and of Blair combined, could not deter him from using any species of simile or diction in the desk that he deemed best adapted to rouse the consciences or instruct the minds of his audience. In a good old age he was gathered to his fathers in peace, and succeeded by his son-in-law, the Rev. Mr. Jenkins, the present rector of Charlottetown. He has a son, a respectable and devoted Wesleyan Missionary, the Rev. Albert Desbrisay, whose labours have been greatly blessed in various parts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The increase of the society, as exhibited by the returns made at the Conference of 1794, which was held at Windsor, was very animating. The number of accredited members now amounted to eleven hundred, Mr. Black's hopes of a visit from Dr. Coke were doomed to be again cut off. Under date of Feb. 6th, 1794, says the Dr.-"I can by no means be absent from the next British Conference. There is a general dissatisfaction running through the whole connection: both preachers and people complain 'we have no government.' There is also a general cry among the people for the sacraments among ourselves, and they must be indulged." He adds the cheering intelligence-" We have had a great revival in and about Halifax, Dewsbury, Bradford and Bristol, in Yorkshire: ten or twelve justified of a day. Cries and tears till two in the morning, as in America." CHAPTER XIII. MR. BLACK PROPOSES TO REMOVE TO ENGLAND-MI- HALIFAX-DESIGNATION POWER OF MESSRS. TRINES IN WITH the year 1794 closes Mr. Black's Journal. It has been my endeavour to cull from it whatever materials appeared to me most appropriate to the design of biography. With those I have connected some collateral topics, naturally suggested by the narrative, and such illustrations of character as my personal knowledge of the individuals to whom reference is made, has enabled me to supply. In the sequel of the work the same unbroken continuity of events is not to be expected. Our materials, however, are not exhausted. Much of interest yet remains; but the extension of the volume beyond its contemplated limits admonishes us to be studious of selection and brevity. Any chasms which may occur will excite the less astonishment, when it is remembered that Mr. Black's labours, as well as the cause which had so abundantly prospered under his auspices, had now acquired a character of uniformity, and were therefore only occasionally marked with incident of a very striking order. : Strong and ever-increasing as were his ties and attachments to Nova Scotia, his own, his native land,' still possessed a charm and an attraction that operated powerfully upon his mind and it was not until the voice of Divine Providence unequivocally interdicted such a course, that he abandoned the cherished expectation and hope of spending the evening of his life in England. The grand objection to the accomplishment of his wishes in this particular arose from the paternal relation he sustained to the work of God in Nova Scotia, and from the consequences to be apprehended from the disruption of his union with it. That objection he endeavoured at one period to obviate, by proposing that the societies in Nova Scotia and the sister provinces should be transferred to the American Connexion. Their proximity to the United States, he was then of opinion, would greatly contribute to the extension and stability of the work, by securing a more regular supply of ministerial agency and the efficient superintendence of the bishops. Political obstacles, however, presented themselves to the salutary working of such a plan. These Mr. Black foresaw, but he flattered himself that they would not prove in-. superable." It is now a subject of consideration amongst us," he writes Bishop Asbury, "whether we ought not to put ourselves under the 'direction of the the preachers. American bishops. I have mentioned it to some of It is objected that such an union would excite the jealousies of our Civil Governors : but in my opinion, if the preachers who might come from the United States should be prudent men, and let politics alone, there would be nothing to fear from that quarter. What have the ministers of Christ to do with the administration of civil government ? Christ's kingdom is not of this world. We are neither magistrates nor legislators." Were all ministers influenced by the same elevated views of the spirituality of their office, and endued with the same degree of prudence that Mr. Black possessed, the arrangement `which in the charity and sincerity of his heart he recommended, might possibly have been adopted without any disastrous consequences. Such were the views entertained, and such the course pursued by Christians and Christian ministers in relation to human governments in the days of the Church's glory. And thus it was that they operated with the most beneficent influence on the very elements of the social system, and changed the frame and the face of the evangelized nations. "The governments which have most influence in the world, glory in the name of Christian ; and profess to derive their fundamental principles, both of law and equity from the Book of God. Had the genuine followers of Christ taken part in the different political discussions, by which the nations where they sojourned have been embroiled and agitated, these glorious ends, humanly speaking, had never been accomplished. The Christian Church would have been a wretched grovelling thing, cooped up in corners, without shedding a ray of beneficence on the earth; as equally unproductive of glory to God in the Highest, as of peace and good will among men. We are authorized to speak thus, from the fall of those churches or individuals which, in different parts, identified themselves with the disaffected, complained of state corruptions, discussed politics and not religion, and were soon shorn of their strength, and became like other men."* Apart from the merits of the plan meditated by Mr. Black for the ecclesiastical government of the societies in Nova Scotia, &c., his dissociation from them was deprecated by all who had at heart their best interests. In a letter dated Wakefield, May 5, 1801, Doctor Coke thus remonstrates with him on the subject :-" What will you do in a circuit in England? They don't want you. Give up your great sphere of action, in which God has by a series of miracles placed you, if you dare; mind you will repent of it but once, if you retain the life of God." An opportunity, however, was afforded him, of visiting England and there is reason to believe that the hallowed impression which his piety produced on the hearts of many who were there intimately conversant with him, will be had in everlasting remembrance. Should Dr. Bunting cast his eye over this page, he will not, we are persuaded, be displeased at seeing his name associated with that of one whom he so much loved and venerated, nor feel inclined to blame us for giving publicity to his heart's just estimation' of the holy and amiable subject of this Memoir. In a letter dated, Macclesfied Circuit, Feb. 23, 1802, the Dr. thus addresses him : "MY DEAR MR. BLACK, "I know not whether you will, at first sight, recog* Dr. A. Clarke's Discourse on the rights of God and Cæsar.' |