said chapel in 1818 the Methodist preachers entirely left the place, because, they said, it did not pay to keep it on: that is, the people were so poor. Extract of a diary (Age 26.) : He "So sweet and habitual was my communion with God at this time, that I undertook no transaction, however trivial, without referring it all to Him: going out, coming in, sitting down, and rising up, my heart always asked Lord, what wouldest thou have me to do?' In this temper of mind, I walked one evening down the street; when at the bottom of it, I said, 'Lord shall I go to the right hand or the left? here I am, send me.' I went towards Chain-street,-just as I entered it, a man came hastily out of an adjoining house, and stopped me, saying, 'You are the very person I wanted to see; come with me, and I will shew you a real object of distress. Without gainsaying I accompanied him. introduced me to a young man, evidently very ill, he was in a decline: my heart (touched with the blessed sympathy taught me by my adorable shepherd's presence) entered immediately into his state, and I found sweet liberty of speech towards him. I am,' said he, a poor destitute stranger, very far from home, and am come hither to die: I have no prospect, whatever, of living: I have no preparation for death: I am a great sinner do you think that there is any hope of mercy for me: can such a one as I be saved: do help me if you can ?" Seeing him so deeply conscious of his lost state and condition, so manifestly poor in spirit, so dead to all worldly hopes and prospects, so emphatically in want; I immediately preached the everlasting Gospel to him. I felt sweet liberty in so doing, and he drank in the refreshing truths as the thirsty land does the water. I parted from him with a heart overflowing with gratitude to Almighty God for the profitable interview." : "Before I proceed to state the happy results of my subsequent intercourse with this poor youth, I will briefly relate his history. He was about eighteen or nineteen years of age; by trade a tailor. His mother, he said, lived in London, and having married a second husband, had abandoned him entirely to his own exertions, and to the world. As he could not get employment in London, he sought it in the country: poverty and the fatigue of travelling, and perhaps, some inconsistency on his part, brought on great bodily weakness. Some friends at Salisbury helped him onwards till he arrived at this town: on the road a storm of thunder, hail, and rain overtook him; he was wetted quite through, and had no clothes to change wet, poor, and exhausted, he was put to bed at the lodging-house, with a person who gave him the itch. On application for employment, a man of this town, out of compassion to his misery, employed him, so long as he was able to work; and actually paid his wages two or three times a day, to procure him subsistence: he was in this state of extreme wretchedness and want when I was introduced to him. As soon as his case was made known, friends came forward, and he had every assistance that he could desire: his affliction, however, being protracted, and the friends being considerably in debt on his account, they began to feel greatly concerned, and feared that, after all, he must be removed to the workhouse. This alternative we well knew would be very painful to him; a day or two more was determined to be allowed him, and this was all he needed on the day intended to remove him, he died; and he never knew what was in contemplation. The friends greatly rejoiced at the seasonable occurrence; and this was not all that we had to be thankful for, his mother, shortly after, sent money enough to pay for his funeral, and to reimburse the expenses of his illness; so that those who had given to the Lord, in this case, had it paid back again with great consolation. The family which accommodated him, also shared greatly and justly in the blessings contained in those important words, I was a stranger and ye took me in.' He died in peace just before his departure, he shook my hand heartily, and in the most fervent and affectionate manner, prayed that Almighty God would pour down on me his choicest blessings,-temporal, spiritual, and eternal. 'Tongue cannot express,' said he, the gratitude I feel to you and all the friends, for the unremitting kindness shewn me to the last; I have experienced more of it in Warminster than ever I did before in all my life: may the Lord D bless you all now and for ever.' None of the friends who visited him, had any doubt on their minds, respecting his eternal welfare. [N.B.-A servant of a lady, who contributed in a pecuniary way to this youth's support, was so affected by a religious conversation relating to him, that, it first commenced with a deep conviction of sin, and then ended in a sound conversion. She adorned religion throughout the whole of her future life, and died in 1846, in the full assurance of faith, aged 78."] BENEFITS DERIVED FROM THE APPLICATION OF MEDICAL ELECTRICITY. CASE 1. Rheumatic pain and weakness in the arm and hand, for a week, afraid she should lose the use of it ;-perfectly cured by twice holding the negative chain, while another was electrified positively. 2. A violent pain in the left arm, which had rendered it useless for a fortnight. Seven shocks; well the next morning. 3. Violent pain in the head and neck for three weeks, which had resisted all medicine. Sparks, a quarter of an hour; perfectly cured. 4. Rheumatic pain in the shoulders and right arm, which had resisted all medicine for twelve months. Sparks chiefly, six times; perfectly cured. 5. Aged forty.-Ten wounds in his leg for three-quarters of a year, which had resisted all medicine; it was with great difficulty he could attend his daily labour. This man happening to be present when some one else was being electrified, was persuaded to have a shock or two, solely for amusement: in a week's time his leg healed. I saw him a year afterwards quite well. 6. Aged ten.-Saint Vitus's Dance, which had long resisted all medicine, and had rendered her a complete idiot. Sparks for some time without effect; shocks were then had recourse to, which quickly removed the convulsions, but the perfect use of her senses did not return till some time afterwards. CHAPTER IV. THE SCRIPTURES FIRST CIRCULATED; EXTRACTS FROM A DIARY; A BIBLE ASSOCIATION FORMED, WITH ITS VALUABLE WORKINGS. THE BIBLE. "The noble army of martyrs, praise Thee." "The sacred Book, its value understood, They could not purchase earth with such a prize; From them to thee, conveyed along the tide, Their streaming hearts poured freely, when they died; COWPER. www IN 1813 there was a perambulation of the whole parish made by the Committee of the Warminster Branch Bible Society, recently established in the town, to ascertain the state of the poor, with regard to their want of Bibles and Testaments. The following statement will shew the result of the said investigation. |