Castle-Donington; 21st, at Kegworth; 22nd, at Smalley and Hallam; and on the 23rd, at Kirby Woodhouse: whence he returned the next day to Wadsworth. In this busy journey, he collected upwards of £65, besides his travelling expences; which probably were trifling, as he was much in the habit of walking.

September 29, Mr. T. preached at the opening of the building, for which he had made such extraordinary exertions, from 1 Kings, ix. 3. On the following day, his brother John was ordained to the pastoral office over the friends in that place, who had been previously formed into a separate society. On this solemn, and to Mr. D. T. very pleasing, occasion, he delivered an introductory discourse, proposed the questions to the minister and the people, offered the ordination prayer, and addressed the newly-ordained pastor, from 2 Tim. ii. 15. This charge was distinguished for affection, solemnity, and length; containing, as Mr. Thompson who heard it asserted, six hundred particulars. Well might the young man to whom it was addressed, describe it as "a long and heavy charge." This was the first time, as far as we have been able to learn, that Mr. T. was engaged in the interesting service of ordination; but we shall find, as we proceed, that he was afterwards frequently called to this sacred part of the ministerial work, and was peculiarly acceptable in it.

In the beginning of the ensuing month, he took a journey into Lincolnshire; and was engaged, October 3d, in the ordination of Mr. Hannath, at Killingholm, when he addressed the people. He arrived at home, October 10th, and resumed his labours with renewed vigour.

In the beginning of June this year, Mr. T. attended the annual association at Melbourn, when his friend, Mr. Thompson, presided, and he acted as moderator. What was the reason why he was not in the chair, on this occason, might not be easy now to ascertain: probably he waived it in compliment to his bosom friend and fellow labourer. But this was the only instance, in the whole forty-six years that he lived after the formation of the New Connection, in which he did not occupy the chair at the annual association.

1774. We have but little information respecting the subject of this volume during this year. The annual association being

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at Wadsworth, he had no occasion to leave home in order to attend it: and we have no traces of any other journey. About Midsummer he sold off his shop goods, and hired a farm, named Hirst. He took this step with a view to accommodate a few boarders; judging that a boarding school might be a source of profit more congenial to his feelings than trade, for which both his disposition and habits disqualified him. This attempt therefore to increase his finances had been unsuccessful: and, for a time, he was involved in considerable difficulties to raise the necessary supplies for the stocking of his farm, &c. The kindness of his landlord, to whose son he had been made useful when on a bed of death, and his own exertions, crowned with the blessing of heaven, carried him through his embarrassments. He pursued this new engagement, as he did every thing which he undertook, with all his might. He rose early and laboured hard; and the house and grounds soon assumed a very improved appearance. But, amidst all the bustle and engagement of this new scene, he did not forget, that his great work was to understand and teach the truths of christianity. He fitted up a room for his books, of which he had now a good store; and felt most completely at home when retired to his study.

1775. January 9, Mr. T. was engaged at Great Yarmouth, in the ordination of Mr. B. Worship, over the General Baptist Church at that place. He gave the charge to the minister, from 1 Tim. iv. 1, 2; and Mr. Thompson addressed the people from 1 Thes. v 12. Both the discourses were published a few months afterward, in one pamphlet, entitled, "The respective Duties of Ministers and People briefly explained and inforced." Mr. T.'s charge, which occupies two-thirds of the book, consists of plain and faithful descriptions of the duties of a christian pastor, affectionate and practical advice, animating motives to diligence and zeal, and encouraging supports under the difficulties to which that high station exposes its possessor. It need not be added, that this charge is adapted for usefulness: on this subject, Mr. T. could not deliver an useless discourse.

Mr. T. proposed to attend the Lincolnshire Association at Coningsby, in compliance with the request of the ministers who composed it; but his various avocations prevented him from taking that journey. He wrote them a letter, which was read at

that meeting, and caused a considerable sensation. It probably expatiated freely on the mischievous tendency of some of the sentiments which several of the members countenanced; and this appears to have excited improper resentment. "Mr. T.'s letter," says the venerable Mr. Boyce, in a note on the minutes of this association, " occasioned much disorder, and hindered us from carrying on the business of the day as we should have done; and, at present, has made the breach wider than it was before; having filled our minds with trouble and sorrow, instead of joy and peace."

June 7 & 8, Mr. T. attended the Annual Association of the New Connection, at Hinckley, and returned home about the 20th. Soon after his return, fourteen boys were sent from Leicestershire, to be boarded and educated at Hirst. At this time, he had from twenty to thirty day scholars. These, with his family, his farm and his church, must have claimed all his time and attention. We do not, therefore, find him taking any other long journey this year. But he persevered in his exertions to spread the gospel in his own district; and, about this time, preached very frequently at Halifax, where he was very desirous of raising a General Baptist interest. His frequent absence from his own people gave umbrage again to some of the Wadsworth friends, and caused a contention, which retarded the prosperity of religion. The congregations, however, were larger than they had ever been known; and, on the whole, the cause at Wadsworth gained ground.

The increase of his school probably turned his thoughts to the subject of a catechism; as we find him, at this time, repeatedly urging his friend Mr. Thompson to write a good, plain catechism, for the instruction of children and youth. As his friend seems never to have attempted the task, Mr. T. was induced some years afterwards to compose one himself.

This appears to have been a time of peculiar labour. “I am amazingly busy this seed-time,” he informs Mr. W. Thompson, March 28. "I have often to labour all day, preach or attend meetings in the evenings, and write in the nights. Last night I was up till near three o'clock this morning making an Errata and a Table of Contents." “We are in the midst of harvest," he tells Mr. B. August 31. "My family is large, my school pretty full, and my only assistant has neither that authority nor

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care that I could wish." To Mr. Thompson he writes in these terms, August 10th, "I have fourteen boarders come to hand, with a pretty numerous family besides, and sometime to take with Mr. Ingham, my young assistant, and my son; and the hay harvest having been just at the same time, and above twenty day scholars, sometimes nearly thirty, with every thing to provide for my boarders, and much concern for two pretty large and widely-extended churches, besides the new interest raising at Halifax, must, you will grant, have considerably thronged me. You can hardly think how I have been employed since I saw you; and have had many letters to write to correspondents whom I could not deny." Perhaps the confusion and incoherency in the style of this extract, furnish the best illustration and proof of the truth of its contents.

This year our author published his principal work, which appears to have cost him much thought and labour. He had, in a course of fifty sermons to his own congregation, gone through a sort of system of divinity, and handled the principal subjects of revealed religion. The idea of publishing the substance of these discourses naturally suggested itself to the author, and was encouraged by his hearers, and his friend Mr. Thompson. The first hint of this design which we have discovered, is in a letter to Mr. B. dated October 5, 1771, " A Treatise," he observes, " on some principal subjects in divinity is in some likelihood of being some time published, if ever poor, poor D. T. is able to prepare it for the press. Brother Thompson is, I suppose, procuring subscriptions for the printing of it, who has taken a copy of the contents into Lincolnshire. But alas! little of it is yet in proper order, and whether ever it will be, God only knows." In the beginning of the year following the proposals for printing it by subscription were published, at the close of his Scriptural Account of the Way of Salvation." But his other engagements caused the work to proceed slowly, and it was not till towards the close of 1774, that the manuscript was completed. He was anxious to submit his production to some competent judge, and to avail himself of his advice and corrections. With this view, he sent the copy to Dr. Stennett, who, for some years had expressed a high regard for our author. But his expectations from that gentleman were totally disappointed. "My manuscript returned from Dr. Stennett yester

day," he writes to Mr. Thompson, November 16, 1774, "but, to my great surprise and grief, though he has had it three months, and stopped the press several weeks, I find not one remark made by him of any kind whatever. Thus, it appears, I must publish again, without the assistance and inspection of any one friend, except the general advices which you were kind enough to give me at first. This is very discouraging indeed, and greatly oppresses my spirits. Lord, direct me for thine own honour."

It was at last published; and in a Dedication, dated March 4, 1775, inscribed "to his dear brethren in Wadsworth, as a small token of that sincere and undissembled affection which his heart felt and his relation and office demanded towards them all." In this dedication he apologizes thus for the delay in publishing. "Through a great number of unforeseen incidents, and by reason of the multiplicity and variety of concerns to which my situation and connections oblige me to attend, and with which you are not wholly unacquainted, this work has been delayed much longer than I at first intended, or many of my friends would expect. For this I am heartily sorry, and I here entreat their excuse and pardon. I believe those who best know me, will not be forward to accuse me of allowed indolence; and those who candidly consider the uncertainty of all human affairs, and the importance of writing for the public, will perhaps be inclined to construe this delay in the most favourable light.'

The Table of Contents, inserted in the margin,* will afford the reader sufficient information respecting the important subjects

* CONTENTS. Chap. I. The Character and Perfections of God. Chap. IF. The State of Man before Sin entered into the World. Chap. III. Of the Moral Law, and its suitableness to the primitive State of Man. Chap. IV. On the Fall of Man, and his natural Propensity, as fallen, to deviate from the Moral Law and his Inability to keep it. Chap. V. The Sinner arraigned and condemned by the Law of God. Chap. VI. This condemned State proved to be the State of all Men by Nature. Chap. VII. An Inquiry concerning several Ways of obtaining Salvation which Men often propose to themselves. Chap. VIII. The Way of Salvation illustrated:-1. God's Love to the World in sending his Son: 2. The Divinity and Atonement of Christ: 3. The Fulness and Freeness of Salvation: 4. The Language and Manner of Expression by which the Scriptures exhibit Salvation to Mankind: 5. The Way in which Sinners come to the Enjoyment of this Salvation. Chap. IX. The Scripture Account of Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Chap. X. The genuine Effects of Faith in Jesus Christ. Chap. XI.