cal manner, the official sanction of that branch of the universal Church to which he belonged; he began to preach under a deep and impressive sense of duty, and under the constraining power of the love of Christ; and the blessing of God had so far attended his ministrations, as to render them 'successful in the conversion of many souls from the error of their way. In the different circuits where he had laboured, he might have pointed to a goodly number of holy and happy Christians, once the slaves of error, vice, and sin, and might have said to those who questioned his credentials, "The seal of mine apostleship are these in the Lord."

Under these circumstances he could not voluntarily resign his ministry, and be guiltless in the sight of God. Nor was such a step at all necessary. No charge whatever was officially preferred against him; it was not pretended that he had ever preached erroneous doctrine; nor was any intimation given to him, that it was intended to accuse him at the approaching district meeting, either on account of his tenets, his attention to the Methodist discipline, or his moral conduct. The discipline of the body would have afforded him effectual protection; and the candour, the justice, the love of his brethren, had an appeal been made to them, would have put that discipline in force. Had he only beckoned to them in his distress, they would have rallied round him, and have "brought forth his righteousness as the noonday." In this case, his valuable labours would have been saved to the connection; and he would have been mercifully preserved from placing himself in circumstances which often wrung his heart with anguish. Here was his capital error. His mind, conscious of its integrity, was wounded beyond endurance; and partly through inexperience, and partly through temptation and resentment, he took the matter into his own hands; and the affecting record stands in the Minutes of Conference for the year 1801, “Richard Watson has desisted from travelling by his own choice." In reference to this period of his life he has been often heard to say, "I only regret that I did not lay my case before my brethren, and leave myself in their hands:" a sentiment which he repeated, with considerable emotion, within a few days of his death, when his anxious attention was directed to his past life, and to its consequences in that world upon which he was just about to enter.

On his retirement from the itinerant ministry among the Methodists, Mr. Watson did not connect himself with any other body of professing Christians. His views of evangelical truth, and his personal predilections, all served to attach him to his old friends, whose religious assemblies he still frequented, and whose pulpits he occasionally occupied. Among them he had received his religious impressions; in happy intercourse with them he had spent the entire period of his Christian life; and his heart and judgment still clave to them as the objects of his affection and confidence. That he might have been restored to his place in the body, had the requisite means been employed, there can be no doubt. Unhappily, no generous attempt appears to have been made to meet his lingering attachment to the connection. Those who knew him best were at a distance, and were probably imperfectly acquainted with the situation in which he was placed; the fault which he had hastily committed in forsaking his work appears to have rendered inexorable the friends by whom he was immediately

The

surrounded; and, in some instances, he met with open and marked disrespect. In the meanwhile, his mind was far from being at rest; he felt that he had left the path of duty; he saw that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to retrace his steps; his spiritual enjoyments were in a great measure lost; and, although his moral conduct was unimpeachable, as a man of God he was shorn of his strength. Direct religious intercourse with his Christian friends was at length discontinued; and even his attendance upon public worship for a few months was irregular. He laboured with most exemplary diligence to establish himself in business, as a means of honest subsistence; but nothing prospered in his hands. All his powers of ingenuity were put in requisition; but he was baffled at every point; for a merciful Providence designed him for a higher service than that which he had chosen; and would not suffer him to bury his fine talents in secular cares. subject is too serious in itself, and was connected with too many distressing feelings in the mind of Mr. Watson, or it might provoke a smile to see a man possessed of mental abilities which would ultimately enable him to soar with Milton to the heaven of heavens, and to accompany such men as Butler and Locke in their most profound and original thinkings, a man whose powers as a theologian and a preacher have been rarely equalled,-assuming the character of an ordinary tradesman in a small market town. So humbled are the noblest minds, when they cease to act under the Divine authority and direction! At this period Mr. Watson was happy in his marriage, but in nothing else; and on some occasions the upbraidings of his conscience, because he had laid aside the ministry, to which he had been called and solemnly set apart, were overwhelming. Once, in particular, when travelling alone, on one of his journeys of business, his feelings of regret and compunction rose to agony; and he expressed his persuasion that the misery of a lost soul could scarcely be more intense than that which he experienced.

In this state his first concern was to regain his spirituality of mind. His late father-in-law, Mr. Henshaw, was a zealous local preacher in the Methodist new connection; and with a reference to his own personal salvation, Mr. Watson was induced to unite himself to a small society belonging to that religious community, at Hemmington, an agricultural village, about a mile from Castle-Donington. His conduct from this time excites a high opinion of his simplicity and godly sincerity. The leader of the class was a farmer's labourer, of plain manners, and humble capacity; and the other members were mostly of the same rank in society. The class met on the evening of a weekday; and, notwithstanding the distance, his attendance was punctual and regular. Scarcely ever was he known to be absent; and he was generally the first in attendance, and often unlocked the door and opened the shutters of the little chapel, where they were accustomed to assemble, and get every thing in readiness for the meeting. It was observed by those who met in the same class, that his religious improvement was very rapid. His piety soon regained its wonted ardour and stability; and it was not long before he was requested to officiate as a local preacher among his new friends. With this request he readily complied; no compromise of principle being required; as the Methodist new connection hold precisely the theological tenets enter

tained by the Wesleyan body. His preaching was generally approved; he was introduced to persons of respectability and influence in the community with which he was now united; and it was proposed to him to become an itinerant preacher among them. To this he promptly acceded; and it is impossible for language to express the joyous feelings with which he resumed the labours of the regular ministry after this painful interval. He was requested, in the first instance, to go to the Manchester circuit to supply the place of another preacher; and on receiving this appointment, with a light step and a bounding heart he hastened to the sphere of his labours. Scarcely could he have shown more alacrity, had he been for years an imprisoned exile, who had just regained his liberty, and was returning to his kindred and his home. The exercise of his ministry was the grand object to which his mind was now directed. With the principles and details of Church government his acquaintance was very limited; as he had never seriously turned his attention to the subject, nor felt any interest in it. He saw nothing in the discipline of the new connection to hinder him from becoming a minister in that community; especially as the financial regulations adopted in the Wesleyan body, affecting him as a married man with two children, and other causes, seemed to preclude all hope of re-admission in that quarter; otherwise there is every reason to believe that he would have preferred a union with his old friends. It is a high and permanent honour to the Methodist new connection to have been a means of rescuing from obscurity and sorrow this great and excellent man; and that it afforded him an opportunity of cultivating those talents by which multitudes of mankind have been so greatly instructed and edified, and which are likely to promote the interests of generations yet unborn. Had it not been for that connection, according to all human probability, he must have sunk under an overwhelming load of distress and unmerited obloquy.

On his admission into the new connection, Mr. Watson gave the most perfect satisfaction, as to the correctness of his doctrinal views, after a very strict examination, with reference to his alleged heterodoxy; but on the subject of Church government, concerning which he knew and cared little, no questions whatever were proposed to him. He arrived in Manchester in the autumn of 1803; and it was arranged that he should reside at Stockport. As he left the Hinckley circuit in the spring of 1801, he was more than two years and a half unemployed in the regular duties of the ministry: a period of his life during which he was taught many important lessons, but upon which he could never look with pleasurable emotions. He had maintained a high reputation before the world, for uprightness and integrity; but it was a blank in his history as a minister of Christ, who had nothing to do but to save souls. The entire case is highly monitory. It is calculated to teach young ministers caution and self diffidence; and their seniors, who are over them in the Lord, to watch over them with fidelity and kindness. Had the Methodist connection made provision for his theological training, before he was sent into a circuit as an itinerant preacher, it was Mr. Watson's full conviction that he should have escaped the evils into which he fell; and that his personal comfort and public usefulness would have suffered no interruption. In the latter years of his life his heart yearned over the young ministers who are appointed to study and preach without an instructer and a guide.

CHAPTER IV.

Mr. Watson's Satire upon the immoderate Use of Instrumental Music in Public Worship-Approval of the Discipline of the New Connection-Memoirs of William Bradbury and John Cash-Sermon on Religious Meditation-Sermon on Sunday Schools-Letter to Mr. Edmondson-Zeal and Labours-Appointed to the Liverpool Circuit Letters to the Messrs. Faulkner-Verses on Charity--Admitted into full Connection with the Conference-Writes the Annual Address to the Societies-Appointed to Liverpool-Writes a History of that Town, and of the Reign of George III.--Jeu-d'esprit--Commences the Liverpool Courier-Letter to Mr. John Faulkner-Writes the Address to the Societies in 1808-Returned a third Year to Liverpool-Nature of his Preaching-Publishes an Answer to Mr. Roscoe.

This is the

Ar Stockport Mr. Watson was not only respected by his own people, but also lived on terms of intimacy with some of the Methodists of the Wesleyan connection. They admired his spirit, abilities, and knowledge, and were highly gratified with his frequent visits. During his stay in that town, the Wesleyan Society there was agitated by a dispute respecting the use of instrumental music in the public worship of God; and Mr. Watson was induced to write a satire upon the most distinguished of the parties, which was printed and put into circulation. Some of the rebukes contained in this small and ephemeral publication were duly merited; others are totally inapplicable, being founded in mistake, occasioned, doubtless, by misinformation. case especially in what is said concerning the decision of the conference in regard to the contending parties. It is also just to say, that, as the writer belonged to another community, and was not immediately interested in the questions at issue, it would have been more seemly if he had forborne to interfere. The tract was smart and clever, and afforded amusement to witty people, at the expense of an erring individual, and of the parties by whom he was sanctioned and supported; and the design of it was praiseworthy. It was intended to expose an evil of very serious magnitude,-the immoderate use of instrumental music in public worship; yet its moral effect was not good, in consequence of the nature of the composition. The style was an imitation of the historical books of the Old Testament; and therefore presented an example of that levity which connects sacred things with ridicule; the practice of which is equally condemned by Christian piety and good taste. In the subsequent years of his life, Mr. Watson had a deep conviction of the evil of such sallies of perverted ingenuity; and no man was more free from all approaches to them, both in his writings and conversation.

When Mr. Watson had become a regular preacher in the Methodist new connection, his general approval of the discipline and order of that body might be expected to follow as a matter of course. He had entered it with a special reference to the exercise of his ministry, and because its theological creed was in full accordance with his own; but as an honest man he was also bound to conform to its usages himself, and to enforce the same conformity on others. It is no just reflection upon him to say, that, immediately after his official connection with that body, and as a natural consequence of his daily intercourse with its ministers and private members, he was led to entertain their views, even before he had deeply studied the principles of Church govern

ment, or had witnessed, upon an extensive scale, the practical workings of that system which he had adopted.

On his restoration to the full duties of the Christian ministry, his mind was in a great measure at rest; and he soon recovered his wonted cheerfulness and buoyancy. He applied himself to study with a diligence and an ardour almost peculiar to himself; and his "profiting appeared unto all." His habits were sociable; his conversation was lively, instructive, and greatly admired; and his preaching often displayed an energy and a vigour, both of thought and expression, which gave strong indications of future eminence. Among other means of usefulness, he sometimes practised himself in literary composition, with a reference to publication; and his name occasionally appeared in the Magazine of the Methodist new connection, as a contributor to that work. His first communication was a memoir of Mr. William Bradbury, of Manchester; and the second, an account of John Cash, of Warford, in Cheshire; both of which were published in the year 1805, and are written with considerable elegance and spirit. The subjects of these biographical sketches had both belonged to the Wesleyan body, in union with which they had obtained "the faith of God's elect." They had separated from their religious friends in the division of 1798; and, of course, it became their biographer, not only to relate that fact, but also the motives by which they were actuated. These motives are stated in a cursory manner, but yet so as to imply a censure upon the discipline of the Wesleyan connection. This was unavoidable; and supposing Mr. Watson to have concurred in that censure, no candid person would attach to him any serious blame, considering the peculiarity of his situation. With him the comparative merit of the two systems of Church government must, at that time, have been merely a matter of opinion; and that opinion could only be formed on very limited knowledge and observation, and under circumstances strongly calculated to bias the judgment. But the fact is, he had no personal acquaintance with either Mr. Bradbury, or John Cash, in the year 1798; and the history of their secession from the Wesleyan body was supplied by their respective friends; Mr. Watson's only task being that of preparing for publication the documents which were put into his hands. His design was not so much to state his own opinions, as those of the men concerning whom he was writing. This is his own account of the affair, as will appear from a letter in a subsequent part of these memoirs, written by him when he was accused of abandoning his former principles after his return to the connection in which he was originally nurtured, and in which he spent the happiest and most useful part of his life.

The following introduction to the memoir of Mr. Bradbury is worth quoting for the justness of the sentiment it contains, and the eloquence with which it is written :-" One of the most conclusive arguments in favour of Christianity may be drawn from its influence upon the character and conduct of those who cordially embrace its doctrines, and wholly submit themselves to its discipline. If it reclaims them from the practice of vice, if it subdues the unruly passions, if it implants virtuous and holy affections in the human breast, if it sweetens the tempers, and purges away the dregs of envy, malice, and self love, rendering a man not only pious toward God, but also kind and benevolent