far-come worshippers,-when we passed at sunset through its streets, and heard the voice of scripture reading, or exhortation, or prayer, issuing from so many open doors, and remembered what Bala was before Rowlands reached it,-above all, when we looked on the expanse of arrested hearers and fervent worshippers on Bala Green, and then at the steeple of the empty parish church beyond them, we felt that a devoted people is the best seal of apostleship, and that for the one great work of evangelization, a waggon-load of Welsh ministers is better worth than a bench of bishops.

It may be asked, What provision have they for the education of the ministry? At the outset, the most popular and useful of their preachers were clergymen of the church of England, such as Daniel Rowlands, Howel Davies, the Williamses, David Griffiths, Jones of Langan, Charles of Bala, &c. But for some time past, this source of supply has been very scanty, and consequently the literary acquirements of their ministers and preachers very various. To remedy this, a seminary was opened at Bala, of which the present theological tutor is the Rev. Lewis Edwards, M.A. Edin., a man whose elevated intellect, and profound theology, and better gifts, are not unworthy the namesake of the illustrious American divine. And more recently a college has been opened in South Wales, under the auspices of the Rev. David Charles, B.A. Oxon., a grandson of Mr Charles of Bala, who, with the active mind, and benevolent spirit, and business talent of his ancestor, is eminently fitted, by his scholarship and accomplishments, to be the head of a theological institution. The exigencies of the times require a learned ministry, even in regions so remote as the principality; and the Welsh Calvinists have indicated the kind of learning which they desire, by choosing as the schools of their prophets Bala and Trevecca.

The new college of Trevecca has been opened in what was the house of Howell Harris. As already mentioned, during the latter days of this apostolic man, his house was the abode of a great multitude of people,-even as many others came to settle in the neighbouring dwellings-attracted by the memory of his precious words. At his death he left his house to this his only family; and now, like himself, most of its members are sleeping under the yewtrees of Talgarth burying-ground. The two survivors have conveyed the property to the Association of South Wales, and that body have set it apart as a college for the training of their ministry, and for this purpose it was opened, with much solemnity and many prayers, on the 7th of October last.

Trevecca is a spacious mansion; but the room in which Howell Harris studied, prayed, and breathed his last, is a little dingy apartment, into which no direct sunshine can enter. Possibly he

chose it for its quiet and its sober light; more probably because by a loop-hole in the wall he could hear the daily worship in the chapel when too feeble to descend the stairs, and could even speak a few words to his family assembled below. That prophet's chamber is a deeply interesting spot-for to this day it is full of Howell Harris. Every cupboard and pigeon-hole is crammed with his manuscript journals, and with letters from his great cotemporaries, quite a place for a relic-hunter, or a lover of biography to riot in. We remember in a boxful of dusty pamphlets and sheep-skin notebooks, and bunches of old documents, picking up a scrap of torn paper-an autograph letter from George Whitefield. There are many of them there. We took with us down stairs a volume of Howell Harris' own letters, which some admirer had transcribed, and as we sat by the fire the evening before the opening,' we read and copied a few passages. And though it is possible that some of them have found their way into print already, the reader will not be sorry to see them again. The first is addressed to Whitefield, and, like many more, is much in the enraptured style of our own Rutherford. Along with the second, it illustrates what Mr Venn mentions as the characteristic of the Trevecca worthies.

"Feb. 9, 1742.

"MY DEAREST DEAREST JONATHAN,-Sure our Lord is all love, and is resolved to withhold no good from me. Now, I am in the enjoyment of all my soul is capable of enjoying. My beloved is mine and I am his. In him I have my ali. He is my treasure. He does all my work, and as it were, contrives continually to make me happy, while I am heaping provocations against him. O free grace! Let me quit the stage of time with this song, and begin the church triumphant with this loud hallelujah. O, my dearest friend, bear with me, for I am sick of love. O what joys are in our Father's house! The hour is coming that shall call us home. I long for it. I long to see the heavenly host. While I am here pray for me, and carry me in your arms to Him that sits upon the throne, (as I know you do) as a vile, unbelieving, ungrateful, polluted wretch; yet remember to praise him-for, indeed, he feeds me with manna, and with the dainties of his house. . . . I feel my dear Lord now shining on me in writing to you, and may he do so on you in reading it. The work of our Lord goes on everywhere. O what treasures of love does he daily discover to us! What are we to be born in such an age when our dear Lord seems to ride about in the chariot of the gospel. . . . Your very sinful, but more than happy brother in the spotless Lamb,-H. HARRIS."

To a friend :

"I doubt not but thy heaven-born soul is more and more weary of that vile, abominable, and sinning nature that thou hadst from Satan in and through Adam, which neither knows, loves, fears, nor desires God. I am well persuaded thy cry is, Lord, let me be nothing, that thou mayest be all in all to me! and deliver me from myself.' When self is nailed to the cross, we then see and admire, and love, and trust in God alone. We have neither anxious cares nor fears, but we are happy in God continually. We cease from our own will and wisdom, and rest in his pure and holy and unerring will and perfect wisdom -willing to be and suffer what he wills-ceasing from our own works and

strivings, Christ worketh in us to will and to do. Then we walk humbly with our God-being delivered from all hurry of spirit, and are meek and quiet, and still in heart, and having our mind stayed on God, we walk in perfect peace. This is sweet liberty. 'Tis provided-'tis promised-'tis enjoyed by many, and the Spirit of God within us groans for it, and shall we rest short of it? We cannot rightly glorify God till then-nor walk evenly, nor bear fruit, nor be truly happy. When we are nothing in ourselves, we are all in Christ, and when we lose self we find Christ. ... Generally bondage is the way to liberty-and we must be weary of ourselves-of our hearts and corrupt natures, before we come to solid rest in Jesus' wounds."

The following letter, written in the midst of a great work of God, is full of holy exultation, and conveys a vivid idea of the wonderful It is addressed to Whitefield.

scene.

"Caermarthenshire, March 1, 1745. “My dearest DEAREST BROTHER,-What are we, to see what our eyes see, and feel what we feel! I was last Sunday at the ordinance with brother Rowlands, where I saw, felt, and heard such things as I can't send on paper any idea of. The power that continues with him is uncommon. Such crying out and heart-breaking groans, silent weeping, and holy joy and shouts of rejoicing as I never saw. Their amens, and cryings Glory in the highest,' &c. would inflame your soul were you there. 'Tis very common when he preaches for scores to fall down by the power of the word, pierced and wounded, or overcome by the love of God and sights of the beauty and excellency of Jesus, and lie on the ground, nature being overcome by the sights and enjoyments given to their heaven-born souls, that it cannot bear, the spirit almost breaking the house of clay to go to its native home. Some lie there for hours,-some praising and admiring Jesus' free grace, distinguishing grace,-others wanting words to utter. You might read the language of a heart running over with love in their heavenly looks, their eyes sparkling with the fire of love, and joy, and solid rest in God. Others meeting, when the word, &c. is over, to sing, and you might feel God then among them like a flame; others falling down one after another for a long time together praying and interceding, and you might see and feel it is the prayer of faith, and that they are worshipping a God whom they know, and love, and delight in, and that now no veil is between. Others triumph over all their enemies; others moaning and wailing for the Comforter, and such love and simplicity that a spiritual eye must see and acknowledge that God is there. This is but a very faint idea of it, for what words can express spiritual things. His congregation consists, I believe, of above 2000, whereof a great part is brought to glorious liberty, and walk solidly in clear light, in the continual enjoyment of God, without a moment's darkness. Many others walk in solid faith, rejoicing in the hope and expectation of the clearer manifestation of God's glory and the glorious liberty of his children. All the rest are seeking and trusting. Their singing and praying, indeed, is full of God."

6

The Countess of Huntingdon originally kept her college at Trevecca; and in those days, the delighted visitor, when walking in the neighbouring vale, might often hear distinctly from several parts of the surrounding woodlands, the voice of social prayer proceeding from several little bands of students who were pouring out their hearts before God.'* Such times and scenes, we trust, are come again.

• Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon, vol. ii. p. 93.

The precise numerical strength of the Calvinistic Methodists we cannot tell; but it may in general be stated, that they are the most numerous religious community in Wales. Exclusive of those in England, they have within the principality, 124 ministers, 248 preachers, 671 chapels.*

It may be added, in conclusion, as a reason for taking a deeper interest in this people whom God has so greatly honoured, that there is now a brotherly relation established between them and the presbyterian church in England. At its meeting last April, the English synod appointed a deputation to attend the next meeting of the Welsh Association, and convey to the members the expression of their fraternal regard, and their willingness to open a friendly and Christian intercourse. Accordingly, the deputation repaired to Bala in June, where they were received with the utmost cordiality and kindness by the assembled brethren, and explained at full length the constitution of their body, and the object of their embassy. At a subsequent meeting of the Association of North Wales, resolutions were proposed and carried, reciprocating the message of the English presbyterian deputation. And as the ministers of South Wales expressed a desire for a similar visit, the only member of the deputation who could then accomplish the journey, attended the Association held at Talgarth in October; when the following motion was made and carried unanimously:

"That this Association, consisting of ministers and elders of the Calvinistic methodist connexion in South Wales, reciprocate most cordially the sentiments of brotherly love expressed by the deputation; and they regard it as one of the favourable signs of the times, that ministers and members of various churches feel the necessity of Christian union, and manifest a disposition to ' strive together for the faith once delivered to the saints.'

"That whilst we are desirous of maintaining brotherly intercourse with all who hold the head Christ, we feel more particularly drawn towards those churches whose standards of doctrine, mode of church government, and rules of discipline, agree, upon the whole, with our own; and as we discover this agreement between the presbyterian church in England and our own connexion, we rejoice at the opportunity thus afforded of becoming acquainted with that church, and of extending to it, through its representatives, the right hand of fellowship.

"That without sacrificing any of our distinctive peculiarities, we are prepared, (in unison with the already expressed wishes of our beloved brethren in North Wales,) to enter into a friendly alliance with the presbyterian church in England, and in every practicable way to co-operate with them in bearing a strong testimony against prevailing errors in our own favoured land, as well as in the more general promulgation of divine truth throughout the world."

The same minister officiates at two and sometimes three chapels on one Sabbath. Like Scotch probationers, preachers do not administer the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper. Besides the above chapels, there is regular preaching in some school-rooms each Lord's day. At first the methodists encountered many obstacles from a hostile aristocracy, &c., in building chapels; but they have gradually found favour, and by remarkable interpositions of providence, their chapels have so multiplied, that it is said no one need now travel three miles to worship.

ART. VI.-1. The Great Commission. By Rev. JOHN HARRIS, D.D.

2. Missions, their Authority, Scope, and Encouragement. By Rev. R. W. HAMILTON.

3. The Jubilee of the World. By Rev. JOHN MACFARLANE. 4. Christian Missions. By Rev. BAPTIST W. NOEL, M.A.

The position of our world at this moment is very solemn. Every one admits that we have reached a crisis-a juncture on which innumerable impulses converge, and from which momentous issues will go forth. Ezekiel's wheels are moving with wondrous rapidity. And if, too, with a vigorous and purged eye, we either consult the aspect of providence, or the oracles of prophecy-ascertaining each from their main drift-it must be evident that it is not the break of day, but the howl of storm that must be looked for. Peace, indeed, is once more wreathing its olive round the crowns of earth. The ships of commerce have again begun to float on the swelling waters of prosperity. The populace are wearied of their demagogues, and even retire from the pollutions of socialism disabused and disgusted.

Yet no man can rid himself of the belief that strange elements are in play throughout society, and that what shape the world will assume to-morrow, it would be vain to prognosticate to-day. The hope circulates, even though at heart it be disowned, that the period of change is over for the present, and that we have regained our old smooth and easy way. Men fear and forbode, question and doubt, yet they see not why it should be so, and they bid each other clear off their gloom, just that they may feel less troubled themselves.

What is this, however, but the preternatural calm, and oppressive sultriness that precedes and predicts the catastrophe ? All was glorious at Aleppo in the morning, and her hundred minarets glittered resplendent in the sun. Yet men were not at ease. They spoke and smiled, and still were sad. They saw no cloud, even so big as a man's hand, yet there was oppression at the heart. We would like, they said, were this night well over. Scarce was the fear acknowledged, the wish had but passed the lip,-when, in the gulf of a yawning chasm, the pride of the golden city sinks remorselessly. But one shriek from 10,000 souls hung in the air for a moment, and all is again silent on earth, and the heavens are shining as before. The earthquake has done its sullen work, and gone back, like the sated lion, to its den.

But as much, even as in this case, men's anxieties at the present