hindrances I meet with? 1st, Lawful, but not expedient conversation it is the work of God I have to do with; my time, my talents, my will, my affections, my all should be employed in the service of my God. 2dly, I do not sufficiently improve my conversation with my religious friends. 3dly, Nor am I at all times careful to furnish my mind with a subject for meditation. 4thly, I suffer myself sometimes to rise from my knees without a present blessing. 5thly, I do not always sufficiently study the subject on which I am about to preach, even when I have time for it. 6thly, I do not always rise early; I sometimes lie in bed after five o'clock. 7thly, I am not constantly careful to commit to memory what I hear or read that is worthy of remembrance, or do not commit my thoughts to paper. 8thly, I sometimes suffer my mind to wander from God; I am his servant, and I feel the necessity of considering his omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence. What is the tendency of these hindrances? By omitting one or more of these duties I feel barrenness of soul, and am unfitted for my ministerial functions; for praying, studying, preaching, &c. Hereby the church is robbed of that light I should have received from God; and when I am lukewarm the people too often imbibe the same disposition. O Lord, prepare me a strict account to give.

Feb. 1, 1812, Sheffield. I am this day waiting for a double baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Lord my God is with me-all is well within. My soul has been much watered while visiting the sick of the flock, but much more so while preaching this evening. I thank thee, O Lord, that I do feel a perpetual growth in the Divine life; my soul is more than ever dead to the world, and I am patiently waiting till my work is done.

"March 19, Sheffield. I feel very weak and low, through indisposition of body; but I bless God he gives strength according to my day. Suffer, O my God, the imperfect accent of my heart to reach thy parental ear, and send a ray of thy melting influence and dissolve me into love. I fall prostrate at the foot of the cross, and would lay open the secrets of my heart before thee; but before I can relate one-tenth part of my wants, or breathe out the impatient thirst I feel for thy love, thy glory, and thy kingdom, thou dost condescend, and with eyes of mercy thou dost behold a sinner weep; and with the feet of mercy thou dost move towards a helpless worm; with arms of compassion thou dost embrace my soul. Is this the language of heaven that I hear? Is this the voice of my Shepherd? Is this the voice that wakes the dead, and bids the sleeper rise? Yes, this is my Saviour's voice, these are the footsteps of my Beloved, with whom I have been acquainted for the last seventeen years. These arms supported my dying wife, and me her afflicted husband. It was this voice that whispered in my ears when following the breathless remains

of my Mary-Ann to the silent tomb; all this is working together for thy good, and will terminate in my glory. It was this supporting hand that upheld my sinking soul wo years since, when I was called to take a final farewell of my last remaining earthly comfort, the first child that was permitted to call me father, and whose piercing look, whose tender sighs, and inexpressible groans reached my disconsolate heart, and roused in my breast all parental affection; when with a voice from a shattered fabric she cried, Father, father, father, pray for me; I must die; I am afraid to die, but if you will pray for me, then I shall not be afraid to die.' I thought this voice was, if possible, more than human; whilst it vibrated in my ears, I brought her in the arms of faith and prayer, and cast myself, with my tender offspring, at the Saviour's feet: here thou didst require me to make a full surrender of my child, my lamb, my Isaac, my all; and here didst thou dart into my soul those heart-cheering rays which raised my sinking head above the boisterous waves, and bade my ruffled passions cease. It was the Lord-it was the Lord that taught the stripling how to die. I thank thee, Uncreated Light, for shining into her tender inind; I thank thee, O thou Inspiring Spirit, for teaching her tender lips to lisp thy praise, and that before she was six years old thou didst guide her to her closet, and instruct her how to pray and read thy word, and inquire after truth; but, my Jesus, thou blest Shepherd of the sheep, above all, I thank thee for giving her the victory, and for those broken accents on her dying lips, Father I am not afraid to die.' O those cheering words, what a lasting balm they have been to my wounded soul; how have they cheered me when I have been ready to faint by the way, and banished from my mind those doubts which would have invaded my peaceful moments, and interrupted my hours of study.

6

(To be continued.)

To the Editors of the Methodist Magazine.

DEAR BRETHREN,

Troy, 12th May, 1819.

WISHING to assist a little in promoting the interests of our church, we present you a sketch of the life and death of our be loved brother, Jeremiah M.Daniel.

He was born January 18, 1789, in the town of Johnson, Franklin county, and state of Vermont. While young, he was left to the care of an affectionate mother, whose religious instructions were rendered so impressive, that he became sensible of the depravity of his heart; and (to use his own words) in secret prayer felt some sense of the favour of God, when only

six years of age. "After this," said he, "I became careless, and multiplied my sins until the age of thirteen, when by the instrumentality of Methodist preaching, I became deeply sensible of my lost estate; also, (I humbly trust) of the pardoning mercy of the pepitent sinner's friend." Immediately after his conversion, he joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, and entered so deeply into the spirit of Christianity, as to feel such a concern for poor sinners as to be constrained thereby to call them to repentance. In the autumn of 1813, he was regularly licensed as an exhorter; in 1814 received license as a local preacher, and sometime, in the following summer was employed by his Presiding Elder to travel on Grand-Isle circuit, where he saw the prosperity of Zion. He laboured here with great zeal and success, till the following annual Conference, in 1816, at which he was received on trial, and appointed to Plattsburgh circuit; where, by the assiduity of his labours, close application to studies, and austere manner of living, he laid the foundation of that lingering disorder which terminated his short but useful life. In 1817 he was appointed to St. Alban's circuit, where, though feeble, he continued to rise at four o'clock in the morning, visit, study, and preach in a laborious manner, till the commencement of the year 1818, when his symptoms became so alarming as to prevent his further labours. He continued gradually to decline, till the 17th of August, 1818, when the relentless hand of death tore him from the bosom of the church, and society of his friends, that he might be introduced into the joys of his Lord. During the first part of his sickness, his mind was lost to sublunary things, and wholly absorbed in the sublime contemplations of a future state of blessedness. His constant access to God, gave his soul unutterable joy. In his last letter to a friend, he said, "As I approach near to eternity, glory to God, all is calm and heaven within." At another time he said, "Death has lost his sting, and eternity affords the most pleasing prospects which can be unfolded to an immortal mind." Sometimes he was so filled with the Divine presence, that even his visage indicated his kindred to an heavenly world. In the latter part of his illness, he was partially deranged; but such was the power of grace upon his mind, that he was full of caution, lest any thing improper should escape his lips during these gloomy periods. A few moments before he expired, he awoke as out of sleep, and asked what he had said? Being told he had spoken of heaven, with an expressive smile he sunk into silence, and was heard to speak no more.

"Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth." Perhaps our church has never lost a member, standing in the same relation, whose death was more generally lamented. As a Christian, his heart was susceptible of the least Divine impression. He had

been favoured with academical privileges, was an excellent English scholar; also read and explained the Greek testament very readily. We seldom see so happy a union of native eloquence, literary talents, and deep piety in one youth. In addition to strength of mind, some of his distinguishing characteristics were, thinking systematically, reasoning conclusively, and discriminating accurately. Many were converted through his instrumentality-In their thankful remembrance he will long live: for he being dead, yet speaketh."

66

A. DUNBAR.

B. GOODSELL.

Scripture Illustrated.

THOUGHTS ON 1 PETER III. 19.

You ask me my opinion of 1 Pet. iii. 19. And in order to understand the Apostle, it will be necessary to take into one view the 18th, 19th and 20th verses of the chapter; because they form but one sentence; and it surely would be neither fair nor just, to garble a writer's language under pretence of understanding his meaning, or arriving at the truth. "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison: which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water." Now, of the meaning of the first verse of this quotation there can be no doubt; respecting it, I presume, there is no difference between us. We agree that Christ suffered for sins-that he was put to death in the flesh-and that he was quickened, or made alive by the Spirit. It is on the second and third verses, we differ. You think, you say, that Christ went to hell, immediately after his crucifixion, and preached to devils, and damned spirits: and from this act of his, you conclude, that the souls of the damned, either were released, or will be releas ed hereafter. But is there any thing like this, in the verses under consideration? I cannot perceive that there is; and in order to prove that there is not, I will attempt an analysis of them.

1st. The Time. In the 19th verse, the Apostle states, that he went and preached.' And can the precise time be fixed from these words taken separate and apart from the rest? surely not. They may refer to one period, or they may refer to another;

the truth is, considered by themselves, they do not fix any particular period whatever. Seeing then, that from the bare words he went and preached,' we cannot arrive at any determinate period, we are obliged to pass on, and read what the writer has to say in the next verse, which identifies the time, to which the act of preaching is limited, by such a variety of marks, as to render it impossible, in my opinion to mistake it: a period in which the subjects were disobedient-a period in which the long-suffering of God waited-a period in which Noah was employed in preparing the ark, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. Is it not self-evident that there is but ONE period of time in these two verses, and that the long suffering of God-the disobedience of the spirits in prison-the preparing of the ark-and the act of preaching all refer to the same period, and that that period is precisely fixt to the days of Noah?

To establish this position, and to prove more fully, that, the view I have taken of it, is correct: I will

2dly. Consider the Agent. You say that the soul of Christ went to hell, immediately after its separation from the body at his crucifixion, and that he remained in hell preaching to the spirits in prison, until the third day, when he arose from the dead. And what, let me ask you, put all this into your head? Is there any thing in the Apostle's words that will even seem to countenance, much less support, that interpretation ?—the farthest from it possible: The fact is, you might as well say, that it asserts, he took a journey to the moon. You will perceive, by attending to the construction of the sentence that the relative which points to the Spirit in the preceding verse, by whom Christ was said to be quickened; which is not to be understood of the soul of the man Christ Jesus, but of the Holy Ghost, the third person in the ever blessed Trinity. For first, the soul of the man Christ Jesus is never, in its separate and disembodied state, called the Spirit.' Secondly, whenever mention is male in the Scriptures, of his Spirit, meaning thereby his soul, they speak of his spirit, at the time of his dwelling upon earth, see Mark viii. 12. Luke x. 21. John xi. 33. and xiii. 21. Thirdly. It is to be inferred, from the declaration of Christ himself to the penitent thiet on the cross, that his soul, on its leaving the body, went to paradise and not to hell. As, therefore, the Apostle's words cannot possibly be made to favour or support the interpretation which you have given them, and which you farther say, is given them, by those who embrace the doctrines of 'hell redemption,' we are to look for their true meaning in another and different view of the subject.

Christ is said to have preached to the Antediluvians, by the same spirit that made him alive, because his spirit inspired