The music, which was Barthelomon's, was, to my view, truly charming. I have never seen it in print, and I have no copy of it in manuscript. I recollect a Mr. Gregory wrote out several books of Barthelomon's music which were used in the choir, but I was not rich enough to purchase a copy. I will, however, try to write the tune set to the hymn above-mentioned from memory :

There are many others of Mr. Proud's hymns that deeply affect me, and with all their faults I love them still.'

The diminution of the congregation seemed to depreciate Mr. Proud in the estimation of several of the Society, and discontent gradually expressed itself orally. There were

several, however, who held that Mr. Proud could do no wrong, and my brother was among the number. A length the discontent and unpleasantness increased sc much that Mr. Proud resigned, and accepted a call to Birmingham, to which town he removed.

Dr. Churchill, who was then officiating as the successor of Dr. Hodson, in Dudley Court, Soho Square, was invited to become the minister, to which he acceded; and the whole of the Society in Dudley Court following him, a union was formed between the two societies somewhere about the month of August, 1814.

Although I was not acquainted with Dr. Hodson, it may be proper, in order to keep my narrative connected, to say a few words respecting him. My knowledge of him was from his successor, the Rev. Dr. Churchill.

Dr. Hodson's reception of the doctrines of the New Church was of a particularly providential kind. From his youth he had been a diligent student of the Sacred Scriptures, and, from reflection upon them, he was led to the conviction that Jesus Christ alone was the true God. So convinced was he of this great truth, that he had written a work, entitled, 'Jesus Christ the True God and Sole Object of Supreme Adoration,' for the publication of which he had issued proposals, never having seen a line of Swedenborg's Theological Writings. This prospectus having fallen into the hands of some of the early Swedenborgians, they waited upon the Doctor, and introduced to his notice the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. He at once, and with the greatest enthusiasm, received them. He ministered to an affectionate flock gratuitously, and on his death, which took place on the 16th of April, 1812, in the fifty-ninth year of his age, he was succeeded by Dr. T. F. Churchill, who wrote the following lines to his memory :

'Sweet are the contemplations which attend
The placid moments of the good man's end;
Sweet is the hope that bids the Christian rise
In bless'd, extatic vision to the skies;

And sweet the thoughts that soothe the troubled breast,
And lull our sorrows and our cares to rest.
Suppress the sigh! profane no more with grief
The welcome hour which gave his soul relief!
As, like a shock of corn, full ripe, he goes
To the pure haven of secure repose,

Enraptur'd seraphs greet him," Brother, come!"
And, lingering, wait to waft his spirit home.
Wisdom, who filled thy breast with heav'nly lore,
And taught, with upward wing, thy thoughts to soar;
Virtue, whose deathless image lived enshrined
Within the sacred temple of thy mind;
And Charity, soft smiling through her tears,
And meek Religion, tenant of the spheres,
Thy pious labors and thy love approve,
And bear thee, HODSON, to the realms above:
There shalt thou live, with joys celestial crown'd,
Where Honor, Peace, and Happiness abound.'

Besides his standard work on the Sole Divinity of the Lord,' which has served as a model for most of the subsequent works on that subject, he was the author of a valuable volume of sermons on the Israelitish Bondage and Deliverance'; and his nephew, Mr. J. S. Hodson, publisher, has recently published a sermon of his on 'Jeremiah in the Dungeon,' which is deserving of an attentive perusal.

It was the congregation who had sat under Dr. Hodson that united with the congregation in Lisle Street, under the pastorate, as just stated, of the Rev. Dr. Churchill.

Meantime, about twenty persons belonging to Lisle Street Society seceded, and formed themselves into a distinct and separate society, still acknowledging Mr. Proud as their minister; and he, on his part, supplied them with manuscript sermons to read at their meetings. They took a large room near the Obelisk, St. George's Fields, which they fitted up very neatly, and it was capable of accommodating about 500 persons. It was opened by Mr. Proud, who came from Birmingham for the purpose, on the 26th of March, 1815.

For a time, a Mr. Thomas Vaughan performed the ministerial duties; but soon it was found that he was

unable to fulfil the entire labor, and several of th members agreed to officiate alternately. My brothe the late Rev. Thomas Goyder, took an active part these services, first reading Mr. Proud's sermons, bu soon relinquishing them for compositions of his own.

I now began to take notice of the difference in doctrin preached by my brother to that which was preached the Church of England, but I was afraid to controver him openly; for, although in my nineteenth year, I was so small, and had withal such an infantine look, that every one regarded me as a child. I taught in the Sunday school, it is true; but I was put to the lowest classes.

I determined that I would address the preacher by letter. So, after each doctrinal lecture, I used to retain the heads; and, from my previous study of some of the most eminent of the divines of the Church of England, I always replied to the allegations made on the previous Sunday evening, or brought forward objections to some of the more prominent points of doctrine; and thus I con tinued objecting and receiving replies from the pulpit during a period of two years. No one suspected me; I was too small for notice. I have sat in the Sunday school, after the dismissal of the children, and heard my brother and some of the members express wonder at the pertinacity of his anonymous correspondent, and devise means for detecting him. But I kept my own counsel. I used to obtain a sheet of demy paper, fill it, and send it to him through the post.

On one occasion, I thought I would notice an irregularity which I had observed in several of the Swedenborgians of leaving the church before the benediction was pronounced. I considered it as an indignity offered to the Lord. I took my ground on what I had heard stated in a sermon, On the Priesthood of Aaron ';that the minister, while performing his duty, was representative of the Lord; and asked if the members really believed this? and if they did, what had they to urge in

excuse for leaving the church before the representative of the Lord had pronounced the benediction? Was it not insulting the Lord to his face? This part of my letter was read from the pulpit, and had the happiest effect; and I heard Mr. Granger say, 'Who can this close observer be? What a useful man he would make among us could we but convince him of the Truth!' But the Swedenborgian doctrines now really began to take some hold of me. I was a regular attendant on my brother's ministry, and began greatly to admire him, although I still kept my secret.

Meantime my little hoard of money had melted away, and the business of my brother was not at all sufficient to find me constant employment, and as my income was only half of what I did earn, I was sadly pinched for food. My clothes, too, were growing very shabby, and I was beginning to be ashamed of going to church. I rarely made more than 12s. a-week, so that my net income did not exceed 63. Out of this I had 2s. 6d. per week to pay for lodging, leaving 3s. 6d. for clothes and food, and bread at that time was Is. 6d. the quartern loaf.

In July, 1817, my brother was ordained a minister of the New Church by the Rev. M. Sibley and the Rev. Dr. Churchill, and entered upon his duties as a minister with much activity and energy.

The first sermon after his ordination I have reprinted and introduced as the leading discourse in the volume of his sermons edited by me, immediately after his death.

In

my own case I began now to believe that there was salvation OUT of the pale of the English Church, and after a most patient investigation of the doctrines, reading the writings of Swedenborg, and comparing them with the Scriptures, I was satisfied that either the doctrines of the Swedenborgians were true, or there was no truth. Though now 21 years of age, I was still a child in appearance, but I resolved to join the Church if my brother would admit me; so I made application and was received, being baptised in public.