the interment of Mr. Bramwell's remains would take place on the following Sunday.

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“On Sunday the sixteenth of August, multitudes from all parts of the country repaired to Westgate Hill, to witness the funeral ceremony of their beloved friend and pastor. Several aged people came from some of the villages beyond Sheffield, and others from places equally distant.

"Mr. Highfield preached in the area adjoining the chapel, to an overwhelming congregation, from Matthew, xxiv, 44, 'Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh.' The body was then committed to the silent grave, amidst the sincere lamentations of many thousands present. Immediately afterward, Mr. Nelson and Dr. Taft delivered very solemn and appropriate addresses to the deeply affected multitude.

"This solemn event was improved, the same Sunday evening, in all the three Methodist chapels in Leeds, and in many of the adjoining circuits; and on the fourteenth of September, a funeral sermon was preached by Mr. William Dawson, in the area in front of Mr. Sigston's school, and near the place where Mr. Bramwell died. Nearly ten thousand persons were assembled that afternoon, and listened with almost breathless attention to the admirable discourse of this engaging preacher.*

"A plain tablet, bearing the following neat *This discourse was soon after published by particular request.

and unassuming inscription, has been erected to his memory in the burial ground at Westgate Hill:

HERE LIETH WHAT WAS EARTHLY

Of the venerable

WILLIAM BRAMWELL,

A chosen, approved, and valiant minister of Christ,
Who died August 13, A. D. 1818, aged 59.
Stranger! when thou approachest this shrine
Consecrated to his memory
By an afflicted family,

May his ashes still proclaim, what he lived
To publish,

'Prepare to meet thy God.''

CHAPTER XVI.

A remarkable dream in reference to Mr. Bramwell-
Mr. Ward's brief character of him.

It was the original intention of the author of this memoir to have inserted, in this place, a comprehensive view of the late Mr. Bramwell's character. But a detailed character of Mr. Bramwell seems the less necessary in this place, because each of the friends who contributed to the preceding account has given his own view of particular traits in it, which are correct and edifying.

It has, however, been thought proper to subjoin the following remarkable dream, which was related to the author by Mr. Henshaw, on the When morning of Mr. Bramwell's decease. Mr. Henshaw returned to his circuit, he was

requested to furnish a statement of it, which he did in the following terms:

"I shall never forget the affecting scene which occurred on the morning after the last conference closed. Passing by your door a few minutes before six o'clock, from the house of my hospitable friend, Mr. W. Smith, it was announced to me that Mr. Bramwell was dead. Overwhelmed with this unexpected and most afflictive intelligence, and scarcely thinking it could possibly be true, I entered the paror, where I saw the body of my friend laid on the sofa, clothed as usual, with a pillow under his head, his eyes closed, his body warm, and his features then as perfectly com-. posed as if he had been in a sweet sleep,-only he breathed not.' Being left alone in the room with him for some time, I had sensations of holy delight, peculiar and indescribable.Never before did death to me so appear disarmed of terror; never did the veil which hides the blessedness of eternity from our view, seem so thin. I seemed to enjoy the sweetest fellowship with his happy spirit, and wished myself in his stead. His faithful, piercing sermons, his fervent prayers, his holy example, his heavenly converse, and the interviews of past years, rushed on my recollection with uncommon force and then I saw the career of his useful labor and of his life, thus easily and happily finished together. I saw also, by faith, the beginning of his glorious triumphant state, which should continue for ever; and if a wish

would have brought him from the skies, to tabernacle again in this abode of darkness, pain, and death, I could not have offered it. As God had said to Moses, 'Get thee up into this mountain and die,' so he seemed to have said to this holy man, 'Thy work is done; leave the house of thy friend, and enter into the joy of thy Lord.' The behest was obeyed; and dropping the shreds of mortality, he entered into glory.

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His death brought to my remembrance a dream that I had above twenty years ago. I related it to you; and it seems you then thought it so remarkable, from the reference made in it .to Mr. Bramwell, as to request a written account of it. With this request I find great difficulty in complying. Dreams in general are such odd fantastic things, that they who much regard them are justly contemned. Some dreams are however, unquestionably Divine; and many others may be related to a few friends by the fireside, which it would not be proper to make public. To print a dream is a serious affair ; I am therefore extremely doubtful as to the propriety of the following appearing before the public, although the beneficial effect which it had upon my own mind at the time was considerable. I submit it, however, wholly to your judgment, as I write it solely at your request.

"I told you that soon after the death of that venerable minister, Mr. Thomas Hanby, in December, 1796, I was desired by the society m Nottingham to supply his lack of service in

the circuit, until the time of conference. About three months after I had commenced this arduous task, one night, in a dream, I saw Mr. Wesley enter the house where I then was, dressed exactly as I had seen him in the pulpit. I thought I at once told him of the desire which I felt to devote myself to the service of the Lord, as an itinerant preacher in his connection. He rubbed his hands, and with affability expressed his approbation. As I had already hurt my health by loud and violent speaking, and had received from different persons very opposite directions relative to my mode of delivery in the pulpit, it occurred to me to ask the opinion of Mr. Wesley, 'Whether or not I should endeavor to continue that earnestness of manner in preaching with which I had commenced?' He said, 'You know the clergy in general adopt a cool and deliberate method of speaking, and do but little good. We must look upon ourselves as ministers called of God, out of the ordinary way, to awaken a sleepy world to a sense of sin and danger, and earnestly to direct all men to Christ: therefore labor hard in the pulpit.' I replied, ' But inasmuch as conversion can be effected only by the operation of the Spirit of God on the hearts of the people, may we not expect that operation as much when speaking in a cool and deliberate manner, as by the use of the utmost warmth and energy of expression?' He said, 'No. The Holy Spirit co-operates with the word when it is delivered in a warm and earnest manner, and makes it