I ever heard that any one could have his sins forgiven on earth. I thought that if I could obtain this blessing, and know that my sins were forgiven, it would be more to me than if I had gained all the world. There was not one among my relations and acquaintances who knew anything about heart-religion; but there was a Methodist in the neighbourhood, and I resolved to go to her, and tell her all my trouble. She received me very kindly, and soon introduced me to others. I began to attend the preaching of the Methodists, and went to a class; and there I found others, whose state either was or had been similar to my own. I endeavoured to use all the means of grace with diligence, and prayed much and earnestly. But I soon met with heavy trials. Satan stirred up my husband to hinder me. An acquaintance that he had, advised him not to allow his wife to go among such a low and ignorant people as he said the Methodists were, and told him to lock me up in the house if I would not yield. My husband did this several times; but the more I was opposed and persecuted, the more earnest I was in seeking the salvation of my soul. When I was shut up in the house, I could go to my own room and pray in secret. He might hinder me from going out, but he could not hinder me from praying. In the course of a few weeks, I had the opportunity of going to a prayer-meeting, which was held at a neighbour's house. I was in great distress. My feelings amounted to agony. I prayed for myself, and my friends prayed for me. And it pleased God to hear our prayers; my burden of guilt and condemnation was removed; the fear of death was taken away, and I could rejoice in God my Saviour. And, soon after, I had to rejoice in another great mercy. My husband began to see and feel that he was wrong, and that he must seek religion for himself, or perish: the same young man, also, who had counselled him to lock me up, was impressed in a similar manner. This was no other than Paul Reaney, now one of the oldest Local Preachers in the Sheffield Circuit."

Mrs. Bennett's account proceeds no further; but one of the oldest members of her class recollects that once, when conversing together, she told her that her husband's opposition was more than once accompanied by personal violence. On one occasion, he forced her away from a prayer-meeting to which she had gone, and drove her home with blows. He was so furious in his anger, that when they reached the house, she became much alarmed. But she looked for strength to Him who is strong, and felt such a divine power resting on her, that her fears were all removed, and she fell on her knees, and began praying for her husband and herself with great earnestness. He gradually became quiet, and at length thought of his own conduct: and from this time, he not only did not oppose her, but became her fellow-traveller to the kingdom of God.

Mr. and Mrs. Bennett soon found that "godliness is profitable to all things." When she joined the Wesleyan society, by entering the class of the late Mr. Longden, it was only by great self-denial that she was enabled to spare her contribution of "a penny a week.” She abstained from the use of butter that she might do this; but by the

blessing of God on what was mainly her diligence and economy, in assisting her husband in his business, they not only "provided things honest in the sight of all men," but made some comfortable provision for their old age.

It was about three years after Mrs. Bennett had become a member of the Wesleyan society, and experienced the converting grace of God, that the great division, occasioned by Mr. Kilham and his friends, occurred. Sheffield, unhappily, saw almost the hottest part of the contest. To Methodism there it was a terrible and sifting time; but to many it proved to be an opportunity for displaying a strength of principle which betokened the stability of their future course. Of this number Mrs. Bennett was one. Many of her class-mates were carried away by the torrent; but when Mr. Longden put the question to her, "Do you, also, intend to go away?" she replied, "No! where I received my first good, there I mean to continue till I die." Thus decided in her principles, and fixed in her choice, it is no wonder that she was spiritually edified, and brought, more speedily than perhaps otherwise she might have been, to a deep acquaintance with her own heart, and a keen sense of the evils of the indwelling sin of her nature. Her convictions on the subject of the remains of the carnal mind, were as painful as they were strong; she sincerely mourned and humbled herself before God, and sought earnestly for deliverance. While listening to a sermon in Norfolk-street chapel, in which the believer was exhorted and encouraged to follow on to know the Lord, she was enabled to apprehend by a present faith the promise and power of the grace of God to sanctify her wholly, and was added to the number of those whose solemnly blessed experience it is, that "the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanseth from all sin." At first, she held this blessing as with a trembling hand; but by faith and prayer, and walking humbly with God, she was confirmed in the enjoyment of it, and her heart became truly established in grace.

Mrs. Bennett possessed a strong mind; and being unreservedly devoted to God, she exerted a considerable influence on those who were around her. A person who met in the same class with her nearly forty years ago, says, "Her power in prayer was great. Often were we visited with times of refreshing in the class, while she was pouring out her heart in supplication. When the Leader was unable, through indisposition, to conduct the usual service, he would generally request Mrs. Bennett to supply his place."

In 1811, or 1812, the charge of a class was committed to her. She accepted the trust with diffidence, and for some time her mind was severely exercised respecting it. But her clear and deep experience, her sound understanding, and a good degree of natural fluency of speech, fitted her for the discharge of the duties which now devolved on her, and in which she continued for many years to be usefully engaged. She watched over the members of her class with great assiduity. In the service of Christ, toil was pleasant to her. Her zeal was fervent, and she never appeared to be happier than when engaged in promoting the salvation of souls. A prayer-meeting was

held regularly in her house, and this is known to have been spiritually beneficial to many. She also diligently visited the sick; and in this employment, she never selected such cases as might seem to promise most gratification to the visiter, but those in which the greatest need was indicated, and which some might even have overlooked. The Superintendent of the Sheffield West Circuit has stated that Mrs. Bennett has often led him to the wretched abodes of sufferers who were almost beyond the ordinary sphere of Christian philanthropy ; and that he has known some of the very outcasts of society saved as at the eleventh hour, through her instrumentality. During the fearful cholera visitation, a great religious awakening took place at Sheffield, and Mrs. Bennett lost no opportunity of conversing and praying with those whose minds appeared to be seriously influenced; and there is reason to believe that she was the means of gathering many into the fold of Christ's church. So many were added to the class of which she was the Leader, that it had to be divided again and again, and eventually the one became four.

She was accustomed, likewise, to endeavour to glorify her Saviour, by bearing testimony to his willingness and power to save, in the regular band-meetings and love-feasts; and thus were quickened, by her own fervency of spirit, the faith and love of many who had no personal acquaintance with her. And as her health was generally good, she appeared to be one who would be throughout a long life actively engaged in doing good, and serving her generation by the will of God. Infinite wisdom, however, had otherwise ordained, and she was called to spend the latter portion of her life in a form of service very different from that in which she had hitherto been occupied. She had served God in active doing; she was now to serve him in patient suffering. She had served him publicly, and in company with many others, in duties productive of great religious pleasure; she was now to serve him in solitude, and continual and wearing pain. He who knows us truly and as we are, knows best by what outward discipline the purposes of his mercy respecting us may be most effectually accomplished. In bringing his children to glory, our heavenly Father always employs the means which are most suitable for making them fully meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, varying those means according to their varying circumstances and characters. It is not for them to choose by what manner of either living or dying they shall glorify him. He will choose for them; and it is both their duty and their privilege to submit, without repining and without reserve. There are services in which, while we are honouring God, our own natural disposition may be, at the same time, receiving gratification. It may be necessary that we should be placed in circumstances in which mere self can find no pleasure; in which we are alone with God, and have to submit to him in his own way, and for his own sake. To be actively useful is a proper object of desire, provided it be entirely submitted to the will of God; but there is a true sense in which it may be said that we have to live for ourselves even more than for others; to live for our own full sanctification, and for our entire meetness for that eternal glory in which God will

be all in all, And in solitude and pain, and it may be with seeming neglect, (for the living world soon becomes oblivious of those who no longer take part in its active proceedings,) this great work may be rapidly advancing. And even usefulness is by no means overlooked. No person is altogether alone; and though the visiters may be few, yet the lessons taught by unrepining and even cheerful submission, by the manifestations of subdued, perhaps extinguished, selfishness, cannot be lost on them, and through them they have a yet wider influence. It is only comparatively speaking that Christians are said to be laid aside: while they live, the state of probation continues, the work of chastening and discipline is going on, and the power of moving by example is still possessed. Faith working by love makes us attentive to the present duty of our present situation, not as chosen and preferred by ourselves, but as appointed by God.

Nearly twelve years before she died, Mrs. Bennett had an attack of illness so violent, that she never recovered from its effects. Her nervous system was completely unstrung, and her physical powers so prostrated, that she was unable to leave her bed. On one occasion, when she had long been suffering thus, she said to a friend who had called to see her, "It has pleased the Lord to lay his afflicting hand heavily upon me. I have now been for seven years not only confined to my bed, but not able to sit up one day in all that time. But hitherto he has helped and sustained me.' She added, what will readily be believed, that she had often suffered much from dejection and temptation, and that she sometimes feared she should sink into discouragement. She needed, she said, the help of the prayers and sympathy of her Christian friends, and expressed her regret that she saw them so seldom. She had thus to fight the battle almost alone; and till she had been enabled to enter more fully into the merciful designs of her heavenly Father, the conflict was often severe. She said that she was sometimes tempted to think that "her way was hid from the Lord, and her judgment passed over from her God." But she learned the great lesson of "resting in the Lord, and waiting patiently for him." She thus renewed her strength, and was enabled to resist her adversary the devil steadfast in the faith. When she had been thus exercised about eight years, she said to the friend just referred to, "It is now forty-nine years since my spiritual life began. O what shall I say of the great love and mercy of my God! He has helped me, and kept me to this day. He has brought me through much tribulation, and through many sore temptations. O that I could tell to the whole world what a merciful, what a faithful God he has been to me! In poverty, in affliction, in trials and conflicts, he has never forsaken me, he has always upheld me."

For several years, such was her extreme weakness, that even the comfort derived from reading was not afforded her: she could not look on a book. But she found the advantage of former perusals of the word of God. Passages of Scripture often recurred to her mind with great sweetness and force; and in some of her severest conflicts, the words of Job, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him," were often the means of deliverance and support. The recovery of

the power to read was like daybreak after a long and dark night. Her days of solitude were rendered comparatively more cheerful; and as she was thus supplied with matter for contemplation, she was less harassed by painful thoughts. About two years before her own death, Mr. Bennett was taken from her. For several weeks he suffered much; but he was supported by that "good hope through grace," in which at length he died. The anguish of her mind was greatly soothed by the assurance, that her nearest earthly relation, with whom she had so long travelled in spiritual pilgrimage, had arrived in safety at the end of the journey before her. From that time, every tie to earth seemed broken: she evidently declined in strength, but she thankfully hailed every indication of her approaching release, sometimes manifesting a degree of disappointment when she appeared to revive from the successive attacks by which her once-vigorous frame was gradually worn down. It was one of her common expressions, "I long to be with Christ; to be absent from the body, and present with the Lord." But, though she had been so long withdrawn from active society, her interest in its movements, so far as one subject was concerned, never failed. She always rejoiced to hear of the conversion of sinners. When she heard of instances in which good had been done, in whatever way, or by whatever instrument, she always rejoiced as though it was something particularly connected with herself.

Within a few weeks of the end, it was evident that the prisoner of the Lord would soon be released. One of her friends having said to her, "Perhaps you may even yet rally," she burst into tears, exclaiming, "O, am I not to go to see my Saviour now?" She said to the same friend, that it was now more than fifty-two years since God had graciously pardoned her sins, and accepted her in his beloved Son, and that she had never, in the darkest hour of the strongest temptation, lost her confidence in him as a sin-pardoning God, but always felt assured that all should be well at the last. Towards the close of life, she said, "O, I am very happy! O, tell them that Nanny Bennett"-the name by which she was commonly known among her familiar friends-" is very happy!" Her sufferings, however, continued to the last. The writer saw her not many days before she died, and witnessed that all her energies were required to bear the load of pain with which she was burdened. At one time she was unable to lift her eyelids; but her mind was calm; and, in reply to a question which he had asked, she said, "Yes; I am looking to Christ with my eyes shut." She suffered very much from pain and restlessness the night before she died. She several times said, "Jesus is coming for me." About noon, she thanked her nephew for the kind attentions she had received from him. "You will have to take care of my body," she said; "but all is well with my soul: the Lord will take care of that." These were her last words. She rapidly became weaker, till exhausted nature yielded, and she "slept in death, to wake with God." She died on the 9th of May, 1845, aged seventy-three.