gone from amongst us,-Wordsworth, Coleridge, Rogers even with his ingots and his bank-bills, and cannot see the grand recognition of the ever-present soul of the universe blazing there; cannot perceive how even the habitual jester of the Green Parkthe retailer of the gossip of literary and fashionable life at his noted breakfasts; how even he, when he retired to his closet, came into contact with that all-vivifying power which compelled him, like Balaam, to utter solemn oracles in spite of himself. Well might Rogers quote the words of Dante on such an occasion:Chi se' tu, che vieni ?

Da me stesso non vengo!

"THE BANK OF FAITH."*

IN 1744 was born of peasant parents, in Kent, William Huntington-a man destined pre-eminently, amongst the numerous souls aroused by the breath of the Holy Ghost in the Methodist spiritual awakening of the last century, to proclaim the old, but ever-living, ever-vitalising truth of the efficacy of prayer and faith. To him was given in "full measure overflowing," a child-like, unhesitating belief that the words of our Saviour, "Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you," were no mere forms of speech, but living realities. The Holy Spirit, responding to the fervent cries of his soul for aid, guidance, and enlightenment, descended into him, and, poor and unlettered as he was, filled him with spiritual light and wealth, and kindled a simple yet burning eloquence, which brought conviction to the hearts of his listeners with a keen and overwhelming astonishment. Steeped in poverty to the very dregs; suffering, and seeing around him his wife and children suffering cold, hunger, and even nakedness; beset on all hands by difficulties, material and spiritual, he threw himself and all belonging to him unhesitatingly upon the fatherly mercy of God, and not only was saved by the Divine hand out of the floods and fires of affliction, but became a champion for the Truth, and one especially fitted, through his life's experience, to lead onwards towards Christ an army of the ignorant and poor in this world's learning and wealth. The banner which he unfurled above them, and under which they conquered, bore as its motto, " The Almighty power of the Prayer of Faith."

The Bank of Faith," by William Huntington, 1s.-London: ALLMAN.

A biographical sketch of William Huntington informs us that he terminated his life in affluence, having become a popular preacher amongst the Calvinistic Methodists, and a writer of numerous tracts and theological works, which contain curious particulars of his remarkable religious experience. It is from a little publication of his, in fact his autobiography, entitled "The Bank of Faith," that we will now extract a few passages illustrative of "The Dynamics of Prayer."

"When I was about seven years of age," says Huntington, "I heard a person say that God took notice of children's sins. The wonderful workings of my mind upon these words I shall not at present descant on; neither shall I mention the many trials I underwent at the bar of my own conscience while the impression dwelt on my mind. I also remember to have once heard a person say that all things were possible with God; which words I secretly treasured up and pondered in my heart; and as I had great desire at that time to live in the capacity of an errand-boy with a certain gentleman in the place, being very much in want of the common necessaries of life, it came into my mind, that if all things were possible with God, it was also possible for Him to send me to live as servant-boy with Squire Cooke; though at the same time he had a boy who I believed was well approved of. Notwithstanding this last circumstance, I privately asked God, in an extempore way, to give me that boy's place; and made many promises how good I would be, if He granted me this request. For many days I privately begged of God this favour, which nobody knew but God and myself, till now I relate it. I believe I went on in this way praying, sometimes under a hedge, or on my bed, for a week or two, and I thought if God granted me this favour, I should know whether all things were possible with Him or not; having prayed for many days and finding no likelihood of an answer, I readily concluded that there was no God, and that therefore I had no cause to be so afraid of sinning, nor had I any occasion to pray to Him any Accordingly, I left off praying for some time, and then began again, till at last I left off entirely. Some few days after this, there came a man to my father's house, and said, 'William, Squire Cooke wants a boy. Why don't you go after the place?' I said, 'John Dingy lives there.' He answered, 'No, he is turned away.' I asked, 'for what?" He replied, 'Old Master Coley, the oyster-man, went there a few days ago to carry some oysters, and while the old man was gone with a measure of them into the house, the boy robbed the pads as they hung on the horse, while he was tied up at the gate, and the mistress seeing him, discharged him for it.'

more.

"The compunction which I felt-the thoughts that I had-the various workings of my mind-the promises I made, and the petitions I put up as I went after the place I choose to conceal; for I think they would hardly be credited, considering that I was no more at that time than eight years old. However, to my astonishment, I got the place, and the bargain was struck at twenty shillings per annum. For many days and weeks an uncommon impression concerning the power of God, lay fresh on my mind. But soon after this, a sudden temptation brought me to believe that there was no God; that if there were, He took no notice of such creatures as we are, nor of any of our affairs, and that it was by chance I obtained the place; wherefore I imagined that I had no occasion to pray, nor to pay the vows which I had made. This temptation made a sufficient breach for me to creep out at, and proved an awful inlet to vice and vanity, which for some months I gave way to. Soon after this I offended my master, was discharged from my servitude, and went home as deeply stung with regret for my folly, as I had been before lifted up at the sight of God's mercy."

After this early initiation into a knowledge of the power of prayer, there arrived in the experience of Huntington a period of faithlessness, in which for some years he was pursued by

Deistical principles, which brought, as their sequence, insensibility

and stupor.

"I do not remember," he resumes, any particular Providence attending me, till about three or four years after I was married, when I was brought savingly to believe in Jesus Christ for life and salvation. At this time I dwelt at Sunbury, where my eldest daughter now living, fell sick at about five or six months old, and was wasted to a skeleton. We had a doctor to attend her, but she grew worse and worse. Having lost our first child, this was a dear idol to us; and I suppose it lay as near my heart, as poor Isaac did to the heart of Abraham. However, it appeared as if God were determined to bereave us of her. At last, I asked the doctor if he thought there was any hope of her life. He answered, 'No.' This distressed me beyond measure; and as he told me he could do no more for her, I left my room, went to my garden in the evening, and in my little tool-house wrestled hard with God in prayer for the life of the child; but upon these conditions-that if my request were granted, and she should live to arrive at the full stature of life, and in future times turn wicked, and be damned for sin, and that my earnest prayers should be the cause of it, I besought God not to regard my petition for the child, though she were dear to me as my own life. I went home satisfied that God had heard me; and in three days the child was as well as she is now, and ate as hearty, only her flesh was not perfectly restored. This eventually convinced me that all things were possible with God."

And now gradually, whilst enduring the bitter trials of hunger, cold, and unceasing bodily labour, mental anxiety and persecution, the desire unfolded even stronger and stronger within this brave man's soul to become the active servant of Christ, and the teacher and encourager of his fellow-sufferers, in whom as yet no Divine life had taken root. He had already commenced his living upon faith, and sweet were the rewards, though purchased by terrible sufferings of mind and body. Here are his own words:

"These things so endeared my God to me, that I often called Him 'my Bank, 'my Banker, my Blessed Overseer;' and earnestly begged that he would condescend to be my Tutor, my Master, and my Provider; and never leave me in the hands of mortals, either for tuition, protection, or for temporal supplies. I no longer envied the rich in this world; for if they are full of grace, they only see one side of God's face, having an independent stock in hand; and if graceless, they are of all flesh, the most miserable. I clearly perceived that the most eminent saints in the Bible were brought into low circumstances; as Jacob, David, Moses, Joseph, Job and Jeremiah, and all the apostles; in order that the hand of Providence might be watched."

And again he says, further on in his narrative:

"I found God's promises to be the Christian's bank-note; and a living faith will always draw on the Divine Banker; yea, and the spirit of prayer, and deep sense of wants, will give an heir of promise a filial boldness at the inexhaustible bank of heaven.

"Indeed the providence of God is a great mystery: nor could I unriddle it, even while I was daily exercised with it. During my residence at Ewell, Í have often begun the week with eighteen or twenty pence, sometimes with two shillings, and sometimes with half-a-crown; and we have lived through the whole week upon that only, without contracting any debt; and I found it impossible at the week's end, upon the best reflection that I could make, to tell how we had been supported during the week. At other times I have found that my craving appetite had lost its keenness, insomuch, that I have been able to rk hard for two days together, without any food at all. And sometimes God

has indulged me with such heavenly views of a glorified state, and entertained my mind with such sweet contemplations on futurity, that my dinner hour has passed away unnoticed; nor have I once had a thought about it till four or five o'clock or near the time of leaving my labour. But these blessed acts of God's providential regard are nothing new; for He took away the appetite of Moses and Elijah for forty days together; and He is the same God still. Nor is his bountiful hand at all shortened, though the faith of the necessitous has so often stretched it out. 'I will leave in the midst of thee, a poor and an afflicted people; and they shall trust in the name of the Lord."

All things worked together for my good; for being kept daily dependent on God's providence by faith, I had the precious enjoyment of sweet communion with God; and every day did His providence and gracious care appear more or less over me. I generally found those blessings the sweetest which had caused me the most importunity in prayer.

"Soon after this, I was obliged to borrow a guinea of a certain friend, which I promised to pay him on the Thursday night following, if he would call for it. And I begged God to send it me from some quarter or other; firmly believing that He would do so. The day before my friend had appointed to call on me for the money, I was to go out to preach among my friends; and I earnestly besought God to send it to me that day, if it were His will and pleasure; of which I had no more doubt than my own existence. However, I returned home without it, and wondered how it could be, seeing that the Saviour says, 'Whatsoever ye shall ask, believing, ye shall have it; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.' I told the Lord that I had prayed in faith for it, firmly believing that I should have it, but had not obtained it. This text of Scripture came with power to my mind. 'Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.' I had from that time, a sweet view of that passage; and delivered several discourses from it, which God seemed to bless with power. But to return to my subject, As soon as I came home, I began to fret, because I had not got the money that I expected; but still the text answered me, Faith is the substance of things hoped for. I replied, 'If it be the substance, it is sure as the thing itself. Upon this, the good man came into my study, and I was going to make an apology to him; but before I opened my mouth, he said, 'I came to desire you not think of paying me the guinea, for I have made you a present of it; and God bless you with it.' As soon as he was gone, the same passage Scripture returned to my mind with much comfort. Thus my faith was not confounded, nor my hope disappointed; all my troubles sprang from my own sin, which was limiting the Holy One of Israel. I was expecting money to pay the debt; but God took away from my creditor the expectation of payment.

"About that time a person called upon me, and offered to let me the house he then lived in, which he was going to leave. I own I had a desire after it; because there was a large garden belonging to it, which I could look after myself, and raise many vegetables that would help to support my family. The rent was only six pounds ten shillings per annum. But the man told me it would cost seven or eight pounds to take the fixtures of the house; wherefore I gave up the thoughts of it, as I had no view of raising such a sum: so I drove it from my thoughts though I wanted it much. But God hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of our habitations; that we should seek the Lord.'

"A few days after this, a friend called to see me, whom I consulted about the house, and showed it to him. He persuaded me to take it, which I accordingly did; but was obliged to wait a few weeks, till the person I was to succeed could provide himself with another situation suitable for his business. I therefore asked God in prayer, to enable me to purchase the fixtures of this house, if it were agreeable to His sovereign will and pleasure; for I knew that God had set the bounds of His people, according to the number of the children of Israel.' And the Providence of God appeared so conspicuously, that I shortly obtained money enough to pay for the fixtures; but the person desired me to wait a few weeks longer, as he had been disappointed of the house he expected to go into: so I waited two months, during which time the money was all spent. Then I begged God to frustrate my going into the house at all, if it was dis

pleasing to Him, although I much wanted it; because my little cot was placed in a very vulgar neighbourhood, and the windows so very low, that I could not study at any of them, without being exposed to the view of my enemies; who often threw stones through the glass, or saluted me with a volley of oaths or imprecations. However, Providence soon began to shine again; and indeed I had nothing else to live on, from year's end to year's end, but what God sent me in answer to prayer. At this time a person gave me five guineas; which kind providence I rather wondered at. But the following night I had a dream. (I hope my brethren will not hate me yet the more because of my dreams, seeing that we have a scriptural warrant for the relation of them: He that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word. Jer., xxiii., 28.) I dreamed that the person before mentioned, sent to inform me that he was going to leave his house; that the things were to be appraised on Friday morning; and that he should expect me to pay him the money down for the fixtures. I said in my dream, 'Lord, thou knowest I cannot o, for I have not money enough.' Then came the answer, Go to Mr. Munday's, cutler, at Kingston-on-Thames, and he will lend you as much as you want! I soon after awoke, and behold it was a dream ;-therefore I took no notice of it. But in a few hours the person sent me word that he was going to leave his house, and should expect me to come and see the things appraised the next morning, and pay him for the same. Then I began to think that it was more than a dream. The same night, Mr. Munday, of Kingston, called on me, and to the best of my remembrance, he had never been at my house before. I asked him if he would lend me a little money; he replied, 'I will lend you all that I have in my pocket; and if you will call on me to-morrow, at Kingston, I will lend you five pounds if you want it.' He accordingly lent me what he then had with him; and the next morning, after the things were appraised to me, I paid for them, having just nine shillings left. This is the end of my dream.

"My year being now expired, I wanted a new parsonic livery; wherefore, in humble prayer, I told my most blessed Lord and Master that my year was at, and my apparel bad-that I had nowhere to go for these things but to Him; and as He had promised to give His servants food and raiment, I hoped that He would fulfil His promise to me, though one of the worst of them. Seeing no immediate signs of my livery coming, I began to omit praying for it, though God says, For all these things I will be enquired of by the house of Israel, that I may do these things for them.' It fell out one day that I called on a poor man, who complained that he could not attend the Word of God for want of apparel. This drove me to pray again for my new suit of clothes, that I might give my old ones to him. A few days after this, I was desired to call at a gentleman's house, near London. Indeed, it had been impressed on my mind for six weeks that God would use that gentleman as an instrument to furnish me with my next suit. And so it fell out; for when I called on him, upon leaving his house, he went a little way with me; and while we were on the road he said, I think you want a new suit of clothes.' I answered, Yes, sir, I do; and I know a poor man who would be very glad of this which I have on, if my Master would furnish me with another. When we parted, he desired me to call on him the next morning, which I accordingly did; when he sent a tailor into the room, and generously told me to be measured for what clothes I chose, and

great coat also.

"When I got the new, I furnished the poor man with my old suit. This was the fourth suit of apparel that my Master gave me in this providential manner, in answer to the prayer of faith. Thus God, who kept Israel's clothes from waxing old, though in constant use for forty years, gave me a new suit

every year.

"I was soon afterwards brought into another strait. Having contracted a debt of five pounds, for some necessaries which I wanted, I promised to pay it a certain day; and I put up many prayers that God would enable me to fulfil my promise. At last the day arrived, and I had not one farthing towards it About ten o'clock the bell rang at my gate. Supposing it to be my creditor, I kneeled down, and begged of God not to let him come till He had sent me the

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