dove, then would I fly away, and be at rest. But the path to heaven is through much tribulation; this is the appointed way, and why, oh! why, do I so ardently pray, or wish to be excused travelling in it? It is because I am still under subjection to the world, the flesh, and the devil- I hope not willingly. But I am sure, that if I were free from their influence, I should glory in tribulations also. Well, well! if the time of enjoyment in this life to the wicked be short, the time of suffering also will soon be over to those who have fled for refuge to Jesus Christ." The date of the other is "Oct. 3, 1806" it relates to the severe indisposition of Mrs. Spear, and is addressed to the same relative. After stating the particulars of her case with much tender minuteness, he adds, "The Lord knows how to succour his people in their afflictions, and he is the meter-out of the quantum of their sorrows. To some he apportions more, and to some less, according to his wisdom or sovereignty, or both-for some children require more chastisement than others. May these afflictions which we are called to endure, work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Oh! pray for me, brother, that I may be enabled to bear up my mind from the considerations which the Gospel affords, under the varied trials appointed for me to pass through in this life, towards his kingdom above, as a Christian should do. Í perceive your alarm respecting your son and my sister's indisposition. Let us sympathize with each other, and draw off our views from sublunary to unchangeable and eternal good." Both the letters, from which these extracts are taken, were written at Amber Mill*, some works of his, in Derbyshire, where he was then staying with his family. It appears, from another paragraph in one of these letters, that his concern to obtain a suitable person as overseer of this mill had the moral improvement of the people as much in view, as his own temporal advantage; for he observes, referring to an individual who had been named for the situation, 66 sideration as to Mr. A. weighs with me much, viz. that he might preach about in the neighbourhood on the Sabbath, and adopt some effectual plan for the instruction of the people in the Mill."

one con

In the year 1808, he finally retired with his family from Manchester gradually winding up his affairs, till 1809,

* Amber Mill was purchased by him, in consequence of a bad debt to the amount of £9000, contracted by its former possessor; he bought the house, factory, and land; and took his family there for a season, but the air did not agree with Mrs. Spear.

when he disengaged himself altogether from mercantile connexions and pursuits, with the exception of that already alluded to, and an occasional speculation, in which at certain favourable periods he might indulge.

The place which he chose for his retreat was Mill Bank, a pleasant situation on the Cheshire side of the Mersey, twelve miles from Manchester. There is little that is interesting in the surrounding country; but the convenience of the house, which is spacious, the extent of the gardens, its distance from Manchester, and its contiguity to the road from that place to Liverpool, afforded him accommodation for his family, which had by this time become numerous, amounting to seven children; and placed him within the reach of those friends, from whom his social spirit would have found it too great a sacrifice to part.

His concern for the welfare of his neighbours, who were chiefly poor, and in a very destitute state with regard to the means of moral and spiritual cultivation, induced him, immediately on his settlement at Mill Bank, to establish a Sunday school, and fit up a barn on his premises as a place of religious worship. He invited his pastor, the Rev. Samuel Bradley, of Manchester, and several Christian friends, to spend the first Sabbath with him in his new abode; on which occasion the place he had prepared was used, for the first time, as a house for God. A large concourse of people from the surrounding country attended, attracted chiefly by curiosity. Suitable and impressive sermons were preached, and the solemnities of the day were accompanied by an impression of the gracious presence and the power of God, deeply felt by many at the time, and remembered by not a few with grateful emotions to the present moment. On that day, Mr. Spear gave a pleasing and instructive evidence of the firmness and decision of his Christian character, from which his new neighbours might know with certainty what manner of man he was. The novelty of the occasion had attracted so large a number of people in the afternoon, that the place was far too small for their accommodation. This circumstance was no sooner perceived by Mr. Spear, than he ordered the pulpit, which was moveable, to be brought out and placed upon the lawn before the house, when he himself got into the desk, and began the public worship, by giving out those admirable lines of Dr. Watts, never perhaps more truly appropriate than on that occasion, (for the lawn was immediately in view of the public road, and Mr. Spear was in the midst of strangers)

"I'm not ashamed to own my Lord,

Or to defend his cause;
Maintain the honour of his word,
The glory of his cross."

After the morning sermon, he addressed the people in a most earnest and affectionate manner; telling them that it would be his great concern, now that he had come to reside amongst them, to do them good in body and soul; urging them to attend to the things that belong to their eternal peace; and observing, in a familiar manner, that if he had the riches of Lord Stamford (a neighbouring nobleman) to bestow upon them, it would all be nothing compared with the blessings of the Gospel, of which they were then freely invited to partake. Nor was it in vain that the standard of the cross was that day erected by this holy man, on the banks of the Mersey. Of the multitudes then assembled round it, many were pricked to the heart, and began to cry out, "What must we do to be saved?" Soon a Christian church was planted there; and during the years in which a faithful ministry was maintained on that spot, there is good reason to conclude that not a few were trained up by it for glory, honour, and immortality.

Another incident occurred very shortly after his settlement at Mill Bank, which, as it strikingly illustrates his mild and forgiving disposition, is worthy of being recorded. His garden and hot-houses, which at that time abounded with choice and valuable fruit, were robbed; and on the morning after the robbery, he caused a placard to be placed against the garden wall, intimating, that as the gardens had been robbed of a considerable quantity of fruit, and as it was possible that the robber might have been impelled by want to commit the depredation, that Mr. Spear took this method of giving notice, that if such was the case, and the person who had thus injured him would make known to him his situation, he would not only freely forgive him, but cheerfully administer to the relief of his necessities. The robbery was committed on the Saturday night, and this paper was read by all the people as they came to the chapel on the Sunday morning. It excited such indignation against the robber, and esteem for the character of Mr. Spear, that, notwithstanding the peculiarly exposed situation of the premises, it proved an infallible security against similar depredations in future. Thus he found the apostolic declaration true, "If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; for by so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head." Even the rude

and uncultivated villagers felt the commanding influence of such rare and almost unexampled goodness; and could not but regard the interesting individual, who had come to fix his residence amongst them, with a feeling of veneration, such as they had never cherished for any human being before.

From the period of his removal to Mill Bank, we are enabled to render the interesting subject of this memoir, in a great degree, his own biographer, by means of extracts from his letters, with which we have been kindly furnished for this purpose; and which exhibit a distinct view of the principal movements of his life, and a most undisguised disclosure of the sentiments and feelings of his mind in connexion with them.

It seems that he never felt himself at home and happy at Mill Bank; he could not bring his mind to regard it with any degree of satisfaction as the spot on which he was to fix his permanent residence; and, as though from the first he contemplated a removal, would not allow any considerable or expensive alterations to be made either in the house or grounds. He there appeared like a being removed from his proper element: the recollections of his former activity and usefulness crowded upon his mind; his ardent spirit sighed for the scenes of benevolent exertion from which it had retired, and perpetually expanded with generous wishes and designs beyond the ability of his delicate constitution and declining health.

We have already mentioned a visit which he made to Scotland, some time previous to his complete retirement from business. From that period a deep impression remained upon his mind in favour of Edinburgh, as a desirable place for the future residence of himself and family. That interesting city promised to afford him every thing his heart desired a circle of religious friends, of views and sentiments highly congenial with his own-opportunities of extensive usefulness, and more important advantages for the education. of his children, than could be enjoyed in any other part of the United Kingdom: while it is natural to suppose, that the wishes of his connexions in Edinburgh, who earnestly desired his settlement in that city, and to whom he was strongly attached, would have their influence in strengthening his own predilections in favour of such a plan. His friends in England, however, did not view the measure with the same, complacency: they esteemed the climate as an insuperable objection with regard to his prevailing malady; nor could they look with composure on his anticipated removal to so great a distance from their society, and the sphere of his.

former influence and usefulness. Nor were these sentiments confined to the immediate circle of his friends; the whole religious population of the county deeply participated in them. They felt that the presence, that the very existence of such a man was of incalculable advantage to the cause of Christianity and benevolence in the neighbourhood where he dwells, even though he should not be actively employed. They knew that from such a fountain the streams would never cease to flow, however concealed the source might be from the public eye; and felt that, at a period like the present, when God is pleased to accomplish so much by human agency, when talent, influence, and property, are rendered so eminently subservient to the promotion of his cause; the loss of such a man from the populous and important county of Lancaster was not to be contemplated but with the deepest regret. His own mind, however, was so deeply impressed with the plan, that in Feb. 1809, he made another journey to Edinburgh, with a view to obtain sufficient grounds for a decision on the important question that gave him such dis quietude. How greatly he was agitated by it will be seen in the following extracts from his letters while on his journey, and when at Edinburgh. From Carlisle, where he rested a night, he writes:

Óh! that I could attain rest and peace to my troubled mind! Oh! that God would lift up upon me the light of his countenance, and dissipate all my sinful doubts and anxieties, so that I may be enabled again to praise and magnify him."

Of Edinburgh he says, "The advantages to be enjoyed by persons residing here, in a literary and religious view, are superior almost to any other place in the world; for the education of children, and the improvement of your own mind, it exceeds all others. These considerations have powerfully impressed my mind; but of this we can talk when I return. I endeavour to take encouragement from the considerations you suggest and others, that God will yet smile upon me, and give me the enjoyment of his blessed countenance; that I shall yet be able to satisfy myself that I am in the path of duty, and engaged where and how he would."

In the meantime, Dr. Williams, of Rotherham, hearing of his desire to change the place of his residence, wrote to urge him to settle at Rotherham, to occupy one of the mansions of the Walkers in that neighbourhood, and to devote himself, as much as his own inclination and ability would allow, to the interests of the academy over which the doctor presided. This appeared to him too important a suggestion to be