A Friend of Western Africa, by the Rev. Messrs. Taylor and Cooper, First Manchester A Friend, by the Rev. John Davis, Chatham .. A Friend, Buckfastleigh.. An Irish Methodist... Friends at Wellington... A Gold Chain, from a Lady in the First Manchester Circuit, by the Rev. Dr. Newton, valued at Rev. Thomas Short... Rev. Dr. Bunting and Family Mr. John Fletcher, Unsworth .... Charles Reynolds, Esq., Northwich Misses Hunter, Newcastle-upon-Tyne A few Friends in Norwich, by Mr. Gillings Miss Garwish, Brompton, Chatham Mrs. Sedgwith, Cheetham-Hill A Friend, by the Rev. T. Kent, Barton Mr. Strudwick, Ealing, for Ashanti Rev. G. B. Mellor, Bridgewater Mr. Duthie, Stonehaven, by the Rev. W. Lindley, Aberdeen A. B., in acknowledgment of mercies received.. Mr. W. Spink, Malton Rev. Thomas Warren, Carmarthenshire Mr. James Morrow, Castle-Dawson, Ireland A Birmingham Methodist .. A Lady, by the Rev. Dr. Bunting A Friend, by the Rev. John Davis, Rochester.. Mr. W. Claydon, Whittlebury, by the Rev. W. Wedlock 0 0 100 NAMES AND ADDRESSES OF THE TREASURERS OF THE DISTRICT AUXILIARY MISSIONARY SOCIETIES. ABERDEEN, Mr. John Smith, Post-Office, Aberdeen. BATH, Mr. John Michael Shum, Bath. BEDFORD AND NORTHAMPTON, Mr. William Biggs, Bromham, near Bedford, and Mr. John Bliss, Northampton. BIRMINGHAM AND SHREWSBURY, Mr. Francis Heeley, Birmingham. BRISTOL, James Wood, Esq., Bristol. CARLISLE, Mr. William Wilson, Retreat, Whitehaven, and Mr. E. James, Carlisle. CORNWALL, Joseph Carne, Esq., Penzance. DEVONPORT, Thomas Gardner, Esq., Plymouth. EDINBURGH, Mr. Thomas Thomson, Amlwch Pottery, Glasgow. EXETER, Mr. J. C. Sercombe, Exeter. GUERNSEY, James Mac Culloch, Esq., and Mr. John Rougier, Guernsey. HALIFAX AND BRADFORD, Alexander G. Suter, Esq., Halifax. HULL, James Henwood, Esq., Bank, Hull. ISLE OF MAN, Mr. John Wilson, Douglas. KENT, William Crockford, Esq., St. Margaret's Bank, Rochester. LEEDS, John Burton, Esq., Leeds. LINCOLN, Henry Holland, Esq., Raithby, near Spilsby. LIVERPOOL, Thomas Sands, Esq., Liverpool. LONDON, John Josiah Buttress, Esq., Steward-Street, Spitalfields. MACCLESFIELD, Joshua Thorley, Esq., Macclesfield. MANCHESTER AND BOLTON, James Heald, Esq., District-Bank, Manchester, and Peter Rothwell, Esq., Sunning-Hill, Bolton. NORWICH AND LYNN, Mr. Jeremiah Cozens, Norwich, and Mr. J. Burch, Lynn. NOTTINGHAM AND DERBY, Mr. John Shelton, Nottingham, and Mr. William Turner, Derby. NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, Ralph Wilson, Esq., GreyStreet, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. OXFORD, Thomas Bush, Esq., Lambourne. PORTSMOUTH, Messrs. John Cowdrey and John Keet, Portsmouth. SHEFFIELD, Thomas B. Holy, Esq., Norton-House, near Sheffield. SHETLAND, Rev. Joseph Watson, Lerwick. FIRST SOUTH WALES, George Bagnall, Esq., Carmarthen. NORTH WALES, R. M. Preece, Esq., Carnarvon. WHITBY AND DARLINGTON, John Wilson, Esq., Whitby, and Thomas Walker, Esq., Stockton-upon-Tees, YORK, Isaac Taylor, Esq., Foss-gate, York. LONDON-PRINTED BY JAMES NICHOLS, HOXTON-SQUARE. FOR APRIL, 1844. BIOGRAPHY. MEMOIR OF MR. GEORGE FOWLER, OF GUNHOUSE, NEAR EPWORTH, LINCOLNSHIRE: BY HIS SON, MR. JOHN FOWLER. My father was born, of respectable parents, at East-Butterwick, not far from Epworth, March 26th, 1769. At that time there were no Methodist chapels or meeting-houses in the neighbourhood; the parish church, likewise, was four miles from the house in which his parents resided. Under these circumstances, it may be supposed that they were not very well informed on religious subjects: his mother, how ever, according to the light she possessed, feared God, and taught her family, in some measure, to follow her example; so that, though they were not particularly instructed in the great truths of evangelical reli gion, they were brought up in correctness of moral deportment. My father never forgot the impressions which were made on his youthful mind. After the death of his father, he removed once or twice to different situations; but finally settled, as a farmer, at Gunhouse, where, shortly afterwards, he married; and thus became fixed in life, as the head of a family of his own. Previously to his conversion, my father was once singularly alarmed in London. After passing the evening with his friends there, and living rather more freely than was his custom, (being habitually a very temperate man, except when excited by company,) he retired to bed; but he had not been long asleep, when he awoke greatly terrified, under the apprehension that he was dying, and that he must inevitably perish. Without light in the room, with a conscience burdened with guilt, and his mind distracted by the fear of an angry God, and dreading that each minute might prove to be his last, in a state of perspiration through terror, he repeated the Lord's Prayer,-the only one of the many he had learned in infancy which he had not forgotten. After a time, however, he again fell asleep; but it was to awake once more under the same fearful apprehensions. He slept no more that night; and, whenever he adverted to this period in after-life, he said, that morning-light was never so welcome to him as it was after that night of alarm and agony. He hastened through his business in LonVOL. XXIII. Third Series. APRIL, 1844. U don without delay, resolving to "live a better life." An evident change was observable in his conduct; but the power of the impression only remained about three months; that is, till the following Christmas. By that time he had brought himself to believe that such apprehensions were needless; that he was as good as his neighbours; and, if he went to hell, there would be a great number beside himself, seeing that their conduct was no better than his own. This course he for some time pursued, until he was persuaded, by his wife and mother, on December 25th, 1800, to hear the Rev. John Wiltshaw, a Wesleyan Minister, preach at Scotton, then in the Epworth Circuit. On entering the cottage where the worshippers were assembled, he almost wished himself out again; but, on hearing the first two lines of the hymn which was given out, as suitable for the day, "All glory to God in the sky," &c., he was so powerfully affected, that he no longer desired to be absent. It pleased God to make this service the instrument of his conversion. He was not merely alarmed, as on the former occasion; but, through the instructions conveyed by the ministry of the word, rendered effectual by the power of the good Spirit of God, he saw the way of salvation by the grace of God, through faith in our Lord Jesus. He was enabled to believe for himself in the atoning and interceding Saviour, and he received the Spirit of adoption; so that he cried, "Abba, Father." In a diary occasionally kept by him, referring to this period, he writes: "Tears of joy flowed from my eyes; and I can truly say, my soul was changed from nature to grace, and all my inclinations were turned from sin to holiness." The change which Mr. Fowler thus experienced, though so sudden, was gracious and radical: it was an abiding one. As he himself intimates, he was not only made happy by the love of God which was shed abroad in his heart, but holy likewise. He was a new creature in Christ Jesus. He was not, however, acquainted with the exercises of the spiritual life of which he had thus happily been made a partaker. In the diary to which I have referred, he not only speaks of his conversion, but also describes, with great simplicity, and evidently with a godly sincerity, his feelings for some little time afterwards. "The Lord kept me," he says, "by divine grace, for several days afterwards, from any temptation. I was as happy as I could wish to be on this side heaven. After that, however, I was permitted to be exercised by the world, the flesh, and the devil; and as I had scarcely any understanding of spiritual experience myself, and as there were then no persons in the neighbourhood having acquaintance with it with whom I could have communion, I began to fear that I should fall away again, and lose what I had been brought to enjoy. I had not learned to distinguish between temptation and sin. But, praised be God, I was sustained and preserved by him. The first time that |