from the beginning, they are not brought forward to complete existence but by various accretions. And this appears to be done that the blessings resulting from both may be properly valued; as, in their approach, men have time to discover their necessities; and when relieved, after a thorough consciousness of their urgency, they see and feel the propriety of being grateful to their kind Benefactor.

"Were God to bestow his blessings before the want of them had been truly felt, men would not be grateful. He gives his blessings so that they may be truly esteemed, and he himself become the sole object of our trust; and this end he secures by a gradual communication of his bounties, as they are felt to be necessary. He brings forward his dispensations of mercy and love, as he sees men prepared to receive and value them; and, as one makes way for another, the soul is rendered capable of more extended views and enjoyments; so the divine being causes every succeeding dispensation to excel that which preceded it, in light, life, power, and holiness.

We first teach our children the power of the letters; then to combine consonants and vowels to make syllables, to unite syllables into words, and then to assort words into regular discourse. To require them to attempt the latter before they had studied the former, would be absurd. The first step qualifies for the second, and that for the third. Thus God deals with the universe, and thus with every individual; every communication is a kind of seed, which, if cultivated, brings forth fruit. 'Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.'

At length Mr. Brackenbury reached Southampton. They embarked in a Jersey packet; and, landing on the twentysixth of October in St. Aubin's Bay, they walked to St. Helier's, where Mr. Clarke found himself that evening an inmate in the house which Mr. Brackenbury had engaged as his residence.

CHAPTER VII.

THE MISSIONARY.

THE Norman Isles, those beautiful spots which adorn the French waters of La Manche, were now to be the scenes of evangelic agencies whose results have made a multitude of families in them the better for time and eternity. Some while before the arrival of Mr. Brackenbury upon those shores, several persons in Jersey had been awakened to a concern for the salvation of their souls, and had formed themselves into a kind of religious community for mutual edification. They were a little flock without a shepherd, and too feeble in their circumstances to attempt a regular church organization under a stated ministry. A regiment of soldiers arrived just then from England, among whom were some pious men who had heard Captain Webb preach at Southampton and Winchester. The word of truth ministered by that good servant of God and the king had been so blessed to them, as to urge them to recommend to these Jersey Christians to open a communication with Mr. Wesley, in the hope that he would be induced to supply them with one of his preachers. They did so, through the intervention of Mr. Jasper Winscomb, one of the early Methodists of Hampshire. At the following Conference of 1783 Mr. Wesley read Mr. Winscomb's letter to the assembly, and asked whether any preacher found it in his heart to obey the call. It was then that Mr. Brackenbury offered his services. In him the Conference did not fail to see the man every way designated by Providence and grace to initiate this new enterprise under the most favorable auspices. Nor were they disappointed by the events. He lost no time in fulfilling his commission. Having found his

way to Jersey, he hired an old "religious house," which happened to be vacant, near the sea, and commenced the public preaching of the Gospel. A procedure so novel excited conflicting feelings among the people of the vicinity; some were pleased and grateful; others stirred up to opposition, and that, at times, of a riotous and dangerous character. Mr. Brackenbury kept steadily to his work, and soon began to make a sound impression. Another place was opened, at St. Mary's, and then another. Some pious young men of good talent were raised up to exhort, and then to act as local preachers; societies were formed; in short, the Methodist tree had struck its roots.

When Mr. Clarke joined Mr. Brackenbury as his colleague, they made no delay to extend their operations to the other islands. Accordingly, after preaching a few times in Jersey, Mr. Clarke proceeded to attempt the introduction of the good cause into Guernsey. At the present time the English language is fast superseding the French in both the greater islands; and even in those days the majority of the townspeople were conversant with both tongues, so that the missionary found no difficulty in getting an audience, though, as yet, too little accustomed to speak French to venture a sermon in it. His first preaching place in Guernsey was a large warehouse at Les Terres, just without St. Peter-lePort; and among the congregation he found some who were willing to open their houses in different parts of the town for occasional services. Under these circumstances he commenced those three years which have borne such ample fruit unto life eternal. In some neighborhoods he found French indispensable; and, in conducting a service in that language, was under the necessity, to him a disagreeable one, of reading a discourse which he had previously prepared. While the good word sunk into the hearts of not a few with saving effect in both islands, it stirred up a spirit of opposition in them who were of the contrary side. Some specimens of this we may extract from his own statements. "One Sabbath morning Mr. Clarke, accompanied by

Captain and Lieutenant W., having gone to preach at La Valle, a low part of Guernsey, always surrounded by the sea at high water, to which at such times there is no access but by means of a sort of causeway, a multitude of unruly people, with drums, horns, and various offensive weapons, assembled at the bridge, to prevent his entering the islet. The tide being a little out, he ventured to ride across about a mile below the bridge without their perceiving him, got to the house, and had nearly finished his discourse before the mob could assemble. At last they came in full power, and with fell purpose. The captain of a man-of-war, the naval lieutenant, and the other gentlemen who had accom panied him, mounted their horses, and rode off at full gallop, leaving him in the hands of the mob. That he might not be able to escape, they cut his bridle in pieces. Nothing intimidated, he went among them, got upon an eminence, and began to speak to them. The drums and horns ceased, the majority became quiet, only a few from the outskirts throwing stones and dirt, from which, however, he managed to defend himself; and after about an hour they permitted him to depart in peace. On returning to St. Peter's he found his naval heroes in great safety.

"He had a more narrow escape one evening at St. Aubin's, in Jersey. A desperate mob of some hundreds, with almost all instruments of destruction, assembled round the house in which he was preaching, which was a wooden building with five windows. At their first approach the principal part of the congregation issued forth, and provided for their own safety. The society alone, about thirteen persons, remained with their preacher. The mob, finding that all with whom they might claim brotherhood had escaped, resolved to pull down the house, and bury the preacher and his friends in the ruins. Mr. Clarke exhorted the friends to trust in that God who was able to save, when one of the mob presented a pistol at him through the window opposite to the pulpit, which twice flashed in the pan. Others had got crows, and were busily employed in sapping the foun

dation of the house. Mr. Clarke, perceiving this, said to the people, 'If we stay here, we shall be all destroyed. I will go out among them; they seek not you, but me; after they have got me, they will permit you to pass unmolested.' They besought him with tears not to leave the house, as he would infallibly be murdered. He, seeing that there was no time to be lost, as they continued to sap the foundation, said, 'I will instantly go out among them in the name of God.' Je vous accompagnerai, ('I will go with you,') said a stout young man. As the house was assailed with showers of stones, he met a volley of these, as he opened and passed through the door. It was a clear full-moon night, after a heavy storm of hail and rain. He walked forward. The mob divided to the right and left, and made an ample passage for him and the young man who followed him to pass through. This they did to the very skirts of the hundreds who were assembled with drums, horns, spades, forks, bludgeons, etc., to take the life of a man whose only crime was proclaiming to lost sinners redemption through the blood of the cross. During the whole time of his passing through the mob there was a death-like silence, nor was there any motion but what was necessary to give him a free passage. Either their eyes were holden that they could not know him, or they were so overawed by the power of God, that they could not lift a hand or utter a word against him. The poor people, finding all was quiet, came out a little after, and passed away, not one of them being either hurt or molested. In a few minutes the mob seemed to awake as from a dream, and, finding that their prey had been plucked out of their teeth, they knew not how, attacked the house afresh, broke every square of glass in the windows, and scarcely left a whole tile upon the roof. He afterward learned that their design was to put him in the sluice of an overshot water-mill, by which he must have been crushed in pieces!

"The next Lord's day he went to the same place. The mob rose again; and, when they began to make a tumult,