acts of charity I am called to, yet I perceive I grow richer. It may be said, how can all this be done out of my small income? I have some yearly rents coming in from Lancashire, about £14. a-year. £7. a-year from Sowerby; and of late, £7. 15s. from Holdsworth. Lady Hewley hath usually given me £5. a-year, and Lord Wharton, £3. Sometimes I have something given me when I travel abroad, though old age hath lately cut me off from that occasional supply. Sometimes I have something for funeral sermons, and other gifts dropping in, sent by the wise providence of God to encourage my faith. I have also a notable, prudent, provident wife, who manageth matters both frugally and handsomely, and makes a little go a great way; besides, I spend nothing wastefully. But the blessing of God is the main thing that maketh rich and addeth not sorrow; this I have found by abundant experience many years. Some, who have had five times my income, have been in great straits. Mrs. Hyde said to my father Angier, surely God works miracles at your table, for if I were to set twice as much provision before such a company they would think they were famished. This is like the woman's barrel of meal and cruise of oil. Blessed be God, that though I have not planned and plodded about worldly matters, yet the Lord hath wonderfully supplied me. O for a thankful heart and a fruitful life."

As a minister of the gospel, Mr. Heywood's talents made him eminent among those "that turn many to righteousness." He sometimes lamented the weakness of his natural capacity, and regretted he had not paid a closer attention in his youthful days to philosophical pursuits: "I prize learning," he says, "above all sublunary excellencies, and I might have been more

useful had I improved my time better therein."

sick bed or from the

If he did not excel as a profound mathematician, an acute reasoner, or a critical linguist, he was a "scribe well instructed unto the kingdom of heaven;" and if he could not be compared to the man who had five talents, he carefully employed to the glory of God those with which his Lord had entrusted him. All his attainments were subservient to the "perfecting of the saints, the work of the ministry, and the edifying of the body of Christ." In directing the attention of men to the important concerns of their souls, whether in the parlour or pulpit, at the press, he felt himself at home. enjoyment of spiritual godliness himself, his preaching and writings were mostly on experimental and practical subjects. He was well acquainted with the human heart, and much of his usefulness proceeded from his powerful and affectionate addresses to the consciences of men. He also possessed the happy art of illustrating divine truths by interesting anecdotes, by which the attention of his hearers was more excited, and the subjects more deeply impressed on their understanding and memory.*

Living in the daily

* Mr. Job Orton in a letter addressed to the late Mr. Hughes, of Bury, says: "The life of Mr. Heywood is worth your perusal, as he seems to have been a very considerable man for his age.I could wish you to borrow of your congregation any books of their old divines, who lived in Lancashire and the neighbourhood, which they have in their houses. Some of them are extremely valuable, as those of Pendlebury, Nath. and Oliver Heywood, Alred, &c. They were men of distinguished ability, and eminent piety and zeal. Though some of their sentiments are indefensible, and their language low and mean, yet there is a savour of piety, seriousness, and concern for the interests of religion, and so much experience of human nature, and the workings of the heart, as are hardly to be met with in any modern compositions. There are also many little and instructive and striking stories, which may

His method of preaching partook of the peculiarities of the age in which he lived, and would not perhaps be generally acceptable in these days. He delivered good and wholesome truths in a plain, homely manner. One peculiar excellence may be observed in his writings, which contained the substance of what he preached, namely, a constant aim at simplicity. He endeavoured to make himself understood by all whom he addressed, fully persuaded that a person cannot be benefitted by what he does not understand. "If his preaching," says Dr. Fawcett, "might, by himself, be called talking, it was talking to the purpose: and such a mode of preaching is perhaps better suited to the capacities of a common audience than a more smooth and polished manner of address, which, though it may please the ear and gratify the taste of persons of refinement, is not so well calculated to answer the great end of preaching. A free and familiar address quickens the attention, arouses the conscience, and comes home to the heart of the hearers."* He who spake as never man spake, has given his ministers a perfect model of the manner of preaching. In his discourses, the most important and glorious truths are illustrated by natural objects, and thus brought down in parables to the capacities of the young and ignorant. The great apostle to the Gentiles asserts, that he would rather speak five words with his understanding, that he might teach others, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. This was also Mr. Heywood's determination,

be well adopted, and would render a discourse in which they are introduced popular, pleasing, and useful."-Orton's Letters to Dissenting Ministers, vol. i. page 113, 114.

Similar observations are to be found in the interesting Life of Philip Henry, concerning his method of preaching. See his life enlarged and corrected by J. B. Williams, page 192.

and contributed much to the general acceptance and usefulness of his ministry.

In attending to the duties of his office as a minister of Christ, he manifested great fervour of spirit. His heart was in his work, and therefore he spoke and acted as a man in earnest. His many and severe persecutions would have been to some a strong temptation to neglect ministerial employment, at least, when most exposed to dangers; but having set his hand to the plough, he could not think of looking back: necessity was laid upon him to preach the gospel, and the love of Christ constrained him. Tears were often mingled with his intercessions at the throne of grace, especially when engaged in social exercises and in seasons of persecution or trial; and while they showed how much his own heart was affected, produced a similar influence on others. When preaching the gospel of the kingdom, he could say, "that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." felt the vast importance of the work in which he was engaged, and was convinced that his Master in heaven would require him to give an account of his stewardship; with these impressions he could not but be fervent. He knew that the everlasting happiness or misery of the souls of the people depended on their acceptance or rejection of the gospel, he therefore so studied and preached as to save himself and those that heard him. To some, his fervour of spirit may appear bordering on enthusiasm, but having learnt the value of his own soul, he thought nothing he could do or suffer too much to "save a soul from death, and hide a multitude of sins."

He

His nonconformity was an evidence of his conscien

1

tiousness. He was a lover of peace, but would not sacrifice what appeared to him to be truth for the sake of outward ease. The temptation to conformity was very powerful, but it had no prevailing influence on him. At the time the Act of Uniformity passed, he observed: "There are carnal advantages enough to sway to conformity, did not conscience answer all the pleas of flesh and blood. At present, our work is to be well satisfied with the ground of our suffering; the conditions are two hard to be accepted." Twenty-one years after his ejectment, he says: "I am so fully satisfied that my nonconformity as a minister is the way of God, and I have so much peace in my spirit that what I do in the main is according to God's word, that if I knew of all these troubles beforehand and were to begin again, I would persist in this course to my dying day." When driven from the public exercise of his ministry by his ejectment, and prevented attending public ordinances by his excommunication, he resolved to preach occasionally in his own house on the Lord's day, to those of his former hearers who were willing to attend. He did not, however, form this resolution without the most serious examination and prayer, nor until he was persuaded it was the will of God.

Such was Mr. Heywood's disinterestedness, that the prospect of suffering or fatigue never diverted him from the path of duty. Though his income from the people among whom he laboured was very small, and he was the means of obtaining pecuniary relief for some of his poor brethren, he sought none for himself. After giving an account of various sums he had received from Lord Wharton's executors, to distribute among different ministers in his neighbourhood or of his acquaintance, he remarks: "All this, and much