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yourself, than I have ever yet expressed. More affection for you; more gratitude that Providence placed you in my way; and more determination to make you my counsellor and friend-than I have ever yet told you. The Lord help us to strengthen each other's hands in his good ways. I shall not like your letters so well if you do not direct them yourself. This you will say is folly, but I cannot help it. Adieu !

"Your's affectionately,

"THOS. SPENCER."

"N. B. Saturday afternoon, if possible, I will see you."

The history of the following month is from the pen of his most intimate friend.

"At his return [from Dorking] he supplied Jewin-street meeting for a month, in the afternoons and evenings, where the attention he excited will not be easily forgotten. Before he left, numbers could not get admittance. The church were very anxious that he should settle among them,* but their desire could not be complied with. I have heard him blamed respecting that business; but it was only by those who did not know the circumstances of the case. I was in the possession of his heart in that affair, and it would be unjust to his memory not to declare, that he was free from blame. His

* The church was then under the pastoral care of the Rev. Timothy Priestley, a truly venerable divine, whose age and infirmities rendered the aid of a colleague necessary.

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affectionate spirit keenly felt for them in their disappointment. The good people at Jewin-street,' said he, in a letter to me, have a strong claim upon our prayers ;' and it was to sooth their minds that he composed his sermon upon Isaiah xxxiii. 20. The time of his supplying at Jewin-street was very pleasant to me. I claimed the whole of his time between and after the services, which inclined him to enjoy that retirement which was so congenial to his lowly soul. When going to preach no one saw him. I used to knock at his door-give in his refreshment-and watch the time for him. It was from the mount of communion that he always went to the pulpit, and this caused his sermons to shine gloriously. Frequently in passing to the house of God we kept perfect silence, while his mind has been so entirely absorbed, that I have found a necessity for guiding him; and after worship he loved to stop as long as he conveniently could, that he might pass away unnoticed.-But such was the character of Spencer-his deep humility-fervent piety-and amiable simplicity, that I am fully convinced it cannot be fairly stated without suspicion of exaggeration; and I must confess, that I should have found great difficulty in giving fallen nature credit for the excellencies, which, from the closest inspection I saw resident in that truly illustrious and holy youth.”

The following letter, written on the Saturday previous to the last Sabbath of his supplying Jewinstreet chapel, discloses his feelings with respect to the church in that place, and will prove to the pea

ple with how much affection he wrote and thought of them. Nor will it be less valuable for the spirit of filial love and duty which it breathes.

No. 17.

TO MR. JOHN HADDON.

September 2, 1809.

66 MY DEAR FRIEND,

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"Truly sorry am I in any case to disappoint you, and yet it must be so as it respects this evening. Before seven o'clock I am necessitated to go from home, nor can I return till late in the evening. You ask, can you not give up this engagement ?' I answer, this is impossible; because nothing short of filial duty is the cause of my absence from home. This morning I received a letter from my dear father, telling me that he must be in town today, although he has been travelling in the country all the week, and he wishes me to meet him this evening, at half-past six o'clock. This, I am sure will be regarded as a sufficient reason by you, and nothing short of such a reason could induce me to go out at all this evening, for to tell you the truth, I am very unwell. My head and my side have suffered exceedingly for a day or two past, n re espe cially to-day. Nor are my prospects of the morrow of the most enlivening kind. In fact, too, my spirits are very low. The sight of my aged parent may perhaps revive them, and make my heart rejoices even mine! Mr. W. has just told me, that he has informed Mr. S. that I cannot supply them any long,

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er than to-morrow. The opinion of the committee, &c. goes against them! For my part, I can only say, My God, thy will be done! You will see me at Jewin-street in the afternoon, but whether able or incapacitated to perform my duty there, I know not. Pray for me, that much grace may communicate to me sufficient strength.

"Whether well or ill, cheerful or melancholy, I am your's affectionately,

"THOMAS SPENCER."

Having completed his engagements at Jewinstreet, Spencer's labours became again miscellaneous and widely diffused. On Sabbath day the 17th, he preached at Roydon, a village near Hertford, when he availed himself of the opportunity which this appointment afforded him of visiting his family. I cannot but conceive the bliss which such occasional interviews would cause in that little circle, which had once the happiness to call him their's. To them the recollection of those happy hours devoted to social or sacred intercourse with their departed friend, must yield a soothing, though a melancholy pleasure. Nor is the reflection less honourable to his memory, than it is consolatory to their minds. In the midst of the unbounded popularity which he enjoyed surrounded by new and splendid connexions the admiration of listening crowds, each eager to express his approbation-all ambitious of his friendship he ever thought with the warmest affection upon those whom he had left in that obscurity from which he had himself emerged.--Gladly did he seize the opportunity, when it occurred, of retiring

from the public eye to taste again the tranquil plea. sures of his home, and enjoy the interchange of all those sacred and delightful feelings, which strengthen and endear the ties and obligations of social or domestic life. He was not unduly elated by his popularity. In his new associations he did not forget his kindred and his father's house. His family did not sink in his regard, in proportion as he rose to eminence. The voice of universal praise did not drown the milder whispers of paternal love.-But in a heart whose best affections were devoted to the noblest objects, and to which new scenes of exertion were perpetually unfolding, the family at Hertford held an honourable and distinguished place. The most extensive public engagements, are not incompatible with the retired duties of private life—and the cares and responsibilities of the most laborious ministry may be sustained and discharged, without absorbing those affectionate regards so justly claimed by parental kindness and fraternal love. Tis true, that as a Christian, and in his official capacity, every believer in Jesus is to the faithful minister a father-a mother-a sister-and a brother. But as a man the relations of life exist for himand the feelings of humanity must be common to him too. A heart from which these ties are rudely severed is but ill adapted to that soothing influence by which the office of the ministry becomes a source of comfort to the wretched ;-and a man whose bosom is a stranger to the tender sympathies of human life--alike insensible to joy or sorrow-may with propriety administer the cold rites of a Stoical philosophy--but must ever be a living contrast to

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