1807-1812. EXERTIONS IN THE BREWERY. 41 On that occasion, Mr. Buxton merely sent him a message "that he had better meet him in the countinghouse, at 6 o'clock the next morning." The bookkeeper's opposition was heard of no more. The success which crowned Mr. Buxton's exertions in business materially paved his way to public life. He was gradually relieved from the necessity of attending, in person, to the details of its management, but continued to take a part in the general superintendence of the concern. MR. BUXTON was, of course, closely bound to his London avocations; but almost every Autumn he spent some weeks at Earlham, enjoying the recreation of shooting, in company with Mr. Samuel Hoare. It was during one of these visits, that he first addressed a public meeting. His brother-in-law, Mr. Joseph John Gurney, in September, 1812, insisted that for once he should leave his sport, and give his aid in the second meeting of the Norwich Auxiliary Bible Society, at which Mr. Coke and other county gentlemen were present. His speech on that occasion is thus alluded to by Mr. J. J. Gurney.* "There are many who can still remember the remarkable effect produced, in one of the earliest public meetings of the Norfolk and Norwich Auxiliary Bible Society, more than thirty years ago, by one of his speeches, distinguished for its acuteness and good sense, as well as for the Christian * "Brief Memoir." Fletcher, 1845. 1812-1816. THE REV. JOSIAH PRATT. 43 temper in which it was delivered. His commanding person*, his benevolent and highly intellectual expression of countenance, his full-toned voice, together with his manly yet playful eloquence, electrified the assembly, and many were those on that day who rejoiced that so noble and just a cause had obtained so strenuous and able an advocate." Some indications have been already given of the increasing power of religious principle in Mr. Buxton's mind; but he had not yet been fully brought under its influence, nor had he acquired clear views as to some of the fundamental truths of Christianity. In 1811, he was induced by the advice of his friend the Rev. Robert Hankinson, to attend the ministry of the Rev. Josiah Pratt, in Wheeler Chapel, Spitalfields : and to the preaching of that excellent clergyman he attributed, with the liveliest gratitude, his first real acquaintance with the doctrines of Christianity. He himself says "It was much and of vast moment that I there learned from Mr. Pratt." He wrote to Mr. Pratt thirty years afterwards, "Whatever I have done in my life for Africa, the seeds of it were sown in my heart, in Wheeler Street Chapel." His mind, ever disposed (in Bacon's words) to "prefer things of substance, before things of show" with a strong love for truth, and susceptible of deep feeling afforded, perhaps, a fit soil for the reception of those truths, which at length struck deep root there. On the other hand, he regarded his tendency to become wholly absorbed in the work before him as * Mr. Buxton was upwards of six feet four inches in height; but his powerful frame and broad chest rendered his height less ap a great bar to his progress in higher things. Thus he writes to one of his relatives at Earlham : 66 Hampstead, March 21. 1812. "I had determined, before I received your last letter, to thank you, dear C-, myself, for much pleasure, and I think a little profit (much less than it ought to have been), in observing the progress of your mind. It does indeed give me real joy to see you and others of your family striving in your race with such full purpose of heart; and the further I feel left behind-the more I feel engaged in other pursuits -so much the more I admire and love the excellence, which I hardly endeavour to reach: and so much the more I perceive the infinite superiority of your objects over mine. "When I contrast your pursuits with my pursuits, and your life with my life, I always feel the comparison a wholesome and a humiliating lesson, and it makes me see the ends for which I labour in their proper light; and my heart is ready to confess, that Thou hast chosen the good part, which shall not be taken from thee.' How is it then, with this contrast constantly staring me in the face whenever I think seriously, that it has no effect, or next to none, on my practice? I see the excellence of the walk you have chosen, and the madness of dedicating myself to any thing, but to the preparation of that journey which I must so shortly take. I know, that if success shall crown all my projects, I shall gain that which will never satisfy me, that which is not bread.' I know the poverty of our most darling schemes — the meanness of our most delicious prospects—the transitoriness of our most durable possessions-when weighed against that fulness of joy and eternity of bliss which are the reward of those who seek them aright. All this I see with the utmost certainty that two and two make four is not clearer; and how is it, then, that with these speculative opinions, my practical ones are so entirely different? I am irritable about trifles, eager after pleasures, and anxious about business various objects of this kind engross my attention at all times; they pursue me even to Meeting and to Church, 1812-1816. DANGEROUS ILLNESS. 45 and seem to grudge the few moments which are devoted to higher considerations, and strive to bring back to the temple of the Lord the sellers, and the buyers, and the moneychangers. My reason tells me, that these things are utterly indifferent; but my practice says, that they only are worthy of thought and attention. My practice says, "Thou art increased with goods, and hast need of nothing;' but my reason teaches me, Thou art wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.' "I have in this letter divulged the train of thinking which is constantly recurring to my mind. . . . If I have said too much in any part of this letter, I am sure I do not go beyond the truth in saying, that hardly any thing comes so near my heart, as my love for my sweet sisters." The period had now arrived, from which may be dated that ascendancy of religion over his mind. which gave shape and colouring to the whole of his after life. In the commencement of the year 1813, he was visited by an illness which brought him to the brink of the grave. How momentous an era he felt this to have been, we may learn from the following paper, written after his recovery : "Feb. 7. 1813. "After so severe an illness as that with which I have lately been visited, it may be advantageous to record the most material circumstances attendant upon it. May my bodily weakness, and the suddenness with which it came, remind me of the uncertainty of life; and may the great and immediate mercy, bestowed upon me spiritually, be a continual memorial, that the Lord is full of compassion, and long suffering,' and a very present help in trouble!' "I was seized with a bilious fever, in January. When I first felt myself unwell, I prayed that I might have a dangerous illness, provided that illness might bring me nearer to |