In consequence of that resignation, the difficulties which had existed, and which have been alluded to, were in a great measure removed; and the bulk of the remaining congregation, uniting with that at Crook Lane, a gallery was erected for their better accommodation, The work commenced April 7, 1807, and cost £85. 0s. 5d. "We know" said Mr. Henry, "how to enlarge the straitness of the place. God, by his grace, enlarge the straitness of our hearts."

The number of communicants now rose to above three hundred and fifty; unanimity prevailed; and the comfort of our author abounded. Mr. Harvey did not long survive. He died of a consumption, on Tuesday, April 6, 1708, in the thirty-first year of his age. Mr. Fog,—who preached at his funeral, (which Mr. Henry attended,) from Job xiv. 14. "If a man die shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come,"-spoke of him very well.

The attendance of a large and increasing auditory, as the fruit of Mr. Henry's labors, came far short of the object he sought. He records it as his "desire to be very earnest with God in prayer for the congregation, that their souls might prosper, and that the word of the Lord might prosper among them." And his request was granted. He beheld, with adoring gratitude, many through his own instrumentality, renounce the service of the world and Satan. Such he welcomed as his children into the "household of faith;" and he witnessed their "walk in the truth" with unfeigned and paternal joy.

"All who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, but they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever."

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CHAPTER XI.

An account of his zealous attempts, while at Chester, to do good beyond the limits of his own Congregation, still embracing the whole of the foregoing narrative between the year 1687, and the year 1712.

TH HE man," said the late Rev. R. Cecil, "who labors to please his neighbor for his good to edification has the mind that was in Christ. It is a sinner trying to help a sinner. How different would be the face of things if this spirit prevailed!-If churchmen were like Leighton; and dissenters like Watts, and Doddridge, and Henry."

With the condition of the generality of mankind, Mr. Henry was deeply affected, and there is an earnestness in his representations of it, which renders them peculiarly impressive and stimulating. "People are lying," said he, "under divine wrath, and the curse of the law; they are held in the devil's snare, and led captive by him at his will; they yet think their condition good. They are dead in sin, and so feel nothing. Their peace is like the sleep of a man in lethargy; it is not peace-but senselessness and stupidity. They love darkness and sit in it. My heart bleeds for them. Men are destroyed for lack of knowledge."

Nor did he contemplate the state of professed Christians with less grief, or less anxiety. "There are," he writes, "but few who are truly religious; who believe the report of the gospel, and who are willing to take the pains, and run the hazards, of religion. Many make a fair show in the flesh, but few only walk closely with God. Where is he that engageth his heart, or that stirs up himself to take hold of his Maker? It is our common complaint that there are so many poor, but who complains that there are so many ignorant; which a man may be, and yet be able, like a parrot, to say his creed and catechism. Those who knew not the way of the

Many are painting
Most men are

Lord, yet said, "the Lord liveth." their own cabin though the ship sink. mindless of the public."

Thus excited, his efforts for the illumination and benefit of his neighbors were unwearied. He had not long resided in Chester, before he commenced a lecture in the castle to the prisoners under confinement.

The origin of this labor of love was assigned to the jailor's wife. She being a religious person, cherished a tender concern for the wretched individuals who had sinned themselves into such circumstances; and observing the remissness and formality of those who challenged it as their province to communicate instruction, persuaded some of them to send for Mr. Henry.

But, however the visits originated, Mr. Tong conjectures, and with great apparent probability, that much encouragement was derived for their continuance from an occurrence connected with the imprisonment, under the five-mile act, of the Rev. Ralph Hall, already mentioned, and one of the ejected worthies. The case was this, and at the time of Mr. Henry's settlement at Chester, it was fresh in the memory of many. During Mr. Hall's confinement in the Northgate prison, his unceasing instructions and prayers were instrumental, as upon pretty strong evidence it was charitably believed, to the conversion of a profligate soldier, who was condemned, and afterwards executed, for murder.

For about twenty years Mr. Henry persevered in his attendance; until, in fact, it became so obnoxious, es pecially to the curate of St. Mary's, as to induce the governor to discourage and terminate it.*

In Mr. Henry's zealous ministrations, the villages and towns around Chester also largely participated. At some of them, particularly Moldsworth, Grange, Brom

*Some of the subjects on which he had preached were 2 Chron. xxxiii. 12. Prov. xiv. 12. Prov. xiv. 9. Eccl. ix. 5. Lev. xxvi. 23, 24. Ps. cxix. 67. 2 Thess. i. 7, 8. Jer. iii. 21. Luke xii. 5. James i. 15. and the last, the penitent thief on the cross.

borough, Elton, and Saighton, he preached a monthly lecture. At Beeston, Mickledaie, and Peckferton, Wrexham, Stockbridge, Burton, and Darnal, still more frequently. In short, a week seldom elapsed in which he is not traceable, by his diary, to one or more of those places, publishing to the people the gospel of the king

dom.

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Prior to his settlement at Chester, the state of the surrounding and adjacent villages was, in a spiritual aspect, most deplorable; gross darkness covered" them. A few only, and those scattered here and there, were found, who retained the savor of religion, who read the Scriptures and prayed in their families. Most of them were persons advanced in years, the relics of declining puritanism. To them he was like life from the dead.

Actuated by a spirit perfectly missionary, Mr. Henry did not confine himself even to the places which have been named. He extended his exertions far and wide. Frequent were his journeys to Whitchurch, Wrenburywood, Wem, Boreatton, Prescot, and Shrewsbury; and usually, he made Broad Oak in his way, either going or returning. At all those places his labors met with great acceptance and success. At Borreatton and Prescot he, for many years, occasionally administered the Lord's supper; though not, as it should seem, very cordially. He did not much like what was "merely occasional," though willing to encourage, as he could, "the keeping -up of religion in a family of note, where it had been uppermost."

To Nantwich, Newcastle, and Stone,* he paid annual visits; and sometimes to Market Drayton and Stafford, preaching wherever he came. Some time before his removal to Hackney, he journeyed, likewise, once a year into Lancashire, testifying the gospel of the grace of God at Manchester, Duckenfield, Stockport, Bolton, Chowbent, Hindley, Warrington, and Liverpool.

At Stone, a new meeting-place was entered upon Mar. 27, 1704-5. Mr. Henry preached from Ps. ci. 2. "Mr. King, the resident minister, is very acceptable, pleasing, and pleased."

The union formed by the Dissenting Ministers in Cheshire for Christian edification, and the advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom, had, in Mr. Henry, a cordial friend, and an able and zealous advocate. That union arose out of the agreement published by the presbyterian and congregational ministers of London, and was recommended by them formed in 1691, and met twice a year, in May and August; for some time at Knutsford and Bucklow Hill alternately, but afterwards at Knutsford only.

*

At those meetings, after the work of prayer and preaching was over, the ministers consulted together about the affairs of their several congregations. Whatever difficulties presented themselves in connexion with the admission of any to church membership or suspension from it, or the removal of ministers from one place to another, were here proposed: and advice was accordingly given. Affairs of the state, or the established church, were never meddled with.

On such occasions it was that the times and places for public ordinations were determined.

The first of these ordinations which is mentioned by Mr. Henry occurred on the 27th of September, 1692, at Knutsford, where he met several ministers both of Cheshire and Lancashire. The candidates were Mr. Hartley, Dr. Adam Holland, Mr. Darnly, Mr. Traverse, Mr. Edge, and Haly; the ordainers were Mr. Risley, Mr. Crompton, Mr. Angier, Mr. Bradshaw, Mr. Aspinwal, and Mr. Ainsworth. The candidates were examined in the languages the evening before, at the house of Mr. Kynaston, the resident minister; and they read and defended their Theses. The day after was kept as a fast; Mr. Bradshaw prayed; Mr. Aspinwal preached from Rom. x. 15. 'How shall they preach except they be sent?' Mr, Crompton, as moderator, took their confessions and ordination ows; and Mr. Angier concluded with an excellent ex

*See the Hist. of Dissenters, v. ii. pp. 130–138. and the Com greg. Mag. v. i. p. 561. new series.