66 strangers arose and introduced himself as a minister of the gospel, and asked of the minister liberty to preach; this not being granted, he next asked the man of the house, who said he would ask his wife who lay sick in an adjoining room. As he opened the door she saw the preacher, and knew him; and on being asked whether he should preach or not, she exclaimed, yes he shall, for that is the man who led me out of the swamp!" Having obtained leave to speak, he took his stand, (while the other minister left the house,) and like Philip when he came down to Samaria, began to preach Jesus and the resurrection, in such a manner as the people had never heard before; and while he was speaking, the Lord converted the sick woman in the other room, and made her soul happy in his love. Thus was she indeed brought from the darkness of error, and mire of sin. This was on Thursday; and on the next Saturday he preached again, when Mr. B. for the first time, heard that kind of doctrine which so well agreed with his enlightened mind, and which he afterward heard for more than forty years with so much pleasure. (This preacher, as near as I can learn, was Mr. BOARDMAN.) His heart was at once united to the man, and made to rejoice in the truth, for the "man spoke as one having authority and not as the scribes," and his word was "spirit and it was life." Many were ready to say, "we have seen strange things to day." Mr. B. in particular, felt as if the man had told him all things that he had ever done or felt, even his whole experience. It was Mr. ASBURY who first formed a class here, some time, I think, in 1772, when seven joined class, and Mr. B. was appointed to be their leader, which office he filled with satisfaction and usefulness for near forty years. Mr. B. was the first to introduce the messengers of the cross at the White-Plains, where, since that time, the Lord hath wrought wonders. He was a licensed exhorter, and travelled very extensively through this region, and laboured with commendable zeal to diffuse that light of divine truth, which the Lord had lighted up in his own soul, among the people for many years. He, like the sun, held on his course, through the whole of life. In the midst of trials, dangers and persecutions, he stood fast in the liberty wherewith Christ had made him free. During the revolutionary war, the travelling of the preachers was much impeded in this part of the county; and this place laying on the lines, their little flock, like sheep without a shepherd, were scattered and torn to pieces; but after the horrors of war were ended, Mr. B. who had been driven away from his home by the war, returned and sought the scattered flock and united such as could be found together again. Through the zeal and perseverance of our venerable father BONNETT, and the blessing of God, the society flourished, and Methodism gained a firm stand in this place. Through his inVOL. VII. 24 fluence chiefly, a comfortable Meeting-House was soon built, which was the first Methodist Meeting-House built in the country, in the state of New-York. His own house was ever an asylum for the travelling ministry. Mr. ASBURY speaks of him, and of Mr. F. DEVEAU, as among his best friends, and their houses as his best homes. Thus he continued his course without turning to the right hand or to the left, until the day of his death.Well might we say of him, that he fought a good fight, he kept the faith, he finished his course, he loved the appearing of Christ, and he has, no doubt, gotten the crown of righteousness from the righteous Judge. PETER BONNETT was a man of a steady, strong, and a sound mind; of a rather slender body, of a middling size, in his appearance graceful, in his manners open, affable and conciliating, pleasant and interesting in his conversation. When truth, and the cause of God, or of Methodism, which were synonymous terms with him, required firmness, he was as inflexible as a wall of brass, and a pillar of iron. He endeavoured to obey this command, do good to all men, especially to the household of faith. He lodged the stranger, visited the sick, helped the poor, fed the hungry, and clothed the naked. His heart, his hand, and his purse, were all open to support the cause of God. At As a Christian he partook largely of the spirit of his Divine Master; his piety was deep and uniform; and his benevolence only bounded by his means. He was humble, spiritual, persevering and holy. His light was like that of the just which shineth more and more unto the perfect day. His soul being filled with love to God and man, he strove to let his "light so shine before men, that they seeing his good works might glorify his Father who is in heaven." His seat was seldom vacant in the house of God, until age and infirmity shut him up in his own house; but even then, he made his own house a Bethel, where the people of God met weekly to worship the Lord with his aged servant. such times he would sing, pray and exhort, with all the fervour of a young convert, or rather of one ripe for the church triumphant. This he continued to do until the Friday evening before his death, which took place on the Thursday following. As a father he was affectionate, and perhaps too indulgent. Like Abraham, the father of the faithful, wherever he had a house, there God had an altar. It is said that for forty years, he was not known to neglect family worship; when he was unable himself to attend to it, his pious wife, who is yet living, took his place. On the Tuesday evening before he died, having a presentiment that his end was near, he had the family called together the second time for prayer, when he mentioned the probability that that would be the last time they should pray together, which proved to be the fact. As a husband he was kind,, loving and faithful. As a neigh bour he was obliging and conciliating, seeking peace with all men. He obtained the good will of all who knew him; his influence was great, being esteemed and reverenced by all classes of his fellow citizens. The society of which he was a member, always looked up to him as unto a wise and good father, and he will long live in their affections and memory. He departed this life in the triumphs of faith, on the third day of April, 1823, in the eighty-seventh year of his age. He had been a professed believer in Jesus Christ seventy-three years; a uniform and faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, fifty-one years; and a class-leader and exhorter about forty years. His favourite verse, as he used to sing it in his old age, stands inscribed upon his head-stone. "He suffer'd on his fourscore years, Till his deliverer came; And wiped away his servant's tears, Miscellaneous. For the Methodist Magazine. DEFENCE OF THE DELEGATION TO THE ENGLISH CONFERENCE. Quærit nodum in scirpo. MESSRS. EDITORS, A writer in the Wesleyan Repository of February, seems desirous to make it appear that our Mission to the British Conference was not only unconstitutional, but expensive and abortive. "Was not the expence connected with the passage of the representative there and back," he asks, "together with the support of his family while absent, and all contingent charges, borne by the Book-room?" Answer. The representative received quarterage for himself and family while absent. He received nothing for "family expences," either from the Book-room, or from any other source. Nor were there any other "contingent charges" than expences actually incurred and paid; of which an account has been rendered to the officers of the Book-room, to be laid before the General Conference. "Was this embassy," he continues, "any "benefit' to the description of preachers above enumerated, or their wives, widows, or children?" If the judgment of the officers of the Book-room may be relied on, it was. In an official communication on the subject, written long before the appearance of the article in the Repository, they say, "We have no doubt but the Mission will result in much benefit even in a temporal point of view to the Book-concern ;" and of course to the description of preachers enumerated, their wives, widows, and children. Did the writer in the Repository suppose that the Canada affairs were the sole subject of the Mission? Did he not know that i 188 An Infidel Enthusiast. the establishment of a closer union between the two great bodies of Methodists in Europe and America, by a personal representation, was a great object of it? Or does he not consider the accomplishment of this object worth "$163 34 cents" several times told? The arrangement between the Book-rooms of the two Connexions, effected by the Mission, and so beneficial to us, in the opinion of our Editors, either did not enter into his calculations, or was not suited to his arguments. "What instructions were given to our representative,-how they were complied with-how the matter was settled," will all be answered to the proper authorities." Whether the house, &c. in Montreal was restored to us." In principle it was. Our right to it, as urged by the Mission, was explicitly acknowledged, and an equivalent satisfactory to us, agreed to be rendered for it. And now, Sirs, to use the language of the writer in the Repository, will it not surprise the Methodists in the United States, to read the broad and unqualified assertion in the conclusion of his paragraph: -"the Canada Methodists will not now (Sept. 1823,) receive preachers from the United States." That there are some, possibly many, who wish "English local preachers to come and help them, as Itinerants and as School masters," I am not at all disposed to question, though I have not seen their circular. But the assertion of the writer quoted is unlimited, and implies much more"the Canada Methodists will not receive preachers from the United States." Let us then turn to the records. What say they? British Minutes for 1823. "Total number of members in Canada this year, 1081 do. Preachers, American Minutes for 1823. 9" (N. B. Agreeably to arrangement we send no preachers into Lower Canada, although many there have wished it.) Number of our members in Canada this year, 5450 do. Preachers, 30 I leave you to judge how the assertion of the correspondent of the Repository, is to be reconciled with these Baltimore, March, 1824. DOCUMENTS. If the Editor of the Repository think it proper he will be pleased to copy this article into his paper. AN INFIDEL ENTHUSIAST. After Lord HERBERT, the most learned of the English infidels, had finished his favourite work, entitled De Veritate, apprehending he should meet with much opposition, he doubted whether it would not be best for him to suppress it. To decide this point he adopted the following expedient. The account is given in his own words. 'Being thus doubtful in my chamber, one fair day in the summer, my casement being open towards the south, the sun shining clear, and no wind stirring, I took my book, De Veritate, in my hands, and kneeling on my knees, devoutly said these words :O, thou eternal God, author of this light which now shines upon me, and giver of all human illuminations; I do beseech thee, of thine infinite goodness, to pardon a greater request than a sinner ought to make: I am not satisfied enough whether I shall publish this book: if it be for thy glory, I beseech thee give me some sign from heaven; if not, I shall not publish it.-I had no sooner spoken these words, but a loud, though gentle noise, came forth from the heavens, (for it was like nothing on earth,) which did so cheer and comfort me, that I took my petition as granted, and that I had the sign I demanded; whereupon I resolved to print my book. This, how strange soever it may seem, I protest before the eternal God, is true; neither am I in any way superstitiously deceived herein; since I did not only clearly hear the noise, but, in the serenest sky that ever I saw, being without all cloud, did, to my thinking, see the place from whence it came.' On this passage LELAND makes the following observations: I cannot help thinking, that if any writer, zealous for Christianity, had given such an account of himself, as praying for and expecting a sign from heaven, to determine his doubt, whether he should publish a book which he had composed in favour of the Christian cause; and upon hearing a noise, which he took to be from heaven, had looked upon it as a mark of the Divine approbation, and as a call to publish that book, it would have passed for a high fit of enthusiasm, and would, no doubt, have subjected the author to much ridicule among the gentlemen who oppose revealed religion. What judgment they will pass upon it in Lord HERBERT's case, I do not know." From the Wesleyan Methodist Magazine. MR. WESLEY'S RULES FOR CONGREGATIONAL SINGING. [We copy these Rules from the second Edition of a scarce book of Tunes entitled "Sacred Melody," &c.; published by MR. WESLEY in 1765, in connexion with his "Select Hymns, designed chiefly for the use of the People called Methodists." EDITOR.] THAT this part of Divine Worship may be the more acceptable to God, as well as the more profitable to yourself and others, be careful to observe the following Directions. 1. Sing All. See that you join with the congregation as frequently as you can. Let not a slight degree of weakness or weariness hinder you. If it is a cross to you, take it up and you will find a blessing. 2. Sing lustily, and with a good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more |