glory; and I hope you will claim your part in the first resurrection. O that you may ever be an ornament to the Gospel of God!

"I am your affectionate father,

"WM. BRAMWELL.

"P. S. Can you read a chapter in Hebrew, yet not forgetting your French ?"

CHAPTER XII.

Mr. Bramwell's appointment a second time to Sheffield-His conduct and ministerial success-Remarkable Anecdote-Letters-His second appointment to Birstal-His usefulness in that circuit-Letters.

ONE of Mr. Bramwell's particular friends gives the following account of his second appointment to the Sheffield circuit :

"In the year 1810, after an absence of twelve years, by the very earnest request of the people, the conference sent Mr. Bramwell a second time to Sheffield. Many of his old friends and fellow helpers, in the former revival, had put off their harness, and were taken to their eternal reward. One of his intimate surviving friends told him, that 'he was come to perform the last office of friendship, to commit his mortal remains to the grave, and to improve the circumstances of his life and death to the living."*

*We refer to the late Mr. Longden; the event accorded with this presentiment. The sermon which Mr. Bramwell preached on the occasion, was published in the large edition of the Memoirs of Mr. L.

"When Mr. B. resided first in Sheffield, he was a junior preacher, although his colleagues labored with him in the bond of Christian fellowship: but now he was appointed as the superintendent, and in that office we will first consider him.

"In the commencement of his work he openly avowed that he was determined to know nothing among us but Christ, and him crucified.' None,' he said, 'would be permitted to inform him privately of dissensions among brethren, but that he would always have the accuser and the accused face to face, and that he would neither condemn a man, nor form an opinion upon any case, before the individual whom it concerned had answered for himself.' -"Where a superintendent has to preside in a large circuit, he will often have to exercise all his wisdom, firmness, and forbearance. In the present imperfect state of our knowledge, and the shallowness of the human comprehension, there will be a difference of opinion: and even good men, desiring to promote what they believe will be for the glory of God, and the good of his Church, are in danger of being carried too far by inordinate warmth of feeling and expression. On such occasions, with what mild authority, as an angel of the Church among us, have we seen Mr. Bramwell quell the rising of evil, and reconcile what appeared contradictory to those of more limited views! He was able to manage the whole vessel with apparent ease. In preachers' and leaders'

meetings, &c. he would kindly interrupt any circumlocution: while he gave to all a patient hearing, he facilitated the business; and, in conclusion, recapitulating the whole, he showed the strength or weakness of the different arguments, and left the decision to the majority of the meeting.

"One great object, which he always kept before him, was economy in the public expenditure. He would submit to any privation, rather than see the stewards burdened with a weight of debt; nor would he permit an increase of expenses, without the probability of obtaining a supply of sufficient funds. Our stewards were in advance when he came into the circuit: under his direction the debt was liquidated, and he left our finances in prosperity. The same principles were extended to the building of chapels. Before a chapel was erected, he first considered the magnitude of the population in that vicinity, the present state of the work, the existing inconvenience of the worshippers, the efforts of the people to raise a sufficient subscription among themselves, and the probable help they would want from others. If all these concurred, it then appeared that the Lord designed a house to be built for himself, in which his great name might be recorded.

66 When our societies, under Mr. Bramwell's superintendence, saw that he would not permit improper appeals of private or public charity to be made, they liberally supported those plans which he patronized, rallied round him

with Christian philanthropy, and tasted the blessedness of doing and receiving good. This transforming, uniting principle, amalgamated all into one effort and enjoyment.

"We beheld him as a minister, and an exemplary man of God, matured by increase of days-shorn, it true, of some of his masculine vigor; yet he continued to hold a meeting for prayer, every morning at five, where many souls were quickened and saved. He had, if possible, greater importunity and power in prayer, with a richer variety of expression. As an instrument of the salvation of thousands of immortal spirits, he had become venerable. The peculiar answers of his prayers for individuals in afflictive circumstances, can only be revealed when the secrets of the heart will be brought into judgment. The dissensions which he found among us, vanished as we profited by his ministry, and drank into his spirit. The selfish contraction of the heart was expanded by his benign influence, and we became as members of one family, sitting under the same vine and fig tree, none daring to interrupt our sacred peace and growing prosperity.

"He unceasingly pressed upon his hearers the necessity of Christian holiness, and so preached this doctrine as to manifest he was himself habitually grounded and settled in the experience of it. He raised the standard of Christian experience as high as the Scriptures do, and yet placed it within the reach of every justified person. He gave believers no rest till

they sought with all the heart to be fully saved from sin knowing that we are in danger of counting our steps back again, if we do not 'press toward the mark for the prize of our high calling.' The reason,' he said,' why many seek to be saved from the remains of the carnal mind, and do not obtain the blessing, is, because they have secretly backslidden, and have forfeited the Divine favor. If they were correctly acquainted with their own state, they would first seek to be justified by faith in Christ Jesus.'

"He faithfully admonished his hearers, that conformity to the world, and inordinate love of riches, open avenues to a thousand snares, and are the great bane of Christian simplicity and holiness; that this is not a state of rest, but of labor; not of indulgence, but of self denial; and that these are sure marks of discipleship, if they spring from faith which worketh by love. His conversation was in heaven, from whence he looked continually for the Saviour. He often expressed his wonder respecting the joys and the employments of the saints in light. He frequently said respecting them, in familiar conver sation, 'What are they doing, think you?-How I long to be with them! To quit the burden of mortality, and, glorious as the sun, quick as thought, pass from world to world, and sphere to sphere. No sudden alarm, no picturesque scenery, no political news, no worldly conversation, interrupted one moment his union. He breathed and lived, in Christ, in God.

"Under the gift of such a ministry, our con