glory of the preceding year's mercies, for about an hour. O what a sweet, melting exercise it was! Then I spent another hour in confessing and bewailing my sins that year, and begging pardon and strength. Lastly, I read and expounded, as it fell in my course, Ezekiel xxxiv, pleading the promises in the latter part of it for the church. Reflections-O my soul, mayest thou not sing of mercy and judgment; mercy first, and afterwards of judgment? Sing of both, for God hath allayed the sweetness of mercy with a dash of wholesome wormwood in thy cup. Thy God remembers mercy in the midst of judgment, sharply afflicting and sweetly supporting, and making all tend to good. Blessed be God. O what a year of mercies hath the preceding been! I have ridden many hundred miles and met with no dangerous falls; all my bones do say, Lord, who is like to thee? I have heard of many others meeting with great troubles in short journeys this year; but God hath delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. Another year is added to, yet also taken from my life. What art thou better, O my soul, at the end than thou wast in the beginning of the year? What increase of grace, progress in holiness, and power against corruption, hast thou acquired? What good hast thou attained or done to souls? What additions hast thou made to thy stock of knowledge, love to God, faith and repentance? God hath been kind to thee; hast thou been dutiful to him, faithful to thy trust, and useful in thy generation? Have thy acts of obedience been daily renewed? Canst thou reflect with comfort on having spent the past year? Thou hast been much employed; hast thou been well employed? Canst thou reflect with comfort on the manner, as well as the number of thy works for God? Thou hast preached oft; hast thou preached

well? Thou hast put up many prayers; canst thou say they were sincere, believing, and fervent? Thou hast kept many fasts; were they such as God hath chosen? What frame of spirit hast thou maintained in all thy journeys? What edifying discourse hast thou uttered in all the companies thou hast conversed with? Alas! I may take shame to myself. The sins of the last year have been multiplied. It is well if all scores between God and thy soul be cleared, when now a new year is begun. If the Lord should mark iniquities, who can stand? I cannot answer him for one of a thousand. On attempting to cast up my accounts, I find my arithmetic far short of recounting either my mercies or sins: David accounts both innumerable, and so may I. Mercy hath filled up every hour of the day, and every moment of the hour; and so have my transgressions. Alas! my thanksgiving days have been short of my fasting days, and how' much more short of my mercies! My repentings have been short of my professions of humiliation; but infinitely short of proportion to my sins. How may I sit down wondering, that God hath not shaken me off the hand of his providence, as a viper into the fire of hell! Lord, take thou the glory of the last year's mercies, and pardon my offences and provocations. Wash away all scores in the blood of Jesus. Give my soul the comfort, and thy people the advantage of my daily labours in the gospel. Give me grace for the services and sufferings of the ensuing year. Maintain my liberty one year more; if not, fit me for daily crosses and if this year produce more notable revolutions of providence than the preceding in mercy or judgment, O lead me safely through all to thy glory and my comfort."

This year, orders were sent from the king and council to suppress all conventicles, which were rigorously ob

served in many parts of the kingdom, particularly in London and its neighbourhood. The peaceful assemblies of the saints were often disturbed by some hireling informer, the minister imprisoned, and the hearers fined. Warrants were issued by the justices of the sessions, to all constables in their district, to search those places in which it was most probable that religious meetings were held, by the Nonconformists. They were to take the preacher and principal hearers before some neighbouring justice, that they might be fined or sent to prison, on the evidence of the informer given on oath. At the sessions, the constables were generally called upon to give an account of all the conventicles they found, that they might be proceeded against. Thus hosts of spies, allured by the hope of sharing the spoil, sought out the meeting-places of dissenters, and kept them in perpetual fear. Frequently the officers in Mr. Heywood's township gave him intelligence of the hours, they designed to call and search his house, and he ordered the times of meeting accordingly; so that while many of his neighbouring brethren were disturbed, he enjoyed his liberty. Having experienced so much mercy in his preservation, he set apart Aug. 30, 1682, as a day of thanksgiving for ten years' liberty in religious exercises, since the date of the licenses issued by Charles II. On this day he thus wrote: "Notwithstanding many warrants issued out against us, as well as others, we have been secured, through the moderation of our officers, when all the societies round about us have been sadly broken and scattered."

Mr. H. spent much of this year in visiting his friends at a distance, and those visits of friendship were generally converted into journeys of mercy; but, while occupied with his labours of love, he was fre

quently exposed to danger. The appearance of difficulty and peril did not, however, frighten him from the path of duty. "Lord's day morning, Nov. 5th," he says, "being at R. Forster's, near Horbury, and having in my turn designed to preach at Alverthorp, that day, I was much helped in secret prayer, and in the parlour before day. But R. N. the high-constable, with twelve officers, came to disturb us. Yet God heard prayer-in assisting near an hour before he came;-in giving us notice and time for dispersing, so that they took us not together;-in preserving me out of their hands, when they chiefly aimed to apprehend me, hunted me out in several places, searched the house where I was, and the chamber with a lighted candle, a bed only being the means to secure me;— and in giving opportunity to preach in the evening to a full company."

At the close of this year, Mr. H. went to visit his son, Eliezer, and was invited to accompany the family in which his son was chaplain, in a journey to London. The invitation was unexpected, but, he says, "I commended the matter to God in prayer, and my heart was much satisfied about it. This appeared very strange to me, as I had not the least thought of it when I came from home, nor was it possible to consult my wife about it. We set out Dec. 25th, and returned to Walling-wells, Feb. 9th, 1683. I was absent from own house eight weeks and a day, during which I received many returns of prayer. God satisfied my wife about my journey, though it was a surprize to her at first. The company I journeyed with was very obliging, kind, and tender to me, and God made me of some use to them, by praying with them morning and evening during the journey. We had fine weather for the time of the year, and preservation from accidents.

my

God found me hospitable entertainment and many affectionate friends. He also gave me suitable work in his wise providence, as I had an opportunity of praying and preaching, both privately and publicly, with safety, though it was a time of great hazard, many ministers being disturbed and sent to prison. By this visit, I became acquainted with many worthy and holy men of God. I preached for Mr. Nathaniel Vincent, the Lord's day after he was apprehended, yet no justices nor officers came near to interrupt us. Blessed be God. It pleased God, by my preaching that day, to set home conviction upon a young man in the assembly, and it is hoped that it had a saving effect. This is worth my journey to London; let God have the glory. I visited my son at Garson, and was refreshed. I conversed with the company about matters of religion as we came down; what fruit it may have I know not, but God helped me to discharge my conscience. When within three miles of home, my horse stumbled in a snow-drift and fell, but I received no harm. What reason for gratitude! Being out of the road, if I had broken my leg, I might have lain and perished.there. On my return home, found my family well and comfortable. God preserved the public peace of my congregation, though others had been disturbed, and provided supplies for them every sab

Mr. Nathaniel Vincent was ejected from the rectory of Langley Marsh, in Buckinghamshire, by the Act of Uniformity. He came to London soon after the dreadful fire in 1666, and preached with much zeal and success to large congregations amidst its ruins. He collected a numerous congregation in Southwark, and suffered much hardship, and many imprisonments and fines for the cause of God and of souls. See Nonconformist Memorial, vol. i. p. 304-308.-Wilson's History of Dissenting Churches, vol. iv. p. 296-304.