in the judgment of my brethren, and hope I shall be perfectly satisfied with their advice. I do think, however, if they knew how earnestly I pant for the work, it would be impossible for them to withhold their ready acquiescence. O Lord, thou knowest my sincerity, and that if I go not to the work it will not be owing to any reluctance on my part! If I stay in England, I fear I shall be a poor useless drone; or if a sense of duty prompt me to activity, I doubt whether I shall ever know inward peace and joy again. O Lord, I am, thou knowest I am, oppressed; undertake for me!

not.

"Nov. 5. At times, to-day, I have been reconciled to the thought of staying if any brethren should so advise; but at other times, I seem to think I could I look at brother Carey's portrait as it hangs in my study, I love him in the bowels of Jesus Christ, and long to join his labors; every look calls up a hundred thoughts, all of which inflame my desire to be a fellow-laborer with him in the work of the Lord. One thing, however, I am resolved upon, that, the Lord keeping me, if I cannot go abroad,

I will do all I can to serve the mission at home.

"Nov. 7. This is the last day of peculiar devotion before the deciding meeting. May I have strength to wrestle with God to-day for his wisdom to preside in the committee, and by faith to leave

the issue to their determination.

"I did not enjoy much enlargement in prayer today. My mind seems at present incapable of those sensations of joy with which I have lately been much indulged, through its strugglings in relation to my going or staying: yet I have been enabled to commit the issue into the hands of God, as he may direct my brethren, hoping that their advice will be agreeable to his will."

The result of the committee meeting has already been related; together with the state of his mind, as far as could be collected from his letters, for some

time after it. The termination of these tender and interesting exercises, and of all his other labors, in so speedy a removal from the present scene of action, may teach us not to draw any certain conclusion as to the designs of God concerning our future labors, from the ardor or sincerity of our feelings. He may take it well that "it was in our hearts to build him an house," though he should for wise reasons have determined not to gratify us. Suffice it, that in matters of everlasting moment he has engaged to "perfect that which concerns us." In this he hath condescended to bind himself, as by an oath, for our consolation; here, therefore, we may safely consider our spiritual desires as indicative of his designs: but it is otherwise in various instances with regard to present duty.

CHAPTER III.

His exercises and labors, from the time of his giving up the idea of going abroad, to the commencement of his last affliction.

HAD the multiplied labors of this excellent man permitted his keeping a regular diary, we may see by the foregoing specimen of a single month, what a rich store of truly Christian experience would have pervaded these memoirs. We should then have been better able to trace the gradual openings of his holy mind, and the springs of that extraordinary unction of spirit, and energy of action, by which his life was distinguished. As it is, we can only collect a few gleanings, partly from memory, and partly from letters communicated by his friends. This chapter will include a period of about four years, during which he went twice to London, to collect for the Baptist mission, and once he visited Dublin, at the invitation of the Evangelical Society in that city.

There appears throughout the general tenor of

his life, a singular submissiveness to the will of God; and what is worthy of notice, this disposition was generally most conspicuous when his own will was most counteracted. The justness of this remark is sufficiently apparent from his letter to Mrs. Pearce, of Nov. 13, 1794, after the decision of the committee; and the same spirit was carried into the common concerns of life. Thus, about a month afterwards, when his dear Louisa was ill of a fever, he thus writes from Northampton to Mrs. Pearce :December 13, 1794.

MY DEAR SARAH-"I am just brought on the wings of celestial mercy safe to my Sabbath's station. I am well; and my dear friends here seem healthy and happy: but I feel for you. I long to know how our dear Louisa's pulse beats: I fear still feverish. We must not, however, suffer ourselves to be infected with a mental fever on this account. Is she ill? It is right. Is she very ill?-dying? It still is right. Is she gone to join the heavenly choristers? It is all right, notwithstanding our repinings-Repinings! no; we will not repine. It is best she should go. It is best for her. This we must allow. It is best for us. Do we expect it? O what poor, ungrateful, short-sighted worms are we! Let us submit, my Sarah, till we come to heaven: if we do not then see that it is best, let us then complain. But why do I attempt to console? Perhaps an indulgent Providence has ere now dissipated your fears: or if that same kind Providence has removed our babe, you have consolation enough in him who suffered more than we; and more than enough to quiet all our passions, in that astonishing consideration-God so loved the world, that he spared not his own Son.' Did GoD cheerfully give the holy child JESUS for us? and shall we refuse our child to him! He gave his Son to suffer; he takes our children to enjoy: Yes, to enjoy himself. "Yours, with the tenderest regard,

S. P."

In June, 1795, he attended the Association at Kettering, partly on account of some missionary business there to be transacted. That was a season of great joy to many, especially the last forenoon previous to parting. From thence he wrote to Mrs. Pearce as follows:

"From a pew in the house of God, at Kettering, with my cup of joy running over, I address you by the hand of brother Simmons. Had it pleased Divine Providence to have permitted your accompa nying me, my pleasures would have received no small addition; because I should have hoped that you would have been filled with similar consolation, and have received equal edification by the precious means of grace on which I have attended. Indeed, I never remember to have enjoyed a public meeting to such a high degree since I have been in the habit of attending upon them. Oh that I may return to you, and the dear church of God, in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ! I hope, my beloved, that you are not without the enjoyment of the sweetness and supports of the blessed gospel. Oh that you may get and keep near to God, and in him find infinitely more than you can possibly lose by your husband's absence!

"Mr. Hall preached, last evening, from 1 Pet. i. 8. A most evangelical and experimental season! I was charmed and warmed. Oh that Jesus may go on to reveal himself to him as altogether lovely! I am unable to write more now. To-day, I set off for Northampton, and preach there to-night. Lord bless you!"

The

In July, 1795, he received a pressing invitation from The General Evangelical Society in Dublin, to pay them a visit, and to assist in diffusing the gos

* See page 379.

pel of the grace of God in that kingdom. To this | invitation he replied in the following letter, addressed to Dr. McDowal:

Birmingham, August 3, 1795. "REV. AND DEAR SIR-I received your favor of the 22d ult. and for the interesting reason you assign, transmit a 'speedy answer.' The society, on whose behalf you wrote, I have ever considered with the respect due to the real friends of the best of causes the cause of God and of his Christ: a cause which embraces the most important and durable interests of our fellow-men; and your name, dear sir, I have been taught to hold in more than common esteem by my dear brother and father, Messrs. Birt and Francis. The benevolent institution which you are engaged in supporting, I am persuaded, deserves more than the good wishes or prayers of your brethren in the kingdom and patience of Jesus, on this side the channel; and it will yield me substantial pleasure to afford personal assistance in your pious labors. But, for the present, I am sorry to say, I must decline your proposal: being engaged to spend a month in London this autumn, on the business of our Mission Society, of which you have probably heard.

"When I formed my present connections with the church in Birmingham, I proposed an annual freedom for six weeks from my pastoral duties; and should the 'Evangelical Society' express a wish for my services the ensuing year, I am perfectly inclined, God willing, to spend that time beneath their direction, and at what part of the year they conceive a visit would be most serviceable to the good design. I only request, that should this be their desire, I may receive the information as soon as they can conveniently decide, that I may withhold myself from other engagements, which may interfere with the time they may appoint. I entreat you to make my Christian respects acceptable to the gentlemen who compose the society, and assure yourself that I am, dear sir, respectfully and affectionately, Your brother in our Lord Jesus,

"S. P."

The invitation was repeated, and he complied with their request, engaging to go over in the month of June, 1796.

A little before this journey, it occurred to Dr. Ryland, that an itinerating mission into Cornwall might be of use to the cause of true religion, and that two acceptable ministers might be induced to undertake it; and that if executed during the vacation at the Bristol academy, two of the students might supply their place. He communicated his thoughts to Mr. Pearce, who wrote thus in answer: May 30, 1796.

"MY VERY DEAR BROTHER-I thank you a thousand times for your last letter. Blessed be God who hath put it into your heart to propose such a plan for increasing the boundaries of Zion. I have read your letter to our wisest friends here, and they heard it with great joy. The plan, the place, the mode, the persons-all, all meet our most affectionate wishes. How did such a scheme never enter our minds before! Alas, we have nothing in our hearts that is worth having, save what God puts there. Do write to me when at Dublin, and tell me whether it be resolved on; when they set out, &c. I hope ere long to hear, that as many disciples are employed in Great Britain, as the Saviour emploved in Judea. When he gives the word, great will be the company of the preachers.

"Oh, my dear brother, let us go on still praying, contriving, laboring, defending, until the little leaven leaveneth the whole lump, and the small stone from the mountain fill the whole earth.' Number 13.

"What pleasures do those lose who have no interest in God's gracious and holy cause! How thankful should we be, that we are not strangers to the joy which the friends of Zion feel when the Lord turneth again Zion's captivity. I am beyond expression,

Your affectionate brother in Christ, S. P."

On May 31, he set off for Dublin, and "the Lord prospered his way, so that he arrived at the time appointed; and from every account it appears, that he was not only sent in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of peace, but that the Lord himself went with him. His preaching was not only highly acceptable to every class of hearers, but the word came from him with power, and there is abundant reason to believe, that many will, through eternity, praise God for sending his message to them by this dear ambassador of Christ. His memory lives in their hearts, and they join with the other churches of Christ, in deploring the loss they have sustained by his death.

"He was earnestly solicited by the Evangelical Society to renew his visit to that kingdom in 1798. Ready to embrace every call of duty, he had signified his compliance; and the time was fixed; but the breaking out of the late rebellion prevented him from realizing his intention. This was a painful disappointment to many, who wished once more to see his face, and to have heard the glad tidings from his lips."

Such is the brief account of his visit to Dublin, given by Dr. McDowal. The following letter was written to Mrs. Pearce, when he had been there a little more than a week:

Dublin, June 31, 1796.

"I long to know how you do, and you will be as much concerned to know how I go on at this distance from you. I haste to satisfy your inquiries.

"I am in perfect health: am delightfully disappointed with the place and its inhabitants. I am very thankful that I came over. I have found much more religion here already than I expected to meet with during the whole of my stay. The prospect of usefulness is flattering. I have already many more friends (I hope Christian friends) than I can gratify by visits. Many doors are open for preaching the gospel in the city; and my country excursions will probably be few. Thus much for outline.

"But you will like to know how I spend my time, &c. Well then: I am at the house of Mr. H. late high sheriff for the city: a gentleman of opu lence, respectability, and evangelical piety. He is of Dr. McDowal's church; has a most amiable wife, by profession a Cavinistic Presbyterian; an elder and four children. I am very thankful for being placed here during my stay. I am quite at home, mean as to ease and familiarity; for as to style of living, I neither do, nor desire to equal it. Yet in my present situation it is convenient. It would, however, be sickening and dull, had I not a GOD to go to, to converse with, to enjoy, and to call my own. Oh, 'tis this, 'tis this, my dearest Sarah, which gives a point to every enjoyment, and sweetens all the cap of life.

The Lord's day, after I wrote to you last, I preached for Dr. McDowal in the morning at half past eleven; heard a Mr. Kilburne at five; and preached again at Plunket street, at seven. On Tuesday evening, I preached at an hospital, and on Thursday evening, at Plunket street again. Yesterday, for the Baptists in the morning, Dr. McDowal at five, and at Plunket street at seven.

"The hours of worship will appear singular to you: they depend on the usual meal times. We breakfast at ten; dine between four and five, some

Thursday, 7th. Miss H-, her sister, and Mrs. McG came to Eccles street. A most delightful interview. Seldom have I seen such proficiency in so short a time. That day week, at Plunket street, she received her first serious impressions. Her concern deepened at Mass Lane, on Lord's day morning-more so in the evening at Plunket street-but most of all on Monday night. I exhorted them to begin a prayer and experience meeting; and they agreed. Blessed be God! this strengthens my hands greatly. At seven o'clock, preached at Plunket street, from Jer. 1. 4, 5. 'Going and weeping-they shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward.' A full house and an impressive season. Tarried after the public services were ended, to converse on religion. The most pleasing case was a young man of Mr. D—'s.

"Saturday, 9th. Went with my friend Mr. Sto call on Miss H. Found her at her mother's -we first passed the door--she ran out after usseemed happy; but agitated. Ran and called her mother-soon we saw the door of the parlor open, and a majestic lady appeared; who, as she entered the room, thus accosted me:-'Who art thou, oh blessed of the Lord? Welcome to the widow's house! Accept the widow's thanks for coming after the child whom thou hast begotten in the gospel!' I was too much overcome to do more than take by the hand the aged saint. A solemn silence ensued for a minute or two; when the old lady recovering, expressed the fulness of her satisfaction respecting the reality of the change effected in her daughter, and her gratitude for great refreshment of her own soul, by means of my poor labors. She said, she had known the Lord during forty years, being called under the ministry of John Fisher, in the open air, when on a visit to an officer who was her brother-in-law. She told us much of her experience, and promised to encourage the prayer meeting, which I proposed to be held in her house every Lord's day evening. They are to begin to morrow after preaching. It was a pleasant meeting; and we returned with pleasure to Eccles street. After we rose up to come away, the old lady affectionately said, May the good will of Him who dwelt in the bush, attend you wherever you go, for ever and ever!"'"

The young lady some months after wrote to Mr. S-, and says, amongst other things,-"I have great reason to be thankful for the many blessings the Lord has been pleased to bestow upon me, and in particular for his sending Mr. Pearce to this city; and that through his means I have been convinced of sin. I am happy to inform you, that through grace I am enabled to walk in the narrow path. The Lord has taken away all desire for worldly company; all my desires now are to attend on the means of grace. Blessed be his name, I often find him present in them. My mother and I often remember the happy time we spent in your company at our house. She often speaks of it with great pleasure, and blesses the Lord for the change which grace has wrought in me."

"Lord's-day, 10. (The last Sabbath.) Preached in the morning at Mary's abbey, from Job xxxiii. 27, 28. He looketh upon men, and if any say I have sinned, and perverteth that which was right, and it profited me not; he will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.'A happy season. In the afternoon, having dined with Mr. W- -, he took me to Swift's alley, the Baptist place of worship, where I gave an exhortation on brotherly love, and administered the Lord's supper. At Mr. W- -'s motion, the church requested me to look out a suitable minister for them.

"Monday, 11th. Met the dear Christian friends, for the last time, at a prayer meeting in Plunket street. The Lord was there! Several friends spent the evening with us afterwards at Mr. H's. "Tuesday, 12th. Went aboard at four; arrived at Liverpool on Thursday; and safely at home on Friday, July 15, 1796. Blessed be the Preserver of men, the Saviour of sinners, and the help of his servants, for evermore, amen, amen!"

Some time after, writing to his friend who accompanied him, he says, "I have received several letters from Dublin:-two from Master B. one from Miss H- one from M- three or four from the Baptist friends, and some from others, whom I cannot recollect. Mr. K- lately called on me in his way from Bath to Holyhead. We talked of you, and of our Lord, and did not part till we had presented ourselves before the throne."

During his labors in Dublin, he was strongly solicited to settle in a very flattering situation in the neighborhood; and a very liberal salary was offered him. On his positively declining it, mention was made of only six months of the year. When that was declined, three months were proposed; and when he was about to answer this in the negative, the party refused to receive his answer, desiring him to take time to consider of it. He did so; and though he entertained a very grateful sense of the kindness and generosity expressed by the proposal, yet, after the maturest deliberation, he thought it his duty to decline it. Mr. Pearce's modesty prevented his talking on such a subject; but it was known at the time by his friend who accompanied him, and since his death, has been frequently mentioned as an instance of his disinterested spirit.

His friends at Birmingham were ready to think it hard that he should be so willing to leave them to go on a mission among the heathen; but they could not well complain, and much less think ill of him, when they saw that such a willingness was more than could be effected by the most flattering prospects of a worldly nature, accompanied too with promising appearances of religious usefulness.

About a month after his return from Dublin, Mr. Pearce addressed a letter to Mr. Carey, in which he gives some farther account of Ireland, as well as of some other interesting matters:

Birmingham, Aug. 12, 1796.

"Oh, my dear brother, did you but know with what feelings I resume my pen, freely to correspond with you after receiving your very affectionate letter to myself, and perusing that which you sent by the same conveyance to the society, I am sure you would persuade yourself that I have no common friendship for you, and that your regards are at least returned with equal ardor.

"I fear (I had almost said) that I shall never see your face in the flesh; but if any thing can add to the joy which the presence of Christ, and conformity, perfect conformity to him, will afford in heaven, surely the certain prospect of meeting with my dear brother Carey there, is one of (if not) the greatest. Thrice happy should I be, if the providence of God would open a way for my partaking of your labors, your sufferings, and vour pleasures on this side the eternal world: but all my brethren here are of a mind, that I shall be more useful at home than abroad; and I, though reluctantly, submit. Yet I am truly with you in spirit. My heart is at Mudna

*At the Black Rock, the residence of some of the most genteel families in the vicinity of Dublin,

oatty, and at times I even hope to find my body there: but with the Lord I leave it; he knows my wishes, my motives, my regret: he knows all my soul; and, depraved as it is, I feel an inexpressible satisfaction that he does know it. However, it is an humbling thought to me, that he sees I am unfit for such a station, and unworthy such an honor as to bear his name among the heathen. But I must be thankful still, that though he appoints me not to a post in foreign service, he will allow me to stand sentinel at home. In this situation may I have grace to be faithful unto death!

"I hardly wonder at your being pained on account of the effects produced on the minds of your European friends, by the news of your engagement in the indigo business, because I imagine you are ignorant of the process of that matter amongst us. When I received the news, I glorified God in sincerity, on account of it, and gave most hearty thanks to him for his most gracious appearance on your behalf: but at the same time I feared, lest through that undertaking, the work of the mission might in some way or other be impeded. The same impression was made on the minds of many others: yet no blame was attached, in our view, to you. Our minds were only alarmed for the future; not disposed to censure for the past. Had you seen a faithful copy of the prayers, the praises, and the conversation of the day in which your letters were read, I know you would not have entertained one unkind thought of the society towards you. Oh no, my dear brother, far be it from us to lay an atom upon your spirits of a painful nature. Need I say, we do love, we do respect you, we do confide too much in you to design the smallest occasion of distress to your heart. But I close this subject. In future we will atone for an expression that might bear a harsh construction. We will strengthen, we will support, we will comfort, we will encourage you in your arduous work, all, all shall be love and kindness; glory to God and good will to men. If I have done aught that is wrong, as an individual, pardon me: if we have said aught amiss, as a society, pardon us. Let us forbear one another in love, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us.

"By the time this reaches you, hope you will have received Nos. I. and II. of Periodical Accounts. Should you find any thing in them, which you think had better be omitted, pray be free in mentioning it, and in future your instructions shall be fully attended to. We have taken all the pains, and used all the caution in our power to render them unexceptionable; but you can better judge in some respects than we. If you should not approve of all (though we are not conscious of any thing that you will disapprove) you will not be offended, but believe we have done our best, and with your remarks, hope to do better still.

"With pleasure, approaching to rapture, I read the last accounts you sent us. I never expected immediate success: the prospect is truly greater than my most sanguine hopes. The kingdom of heaven is like to a little leaven hid in three measures of meal, till the whole is leavened.' Blessed be God! the leaven is in the meal, and its influence is already discoverable. A great God is doing great things by you. Go on, my dearest brother, go on: God will do greater things than these. Jesus is worthy of a world of praise: and shall Hindostan not praise him? Surely he shall see of the travail of his soul there, and the sower and the reaper shall rejoice together. Already the empire of darkness totters, and soon it shall doubtless fall. Blessed be the laborers in this important work; and blessed be He who giveth them hearts and strength to labor, and promises that they shall not labor in vain!

'Do not fear the want of money. God is for us,

and the silver and the gold are his; and so are the hearts of those who possess the most of it. I will travel from the Land's end to the Orkneys but we will get money enough for all the demands of the mission. I have never had a fear on that head: a little exertion will do wonders; and past experience justifies every confidence. Men we only want; and God shall find them for us in due time.

"Is brother Fountain arrived? We hope he will be an acceptable remittance, and, viva voce, compensate for the lack of epistolary communications. "I rejoice in contemplating a church of our Lord Jesus Christ in Bengal, formed upon his own plan. Why do not the Hindoo converts join it? Lord, help their unbelief! But perhaps the drop is now withheld, that you may by and by have the shower, and lift up your eyes, and say,' These, whence came they? They fly as clouds, and as doves to their windows.' For three years, we read of few baptized by the first disciples of our Lord; but on the fourth, three thousand, and five thousand openly avowed him. The Lord send you such another Pentecost!

"I intend to write my dear brother a long letter. It will prove my desire to gratify him, if it do no more. I wish that I knew in what communications your other correspondents will be most deficient: then I would try to supply their omissions.

"I will begin with myself: but I have nothing good to say. I think I am the most vile ungrateful servant that ever Jesus Christ employed in his church. At some times, I question whether I ever knew the grace of God in truth; and at others, I hesitate on the most important points of Christian faith. I have lately had peculiar struggles of this kind with my own heart, and have often half concluded to speak no more in the name of the Lord. When I am preparing for the pulpit, I fear I am going to avow fables for facts, and doctrines of men for the truths of God. In conversation I am obliged to be silent, lest my tongue should belie my heart. In prayer I know not what to say, and at times think prayer altogether useless. Yet I cannot wholly surrender my hope, or my profession. Three things I find, above all others, tend to my preservation:First, A recollection of a time, when, at once, I was brought to abandon the practice of sins, which the fear of damnation could never bring me to relinquish before. Surely, I say, this must be the finger of God, according to the scripture doctrine of regeneration: Secondly, I feel such a consciousness of guilt, that nothing but the gospel scheme can satisfy my mind respecting the hope of salvation:and Thirdly, I see that what true devotion does appear in the world, seems only to be found among those to whom Christ is precious.

"But I frequently find a backwardness to secret prayer, and much deadness in it; and it puzzles me to see how this can be consistent with a life of grace. However, I resolve, that let what will become of me, I will do all I can for God while I live, and leave the rest to him; and this I usually experience to be the best way to be at peace.

"I believe, that if I were more fully given up to God, I should be free from these distressing workings of mind; and then I long to be a missionary where I should have temptations to nothing but to abound in the work of the Lord, and lay myself entirely out for him. In such a situation, I think pride would have but little food, and faith more occasion for exercise; so that the spiritual life, and inward religion would thrive better than they do now.

At times, indeed, I do feel, I trust, genuine contrition, and sincerely lament my short-comings before God. Oh the sweets that accompany true repentance! Yes, I love to be abased before God.