same blessed promise, originating in the same covenant engagements of Jehovah, that the Lord will be with me, will do me good, and deal well with me, though I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth which the Lord hath shewed to his ser vant. Gen. xxxii. 9, 10.

I am now arrived in my history to the year 1754, and to the thirty-sixth year of my natural life, having been about ten years a partaker of the grace that is in Christ Jesus; and, by the kind providence and protection of my Covenant God and Saviour, returned to my native home, with a heart full of zeal and love for my Redeemer's glory.

The first object of my pursuit after my journey, was to seek out the sheep of Christ in Exeter; and in my searching, I found a little despised society (well known by this mark,) whom the Lord had formed into a church, under the ministry of my dear spiritual father in Christ, Mr. Whitfield, while in Exeter, and which had continued ever since. With these I immediately joined; and here for several years my soul was refreshed, and blessed in the enjoyment of the ordinances of the gospel; occasionally exhorting them, and preaching to them the gospel of Jesus,

With respect to the providences of God, in relation to my temporal wants, a folio volume would not be large enough to enumerate the whole. It will be sufficient to say, that after being with my uncle for several years, and at length, through his kindness, led into the occasional employments of ship-repairing, (which I had learnt while at Plymouth,) and also in millwright work, (which, by frequently being called upon to repair, I had also learnt,) I found myself well established in the business of both. And now my son being arrived at years of manhood, and my concerns being large enough to employ a journeyman, my worldly matters went on for a considerable space in a flourishing manner. Oh, my God and Saviour! for these things I desire to praise thee. The nether springs of thy bounty demand my constant praise; while for the upper springs of grace, my soul overflows with love.

It may be proper in this in this part of my Memoirs to observe, that about this period, after having been nine years a widower, and meeting with a gracious woman, suitable, both in corresponding age and circumstances, for a partner through the remaining part of my pilgrimage; looking up in prayer to the Lord for grace and direction, I entered the second time into

the marriage state; and found the Lord's blessing upon our union, in a dear and affectionate helpmate for me. From this mar riage the Lord hath given me six children. A great variety of circumstances in the ups and downs of life followed me in my worldly business; though, blessed be the Lord, in the midst of all, my spiritual concerns flourished under his gracious eye; and the church, over which the Holy Ghost made me the overseer, was at once the wonder and the envy of many. But as I have written a short account of the rise and progress of this church in a separate paper, I shall not introduce it again in these Memoirs.

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I am now arrived at my seventy-fifth year. My faculties are rather impaired, as I think; though my friends say not. But I should have forgotten ninety-nine parts of an hundred of Jehovah's dealings towards me, both in frowning and smiling providences, they have been so intricate, had I not written many of them, down in the moment they occurred; but being in detached papers, they cannot be in a regular succession. I write nothing, however, but what flows strong in upon my mind; and to this service I have been for many years so pressingly invited, yea, almost compeiled, that

I could no longer resist the importunity of many of my friends on this occasion: and many of them have been either eye, or ear witnesses, to the greatest part of my narrative.

Many a time have I been brought down to circumstances so very low as to know the value of a piece of bread. And who but such can describe the tender mercies of God, in the seasonable and unexpected supplies to hunger; and the sweetest of all food hath been of this kind. Very striking and singular in numberless instances in my life, have been God's gracious interpositions this way. Not to tire the reader, I would mention only one.

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I had been to hard labour all the week, and was exceeding bare of provision, and coming over a down, through which my path lay, hungry to an excess, and without the means of supply, looking up to heaven, with an eye of supplication, for the Lord's sending me the needed refreshment. I lost the direct road and when my eyes were directed again to the way, I found I had strayed from the beaten path, and was considerably on the common. At this instant, I discovered before me a cake of bread, which, in all probability had fallen from the panier of some horse going over the down. What my feelings were, I want words

to express. It formed the sweetest repast I ever partook of in all my life. To a reader, unexercised with want, and unconscious of the Lord's dealings with his people, the circumstance may seem trifling and insignificant : but to me, it was most gratefully refreshing then; and the thought of it is refreshing now. Indeed both soul and body were refreshed. It formed the supper of the Lord, not only in shadow, but in substance.

I have not been so particular in making me morandums of the latter part of my life, in a detached history, as in the former: because the diary, which I have kept for the last thirty years, contains the most interesting events therein.

I am now waiting the Master's call, that when he shall return from the wedding, and cometh, and knocketh, I may open unto him im◄ mediately.