Yet still I feared. I solemnly cried to the Lord; and often did I spread my cause before Him, beseeching that he would not permit the blind to go out of the way. At length, one day, after solemn prayer, I concluded (believing it to be the will of God,) to give my hand to Mary Gay of Cumberland; and on the 17th of February, 1784, we were united in holy matrimony. We found it a solemn time; and we both gave ourselves to the Lord and his service."-On a union formed upon such principles, and in entering into which the parties were animated with views so elevated and holy, and with a mutual persuasion-the results not of first impression, but of mature thought and importunate prayer--that they gave themselves to each other by the will of God, Providence could not fail to shed its selectest blessings. Marriage is a divine institute; and it emanated from the wisdom and benevolence, as well as from the authority of God. He saw that, with the social nature He had given man, his happiness would have been incomplete if doomed to a state of solitude; He saw that "it was not good for man to be alone." As an additional evidence of His benignity he therefore provided an help-meet for him, a companion endued with the same intellectual capacities, with accordant social susceptibilities, and the heir and expectant with himself, of the same reversionary and immortal bliss. This interesting relation has not, it is true, in the sad reverse that has taken place in man's condition, escaped the blighting consequences of sin yet is it still benevolent in its design, and when hallowed by devout and intelligent reference, (as in the case we have been contemplating,) to the glory of God, most beneficent, also, in its tendency. To those who marry "in the Lord," it is of all earthly relations the source of the richest enjoyment, and the most effectual lenitive of the sorrows inseparable from the condition of mortality. If they who approach the hymeneal altar with light and precipitous footstep, without any recognition of the will of God, or any view but which terminates in the present transient scene, find marriage, instead of realising their fairy visions, to prove a source of infelicity, the blame is attributable only to their own irreligion and folly. "Domestic happiness, thou only bliss Of Paradise that hast survived the fall! A larger portion of this vestige of primeval happiness than that enjoyed by Mr. Black through a long series of years, has rarely, we believe, fallen to the lot of any individual. Were we indeed to affirm that no man was ever more felicitous in the choice of a companion for life, those who knew her best are the very last from whom we should anticipate the charge of exaggeration. In the subsequent pages of our narrative we shall often have occasion to notice the superior excellence of her character; but it is due to the rare assemblage of estimable qualities with which she was adorned, not to pass them over in silence in this place. Of those qualities, the most important were the product of the renewing Spirit of God; and the rest which were essential to the symmetry of her character, received a value and a lustre from the grace with which she was abundantly endued, which they could not otherwise have possessed. Her conversion to God was clear and decided; and it would be difficult to select from the annals of religious biography an instance of one who, for an equal period of time, exhibited a brighter or more beautiful and uniform example of Christian piety. Unequivocal evidence of her decision was given, in her associating herself with the Methodist Society at a time when it was despised and calumniated, notwithstanding the high respectability and remonstrances of her family; and still more, in becoming the wife of a Methodist Minister. Actuated by the faith of him who esteemed “the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt," there was no earthly distinction she was unwilling to forego, no temporal privation she was not ready to sustain, for conscience' sake. In whatever aspect we contemplate her virtues, they present an attractive evolution of the best principles of nature and of grace. To her husband she was most tenderly attached; his wishes she anticipated with all the sagacity and promptitude of devoted affection; his sorrows she alleviated by sympathy, and his pleasures she heightened by participation. She fully entered also into his ministerial solicitudes and obligations; in the chamber of affliction, and among the poor of his charge she afforded him unobtrusive, but most efficient aid. Her maternal character was not less exemplary. One of her sons now living has stated, that it was her practice when any of her children had been guilty of some grosser act of disobedience, whether to divine or parental authority, to take the little culprit to a private room, and there, after administering appropriate admonition, and, if necessary, corporal chastisement, to engage in earnest and affectionate prayer with the delinquent, who seldom failed to leave the apartment without a tender consciousness of guilt, and resolves of amendment in future. Whilst thus distinguished by the conscientious discharge of responsibilities of paramount obligation, she was not inattentive to the duties of a subordinate class. The order of her house presented at all times a pattern of neatness, economy and comfort. But, if I would exhibit an accurate delineation of Mrs. Black's character, I must borrow the pencil, or rather the portrait, of inspiration. So truly was Solomon's graphic and inimitable appreciation of the virtuous wife exemplified in her spirit and deportment, that it may well be doubted whether it could be read by any who were well acquainted with her, without suggesting, by an immediate association of ideas, her image to their minds: "Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. She stretcheth forth her hands to the poor; yea, she stretcheth forth her hands to the needy. Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. She openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates." * Proverbs xxxi. M CHAPTER VI. MR. BLACK RELINQUISHES THE IDEA OF GOING TO KINGSWOOD-HIS LITERARY ATTAINMENTS-MR. WESLEY'S FIRST LETTER TO HIM AFTER HIS MARRIAGE-STATE OF RELIGION AT SHELBURNE AND BIRCHTOWN-HAPPY SEASON AT LIVERPOOL-LETTER FROM MRS. BLACK-VISIT ΤΟ THE UNITED DESPONDENCY-MEETS DR. COKE-ACCOMPANIES THE DR. TO PERRY-HALL -CONVERSION OF MR. GOUGH-MESSRS. GARRETSON AND CROMWELL APPOINTED TO NOVA-SCOTIATHE 'CHRISTMAS CONFERENCE-REVIVAL AT BOSTON-MR. GARRETSON'S CHARACTER AND LABOURS -MR. BLACK'S LETTER TO THE SOCIETY AT CUMBERLAND. IN reviewing the circumstances connected with Mr. Black's marriage, we have seen disclosed the operations of a mind deeply imbued with those qualities best adapted to ensure safe direction in all the important exigencies of human life-prudent sagacity, and a devout regard to the intimations of the divine will, whether suggested mentally, or by the course of outward events. Before assuming this new and endearing relation, with its concomitant cares and obligations, he of course relinquished the project of going to Kingswood school, deeming the alternative, all things considered, more in accordance with the great object for |