rather a father to them than a master.

But he

adopted a way of getting money to a great extent, and with that money gave himself over to the most licentious habits. I kept with him, as with my other servants, a weekly account, that I might not have a bill any where. Brooms, brushes, pails, &c. he got for me from time to time; but pocketed the money, and ran me up bills without my knowledge. He even went to merchants whom I had never seen in my life, and took hay and corn which he sold immediately for ready money; and that ran me up bills to the amount of altogether about £100. In this way he would have proceeded still, and have involved me to a far greater amount, had he not wickedly This was immediately complained of to me; and he, foreseeing that it must produce a separation between us, set off to London. was instantly known; and that very same day there poured in bills from every quarter; one of above £40, and another of £20, from persons whose very face I never saw, and who were never authorized to put me down in their books for one penny. These therefore I refused to pay, unless it were decided by a jury that I must: and I felt my mind irritated, so as more than once to designate the conduct of these tradesmen by a harsher name than perhaps, after all, it deserved. This was the second time in which I had been treated in the same way.

....

This

"All this was painful; but it led me to consider, that this was not man but God; even as it was, when the Chaldeans and Sabeans robbed Job: and it was, in fact, the Lord saying to me, You have given me thousands in a way agreeable to yourself; now give me an hundred in a way that I please; and

do it with cheerfulness as unto me. You have a lesson to learn, which this is designed to teach you. Your spirit is by no means such as it should be. You sadly want the patience of Job. You by no means resemble Him who was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep under the hand of the shearer was dumb.'-Convinced of my very low proficiency in the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I looked up to God for grace sufficient for me; and I hope I obtained both mercy and grace to help me in the time of need. The Assizes ended only on Saturday last and by acquiescing in the Divine appointment, I avoided all the disquietude of mind which a trial would have occasioned, and which would have been far worse than the loss of many hundreds of pounds, and felt a sweet peace of mind arising from an entire acquiescence in the Divine will. During the last four days I have enjoyed much comfort in the exercise of submission to God, and have contrasted the state of my mind with what it would have been even in the event of a successful trial, and much more in the event of a defeat. I had been just preaching on Rom. viii. 28; and on coming home, I found a letter from my lawyer in London, saying, that a person who had defrauded me of many hundreds of pounds, and was a bankrupt and might have been sent to prison, but whom I had commissioned him to spare, if he would only pay £100 towards the expenses to which he had put me in recovering my right, that that person had offered to pay me £200 towards my expenses, if I would release him from his obligations. Thus has God in His tender mercy, first taught me to check and mortify my unsubdued spirit; and then had no sooner accom

plished His gracious will in that particular, than He paid for me, as it were, the very sum of which I had been robbed; so that by this dispensation He has instructed my mind, humbled my spirit, disposed and enabled me to see His hand in everything, given me sweet peace in the stead of trouble, and, at last, restored to me what He had taken away; and preached over again to me, what I had that moment been preaching to my people, that all things, of whatever kind (except sin), shall work together for our good.'

"Bless the Lord, O my soul; and remember the lessons which thou hast been so mercifully taught."

CHAPTER XXVIII.

LETTERS FROM MR. WILBERFORCE ON THE FIFTIETH YEAR OF MR. SIMEON'S RESIDENCE IN THE UNIVERSITY-MEMORANDUM ON THE OCCASION-TO A FRIEND ON MAINTAINING CHARITY, AND PREACHING CHRIST CRUCIFIED -REMARKS ON THE PASSING OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC RELIEF BILL-TO A FRIEND ON DECLINING CONTROVERSY—TO THE BISHOP OF WINCHESTER ON RECEIVING A COPY OF HIS CHARGE TO SIR R. H. INGLIS ON GUARDING AGAINST MISREPRESENTATION TO REV. B. W. 8. ON THE MODE OF CONDUCTING HIS WEEKLY PARTIES OF UNDERGRADUATES SPECIMEN OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF A SERMON— DESCRIPTION OF THE WEEKLY TEA-PARTY.

1829.

CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.

We are now come to a period in Mr. Simeon's history, which is memorable as bringing to a completion the fiftieth year of his residence in the University. In order to commemorate this event in a devout and becoming manner, he requested a select party of his friends to assemble for two days in his rooms for exercises of a social and religious character.

The following letter from one of the most endeared and distinguished of the party invited, expressing as it does so admirably the sentiments which were shared in general on this occasion, will doubtless be read with no ordinary interest.

W. WILBERFORCE, Esq. to Mr. SIMEON.

"Highwood Hill, Middlesex, 22d January, 1829. "My dear Friend,

66

Ought I to be ashamed to confess, or rather shall I not rejoice and with thankfulness avow

it, that at my time of life, in my seventieth year, I preserve such a warmth of feeling, that on the perusal of your very interesting letter, and more especially on reading your kind invitation to join the party that will celebrate with you your Jubilee; I was at first kindled into such a blaze as to be quite dazzled by the splendour of my own conceptions, and heated into a hope that I might become a sharer in your Christian festivities. But a little cool reflection sufficed for enforcing on me a more sober view of things, and compelled me to admit that having been commanded by medical authority to shut up during the winter months, I should be taking a liberty with my constitution that would be utterly unwarrantable, if I were to sally forth in such a season as this; though to indulge in the exercise of some of the most generous and even sacred pleasures of which our nature is capable in this imperfect state. I must be content then to join your party in spirit, if not in person: and in offering up my petitions for the various blessings you have enumerated (I thank you for the specification), I shall not forget to return my humble thanksgivings to the Giver of all good, for having enabled you to continue unto this day,' (how much is contained in that brief though compendious expression!) But you are blessed with so much bodily health and vigour, that we may humbly indulge the hope that the Almighty will still grant you a long course of usefulness and comfort. The degree in which, without any sacrifice of principle, you have been enabled to overcome, and if I may so term it, to live down the prejudices of many of our higher Ecclesiastical authorities, is certainly a phenomenon I never expected to witness.

L. S.

Ss