Mr. Asbury understood his superior in office well; knew he was no less opposed to the spirit of independence that threatened the overthrow of kingly power in America, than to the spirit of revivals, which he supposed went to disgrace religion by the destruction of what he called order. As to the spirit of revivals, Mr. Asbury always sided with those who deemed it dangerous to be offended, and to animadvert with severity on those gusts of feeling that always did accompany deep and lasting revivals of religion. The friends of order, he used to say, may well allow a guilty mortal to tremble at God's word, for to such the Lord will look; and the saints to cry out and shout when the Holy One is in the midst of them. To be hasty in plucking the tares, were to endanger the wheat. Of this we should be aware, lest we touch the ark to our own injury and that of others.

The churches have, I think, erred on the subject of order. They have mistaken the order of man for the order of God. I once knew a female member of a certain church, remarkable for piety and good sense, who, under a pathetic address of her minister, was constrained to cry out and shout, and her voice pierced the hearts of many, who trembled and wept; but her minister rebuked her sharply, commanding her to be silent, or to leave the house. She immediately left the house, and retired to a wood, where, without interrupting or being interrupted, she gave vent to the big emotions of her soul, while the holy fire burned within. Had the minister continued his address, and instead of rebuking this saint, called upon those who were weeping and trembling around her, to get down upon their knees and pray, and the pious part of his congregation to join in beseeching the Lord to pardon and shed his love abroad in their penitent hearts, there would, I doubt not, have been a great and glorious revival of religion. As it was, serious impressions continued with many for a season, and then died away; and the good lady, who in case of a revival would have been a nursing mother, was dubbed an enthusiast. This she bore long; but at length, having removed to a distant part, opened her doors to receive Methodist preaching; was the first that joined them in that part, and was long a nursing mother in our Zion, greatly respected by all who knew her, and greatly beloved by all about her who knew the Lord.*

* From the diary of this excellent person I took, by her permission, the following sketch without alteration:-The grove to which I fled from the rebuke of my minister for disturbing what he called the order of God, where nevertheless the presence of my God attended me, and shone so bright that its foliage seemed tinged with his glory, was long my favorite retreat. Here were the lofty trees whose cooling umbrage in the sultry season I often enjoyed, and whose towering leafless heads I've seen in winter wave to Him who bid them be, and ardently desired to be as pure from sin as they.

The last time I visited this delightful recess, on one side a marshy swamp through which no one could pass, and on the other an open wood through which none could approach unseen, (for I wished to be unseen by all but Heaven,) I renewed my covenant with my God, and received a delightful assurance that he would go with and keep me in the way I was about to go: and, retiring, I cast back on this rural temple à last and lingering look, and sighing, said, adieu! Adieu, ye trembling

Dr. Coke, on his way to the Christmas Conference, passed through our circuit. I met him at Col. Hopper's, in Queen Anne's, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and was not at first sight at all pleased with his appearance. His stature, his complexion, and his voice, were those of a woman rather than of a man; and his manners were too courtly for me, so unlike the grave, and as I conceived, Apostolic deportment of Mr. Asbury. He had several appointments on our circuit, to each of which I conducted him; and before we parted I saw many things in him to admire, and no longer marvelled as at first, at the selection the father of the Methodists had made of a man to serve us in the capacity he sustained. In public he was generally admired; and in private very communicative and edifying.

At one time, in a large circle, he spoke to the following import: 'I am charmed with the spirit of my American brethren. Their love to Mr. Wesley is not surpassed by their brethren in Europe. It is founded on a firm conviction of the excellency, aye, even the divinity, of the religion he has been the chief instrument of reviving, and that has shed its benign influence on this land of freedom. see, among both preachers and people, a resolution to venture on any bold act of duty when called upon to practise strict piety before the ungodly, and to refuse compliance with fashionable vice. I see,' continued he, with a countenance glowing with delight, a great and effectual door opened for the promulgation of Methodism in America, whose civil institutions I greatly admire, and whose prosperity I no less wish than that of the land which gave me birth. In the presence of brother Asbury I feel myself to be a child. He is, in my estimation, the most Apostolic man I ever saw, except Mr. Wesley.'

This speech of the Doctor made an impression on me not to be forgotten. He was the best speaker in a small circle, or on a conference floor, I ever heard. His voice was too weak to command with ease a very large audience. He could nevertheless sometimes do it; and at those times his preaching was very impressive. Some of the best scholars in America have been heard to say, that Dr. Coke spoke the purest English they ever heard. His fine classic taste did not raise him in his own estimation above the weakest of his brethren. To them he paid the kindest attention, and the most jealous and timid among them, after being a short time in his company, were not only perfectly at ease, but happy in the society of a brother who had learned to esteem others better than himself.

THOS. WARE.

aspens, emblems of myself: ye tremble without fear,-corroding fear. Adieu, ye spacious poplars, oaks, and elms; ye sweet magnolias, and ye mantling vines: beneath your ample shade I've sat, I've knelt, I've wept, I've sung, and shouted out amain without rebuke, and made ye witness to my solemn vows to Him whose sacred hands and feet were fastened to a tree, and whose blood I hold to be the source, the price, the sum of all my hopes, for time and for eternal ages. Hallelujah! the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.'

THE AMERICAN SEAMEN'S FRIEND SOCIETY.

THIS Society is one of those professing to be 'national,' both in its constitution and in its objects. The cause of seamen is doubtless a national cause, and one worthy of the attention and patronage, not only of every Christian, but of every philanthropist and patriot. With regard, however, to the particular Society designated by the title at the head of this article, some facts have recently been stated which seem to us to have a bearing, so far as the friends of Methodism at least may be desirous of a participation in its operations, entitled to their attention. The General Agent of this Society, is the Rev. Joshua Leavitt. He is also the Editor of the Sailor's Magazine, published by the Society; and has been engaged, under the same patronage, to prepare 'Sermons' for our brethren on the -ocean. Now this same Mr. Leavitt has recently informed us that he has, from the beginning,' been a frequent contributor to the columns of the New-York Evangelist, often acted as occasional or temporary editor, and edited one half of the first forty four numbers. For much of what has appeared in that paper, therefore, editorially or otherwise, in regard to Methodism, it is fairly presumable that we are indebted to Mr. Joshua Leavitt. Now the virulent hostility, and the gross misrepresentations, with which we have been assailed in that paper, 'from the beginning,' are notorious. Mr. Leavitt, indeed, instead of acting as becomes the General Agent of a ‘national' Society, (if Methodists and their friends are to be considered as any part of this nation,) seems to regard himself, rather, as the leader and generalissimo of 'the rest of the Christian community,' in a war against Methodism. So he talks of the questions at issue between his paper, and 'the Advocate;'as if he had really been deputed and authorized by the rest of the Christian community' to hold such language. Of all this, as coming from Mr. Leavitt simply, or from the New-York Evangelist, we should have taken no notice. But the question that occurs to our minds, is, how it happens that such a man is deemed most suitable to be the General Agent of the American Seamen's Friend Society, the Editor of the Society's Magazine, and the preparer of Sermons for our seafaring brethren. Is not the New-York Evangelist, moreover, circulated among seamen too? Is it not also known among them that the Editor of that paper is the Editor and General Agent of the Seamen's Friend Society, and consequently, that he has the countenance of the Society? The question is not at all as to Mr. Leavitt's right, abstractly, and under the common responsibilities, to contribute to the columns of the Evangelist, to be its editor, or to circulate it among seamen, as well as others, if he can :but, whether it is best, or even proper, that a man so deeply engaged in making such a paper the vehicle of vilifying and traducing the most numerous Christian denomination in the country,

should, at the same time, be the General Agent and Editor of a 'national' Society for the benefit of seamen.

It may be, indeed, that Mr. Leavitt, in soliciting for the Society, at home or abroad, may use, even to profusion, the winning and honeyed language of love and union. But, as matters now stand, is it to be supposed that wherever Mr. Leavitt comes, or his productions, Methodists, or their friends, can forget that they see before them the productions, or the person, of the 'permanent Editor' of the New-York Evangelist; and that whatever may be upon his tongue, that paper will show them what is in his heart. With Mr. Leavitt privately, or personally, we have nothing to do. If necessary, we would help to feed him, and to clothe him; and pray for grace even to love him,-as an enemy. But we do protest, in the face of the nation, against being compelled to be accessary to the giving of him advantages against us, from his official capacity, which as a private individual he could never possess.

SPECIAL AGENCIES.

THE extract which will be found below, furnishes a matter-offact view of this subject which we deem of more value than volumes of speculation. It is taken from a paper addressed 'to ministers of the Gospel,' and published in the Sailor's Magazine, in immediate connection with a systematic plan devised by the Executive Committee of the American Seamen's Friend Society, for raising funds to promote the objects of that Society. If the operation of special agencies, among churches having a settled ministry, be such as is detailed in this extract, and asserted to be the result of experience, (as we have no doubt it is,) how much more injuriously, taking all its bearings into consideration, would it be likely to operate among us, with an itinerant ministry and at the same time, how infinitely less do we need such an expensive and burdensome fifth wheel. At all events, in the comparative infancy of our existing benevolent institutions, our own opinion is, that the incomparable means which we already have at command for promoting their highest beneficial effects, and at the smallest cost to the public, have as yet but been begun to be developed. They have had nothing like a fair or full trial; and it is certainly quite too early at least to discard them, for the purpose of adopting an experiment not even novel or doubtful, but one that is stated, as we shall see below, to have had an influence positively pernicious, in at least one of the 'national' Societies, so called. In England, our brethren of the Wesleyan Methodist connection raise between two and three hundred thousand dollars annually, for missionary purposes, without special agencies. If this may be done in the missionary cause, why not in others? and if in Eng

land, why not in America? Instead, therefore, of discouraging the labourers, and thus weakening our own hands, by disparaging the means at command under our existing economy, let us rather bend our attention to their improvement, and to the development of their latent energies. In some of the great institutions of the day, there is too much reason to believe that one of the leading objects is the employment and support of the special agents themselves, especially where this system is connected with theological seminaries, and indigent young men sent out to look for congregations and a call. In this way the agencies, like the farming of taxes, are themselves made a heavy tax upon the public; while the whole amount of their cost is subtracted, at the same time, from the main object of benevolence professedly held up to view. May it continue to be our glory, not only to endeavour to excel in good works, but to do it with the smallest possible burden to the people. This is as clearly our duty, as it is theirs to glorify God with their substance, as well as with their bodies and spirits which are his. The extract follows:

'Benevolent societies have of late years been very much in the habit of relying upon special agencies to bring their cause before the people. This has relieved the pastors from some of the labour, and many of them seem to have thrown off all sense of responsibility in regard to the aid their congregations furnish to the work of the Lord. They are willing that societies should send agents, and get all they can; but they do not lift a finger to aid nor assume a particle of responsibility on the subject.

The consequence is, that for several years a large amount of the labour and care of managers, has been expended in obtaining and superintending travelling agents. Many useful preachers have been called away from the service of saving souls, to the business of visiting congregations around the country, for the purpose of doing tha which their own pastors ought to have done, and might have done better.

Now brethren, these things ought not so to be. It is not to be believed that God intends to have the world converted in this way, by employing so much of the vital energy of his church in the mere matter of collecting money-worrying it out of reluctant hands by ". special efforts" and the like. God loveth a cheerful giver. And your people must learn to give cheerfully. O that they might have such prompt benevolence, that it may be said of them, as of one ancient church, "they were ready a year ago!" Your people must be brought up to feel that they are greatly and personally responsible for the spread of the Gospel. And they must learn to look not to travelling [special] agents, but to their own minister [or ministers] for all the information and incitement necessary in regard to all the various benevolent enterprizes of Christianity.'-Sailor's Magazine, vol. iii, pp. 345, 346.