can be gleaned respecting them, and listen with delight to the narration of those who were spectators. But few perhaps who have heard of Spencer, but would gladly be transported to the peaceful village of Collier's End, and mingle with the auditors under his first sermon there. And it requires no uncommon acquaintance with the principles of our nature, and the doctrine of association in the human mind, to predict, that the villages of Halfway, Street, and Lewisham, in Kent, will derive some celebrity in the religious world from having been the scenes of ministerial labor, when a youth, to a preacher, who for these twelve years past has held the delighted auditories of the metropolis the willing captives of his eloquence. And surely such a principle as this, whilst in its gratification it yields an undescribable pleasure, may be cultivated to no small advantage. It banishes from the mind that despair of reaching it, which a contemplation of exalted eminence might inspire, by an assurance, that the object at which he aims is not unattainable, since its present possessor once occupied the same level with himself, and was attended by circumstances as unfavorable to his exvation as those which at present may encompass him.

Our amiable young preacher's first sermon excited a strong desire in his hearers for a repetition of his labors; and his fame, rapidly circulating, produced an invitation also, from another quarter, for the fol

*The name of Doctor Collyer is too well known to derive any additional ce lebrity from being copied on a page my hand has written. And perhaps I may be censured for indulging in an allusion here which bears at least the ap pearance of flattery. Far be it from me to cherish such a principle. The work in which I am engaged is sacred to friendship and to the memory of de parted worth; and is it at all surprising, that whilst endeavoring to preserve the record of a friend removed by death, my memory should sometimes re cur to the many excellencies which have so long audeared to me a friend from whom I am removed by distance?

lowing Sabbath. To these solicitations, we may suppose without much reluctance, he complied; and he preached again on the morning of July 12th, at a village called Broughin. His text on this occasion was Col. iii, 3, 'Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.' In the afternoon and evening of the same day, he preached again at Collier's End. In the afternoon from Acts xix, 2, 'Have ye received the Holy Ghost?' In the evening from Phil. iii, 18, "They are the enemies of the cross of Christ.' The attendance at Collier's End was, on this second Sabbath, so much increased, that the room would scarcely contain the people who were desirous of hearing, and every one seemed still more deeply affected by the impressive manner, the solemn doctrines, and the surprising powers of this young divine. On the following Thursday he preached again at a place called Brickenden, from John iv, 29, Come see a man, which told me all things that ever I did; is not this the Christ?' On Sunday, July 19th, he again resumed his labors at Collier's End, and preached in the afternoon from 2 Chron. xxxiii, 12, 13, 'And when he was in affliction he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed unto him, and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem, and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God.' In the evening the multitude that assembled was so great, that to gratify them all, he was under the necessity of preaching out of doors, which he did with great animation and effect, from Rom. xiv, 12, ' So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.' It appears from the report of one who was present at the deliv ery of this of this sermon that it was remarkably impres

sive. Although surrounded by so great a crowd, he seemed quite undaunted, and expressed himself with an ease and an energy which produced the most serious impressions upon many, and excited the astonment of all. To see the old and grey headed melted into tears beneath the simple touches and fervent appeals of a youth, but little more than sixteen years of age, proclaiming with the boldness and propriety of an experienced veteran the glorious gospel of the blessed God, must have been truly interesting. And it is also gratifying to know, that by the earliest labors of this excellent youth, happy and saving effects were produced, which remain to this day. On the evening of Thursday, July 234, he preached at Bunt ingford, a town about ten miles from Her:ford, from John x, 9, 'By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.' On Sunday, July 26th, he preached again afternoon and evening, at Collier's End. In the afternoon from John vi, 44, 'No man can come to me except the Father which sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.' In the evening from 2 Tim. ii, 19, 'Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his, and let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.' On the Wednesday evening following he preached at Hormead, from Psalm iv, 6, 'There be many that say, who will shew us any good? Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.' And on the Thursday evening again at Brickenden. At Hormead his congregation amounted to six or seven hundred persons, and the place where they were assembled was a barn.* Indeed by this time

*The circumstance of Mr. Spencer's preaching in a bain, and in the open air, may perhaps excite unpleasant feelings in the breasts of syne, who, hay

his fame had so widely circulated, that wherever he preached numbers flocked from all parts to hear and see this wonderful youth; and he might have preached every day in the week, had he been so inclined, so numerous were the invitations that crowded upon him. However, his vacation drew towards a close; and his return to Hoxton suspended for awhile these public exercises. He preached on the evening of Sunday, Aug. 2d, at Roydon; and we hear no more of his preaching till December. It certainly admits of doubt whether these early exercises in public preaching are beneficial or injurious. That they are injurious, may be argued from the circumstance, that they tend to elate and dissipate the mind—to inspire it with conceited notions of its own superior powers-too soon, alas! to familiarize the ear to the insinuating sounds of flattery, and investing the youth with high conceptions of his present qualifications, to annihilate those humiliating views of his own ignorance and imperfection,-and that ardent panting after knowledge in which lies the great source of respectability and usefulness in after life. Not to notice those practical errors into which the ignorance and incaution natural to youth may lead him, when engaged in directing men in affairs of infi

ing occasionally heard him with delight, may honor these pages with a perusal. They may feel regret, perhaps, that he should ever have been so irregular, or have ever trodden in the steps of men, who are universally condemned as enthusiasts and fanatics. It is necessary, therefore, in order to vindicate him, and all who have been guilty of a similar offence against the laws of ecclesiastieal decorum, from the charge of enthusiasm and fanaticism, to produce some passages of scripture, by which their conduct in this respect, is fully justified: Howbeit, the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands.'—Acts vii, 48. Where (whether in a field, a barn, or a temple, two or three are gath ered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.-Matt. xviii, 20. Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in.'—Luke xiv, 23. The most impressive sermon ever preached was delivered in the open air, upon a mount. And the wilderness of Judea was the scene of his ministry, who was honored to be the forerunner of the Messiah.

nite and eternal moment. If the aged evangelist, the venerable pastor, is heard so frequently to deplore his imperfection and lament the possibility of error in his public instructions-a young man may well proceed in his early labors with caution, and had need. to be possessed of no common discretion and knowledge, to counteract the suspicions necessarily excited, in the breasts of the thoughtful, by his youth.

But perhaps, on the other hand, there are peculiar advantages connected with an early entrance on the work of preaching. The novelty of the circumstance excites attention, and many are converted, who, but for the juvenility of the preacher, had nev er heard the gospel from his lips; and this is doubt. less amongst the many means which an Infinite Wisdom has selected, for accomplishing, in the conversion of sinners, the purposes of an infinite love. Besides that on the preacher's own mind, his early employment in ministerial labor may have a most hap py influence. By an early initiation into the difficulties and trials of the work, he may attain an ease and a skill in its execution, which is perhaps but seldom reached by the man who has commenced much later in the day. In youth the mind is all activity, and difficulties which are met with then are far more easily surmounted than when they are presented to the opposition of maturer age. But after all, much depends upon the peculiar circumstances of the individual case. Many a man is better prepared for the work of the ministry at sixteen than others are at forty; and whilst the popularity and flattery which usually attend the course of youthful preachers would be the ruin of some, there are others indued with a prudence and a piety sufficient to resist their influence. And be it remembered, that the time allotted to eve