V.

JOHN NELSON, THE YORKSHIRE MASON.

"I, JOHN NELSON, was born in the parish of Birstal, in the West Riding of the County of York, in October, 1707, and brought up a mason, as was my father before me." Thus begins one of the most remarkable books in the language. In simple, homely Saxon words, the author tells the story of his life. We get in his pages a vivid picture of the England of a hundred and fifty years ago-of its spiritual destitution, and of the great Wesleyan revival that swept over it, and gave it a grand, moral impulse, which is felt throughout the world.

John Nelson's life was one of holy zeal and grandest heroism. Like many a man through whom God has blessed the world, he was made to pass through intense religious experience, doubtless, that he might the better counsel and comfort those who were in spiritual distress. We shall tell the story as much as possible in his own words. While yet a boy, he was "horribly terrified with the thoughts of death and judgment." As the awful imagery of the Apocalypse was presented to his mind, the Word came with such power that he "fell with his face on the floor,

and wept till the place was as wet where he lay as if water had been poured thereon." Still, he had no saving acquaintance with the truth till after his marriage and settlement in life. But all the while his heart cried out for the living God. The hand of God was heavy upon him, and often forty times a day he prayed for pardon. His fellow-workmen persecuted him because he would not drink with them, till he fought with several of them; then they left him alone. He wandered from one part of the kingdom to another, seeking rest and finding none.

In his thirtieth year he writes: "O that I had been a horse or a sheep! Rather than live thirty years more as I have, I would choose strangling. O that I had never been born! An awful sense of the reality of the unseen world and of the impending terrors of the Judgment-day weighed, like an intolerable load, upon him. He went from church to church-to St. Paul's, to the Dissenters, the Quakers, the Roman Catholics, to "all but the Jews"-to try to save his soul. Still, the burden of conscious guilt He realized, in all its bitterness, that "by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified."

was unremoved.

A score of times he stood amid the surging, grimy throng that gathered around Whitefield as he preached on Moorfields; but though he loved the man, and was ready to fight for him, he found no peace from hearing him. "The pains of hell gat hold upon him." Sleep departed from his eyes, and when he fell into slumber he dreamed that he was engaged

in mortal combat with Satan, and awoke convulsed with horror and affright.

At last John Wesley preached at Moorfields. When he spoke he made the heart of Nelson beat like the pendulum of a clock. Conviction deepened. His

friends would have knocked Mr. Wesley's brains out, for he would be the ruin, they said, of many families

if he were allowed to live and to go on as he did. For weeks Nelson wrestled with God in agony of soul. At last he vowed that he would neither eat nor drink till he found forgiveness. He prayed till he could pray no more. He got up and walked to and fro, and prayed again, the tears falling from his eyes like great drops of rain. A third time he fell

upon his knees, but " was as dumb as a beast before God." At length, in an agony, he cried out, “Lord, thy will be done; damn or save.” That moment was Jesus Christ evidently set before him as crucified for his sins. His heart at once was set at liberty, and he began to sing, "O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me." Through such spiritual travail was this valiant soul born into the kingdom of God.

That night he was driven from his lodgings on account of his much praying and ado about religion. But as he was leaving the house, conviction seized his hosts, and they were both, man and wife, soon made partakers of the same grace.

Nelson was ordered to oversee some work on the following Sunday. He declined, and was threatened with dismissal from his employment. "I would rather see my wife and children beg their way barefoot to heaven," he replied, "than ride in a coach to hell. I will run the risk of wanting bread here rather than the hazard of wanting water hereafter." His master swore that he was as mad as Whitefield; that Wesley had made a fool of him. But, instead of being dismissed, he was raised higher than ever in his master's regard, nor were any men set to work on the Sunday.

In all this time he had never spoken to Mr. Wesley, nor conversed with any experienced person about religion. He longed to find someone to talk with; but, he pathetically says, he sought in vain, for he

could find none.

Nevertheless he was taught of God, and had sweet fellowship with Him in almost constant prayer and in the study of His Holy Word.

Such a desire for the salvation of souls now possessed him that he hired one of his fellow-workmen to hear Mr. Wesley preach, which led to his conversion and that of his wife.

But Nelson was permitted to be sorely buffeted by Satan; grievous temptations assailed his soul. God's hand, too, was laid heavily upon him. An accumulation of calamities, almost like the afflictions of Job, overtook him. A single letter informed him that his almost idolized daughter was dead, that his son's life was despaired of, that his wife had fallen from a horse and was lamed, that his father-in-law was dead and his mother sick. But, like Job, he exclaimed, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.”

He set out on his eventful journey to Yorkshire, but he "had no more thought of preaching than of eating fire." His friends were astonished at the story of his conversion. They said they had never heard of such a thing in their lives. His mother said his head was turned. "Yes," he replied, "and, I thank God, my heart also." His neighbours upbraided and mocked him. His wife refused to live with him; but by his faith and love he brought her to a knowledge of the Saviour.

He forthwith began exhorting his neighbours to flee from the wrath to come Like Andrew, he first brought his own brother to Jesus, and in a few days, six of his neighbours also. There was a spiritual famine in