from the superintendents, Judge Graves and others. Here I must acknowledge, with gratitude, the special providence of God in enabling me to provide for the support and comfort of a helpless family. The school district libraries have from five to twenty dollars appropriated annually, for the purchase of books. So, instead of going around with one book, I took my boy and attended the great book auctions which are held twice a year in the city of New-York; and from that year until the spring of 1852, I have generally bought and sold about one thousand dollars worth of books annually, so that the barrel and the cruse have never yet been empty. My bread and water have been most assuredly given.

While

Another effectual door it opened to me. the fifteen hundred tongues, in the shape of a little silent book, were proclaiming the goodness of God to my soul, I found a large itinerant field in which to preach the gospel. This opportunity I gladly embraced; and there are but very few churches, for twenty miles around Frankfort, in which I have not been permitted to proclaim the unsearchable riches. of Christ. Glory to God for the privilege! I have made it a rule never to enter a house, or to be in the company of any person a sufficient length of time to give an opportunity, without saying something about a preparation for eternity. I never hear the bell tolling the departure of a neighbour from time into eternity, without asking myself:

"Have I done my duty to that soul?" Gracious God, let me feel for souls now as I shall in that day when thou shalt come to reckon with both preacher and people! One cheering thought is, that in that day I shall hail with joy, in the glorious city, thousands whom I have never seen, yet dearly love. My brethren, whose voices I am familiar with, but whose faces I have never seen, will greet me there. Many of them I have perfectly daguerreotyped in my own mind, as if I had seen them all my life; and my own children, that I have never seen, seem to be as familiar to me in every feature, as if I had looked upon them every day of their lives. So strong is the illusion, that it seems to me, if my sight should suddenly be restored, I should certainly recognise them far from home. I have thought it would be a great curiosity if I should suddenly receive my sight, to see how mistaken I had been in picturing out the visage of men and things since I became blind. How much more if I had been born blind. How old Bartimeus must have wondered when Jesus touched his eyes, and he beheld the thousand beauties of nature for the first time! With what astonishment did he behold the king of day, with his golden beams! With what pleasure did he gaze upon the green fields of Palestine, and still more when he beheld the face of his divine oculist. And doubly so, he who was both deaf and blind. At a word, the deaf ear was unsealed, and listened with unspeakable joy to na

Gracious God! if the

ture's thrilling anthems. opening of the eye and the ear to the beauties of the natural world will cause such rapture, how indescribably thrilling must be the emotions of one translated in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, to behold the glories of the upper world, and to have the songs of the redeemed, as the portals of the heavenly gate are thrown back, suddenly burst upon the ear. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things God hath prepared for them that love him." I once heard an old man say, that though often happy in God, he never had felt like shouting-never had shouted in his life; "but," said he, "if I am ever so fortunate as to reach heaven's gate, when I see the host of the redeemed-the ransomed of the Lord, from the whole earth-the poor, the rich, the black, the white, the old and the young, all go up together to possess their heavenly inheritance, as they pass the threshold of heaven, and cast the first wondering look around heaven's vast domain, and strike the first note of praise unto Him who hath loved us, and washed us, and given himself for us,' I think I shall send up one shout of glory to God."

CHAPTER XXII.

THE fall of 1847 found me set down at a campmeeting in M'Connellsville. This was Israel's annual festivity, or feast of tabernacles, a kind of a harvest-home to the reapers. You have been with me, dear reader, to a great many camp-meetings, while I was living in a state of justification, and you will not expect me to relinquish, in a higher and holier state, such a nuptial festivity. My companion, also, came with me, in order to participate in those holy delights; but the Master of Assemblies, in his wisdom, set before her a plate of bitter herbs, while my portion, like that of Benjamin, seemed to be increased five-fold. While the windows of heaven were raised, and my soul inundated with heavenly glory, she was called to suffer. She was taken suddenly ill, and was removed from the campground to the house of sister Koon, who also left the field, like a guardian angel, to smooth her pillow in sickness. Here was a sacrifice far richer in the sight of God than ever smoked from a Jewish altar. Here was an exhibition of that love which seeketh not her own, but another's good. How good it is for the sick to fall into the arms of mercy. What a rich investment were the twopence sacrificed by the Samaritan for the good of his afflicted neighbour. Yes, glory to God! every step, every

tear, and every penny invested in the cause of mercy will yield a rich reward, if given from pure love to God and man. Thousands of years in paradise for the least good thought, and thousands of thousands for the least good deed, and then the reckoning shall begin again, till all arithmetic is exhausted, for you shall be swallowed up in a blest eternity, and the doors of heaven shall be shut upon you, and there shall be no more going out; so shall we be ever with the Lord. To leave a camp-meeting to attend to the sick, is something like Jesus leaving heaven and coming down to earth to bind up the broken-hearted. May the Lord ever bless sister Koon! But let us return to the camp-meeting. Brother Squires, who has since taken his passport to the eternal world, was preaching; his text was: And let the God that answers by fire, be God." I, like Stephen, looked steadfastly up into heaven, and suddenly the hallowed fire came down, seeming, literally, to pass through soul, body, and spirit. No shower-bath was ever more sensibly felt than that baptism of the Holy Ghost and of fire. I trembled and fell to the ground. In this process I think I was cured of a little spiritual pride; I had been instructing my wife a few days previous on a more genteel way of shouting when slain, or overwhelmed by the power of God. Under such powerful exercises she would often scream and yell at the top of her voice. I told her it would appear better if she would articulate: Glory to God! Halle

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