with several young men, who indeed were rather above my station in life; I was particularly intimate, and more than twice or thrice did I give an exhortation at the house of a relative of the young man's, who was my fellow-servant. The opportunities I had of hearing the word were very delightful, and a higher relish was given to them by the toils and business of the week." 99*

To youth who may be placed in similar circumstances with the amiable subject of these memoirs, his mild and cheerful deportment in scenes so uncongenial to the bias of his mind, should prove a salutary and impressive lesson. Impatience and fretfulness are but ill adapted to the furtherance of any design, and a disposition to murmur, under the arrangements of our present lot, marks a state of mind most unfriendly to the patient sufferance of the toils, the anxieties and the disappointments inseparably connected with the ministerial life; and whilst it is an obvious fact, that every young man possessed of piety cannot be employed as a preacher of the gospel, to such as conceive themselves endowed with talents for that solemn office, and yet are placed in circumstances, which seem to forbid the indulgence of a hope they still cherish with an anxious pleasure to such, the subsequent history of Mr. Spencer, will afford another striking proof, in an innumerable series,—that where God has actually called and qualified an individual for the ministry, he will, in his own time and by unexpected methods, make the path of duty plain before that individual's

*M. S. Memoirs.

feet. Let no one, then, rashly attempt to break the connected chain of opposing circumstances by which his providence may have surrounded him; but rather wait in patience till the hand that has thus encircled him opens up a passage, and by events, which may justly be considered as intimations of the divine will, invites him to advance.

These remarks, the result of frequent observations on the ways of God in cases similar to this, not improperly connect the future scenes of Mr. Spencer's life, with those we have already contemplated. For the time was now arrived, that the cloud which had hovered over his future prospects should be dissipated, and another path,-a path to which he had from infancy directed his attention with fond anticipation and intense desire, present its varied and momentous objects of pursuit for the cheerful, but, alas! the short-lived exercise of his. superior powers. After a residence of about four months with his employers in the Poultry, cireumstances occurred of such a nature as to render his services no longer necessary, on which account he left London and returned for awhile to his parents at Hertford; but some time previous to the event which caused his departure from London, he had been introduced to the notice of Thomas Wilson, Esq. the benevolent and indefatigable Treasurer of the Academy for educating young men for the work of the ministry, at Hoxton. Mr. Wilson perceived in him piety and talents far above his years. His whole appearance and his engaging manners cited in that gentleman's breast, an interest in this amiable youth, which he never lost, and he gave it

ex

as his decided opinion, (without elating him with a hope, of the ultimate failure of which, there was still a probability,) that his views should in some way or other be directed towards the ministry.

This revolution in Mr. Spencer's affairs was not unnoticed or unimproved by Mr. Wilson, who wisely regarding it as a favourable opportunity for carrying into effect those generous designs respecting him, which from their first interview he had cherished, sent for him; conversed with him upon the subject, and introduced him to the Rev. William Hordle, of Harwich, a gentleman to whose care some of the young men were committed, whose youth or other circumstances did not allow of their immediate entrance into the Academy, though they were considered as proper objects of its patronage. To this gentleman, at length, Mr. Wilson proposed to send Mr. Spencer for trial of his talents and piety, and for preparatory studies; a proposition to which Mr. Spencer acceded with unfeigned gratitude and joy. The time fixed for his entrance into Mr. Hordle's family was January, 1806. The interval between this period and that of his departure from the Poultry, which was in October, 1805, he spent in his father's house, and for the most part in his father's business. Though this was repugnant to his feelings, he had yet learned, by five months' absence, in the bustle of a shop in the city, to appreciate the calm and tranquil pleasures of a domestic circle, to which he became more endeared as the lovely qualities of his mind unfolded, and the dignified and pleasing prospects of his future life were disclosed. But though considerable light was thrown upon his

destiny, yet on leaving London it was not finally determined; and this pressed with peculiar weight upon his spirit, which, susceptible of the slightest emotion, must have deeply felt in leaving one scene of action, the uncertainty which as yet partially veiled from him that which should succeed. Of the day of his departure he thus writes:-"I anticipa ted it with mingled emotions; a strong desire to see my father, mother, brother and sisters, a sensation of sorrow at parting with my old friends, and the idea of uncertainty as to my future engagements in life, equally affected me. Although I had been ab

sent from home but five months, the desire I had again to see Hertford was very great, nor do I suppose I shall often spend more pleasant evenings than the first one I spent at home, after the first time of being absent for any considerable season; two or three days were spent in seeing other relations and friends, till.”*

Here the narrative, first referred to, and often quoted, written by his own hand, and evidently for his own use, abruptly closes; and here for a moment his biographer will pause.It is a charming domestic piece, which the hand of his departed friend, obedient to the warm and vivid recollections of his fervent mind, has sketched; but scarcely has he pictured to himself the countenances of that interesting group which gathered around him again to bid him welcome to his father's house, and committed the rude outline to his paper, than he is suddenly called off, and lays down the recording pen for

*M. S. Memoirs.

ever! So did his life abruptly terminate; but the mysterious voice that summoned him from his endeared connexions upon earth introduced his emancipated spirit to the bosom of a happier family above-not another family, but one most intimately connected with his own, for which whilst here he cherished such a warm affection. The sentiment this sentence breathes was familiar to himself, and often seen in the energy and fervour with which he would repeat these admirable lines of Kelly:

One family, we dwell in him;

One church above, beneath,
Though now divided by the stream,

The narrow stream of death.

One army of the living God,

To his command we bow;

Part of the host have cross'd the flood,
And part are crossing now.

Ten thousand to their endless home

This awful moment fly;

And we are to the margin come,

And soon expect to die.

Dear Jesus, be our constant guide ;

Then when the word is giv'n,

Bid death's cold stream and flood divide
And land us safe in heav'n.

At Harwich Mr. Spencer was completely in his element. He commenced the year 1806 in Mr. Hordle's family, and was then about completing the fifteenth of his own life. At this interesting age, when the powers of the mind begin rapidly to unfold,-when a tone is often given to the future cast