APPENDIX.

Letter from the Rev. Miles Martindale to the Rev. J. Entwistle, in the possession of Mr. George Stampe, of Grimsby.

Woodhouse Grove,

May 11th, 1824.

My dear Brother,

Yours of the 8th instant, containing four drafts value one hundred and ninety pounds, came duly to hand, for which I thank you. The average number of our boys here during the last year is seventy-six. Fourteen have finished their education in this school, and gone home. Fifteen new ones are waiting for admission, and we shall have thirteen during the vacation, which will confine me nearly all the time at home.

I have heard of the new temple designed to be erected near the centre of London. You know, as well as I, that three thousand pounds will not be half enough to purchase land for buildings of such projected magnitude in that situation. Say six thousand; the land is seldom more than one-tenth of the value of the new premises upon it. Sixty or seventy thousand pounds will then be required to complete the plan! I sincerely wish our brethren in London had something more and better to do than sit

hatching novel schemes and Quixotic adventures, for some of us in the country do not think they are over-stocked with the article named common sense. You wish to know what the people in these parts say of the matter? They say, "We must have our bones scraped to pay for London folly."

My views of the subject are these: This new tabernacle is to be supplied by a select number of choice spirits— elect, precious, perhaps twelve in one year—who are to be dignified by this high call; who will, of course, look down on the mobile below. They must be ordained men ! Prayers must be read, for crutches are designed for lame preachers and lame congregations. A bishop or bishops must follow, and in time some sort of a coalition with the National Church, if it should only be hod-carriers to the lawn-sleeved bricklayers or masons! You have perhaps been permitted to peep behind the curtains, but I only look dimly through, and yet these things appear plain to me, if I can either read the history of past ages or human nature. I have seen various attempts to set these things in train, and this is a deep-laid scheme pregnant with all the ills, and many more than I have mentioned; for perhaps a division, and a serious one, may ultimately be the issue. Such are my views of this scheme, and, of course, you will say I am not favourable to the measure. In this you are right. You know the persons better than I do whom I suspect for these plans.

(The remainder of the letter is quoted in the sketch of Mr. Martindale, given in Chapter IV.)

Letter from Mr. Parker to his wife's sister, Mrs. Willis.

My dear Sister,

Woodhouse Grove, near Bradford,

11th July, 1831.

I recollect holding a controversy with a travelling preacher some years ago, who affirmed that what the apostle calls "the discernment of spirits" was a gift now lost in the Church. I affirmed the contrary, and said that if it was lost at all, it was only because we did not live near to God, and that a man of observation and experience amongst men and things that did this would often be able to see in another, without the interchange of a single word, whether that person was a servant of God or the world.

Now I know not that I ever saw you prior to the evening that I saw you at Mr. Dixon's, and when I saw you and Mr. Willis on that night, with the rest of the company, singing the piece called "Joshua," I felt an inward persuasion that you and your partner in life were on your way to the kingdom, and took knowledge that you had been with Jesus. Of course, I felt pleased that I was about to have such a sister. And when I mentioned this to my dear wife, it was not only confirmed, but she observed that there had always been a kind of congeniality of mind and disposition between you and her. This, therefore, added to the consideration that you are her sister, is sufficient for my explanation. And we were pleasing ourselves with the

expectation of seeing you here, and assure you that we have been disappointed, though we are aware that the hay-time is a busy season.

However, as I am thus favoured with a friend that knows the Lord, I feel disposed to occupy this letter with a subject of greater moment than those which generally constitute the theme of epistolary correspondence.

I rejoice to find that Zion's sun shines on your soul and points you out to a country that is heavenly, where

A Day without Night, they feast in His sight,
And Eternity seems as a Day.

And I am still further gratified in finding that you express the following sentiment in your last favour, viz., “I stand in need of a deeper work of grace; I long to feel entirely conformed to all my Saviour's righteous will."

On this subject I am clearly of opinion—(1) That such a glorious blessing is repeatedly promised, and is assuredly obtainable. (2) That it as far exceeds, when clearly obtained, the blessing of justification, though that when clear and genuine is truly desirable, as the shining of the sun exceeds the shining of the moon. (3) That this is the blessing which is the glory of the Bible promises and the glory of the Methodist doctrines, and that Methodists without it are almost Methodists without their glory, without their peculiar excellency. (4) That it is the only thing that can enable a Christian to live truly comfortable, SAFE, and happy, and that without it, in every condition, there is discomfort and danger. (5) That it is almost the only blessing which can enable a person to live truly to the glory of God, and the