FITH, was superintendent of the circuit the first year, and the Rev. William Jenkins the second.

A somewhat curious anecdote is told respecting Mr. Miller's scruples of conscience, with regard to riding on horseback. Because his blessed Master rode an ass, he doubted whether he, the servant, ought to be elevated above him in the use of the more noble animal. After turning over this case of conscience, with his usual sincerity and singleness of eye, he made known his perplexity to his kind and affectionate superintendent. The issue was a grave consultation between the brethren and the circuit stewards on the question; but as they were not quite prepared to go all lengths with Mr. Miller, they agreed to compromise the matter, and procure a mule. This anomalous steed carried the preachers to their places once or twice pretty well; but either on his second or third journey with Mr. Griffith, the self-willed animal took it into his head to stop short on the road. Neither kind nor severe treatment could make him stir in advance. He was willing enough to go back, but had no inclination to go forward. The place being distant, no remedy could be discovered to meet the difficulty, and the poor people were disappointed. This was deemed too serious a matter to be overlooked; itinerancy could not be interrupted. Poor Mulo was disposed of, and his place taken by the more noble and tractable horse.

The late venerable and holy JOSEPH ENTWISTLE used to tell the following story respecting Mr. Miller and some of his Sheffield friends. It seems Mr. Entwistle did not come up to the standard of these good men, in ardour, vehemence, and what they deemed zeal, in the public service of God. There was, indeed, a striking

contrast, in almost every thing but piety, in the parties. Mr. Entwistle was remarkable for placidity, meekness, serenity of mind, and mildness of expression; and was equally eminent for devotion, a close walk with God, spiritual affections-together with wise and untiring exertions to glorify God in his public labours. Few men have maintained a more exalted character, ranked higher as a faithful and useful minister, shone with a more beautiful and steady light through a long life, down to its very evening, than this blessed and holy man. Meeting him, in one of the vestries in Sheffield, at the time in question, Mr. Miller, Joseph Drake, and one or two more, considered it a suitable occasion to get Mr. Entwistle on his knees to pray for him. They accordingly surrounded him, and instantly kneeling, first one, and then another prayed that the Lord would bestow various blessings on brother Entwistle, meaning by this, that he would make him a revivalist like themselves. To do this, would have required a miracle-to make him physically and mentally, over again. With his usual sweetness, Mr. Entwistle said-"I thank you brethren, but what do you want? I am very happy in the love of God; I enjoy his salvation; possess the witness of his Spirit, and am, in my way, endeavouring to glorify him." The issue was such as might be expected; each retained his respective religious identity; Mr. Entwistle departed to move in his own sphere of beautiful and tranquil piety, and his honest, but mistaken friends, to blaze forth in their own heaven of fervid holiness and zeal.

It is somewhat singular that we know but little of Mr. Miller at Sheffield. Living there amongst the friends with whom he chiefly corresponded, that corres

pondence for the time ceased, so that no light is thrown upon his religious state and labours by any remaining letters. It is melancholy to reflect, that, however beloved and useful a minister may have been— how soon every thing is forgotten respecting him,— except his eccentricities, if he should have indulged in any. These linger on traditionally, when all true excellency, and things which ought to be remembered, have long before been lost.

We have the feelings of Mr. Miller in some degree developed respecting Sheffield, in his subsequent correspondence; and from these sources learn, that his sojourn in that place was of the most pleasant nature. In a letter to Mrs. Unwin, written soon after his departure, he says "I feel as if I must drop you a line. I left Sheffield in so abrupt a manner, (and, indeed taking leave of my friends was so painful to me, that I was obliged to leave you abruptly,) that I cannot rest satisfied, without convincing you of my love and affection. Your kindness and attention to me and mine, will never be forgotten by me, and I wish I had it in my power to give more solid proofs of my gratitude than mere words. But it is the effusion of my heart, when I assure you, that I take the liveliest concern in the temporal and eternal interest of you and yours. I will pray that our common Saviour, our blessed Jesus, may pour upon you the treasures of his grace, quicken your soul, deepen his blessed work, and increase every gracious disposition of your heart; that you may grow in grace and holiness, work out your salvation with earnestness, and with redoubled exertion, that his whole will may be wrought in you, to the praise of his rich grace."

In another letter addressed to Mrs. Harwood, the daughter of the above lady, he remarks-" In referring to our Sheffield friends to day, we felt all the sorrow that the sincerest friendship could inspire. Believe us, the further we remove from you, we drag a lengthened chain, which grows heavier and heavier. Oh! may

we live nearer to Him who only can unite our hearts in that heaven of uninterrupted bliss, where parting and sorrow shall never take place, but our kindred souls intermingle in the perfect union of love for ever and ever."

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Such were the feelings of this affectionate pastor towards his first religious friends, after their mutual attachment had been strengthened by his regular ministerial labours among them. Indeed, Sheffield must have been at that time, a religious Goshen. The state of the work of God, and the character of living Christians, and not any thing peculiar in places, constitute the happiness, or sorrow, of ministers. From what we know of the men of that generation, we may feel assured, that Sheffield would be to Mr. Miller, a scene of peculiar interest, a genial soil, a fruitful field. society which contained such spirits-then in the vigour and palmy prime of life—as Messrs. Holy, Levick, the elder Longden, Wilkinson, Smith, Hodgson, and one who still lives, a noble and massive pillar in the church of God-must have been a place of no common character, in a religious point of view. The people usually take their impress from their leaders in religious, perhaps more than in civil life; and judging of the mass, by these specimens of vigorous piety, it will follow, that the standard was eminently elevated at that period. This, indeed, is known to be the case. For spiritual knowledge,

holiness of conversation, deadness to the maxims and fashions of the world, power in prayer, zeal for the glory of God, and labours for the extension of the kingdom of the Saviour, few people were more eminent. Mr. Miller himself was a fruit of the great grace of God manifested in this place; and after the lapse of a brief period, he returned to bless it by the labours of his holy and ardent ministry.

Though destitute of detail, we have some general data on which to judge of the fruits of his labour. In the first year of his appointment, we find an increase of two hundred and twenty two members. This may not show, that what Mr. Miller so anxiously sought in every circuit, namely, a revival, took place; but it indicates a healthy and progressive improvement. Revivals cannot be perpetual: they would cease to be so, if this were the case.

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We have, however, another, though a somewhat different proof of the growth of religion in this place, in the erection of Carver-street Chapel, which took place during his ministerial residence there. seems that though chiefly built, and opened in Mr. Miller's time, its erection was contemplated before his arrival, if not begun, and that in the first instance, he entertained doubts respecting the prudence of the measure. In a letter to a friend, from Nottingham, written some time in the summer of 1803, he refers to this case-" After having some conversation with Mr. Taft, I feel so uneasy that I must write you a few lines. It appears from all that I can hear, that you have not been used kindly in the affair of the chapel. I fear lest your mind should get materially hurt, and that you should be led to quarrel with