their grandfather, and he wished to say no more for them. After
business his family enjoyed invariably a little spiritual refreshment,
and that and a hymn made the time pass very agreeably till supper-time
at nine, when he had a 'ot collation, at which he should be most proud
to see me."

To all the charges that have been at various times, with more or less
virulence and disinterestedness, brought against the Church of England,
that of assuming to itself the divine attribute of searching the secret
heart of many has, I believe, never been superadded. It has remained for
men very far advanced indeed in spiritual knowledge and perfection, to
assert the bold prerogative, and to venture, unappalled, beneath the
frown of heaven. The close scrutiny, on the part of Mr Buster, proper as
it was as a step preliminary, was by no means sufficient to procure for
me an easy and unquestioned admission into the church which the
blacksmith had so ably represented. There was yet another trial to
ensue, and another jury to pronounce upon the merits of the anxious
candidate. He had yet to prove to the perfect satisfaction of the
self-constituted junto, that styled itself a _church_, how God had
mercifully dealt with him--to detail, with historic accuracy, the method
and procedure of his regeneration, and to find evidence of a spiritual
change, that carried on its front the proof of his conversion and his
accepted state. All this was to be done before I could be _entitled_ to
the privileges which Messrs Buster, Tomkins, and the rest, had it in
their power to bestow. The manner in which this delicate investigation
was carried on, its indecorum and profaneness, I never can forget; nor
can I, in truth, remember it without humiliation and deep sorrow.
Against the indiscreet, illegal exhibition, I set off my ignorance,
simplicity, and desire of serving heaven; and in these I place my hope
of pardon for the share I had in such proceedings.