so he fixes his mind on it, and makes it the constant subject of his conversation. And so it was with myself no doubt to some extent. And this, to men of conservative tendencies, who look more at the good and less at the evil in the men and systems with which they are connected, seems a grievous fault, an inexcusable piece of injustice, deserving the severest censure. And they repay it with the sternest condemnation.

And conservatives can be as blind or one-sided as the most eager reformers. They can shut their eyes to what is evil, or treat great abuses as excusable trifles; while they magnify what is good beyond all bounds. And when they get excited or vexed they can be as unjust towards the reformer, as the most rabid reformer can be towards them or their pet institutions. And there are few things fiercer than the fire of bigotry, even in minds not destitute of piety. The truth is, when men wax hot, either in favour of reform or against it, justice is forgotten, and kindness and courtesy are out of the question.

And so it was in the controversies which arose out of my efforts at reform. I was assailed both by the malignity of the corrupt, and by the bigotry of the misguided. I was hated by the bad, and dreaded by some of the good, and abused and persecuted by both. And my enemies had neither mercy nor moderation. They pressed matters to the most terrible extremes.

And I was not sufficiently on my guard. Instead of possessing my soul in patience, and casting my care on God, I allowed their persecutions to increase the bitterness of my unhappy feelings, and render my ultimate separation from them inevitable.

There were several other matters which had something to do in causing unpleasant feelings between me and a number of my brethren.

1. It fell to my lot to be unusually popular. I became so at a very early period. I was in consequence often invited by other circuits to preach their special sermons, and I frequently accepted those invitations. Some of my superintendents were annoyed at this, and showed their displeasure in very offensive ways. While I was in Hanley circuit my superintendent called a meeting of a number of leading friends, before which I was summoned to appear.

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There my acceptance of invitations to preach occasional sermons was charged against me as an offence, and I was ordered not to go into other circuits any more, without the consent of my superintendent. I offered no objection to this. My superintendent next charged me with having a number of objectionable books in my library. He had requested the woman at whose house I lodged to show him into my room during my absence, and there he had found the works of Shakespeare, Barrow, Tillotson, and Paley, and some volumes of poems by Lord Byron. The meeting advised me to get rid of Shakespeare and Byron, and to be careful how I used the works of Barrow, Tillotson, and Paley, as they were not Methodistical, and my great concern, it was said, should be to excel as a teacher and defender of Methodism. With this recommendation I could not entirely comply. I retained my Shakespeare; I have him yet. And I read the works of Tillotson, Barrow, and Paley as freely as I had done before. But ĺ lost all confidence in my superintendent, and a portion of the respect I had felt for those who took his part. Towards the close of the year my superintendent and his friends endeavoured to prevent me from receiving a perfect certificate, on the pretence that I had expressed a doubt whether my health would prove equal to the work of the ministry. Their objections proved of no avail; but the spirit which my superintendent showed, increased the unhappy feeling which his previous unkindness had awakened in my breast.

2. The wife of one of our ministers published a book, and the husband sent it to me for review. It contained, mixed up with a great variety of useful remarks, a number of antiscriptural and antinomian passages. While I did justice to the rest of the book, I exposed its errors with great fidelity. About the same time a gentleman at whose house I was billeted at Bury, when lecturing there on temperance, made me a present of a volume of Channing's discourses. I read this volume with the greatest delight, and spoke of it highly in my periodical. Now Channing was a Unitarian, and in one of the discourses contained in the volume which I had commended, there were several Unitarian expressions. The husband of the lady whose book I had reviewed brought the matter before the

Conference. He also quoted from my periodical a number of passages which he contended were not Methodistical, He was very violent in his remarks, and concluded his address by demanding my expulsion. He had conferred with others before Conference came on, and formed a considerable party, and the clamour for my condemnation was both loud and somewhat general. A gentleman, however, of great influence in Conference,-the same who had pleaded for moderation at the Conference previous,―rose and proposed a gentler course. The result was a committee, explanations, and a settlement.

After the Conference, the terms of the settlement were misrepresented by my opponents, and I felt called upon to put them in their proper light. This revived the controversy, and made matters worse than they had been before.

3. I have referred to the rule which required young preachers to remain single for four or five years. When a person was received into the ministry, he was_required to give a pledge that he would keep this rule. I declined to give this pledge. I said I had no intention to marry before the appointed time, and that if I did so, I should be in the hands of the Conference, and they could do with me what they thought best. This was considered sufficient, and I was accepted. As it happened I did marry before the appointed time. I had had such unsuitable lodgings found me where I had been stationed, and I had suffered so much in consequence, that I felt justified in taking a wife and providing accommodations for myself. I took for my wife a woman of exemplary character, of amiable disposition, and engaging manners, and I put the circuits in which I was stationed to no additional expense or trouble. I took my own house, and provided my own furniture. And I neither begged nor borrowed a penny, nor did I run one penny into debt. And I worked as hard after marriage as before, and probably harder, and to better purpose. The Conference, however, punished me by putting me a year back, and transporting me to the most distant part of a very distant circuit. Thither I had to remove my wife and furniture at great expense. And the allowance for board there was the lowest the laws allowed a society to give. I was required too to be often and long from home in distant parts of the circuit. I went,

however, to my appointment and set to work, disposed, though sorrowful, to do my duty. I got a part of an old uninhabited house, and my wife made it comfortable. We lived economically and kept out of debt, without the aid of either gifts or loans, and I never had a happier appointment, and my labours were never better received or more successful; and Blyth, the place of my banishment, will be dear to me as long as I live.

4. Yet I had many trials while stationed there. My superintendent was unkind, and tried from time to time to do me harm. But though he caused me much trouble at times, a higher power overruled all things for my good. One of the societies over which he had great influence was really cruel. It refused to postpone a service to allow me to go and see my child which was very ill, and thought to be in great danger. But my child got well, and all things turned out happily in the end. Still, the punishment inflicted by the Conference, and the annoyances to which it subjected me, lessened my respect for many of my brethren, and helped to prepare the way for future

troubles.

5. In 1837, shortly after I was stationed in Mossley, I had a public discussion with a clergyman on the propriety or lawfulness of teaching the children of the poor to write in our Sunday-schools. The clergyman contended that it was Sabbath-breaking. I maintained that it was Christian beneficence. After the debate I published my views on the subject in a pamphlet. Some of my brethren denounced the pamphlet as heretical, and the editor of the Magazine took occasion to inform his readers that my views were not the views of the Body to which I belonged.

6. In the Sheffield circuit I had several unpleasant collisions with one of my colleagues, and a couple of superannuated ministers, about a rich but unworthy member there. This man was anxious to control the action of the whole circuit, and even of the whole Connexion, and one of my colleagues and the two superannuated ministers took his part. I had myself no faith in the man. I knew him to be both an ignorant and unworthy person. I did what I could to avoid an open rupture with my colleagues and his friends, and succeeded for a time, but they obliged me at last, either to sanction what I felt to be wrong, or

openly to protest against their proceedings. I protested. And now the unsubstantial peace which had existed between us was followed by a very unhappy rupture, which left deep and angry wounds in the hearts of all the contending parties.

7. But to give all the incidents which proved the occasion of bitter feeling and alienation between me and a number of my brethren, would require a book. They were happening almost continually. When once people have ceased to regard each other with love and confidence, they can neither speak nor stir without giving offence. And this was the state to which I and several of my brethren had come. Indeed such was the unhappy state of our feelings, that we had ceased to take pleasure in pleasing, and had come almost to take delight in trying one another. Instead of coming as near together as we could, we got as far as possible apart. We came at length to feel a kind of gratification in finding what appeared good reasons for differing from one another. The consequence was, we came at length to differ from each other so much, that it became impossible for us to work together to any advantage.

And there was no one with wisdom and piety sufficient to interpose and heal the breach, or even to prevent it getting continually worse. The gentleman who had acted as mediator and moderator when my article on "Toleration and Human Creeds" was arraigned, and who had also brought about the temporary settlement of a more serious dispute at the Conference following, now found the case beyond his powers, and made no further attempts at reconciliation. He saw it necessary, if he would retain his influence in the Body, to become a partizan, instead of a mediator, and he chose the side of my opponents. There were two other men-two of the oldest and ablest of our ministers and two of the most exemplary Christians,who saw the danger of the tempest that was raging against me, and who would have been glad to screen me from its violence, but they were afraid to interpose. They loved me and esteemed me, and sympathised with me in many of my views; but to have attempted to save me from the fury of my opponents, would have been to risk their own reputation and position. One of them had