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Christians live,") Count de Solmes, and other eminent Moravians. In a letter addressed from this place to John Thorold, Esq., of London, he observes, "The worthy Count is occupied day and night in the work of the Lord; and I must confess that the Lord is really among the Brethren. Yesterday, a boy of eleven or twelve years of age was baptized; and such a movement of the Holy Spirit pervaded the whole assembly, as I have never seen before at any baptism. I felt that my heart burned within me, and I could not refrain from tears. I saw that others felt as I did, and the whole congregation was moved. The Brethren have shown me much affection, they have taken me to their conferences, and have not left me in ignorance of anything concerning their church. I am much pleased with my journey.” At Herrnhut, where he remained a fortnight, he was exceedingly strengthened and comforted by the services and conversations of the brethren; and the impression produced on the mind of himself and Mr. Wesley was of the most favourable order.

Mr. Ingham's connexion with this church now assumed a more definite and decided character: he was present at the love-feast held in Fetter-lane,* to which Mr. Wesley refers, under the date of January 1st, 1739; his doctrinal sentiments accorded with those entertained by the Brethren; his societies were formed on the model presented by that church; † and being prohibited by an order of the Wakefield visitation in June, 1739, from preaching in any of the churches in the diocess of York, he immediately began to exercise his ministry in the open air, barns, dwelling-houses, &c., where a peculiarly gracious and powerful influence was often experienced, and much real good effected. It is generally understood that the Moravian Ministers visited this country on the invitation of Mr. Ingham: certainly their Yorkshire establishments arose from his introduction and labours; and his societies were formally transferred to their care and pastoral oversight, by a document drawn up by himself, bearing date July 28th, 1742, and signed, "Benjamin Ingham." The contents of the declaration were also repeated to a meeting of about one thousand persons, held on the 30th ; and on the question being put, as to whether they voluntarily agreed to place themselves under the care of the Brethren, it was met by a unanimous reply in the affirmative. The conditions and declaration were subsequently committed to writing, and received the signatures of the members of the respective societies.

The Moravian Settlement, which has borne the successive names of

* "Monday, Jan. 1st, 1739.—Mr. Hall, Kinchin, Ingham, Whitefield, Hutchins, and my brother Charles, were present at our love-feast in Fetter-lane, with about sixty of our brethren. About three in the morning, as we were continuing instant in prayer, the power of God came mightily upon us, insomuch that many cried out for exceeding joy, and many fell to the ground. As soon as we were recovered a little from that awe and amazement at the presence of his majesty, we broke out with one voice, We praise thee, O God, we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.""

The writer has now before him the classified list of all the members of these societies, arranged according to the Moravian plan of married men, married women, single men, single women, widowers, widows, and candidates, together with a series of arbitrary signs, analogous to those employed in the margins of our Class-books. Aberford appears as the earliest society in the list, and bears date 1745; and is followed by Ossett, Mirfield, Little-Gommersall, Great-Gomersall, Smith-House, Skoles, Halifax, Great-Horton, Pudsey, Farnley-Moor Top, Holm, Eccleshall, Baildon, Holbeck, Haxey, Sike-House, Haworth, Trawden, Colne, Wine-Wall, Paythorn, Hellifield, Newley-Cole, Thin-Oaks, Sladebourn and Champion, Chipping, Rough-Lee, Padgham-Height, Widdup, Barnoldswick, Kendal, York, Leeds, and Wheatley.

Grace-Hill, Lamb's-Hill, and obtains its present appellation of Fulneck * in memory of a place formerly occupied by the Brethren in Moravia, is erected on a portion of Mr. Ingham's estate: the foundation was laid on May 10th, 1746, by the Rev. Mr. Toltschig, (in Mr. Ingham's unavoidable absence,) and the Smith-House establishment being discontinued, its inmates were removed to Fulneck. After considerable delay, and protracted negotiations, it was ultimately settled on a lease for five hundred years; on which terms it is still held of Mr. Ingham's descendants.

Among other events of a permanently interesting character, it is more than probable that the Ladies Hastings received their first religious impressions under Mr. Ingham's ministry. While on a visit at Ledstone-Hall, they were induced by motives of curiosity to hear him preach in a neighbouring parish. He was then invited to preach in Ledsham church, and became a frequent visiter at the Hall. "These exalted females drank in with pleasure the refreshing streams of consolation, made an open profession of the faith, and exhibited a bright example of female excellence." Lady Margaret Hastings, whose accomplishments and piety have embalmed her memory in the estimation of all who knew her, became the devoted partner of Mr. Ingham. Their marriage was solemnized at the town residence of the Earl of Huntingdon, on November 12th, 1741; and this occasioned his removal to Aberford, where he continued to reside till the close of life. Such a union was certain to awaken surprise in the "fashionable world." "The Methodists," says the Countess of Hertford, "have had the honour to convert my Lord and Lady Huntingdon both to their doctrine and practice; and the town says that Lady Margaret Hastings is certainly to marry one, of their Preachers, whose name is Ingham." "The news I hear from London," writes the witty and clever Lady Mary Wortley Montague, from Rome, "is that Lady Margaret Hastings has disposed of herself to a poor, wandering Methodist Preacher." Whatever might be the opinion of the fashionable throng who flutter in the vicinity of courts, it proved an eminently happy union.

His connexion with the Moravians was considerably affected, if not wholly dissolved, by events on which it is not necessary to dwell, and with

* Fulneck presents many features of deep and thrilling interest, particularly its connexion with the labours of Zinzendorf, Böhler, Toltschig, Holmes, and other eminent Ministers of that church, and the number of faithful and illustrious men who in its cemetery wait the blast of the archangel and the trump of God. The writer gratefully acknowledges the kindness of its worthy Pastor, the Rev. Mr. Rogers, by whose courtesy he was enabled to inspect the archives of that establishment, including several unpublished letters and other MSS. of Böhler, &c., in the original German. Among other interesting items of information, he learned that the timber employed in the erection of their venerable chapel was the gift of their converts in Norway, and formed their contribution to the building-fund.

The house in which Mr. Ingham resided still exists. It was offered as the place of conference between Messrs. J. and C. Wesley, Whitefield, Ingham, and other Clergymen and Ministers, to confer on certain points of Christian union, and thus induce that unity of effort and feeling which might have proved the precursor of the Evangelical Alliance of the nineteenth century, with its hallowed associations and important results. Few villages have been more signally favoured than the lovely one of Aberford. The walls of its venerable church have often echoed to the voice of the Wesleys, Whitefield, Romaine, Grimshaw, Fletcher, Venn, Atkinson, Knight, Ingham, &c.; while in its open streets and private dwellings, the inhabitants have been favoured with the labours of the venerable Mather, Pawson, Bardsley, Bradburn, Hopper, Wrigley, Emmett, Taylor, Vasey, Benson, Nelson, Shent, and a host of worthies, whose ministry is still remembered with feelings of deepest interest, and whose record is on high.

which considerable misapprehension may have been associated. Mr. Charles Wesley, who was a frequent visiter at Aberford, and whose opinion of Mr. and Lady Margaret Ingham was of the highest order, observes, under date of October 1st, 1756, "I passed an hour at Mr. D- -'s, and answered his candid objections. I had an opportunity of vindicating my old friend Benjamin Ingham. It is hard a man should be hanged for his looks, for the appearance of Moravianism. Their spirit and practice he has as utterly renounced as we have: their manner and phrase cannot so soon be shaken off."

At the Conference of 1755, Mr. Ingham, accompanied by Messrs. Allan and Batty, and other Preachers in his Connexion, presented himself for admission, and evinced a strong desire to take part in its deliberations. Mr. Ingham was allowed the favour,-one which might be granted by courtesy, on the ground of early friendship, but could not be claimed as a right. In the other cases it was declined.

Mr. Romaine often occupied the pulpits of Mr. Ingham, and attended several of their meetings for the regulation of their church-order and discipline his necessities, arising from a small stipend and numerous family, were often supplied by the generosity of Lady Margaret; and, referring to Mr. Ingham's societies at this period, he observed, "If ever there was a church of Christ on earth, that was one. I paid them a visit, and had a great mind to join them. There was a blessed work of God among that people, till that horrid blast from the north came and destroyed them all.”

The "horrid blast from the north" produced a most depressing influence upon his mind, and well-nigh overwhelmed his soul: from its painful effects he never fully recovered; though it had not destroyed "all," yet, like the simoon of the desert, desolation and destruction followed in the train, and all that remained was a mere wreck.

The object of the writer is not controversial, and he has studiously avoided the discussion of polemical questions, or matters pertaining to disputed points of church-order, being more solicitous for points on which we can agree without compromise of opinion or collision of sentiment, than otherwise. It may, however, be necessary to remark, that the introduction of the supra-lapsarian tenets of Sandeman and Glas, and the zeal with which their peculiar views of church discipline were enforced by the Messrs. Allan and Batty, were the prominent and ostensible causes of these disasters. An open rupture ensued, in which Mr. Allan appears to have been the first aggressor. Dissatisfaction, discord, and secessions spread with fearful rapidity: various attempts were made to effect a reconciliation. "Lady Huntingdon wrote, Mr. Romaine visited Yorkshire, and Mr. Whitefield prayed and wept; but all proved unavailing." "The thing which," like Job, "he greatly feared, was come upon him :" he was deserted by his spiritual children, and the thought reduced him to a most distressing state of mind. Lady Huntingdon wrote to her afflicted relative, and her words were blessed to his sorrowful and anguished spirit. In a letter addressed to her after his partial recovery, he thus expresses his grateful sense of her kind and seasonable attentions: "A thousand and a thousand times do I bless and praise my God for the words of comfort and consolation which your Ladyship's letters conveyed to my mourning heart, dismayed and overwhelmed as it was by the pressure of my calamities. 'Righteous art thou, O Lord, and just are thy judgments.'

Before he had fully recovered from the shock induced by events so painful, another occasion of deep and mournful solicitude presented itself in

the declining health of his beloved and attached partner. The graces which peculiarly adorned her Christian character-faith, humility, patience, and resignation to the will of God-shone with pre-eminent lustre as she approached the mansions of the blest. Her end, though painful, was triumphant. "When she had no longer strength to speak to me," observed Mr. Ingham, in answer to a consolatory letter from Lady Huntingdon, "she looked most sweetly at me, and smiled. On the Tuesday before she died, when she had opened her heart to me, and declared the ground of her hope, her eyes sparkled with divine joy, her cheeks were ruddy; I never saw her look so sweet and lovely in my life. All about her were affected; no one could refrain from tears; and yet it was a delight to be with her."

To Mrs. Medhurst and Miss Wheeler she exclaimed, with her usual energy, "Thanks be to God! thanks be to God! the moment is come, the day is dawning!" And thus in holy ecstasy her emancipated spirit winged its way to the regions of unsullied purity and love.

Lady Margaret died on the 30th of April, 1768, in her sixty-eighth year. She was carried to the grave by "devout men ;" her remains sleep with those of her illustrious sisters in the vault at Ledsham, while in that vicinity her name is still as ointment poured forth."

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Her sorrowing partner, thus doubly bereft, did not long survive; and in 1772, he also joined the "assembly and church of the first-born." It is matter of regret that no authentic communications relative to his decease are at present accessible; but we cannot doubt they would tend to illustrate the unfailing excellence of vital piety, and afford the confident assurance that he shares the "blessedness" of those that "die in the Lord."

The following sketch of his personal character is abundantly sustained by contemporaneous testimony: "His marriage with Lady Margaret increased his means; but before that event his benevolence was no less remarkable than his liberality afterwards. His purse supplied the expenses of almost all his Preachers. In person he was handsome, 'too handsome for a man;' and the habitual expression of his countenance was most prepossessing. He was a gentleman; temperate, and irreproachable in morals; as a public speaker, animated and agreeable rather than eloquent; studious of the good conversation of his people, and delicately fearful of reproach to the cause of Christ."

The minor questions on which he and his devoted contemporaries entertained somewhat diverse opinions, are now more distinctly apprehended in the heavenly church, and their sanctified friendship, freed from the impurities and imperfections of earth, is now resumed, under happier auspices, amid the society and converse of that "multitude who have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Tadcaster, July 20th, 1848.

JOHN P. LOCKWOOD.*

*"To he Rev. Mr. Wesley, at Savannah in Georgia. "St. Paul's, September 3d, 1736. “MY DEAREST FRIEND,-I have seen Mr. Ingham's Journal, in which mention is made of some trial which Mr. Ingham and you are said to have undergone. I should be glad to know the particulars, that we might know how to pray for you. Be strong and of good courage, and God shall establish and strengthen you. The way of suffering is narrow enough; but it is the shortest, safest way to glory. It is the way Jesus Christ trod through his whole life. He will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able, but will, with the temptation, find a way for us to

escape.

"Think upon the examples of Prophets, saints, and martyrs that have gone before

A TROUBLESOME ECHO.

THERE is a singular echo in the vicinity of Lochcarron, which put a gamekeeper to a good deal of annoyance lately. It seems he had shot a fox on the opposite side of the glen, and his ear was shortly after saluted with

you, who were men of like passions with yourselves; but being strong in faith, and in the power of God's word, fought the good fight, and manfully pressed on towards the mark of the prize of their high calling. That chapter in Thomas a Kempis, De regiû Via Crucis, will, with the Bible, support and comfort you. Remember how many saints have prayed for the crown of martyrdom, and God did not grant it to all. Prepare every day for death, and every day pray for me and mine.

"I am this day twenty-one years old. O beg of God to give me his grace, that as I increase in years, I may grow stronger for the spiritual combat, and may, by the help of God, overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil! Let us labour for holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord; without which we shall be eternally miserable. Standers by may encourage those that are fighting and running a race. That is the reason I write thus to you. I have much need of exhortation and rebuke too. I could wish you had a companion; nay, do wish myself that companion. But God's will be done.

"Mr. Whitefield of Pembroke has taken orders, and is at present in town, to supply Mr. Broughton's places at the Tower and Ludgate prison. Mr. Broughton reads prayers every night to a religious society that meet in Wapping chapel; and I assure you there is a large congregation: and I hope much good is done there. Mr. Whitefield preached there, September 2d, on the great benefit of religious society, from Eccles. iv. 9-12: an excellent discourse. [Afterwards preached at St. Nicholas's, in Bristol, and in Bow church, London, 1737. Printed by W. Bowyer, for James Hutton, 3d edition, corrected, 1738.] I spent some time after it with him; and God knows whether He will come or no. Perhaps He may; perhaps not. Bono animo sis. Eja age. Mr. Broughton is gone into the country, or he would

have wrote.

"Mr. Morgan is obliged, by his father's orders, to study physic at Leyden: at that place the name of Wesley stinks as well as at Oxford. Rejoice and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven. If your names be written in the Lamb's book of life, it matters not.

"My aunt Jones died August 17th, 1736. She was a dear friend to my sister and me. You have heard of the patience of Job; and I hope that she has seen the end of the Lord. I had the happiness of seeing your good mother, who came to town in her way from Gainsborough to Mr. Hall first, and thence very soon to Tiverton. [Wesley Family, vol. ii., p. 182.] Mr. Law visited her at Gainsborough, and again at London. My father [a Clergyman residing in College-street, Westminster] knew not of her being in town till Sunday; but he was so lame, he could not wait on her.

"If all matters relating to receiving your fellowship's and your brother's stipend are not exact, write fresh ones, and send over. But I believe they are, because they have received some money: and perhaps the colleges only pay at some certain times, half-yearly or quarterly. Your mother desired her blessing to you, and would have wrote, but had no time. She prayed for you, and blessed you; and may God, who remembers the blessings of the parents upon the children, send down upon you both the choicest of them, and may her blessing accompany you, and be a protection and covering against all evil! May the glorious light of the Gospel be propagated by your hands, and may the ends of the earth see the salvation of our God! May your examples keep pace with your preaching; and may the grace of God preserve you from being castaways! O, remember that ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a peculiar people! Be not deceived. Take care to inquire carefully and strictly concerning the mission of the Moravian Bishop. I will make what inquiries I can. A great deal depends upon the validity of ordinations. This is the seed-time of an eternal harvest: Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me.' I know you will join with me in these collects of our Church :- O God, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee; mercifully grant that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.' 'O Almighty God, who hast knit together thine elect in one

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