—as I believed, for prayer and meditation. I well remember the touching tones of his tremulous voice, as I sat beside him during family worship, when he joined in singing the hymn, while the pleasure manifested in his countenance evinced that there was melody in his heart unto the Lord." The night before he died, a Local Preacher, from Thorp-Arch, called upon him, and found him reading the "Life of the Rev. W. Bramwell." He said, "You are once more, Sir, looking over the Memoir of your old friend." Pulling off his spectacles, my father replied, "I am reading it to quicken my soul." He then, with much liveliness and emotion, related some interesting particulars respecting that eminent man, with which he had become acquainted during their long intercourse. He retired to rest, apparently in his usual health, rose at the ordinary time, (in the morning of June 20th,) and was heard by one of the servants moving about the room. When breakfast was ready, he did not, however, come down stairs, as he had been accustomed to do. My sister and brother went up, and entered his apartment. He was dressed, but lying on the floor, warm, but quite insensible. Medical aid was procured as speedily as possible; but all that could be done was ineffectual. It had pleased God to take him to himself.

On the following Sabbath, an appropriate sermon from Rev. xiv. 13, full of evangelical truth, was preached by the Rector, in the parish church, greatly to the comfort of the bereaved family, and the profit of the congregation. On the succeeding Sabbath, sermons were preached in both the Wesleyan chapels in the parish, by the Rev. Luke Barlow, in which he impressively referred the excellencies that adorned Mr. Wilson's character to the grace of God, and called on his hearers to be imitators of the holy example with which they had been so long favoured.

I will close these notices by another extract from a letter written by the Rev. W. Wilson, (3d,) of Yarmouth :-"The influence which Mr. Wilson enjoyed was not the result of superior talents and high attainments; but of the forth-putting of genuine Christian virtues, and a steadily manifested concern for the happiness of all around him, and for the salvation of the world. And the value of a character like this is the greater, because it is within the reach of all who will properly strive after it. And the principal design of recording such instances of departed worth is, that many may thus be led to become followers of them who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises.' Mr. Wilson saw the true grounds on which the claims of religion rested, and did not trifle with them. He saw their justice, and yielded to them fully. What he was, he became by his resolution to be altogether a Christian, and by allowing nothing to counteract this resolution. He experienced and manifested such exemplary stability, by doing that which all may do, and all ought to do: he gave himself up to the service of God; and thus was he enabled, by the all-sufficient grace of God, to walk before him in holiness and righteousness all the remaining days of his life."

MEMOIR OF MR. GEORGE OTTER,

OF CARLTON, IN THE WORKSOP CIRCUIT:

BY THE REV. JOHN RABY.

MR. GEORGE OTTER was born at Stokeham, (since included in the Retford Circuit,) in the year 1783. His parents appear to have been conscientious according to the light which they possessed, and took their child regularly, from his infancy, to the parish church, teaching him, as the earliest lesson which they wished him to learn, the importance of a practical regard to the public worship of Almighty God. Much beyond this, however, they were not able to go; and as their son was naturally lively and active, and higher objects were not yet set before him, he was chiefly taken up with the amusements which were then common with young persons of his own condition in life. Foot-ball, wrestling, sword-exercises, were among those which were peculiarly gratifying to him, and in which he spent most of his time. It was most probably his taste for the last mentioned which induced him, when arrived at a sufficient age, to enlist in the 11th Light Dragoons, in which regiment he continued about twelve months. His frank and cheerful disposition, together with his superiority in what were regarded as military accomplishments, made him very popular among his new associates: but, however amiable, he was still a fallen creature: and now that he was freed from the restraints of home, the fruits of the carnal mind soon became apparent in practical ungodliness. He was proud and passionate, and swearing and Sabbath-breaking became habitual with him. During the ten years immediately preceding his conversion, though he was, by the restraining grace of God, working with the remembrance of early restriction, preserved from more daring impiety, he remained ignorant of his true state, and a stranger to the saving operations of the Holy Spirit. He was careless, worldly, and trifling. His fondness for company especially exposed him to danger, causing him to remain out late at night; and most assuredly, had he not been awakened by the Gospel, and thus checked in his downward career, he would eventually have become a prey to one of the worst of all evils, the love of strong drink.

When he was in his thirty-sixth year, a circumstance, seemingly casual, occurred, which resulted in issues extending not only over his whole remaining life on earth, but extending into eternity. Mr. Thomas Bacon,* a respectable farmer, came to reside at Stokeham. He had been brought up among pious persons; and though not then decidedly converted, he was very anxious that the Wesleyan ministry should be established in the neighbourhood. Occasionally, religious services were held in his house; and at these times he always sought, by personal invitations, to procure as large a congregation as possible.

* A biographical notice of Mr. Bacon will be found on pp. 132–135 of the present volume,—in the Number for February.

At others, he would request his friends to accompany him to some village in the vicinity, to hear the Minister appointed to preach there. On one of these occasions he prevailed on Mr. Otter to go with him to Darlton, where the Rev. Mr. Savage was expected to preach. The text on which he preached is not remembered; but in the course of his sermon he described the misery of the finally impenitent, and alluded to the well-known figure of a lost soul asking, "What's o'clock?" and receiving no other reply than the doleful, changeless, incessant reverberations of the pendulum resounding through the abyss, "Eternity! eternity!" Mr. Otter was deeply impressed by this. The truth was sent home to his heart by the Holy Spirit, and he yielded to it. He saw the horrors of the wrath to come. He felt his own exposure to them. The evils connected with sin he saw and felt, and admitted the truth respecting them into his soul. He was convinced of sin, and became deeply penitent before God. He continued to attend the ministry of the word, conversed with religious friends, and meditated thoughtfully in private. Increasing light thus brought before him the simple but glorious method of deliverance by faith in Christ. He sought the Lord with all his heart, and continued instant in prayer for pardon, and the removal of the burden of guilt from his conscience. And in a short time he obtained the blessing which he sought. He was enabled to rest his soul on Christ, and was immediately filled with all peace and joy through believing. And as he had with the heart believed unto righteousness, so with the mouth he made confession unto salvation. He thankfully acknowledged what great things the Lord had done for him; and it was soon manifest in his whole deportment, that a great change had indeed taken place in all his views and feelings. He became thoughtful and serious; and though he said but little amongst his more immediate friends, yet he on every suitable occasion bore a decided testimony, both in favour of the religion which he had thus happily been brought to experience, and against those prevailing customs which he believed to be contrary to the word of God, and inconsistent with the true spirit of vital Christianity. All this appeared very singular to his relations, who, being then unacquainted with the religion of inward experience, like some of old time, though differing among themselves in many particulars, agreed in their opposition to a sect which they believed to be everywhere spoken against. It was owing to their arguments, and especially to those of a brother whom he much loved, and who had great influence over him, that he was dissuaded for the present from joining the Wesleyan society. Still, he continued to cherish the vital principle which had been implanted in his heart. Though not united in church-fellowship with the Methodists, he was animated by their characteristic and stirring zeal for the salvation of the souls of others. His brother joined him in many of his endeavours to do good, though for some time these were carried on more immediately in connexion with the Established Church. In the whole neighbourhood this was in a low state. Many who professed to be zealous Churchmen cared little for the glory of God, or for the true interests of the Church to

which they said they belonged, and nothing at all for the honour of the house of prayer. The two brothers sought to remedy some of these defects. The parish church was repaired, painted, and cleaned, and rendered more commodious for the congregation. The neglected condition of the children engaged their attention, and, to provide for their instruction, a large Sunday-school was soon established at Drayton, a village not far from Stokeham, designed for the benefit of the children in both places.

But Mr. George Otter was far from being satisfied. The new life of which he had been made a partaker, required suitable nourishment. He felt that he could only be fed by truths of the same class which had contributed to his awakening, repentance, and regeneration. The brothers sought the ministry of those who were reputed the best Clergymen in the vicinity; but they seldom heard any other doctrines than those which are usually described by the term, "High-Church.” The sermons which were delivered mostly referred to the necessity of union with the Church, (that is, the Episcopal Church of England,) and to the efficacy of the sacraments. Of a present deliverance from the guilt and power of sin by faith in Christ, of the new birth, as signifying a real change of heart, producing a real change of life, they heard nothing. Mr. George Ötter clung to the institutions in favour of which all his early prejudices were enlisted, and in which fraternal affection and influence sought to confirm him, as long as he could. But he felt all the while the need of more substantial food. He said, in effect, "What is the chaff to the wheat?" "His hungry

soul looked up, and was not fed." He occasionally heard the Wesleyan Ministers, and could not avoid contrasting the subjects on which they were accustomed to dwell, with those which he was in the habit of usually hearing. He was convinced, at length, that his proceedings must be altered. He was convinced that the preaching of the Wesleyans was most in accordance with the word of God. He knew that

it had been the power of God to his own salvation. He therefore resolved to enter at once and decisively on the way of duty; and, about a year after his conversion, in 1819, he joined the Wesleyan society at Darlton, and thus became a member of the Connexion, in association with which he spent the remainder of his days, and, at length, finished his course with joy. In the communion of saints which he now enjoyed, he was much blessed.

The character of his

piety was decided, and soon became very elevated. He was truly humble, grateful, and happy; full of the glow of his first love, and courageously zealous in the cause of his Redeemer. As occasion required, he was the lamb or the lion, meek and lowly, or ardent and bold. His heart was set on the salvation of his friends and relations; and this he sought with untiring efforts. He also felt much for the spiritual destitution of Stokeham and Drayton, and succeeded in the introduction of Wesleyan preaching into the latter village. With many others, he was much profited by the powerful ministry of the Rev. I. Lilly and the Rev. T. L. Hodgson, then in the Circuit to which the villages in the neighbourhood had become attached.

the May of the year just mentioned, he was appointed by the Superintendent to collect and lead a class. Ten persons soon offered themselves; and thus the Wesleyan society at Stokeham had its commencement. Among these were his two brothers and his sisterin-law; and shortly after, his aged father joined the little company. The number continued to increase, so that, after, a second class was formed; and though Mr. Otter himself had not been very long a partaker of the grace of the Gospel, yet his zeal and fidelity, now that he had thoroughly devoted himself to the path of duty, made him an acceptable and useful Leader. Walking himself in the clear light of the divine favour, and pressing daily after higher degrees of holiness, he was well adapted for the work of watching over those who professed to be inquiring the way to Zion, with their faces thitherward. Those who were truly penitent, he exhorted not to rest without the direct witness of the Holy Spirit to their acceptance in the Beloved; while those who had believed through grace were encouraged to be steadfast and unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, and taught that it was their interest, their privilege, and duty, to seek to walk in the unclouded beams of the Sun of Righteousness, and to be made perfect in divine love. He thus endeavoured, both by precept and example, to stimulate all who were under his care to seek the full salvation of the Gospel, and to walk worthy of the vocation with which they had been called.

After he had been a Class-Leader about two years, he felt a strong desire to be more extensively engaged in seeking to do good, and not only to assist in directing the penitent, and establishing the believer, but to be employed, particularly on the Sabbath, in calling sinners to repentance. He therefore became a Local Preacher. For some time he experienced many difficulties, and much discouragement, though at length, by steady and industrious perseverance, the obstacles in his way were surmounted, and he became an efficient and respectable member of this valuable class of assistant labourers in the vineyard of the Lord. The great hinderance to his success at first, arose from his neglect of useful reading and mental improvement, previously to his own conversion. Up to that time, only works of a light and trifling nature, books designed for amusement merely, had afforded him any pleasure. He only read what might gratify the carnal mind. For useful reading, therefore, he had contracted no taste; and these his previous habits rather indisposed him, than otherwise, for that closer application necessary for such an acquaintance with divine truth as would make him able to teach others. When he began to study, the very foundation had to be laid; and this is a task not easy to be accomplished by those who have reached the middle period of their life. But he was urged by a sense of duty; and the work was the more pleasant to him, because it related to subjects of which he not only felt the importance, but tasted the sweetness. He applied his mind, therefore, diligently to the study of the Bible. The Wesleyan Hymn-book, and the Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine, were taken as assistants in the work. He read the writings of Benson, Watson,