And in 1768, by Michael Bruce, in strains that will continue to be appropriate until time shall be no

We can trace to its source, the revival of religion in the Established Church in London, which took place towards the end of the eighteenth century. Middleton, writing in 1786, says, "It is an anecdote which deserves to be recorded, that, between thirty and forty years ago, when only one pulpit in or about the great Metropolis, and that only on a Sunday and Thursday afternoons during Termtime, was accessible for the pure doctrines of the Gospel and of the Church, a certain number of serious persons met at stated times for the sole purpose of praying that God would be pleased, in His mercy to the Establishment, to raise up faithful ministers in it, who should sound forth the Gospel of His grace as in the days of old, when

the Establishment was adorned with gracious pastors in all parts of the land, and to give their ministry abundant success. Within a space it pleased God to answer these petitions." *

Writing of the last century, he says,-"In the former part of this century, the Established ministers, who thought themselves bound in conscience and duty to support their own articles by preaching and living, were but thinly scattered over the land. But nearer the middle of the century they became yet more scarce; and before the revival of religion which ensued about forty years ago, an evangelic ministry was hard to be found. Our pulpits sounded with morality deduced from the principles of nature and the fitness of things, with no relation to Christ or the Holy Spirit; all which the heathen philosophers have insisted upon, and perhaps with more than modern ingenuity; and, in consequence, our streets have resounded with heathen immorality. We had flowery language in the Church, and loose language out of it. There was no apparent spirit or grace in the public service; and the private life discovered none. Nay, the people were taught not to expect it, but to esteem everything of a sublime and spiritual influence as enthusiastic and delusive." +

In similar strains writes a contemporary: "All things, serious, solemn, and sacred, are wantonly thrown by, or treated only as proper subjects for ridicule. All that

the pert and polite sinner need do now to establish his reputation of wit, and be deemed the hero of all polite assemblies, is to get rid of religion as soon as possible, to set conscience at defiance, to deny the being or providence of God, to laugh at the Scriptures, deride God's ordinances, profane his name, and rally his ministry." *

There had been, however, some admirable exceptions. Mr. Thomas Jones, who died in 1762, after a well-spent life of thirty-three years, was an instance of a man who in private life, and as chaplain of Saint Saviour's, Southwark, sought with singleness of purpose to promote the glory of God in the extension of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ among men. He felt the weight of his own personal indebtedness to his Divine Saviour, and under its pressure employed all his powers in personally and prayerfully commending to others His love and work. Amidst all the rebuffs which such close spiritual efforts is sure to encounter, it is remarkable to what a great extent it is ever ultimately "twice blessed." It is a source of satisfaction to the Christian observer to recollect how many there are who are thus humbly labouring, not under the approving view of men, but as "ever in the great Taskmaster's eye."

About the year 1760, a laborious young schoolmaster, living at Sutton Ashfield, in addition to daily labour in his calling for the support of his family, and to constant village preaching on the Sunday, wrote a treaties which he entitled "The Reign of Grace." He was an obscure and unfriended individual; but the MS. was sent to Mr.

* Monthly Review for 1765-Churchill's Sermons.

Venn, at Huddersfield, who was so much struck with its merit that he rode across the country to the author's residence, strongly urged its publication, wrote a recommendatory preface, and formed an attachment to the writer which endured during their joint lives, though separated in ecclesiastical and local station. The good rector invited Abraham Booth, the Baptist minister, to preach in his kitchen, promising to get him a congregation, which was duly effected. *

Mr. Vaughan, the biographer of the Rev. Thomas Robinson, writing of the state of things at Leicester about the year 1774, says, "Leicester was at this time in the state exhibited by many other provincial towns, both previously and subsequently, in which pure Gospel light has for a long season been obscured. Religion was a feeble and sickly plant; it consisted for the most part in names and forms, and a sort of pharisaical attendance upon one service upon the Sunday. What little of vital religion there was, appeared principally among the Dissenters."+

About the year 1777, a young engraver of some note in London, being under the influence of strong religious impressions, caught the spirit of awakening Evangelism, and itinerated through the Southern and Midland Counties of England, proclaiming the glad tidings. He was mobbed

and scorned, but crowds attended the proclamation; thus vindicating the true character of the Divine message, which, in spite of all that men or devils can do, is still the most popular of all themes. This itinerant was young George

* Life of Booth, prefixed to his Works, vol. i., p. 26.

Life of the Rev. Thos. Robinson, p. 56.

Burder, who lived to see the flow of evangelical preaching gradually rise beyond it first irregular channels, and become diffused over the whole land.

The inequalities which may temporarily exist in a district as to its state of receptiveness for religion, are quite beyond our ken as to their causes. The fact is one constantly encountered in the history of the Gospel. Thus, Yorkshire and Cornwall received and retained Wesleyanism, more signally than other parts of the kingdom. Cheshire, Lancashire, and Yorkshire were anciently the strongholds of Presbyterianism; the eastern counties, the fortresses of Dissent. Puritanism was always strong in London; the halls of several of the City companies were used as meeting-houses for many years.

Although the foundation - facts and arguments of Christianity are unchangeable, and the identity of the Divine life in all ages and places unquestionable, yet there is no limit to the adaptations by which it becomes a new power, to the individual and to society. All its great organizations, have been successful by an outgrowth in connexion with the peculiar wants and circumstances of the age in which they were set on foot. They have not been struck out perfect at a heat, but welded piecemeal, as the occasion arose. The work of the Holy Spirit amongst men, depends upon the earnest faithfulness of the daily orison, "Thy kingdom come;" and it is given in accordance with the promise, "As thy day, so thy strength shall be."

In 1784, the low state of religion in general, affected the hearts of a few Baptist folk, who were holding an