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 Published, by Hamilton, Adams, and Co., Pa 
 
 London, and to be had oj all Booksellers 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM REVIEWS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 VILLAGE BLACKSMITH. 
 
 " The ' Village Blacksmith ' is altogether one of the most 
 interesting volumes of its kind, and the best written we have met 
 with. No one can take it up without the certainty of reaping 
 instruction and delight. Mr. E. has exhibited the continued sweet- 
 ness and playfulness of beautiful imagery which distinguishes his 
 prose, and in every page tells us in spite of himself, it is ' Prose 
 by a Poet.' Its peculiar feature is graceful simplicity, with 
 poetry oozing through every sentence. His arguments are clear 
 and forcible, expressed in language generally elegant; and we 
 feel that we are perusing the pages not only of a man of genius, 
 but of an ardent, active, and cheerful Christian. And withal, 
 there is a tone of delightful pleasantry, half-concealed in the 
 writings of Mr. E., which is often placed under unnecessary res- 
 traint." ECLECTIC REVIEW, Oct. 1831. 
 
 " The simplicity of Samuel Hick often bordered on the ridicu- 
 lous, and it required not only tenderness and experience, but the 
 penetration and judgment of a master of the human heart to 
 discriminate between them. The literary merits of this work are 
 superior to the maudlin mass of religious memoirs, as the comet- 
 coursed villagu blacksmith was unlike the amiable, but inanimate 
 personages, of whom they bear witness. We recommend the ' Vil- 
 lage Blacksmith,' as likely to amuse, instruct, and edify and the 
 volume as containing more pure, manly, and beautiful English, 
 than is to be found in any half-dozen modern novels. A poet's 
 prose, where it is not inflated, is the best of all prose : and in the 
 work before us, Mr. Everett's taste and judgment have fortunately 
 prevented him from falling into the common error ; and he has 
 introduced only so much imagination and metaphor as to elevate 
 the subject, delight the rtader, and to throw over the whole the 
 quiet and pure spirit of his own muse." THE ATHEN^CM, Nov. 
 19,1831. 
 
 " An interesting Memoir was published a few months ago of the 
 life of Samuel Hick, late of MicklefiVld, Yorkshire, the details of 
 which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they appear more in 
 the character of a romance than real lite." MANCHESTER 
 CHRONICLE, July 30, 1831.
 
 " The volume now lying before us epitomizes the life of a black- 
 smith, distinguished for his integrity and piety, and who has been 
 very useful in his day and generation. It is written in an easy, 
 graceful style ; and it cannot fail to interest those whose hearts 
 oan warm to the expressions of sincerity and benevolence, which 
 breathe through every page." MONTHLY MAGAZINE, April, 1832. 
 
 "Perhaps few men, besides Mr. Everett himself, could have 
 constructed, had they been so disposed, such a goodly fabric, or, 
 to change the metaphor, have produced such a dish, out of such 
 materials; for in the crudity of those very materials is to be seen 
 the skill of the artificer, who makes light shine out of darkness, 
 speaks confusion into order, and throws a charm around what else 
 had been repulsive to both sight and taste. Yet amid innumerable 
 disadvantages, there was one advantage in the subject alone, which 
 the writer appears to have had prophecy of soul sufficient to foresee 
 would arrest the attention of the reader, like the fiery brilliancy 
 of a comet, exclusive of its erratic course. With the exception of 
 the Vulcan of the heathen, and the Knot-tier of Gretna-green, we 
 know of no ' artificer of brass and iron,' not even Tubal-Cain 
 himself, the secrets of whose history would be more interesting 
 than those of ' The Village Blacksmith,' and in the life of no 
 one of them will be found such an 'instructor.'" IMPERIAL 
 MAGAZINE, April, 1832. 
 
 " This is a singular little work, furnishing another very remark- 
 able history of human character acted upon by ideas of religion, 
 which it were hard to characterize as too enthusiastic when 
 stamped by so much of charity and good works. We have not for 
 a long time seen a volume which we read with more curiosity and 
 pleasure curiosity in following the developement of the character 
 of the natural and simple man, in his rough, but honest and 
 untutored, and often singularly correct views of things, and plea- 
 sure at that unwearied pursuit of good, which marked every 
 moment of his life. His dreams, his mental impressions, his self- 
 denials, his sympathy for the poor, his undaunted courage in 
 respect to what he thought was right, his untutored dialect, his 
 firmness under persecution, and the quaintness of his manners, are 
 all delightful. One thing, however, must be noted by way of 
 detracting from tha subject of the memoir, as the whole cause of 
 our satisfaction in perusing it, and that is, the excellence of the 
 composition the neatness and clearness of the writer's style, and 
 the charming simplicity which prevails throughout. Hick was 
 himself what Coleridge would call a phsycological curiosity, and 
 the memoir is not less a curiosity for its purity and elegance. The 
 Life of Hick should be in the hands of every Christian philo- 
 sopher ; it is a most interesting account of a mind deeply impressed 
 with religion, and furnishing a beautiful exemplification of the 
 outpouring of a simple, benevolent, untutored spirit, full of hope 
 and enthusiasm." THE METROPOLITAN LITERARY JOURNAL, 
 May, 1832.
 
 3 
 EXTRACTS FROM REVIEWS. 
 
 OF 
 
 THE WALL'S END MINER." 
 
 " OF the merits of this interesting and instructive volume, we 
 must be understood to speak candidly we are disposed to do 
 justice they are of an order which cannot fail to elicit commenda- 
 tion. The memoir of an orphan, from beginning to end, is well 
 written the characters introduced fairly sustained and the 
 interest kept up throughout." MONTHLY MAG., Feb., 1836. 
 
 " With how small a portion of the world is the most widely- 
 travelled acquainted ; in how narrow a circle of interests and 
 feelings does the most liberal thinker live! Want of time, want 
 of opportunity, the pursuit of one or two engrossing objects 
 confine him to his own orbit in spite of himself; but should any 
 casuality lead him to tracts new and strange, he has the advantage 
 over the narrow-minded of being, at least willing to contemplate, 
 and to open his understanding and heart to things which may not 
 heretofore have been comprehended in his philosophy. At least 
 such we feel to be our case, in stumbling upon a book like ' The 
 Wall's End Miner,' a work which, in its own class, will have 
 probably has had already both circulation and influence. We 
 can perceive that though there be only a hair's breadth between 
 enthusiasm and fanaticism, still, the separation is clear and deci- 
 sive : on one side of the boundary the morals and charities of 
 life exist and flourish, though in an atmosphere strange to us." 
 ATHEN.EUM, Feb. 27, 1836. 
 
 " This work will be very acceptable to readers of the persuasion 
 of the Wesleyan Methodists,' and the various sects that have 
 branched off from that vast stem. The narrative is, of itself, 
 very interesting." METROPOLITAN MAG., Masch, 1836. 
 
 "William Crister's narrative, in the hands of Mr. Everett, is 
 both interesting and instructive, and we shall be much mistaken 
 if this small volume does not obtain a more extensive circulation, 
 and make a deeper impression than the author has ventured to 
 anticipate. It is well written, and we sincerely recommend it to 
 those who wish to become acquainted with excellences of character 
 which have been exemplified in humble circumstances." NEW- 
 
 CASTLE COURANT, Dec. 19, 1835. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 " We need say no more in recommendation of this volume 
 than that, ' The Wall's End Miner ' is an excellent companion 
 to the ' Village Blacksmith.'" WATCHMAN, March 28, 183b.
 
 " We are glad to see a second and improved edition of the 
 Memoir. It abounds in very useful reflections and observations. 
 Mr. Everett-, writes like one who well knows how to seperate not 
 only the chaff from the wheat, but the bran from the finer flour, 
 and has furnished a very useful addition to the stock of Christian 
 biography." WESLEITAN METHODIST MAGAZINE, April, 1838. 
 
 " This is a brief and novel Memoir of a singular, yet sincere 
 .. .'iplij of Jesus, and a Northumberland Collier." NEW- YORK 
 CHIUSTIAN ADVOCATE AND JOURNAL, August 16th, 1839. 
 
 THE POLEMIC DIVINE : 
 
 OR 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS, 
 
 OF THE 
 
 REV. DANIEL ISAAC: 
 
 " THESE are judicious and interesting Memoirs, illustrative of 
 the upright, unaffected, and sound-minded subject of them. They 
 will interest the reader of popular works, as well as afford some 
 true and agreeable lights, whereby to study varieties of human 
 nature, and when placed under peculiarcircumstances." MONTH- 
 LY REVIEW, Sept 1839, p. 145. 
 
 " It is not merely the scarcity in the article of biography, which 
 makes us relish this life of Daniel Isaac. Were the memorials 
 of departed worth, genius, and learning, ' plenty as blackberries,' 
 we should still keep a corner for any fresh leaves from Everett's 
 Book of Worthies. We know him of old, to be happy in the 
 choice of his subjects, and skilful in the treatment of them. 
 Enough to say, that we have read through this Life with pleasure, 
 and cannot close it without recommending it to all such as love 
 what is earnest and genuine, whether it go forth licensed by a 
 bishop, or a synod of non-conformists." ATHENAEUM Aug. 24th, 
 1839, p. 628. 
 
 " Of Daniel Isaac we must speak with praise. He was simple, 
 sincere, and temperate, with considerable humour, and with little 
 temptation; but we have more to do with the subject than with 
 the man." WEEKLY DISPATCH. 
 
 " This book will be of considerable interest to the Wesleyan 
 Methodists, among whom Mr. Isaac, a man of strong character, 
 was an eminent and influential preacher. It gives considerable 
 insight into the domestic life of the lower and middle classes of 
 England. Though not without some of the small blemishes, or 
 rather distinctive marks of his sect and calling, Mr. Isaac was
 
 both a good and an able man, full of life and energy; possessing 
 and exercising the power of independent thought upon most 
 subjects." TAIT'S EDINGBURGH MAGAZINE, Nov. 1839, p. 758. 
 " This is one of that class of works which appeal to a certain 
 exclusive, but very extensive order of readers, and to them it will 
 prove very acceptable. The Polemic Divine is neither more nor 
 less than a memoir, (somewhat too lengthy, we must observe), of 
 the late Mr. Daniel Isaac, a Wesleyan Preacher, and one of suffi- 
 cient celebrity in his day and order to justify a work of the kind 
 devoted to his memory. The work is written with care and 
 industry, and may, as a biography, be read with interest by other 
 persons than those devoted to the extensive sect to which the 
 writer and the subject belong." NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE, 
 Nov. 1839, p. 431.

 
 Idanu.i.CJ'Paterneftir
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 LIFE, CHARACTER, AND MINISTRY, 
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON, 
 
 LATE OF BARN-BOW, NEAR LF.KDS. 
 
 JAMES EVERETT, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH," "THE WALL'S Exu MIXER, 
 "THE POLEMIC DIVINE," &c., &c. 
 
 " Narrow is that man's sou], which the good of himself, or of his own 
 relations and friends can fill, but he who, with a benevolence, warm as the 
 heat of the sun, and diffusive as its light, takes in all mankind, and is sincerely 
 glad to see poverty, whether in friend or foe, relieved, and worth cherished, 
 makes the merit of all the good that is done in the world his own. by the 
 complacency which he takes in seeing or hearing it done " ANON. 
 
 " HE WAS A BURNING* AND A SHININO LlOHT." John V. 35. 
 
 LONDON: 
 PUBLISHED BY HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. 
 
 PATKRXOSTER-KOW. 
 
 1842.
 
 TO 
 
 THE REV. THOMAS GALLAND, A. M., 
 
 WH*OSE VIRTUES, TALENTS, AND LEARNING, 
 WERE HIGHLY APPRECIATED BY THE SUBJECT PORTRAYED, 
 
 Jrfjfsc fttcmoivs 
 
 ARE RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED, 
 AS A TOKEN OF PERSONAL ESTEEM, 
 
 THE AUTHOR.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 As to personal history, many of the more prominent 
 facts recorded in these Memoirs, -were communicated to 
 the biographer by the subject himself, either directly, 
 in the way of information, or incidently, in the course 
 of general conversation. Partly through the accumula- 
 tion of these facts which a friendship of nearly twenty 
 eight years continuance might naturally be expected to 
 produce, but still more because of the high value fixed 
 upon moral, religious, and intellectual character, a pur- 
 pose was formed, hi the event of the writer being the 
 survivor, of furnishing a simple narrative of the life of his 
 friend. This design being reserved to himself, he was not 
 a little surprised, soon after the decease of the beloved 
 subject, to be waited upon by the executors, Messrs. 
 Charles Smith and Edward Phillips, of Leeds, request- 
 ing him to undertake the Memoir of their long endeared 
 and venerated friend ; stating, at the same time, that the
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 family united in the request. Something providential 
 appearing in this coalescence of intention, arrangements 
 were immediately made to enter upon the work. The 
 executors, with promptitude and kindness, placed the 
 papers of Mr. Dawson in the hands of the writer ; and, 
 combining with his own collections whatever was avail- 
 able for the purpose of biography, he proceeded with all 
 possible care and despatch, to furnish he following 
 pages ; which, under these circumstances, are presented 
 to the public, not only with the sanction of the family, 
 but under the authority of the executors. 
 
 Though the writer had a valuable collection of Letters 
 in hand, obligingly furnished by different friends, he 
 
 studiously avoided the introduction of them into the 
 
 > 
 
 Life ; first, because they would have swelled it to an in- 
 convenient size ; secondly, he was anxious to introduce 
 as much incident as possible ; and thirdly, he foresaw 
 that the Letters themselves would form an excellent 
 volume running, chronologically arranged by the side 
 of the Life, as a kind of companion, leaving it optional 
 with the reader to take one or both, as inclination or 
 circumstances might lead. 
 
 In each of the biographies in which the writer has 
 been engaged, it has been a maxim with him to be
 
 PREFACE. Vll 
 
 honest to give both sides. He has never been either 
 afraid or ashamed to look human nature in the face, so 
 far as simple character has been concerned apart from 
 vice whether in its strength or weakness, its eccen- 
 tricities or its regularities ; nor has he ever tried to 
 make a man what, in reality, he was not, so that when 
 his friends and neighbours have seen him in print, they 
 have been unable to recognize him having been made 
 so much better than he actually was. Religion requires 
 no deception ; and happily for the biographer, he under- 
 took a subject that could sustain a scrutiny, a subject 
 as open as the day, and, for sincerity, as transparent 
 as the light. That subject the biographer commits to the 
 world, ,with an ardent wish, that the virtues embodied 
 there, may be exhibited both by himself and his readers. 
 
 JAMES EVERETT. 
 
 YORK, Feb. 12th, 1842.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Piety connected with secular employment. Parentage. Lord 
 Irvine. Sir Rowland Winn. Luke Dawson. Mrs. Daw- 
 son. Sir Thomas Gascoigne. Confidential servant. Wil- 
 liam's brothers and sisters. His birth strong affection 
 early developement of imitative powers. Kippax. Rev. 
 Miles Atkinson. Rev. William Richardson. Domestic 
 training. William's first serious impressions. Religious 
 Books. Health. The Village School-Master. Rev. W. 
 Hodgson. Mr. Ephraim Sanderson. Subject of these Me- 
 moirs finishes his Education at Aberford. Rev. Thomas 
 Dikes. His usefulness. Distress on account of sin. A 
 Dream. John Batty. Samuel Settle. Doctrine of Assu- 
 rance. Importance of an early religious bias. William's 
 state of mind and character, as given by his pastor. The 
 Rev. John Graham. Advantage of falling into good hands. 
 Depression of spirit. Insignificant means of relief. 
 External objects. The poor Negro. Death of William's 
 father. Christian liberty. Letter of Counsel from the 
 Rev. T. Dikes 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Commences a Diary. Essays. Letter from the Rev. T. 
 Dikes. Select religious Meetings. Labours of the Rev. J. 
 Graham. Rev. T. Gall and. W. Dawson begins to ex- 
 hort. Attends the religious Services of the Wesleyans. 
 Hears the Rev. Samuel Bradburn. Monarchy. Prays in
 
 X CONTENTS. 
 
 public. Early Compositions. The fall of Man. Sojourn- 
 ers. The Scriptures The Apocalypse. Reading. Books. 
 Attempts to court the Muse. Rev. R. Hemington. W. 
 Dawson becomes more public in his character. " Grime 
 Cabin." Renewal of Covenant. The Rev. Joseph Benson. 
 S. Settle sent to Magdalen College, Cambridge . . . . 25 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Letter from Mr. Settle. Mr. Kilham and his party. York 
 Assizes. A religious Diary. Extracts from it. W. Daw- 
 son formally takes a text. Besetment. William Smith. 
 Kindness to the Widow. Reproof. Pressed to enter into 
 Holy Orders. The Elland Society. The Latin Language. 
 Difficulties and Cares of Business. The Rev. J. Gra- 
 ham's testimony in favour of Wm. Dawson. Slender Re- 
 muneration. Despondency. Letter from Mr. Settle. . . 51 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Renewed Dedication. Rev. J. Benson. Mr. W. E. Miller. 
 A noisy Prayer-Meeting. Letters from Mr. Settle. Pro- 
 gress in Learning. The Rev. J. Atkinson. Evening Lec- 
 tures. Liberality. Further intimations of Holy Orders. 
 Reading and Studies. Portrait of a worldly-minded 
 Farmer. Inward conflicts. Messrs. Myles, Pawson, Brad- 
 burn, Mather, Griffith, and Dr. Coke. Out-door Preaching. 
 State of Sinners. Extended usefulness. Early Sermons. 
 Extracts from them. Preaches more generally and pub- 
 licly. Colton. Service by lantern light in the open air. 
 Mrs. Dean. Loud preaching 80 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Voluntary and involuntary evil. Letter from Mr. Settle. 
 College trials. Bias towards Methodism. Miss Barritt 
 Love- Feasts. Messrs. Mather' and Blagborne. Pride. 
 Balancings. Fear. Enthusiasm. Reading. Lay help in
 
 CONTENTS. Xi 
 
 the Establishment not encouraged. Samuel Hick. Se- 
 verity. Labours. Extracts from the Diary. Usefulness. 
 Public Addresses. Sin. Assurance. Death. Sinners 
 in danger. Sceptics. Growing Piety. Painful Exercises. 
 Local Militias. State of the Country. Prudence. 
 Morning Comtnunings. Scrupulosity of Conscience. 
 Stands Sponsor. Thoughts on Marriage. Feeling mani- 
 fested by external Signs. Letters from Messrs. Graham 
 and Settle. Freedom of Mind. Trials often heighten 
 coming Joys. Visit to the Rev. J. Graham, York. Genius 
 of Methodism. Further References to the Elland Society. 
 Prayer. The turning Point. Rev. Miles Atkinson. 
 Peculiar situation of W. Dawson. Decides against Holy 
 Orders. Rev. J. Graham. Rev. S. Settle. Rev. Joseph 
 Benson. Rev. T. Dikes. Religious state of W. Dawson. 110 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Wesley's Life. Reconciliation necessary for a Minister of the 
 Gospel. People generally moulded by the Ministry. 
 Increasing faith. Little faith. Jeremy Taylor. Extracts 
 from the Diary. Bohler's advice to Wesley. Faith to be 
 preached. Faith in its simplicity. Examples of it. 
 Friendship. Covenant. Messrs. Graham and Settle. 
 Advantage of different Christian Communities. Authors 
 and reading. Sentiments of Dr. Johnson and Sir P. Sidney 
 on Knowledge. " Visitation of the Sick." Industry. 
 Messrs. Settle and Wade. Mr. Suter. W. Dawson sup- 
 plies the place of the Vicar of Thorpe-Arch. Personal 
 Piety and public Usefulness. Self-abasement. A hoary- 
 headed Enquirer after truth. Watch-nights. Tries Class- 
 Meeting. Preaches in the Coal-mine. Dress. Useless 
 and unseasonable Conversation. Omissions of Duty. 
 Death of the Rector of the Parish. Public business, and 
 rules to be observed in transacting it. Hard Bargains, 
 and love of our neighbour. Inferior usage. Contentment. 
 Presentiment. Visit of an uncle to Barnbow. Sermon 
 to Young People.- Providential deliverance. Aptitude for 
 improving occasions and events 155
 
 Ill CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The old year. Time. The eighteenth Century. Opinions 
 of Johnson and Clarendon. Disinterested toil. Useful- 
 ness. Samuel Hick. Class-Meeting. Thomas Stoner. 
 Blessedness of Christian communion. Social and literary ad- 
 vantages. Reading and religious discourse. Providential 
 choice of lot Wit, true and false. Study. Reproof. 
 HOME religion. Domestic changes. Escape from death. 
 Murder. Local preachers. Pulpit preparation. Over ex- 
 ertion. Progress in piety. Sinners disturbed in their 
 pleasures by rousing sermons. Increasing labour. Pity to 
 the poor. Becomes an accredited Local Preacher. Wes- 
 ley, Whitfield/an'd "Cennick's sermons. Richard Burdsall. 
 Enlarged sphere of labour. Affliction and its fruit. 
 Meets the Local Preachers, and attends the Quarter- Meet- 
 ing. Preaches in Leeds. Rev. S. Bradburn. Rev. W. 
 Bramwell. Sinkings and swellings of heart. Watchfulness. 183 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Activity. Proposed for the itinerant work. Enlarged sphere 
 of action. Cotton Mather's " Directions." Desirous of a 
 chapel at Barwick. Severe mental exercises. Doubts. 
 Mr. Barber. A. Mather's Life. Bunyan's " Grace Abound- 
 ing." Indiscreet praise. Pride and humility. Sensibility. 
 Perplexity. Appointed by Conference to a circuit. De- 
 clines travelling. Dissimulation and sincerity met by the 
 providence of God. Mr. Bramwell. Visitations from 
 above. Paradoxical character of Christian experience to 
 the world. Expense in dress. Prosperity of the work of 
 God. W. E. Miller. High rents. Feasts. Secrets. Un- 
 pleasant forebodings. Natal Anniversary. Death of Wil- 
 liam's grandmother. Ground bought, and a chapel in the 
 course of erection. Mr. Bramwell leaves the circuit. Re- 
 flections upon it 213
 
 CONTENTS. XUl 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Opening of a chapel at Barwick. Collecting Book. The 
 Rev. Thomas Taylor and John Grant. Occasional sermons. 
 Visit to Hull. Rev. Joseph Bradford. Character. 
 Characteristic distinctions. Dr. Bates's Works. Samuel 
 Popplewell, Esq. Afflictive dispensation of Providence. 
 Friendship. Rev. Miles Atkinson as a preacher. Increas- 
 ing popularity. Biographer's first interview with Mr. 
 Dawson. Rev. Andrew Fuller. First Public Missionary 
 Meeting among the Wesleyans at Leeds. An Extract from 
 Mr. Dawson's speech on the occasion. Comparative view 
 of the Wesleyan Missions. The partial and indirect influ- 
 ence of Mr. Dawson's occasional play of fancy upon speak- 
 ers and hearers. 236 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Conscience, a singular Incident. Tenderness in preaching. 
 The Shepherd personified. Indirectself.praise Revival- 
 ists. Mistakes in Conversion corrected. Early Gift in 
 Prayer among young Converts. Establishment of Mission- 
 ary Societies at York and Wakefield. Extracts from 
 Speeches. Mr. Edward Wade's death. Selby Missionary 
 Meeting. Timidity. Characteristic Remarks. Conver- 
 sational Meetings among the Local Preachers. A spiri- 
 tual Ministry. Deputation from a distance. Death of the 
 Princess Charlotte. Visit to the North. A Dream. 
 Quarrels from trifling causes. Fault-finders. Prejudice. 
 Chester and Liverpool Meetings. Dr. Adam Clarke. Pro- 
 priety of bringing acquired knowledge" 'fJtTEear oh the cause 
 of Truth. Death of the Rev. William Bramwell. 1*he 
 Backslider. Tract Distribution. Addresses to Children. 
 Objections. The Eternal Sonship. Authors 263
 
 XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 StageCoach Dialogues. Retort. Incognito. Lord Milton. 
 Touching Tale. Conversations. Matrimony. Business. 
 Misers. Popery. Socinianism. People. Ministers. 
 Poetry of action. Impotency. Penitents. The World- 
 ling. The character of Mr. Dawson as a Preacher. Power 
 of imagination. Terrific Imagery. Candour in hearing. 
 Selection of Hymns, and remarks upon them. Indis- 
 cretion in singing pieces after sermon. Death of Friends. 
 Death on the Pale Horse. The Secret of successful 
 preaching. Sermon to Sailors. Death of Friends. Rev. 
 David Stoner. Different Pulpit methods. Mr. Dawson's 
 Class. False wit. Bible Meeting at Hull. Death of Mr. 
 Dawson's Mother . . 293 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Increasing labour. Conversion of a Sceptic. Opening of 
 Brunswick Chapel, Leeds. Contrast between the Pulpit 
 and the Farm. Silver taken at the foot of the gallery stairs. 
 Difference between popularity and usefulness. Revivals. 
 Industry. The grave and the ludicrous. Daniel in the 
 lions' den. John Richardson. Biography. Death of t!ie 
 Rev. David Stoner. His character. The fallen trumpet. 
 Difference between Nature and Art. Mr. Samuel Ent- 
 
 wisle Mr. Hugh Gill. Dr. Me Allum's character and 
 
 death. Leeds Organ Question. Mr. Baines and the Leeds 
 Mercury. -Disputes. Journies. A mishap. Platform 
 Readings. Prayer Meetings, and their good effects. Di- 
 vine Influence. Restitution. Contentment. Solicitation 
 of Subscriptions. Melancholy effects of false alarm at Heck- 
 mondwike. The Rev. Gideon Ouseley. Popish Contro- 
 vertists. Death of "The Village Blacksmith." Farm un- 
 successful. Curiosity in check. Visits. Obituaries. .. 321
 
 CONTENTS. XV 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Christian friendship. Rev. J. Storry. Martha Hick. Ex- 
 cessive labour. Sensibility. Extempore speaking. Com- 
 mon sense. Young's Night Thoughts. Mercy. Critics. 
 Living Epistles. Shadow of Death. Attitudes. Con- 
 versation. Backslider restored. A School Address. 
 Hymns. The wig. The " Factory Question." Affability. 
 Visits. London. Collections. Hard toil. Titles of 
 Public Addresses. The Reform Bill. War. The Cholera. 
 The tax -cart. Invitations. Travelling conducive to 
 health. Dr. Clarke and the Rev. Richard Watson. Suc- 
 cessful beggingT^^lttanner. ^Stripes of Transgressors. 
 Power over an auditory. Providence. Mr. Reinhardt 
 Mrs. Turton. Willingness to labour. The auctioneer's 
 stand. Piety maintained. Rev. Robert Aitkin. Socia- 
 bility. Good done at Barwick. A travelling fete. Con- 
 tentment. The North. The Theological Institution. 
 Additional labour ~~. r ."" v" Tn i'."~rT"~". . .. 360 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Love, a great moving principle. Rev. S. Settle. The old 
 ship. John Patrick. Rev. R. Aitkin. Visit to the Theo- 
 logical Institution. Hint to chapel- keepers. Scattered 
 fears. A Rent-day homily. Religion requires constant 
 application. Continuance of excessive labour. Liberality. 
 A platform dilemma. Failures. Tea Party. Presen- 
 tations. Humility. The Dawsonian Fund, and its object 
 Symptoms of physical decay. Outgoings. Mr. R. M. 
 Beverley's " Travelling Revivalist." Perseverance. Cor- 
 respondence. The Hoppings. Second case of liberality. 
 The Holy Spirit. Menders of Systems. The Christian 
 race. Penitents. " Teetotallism." Politics prejudicial to 
 religion. Adaptation of tne Gospel to ManT^Honles* sub- 
 scribed towards the Dawsonian Fund presented to the Mis- 
 sionary Committee, and accepted. Mr. Dawson's views on 
 the subject Extraordinary collections at Huddersfleld. 
 Conversions 395
 
 XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Notice of Mr. Dawson's engagements. Residence in Leeds. 
 Unmitigated toil. CENTENARY OF WESLEYAN METHOD- 
 ISM. Speech. Moral and religious Advantages of the 
 Centenary. List of Appointments. Out-door preaching. 
 Narration of Cottage Stories. Eccentricities. The Holy 
 Spirit Spurious Christianity. Plainness in Preaching. 
 Leeds Parliamentary Revision. Courtesy of the Mayor of 
 Leeds. Windsor Castle, Busts, and Paintings. Nature 
 and Art Leadership. Character. Kindness and Friend- 
 ship. Ireland and the Irish. Mr. Thomas Stoner. Ser- 
 mons. The Gown. Duke of Devonshire's grand Con- 
 servatory. Habit of Industry. Disinterestedness. Shef- 
 field. Indisposition. A second case of Restitution. 
 Presentiment. The London "Times.'' Mr. Thomas Lumb. 
 Isle of Wight Sickness 433 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 The King's Daughter. The Will of God. Proverbial Say- 
 ings. Indisposition. Acaster. Plan of Labour. Mr. J. 
 Wild. Dover. Letter to Mrs. Ince. Croydon. Birk- 
 hamstead. Last Sermon. ReturnHome. Colne. Sudden 
 Death. Reflections. Processions. Funeral Obsequies. 
 Tokens of Respect Concluding Observations 463
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Piety connected n-ith secular employment. Parentage. Lnrd 
 Irvine. Sir Ron-land Winn. Luke Damson. Mrs. Damson. 
 Sir Thomas Gascoigne. Confidential servant. William's 
 brothers and sisters. His birth strong affection early devel- 
 opement of imitative poivers. Kippax. Rev. Miles Atkinson. 
 Rev. William Richardson. Domestic training. William's 
 first serious impressions. Religious Books. Health. The Vil- 
 lage School-Master. Rev. W. Hodgson. Mr. Ephraim San- 
 derson. Subject of these Memoirs finishes his Education at 
 Aberford. Rev. Thomas Dikes. His usefulness. Distress on 
 account of sin. A Dream. John Batty. Samuel Settle. 
 Doctrine of Assurance. Importance of an early religious bias. 
 William' 1 s state of mind and character, as given by his pastor. 
 The Rev. John Graham. Advantage of falling into good 
 hands. Depression of spirit. Insignificant means of relief. 
 External objects. The poor Negro. Death of WiUiam's father. 
 Christian Liberty. Letter of Counsel from the Rev. T. Dikes. 
 
 PERSONAL religion cannot appear otherwise than 
 glorious in a Christian minister, dissevered from all 
 secular employment, and exclusively consecrated to the 
 service of the sanctuary. Under such circumstances, 
 he is, in scripture phraseology, "as the sun when he 
 
 A
 
 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 goeth forth in his might;" unaccompanied by a single 
 cloud, and mounting up his shining way, amid the 
 pure azure of heaven, till he attain his meridian height 
 and glory. The same amount of piety in a man 
 mixed up with the bustle and business of life, is in 
 danger of having a portion of its real worth im- 
 perceptibly abstracted from it, in consequence of the 
 association ; whereas, the real glory of the latter tran- 
 scends that of the former, by reason of his coming 
 out of a feast, a place of trust, with its untold 
 thousands, a mercantile transactian out of the world, 
 in short, as pure as from the temple of God, with its 
 means of grace. Such a man was WILLIAM DAAVSON, 
 the subject of these Memoirs, whose honour as a man, 
 and whose character as a Christian, stood not only 
 unimpeached, but were the subjects of glowing eulogy ; 
 being deservedly classed with those "that buy, as 
 though they possessed not," and that "use this world, 
 as not abusing it." 
 
 The grandfather of William was colliery agent to 
 Lord Irvine, of Temple Newsome ; and one of the 
 brothers of his grandfather was land and colliery 
 agent to Sir Rowland Winn, Bart., of Nostal Priory, 
 near Wakefield, about the time that the celebrated 
 John Nelson was employed as a stone-mason, in the 
 re-election of the family mansion. 
 
 The name of William's father was Luke Dawson, 
 and his mother's maiden name was Ann Pease. The 
 latter was distinguished for great strength of mind, a 
 shrewd insight into business transactions, combined 
 with considerable foresight being capable of diving into 
 remote conclusions from present appearances ; added 
 to which possessing the fear of God, she was a
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 3 
 
 woman of sterling integrity. Being in the habit of 
 visiting Leeds occasionally, and of comparing the past 
 with the present, she sometimes amused her children 
 with the change telling them, that she recollected to 
 have seen grass growing in Briggate, after attaining 
 the age of womanhood. Her husband, the father of 
 William, acted as steward to Sir Thomas Gascoigne, 
 one of the descendants of the ancient family of Gas- 
 coigne, of Gawthorpe, the baronetage of which became 
 extinct on the death of the late Sir Thomas, when 
 Richard Oliver, Esq., of Parlington, succeeded him in 
 his estates, and, in compliance with his will, assumed 
 the name of Gascoigne. The office of Mr. Luke 
 Dawson was to superintend the colliery department, 
 which office he sustained for a period of twenty-one 
 years, when death put an end to his labours. He 
 died in the fifty-first year of his age, leaving a widow 
 who reached her "three-score years and ten." His 
 comparatively premature removal from this transitory 
 state, was not remarkable, having been, in the language 
 of the subject of these pages to the biographer, "but 
 a sickly man." One circumstance, in addition to 
 the fact of his office having terminated only with his 
 life, goes to prove, that he had not only the respect, 
 but the fullest confidence of his master. In a case of 
 some difficulty, when a party appealed to Sir Thomas, 
 whose decision would have been final, and to give which 
 would have been attended with no impropriety, he 
 replied, " Gentlemen, I shall not decide, till I have first 
 seen Luke Dawson, and consulted him on the subject." 
 Mrs. Dawson bore ten children to her husband. 
 Two, who were twins, died soon after they were born ; 
 another a boy, quitted life at the age of one year and
 
 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 three quarters ; and a fourth a girl, was called hence 
 when verging on her second year; the other six reached 
 maturity, one of whom a sister, who was marrried, died 
 in London ; and four of the remaining five, two brothers 
 and two sisters, survived the subject of these pages. 
 
 William was the oldest child, and was born March 
 3()th, 1773, at Garforth, a small parish town, three 
 miles from Aberford, and seven from Leeds, in the 
 county of York. The other children were born at Barn- 
 bow,* a short distance from Garforth, whither his 
 parents went to reside while he was yet a child in 
 the arms. The house at Barnbow being then in the 
 course of erection, William was sent to Whitkirk, little 
 more than two miles distant, to reside with his grand- 
 father and grandmother on the paternal side, with 
 whom he continued for a period of nearly five years. 
 One circumstance connected with infancy may be noticed, 
 as it had an influence upon his opinions in mature 
 life. During the first half-year of his existence, he 
 Avas feeble and sickly, and cried both night and day ; 
 so much so, that his father and all the domestics, with 
 the exception of his mother, wished for his own sake 
 supposing that his life would be one of debility and 
 suffering, that the Lord would call him hence. To 
 this almost incessant crying, he afterwards attributed 
 the strength of his lungs ; and certainly, if there is 
 any truth in the remark, that strength is acquired by 
 exercise, his opinion was correct. When able to run 
 abroad, he had a little play-fellow, of the name of 
 William Arthur, of whom he was passionately fond. 
 
 * The population of Garforth, according to the census of 1831 , amounted to 
 731 persons. The townships of Barnbow, Morwick, and Scholes, contained a 
 population of 764; the first comprising 273, and the two latter 491.
 
 WILLIAM DAWBON. 5 
 
 His namesake having taken the small-pox, he was 
 cautioned against visiting the house. Heedless of the 
 injunction, and insensible of the danger, he proceeded 
 to the abode of the little invalid. His absence soon 
 awakened suspicion at home ; and those who were sent 
 in pursuit of him, found him with the sick boy, into 
 whose bed he had crept unperceived by the family. 
 There, in his child-like way, and with a warmth of 
 feeling creditable to riper age, he was consoling him 
 under his affliction. This is a fine instance of what is 
 denominated the " intelligence of affection," which is 
 carried on by the eye only, and which, while it exists 
 in the heart, is often falsified by the tongue, through 
 the refinements of society. The eye of little Dawson 
 saw the plague-spot of that disease of childhood upon 
 his companion of "sports and pastimes;" his heart 
 was smitten with a tenderness of which he knew not the 
 name; he clasped the contagion to his bosom, and 
 bore it away to his own couch, where he lay, like his 
 play-fellow, the subject of tender domestic solicitude. 
 Both of the invalids, however, soon recovered, and were 
 as soon beheld sporting on the village green, shewing to 
 the separate families by what fine-spun threads the 
 affections are drawn together, threads as fine as those 
 spun from the bowels of the spider, and yet so strong, 
 as to bid defiance to disease and death in mature age. 
 
 The house of old Mr. Dawson, adjoining the burial- 
 ground belonging to the Established Church, the two 
 boys were often found gambolling among the tombs, 
 a ground, which, next to a place of worship, should 
 be held sacred, but which is too often thoughtlessly 
 passed over by both old and young, and not suffi- 
 ciently fenced by the proper authorities. The subject of
 
 6 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ; these Memoirs having been taught to read, and having 
 strolled into the church one day, while the sexton was 
 engaged in the discharge of some of his duties, pro- 
 posed to his companion "a game," as it was termed, 
 "at parson and clerk," selecting for himself the more 
 dignified character of the former, and assigning to his 
 fellow the more humble office of the latter. Accordingly, 
 Dawsoiv who could in many instances mimic to the 
 life, entered the reading-desk, opened the Bible, whose 
 unwieldy size required all the physical energy he pos- 
 sessed to unfold its pages, announced the book, and, 
 with an audible voice, read a chapter, occasionally 
 bending his eye upon his less dignified companion in 
 the clerk's place below, which he was the better able 
 to effect, in consequence of having elevated his person 
 by something which he had found at hand adapted 
 to the purpose. This led his mother pleasantly to 
 remark, in after life, when his ministerial labours were 
 adverted to "He was born a preacher." 
 
 On the death of~fcis~ jgYandfatKer, he returned to 
 his parents at Barnbow, where he resided till within 
 three or four years of his own demise. He accompanied 
 his father and mother to Kippax, about three miles 
 distant, where they sat under the ministry of the Rev. 
 Miles Atkinson, afterwards of Leed ;* a man of 
 evangelical sentiment and Christian character, both of 
 which, in all probability, led Mr. and Mrs. Dawson 
 to prefer Kippax to their own parish church at Bar- 
 wick. This is the more likely, as the latter had they 
 not, like the children of the "elect lady," known and 
 
 It is to this excellent man, that Mr. Wesley refers in his Journal, May 2, 
 1779, having been requested by him to preach in his church. Works, Vol. IV. 
 p. 151.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 7 
 
 walked in the "truth," presented especially in un- 
 favourable weather, greater inducements to flesh and 
 blood, than the former, requiring a journey of only two 
 miles instead of six. William heard Mr. Atkinson during 
 a period of four years, but observed to the biographer, 
 that he was unable to comprehend what was advanced, 
 and was consequently not properly impressed by it ; 
 a circumstance, perhaps as the ministry was strictly 
 evangelical, though not striking, more to be attributed 
 to the carelessness of the hearer, than to any want 
 of perspicuity in the matter, or seriousness in the 
 demeanour of the preacher. 
 
 After this, when in his ninth year, he sat under 
 the ministry of the Rev. W. Richardson, who offi- 
 ciated in the same church. Mr. Richardson was more 
 adapted to his genius; for dealing occasionally in strong 
 expressions, not unfrequently spiced with the quaint- 
 nesses of the preceding age, he at once caught and 
 fixed the attention of his young auditor, whose mind, 
 like the opening bud, was gradually expanding to the 
 sun of instruction. One of these peculiar forms of 
 expression he carried with him through life, some- 
 times employing it to good purpose: "I love," said 
 Mr. Richardson, when speaking of persons acting with 
 a "single eye," "I love those one-eyed Christians." * 
 
 With such aid in the pulpit, Mrs. Dawson, to whom 
 
 * Air. Richardson afterwards removed to the city of York, where he exercised 
 the ministerial office 30 years, having been in the ministry 50 in all. On his 
 decease was published, "The Faithful Minister, Israel's best Defence. A 
 Sermon preached at St. Michael-le-Belfry, York, May 27th, 1821, in con- 
 sequence of the death of the Rev. \V. Richardson, Minister of that Church. 
 By the Rev. J. Graham, Rector of St. Saviour, and St. Mary, Bishop-hill, 
 sen., and Domestic Chaplain to the Rt. Hon. Earl Bathurst." 8vo. pp. 33. 
 It appears from Mr. Graham's account of Mr. Richardson, that he was no 
 ordinary man ; his perception being acute and discriminating his memory
 
 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 William looked up as his priestess, and who was 
 anxious to promote the religious welfare of her chil- 
 dren, was greatly assisted in her domestic appeals to 
 the conscience. Though she had no vices to preserve 
 in check, no acts of immorality to condemn, yet she 
 knew, that personal religion was not of spontaneous 
 growth, that human nature would no more send forth 
 its shoots of piety, without culture and grace, than a 
 naturally unfruitful soil will yield golden crops with- 
 out care, seed, manure, and tillage, of which she had 
 a striking example in a portion of the land tenanted 
 by her husband. While Mr. Dawson, therefore, was 
 engaged with his farm and his stewardship, Mrs. Daw- 
 son took upon herself the momentous charge of the 
 children, as to religion and morals. For this, she was 
 not only religiously disposed, but admirably fitted ; and, 
 as in the order of Providence, she was destined to be 
 left with them, while some of them were yet young, she 
 acquired by it a commanding influence through life, 
 which was the more important as age advanced. In 
 order deeply to impress William's mind, together with 
 the hearts of the other children, as they rose under her 
 training hand, she prayed with them, read the Holy 
 Scriptures to them, and enforced many of her remarks 
 by select portions from the "PRACTICE OF PIETY." Two 
 paragraphs of the latter, William observed to the writer, 
 
 accurate and tenacious his judgment sound his reading extensive bis 
 learning solid and useful his discourses, at the same time, being enriched 
 with maxims of substantial, practical wisdom and his conversation eminently 
 engaging and improving. As to personal religion, his devotion is stated to 
 have had the character of strength rather than warmth, being seated in the 
 mind rather than in the passions. He was the staunch friend of Bible, Mis- 
 sionary, and other valuable institutions, and was considered the " FATHER" 
 of the Sunday Schools belonging to the Established Church, in the city of 
 York.
 
 WILLIAM DAVVSON. 9 
 
 late in life, fastened their contents upon his mind; 
 further stating, that he often wept and prayed over 
 them, adding, in his expressive way, "Many a time 
 have I thumbed. them since." 
 
 "Drelincourt on Death," and "Flavel on the Soul," 
 were also books which he read in early life, and which 
 seriously impressed him with the awful realities of 
 an invisible world. But there was one book, he re- 
 marked, when speaking of his juvenile days, the 
 exact title of which had passed from the memory, 
 but whose purport seemed to be the vast importance 
 of religion, professing to solve the momentous ques- 
 tion Shall I be Lost or Saved? which made the 
 deepest impression upon his mind. The book, he 
 stated, was afterwards either lost or destroyed; and 
 as religion rose in importance in his esteem, he felt 
 the more anxious to procure a copy, but, in the 
 whole of his search, he was never able to meet with 
 anything capable of satisfying his mind with the fact of 
 it being an impression of the same work. It did not 
 occur to the biographer, till sometime after the con- 
 versation took place, that it might possibly have 
 been a copy of "The Great Concern; or, a Summary 
 Account of the Fear of God, and Keeping his Com- 
 mandments, by Samuel Wright, D.D.," a third edition 
 of which was published in London, in 1733, and 
 was a likely book to find its way into a family where 
 the "Practice of Piety" was so highly esteemed. 
 But whatever might be the work, he observed at the 
 same time, with deep and sweet emotion, as though 
 all other oracles spoke through one, and as if every 
 ray of light from other sources flashed upon his 
 spirit through the same medium "I owe much to 
 
 A2
 
 10 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 my MOTHER!" a subject on which he was always 
 tender, and under which, whenever he touched it, 
 an audience has sighed and wept like a child weeping 
 before its parent ; and has been as much subdued into 
 softness, as the maddened spirit of Saul was toned 
 down to subordination and quiet, when the fingers of 
 the Hebrew bard swept across the strings of the 
 Jewish harp. O, yes ! the kindest lessons are those 
 which a mother teaches, as the most touching and 
 solemn warnings are those which issue from her 
 heart and from her lips, when she warns away her 
 child from danger : and William Dawson was one 
 who, though he stood in awe of his mother, never 
 ceased to love her, whether in youth or in age ; and 
 the biographer himself, with silverlings now sprinkling 
 his head, still recollects, while writing, with a gush- 
 ing heart, and eyes swimming in tears, a mother's 
 love, a mother who descended into " the valley of the 
 shadow of death," with many endearing recollections, 
 at the advanced age of between eighty and ninety. 
 
 The subject of these Memoirs seems to have had much 
 more of the mother than the father, both with regard 
 to physical energies and intellectuality. He possessed, 
 with the exception of the first half-year of his life, a 
 sound, healthy constitution, was remarkable for mus- 
 cular strength, as soon as he was able to exercise it, 
 and manifested, as age crept on, amazing vivacity, 
 with occasional corruscations of genius. His grand- 
 mother, adverting to his general health, his readiness 
 for his meals, and the cheerfulness with which he 
 seemed to partake of the bounties of Providence, used 
 to say, "Child, thou hast a crop for all kinds of corn." 
 With some of these proverbial expressions, whose sense
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 1 1 
 
 was full, and whose alliteration rhymed to the ear, he 
 would occasionally amuse the writer. 
 
 His first school-master, on leaving Whitkirk, was 
 Joseph Cromack, of Barwick. The school-room in 
 which he was taught, adjoined the church-yard, and 
 stood on the site of the present erection. Here, but 
 slender progress was made in learning. Joseph seems 
 to have wanted some of the pre-requisites for his 
 situation, and to have been only less pedantic than 
 another master of the ferula, to whom William re- 
 ferred one day to the writer, of the name of John 
 B., who kept a school at Scholes. He humorously 
 represented John as a wholesale reader of one of the 
 largest Leeds papers commencing with the first ad- 
 vertisement on the first page, and systematically pro- 
 ceeding with every word to the imprint at the close. 
 Adverting to some effects which were advertised for 
 sale, but not being conversant with the several items, 
 John observed to the villager, who was not quite so 
 profoundly learned as himself "The whole, I sup- 
 pose, will be devil-oped on the day of sale." 
 
 His next tutor was the Rev. W. Hodgson, curate 
 of Garforth, who taught a school at Barwick. This 
 gentleman, being defective in Christian conduct, often 
 neglected his pupils ; the consequence was, that young 
 Dawson was next sent to Mr. Ephraim Sanderson, 
 of Aberford, who kept a large academy in that place; 
 and who, exclusive of day scholars, had sometimes as 
 many as forty boarders. The distance was three 
 miles from Barnbow, and thither our tyro proceeded 
 daily. There he made the greatest progress in learning, 
 and finished his education ; often, at a subsequent period, 
 when capable of forming a judgment, complimenting
 
 12 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 his master for his conduct and abilities. Zimmerman 
 speaks of learned men, who are ignorant of nothing, 
 saving their own ignorance. Mr. Sanderson was not 
 of this class, and it is a happy circumstance that 
 Dawson's close at school was much more propitious 
 than its beginning. 
 
 Owing to the religious instruction received at home, 
 William was the better prepared to profit under the 
 ministry of the Rev. Thomas Dikes, who officiated as 
 curate at Barwick-in-Elmet, for a period of two years, 
 prior to his final residence in Hull. Under that gentle- 
 man's ministry he received his first deep and permanent 
 awakenings, subsequent to those produced under do- 
 mestic tutorage. Not only was he favoured with his 
 ministry but with his counsel in social life, as well as 
 with his epistolary correspondence ; the latter of which 
 was not only expressive of high esteem, but a deep 
 anxiety on the part of Mr. Dikes to promote his best 
 interests. Among other helps to piety, Mr. Dikes 
 put "Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion in 
 the Soul," into his hand. He was sitting in the barn 
 one day, when John Batty, one of his father's servants, 
 who was also the subject of serious impressions, found 
 him poring over its pages. On going into the house, 
 he was asked by his master whether he had seen 
 William anywhere; to which he replied in the affir- 
 mative. He was next asked what he was engaged in, 
 when he returned "reading." Having seen him in 
 deep distress, and being afraid lest it should be a 
 book that would increase it, and so, in the language 
 of Festus, set him "beside himself," his parents were 
 anxious to know its character, and also to secure 
 possession of it, without exercising force or severity.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 13 
 
 When John returned to the barn, he informed William 
 of what had passed, saying, hy way of apology, "What 
 could I do? I was obliged to speak the truth!" 
 William replied, "You did right." This book he 
 generally concealed on what was called the wall-plate 
 of the granary ; and to the granary, or some other 
 private place he used to retire, when he wished to 
 read without interruption. He appears to have derived 
 unusual benefit from it; for on Friday, July 25th, 
 1790, he wrote an extract from it, embracing nearly 
 two folio pages, and headed, "A Solemn Surrender 
 to Almighty God ; " to which he appended, opposite 
 the date, "solemnly performed this day." 
 
 His solicitude for deliverance from spiritual bondage 
 increasing, he naturally sought for relief in the use 
 of the ordinances of God ; and it was agreed, that 
 he should receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper 
 at the hands of Mr. Dikes, in connexion with John 
 Batty, who, by this time, had grown up into a kind of 
 band-mate for him. The minds of both were impressed 
 with sacred awe, vows, promises, arid protestations 
 were made, and the "Week's Preparation" was not 
 only seriously read, but its directions were rigidly 
 observed. Though the day of liberty was still in hazy 
 twilight, his ardour for" salvation was considerably in- 
 creased by the solemnity of the occasion. All was 
 anxiety within ; the spirit was struggling to be free ; 
 and the very solicitude experienced, was so strained 
 and overbent, that it seemed to break and prove a 
 hinderance to itself; like a body of water, which, in con- 
 sequence of its own super-abundance and onward force, 
 is prevented from finding a ready issue through the 
 straitened sluice. He was unable to give full expression
 
 14 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to his feelings ; and hence, sat brooding over his in- 
 ward wretchedness. 
 
 During the residence of Mr. Dikes at Barwick, a 
 church was in the course of erection for him at Hull, 
 to which place he finally removed, and in which place 
 he was living, in mellow age, and crowned with honour, 
 when the subject of these pages had finished his 
 course. Mr. Dikes, in early life, was particularly 
 distinguished for his zeal; and though "William Daw- 
 son did not enter into Christian liberty till some time 
 after he left for Hull, yet he "took," as he expressed 
 himself to the biographer, "the mould of" his "reli- 
 gious character from him," which was then beginning 
 to unfold itself in its various lineaments and features. 
 
 Though he was not at all superstitious, and used 
 to state, in reference to dreams, that only one in a 
 hundred might possibly be improved; yet, there was 
 one about this period, the effects of which he was 
 never able nor did he wish to shake off. He dreamed 
 one night, that he saw two roads, the one broad and 
 the other narrow, that multitudes were crowding the 
 former, where they were dancing along in tumultuous 
 joy, favoured with everything capable of gratifying the 
 heart, fascinating the eye, enchanting the ear, and 
 regaling the taste, and that the other was nearly 
 without a traveller. Various inducements were held 
 out to him, to take the broad way, all of which he 
 declined; and turning to John Batty, whom he thought 
 he saw standing at the entrance with himself, he said, 
 "We'll take the narrow path, John; it will do for 
 us ; we shall be less incommoded in it. " They 
 pursued the line some distance, in agreeable companion- 
 ship with each other, when he awoke. Though only
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 15 
 
 a vision of the night, it haunted him like a spectre 
 by day ; his young spiritual feelings, his vivid imagi- 
 nation, his pulpit monitor, his training at home, and, 
 above all, his Bible, in which he read also of a broad 
 and a narrow way, enabled him to decipher the whole; 
 it induced a spirit of fear and of caution, lest he 
 should incline, even in purpose, to the left, in which 
 direction the broad path lay ; and meeting his early, 
 and then old friend, a short time before his dissolu- 
 tion, who was thus one of the principal personages 
 in this midnight drama, he exclaimed, with a fine flow 
 of feeling, as if he had just been throwing the eye 
 along the line of road they had actually travelled, and 
 seen all the dangers they had separately escaped, 
 "Bless God, friend Batty, we are in the narrow way 
 yet!" Can any one doubt, that "God, in a dream, 
 in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon 
 men, in slumbering upon the bed ; " can any one 
 doubt, that God "then openeth the ears of men, 
 and sealeth their instruction? " 
 
 A young man, of the name of Samuel Settle, servant 
 of Mr. Miles Jackson, of Hillam Mill, spoke to William 
 on the subject of personal religion, and told him for 
 his encouragement, that he himself enjoyed an assu- 
 rance of the favour of God. This was like a light 
 unexpectedly springing up in a dark place ; and the 
 subject of these Memoirs kept his eye as steadily fixed 
 upon it, till he was led to the Saviour, as did the 
 "wise men" on the portentous "star," that finally 
 guided their steps to Bethlehem, where they beheld 
 the same object, only in an infant form "the young 
 child with Mary his mother," and where they "fell 
 down, and worshipped him." Samuel was William's
 
 16 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 guiding star. The latter had read of Christian assu- 
 rance, and had heard, what he deemed, something 
 like it urged from the pulpit ; but he had been led 
 to contemplate it as the privilege only of a highly 
 favoured few of saints of the highest order, and rather 
 to be beheld in prospect approaching nearer and nearer 
 to it, till just on the verge of the grave, than to be 
 enjoyed at present : and till now, he had never con- 
 versed with any who experienced the blessing. This 
 anticipated experience is but too common with many. 
 If death were the journey, instead of the end of it, 
 then such anticipations might be cherished. But who 
 would feed a lamp with oil, when the wick has reached 
 its end, and the flame is about to expire ! The blessing 
 is as necessary for the spirit's sustenance on the way 
 to heaven, as at the close of it ; the manna was even 
 more essential to the Israelites on their march through 
 the wilderness, than when in sight of the promised 
 land, at the latter of which periods it ceased to descend. 
 The "sense of assurance," as enjoyed by Samuel, 
 dwelt on the mind of young Dawson, like the pre- 
 ceding dream, by night and by day. Samuel was looked 
 upon by him in the light of a superhuman being ; 
 and he was in the habit of speaking on this to him 
 mysterious subject, to John Batty, while at the plough, 
 and when otherwise engaged in the work of the farm 
 "wondering, in himself," like Peter in another case, 
 "at that which was come to pass." The distress of 
 mind which he had for some time experienced, ren- 
 dered relief desirable, and for this he sought ; but now 
 he knew how to give it a name, saw a living example 
 of it in humble life, in one about his own age, and in 
 one respecting whose piety and character he entertained
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 17 
 
 the highest opinion. This increased his earnestness for 
 the blessing, and he embraced every opportunity that 
 presented itself for conversing with Samuel, and of 
 corresponding with him, on the all absorbing subject. 
 On leaving church, they often slipped notes into the 
 hands of each other, and thus, for some time, enjoyed 
 the advantages of Christian fellowship. It is interesting 
 to look at the outset of this youthful trio ; John 
 Batty, a servant in the house of one of his companions ; 
 Samuel Settle, with his little bed in a part of the 
 mill ; and William Dawson, looking no higher than 
 the plough! How different their stations and effects 
 upon society, through life ! John Batty becomes a 
 respectable farmer, quietly and unostentatiously settling 
 down at Throstle Nest, a short distance from Bar- 
 wick, where he was acting, as he had long done, in 
 the capacity of a class-leader, on the death of William 
 shining like a fixed star, and where, to return to 
 the former allusion, he was likely to end his days, 
 saying with Job " I shall die in my nest !" Samuel 
 Settle is sent to college, chiefly through the instru- 
 mentality of the Rev. John Graham, leaving the noise 
 of the mill for the calm of the study, and exchanging 
 his powdered costume for the more stately and sombre 
 drapery of a clergyman of the Established Church, 
 in one of whose pulpits he was officiating at Salisbury, 
 at the same period modestly pursuing his course, in 
 beauty and in serenity, like the moon in the heavens ! 
 William Dawson, on the other hand, is like a blazing 
 sun, but with comet-like course, astonishing, entrancing, 
 and fixing the gaze of the multitude ! And yet, with- 
 out the grace of God, not one of these young men 
 would, in all probability, have been known beyond
 
 18 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 their own homestead, or, at furthest, beyond their 
 own immediate vicinity ! 
 
 William still continued to "groan, being bur- 
 thened" with a sense of his moral wretchedness. The 
 Rev. Thomas Dikes, adverting to this, in a letter to 
 the Rev. William Dawson, nephew of the subject of 
 these Memoirs, dated "Hull, July 30, 1841, observes; 
 " When I entered upon my ministry," referring to 
 Barwick-in-Elmet, " William Dawson was one of my 
 parishioners, and regularly attended church. Then it 
 was, I believe, he received his first religious impressions. 
 He was wont to call upon me, and open his mind very 
 freely. His convictions of sin were deep and pungent. 
 He was deeply sensible of the corruptions of his own 
 heart, and felt how unable he was to deliver himself 
 from the body of sin and death. The foundation of 
 his religion was laid in deep humility. It was this that 
 led him to diligent prayer, to steadfast faith in Christ, 
 and to seek for that influence of divine grace by which 
 he might serve God in righteousness and true holiness. 
 His attendance on religious worship was regular, his 
 behaviour devout ; and I shall never forget the marked 
 attention he paid to the discourses from the pulpit. 
 His walk and conversation were unblamable, and his 
 whole deportment was serious yet, softened by that 
 cheerfulness which, I believe, rendered him through 
 life an agreeable companion to those with whom he 
 associated. Soon after I became acquainted with Mr. 
 Dawson, I left my curacy. Mr. Graham, of York, 
 succeeded me ; and his ministry, I am persuaded, was 
 made a great blessing to Mr. D." This is an inter- 
 esting reminiscence of a venerable clergyman, upwards 
 of eighty years of age, throwing his mind back upon
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 19 
 
 a period of half a century, and bringing from the 
 recesses of that mind the state and character of one 
 of his parishioners ; and excellent indeed must the 
 character have been, to have left an impression so 
 indelible on the mind of the pastor ; nor is it less com- 
 plimentary to the pastor himself, to have rendered 
 himself so familiar with the state, not only of the sheep, 
 but of the lambs of his flock. Mr. Dikes adds ; " I 
 am sorry I cannot contribute my quota to the life of 
 one who did so much to promote the glory of God, and 
 to benefit his fellow men." Here, of course, he refers 
 to his removal from Barwick, when personal intercourse 
 ceased, and with it, personal observation. But the 
 reminiscence itself, so far as early character goes, is an 
 excellent condensed history. 
 
 The Rev. John Graham entered upon the duties of 
 the parish, as curate, some time in the year 1 790 ; 
 under whose enlightened ministry, William as antici- 
 pated by Mr. Dikes, received great advantage. But 
 though the subject of these Memoirs considered himself 
 a member of the Established Church, to which he was 
 strongly attached both from principle and gratitude ; 
 yet he had, from boyhood, been in the habit of attending 
 the prayer-meetings among the Wesleyans, and of hear- 
 ing the local preachers in the afternoon of the Lord's 
 day, but without any intention or disposition to unite 
 himself to the body. During the successive labours of 
 Messrs. Dikes and Graham at Barwick, his attachment 
 to the Establishment was still more strongly marked ; 
 the former minister influencing his heart by fervent 
 zeal, the latter maintaining his authority over his in- 
 tellect by superior talent. The two combined, not only 
 nailed him to the door-posts of God's house, but exer-
 
 20 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 cised a beneficial influence on his character in after life 
 and a spirit at once so ardent, and a genius so exuber- 
 ant, required the more sedate training of the clergy of 
 the Established Church, to moderate the strength of the 
 one, and prune the luxuriant shoots of the other. In 
 having two such guides, just at the turning point of life, 
 when one false step might have changed the whole face 
 of his character, and so have fixed his destiny for ever 
 he may be considered as having been highly favoured. 
 Not having yet received a sense of the divine favour, 
 and having but little society adjacent to his own home- 
 stead, with the exception of the family and John Batty, 
 William was often the subject of more than ordinary 
 depression of spirit, which is not unfrequently the case 
 with persons who are a good deal thrown upon their 
 own resources. On one of these occasions, he went 
 into the fields not like Isaac at eventide to meditate, 
 but more in the spirit of Jeremiah, to pour forth his 
 notes of sorrow. The sun, it would seem from his own 
 account to the biographer, was up in the heavens, the 
 fields were gay with flowers and rich in verdure, the 
 birds were warbling out their varied strains, every thing 
 around him instinct with life, seemed happy, and, in his 
 own language, "all appeared striving to contribute to 
 his happiness." But no consolation could be derived 
 from either the reflections of his mind, or the objects 
 Animate and inanimate around him. At length he 
 went behind a hedge, and while sweeter songsters left 
 him unmoved, one of the less beautiful and more 
 diminutive of the feathered tribe caught his eye, as it 
 hopped from twig to twig, uttering its monotonous but 
 cheerful note of "chirup, chirup." This, by a sud- 
 den turn of thought, was instantly transformed by the
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 21 
 
 fertile imagination of the melancholy wanderer into 
 " cheer-up, cheer-up, cheer-up," which, even in its 
 abbreviated form, presented no great dissimilarity to the 
 ear. He said within himself, " Here is a little bird 
 happy, and I and I possessed of an immortal spirit 
 born for heaven cared for by a watchful providence 
 fed, sheltered, protected, redeemed with salvation 
 within reach and the very heaven for which I was 
 born, offered am yet unhappy !" This circumstance, 
 though not less important in its nature than the case 
 recorded by the Hebrew bard, who contrasted his 
 suspended privileges with those of the " sparrow" and 
 the "swallow," one of which had "found an house," 
 and the other " a nest," contiguous to the spot around 
 which the good man ever delights to hover the "altars 
 of the Lord of Hosts," led to a train of serious reflec- 
 tion, which issued in serenity of mind ; and he could 
 not but adore the goodness of God, humbled and 
 prostrated before Him, without whose permission a 
 sparrow cannot fall to the ground, in thus employing 
 so minute and unimportant a creature, to be the instru- 
 ment of such a reversed state of feeling, from that 
 of deep overshadowing gloom, to the tranquillity and 
 cheerfulness of a summer evening.* This, however, 
 was but a foretaste of what was in reversion, for as yet 
 
 * The influence of external objects upon the mind, ami the aspects in which 
 they are viewed, in certain moods and states, is strikingly illustrated by 
 Carabo, a negro in one of the Southern States of America, who was desired 
 to give an account of his conversion, and who proceeded thus : " While in 
 my own country, (Guinea,) me had no knowledge of the being of a God; me 
 thought me should die like the beasts. After me was brought to America, 
 and sold as a slave, as me and another servant of the name of Bess were 
 working in the field, me began to sing one of my old country songs, ' It is 
 time to go home ;' when Bess say to me, ' Cambo, why you sing so for ? Me 
 say, 'Me no sick, me no sorry; why me no sing? 1 Bess say, 'You better
 
 22 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 he had not experienced the assurance to which his 
 friend Settle had attained. It encouraged him, in the 
 mean time, in the midst of further despondings, and 
 inspired- him with a hope, that the day of complete 
 deliverance was not remote. 
 
 His father dying when he was only between eighteen 
 and nineteen years of age, he succeeded him in the 
 stewardship over the collieries of Sir Thomas Gascoigne, 
 and became in his turn, and at this early period of life, 
 the father of the family. With the stewardship was 
 still connected the farm, consisting of about one hundred 
 and fifty acres, some of the land of which, as already 
 hinted, was exceedingly poor. To this his brother at- 
 tended ; and on its produce the family were chiefly 
 dependant. Though he was now, in a certain sense, a 
 master, yet, such was his reverence for his mother, that 
 she bore the rule, while he attended to the provision of the 
 family ; thus presenting a fine example of filial obedience. 
 
 Mr. Graham had not been long at Barwick, before 
 the subject of these Memoirs was enabled to lay hold 
 on Christ by faith, and to rejoice in a sense of sin 
 forgiven. This took place some time in the year 1/91, 
 in the church at Barwick, while Mr. Graham was 
 administering the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and 
 just as he was uttering, " The body of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy soul 
 
 pray to your blessed Lord and Massa, to have mercy on your sonl.' Me look 
 round, me look up, me see no one to pray to; but the words sound in my 
 ears, ' Better pray to your Lord and Massa !' Bye and bye me feel bad sun 
 shine sorry birds sing sorryland look sorry but Cambo sorrier than them 
 all. Then me cry out, 'Mercy, mercy, Lord.' on poor Cambo!' Bye and 
 bye, water come in my eyes, and glad come in my heart. Then sun look 
 glad woods look glad birds sing glad land look glad, but poor Cambo 
 gladder than them all. Me love my Massa some; me want to love him 
 more."
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 23 
 
 and body unto everlasting life. Take and eat this in 
 remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on 
 him in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving." Than 
 this, scarcely anything could have been more appro- 
 priate : the seeking sinner was at the table of the 
 Lord in immediate contact with the cross the bread 
 was shadowed forth, which alone could impart life to 
 the soul, and satisfy its cravings an exhortation was 
 given to the exercise of faith the sentence of death 
 was felt within the death of the Saviour was ex- 
 hibited for the life of the transgressor and all this 
 for THEE yes, for THEE ! He was overwhelmed with 
 a sense of the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, and 
 had the love of God shed abroad in his heart by the 
 Holy Ghost given unto him. 
 
 It was not long before his new situation became a 
 source of temptation ; it afforded him but few mo- 
 ments of leisure, and his tender conscience vibrated in 
 the case of the coal measures used by the men, between 
 justice to his master, and honesty to the purchaser 
 being unwilling to give the one any unfair advantage 
 over the other. To this there seems to be a reference 
 in the following letter to him from his old pastor, 
 the Rev. Thomas Dikes, dated "Hull, Nov. 21, 1791." 
 
 "DEAR SIR. We must recollect, that we are not 
 yet in heaven. This world is a wilderness, in which 
 we must not expect rest and peace. Our Saviour 
 Christ went through a great variety of afflictions, when 
 he was upon earth : if the Head suffered so much, 
 no wonder that the members should likewise suffer. 
 Prosperity hardens the heart ; adversity softens it. The 
 natural impetuosity of our temper will but ill brook 
 subjection to God ; we must not be surprised, therefore,
 
 24 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 if the Almighty put us into the furnace of affliction, 
 that he may bring down the insolence of our pride, 
 and make us submit to his yoke. 'Whom the Lord 
 loveth, he chasteneth.' 
 
 "I am not sufficiently acquainted with the business 
 in which you are engaged, to give you any directions 
 respecting the proper discharge of it. I think your 
 father was careful in seeing that the men gave full 
 measure, which is certainly a duty you owe to the 
 public. And I need not say, that you never can be 
 too earnest in your endeavours to support your mother 
 and family. Think no pains, no labour ill bestowed, 
 if you can advance their interest. Be not slothful in 
 business, but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Idle- 
 ness lays us open to Satan's assaults. When he finds 
 us unemployed, he will usually take care, that we 
 shall not be long without employment. But in the 
 midst of your worldly business, find time for prayer 
 and meditation. Dread a dull uniformity in religion 
 worse than death; for when the mind falls into a 
 dead, stupid frame, and is excited by no hopes, nor, 
 alarmed by any fears, then a total falling away from 
 God is much to be feared. Let not a view of your 
 sins discourage you from coming to Christ, for he is 
 willing to save you, and is the author of eternal life 
 to all that believe. Make him the beginning and end 
 of all your religion. And remember, that eternal life 
 will be the reward, through grace, of all who shall 
 continue steadfast to the end. Be thou faithful unto 
 death, and thou shalt have a crown of life. My kind 
 regards to Mr. Graham. Yours sincerely, 
 
 "In great haste, THOMAS DIKES. " * 
 
 *Tliis is the manner in which the name is spelt in the letter ; latterly it has 
 been spelt Dykes.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 25 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Commences a Diary. Essays. Letter from the Rev. T. Dikes. 
 Select religious Meetings. Labours of the Rev. J. Graham. 
 Rev. T. Galland. W. Darvson begins to exhort, Attends 
 the Religious services of the Wesleyans. Hears the Rev. 
 S. Bradburn. Monarchy. Prays in public. Early Com- 
 positions. The fall of man. Siyourners. The Scriptures. 
 The Apocalypse. Reading. Books. Attempts to court 
 the Muse. Rev. R. Hemington. W. Dan-son becomes 
 more public in his character. " Grime Cabin." Renewal of 
 Covenant. The Rev. Joseph Benson. S. Settle sent to May. 
 Col. Comb. 
 
 IN the spring of 1792, he commenced a Diary, 
 which, though occasionally referring to graver mat- 
 ters, seems to have been chiefly intended for secular 
 purposes, including the engagements of the day, the 
 state of the weather, prices of grain, &c. A few 
 brief extracts, without following each successive day, 
 as distinctly marked, will be sufficient to show, not 
 only its design and character, but also, that if there 
 had been the least temptation to self-indulgence, his 
 native energies and general activity would never have 
 allowed such indulgence a moment's quarter, ever 
 acting, from nature and from habit, on the advice of 
 Mr. Dikes, and concluding "no pains, no labour ill 
 B
 
 26 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 bestowed," to "advance the interest of the family." 
 " Mond. Ap. 14, A.B.* Sowing in the morning. 
 Forenoon in Broom Close." "Tuesd. 15. At Leeds. 
 Sold 8 Ids., at 20s. 6d." "Frid. 18. Good-Friday. 
 At the sacrament" "Tuesd. 22. With Mr. P. 
 At Garforth in the evening." " Mond. May 28. Till 
 ten o'clock at the Colliery. Then to B. C. [home, 
 Barnbow Car.] Went to the Society" "Tuesd. 29. 
 At Leeds, with Wheat. At 14s. 3d." "Wed. 30. 
 At Colliery." "Thur. 31. At do." "Frid. June 1. 
 At Colliery. Measured by Hole. 22 yds. Mr. Porter 
 let the road to throw out at 7s. p. acre, four yds. 
 wide." "Mond. 4. Forenoon at Colliery, and after- 
 noon at Roundhay for G.S." "Tuesd. 5. At Colliery 
 removing the gin to the sinking pit. Mr. Emerson's 
 pasture at the bottom of the wood." "Friday 8. 
 Rainy day. No work." "Sat. 9. At the Collier}-. 
 Balanced with Lun &c., for sinking the pit in Mr. 
 Cotton's close." "Thursd. 14. Winnowing in the 
 forenoon. Afternoon at the Colliery." "Wed. 20. 
 At Colliery in the forenoon. Afternoon at Mrs. Daw- 
 son's funeral." "Thursd. 22. At Colliery forenoon. 
 Afternoon at Boroughbridge fair." "Sat. 23. At 
 Boroughbridge till nine o'clock. Bought 20 Wethers 
 at 16s. 3d., and 7 Gimmers at 13s. 6d. At Colliery 
 in the afternoon." "Tuesd. 26. At Leeds." "Wed. 
 27. At Colliery. Then washed sheep." "Mond. 
 July 2. At Collier)'. After, clipping sheep." "Mond. 
 16. At Colliery. Begun to mow at Col. Also 
 clover at home." " Wed. August 2. At Garforth 
 moor putting up a beam." " Mond. 6. At Colliery 
 
 *" A. B.,'' is the abbreviation of At Barnbotv, as " A. C.,' 1 in the Diary, 
 sometimes stands for At the Colliery.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 27 
 
 in the Morning. Stacking hay at home. Hay-making 
 in the afternoon." " Frid. 10. At Colliery. James 
 Hunsworth broke his leg in the top pit." "Sat. 11. 
 At Colliery. Mr. P. turned .off J. Hunsworth, G. 
 Scholes, and J. Dawson." "Sep. Wed. 5. At Colliery. 
 Collins began to shear in Quarry close." " Mon. 10. 
 At Colliery in the morning. Afternoon, making a 
 stack upon Little Holme. A very high wind. " 
 "Tuesd. 11. Stacking oats, and at Col." x "Thursd. 
 13. At C. forenoon. Leading corn in the afternoon. 
 A strong wind." " Sat. 26. At Col. A very rainy 
 week." " Tuesd. 25. At Leeds with corn and wool. 
 S. C. at 19s. wool 11s. 9d." "Mond. Oct. 1. At 
 Aberford fair. Sold a horse for twenty guineas." 
 "Mond. 8. At Colh'ery till nine o'clock. Begun to 
 sow." "Tuesd. 15. At Leeds. After, at Wm. Waits' 
 funeral." "Mond. 29. At Col. Coals raised 6d. 
 per cwt." " Sat. Novr. 3. At Col. Settled with the 
 Colliers at 10^ per dozen, near end at 15d. per yd. 
 Engine end lid. per doz. Broad at 18d. per yd." 
 "Mond. 5. At Aberford Statute the Colliers stuck 
 out." " Mond. Deer. 3. At the engine taking pumps 
 out." "Sund. 9. At Whitchurch in the forenoon. 
 Afternoon at Barwick." "Mond. 17- At Garforth 
 moor sinking. Begun to sink a deep pit at the 
 engine end." 
 
 In this Diary, the Sabbath is distinguished with 
 from two to four capital letters, in red ink, one 
 involved within another, with some of the graceful 
 curves of the writer, exceedingly difficult to decipher : 
 mostly B. C., as if Barwick Church were intended, 
 and sometimes the S. dexterously worked into them, 
 as if the Sacrament were included.
 
 28 MEMOIRS OP 
 
 Among his papers, are three essays, in his hand- 
 writing, dated 1792; one on "Christ's Love," another 
 entitled, "A Soliloquy," and the third founded on 
 Mark xiii. 37, "What*I say unto you, I say unto all, 
 Watch." The last of these was hegun in "June," 
 and was enlarged "Deer. 1793." The first is 
 desultory and common-place, displaying more of 
 piety than ability. The second exhibits equal piety, 
 but more mind, and greater condensation. In the 
 third, he indulges a little in metaphor, and shews 
 symptoms of the future man. It is easily to perceive 
 in each, that JESUS is not only "the brightness of 
 the Father's glory," but the object of the writer's 
 love, and the subject matter of his musings. 
 
 Mr. Graham had now been settled sometime at 
 Barwick ; but though the subject of these Memoirs 
 had excellent help in him, he still availed himself of 
 the privilege of corresponding with Mr. Dikes, in 
 cases of depression, when placed in difficult situations, 
 or disturbed with the plague of his heart. He re- 
 ceived another letter from that gentleman, bearing 
 date, "Hull, Feb. 2, 1793;" directed for "Mr. Will. 
 Dawson, Barnbow Carr, near Banvick, to be left at 
 Mr. Butterfield's, Horse and Trumpet, Cross Parish, 
 Leeds." 
 
 "DEAR SIR, I received your last letter, dated the 
 28th January. I shall be glad to give you any advice, 
 that might tend to comfort you, or to render your 
 progress more easy in the way of godliness. I feel 
 a regard for the Barwick people, among whom I 
 laboured two years, though not with the success I 
 could have wished. It is God, however, who must 
 give the increase. But I need not be large in my
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 29 
 
 admonitions to you, because you have an excellent 
 minister, whom you may consult as occasion requires ; 
 and I advise you often to speak freely to him, and 
 to lay open the state of your mind. Such conferences 
 will be attended with unspeakable benefit to yourself. 
 
 "Respecting your temporal circumstances, I shall 
 not say much. Read the xi chapter of the Epistle 
 to the Hebrews. Think of the things which are 
 eternal. It will soon be of little consequence whether 
 you were high or low, rich or poor. The proper 
 way to get rid of anxious disquietude is, to furnish 
 the mind with better thoughts. Think much of 
 Christ and the heavenly kingdom, to which you are 
 hastening; and you will find, that earthly things 
 will seem less than nothing and vanity. 
 
 " Respecting spirituals. You grow, I trust, in a 
 knowledge of the evil nature that dwells within you. 
 The more you know of indwelling sin, the more you 
 will love Christ, who delivereth us both from its 
 curse and power. Hence, you will likewise grow in 
 humility ; and he who groweth in humility, groweth 
 in grace. 
 
 "But you must not think, that you are destitute 
 of the grace of God, because you see greater iniquity 
 in your heart than you havfe been wont to see. The 
 same evil, yea more abundant evil, was there before, 
 only your mind was darkened by sin, and you saw 
 it not. The depth of corruption, which is in the 
 heart, can only be discovered by the grace of God's 
 Spirit. I trust you hate and loath sin, and strive 
 to be delivered from it. This is a good evidence in 
 your favour, and you may conclude, that he who 
 has begun a good work in you, will carry it on to
 
 30 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the day of the Lord. Believe, therefore, in Christ, 
 and don't think you must stay till you are better, 
 before you believe in him : but go to him, just as 
 you are. Deliver yourself day by day into his hands, 
 to be saved, sanctified, and governed. Keep up an 
 intercourse with him in your soul, and seek grace 
 out of his fulness for the supply of your daily 
 necessities. Thus, in time, you will be enabled to 
 adorn the doctrine of God your Saviour, by a holy 
 life and conversation. Don't be always poring over 
 your own heart, but look more at Christ the Son of 
 God, who died for sinners. Yours sincerely, 
 
 "THOMAS DIKES." 
 
 Mr. Graham preached regularly forenoon and after- 
 noon on the Lord's day ; and in the evening of that 
 day, expounded in the school-room, adjoining the 
 church, generally selecting a whole chapter, or par- 
 ticular sections, as the ground- work of his remarks. 
 He held also a select meeting on the Thursday 
 evening, which at first met in his own house, and 
 afterwards in a private dwelling. Of this meeting, 
 William Dawson was a member ; and here the devout 
 feelings of the heart were not only cherished, but 
 the opening powers of the mind were brought into 
 fuller exercise. Of Mr. Graham, he always spoke 
 affectionately and respectfully, and often with deep 
 feeling ; stating, that of all the lecturers on entire 
 chapters of the Bible, he was the most lucid, con- 
 nected, comprehensive, interesting, and impressive, he 
 ever heard.* In this meeting, particularly in the 
 
 * When naming this circumstance to the biographer, he added, " Next to 
 Mr. Graham, I am partial to Mr. G alland, who was sometime under Mr. 
 Graham's tuition, at York, and who probably seeing this excellence in the
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 31 
 
 absence of Mr. Graham, during the vacation of his 
 school, or when otherwise called from home, William 
 read a portion of Scripture, and offered a passing 
 remark upon it ; or, as he playfully observed, in 
 the language of an illiterate man, whom he some- 
 times quoted, and who was in the habit of ignorantly 
 substituting one word for another " expunged a 
 little." Here also, he often prayed, but never at 
 this early period, in any public meeting, without 
 a printed form. His remarks were at first rather 
 sententious, and shewed great ripeness of judgment, 
 combined with occasional flashes of genius. 
 
 His multifarious engagements had no influence 
 upon him, in diminishing his efforts to increase in 
 personal piety, or in damping his ardour in seeking 
 the salvation of his neighbours. He continued to fill 
 the chair, left vacant by Mr. Graham, during the recess 
 of the school prayed exhorted and occasionally 
 mingled with the members of the "Wesleyan Society, 
 both as a hearer and in their prayer-meetings. Ad- 
 verting to the devotional meetings of the latter, when 
 narrating, in friendly conversation with the biographer, 
 the history of early days, he remarked, "A shy, 
 dry, reserved old class-leader, turned to me one Sun- 
 day afternoon, on being disappointed of a preacher, 
 and said, 'Willy, go to prayer.' I refused, and felt 
 indignant at the request. Though I could listen to 
 others, while praying, yet I could not think of 
 
 master, ventured upon it as a pupil. His expositions are superior to bis 
 sermons. In the former he excels. On having a vacant forenoon, or on my 
 work for the Sabbath lying in that direction, I have gone frequently into 
 Leeds on purpose to hear him expound the lessons for the day. To me, it was 
 always a high treat, when he was in the Leeds circuit. I know no man equal 
 to him as a lecturer in the Connexion."
 
 32 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 engaging officially in prayer myself, in a place un- 
 connected with the Established Church. After this, 
 I went to church as usual, but felt no freedom in the 
 service. This led to serious self-examination ; and I 
 asked myself, why I should refuse to pray, when 
 requested ? It occurred to me, that either pride or 
 shame must have been the cause, and that neither of 
 these were fit companions for a professor of religion 
 in a place of worship." This was sound reasoning, 
 and rendered him much less repulsive at a subsequent 
 period. 
 
 Mingling occasionally, as has been intimated, with 
 the Wesleyans, and having heard of the fame of the 
 Rev. Samuel Bradburn as an orator, who was an- 
 nounced to preach in the chapel in which the Rev. 
 Edward Parsons officiated, he decided on visiting Leeds. 
 This was during the Conference of 1793. His pre- 
 judices, he remarked to the writer, were exceedingly 
 strong at this time in favour of the Established Church ; 
 and up to this period with the exception of the 
 Wesleyan local preachers, he could scarcely bear to 
 hear a person preach without a gown. This predilection 
 I in favour of the clerical costume was met on the present 
 occasion, in consequence of the preacher being habited 
 in the vestment usually worn by Mr. Parsons ; and 
 apart from his oratorical powers, Mr. Bradburn' s noble, 
 commanding figure, powdered hair, and advanced age, 
 at once fixed his eye and captivated his heart. His 
 subject was the Kingly Office of Christ ; and being 
 at the period of those feverish heats occasioned by 
 Paine's "Age of Reason" and "Rights of Man," when 
 man himself was running riot, and preparing his way 
 for the severest denunciations and heaviest penalties
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 33 
 
 of all law, civil and religious, he availed himself of 
 the spirit and opinions of the times a work for which 
 he was well qualified, for the purpose of shewing the 
 advantages of a monarchical, over all other forms of 
 government, never losing sight of the subject in hand, 
 but directing the attention of his auditory to the king- 
 dom of Christ. Though the British government is un- 
 questionably mixed, and therefore properly denominated 
 by some writers, a limited monarchy, the preacher 
 could at once shew the admirable balance of power 
 in the very circumstance of its being formed by a 
 combination of the three regular species of government, 
 the monarchy residing in the King, the aristocracy 
 in the House of Peers, and the republic, as represented 
 by the House of Commons. The kingly office of 
 Christ, at all events, was grateful to one who had 
 submitted to his laws; and the preacher's denunciations 
 against scepticism and insubordination, could not be 
 otherwise than satisfactory to a member of the Church 
 of England. / 
 
 Mr. Bradburn, on giving out the last hymn, inclined 
 his person over the front of the pulpit, and looking 
 to the precentor, who had either not pleased him, or 
 preferring it for some private reason, said, " I will 
 give out the two last verses myself;" which were, 
 
 " The government of earth and seas 
 Upon his shoulders shall be laid ; 
 His wide dominions shall increase, 
 And honours to his name he paid. 
 
 " Jesus, the holy child, shall sit, 
 High on his father David's throne ; 
 Shall crush bis foes beneath bis feet, 
 And reign to ages yet unknown. " * 
 
 These verses, the subject of these pages had never 
 
 Watts Hymns, Book I. Hymn 13. 
 B 2
 
 34 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 heard before ; and yet, from the bare recital of them 
 by the preacher, he recollected them ever afterwards. 
 His memory was naturally tenacious, and was con- 
 siderably improved afterwards, by habit. This specimen 
 of simple, free, powerful, and impassioned oratory, 
 ' which he had in Mr. Bradburn, gave him a more 
 favourable opinion of the Wesleyan preachers, and a 
 ! more kindly bearing towards the body : and certainly, 
 | if in oratory, the greatest art is to hide art, Artis 
 I est celare artem, the speaker in question, with 
 all his other accomplishments, had this in per- 
 fection. 
 
 It was not long before the old class-leader among the 
 Wesleyans, somewhat oddly portrayed already, "stuck 
 the hymn-book in his face," to employ the subject's 
 own words, while attending a prayer-meeting, saying 
 | unceremoniously, "Here, give out a hymn, and go 
 to prayer." He did so; and after this, occasionally 
 ' assisted in the prayer-meetings. He was, however, 
 according to his own statement, much ashamed of him- 
 self, saying, that he "made but poorly out." The 
 truth is, that there was more of the publican in the 
 present exercise, as there was more of the pharisee 
 in his former refusal. But still, it was the pharisee 
 in momentary practice, rather than in confirmed sen- 
 timent, and had no baneful influence on his general 
 feelings and character. 
 
 He continued to exhort in the private meetings, and 
 also to exercise his pen. Some of his compositions 
 were in all probability the ground-work of his addresses. 
 Though he did not formally announce a text, yet select 
 passages of Scripture appear to have been very often 
 the subject of previous reflection, and to these he
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 35 
 
 occasionally adverted, avoiding, at the same time, the 
 formality of a sermon, with its divisions and sub- 
 divisions. A few of these pieces, written at this period, 
 may be noticed, as it is interesting to trace the openings 
 of such a mind, and to become acquainted with the 
 subjects upon which it was employed. The first is 
 dated, "Feb. 1794," and is founded on Rom. iii. 23, 
 24; the second, "March," and has for its base I. Chron. 
 xxix, 15 ; the third "March 29," the day before the 
 twenty-first anniversary of his birth-day, and evidently 
 intended for its celebration; the fourth, "May," in 
 which he launches forth into the Apocalypse, xix. 11 
 13 ; and the fifth, "July 30," entitled "A Meditation 
 on the glorious Attributes of God." The mind, in 
 each case, appears active, and becomes more and more 
 expanded. He manifests considerable native vigour, 
 and puts forth a bolder pinion for flight than hereto- 
 fore. The facts of the fall and restoration of man, 
 in the first paper, are assumed rather than proved, 
 illustrated rather than defended. He is, in thought, 
 what a person is in actual vision, who is introduced 
 into a region where but few things are familiar, and 
 to whom most are new and interesting, and who is not 
 disposed to discredit the testimony of his senses. With 
 slender biblical helps, he seems to look upon Scripture 
 as the best interpreter of Scripture, has all the marks 
 of sincerity in his pursuit of truth and is zealous in 
 its propagation. Though loose, and a stranger to cor- 
 rect composition, yet improvement is perceptible, the 
 essentials of religion are steadily maintained, and his 
 vocabulary is gradually enlarging. His disposition to 
 indulge in contrast, in which he afterwards often ex- 
 celled, is apparent. After describing the first pair in
 
 36 MEMOIRS OP 
 
 paradise, and the sudden reverse on their expulsion, he 
 observes, "It is not within the power of the imagination 
 to depict their feelings and their state : Yesterday, 
 dwelling in the sunshine of God's smiling countenance, 
 to-day, terrified beneath the dark cloud of his avenging 
 wrath! Yesterday, the place in which they resided, 
 brought forth fruit in abundance, to-day they are 
 not only blighted with the curse of God themselves, 
 but the very earth is cursed for their sake! Yesterday, 
 the garden brought forth fruit of itself, to-day, they 
 are doomed to labour for their bread by the sweat 
 of the brow, and when they have exerted themselves 
 to the utmost, the ground yields but a scanty supply 
 in comparison with that of Eden ! " Directing his 
 attention to the scheme of human redemption, he 
 remarks, "Without this, we must have been inevitably 
 lost, lost beyond the power of man or angel to re- 
 cover us. But now, the way is plain to all that 
 believe. There is a gate, which stands open, though 
 a strait one. There is a market, with an abundant 
 supply of provision, in which we may buy without 
 money and without price. There is a well at which 
 we may constantly drink and be satisfied. Yes, though 
 Adam brought death upon his posterity, and though 
 such is the cohesive quality of sin, constantly clogging 
 and retarding the soul in its ascension to heaven in 
 prayer and holy meditation, yet Jesus, who beheld 
 the weight of wrath from above ready to fall upon 
 us, and the depths, the unfathomable depths of misery 
 to which man was exposed, has come to his rescue." 
 
 His second paper furnishes a good deal of the 
 picturesque. Man is represented as passing through 
 a wilderness, and a parallel is run between the journey-
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 67 
 
 ings of the Israelites from Egypt to the promised land, 
 and the Christian on his route to heaven. Thoughts 
 appear to teem upon him, and words are frequently 
 omitted in his haste to transmit them to paper. An 
 extract will shew the man. "We are strangers before 
 thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers : our 
 days on earth are as a shadow, and there is none 
 abiding. We are only tenants of this earthly taberna- 
 cle, and know not how soon we may be served with 
 an ejectment. What is there in a wilderness to divert 
 a traveller whose heart is set upon home? What can 
 a person wish to have in such a dreary situation ? 
 Can he wish to stay, and take up his portion here, 
 without thinking of going to his resting place ? Would 
 he prefer to dwell among dragons, and exposed to 
 dangers? Does he conclude he has not a home to 
 go to? that there is no city, whose maker and builder 
 is God? .... Travellers, and especially those on 
 foot, ought to carry as small a burthen as possible. 
 They should do the work their situation requires, and 
 return to their destined place with the utmost despatch. 
 .... Think not that almost leaving the world will 
 do. If we but almost leave the world, we cannot be 
 
 altogether Christians Look to thyself, O my 
 
 soul, and see how matters stand with thee. Is this 
 world a stranger to thee? Are thy affections set on 
 things above? Art thou looking for, and hastening 
 to the day of God? Art thou running the race set 
 before thee, looking unto Jesus? Dost thou keep the 
 glory of the Sun of Righteousness in thine eye? Art 
 thou, eagle-like, mounting towards the meridian splen- 
 dour which emanates from the glory of his countenance? 
 Dost thou, like Abraham, take thy wife thine heart,
 
 38 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 and forsake thy habitation, and travel towards that 
 good land that God has promised to every believer 
 in Jesus ? Dost thou erect an altar in every place 
 on the road, where thou art likely to stop a little, 
 and offer the incense of the merits of thy faithful 
 Intercessor to a merciful prayer-hearing God? Dost 
 thou constantly apply to him for strength to enable 
 thee to run so as to obtain ? Dost thou ascend to 
 the top of Pisgah, and, with the perspective glass of 
 faith, look into the land to which thou art travelling?" 
 In this way, many of his papers though they com- 
 mence with others, terminate in a close application 
 to himself; thus shewing a mind, not only rigid in 
 its scrutinies upon itself, but intent in its pursuit of 
 the "one thing needful." 
 
 The piece dated, " March 29, " comprises some 
 eulogistic remarks on the word of God, and an ex- 
 hortation to himself to become more familiar with 
 its contents. He thus soliloquizes : " Consult thou, 
 O my soul, the word that will make thee wise to 
 salvation. It will not deceive thee, if thou lookest 
 properly into it. There thou wilt find the deformity 
 of man in its proper light ; and there also, thou wilt 
 perceive the blessedness of the bleeding Jesus set off, 
 but not without a lustre. Look, I say, into this 
 mirror. Some females spend no small portion of 
 their fleeting time in gazing upon themselves in gilded 
 mediums mediums washed with silver. But these 
 only represent the outward form and features. The 
 Word of God goes into greater niceties : it goes through 
 the walls of both skin and bone, and gives to man a 
 true section of himself; it exhibits the magazine of 
 sin; it throws light upon the cage of unclean birds
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 39 
 
 screaming like owls, and unable to bear the lustre 
 of so glorious an object. O my soul, do not thou 
 forget to look constantly at thyself in this glass. Thou 
 art in a world where dust and dirt, where moral filth 
 may be contracted, and if thou lookest not at thyself 
 here, thou wilt have many spots upon thy garments 
 so many, that the true followers of the Redeemer, 
 will conclude thee to be either slovenly or indolent. 
 Look, then, more and more to thyself. Follow not 
 the man who sits in the seat of the scorner. Strain 
 not thine eyes in looking at thy neighbour trying 
 to discover some flaw in his conduct. Do not be too 
 ready to observe the slips or stumblings of fellow- 
 travellers, unless it be to increase thine own watchful- 
 ness. On perceiving a fault in another, instantly turn 
 the eye inward, and thou wilt perhaps find, that if 
 thou excellest him in this, he has other qualifications 
 superior to thine, and that, in other matters, thou 
 art far inferior to him. Yes, my soul, look to thy- 
 self. Time is passing, posting, flying going at a rate 
 beyond the power of man to compute ; and ere the 
 morning watch shall arrive, the angel may have uttered 
 the irrevocable decree, ' Time with thee shall be no 
 longer.' Twenty-one years will then have elapsed, 
 and gone to give in their accounts ; and thou canst 
 form some idea of what is placed against thee. If 
 God were to give the bill to thee, demanding payment 
 at thine own hand, threatening to cast thee into 
 prison, till thou shouldest discharge it, what would 
 become of thee? Couldst thou give a receipt in thine 
 own legal righteousness, and would it be deemed good 
 coin for cancelling thy contracted debt ? Alas, no ; thy 
 best will be found but base metal when tried in God's
 
 40 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 furnace. Christ alone can pay all demands. He has 
 fulfilled all righteousness has magnified the law and 
 made it honourable. Examine thyself closely, O my 
 soul, in this important matter, and see, whether or 
 not, Jesus is thy Friend in the court of heaven. Look 
 to him, follow cry cling live to him. Read his 
 Word. See there, what is offered to thee in that 
 exchequer! It is to thee an inexhaustible fund; a 
 land-mark to direct thy course, and to prevent thee 
 from splitting on the rocks of open sin ; a candle 
 put into thy hand, to save thee from tumbling 
 over the precipice of ignorance and error, into the 
 pit of eternal perdition! He that despises this word, 
 and takes it not as his guide, is intoxicated with the 
 liquor of blind, natural reason's brewing ; and unless 
 he is roused by some powerful hand, he will continue 
 drunk, till seized by God's bailiif, and cast into outer 
 darkness. O thou sovereign Disposer of all things, 
 look upon me, and bless me yet more and more, in 
 everything calculated to promote the power of true 
 religion^ in my breast ! Wean me from everything 
 opposed o thy will ! Stablish me in every good word 
 and work ! Fix within me a principle, which will 
 never be reconciled to sin; and grant that I may be 
 a child of Jesus, ever walking worthy of my Christian 
 profession!" This extract is the longer, as it exhibits 
 the inward workings of the soul. 
 
 There is less reference to his religious state in the 
 article on the Apocalypse, xix. 11 13, penned in the 
 month of "May." The "white horse" here, may 
 not improbably have ultimately led the way to his 
 famous sermon, entitled, "Death on the pale Horse." 
 There is great wildness in this piece ; much more of
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 41 
 
 fancy than of judgment; and no wonder for wiser 
 men than he have often betrayed their folly in at- 
 tempting to guess out the meaning of the more abstruse 
 parts of the Apocalyptic vision ; and certainly, with 
 the exception of the Song of Solomon, there is not 
 a more hazardous book to descant upon, than the 
 one in question, for persons susceptible of lively im- 
 pressions, of a vivid imagination, and of infantile 
 religious experience. All the way through, our juvenile 
 expositor seems struggling with his subject, desirous 
 of mastering it, but is evidently mastered by it. 
 
 In the last piece, of "July 30th," "On the Divine 
 Perfections, " his reasoning powers begin to unfold 
 themselves ; and in one part, he maintains the position, 
 "That sin would not be sin, if God were not holy ; 
 that iniquity would not meet with punishment, if 
 the punisher were not pure." His knowledge, too, 
 of the Sacred Writings becomes more extensive, 
 manifesting a readiness in bringing forward the most ap- 
 propriate texts to establish the points under discussion. 
 
 The year 1795, found him equally diligent in 
 business, and fervent in spirit, with the year pre- 
 ceding. Being resolved on becoming better acquainted 
 with the Scriptures of truth, he purchased a copy of 
 Dr. Doddridge's "Family Expositor," March 24th. 
 Here a new vein was opened, and while mining for 
 the sake of enriching his own mind, he was pouring 
 forth on paper, such of his meditations as he hoped 
 would prove beneficial to others, in his oral addresses. 
 In the course of this and the following month, .he 
 wrote some papers entitled, "The Law and the 
 Gospel," the "Vanity of the World and Creature 
 Comforts," "The Love of God in the Soul." These
 
 42 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 are longer, more laboured, and much more correct, 
 than his preceding compositions; and, as usual, are 
 mixed up with appeals to himself, and thus rendered 
 useful as topics for self-examination. 
 
 That he might not be entirely ignorant of the 
 world in which he lived but chiefly, no doubt, for 
 the sake of agricultural and commercial information, 
 he began to subscribe for a newspaper. This kind 
 of reading, however, never became a passion ; nor 
 was it ever permitted to occupy the time demanded 
 by other duties. 
 
 He was led also about this time, to read more 
 freely the publications which issued from the press 
 among the Wesleyans, and to pick up, in his 
 perambulations, when at Leeds, selections from their 
 poetry, together with the more didactic portions of their 
 prose. His first purchase in this way, he jocosely 
 ; observed to the biogragher, was " a threepenny Hymn- 
 . book. " He next procured Watts's Psalms and 
 Hymns; then the large Hymn-book, or "Collection 
 of Hymns for the use of the people called Methodists;" 
 and succeeding these, a copy of the Olney Hymns, 
 which he highly valued. Having hitherto been accus- 
 tomed to hear and read only such of the Psalms as 
 were "Done into Metre," by Sternhold and Hopkins, 
 by Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady, these productions 
 opened up an additional source of delight; and such 
 i was their influence upon him, that he himself at- 
 tempted the composition of some hymns, together 
 with other poetic pieces. One of the former, he 
 I gave out at a prayer-meeting, subsequent to this period, 
 I when Mr. W. E. Miller paid a visit to Leeds and its 
 neighbourhood, previously to his becoming an itinerant
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 43 
 
 preacher, the hymn itself terminating with "Ye 
 must be born again," which speaks more for the piety 
 than the ear of the versifier. As he was disposed to 
 be facetious on the occasion of mentioning the cir- 
 cumstance, he was reminded by the writer, of the Itev. 
 S. Wesley's clerk, who, on the return of King William 
 to London, after some of his expeditions, gave out, 
 in Epworth church, " Let us sing, &c., a hymn of 
 my own composing," and was recommended to adopt 
 the same form of announcement, should he be tempted 
 to give out any of his own compositions at any future 
 period. But he was too much dissatisfied with himself 
 on the occasion to which reference is made, to attempt 
 it again; and with few exceptions, after this period, 
 presumed to court the Muse, whose steps he was but 
 indifferently qualifiecPlo follow. His versifications, 
 apart from other defects, were too extemporaneous 
 in their character to be good ; and ought to be judged, 
 according to the notion of Shenstone, as persons judge 
 of a horse pushed into full speed, not by the grace- 
 fulness of his motion, but the tune he requires to 
 finish his course. The measures adopted were "Long," 
 "Common," "Four-eights and two-sixes," "Tens and 
 Elevens;" and the subjects were, "The Christian's 
 Conflict," "Love," "The Fellowship of Saints," 
 "An Address to a Young Friend," "Verses on the 
 Death of S. Simpson," &c. 
 
 One piece, reserved for distinct notice, is on the 
 " Last Judgment," in blank verse, comprising 422 
 lines, 20 pages, 4to. It is entitled, "A literal De- 
 scription of the Judgment, concluding with the Folly 
 of Sinners, and the Safety of Saints." It appears to 
 have been re-perused by him at a subsequent period,
 
 44 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 when he appended to it, as if acting on the advice 
 of Horace, not only in having preserved it, hut in 
 severely criticising its merits, the following opinion ; 
 " What a poor semblance of poetry is here ! When 
 young, how soon are we hlinded with the dazzle of 
 appearances, blinded when there is hut little of the 
 real or the substantial to support claims to merit ! 
 There may he some Gospel sparks shining here and 
 there ; hut in poetry, the piece is defective indeed. 
 Mar. 20, 1806." There is truth in this decision, as 
 far as poetry of the first order is concerned, more 
 perhaps, than he himself was aware of; but there 
 is a great deal of the "real," the "substantial," and, 
 it may be added, of the striking and the powerful 
 in it, both in thought and expression. To subject 
 it to the test playfully proposed by Dean Swift, would 
 be to do it injustice. He advises his readers to "Try 
 a good poem as they would sound a pipkin," assuring 
 them, that "if it rings well upon the knuckles, they 
 may be certain there is no flaw in it ; " further re- 
 marking, that "verse without rhyme is a body without 
 soul, or a bell without a clapper, which, in strict- 
 ness, is no bell, as being neither of use nor delight." 
 Another critic tells us, that blank verse is merely 
 poetry to the eye. But what becomes of Milton, if 
 the only poetry embodied in his "Paradise Lost," is 
 to be tested by the eye? In the piece in question, 
 it is but justice to state, that the subject of these 
 Memoirs far exceeds all his previous efforts, whether 
 in prose or verse ; and that if it had been re-touched 
 by him twenty years after the first copy was written, 
 it would have done him no discredit. 
 
 He remarks in his Journal, for the same year,
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 45 
 
 June 22, that he had the privilege of hearing the 
 Rev. R. Hemington, at Barwick; and this is noticed 
 here for the purpose of connecting with it another 
 fact. This excellent clergyman was forty-five years 
 vicar of Thorpe- Arch, and died Sep. 10, 1820, in 
 the seventieth year of his age. He was at this time 
 in the zenith of his usefulness, preaching not only in 
 the several churches, but hi hams and private dwell- 
 ings. In the course cf one of his outgoings, William, 
 who by this time, had acquired some degree of notoriety 
 as an exhorter, and by taking a leading part in meetings 
 for Christian fellowship, and other religious exercises, 
 was requested by Mr. Hemington, at the close of his 
 sermon, to engage in prayer, with which request he 
 immediately complied. This speaks as much for the 
 established Christian character of the one, as the ardent 
 zeal and condescension of the other ; at all events, 
 it is a circumstance of rare occurrence in the service 
 of the Established Church, and bears the Wesleyan 
 aspect of a preacher requesting one of the members 
 of society to engage in prayer after preaching, when 
 a good influence has accompanied the sermon. 
 
 Hitherto the colliery accounts had been kept in a 
 place which subjected him to some inconvenience ; but, 
 Sep. 4th, they were removed to " Grime Cabin." In 
 this place, often called " a shed," upwards of a mile 
 from home, and which has since been converted 
 into a stable, he not only attended to the business of 
 the colliery, but also to that of the church. It was, in 
 fact, both his study and his place of worship. Here 
 he composed the principal part of his sermons ; and 
 here also, he met hi band with John Batty every Sab- 
 bath day morning, at seven o'clock; when they sung a
 
 46 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 hymn, prayed, and communed with each other. John 
 by this tune having become a "Wesleyan, and William 
 continuing a Churchman, the one, on quitting the 
 place, proceeded to the public service of the Establish- 
 ment at Barwick, and the other to hear a Wesleyan 
 preacher at Garforth. Both hearts were right with 
 God, and their separate creeds were correct in the 
 essentials of Christianity ; all minor differences, there- 
 fore, to employ the language of the author of " The 
 World before the Flood," were " lost, like the prismatic 
 colours, in a ray of pure and perfect light." 
 
 On the 14th of this month, he renewed his covenant 
 with God ; in which covenant he expresses his wonder 
 that he has not been " cut down with the axe of divine 
 justice," and that God, " with the fan of his holiness, 
 had not blown him, like chaff, into unquenchable fire ;" 
 and such were the views he entertained of his impo- 
 tency, that, without divine aid, he had no more hope of 
 attending to the "rules" specified in the covenant en- 
 gagement, than he could expect to "remove a mountain 
 with a bruised reed." The "rules " penned, and which 
 he resolved to observe, are such only as were likely to 
 occur to a person strictly conscientious, highly devotional 
 in his spirit, ardent in his pursuit of entire sanctifica- 
 tion, and anxious to be useful to his fellow-creatures. 
 He charges the whole upon his soul, with the solemnity 
 of a judge exhorting a criminal to prepare for eternity, 
 after having received sentence of death ; closing the 
 document with, " Lord, help me ! Lord, help me ! 
 
 ' Help I every moment need.'" 
 
 It was towards the close of 1 795 too, that he, for the 
 first time, heard the Rev. Joseph' Benson, who, at the
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 47 
 
 Conference, had been appointed to the Leeds circuit. 
 Having been announced to preach at Seacroft, William 
 went to hear him. His remarks on the occasion, to 
 the writer, will convey, not only an idea of the preacher, 
 but of his own feelings under the sermon. "His word," 
 said he, "was irresistible. I knew what religion was, 
 and had the evidence of it in my heart. But there 
 was a power in it at Seacroft, to which I had not 
 been accustomed. I wept wiped off the tear felt 
 ashamed ; wept, and wept again struggled with my 
 feelings, and strove to repress them : at length, I 
 said to myself, 'Let it come;' so saying, I laid my 
 head on the front of the gallery, and let the tears 
 hail their way to the bottom of the chapel. No man 
 ever took the hold of me that Mr. Benson did; and 
 his preaching produced the same overwhelming effect, 
 whenever I heard him." 
 
 Ere this, his friend and companion, Samuel Settle, 
 had left all secular employment, and gone to college, 
 to prepare for the Christian ministry. As the letters 
 which had passed between them, up to this period, 
 were given up to each other by mutual consent, the 
 following is the first of the second series, from the 
 collegian : 
 
 "Magdn. Col., Cam., Nov. 6, 1795. 
 
 "DEAR DAWSON, Our friendship is now become 
 firm through long continuance, and I should be sorry 
 to be the least occasion of its diminution. Indeed, 
 I hope we have been acquainted too long to suspect 
 each other's sincerity. Besides, it would be exceedingly 
 absurd, after having agreed so long, in travelling the 
 same road, to shew any marks of unkindness, and 
 so give up friendship, now that we are so much
 
 48 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 nearer our journey's end. I have a letter by me, 
 which I should have sent from Hull ; but I thought 
 it was not worth postage. I got to Cambridge, Oct. 
 31st, and had a very comfortable journey. All the 
 letters, which I had of yours, I packed up before 
 I left Cambridge last year, and directed them to be 
 forwarded to you. Thus much, I deemed necessary, 
 on account of the uncertainty of our continuance in 
 the present life, and owing to the various changes 
 in human affairs : and I beg it, as a favour from 
 you, that my letters in your possession, may be packed 
 up in the same way, and directed for me. I hope 
 you will have no objection to comply with my request : 
 for it appears reasonable, if I die first, that you should 
 have your own letters returned ; and if you die first, 
 that I should have mine returned. One reason for 
 this is, I think we shall be able to make a better 
 use of our own, than other persons, into whose hands 
 they might fall. But, perhaps, we may both die 
 together, and die at the same time ; and then it will 
 be of little concern to us, in whose possession the 
 said epistles may be. We shall, in such case, be 
 tuning our harps, and hymning our Redeemer's praises 
 above. Till that period, we must give all diligence to 
 make our calling and election sure. 'Be thou faithful 
 unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.' 
 
 "I wish we could consider our privilege more fully 
 that we are heirs of God joint-heirs with Christ 
 and that mansions are prepared for us in heaven. 
 I cannot conceive greater anguish, than to see Abraham, 
 Isaac, and Jacob, entering into the kingdom of God, 
 and we ourselves shut out. Perhaps we know a little 
 of this, when we see persons seemingly begin in the
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 49 
 
 spirit, and end in the flesh. It is an awful con- 
 sideration, to stand knocking at the gate of heaven, 
 and then he compelled to turn our backs upon it, 
 before the porter can have time to open it. Alas, 
 we have often done this ourselves. After much prayer 
 and importunity, we have, for want of patience and 
 perseverance, come from the throne of grace without 
 a blessing. Real religion is a serious matter ; it is 
 no trifling work. If we are right, and in earnest, 
 we shall find many misgivings and stings of conscience, 
 when we come to our Beth-els. I cannot say, that 
 I remember you in every prayer with that earnest- 
 ness I ought ; but on occasions, and at particular 
 seasons, I do remember you from the bottom of my 
 heart. It is our happiness, our duty, our privilege, 
 to love one another ; it is the fulfilling of the law ; 
 it is our greatest worldly comfort. What would this 
 life be, if we were to hate one another? The more 
 we love one another for Christ's sake, the more we 
 resemble God, for 'God is love.' He that dwells 
 in love, dwells in God. With regard to ourselves, 
 our motives to love one another are stronger than 
 with persons who are strangers to each other, because 
 we began to seek God about the same time, and now 
 have almost become surety for each other. I could 
 write a great deal, but I wish to advance that only, 
 which will unite us in heart. Doctrines, and such 
 like things, I omit. Our letters should always be 
 the pictures of our hearts. It is only in this way 
 we can really become acquainted with each other. 
 
 "Mr. Graham's meetings will, I trust, be useful. 
 Some will be built up in righteousness ; and should 
 others slacken their diligence, let it be our great end
 
 50 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 and aim to improve every opportunity, for, in due 
 season, we shall reap, if we faint not. Let us look 
 more and more into the cause of backsliding, viz. 
 our own depravity ; and let us constantly repair to 
 the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. It is 
 only when we are sensible of our own guilt and misery, 
 that the salvation of Christ becomes desirable, and is 
 accepted. 
 
 "Give the enclosed to my father, when you see 
 him. Mr. Dikes enquired after you. I hope he will 
 be made useful to many souls in Hull. The harvest 
 is truly great. Let us pray that our nets may be 
 kept whole, that we may not lose the fish. I long 
 to hear from you. Yours. Respects to all friends. 
 
 "S. SETTLE." 
 
 Mr. Settle, in stating that "our letters should 
 always be the pictures of our hearts," appears to be 
 of the opinion of Steele, who observes, that "there 
 is no rule in the world to be made for writing letters, 
 but that of being as near what you speak face to 
 face as you can." Sincerity will always effect this. 
 Real friendship needs no disguise, and religion will 
 not admit of it.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 51 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Letter from Mr. Settle. Mr. Kilham and his party. York 
 Assizes. A religious Diary. Extracts from it. W. Dawson 
 formally takes a text. Besetment. William Smith Kindness 
 to the Widow. Reproof. Pressed to enter into Holy Orders. 
 The Elland Society. The Latin Language. Difficulties and 
 Cares of Business. The Rev. J. Graham's testimony in favour 
 of Wm. Dawson. Slender Remuneration. Despondency. 
 Letter from Mr. Settle. 
 
 THE salvation of the soul was the "great concern" of 
 life with the subject of these Memoirs. He knew, with 
 one of his favourite authors Baxter, that it is one 
 thing for a man to take God and heaven for his 
 portion hi the heyday of life and health, and another 
 thing to be desirous of it, as a kind of reserve, when 
 he can maintain his grasp of the world no longer; 
 one thing to submit to heaven as a more diminutive evil 
 than perdition, and another thing to be anxiously 
 solicitous respecting it as a greater good than earth ; 
 one thing to lay up treasures and hopes in heaven, 
 and to seek that heaven first, and another thing to 
 be content to accept it in the day of necessity having 
 first sought and secured the world, finally resigning 
 into the hands of God that only which the lusts of 
 the flesh can spare, a putrid carcass, a depraved
 
 52 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 spirit, the last sighs of an expiring life. If personal 
 religion consisted only in "bodily exercise," in moving 
 the lips, in bending the knee, it would be as common 
 for human beings to step into heaven as to enter 
 an adjoining house to visit a friend. But to separate 
 the thoughts and affections from the world, to draw 
 forth to open day the graces which adorn the Chris- 
 tian character, to fix each grace on its proper object, 
 and to hold the respective graces to the work waxing 
 stronger and stronger, till every enterprize, every labour 
 of love prospers in the hand, is a work of no ordinary 
 difficulty, and will always distinguish the genuine 
 Christian from the hollow and superficial professor. 
 All the characteristics of a sound, healthy, religious 
 state of feeling, were exhibited by William Dawson. 
 
 His friend, Mr. Settle, continued to pursue his 
 studies at college, and the friendship between them 
 remained unbroken. The former writes, 
 
 Jan. 1, 1/96, Mag. College. 
 
 "DEAR DAWSON, It is now, at least, six years 
 since we began to seek salvation by grace, in Christ 
 Jesus. I cannot say that my mind is in so forlorn a 
 condition at present, as it was six years ago ; yet I feel 
 the depravity of the heart, and that, without watchful- 
 ness, it would bring me into captivity. But God has 
 promised, that sin shall not have dominion over us. 
 As yet, I do not seem sufficiently to have considered 
 the nature of the religion of Christ ; I mean, I have 
 not looked upon it as properly consisting of two 
 parts, Justification and Sanctification. The former 
 part has, in general, occupied my attention. But, 
 alas, it is but a small thing for us to be justified, 
 that is, delivered from wrath. We want something
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 53 
 
 more ; we want righteousness purity holy affections 
 heavenly tempers a fixed and sure foundation of 
 holiness wrought in our souls hy the Spirit of God; 
 that our whole man, and all our conversation may 
 be seasoned with salt, meet to minister grace to those 
 that hear us. It is vain, I find, to be continually 
 forming resolutions, to break off this, and the other, 
 bad habit. It is God alone, that can work in us a 
 hatred of all sin, and a desire after real holiness. 
 "When I consider this, my wonder ceases at the 
 Methodists dwelling so much on the nature of holi- 
 ness, and purity of heart. I do not say, that they 
 have not carried their notions too far on this im- 
 portant point of religion. Of this at least, I am 
 certain, that Christ promises great things to those 
 who earnestly seek him. The Gospels, and great 
 part of the Epistles, abound with passages to this 
 effect. You will be ready to ask, ' Have you turned 
 Methodist ?' My dear friend, I only notice these 
 things, because I suffer much uneasiness, in con- 
 sequence of not being washed and cleansed from sin, 
 as set forth in the Scriptures, of not having my 
 habits, tempers, and desires, brought into subjection 
 to the law of the obedience of Christ. Besides, 
 when I name the Methodists, I mean and intend 
 the Old Methodists. I scarcely know what the New 
 Methodists, so called, are. You will best understand 
 my meaning by an example. Here is a person 
 accustomed to acts of theft and injustice. To-day, 
 he is at court released from punishment and 
 receives his liberty : but he carries with him the 
 same principle, the same disposition to acts of in- 
 justice; and therefore, falls into his former practices-.
 
 54 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 I have mentioned this instance to illustrate my own 
 case in minor things. It is God alone, that can 
 write his laws on our corrupt hearts, engrave them 
 on our minds, and enable us sincerely to love and 
 delight in holiness, in heavenly mindedness. "What 
 is more common, than continually to hear, from all 
 religious sects and denominations, 'That, in order to 
 enjoy God, we must have something in us of his 
 likeness ?' God himself asks, ' How can two walk 
 together, unless they be agreed ?' And, indeed, it 
 may be asked, how in natural things, bodies can 
 be compounded or blended, which are totally averse 
 to union? Apply this. How can we, with all our 
 sinful passions, be united to God, and enjoy fellow- 
 ship with him God who is gloriously holy, pure 
 beyond all conception ? It is said, ' Grow in grace,' 
 &c. Certainly this is a very different thing from a 
 mere speculative knowledge of the doctrine of justifi- 
 cation. The one sort of knowledge seems to be 
 finite, the other infinite. The perfections of God 
 are infinite ; and it is on this account, as I conceive, 
 that our growth in grace, our transformation into 
 his image and likeness, will be always progressive, 
 but never entirely complete. This is a subject on 
 which, I pray God, that both you and I may be 
 employed in contemplating for ever! 
 
 "What I have penned, would be much more inter- 
 esting in conversation, as we could then, enter into 
 many particulars, remove doubts, and explain the 
 subject more fully to each other. We live in times 
 of great profaneness, and great gospel privileges. I 
 hope I can heartily join with you, in praying, that 
 God may not visit us with a famine of the word.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 55 
 
 The word of God was precious in the days of 
 Samuel. It is now plentiful. Because iniquity 
 abounds, the love of many shall wax cold. But in 
 such times, they should be examples of greater 
 diligence. I hope God will be with you in your meet- 
 ings, and stand by you in all your persecutions. 
 All that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer 
 persecution. We have need of being stirred up. 
 When God sees us waxing cold, and growing faint 
 in our minds in religion, he shakes us with tempests, 
 and causes all his billows to pass over our souls. 
 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your 
 spirit. Amen! S. SETTLE." 
 
 Mr. Settle refers, no doubt, by the "New Meth- 
 odists," to the party gathering around Mr. Kilham; 
 and not being acquainted with the points in dispute, 
 might see proper to guard his remarks, lest any of 
 the essentials of religion should be involved in the 
 general question. On Mr. Kilham's expulsion from 
 the body, the subject of these Memoirs though 
 little versed in Wesleyan politics, was curious enough 
 to step into one of the chapels in Leeds, when he 
 was making some of his statements. He observed 
 to the writer, that he felt little interest in what was 
 said, and was rather disappointed in Mr. Kilham's 
 appearance, especially his face, which he considered 
 as not at all indicative of intellect. Towards the 
 close of the year, he remarked, a person put Mr. 
 Kilham's "Defence" into his hand. On reading it, he 
 said to himself, "I am incapable of judging of the 
 points at issue for want of fuller information ; but 
 with this man, I can have no sympathy, for I perceive 
 his spirit is bad." There is propriety in this ; for a
 
 56 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 man is in nothing so much himself, as in the tem- 
 per and the character of his passions and affections. 
 If he loses what is Christian and worthy in these, 
 he is as much lost to himself, as when he loses his 
 memory and his understanding. To attempt to defend 
 and support Christian truth in companionship with a 
 bad spirit, is the antinomianism of a polemic; and is 
 the same, as it regards the man himself, as a person 
 professing the sanctification of the spirit in connexion 
 with an immoral life. Reason and free enquiry are 
 the only effectual antidotes of error. Give them 
 full scope, and they will uphold the truth, by bringing 
 false opinions, and all the spurious offspring of 
 ignorance, prejudice, and self-interest, before their 
 terrible tribunal, and subjecting them to the test of 
 close investigation. Error alone requires artificial sup- 
 port, and the malignity of an inquisitor to assert its 
 claims ; truth can stand alone, and no more requires 
 a bad spirit to support it, than a Christian requires 
 the presence and actual aid of a daemon to enforce 
 his commands. These observations though arising 
 out of the remark in reference to Mr. Kilham, are 
 intended to apply generally not to the man, but to 
 the spirit, in whomsoever it may exist. 
 
 He attended the spring assizes at York this year, 
 but on what occasion, is not stated. The use, how- 
 ever, which he sometimes made of judge, jury, criminal, 
 and witnesses, in arraigning man before his Maker, 
 as a transgressor of the divine law, is a proof that he 
 permitted few impressive scenes to pass before him 
 without improvement. 
 
 Finding that his secular Diary of 1792, which he 
 continued sometime after this period, was scarcely
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 57 
 
 adapted to religious purposes, j and that he required 
 something in which to minute the workings of the soul, 
 as well as the toil of the hands and the feet, he 
 commenced another a day-book for the heart, which 
 he continued for some years, the first entry in which 
 is dated "April 28, 1796." He commences with 
 
 " Begun this Diary. Rich and adorable Saviour, 
 in whose presence is life, and whose absence is death, 
 look upon this attempt of thy sinful creature. Bless 
 it with thy favour own it with thy peculiar benediction 
 and make me faithful in recording thy dealings 
 with my soul, whether prosperous or adverse ; that 
 I may derive benefit from hence, according to my 
 oresent state and situation, and that seeing thy good- 
 icss in times past, I may be led to a fresh application 
 io thee for help, and so by renewed and lively 
 thankfulness for past mercies, and an entire surrender 
 of body, soul, and spirit into thy hands thou who 
 hast wonderfully conducted me so far I may rejoice 
 in hope of thy glory, and praise thee with all my 
 powers. And thou, O my soul, may the present 
 intention be useful for the promotion of the best ends, 
 in reference to thee the furtherance of vital godli- 
 ness ! May it be the means of spurring thee forward 
 to greater attainments, of quickening thy spiritual 
 speed ! only looking at the things behind, with a view 
 to animate thy every faculty, and rouse thy every 
 affection, pursuing with earnestness and steadiness 
 the prize that is set before thee. Above all, and 
 before all for he is all and in all, fix thine eye upon 
 Jesus look unto Him for grace, for strength, for 
 instruction, for pardon, and to Him as thine exemplar, 
 to enable thee as a runner ought to do, to lay 
 c 2
 
 58 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 aside every weight, and run with patience the race 
 set before thee, that thou mayest at last receive 
 an incorruptible crown, reserved in heaven for thee !" 
 
 In this Diary the ministry of the Rev. John Graham 
 and that of others, is repeatedly and emphatically ad- 
 verted to, as highly instructive and religiously impressive, 
 and outlines of several of the sermons are recorded. The 
 Diary, as a whole, forms a kind of window, and the differ- 
 ent days of the year, are so many squares of "many- 
 coloured glass," through which the reader is permitted 
 to look into the breast of the penman, as into the interior 
 of a building, and to see the undisguised operations of 
 the "inner man." Without following him through 
 each successive day, or giving the whole of what is 
 penned for the day, a few brief sentences for the 
 month, as in the case of his previous Diary, will be 
 sufficient for every biographical purpose, and will 
 shew the running interest religion had in his mind. 
 The separate sentences, abstracted from those with 
 which they are found associated, exhibit every variety 
 of feeling, and would many of them at least, form 
 useful topics for conversation in a social party. It 
 may be necessary to observe, that though the extracts 
 are grouped together for the month, the dash is 
 intended to separate the matter belonging to each 
 respective day, and to shew by the break, what is 
 to be appropriated to that day by the reader. 
 
 APRIL. "Wanderings in prayer. Saw Barmistone 
 happy in his Saviour. A sweet hymn sung in the 
 school-room, which was useful to me. Anxious for a 
 clearer interest in Jesus. Had some useful conversation 
 with John Warner. Long for a closer union with 
 Christ. The corruption of the heart not yet dead.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 59 
 
 Read a letter of Romaine's, in which I saw a glorious 
 sufficiency in Christ, which I pray may be mine. 
 Have to complain of wandering eyes. Pevishness, be 
 still ! Christ is all and in all. Wrote a letter, and was 
 comforted by it. A sweet refreshing shower. Oh! 
 what thanks are due to the Saviour for temporal 
 mercies ! 
 
 MAY. " Cold in the public service of God. At a 
 prayer-meeting at Barwick. Heard Mr. Richardson; 
 loud responses ; at a loss to know how far they are 
 proper. Much of the world, and the spirit of the 
 world.- Too expensive in clothes ; many are starving ; 
 part of the money ought to have been given to the poor. 
 Admonished while reading the state of the Laodi- 
 ceans. Convinced of the need of candour in all matters 
 of judgment, and hearing both sides of a question with 
 humility. Preserved from sin ; thanks be to God for 
 it! Grievously forgetful. Murmur not, my soul, at 
 God's dispensations; thank him! thank him! thank him! 
 A peculiar discovery of the deceitfulness of sin. A 
 happy morning with Jesus, in private prayer. Pray, 
 my soul, for charity ! Overcome by the enemy, but not 
 abandoned of God. Lord, purify my diabolical heart ! 
 Consolation under the ministry of the word. Still 
 deeply humbled. Mark the foe ! Hard work to pray 
 for a blessing on our endeavours to do good to others, 
 without mixing up our own honour with it. Steady 
 attention in family prayer. Profitable conversation with 
 Wm. Smith. Some have left their religious profession 
 at Barwick, and in the neighbourhood. Need of wis- 
 dom. Too apt to forget God and myself. Overtaken 
 with levity. Heard a useful discourse on industry in 
 temporal things, Prov. vi. 6 ; another from Mr. Griffin,
 
 60 MEMOIRS OP 
 
 on Amos iii. 3. Cause of self-condemnation. Too 
 much formality. Longing after closer communion with 
 Jesus. Meditated and spoke on the descent of the 
 Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, and the effect 
 produced on ministers and people. Meekness and can- 
 dour felt in hearing reports concerning others. Happy 
 in having God to go to as a director, protector, and 
 , comforter. Again overcome with levity ; and my soul 
 is not heartily weaiy of it, nor in earnest for its destruc- 
 tion. The work of the glorious and mysterious Trinity 
 considered in the salvation of sinners. Want to live 
 upon, and in Jesus, more and more. Much benefitted by 
 a letter. Abhor equivocation. Useful conversation with 
 friend Settle. Praise God for preservation from sin ; 
 though the act was not committed, yet the will, it is to 
 be feared, -was there. Beheld the goodness of God in 
 the midst of the ravages of a desolating fire. A delight- 
 ful time with Wm. Smith. Read the fifty-fifth chapter 
 of Isaiah ; a delightful chapter to a hungry soul ! 
 Spoke upon sin in believers ; and in what sense they 
 are free from it. Do not sufficiently carry a savour of 
 religion about with me. Betrayed into lightness ; an 
 evident sign of the want of a deeper impression respect- 
 ing eternal things. Awful news from Leeds ; Mr. 
 Thoresby holding a love-feast, the floor gave way, and 
 report states twenty killed, and nearly one hundred 
 wounded. Nothing short of regeneration will save a 
 man. Sometimes fear I am a cheat, a hypocrite, an 
 Agrippa ! Too little stirred by things acknowledged to 
 be momentous. Let my words be few. Disturbed 
 with irreligious thoughts. 
 
 JUNE. "Still haunted with improper thoughts. 
 my soul ! flee and pray ! fight and pray ! Pardon
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 61 
 
 the iniquity of my holy things ! Bless God for a Sab- 
 bath! A most beneficial season at the school-room, 
 under the consideration of Mark vi. 45 to 56 ; and a 
 sweet hymn at the conclusion. A sharp temptation. 
 Conversed and prayed with W. Smith, and not without 
 benefit. Lukewarmness dreaded. Coldness in family 
 prayer. See the necessity of habitual seriousness. 
 Feel the risings of a corrupt heart. Always wish to 
 speak to the glory of God. Very sorry for Peter 
 Porter's imprudence. Still tormented with P. P.'s folly. 
 Lord, give me wisdom ! Earnestly united in suppli- 
 cation with the minister at the school-room, on the 
 Sabbath evening. Wrote P.P. a reproof. Peevishness. 
 Ready to start aside. Lord, quench the fire of 
 wrath ! Conversation with Settle. A sweet discourse 
 on Prov. i. 7. Cold in private prayer ; not sufficiently 
 felt. Mourn over the folly and vanity of the eye. Too 
 little of thy presence, blessed Saviour ! and yet easy 
 without it. Quickened in prayer with W. S. Lament 
 the sin of others. Heard Mr. Postlewaite in the school- 
 room, on Saul's hypocrisy and Samuel's honesty. 
 Prayed for a revival. A serious discourse by Mr. Thorn, 
 on Col. i. 28. Friend Settle spoke on Matt. v. 13-16. 
 Melted while meditating. 
 
 JULY. " A sweet nearness of soul to Jesus in private 
 prayer. Carried away with a bad spirit. Why should 
 God permit such a wretch to speak to him ? Tasted 
 that the Lord is gracious, and yet rather light. How is 
 this? Oh, that my heart was saved from wandering! 
 Heard Mr. Thoresby. Why should I be so light, when 
 I have so much cause to be serious ? Spoke on Psalms 
 Iv. 6. Well may a Christian wish to be at rest. In all 
 I do, there seems to be something of pride mixed up
 
 62 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 with it. Read Watts on the ' Mind.' Friday set 
 apart for prayer. Heard Mr. Graham on the deceitful- 
 ness of sin ; and had a conversation with him in the 
 evening. Grieved with the cold state of the society. 
 Attended William Smith's funeral ; peculiar solemnity ; 
 Mr. Graham's subject exceedingly serious; a happy 
 account of William's death. Wish to be meek, char- 
 itable, humble. Overcome with anger. 
 
 AUGUST. " Tempted to disbelieve the providence and 
 omnipresence of God. Tempted to draw back. Mr. 
 Graham treated on the sacrament ; also on self-examin- 
 ation. Carried away with levity. Did not stop at 
 sacrament. Much in the world ; may I not be of it ! 
 A blessed Sabbath day. Still a savour of yesterday's 
 blessedness. A delightful conversation with J. Rhodes, 
 and a time of refreshing under Mr. Hemington. Mor- 
 tify the eye and the heart. Read 'Alleine's Alarm,' 
 and 'Watts' s Death and Heaven.' Grieved with false 
 shame. At Leeds. Heard Mr. Atkinson and Mr. 
 Thorn ; useful sermons ; but derive most profit in 
 attending our church at home. Much tried, and rather 
 peevish. Levity is the daughter of forgetfulness of 
 God. Thursday, sweet views of Jesus and heaven ; 
 spoke on II. Cor. i. 3 6 ; if any benefit, God be 
 praised. Feel the risings of pride. Glory be to God, 
 for a blessed Sabbath ; a sweet, searching, useful dis- 
 course on Agrippa's confession. Set a watch, O Lord, 
 before my mouth. Was advised, with others, not to 
 frequent Methodist meetings. A sad peevish heart. Mr. 
 Graham strongly recommended domestic religion. Sweet 
 time with Settle in the B. Lord answer our united prayers! 
 Too great a compliance with the world. The murmur- 
 ings of unbelief. Dread, and pray against lukewarmness.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 63 
 
 SEPTEMBER. "A fine shower; God is good to 
 his inheritance. Felt nearness to God in public prayer. 
 Heard Mr. Dean on St. Paul's carnal man ; and 
 Mr. Graham on keeping the whole Law, and offending 
 in one point. Dissatisfied state of mind; felt joy in 
 meditating in the evening. Unbecoming temper. O, 
 levity, thou art one of my sorest plagues ! Longing 
 for a more even walk. Delightful communion with 
 God in prayer. Much tried ; meekness, gentleness, 
 and love, not sufficiently conspicuous. Nearness in 
 prayer. Wanderings. Delightful discourse from Mr. 
 Graham. Want more of the salted conversation of 
 the Christian. Yesterday's discourse still upon my 
 heart with lively force. Sweet time with H. S. 
 
 OCTOBER. " Read Col. Gardiner's Life. Steady 
 Sabbath in the service of my God; an instructing, 
 convincing, and constraining sermon from Mr. Graham, 
 on Rom. xii. 1. A constant sense of the presence of 
 God for some time ; then came my plague again. Oh, 
 for greater earnestness! Partly overcome, and partly 
 overcame. May I render to God the calves of my 
 lips. Read our Lord's charge to the church at 
 Ephesus ; and also the account to be given of every 
 idle word; and felt condemned. Steady composure 
 of soul. Ready submission to the dispensations of 
 Providence. Some discourses by Mr. Dean and Mr. 
 Graham on the state of the nation. Poor account 
 of this day. Wrote a hymn for a society of religious 
 persons. Much benefitted. A steady frame of mind. 
 Sweet time at the Lord's table ; and useful discourses 
 from Mr. Graham. Read 'Shower's Time and Eter- 
 nity.' Abiding serenity. Much troubled with tooth- 
 ache. Oh, how intolerable, if eternity were written upon
 
 64 
 
 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the pain, when most excruciating! Disappointments, but 
 intended for good. Haunted with improper thoughts. 
 Lord, cleanse my soul, and pardon all inattention at 
 the means of grace. Recommended the opening of a 
 little monthly subscription for the purpose of purchasing 
 a few practical authors for the use of the Society. 
 Oh, the benefit of private prayer! Wrote a letter to 
 Mr. C. The Lord accompany it with his blessing! 
 Ministry of the Word irresistibly impressed upon 
 my soul. Enable me, Lord, to follow thy will in all 
 things. Mr. Graham discoursed on the profanation 
 of the Sabbath, and cautioned the people against feasts 
 on that day. See clearly that zeal in religion is 
 necessary. 
 
 NOVEMBER. " Partook too much of the spirit of 
 the world. Deeply indebted to God for preserving 
 me from sin. Read an old author on communion 
 with the Spirit. May I have more of it ! Heard 
 Mr. Graham on the twenty-fifth Psalm, but wandered 
 much in the service. Fix, fix my soul on thee, O 
 Lord! Want seriousness. Distant in private prayer. 
 Oh, the love of God! Unsteady in soul. Heard 
 an excellent sermon on the parable of the Prodigal. 
 Not inclined to the vanities of the world, but the 
 contrary. Fear not man, my soul, but God. At 
 Leeds fair. Keep me, O Lord, above the world. 
 Haunted with uncomfortable imaginations. Begin with 
 God first in everything. Condemned for light con- 
 versation. Read 'Baxter's Saint's Rest.' Sweet are 
 the expectations of the Christian. May I live up to 
 the Christian's privilege. Oh, may the Gospel never 
 be scandalized by me! Just ready for my besetment 
 yesterday, but saved. O God, I thank thee ! Oh, for
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 65 
 
 more real godliness. A searching sermon ; found com- 
 fort under some parts of it, and condemnation under 
 others ; but praise came in the evening. Distressed 
 at the discovery of so much of the fear of man in 
 me. What is man ! Jesus is a great Friend, and I 
 am a great rebel. Read Baxter again. Lamented 
 over the much to be lamented evil of peevishness in 
 professors ; and saw myself in a poor light. Not 
 meet to be called a servant of the Lamb. Heard of 
 Mr. Graham being likely to leave Barwick. How 
 much, O my soul, shouldest thou be engaged in prayer 
 at this season! Seem to be a compound of levity, 
 pride, self, babbling, and sin. Search me, O Lord ! 
 Thursday. Spoke on Gen. xix. 15, 16. Pressed 
 upon the society to be seriously in earnest. Lord, 
 grant that I may bind no burthens upon others of 
 which I am not willing to bear my share. Thought- 
 lessness, self-pleasing, and the risings of pride. A 
 comfortable, serious frame of soul. May I ever be 
 honest with myself, sincere, and in earnest ! Let 
 nothing rob thee, O my soul, of God. Wrote B. a let- 
 ter. Partly overcome. Oh, this carelessness! Heard 
 Mr. V. The Lord help him to deliver truth in a 
 style, plain and easy to be understood! Read the 
 'Address to the People called Methodists,' by Pawson 
 and Mather. Brotherly love is wanting among them. 
 Lightness and peevishness again. Want always to 
 feel what I say. Read Baxter. Reproving sin not 
 sufficiently attended to by me. Thursday. Enlarged 
 on the necessity of love, and shewed its decays by 
 comparing it with the actings of our first love. Lord, 
 attend the word spoken with thy blessing! Some 
 outbreakings of light. Comfortable time in prayer
 
 66 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 with H. S. Satan is not idle. A wandering heart. 
 Heard a person in the afternoon, I suppose from 
 Bramham. Oh, the astonishing ignorance of that man's 
 soul ! Lord, open his eyes. Praise the Lord for 
 spiritual mercies ! Felt unusual liberty in family 
 prayer. Joy laid up in store for the believer. 
 
 DECEMBER 1. "Thursday. Heard Mr. Graham on 
 the abuse of spiritual privileges. Had a conversation 
 with him on the subject of entering into the ministry. 
 Lord God of heaven, direct me in this matter. 
 Friday 2. Strong inclination to enter into the church. 
 This day should have been set apart for prayer on 
 that important business, but forgetful, and overcome. 
 Saturday 3. Asked Mr. Porter whether he would 
 take my brother into my place, if I left? Consented. 
 Lord help me in this difficult time and work. Sun- 
 day 4. Informed my mother of my intentions. Thy 
 will be done, O Lord! Leave me not under the 
 awful curse of my own imaginings. Much harassed 
 with reasoning on the subject. Refreshed in prayer. 
 Monday, 5. Many reasonings on the propriety of 
 entering into the ministry. Rather haunted with 
 unbelief. Tuesday 6. Had a little conversation with 
 Mr. Atkinson, of Leeds, on the longed for employ- 
 ment. Could not but admire his prudence in not 
 giving me an immediate answer ; still my pride rose. 
 Wednesday 7. Unbelief, fear, hope, and faith, 
 alternately rising in the soul ; sometimes thinking it 
 the greatest folly to aspire after such an office, and 
 at others, cordially embracing. Jesus, guide me ! 
 Thursday 8. Still reasoning on entering into holy 
 orders. After all, praised be God, I can say, Thy 
 will be done. Mr. Graham dwelt on Jesus sending
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 67 
 
 his disciples to sea, and Peter walking upon it. Lord, 
 be mine! Saturday 10. Private prayer, how sweet! 
 Anger ready to rise. Sunday 11. Bless the Lord, 
 O my soul, for this day! Heard Mr. Graham in the 
 morning on Caleb's spirit, courage, honesty, singularity, 
 faithfulness, &c. ; and in the afternoon, on Mary's 
 choice. Received benefit. Monday 12. Comfort in 
 meditating on the heavenly city. Wednesday 14. 
 Unbelief. Met with Mr. Graham, when going to 
 Aberford. Delightful conversation with him on enter- 
 ing into the church. Reason to bless God for a kind 
 providence. Thursday 15. Private prayer the best 
 antidote against unbelief. Friday 16. Steadiness of 
 soul. Much lost for want of it. Sunday 18. Overcome 
 by my sad besetment, levity. Afterwards found near- 
 ness to God in prayer. Oh, the mercy of God, that 
 he should favour such a wretch! Monday 19. Liberty 
 in family prayer. Tuesday 20. Received a letter from 
 friend Settle. The Lord attend him with his blessing! 
 Reasoning on the ministry. Unbelief stirs. Wednes- 
 day 21. Still reasoning. Alarmed at the badness of 
 a case. Thursday 22. Spoke on brotherly love. 
 Friday 23. Peevishness rising in the soul. Saturday 
 24. Fear not, for henceforth thou shalt catch men. 
 Sunday 25. Praise the Lord for his grace! Lord, 
 I am thine ; I am thine. Heard an excellent dis- 
 course from Mr. Graham on the Song of Simeon. 
 Monday 26. Full of reasoning. Tuesday 27. De- 
 sirous of greater earnestness. Wednesday 28. Doubt 
 whether my brother will do for the colliery. Still 
 reasoning. Again overcome. God be merciful ! 
 Thursday 29. O my soul, cast out from thee, every- 
 thing that has a tendency to indispose thee for
 
 68 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 spiritual things. Heard Mr. Graham on 'Hitherto hath 
 the Lord helped us.' Viewed the general mercies of the 
 year; and laid down several marks of a growth in grace. 
 Friday 30. More earnestness. Saturday 31. O my 
 soul, thou art come to the close of the year. What a 
 scene of mercy and sin hast thou presented to thy view! 
 Five times overcome by thy besetment ; and often over- 
 come with unsteadiness, peevishness, forgetfulness, and 
 ingratitude. O my soul, be serious ; do be serious. Had 
 it not been for thee, my Jesus, I should have been cast 
 down long ago, cast into unquenchable fire! What 
 is due to thee, dear Lord? What can I give thee? 
 What ought I to do for thee? What must I do for 
 thee? I have nothing meritorious in me. The good 
 I have, is from thee. Thou art its author, and must 
 be its finisher. Thou art my only plea, my only 
 advocate, my only sufficient Saviour, to pardon my 
 oft-repeated offences offences against gospel light, and 
 against the dictates of conscience. Quicken me in 
 the ways of godliness ; spare me, spare ; cast me 
 not down, cast me not off. Plead for me with thy 
 Father. And thou, O my Father in Jesus, deny not 
 the supplications of thy Son. He has died for me 
 satisfied for me, risen for me, and now intercedes 
 for me. Send thy light and truth into my heart. 
 Pardon my sins, and seal, seal me thine to the day 
 of redemption. Give me the earnest of the prepared 
 rest of thy people. Go with me through the next 
 year. Undertake all my business ; work for me, and 
 in me; direct into all truth: let eternity be impressed 
 upon my soul in all its awfulness and nearness. Go 
 before me, in my going out and coming in. Be my 
 God and guide unto death. Amen."
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 69 
 
 Here we have in operation all the varied feelings 
 exhibited in the Psalms of David, hope, fear, joy, 
 sorrow, inward relentings, and outward though not 
 gross, wanderings ; a man in the battle-field with 
 self and with Satan ; now struggling, now rising ; 
 ever clinging to the cross, and the cross pressing 
 upon him ; with a thorough knowledge of human 
 nature, a correct estimate of the value of true 
 religion, humbled under a sense of the mercy of 
 God in Jesus Christ, and desirous, though in the 
 midst of conscious weakness and imperfection, of pro- 
 moting the holiness and happiness of his fellow- 
 creatures. There are a few points, however, in the 
 Diary, which may be adverted to, as they have revived 
 in the recollection of the biographer, associate circum- 
 stances, not recorded by the pen, but communicated 
 in social discourse. 
 
 One of these circumstances refers to July 7th, when 
 the subject of these Memoirs spoke in the school-room, 
 on Psalm Iv. 6, "And I said, Oh that I had wings, 
 like a dove, for then would I fly away and be at 
 rest." He observed, that he had prepared some 
 remarks on the text, and that this was the first time 
 he had dared formally to announce the book, chapter, 
 and verse, and read the passage as the ground-work 
 of discourse. On the Thursday evening following, no 
 Bible to his surprise, was visible. This disconcerted 
 him a little ; but was sufficiently intelligible, as to 
 the hint conveyed by it ; intimating to him, that 
 though, as a layman, he had been permitted to occupy 
 the chair of a regularly ordained minister, he had, 
 in this instance, overstepped the legal and accustomed 
 bounds of his calling being only allowed, as hereto-
 
 70 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 fore, to pray, and give a word of exhortation. The 
 text was exceedingly characteristic. He had watched 
 the bird in its flight and in its habits, in con- 
 nection with the dovecot at Bambow ; he was full 
 of tender feeling full as the dove itself, with its 
 melting, mournful cooings, and which is stated by 
 Pliny to be without gall, to shew the kindness of its 
 nature ; while the metaphorical language employed, 
 was calculated to awaken into play his gradually un- 
 folding imaginative powers. Nor was it less indicative 
 of the future preacher, who generally selected such 
 texts as a person only would select, whose heart was 
 teeming with the sympathies of human nature with 
 the two extremes of the tender and the terrific. He felt 
 poignantly on the occasion ; but like the bird to which 
 he referred, which will clasp its wings to its side, and 
 conceal the arrow that is preying on its vitals, he 
 hid the wound he had received, and only noticed it 
 among other incidents, which the lapse of years had 
 deprived of their interest. 
 
 He speaks of being " five times overcome," in the 
 course of the year. This is not to be interpreted into 
 so many acts of immorality. He characterizes levity as 
 his besetment ; but he also designates it as his plague 
 and, therefore, hateful to him. If it be correct, 
 according to Lavater, that volatility of words is care- 
 lessness in actions ; then it is equally true, that words 
 are the wings of actions, and may sometimes bear a 
 man into regions not at first contemplated by him. 
 But such was the tenderness of conscience of the subject 
 passing in review before the reader, that what his can- 
 dour would have interpreted into cheerfulness in others, 
 his self-scrutiny was ready to condemn as levity in
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 71 
 
 himself. In such cases, the sentiment of Confucius, 
 aided by a little Christian light, is worthy of observation : 
 "Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but 
 in rising every time we fall." At no period of life, 
 however, would William Dawson's native buoyancy of 
 spirit have allowed him to conduct a conversation 
 with the austere gravity of a funeral oration. 
 
 William Smith, whom he frequently visited during 
 his last illness, was a man of deep piety ; and he 
 was not forgetful of the widow, when deprived of the 
 presence of the husband. It is to the widow of this 
 excellent man, that he refers in his Diary, Nov. 25, 
 when recording the happiness he experienced in prayer 
 with "H. S.," Hannah Smith. She resided- at Gar- 
 forth ; and to this poor old woman, unknown to his 
 own family, he took his own dinner, two or three days in 
 the week, left it with her, and thus ministered to her 
 wants, while he himself practised the duty of self-denial. 
 For a healthy man like himself, with an appetite often 
 whetted to intensity with outdoor exercise, this was 
 no ordinary sacrifice ; and was as honourable a tribute 
 to the memory of the dead, as it was creditable as 
 an act of charity to the living. She, in the language 
 of the apostle, was "a widow indeed, and desolate;" 
 and he, in visiting and relieving her, gave full proof 
 that he was possessed of "true religion." He wrote 
 a short memoir of her departed husband, who is stated 
 in it to have been a follower of Jesus upwards of 
 forty years to have filled up his station in life humbly, 
 actively, and usefully to have diffused a steady light 
 by his example to have been a great, but a patient 
 sufferer, towards the close of life and to have died 
 in the full triumph of faith.
 
 72 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 For the "Letter of Reproof," administered to "Peter 
 Porter," in June, the subject of these pages was well 
 prepared. He had written an excellent paper "On 
 Reproving," in the month of April, of this year, 
 founded on Mat. xviii. 15 ; expatiating, in his best 
 and most consecutive style, on the manner in which 
 reproof ought to be given the timing of it how it 
 ought to be received and the advantages resulting 
 from it: and if this article, or any appropriate portion 
 of it, met the eye of Peter, it might, under God, operate 
 like the glance of the Redeemer on his apostolic 
 namesake. 
 
 As to the subject of holy orders, it may be observed, 
 that Mr. Graham, in addition to the specimens afforded 
 him in the school, as to public speaking, had some 
 of William's compositions put into his hand, and 
 perceiving them possessed of some merit, he concluded 
 that God had higher work for him than that in which 
 he was daily engaged. Mr. Graham, therefore, in 
 William's own language to the writer, pleasantly yet 
 not without sincerity, asked him, whether he was 
 "disposed to exchange the drab for a black coat?" 
 On replying in the affirmative, the Rev. interlocutor 
 told him, that he would recommend him to the 
 "ELLAND SOCIETY," of which the Rev. Miles Atkin- 
 son, of Leeds, was a member; a society near Halifax, 
 composed of clergymen, whose object was, to recommend 
 young men of character and talent, and to funiish 
 them with a preparatory education, to enable them 
 ultimately to discharge the duties incumbent on a 
 clergyman of the Established Church. Mr. Graham, 
 with a view to pave the way to future studies, advised 
 him to procure a Latin Grammar ; but like most
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 73 
 
 persons, who permit the teens to pass away before 
 they enter upon the study of the foreign classics, he 
 found it hard work to fix his mind, with any degree 
 of satisfaction, on his task. He felt as if the mind, 
 so to speak, had lost all its waxy properties, and 
 was incapable of taking up the necessary impressions, 
 and as if the memory had lost all its tenacity. One 
 dark, interminable passage seemed to lie before him, 
 without a solitary ray to gild any of the intermediate 
 steps, or a single outlet at the close ; and the fact of 
 Mithridates being acquainted with twenty-two different 
 languages, would have required had it been commu- 
 nicated to him, a stretch of faith beyond what he 
 was capable of exercising. The consequence was, that 
 after a short lapse of time, he returned to Mr. 
 Graham in a fit of despondency, observing, that he 
 could "make nothing of it," further adding, in his 
 still more characteristic language, that he was afraid 
 it would "crack his brain." His friend for such 
 he was, and such he confessed himself to be to the 
 close of life, laboured to encourage him ; telling him 
 that the rudiments, whether in art or science, were 
 always the most difficult, because new to the learner 
 but that the language would become more easy as 
 he advanced. He again applied himself to it, and 
 looked forward with mingled feelings of hope and fear 
 towards the sacred ministry. 
 
 Mr. Graham was directed by the general educational 
 mode pursued, in recommending him to enter upon 
 the study of the Latin rather than the Greek first : 
 and yet it is not improbable, that if he had been 
 advised to commence with the latter, which is the less 
 difficult language of the two, and of which the Latin
 
 74 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 language is admitted to be nothing more than a dialect, 
 being capable only, according to some of the best 
 critics, of being thoroughly understood by being traced 
 to Greek roots, he would have had fewer obstacles 
 to surmount ; and the acquirement of the one would 
 have encouraged him in the acquisition of the other. 
 Quintilian, who was of this opinion, contended that 
 the Roman youth should be taught Greek before their 
 native tongue : and this sentiment seems to be gaining 
 ground, as appears from a work, entitled, "Greek with- 
 out a Master ; or a practical, theoretical, analytical, 
 and synthetical Course of the Greek Language ; intended 
 chiefly for the use of Persons who are studying the 
 Language without a Master. By a Graduate of the 
 London University." 
 
 In throwing the mind back upon the extracts from 
 his "Diary" for the year 1792 and these are only 
 specimens of what is recorded of the labour of the 
 intervening days, omitted by the biographer, they will 
 exhibit to the reader a life of varied employment, 
 both at home and abroad; a life, not only amounting, 
 in many instances, to hard toil, but attended with the 
 distracting cares of business, and will readily account for 
 any apparent irksomeness as to the Latin tongue, 
 the subject himself being much more disposed to 
 stretch his weary limbs on the couch, than to take 
 his seat at the bench with "Ruddiman's Rudiments" 
 before him, early retirement for repose being as much 
 pressed upon him by the calls of labour having to start 
 with the lark at day-break each succeeding morning, 
 as urged upon him by the still more imperious demands 
 of nature. 
 
 Mr. Graham, like Mr. Dikes, crowned with the
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 75 
 
 snow of years, adverts to those times, in a letter from 
 York, dated July 31, 1841 ; and observes of the 
 subject of these pages, "During the whole of my 
 residence of five years and a half at Barwick in Elmet, 
 as curate, which terminated with the year 1796, I 
 knew him intimately, and loved and valued him as 
 a brother. His natural vigour and originality of mind 
 his clear and comprehensive views of Scripture doc- 
 trines and duties his experimental knowledge of Christ 
 and his salvation, and his solid yet fervent piety, 
 seemed only to require a more regular and extended 
 education to make him, what indeed he became with- 
 out it, 'a burning and a shining light.' Having 
 occasionally, in my absence from home, conducted for 
 me a sort of cottage lecture, in which his talents 
 and gifts conspicuously displayed themselves, I often 
 expressed to him my wish, that he would enter upon 
 a course of preparation for the ministry in the Church, 
 of which he was then an attached member. But his 
 zealous love for Christ and for souls would not permit 
 him to wait three years in silence and study. My 
 removal to York, and his connection with another 
 denomination of Christians, while they subtracted 
 nothing from our mutual affection and esteem, naturally 
 in a great measure suspended our intercourse ; so that 
 during the interval of forty-four years, though we had 
 occasional interviews, we had no epistolary correspon- 
 dence. He is gone to his rest in the presence of his 
 God and Saviour. May my last end be like his ! " 
 
 To return to the proper period of the subject's 
 personal history, from which we are led by the last 
 sentences of the above extract; between the colliery 
 and the farm the latter not being entirely left to
 
 76 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 his brother, the head and the hands were busily 
 employed; neither of them affording a fair remuneration 
 for the labour and expense bestowed. The former, 
 indeed, seems to have been a mere appendage to the 
 latter, which was neither moderate as to rent, nor 
 yet excellent as to soil. On finally quitting the farm, 
 he observed to the agent in the transaction, "I think 
 I might claim some attention, when I add, that neither 
 my father nor myself were equally remunerated for 
 our time and pains, as agents of Sir T. Gascoigne. 
 You will be surprised when I inform you, that my 
 father never had more than 12s. per week, and 
 coals and candles allowed! I had 12s. per week, until 
 1793, when the wages of the colliers were raised, and 
 then I had 15s. The colliers struck again, about a 
 year or two after this, when another advance took 
 place, and mine was raised to 18s. per week. Thus, 
 my father and myself, served the Goscoigne family 
 for a period of nearly forty years, for what I have 
 just stated ; and what I may call a paltry wage. 
 I have often told you, that for twenty years, I have 
 thrown 20. a year of my own money into the farm ; 
 and, except for the last two years, I have not saved 
 a penny for twenty years. " This, though partly 
 anticipating the more advanced stage of these Memoirs, 
 shews how this excellent young man was circumstanced 
 in some of his early straggles. 
 
 Though he had his joys, he was, as will have been 
 perceived, often the subject of painful feeling. Such 
 was the "hour and power of darkness," that on one 
 occasion, he lost all evidence of his acceptance. As 
 this was not occasioned by any sin of which he had been 
 guilty, it was of course unaccompanied with remorse
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 77 
 
 of conscience. It seemed partly to have arisen from 
 the want of some old experienced guide on the road 
 to heaven, to keep pressing it upon him as a constant, 
 common Christian privilege, and partly from false 
 reasoning. Such, however, was the effect of the simple 
 loss of it, without being ahle to charge himself with 
 any known sin as its cause, that he was plunged into 
 the deepest distress of mind. He compared himself 
 to Bunyan's Pilgrim, when he lost his "roll," and 
 was no less in earnest to regain his lost peace. At 
 one period, such was his anguish of spirit, that he 
 was tempted to throw himself into a river, as he was 
 walking along its banks. A world was valueless in 
 his esteem, compared with the repossession of his 
 " roll." It was not long, however, before he regained 
 the desire of his heart, and no one knew better than 
 himself how to solace the distressed, or entered with 
 a deeper interest into their feelings and circumstances. 
 
 In his dullest moments, he continued to cherish, 
 some time after this, a hope of preaching in the 
 pulpits of the Established Church. This, in all pro- 
 bability was preserved alive by the success of his 
 friend Settle, one of whose letters is referred to in 
 the Diary, and which is as follows : 
 
 "Cambridge, Dec. 17, 1796. 
 
 "DEAR DAWSON, I have remained a longer time 
 silent than I intended. But I hope you will not 
 consider my silence a proof of any diminution of 
 friendship. I still profess a sincere regard for you, 
 and reflect with much pleasure on our past intercourse 
 on particular evenings, and in particular places. I 
 have been busy in attending lectures ; but the term 
 ended yesterday, and now, I must be up to the head
 
 78 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 and ears, in reading for the schools. My neglect of 
 reading in Summer has thrown me into deep confusion. 
 However, there is divine reading which cannot, or at 
 least ought not, to ; he omitted. But alas, we are 
 purblind; present objects engage our view, and we 
 lose sight of that which is invisible. Custom has a 
 powerful influence on the mind, and we cannot brook 
 the idea of being exceeded by those whose abilities 
 are only equal, or perhaps inferior to our own. But 
 this is a weak argument when placed in competition 
 with the affairs of the soul. Inferiority is no disgrace, 
 provided religion be kept in the heart. We ought 
 to labour for an immortal crown ; and I wish it were 
 my concern in a far greater degree. 'Can a man 
 walk on hot coals, and not he burnt ? ' Can I be 
 among those who are deeply engaged in study, and 
 who profess to have the same views of religion as 
 myself, I say, can I be among them, thus cir- 
 cumstanced, and not be fired with a spirit of emulation? 
 You see of what spirit I am. 
 
 "I have seen in the public papers, Mr. Graham's 
 preferment. Well, how do you feel ? It appears likely 
 that Mr. Atkinson's son will succeed him. I have 
 never heard him preach. He is inferior to Mr. Graham 
 in intellect. But piety is what is chiefly wanted in 
 a minister, and where we see that, we can bear with 
 natural weaknesses. I am aware, worldly people despise 
 weak ministers, and especially when piety is combined 
 with weakness. But this is a topic upon which we 
 have already dwelt ; and, indeed, there are few sub- 
 jects, whether moral or religious, on which we have 
 not frequently conversed. 
 
 "Let me have an account of you all. Mr. Graham
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 79 
 
 named to me a subscription for books. I confess to 
 you, it appears to me to be a party subscription. 
 When the new curate arrives, I know not how he 
 will go on with you. Pray, do your sentiments 
 respecting your present situation fluctuate ? Have you 
 made your choice in reference to the part you intend 
 to act in life? I shall be glad to hear from you. 
 Till, then, I remain sincerely yours, S. SETTLE."
 
 80 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Renenxd Dedication. Rev. J. Benson. Mr. W. E. Miller. A 
 noisy Prayer-Meeting. Letters from Mr. Settle. Progress in 
 Learning. The Rev. J. Atkinson. Evening Lectures. 
 Liberality. Further intimations of Holy Orders. Reading 
 and Studies. Portrait of a worldly-minded Farmer. Inward 
 conflicts. Messrs. Myles, Panson, Mather, Bradburn, Griffith, 
 and Dr. Coke. Out-door Preaching. State of Sinners. 
 Extended usefulness. Early Sermons Extracts from them. 
 Preaches more generally and publicly. Colton. Service by 
 lanthern light in the open air. Mrs. Dean. Loud preaching. 
 
 ON the first day of January, 1797, he started in the 
 Christian race, as though he had for the first time en- 
 tered the course. Part of his language is, " O, Eter- 
 nal King, I have this day dedicated myself to thy 
 service ; determined, through thy strength, to walk 
 henceforth in thy ways with greater stability and con- 
 scientiousness to resist every sin to have no other 
 lords to rule over me, but to take thee as my portion, 
 my helper, my guide, and my God. Oh, deny not thy 
 helping hand ; receive me into thy favour and protec- 
 tion ; and enable me to separate every idol from my 
 heart to sacrifice, not an hour, not a talent, not a 
 faculty to any object, but to live in perfect conformity 
 to thy revealed will. Impart to me an increase of thy 
 love, strengthen me by thy Spirit in the inward man,
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 81 
 
 sanctify my body and soul, my taste, wishes, and 
 desires, and let this year manifest in my soul, and 
 also to others, that I consider myself a sojourner on 
 earth as all my fathers were. Accept me, O Lord, in 
 thy Son ; strengthen these resolutions ; inspire me 
 with Christian humility and zeal, that neither pride nor 
 cowardice may rule in my soul. Let my courage be 
 regulated by thy restraining and assisting grace, and 
 enable me to adorn my Christian profession, in the 
 promotion of thy glory, and my own everlasting 
 salvation." 
 
 The succeeding day was distinguished by the divine 
 blessing ; hence his language on the occasion, " In a 
 happy frame of mind. The service of God is perfect 
 freedom, nay, rich enjoyment. Praise God ! O my 
 soul, thou art not thine own." 
 
 Having profited so much under the ministry of Mr. 
 Benson at Seacroft, he went to hear him in another 
 place on New Year's day, and also on the 4th of the 
 month at Scholes. In the first instance, he wrote, on 
 his return home, a full outline of the sermon, founded 
 on Rom. xii, 1 ; commending it in his Diary, as both 
 "sweet and searching." That at Scholes was on 
 Psalm cxviii, 1 4 ; and the occasion was rendered 
 equally a time of refreshing from the presence of the 
 Lord. These visitations drew him nearer and nearer, 
 and, by almost imperceptible degrees, towards the 
 Wesleyans. 
 
 Mr. W. E. Miller, who was like a flame of fire, 
 visited Barwick ; and his name having gone forth as a 
 revivalist, the subject of these Memoirs was induced to 
 hear him also. The scene was new ; he had never 
 been in a meeting of such apparent tumult before, and 
 D 2
 
 82 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 had entertained scruples respecting the loud responses 
 which accompanied the prayers and preaching of Mr. 
 Richardson. He , sat and watched every movement 
 with critical severity ; occasionally darting an ardent, 
 curious, and impassioned glance at the speaker, some 
 of whose sentences and images rich, though occa- 
 sionally extravagant, had a magical attraction, and were 
 to him, as has been said of another, as " splendid and 
 graceful as a diamond concealed under the leaves of a 
 rose." Still, he was ill at ease with the vehement 
 bursts of passion, incidental to the outbreak at the 
 close, when Mr. Miller went from seat to seat, praying 
 with, and speaking to the people. Coming to Dawson, 
 he laid his hand upon his head, and said, " Thou wilt 
 do a great deal of good in the church, when thy heart 
 is emptied of pride." It would seem from William's 
 account to the biographer, that Mr. Miller had im- 
 puted his apparent inflexibility to pride ; though his 
 not joining in with the work, like a well-disciplined 
 Methodist, was more owing to its novelty, than to any 
 want of devotional feeling. 
 
 He proceeded with his Latin exercises, though 
 somewhat beclouded in his prospects of entering the 
 Church. Mr. Atkinson of Leeds, had informed him, 
 that the state of the funds of the ELLAND SOCIETY, 
 had brought the members to the resolution of admitting 
 no more candidates on the books, till they should be 
 warranted to do it, by an increase of subscriptions. 
 To this there is a reference in the following letter from 
 his friend, Mr. Settle : 
 
 January 31, 1797. 
 
 "DEAR DAWSON. I heartily thank you for your 
 last letter. I knew the Society had as many candidates
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 83 
 
 as it was able to maintain. But you know some of us 
 will be weaned soon, and then, I doubt not, that you 
 will be taken on. I am glad that you have made a 
 beginning ; it is probable you will some time or other 
 come to an end. However, if you never should be 
 taken on to the books of the Society, a little grammar 
 can do you no harm. Nay, I dare say, that dominus, 
 domini, &c., will be of great advantage. There is one 
 comfort, if God want workmen, he will call them ; and 
 I confess I feel so little party-spirit, that I care not 
 how or in what manner we are employed, if so be that 
 we are only made useful to the conversion of souls. 
 And if learning be required in a minister of Christ in 
 one party, it is required in all. You need not, then, 
 look upon fagging at the Latin Grammar, as improper. 
 I trust, that you will one day, stand up before a con- 
 gregation ; a congregation of what kind? Nay, I 
 care not of what kind, if so be that you only preach 
 Christ and him crucified. 
 
 "Pray have you seen Mr. Atkinson yourself? or did 
 you make application by Mr. Graham ? Does Mr. 
 Graham stand your friend, and does he give you 
 encouragement? He, I suppose, will recommend you 
 to the Society, as he is well acquainted with you, and 
 therefore, knows whether you are a proper person to be 
 admitted. However, do not render yourself uncom- 
 fortable ; for God can work, and who shall let it ? 
 After you have got the verbs, you may then go on with 
 any easy Latin Work, with an English translation. 
 Take care of long and short syllables for they are 
 very much regarded in Latin. You may get a Dic- 
 tionary of my father; take the best, for there are 
 two. Do not be in too great a haste. Get well
 
 84 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 grounded in the first principles. Turner's Exercises 
 will be of use : it will teach you to decline and con- 
 jugate, &c. Supposing you should not be very perfect 
 in the rules, you will acquire at least a good many 
 Latin words and phrases, which will be of use when 
 under a master. 
 
 "I am very glad of the information you give me 
 respecting my brother. I hope you will make it your 
 business to see him as often as you can make it con- 
 venient. God will take it as done to himself. But I 
 need not urge you to this. You know the value of a 
 soul. Pray write soon, and let me know how you go 
 on. I am obliged to leave off. Mr. Atkinson is 
 waiting for this letter. Wishing you all prosperity in 
 body and in soul, in Christ Jesus, I am, 
 
 Yours sincerely and affectionately, 
 
 " S. SETTLE." 
 
 Mr. Settle again addressed him in the course of a 
 couple of months, under considerable anxiety respecting 
 his brother, whose case is adverted to in the preceding 
 letter. 
 
 Cambridge, April 5, 1/97. 
 
 "DEAR DAWSON. I received a letter from my 
 brother Thomas about a fortnight ago. He informs 
 me, that William is very weak, and appears as if he 
 could not be long in this world. He observes, that 
 you have visited him regularly once a week, some time. 
 I acknowledge myself much obliged to you for this 
 kindness, and esteem what you have done for him, as 
 done to myself. There is no saying how God may be 
 pleased to bless your conversation to his soul. I shall 
 be exceedingly glad to hear of his being brought to an 
 acquaintance with himself and with Jesus Christ. You
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 85 
 
 will do me a favour, if, when you write, you will give 
 me any particulars respecting him ; for you know, that 
 both my father and my brother Thomas, will write in 
 general terms. I suppose he is still living. Alas, I 
 am stung with painful feeling, that I did not speak 
 more freely to him, when I had the opportunity. But 
 this is our folly, and our weakness. We lament when 
 it is too late ; and what is worse, our past neglect, and 
 loss of opportunities, seldom make us act with greater 
 diligence and prudence in future. I should like to see 
 him ; but the distance is too great, and travelling is 
 very expensive. Besides, what can I do for him ? He 
 may continue some time yet, though my brother writes 
 as if near death. Please to write in a day or two ; 
 and, if living, let me know how he is. To stand at 
 death's door is an awful situation. The good and the 
 bad, the prepared and unprepared, start back when 
 they think of dying. Serious men tell us, that we 
 must often revolve in our minds, the thoughts of death 
 and judgment, and by that means make them familiar 
 and common to us. But if I take away what often 
 moves me with alarm, I throw off one of the most 
 powerful restraints against sin ; I mean, if I think of 
 death and another world in such a careless manner, 
 they will at length become so familiar to me, as to 
 make no impression upon the mind. 
 
 " I forwarded my brother William a parcel by Mr. 
 Atkinson, and sent you a letter at the same time. 
 
 " I assign to you a good deal of work. But you can 
 write to me a letter of questions and answers. How 
 does Mr. Atkinson go on in preaching? Are your 
 meetings kept up ? Does he explain a chapter on the 
 Sunday evenings in the church or school ? Has he
 
 86 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 taken lodgings, or has he engaged a house, at Barwick ? 
 Have you seen Mr. Graham since he left you, or have 
 you heard from him ? Does he continue to take 
 pupils, or has he given them up? How, if in pos- 
 session of two or three churches, are they supplied? 
 Have you heard anything more of the Ellanders ? Do 
 you read Latin ? Does young Mr. Atkinson assist you 
 in the Latin tongue ? 
 
 " Lately, I have heen much engaged in the Schools ; 
 and am surprised that wise men will regard such 
 nonsense. But, the fact is, I am tired of Cambridge 
 studies ; and I am persuaded, I shall always consider 
 my time spent in Mathematics, the least beneficial of 
 any employed in the whole course of my life. Had I 
 been engaged in searching the Scriptures, in composing 
 sermons, and in reading the history of mankind, I 
 should then have possessed some useful knowledge, 
 on going forth into the world. Instead of that, I 
 shall have spent three or four years in grammar, and 
 three or four more in again forgetting it. Such is my 
 tale. 
 
 "This, I forward, by way of Wetherby, that it 
 may reach you the sooner. I am afraid lest it should 
 lie at Leeds till Tuesday. Yours sincerely, 
 
 "S. SETTLE." 
 
 This portrait of a college life, at the close of the 
 letter, and which must either have been written under 
 momentary depression, or under the longings of a 
 man to be at the work of converting sinners, was but 
 little calculated to fascinate the ardent spirit of a 
 Dawson, breathing after an increase of personal piety, 
 and more extensive, as well as more immediate useful- 
 ness, to the perishing multitude. An answer to some
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 87 
 
 of the questions propounded though not written with 
 that view, may be gleaned from William's Diary for 
 the year. 
 
 As to Mr. Atkinson, who succeeded Mr. Graham 
 in the curacy at Barwick, though inferior to his pre- 
 decessor in some respects, yet his labours are adverted 
 to with respect, and several outh'nes of his sermons 
 were deemed well worth recording. Mr. Dean, the 
 rector, generally occupied the pulpit in the forenoon 
 of the Lord's day, and Mr. Atkinson in the afternoon. 
 But the evening lecture on that day, appears to have 
 been discontinued. 
 
 The Thursday evening meeting was preserved alive 
 on the departure of Mr. Graham, chiefly through the 
 influence and exertions of his helper in the work 
 the subject of these pages, who preached regularly 
 the first eight months, without any apparent aid, till 
 the month of August, when Mr. Atkinson took a 
 part in the services ; after which, to the close of the 
 year, they occasionally took the work alternately ; and 
 in one instance, December 28, they gave the people 
 in the same service, a double lecture, Dawson leading 
 the way on the subjects of creation, preservation, and 
 redemption ; and Mr. Atkinson following on the former 
 part of the eighth chapter of the Gospel according to 
 St. Matthew. This is a fine specimen of liberality 
 both on the part of Mr. Atkinson, and his excellent 
 predecessor ; and may serve as a hint for maturing 
 more fully the Pastoral Aid Society, in the Established 
 Church, in the more liberal use of laymen. 
 
 The texts upon which our clerical helper descanted 
 were the following : Psalm Ixxxiv. Psalm Ixxiii. 22 
 26; II. Cor. iv. 17 ; II. Cor. v. 511 ; Heb. xii.
 
 88 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 1, 2 ; I. Cor. ix. 24 ; Joshua xxiv. 14 25 ; Isaiah 
 liii, 4, 5; Psalm xc; Gal. ii. 20; Psalm Ixiii, 3; 
 Psalm xxx. 4, 5 ; Rev. part of xxi, xxii ; John 
 xxi; Psalm xxvii. 39, 40; John xi. 25, 27; Malachi 
 iii. 16; Rev. xiv; Psalm ix; Isaiah Ixi. 1, 2, 3; 
 Rev. i. 1620; Heb. xi. 14, 15; Gen. xxii; 
 Isaiah xxv. 6 9 ; Luke ix. 33 ; Ephesians iii. 14 
 21 ; Philippians iii ; I. Cor. xv. 55 57 ; I. John i. 
 If an opinion of the matter is to be formed from the 
 texts selected, it may be presumed to have been such 
 as would interest both the heart and the understanding ; 
 and if the devotional character of most of the texts 
 is to be taken in connexion with his experience, it 
 would be candid to infer without even an appeal to 
 his Diary, which supports it, that William Dawson 
 was deeply and personally interested in the "one thing 
 needful." In some instances, he engaged in prayer 
 after Mr. Atkinson preached. 
 
 The Sabbath evening services which had been rendered 
 so useful to the piety and instruction of the more devout 
 part of the parishioners, under Mr. Graham, were ad- 
 verted to with pleasure, while their discontinuance was 
 imbittered by the reflection. In consequence of Mr. 
 Atkinson having taken private lodgings, the Thursday 
 meeting was removed from its accustomed place, which 
 might be one reason why he did not close in with its 
 services at a more early period. It was held in the 
 house of S. Simpson towards the latter part of the 
 year. 
 
 Mr. Graham left in January, having informed the 
 society on Thursday, the 12th of that month, that it 
 was the last time he should address them as their 
 curate. He visited Barwick, Thursday, March 2,
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 89 
 
 when he preached to the Society ; and also Monday, 
 July 10, when William had an interview with him, 
 and conversed freely with him on the subject of the 
 ministry. The day previously to the last date, he had 
 received a letter from Mr. Dikes. Thursday, August 17, 
 Mr. J. Atkinson informed him, that there was a pro- 
 bability of his entering into the ELLAND SOCIETY ; 
 but the scene was once more overshadowed by a cloud ; 
 and the latter wrote to his early patron and friend, Mr. 
 Graham, October 20, when the subject seemed to be 
 further set at rest. 
 
 Whether William received any assistance from Mr. 
 Atkinson, in acquiring a knowledge of the Latin lan- 
 guage, is not stated; but as he frequently notices 
 conversations with him in his Diary, the probability 
 is, that he might receive some incidental, if not formal 
 and systematic aid, not only from him, but also from 
 Mr. Settle, with whom he associated, during the sus- 
 pension of his studies at college : and that he pro- 
 ceeded in his attempts to acquire a knowledge of the 
 language, is evident from a translation of the Latin 
 into the English, in his Diary of January the 15th. 
 
 In addition to his arduous secular avocations, his 
 regular perusal of the Word of God, a new sermon 
 for some months successively, for his Thursday auditory, 
 the public ordinances at Barwick, visiting the sick, 
 attending prayer-meetings at Scholes and elsewhere, 
 writing letters of reproof, advice, and encouragement, 
 he found time for the perusal of "Law's Serious Call," 
 part of Fletcher's Works, of Madely, "Young's Night 
 Thoughts," the "Arminian Magazine," "D. Brainard's 
 Journal," &c.; faithfully recording the effects of the 
 latter upon his mind, and accompanying each letter
 
 90 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 with an ardent prayer to God to bless it to its intended 
 use. He was deeply imbued in a Christian sense, with 
 all that is implied in the celebrated saying of Zeuxis, 
 Pingo eternitati I paint for eternity, for he evidently 
 lived for eternity. 
 
 How different is such a man from the countryman 
 portrayed by Bishop Earle, the exuberance of whose 
 wit is only exceeded by the truth of his pencil! 
 "A plain country fellow," he observes with a quaint- 
 ness peculiar to the times, and not out of place for 
 rural manners and scenes, "is one that manures his 
 ground well, but lets himself lie fallow and untilled. 
 He has reason enough to do his business, and not 
 enough to be idle or melancholy. His hand guides 
 the plough, and the plough his thoughts; and his 
 ditch and landmark are the very mound of his medita- 
 tions. He expostulates with his oxen very understand- 
 ingly, and speaks gee, and ree, better than English. 
 His mind is not much distracted with objects, but 
 if a good fat cow come in his way, he stands dumb 
 and astonished; and though his haste be never so 
 great, will fix here half an hour's contemplation. His 
 religion is a part of his copyhold, which he takes 
 from his landlord, and refers it wholly to his discretion; 
 yet if he give him leave, he is a good Christian to 
 his power, (that is,) comes to church in his best 
 clothes, and sits there with his neighbours, where he 
 is capable of only two prayers, for rain and fair 
 weather. He apprehends God's blessing only in a 
 good year, or a fat pasture ; and never praises him 
 but on good ground. Sunday he esteems a day to 
 make merry in ; and thinks music as essential to it, 
 as evening prayer, where he walks very solemnly after*
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 91 
 
 service, with his hands coupled hehind him, and 
 censures the mirth of his parish. He thinks nothing 
 to be vices but pride and ill husbandry, from which 
 he will gravely dissuade the youth, and have some 
 thrifty hob-nail proverbs to clout his discourse. He 
 is a niggard all the week, except only market-day ; 
 where, if his corn sell well, he thinks he may get 
 drunk with a good conscience. He is sensible of no 
 calamity but the burning a stack of corn, or the 
 overflowing of a meadow ; and thinks Noah's flood 
 the greatest plague that ever was, not because it 
 drowned the world, but spoiled the grass. For death 
 he is never troubled; and if he get in but his har- 
 vest before, let it come when it will, he cares not." 
 This picture drawn by a Yorkshireman for the worthy 
 bishop was born in the city of York, 1601 and 
 possibly the likeness of a Yorkshire farmer taken 
 from life, furnishes, though tolerably charged, a fair 
 description of a sordid, contracted mind. It is here 
 given for the sake of contrast : for there is not a 
 single point in which William Dawson was not at the 
 antipodes. He neither permitted his farm, the vine- 
 yard of the Lord, nor " himself to lie fallow and 
 untilled;" but laboured in each department as though 
 each demanded his sole attention and toil, and as if 
 afraid, lest any part of life should be allowed to stagnate. 
 Added to the abridgment of those meals which he 
 gave to widow Smith, he set apart days for fasting 
 and prayer, and otherwise practised great self-denial. 
 He assisted in the course of the year too, in establishing 
 a society for the benefit of the sick. So attentive 
 was he to the means of grace, that he missed Barwick 
 only twice in the course of the year. Both of these
 
 92 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 times were in the depth of winter ; and one of them 
 was when he fell and lamed himself on his way to 
 the place, and was compelled to return home. Every 
 opportunity was embraced of hearing Mr. Hemington, 
 when in the neighbourhood ; and he notices having heard 
 him both at Barwick and Garforth. Secret and family 
 prayer and sacramental occasions are often adverted to 
 in his Diary, as productive of great spiritual good. 
 There was hi the midst of all, the deepest self-abhorrence 
 and self-abasement; severe inward conflicts; occa- 
 sional outbreaks of levity, his constant bane, from 
 which he would instantly revolt, and again sink into 
 the dust ; a resolute cleaving to God ; a full and 
 grateful sense of the value of a Saviour; and an 
 almost incessant cry for the cleansing influence of the 
 Holy Spirit; exclaiming in the midst of all, "Oh, 
 how hard, in the midst of the schemes of life, to 
 keep the eyes fixed on God! to keep them fixed 
 there, while up to the ears in worldly employment ! " 
 He often felt the force of the Gaelic proverb, in his 
 prostrations of spirit, that "If the best man's faults 
 were written on his forehead, it would make him pull 
 his hat over his eyes." But conscious integrity 
 enabled him to bear up under all his discouragements. 
 
 He was now in a state, that while he still had no 
 wish to unite himself to the Wesleyans, he was unable 
 to resist the charm which attended many of their 
 religious meetings. He heard Messrs. Myles, Pawson, 
 and Mather, and was much pleased with them ; often 
 stealing away to a part of the service after attending 
 his own Thursday evening meeting. On one of these 
 occasions, Mr. Mather exhorted his hearers to seek 
 first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness,
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 93 
 
 encouraging them with the declaration, that all other 
 things should be added to them, stating, in language 
 as homely as that of Bishop Earle, and which was 
 not likely to he lost on a mind constructed like that 
 of the subject of these Memoirs, and by way of 
 shewing the insignificance of everything short of 
 religion that the world, in a somewhat tradesman- 
 like manner of proceeding, would, like pack-thread, 
 be given into the bargain. The Conference being 
 held at Leeds in the course of the year, he availed 
 himself, when at the Tuesday market, of slipping into 
 "Ebenezer chapel," and hearing "an old man on the 
 Prodigal's return. " He revisited the centre of at- 
 traction on the Sabbath day, August 6th, where he 
 heard four sermons, with which he was much delighted. 
 The preachers were Messrs. Pawson, Bradburn, Griffith, 
 and Dr. Coke. 
 
 A fortnight after this, having heard Mr. Dean, 
 the rector, in the morning, and Mr. Atkinson, the 
 curate, at noon, he went to hear a stranger preach 
 out of doors. The site chosen appears to have been 
 an artificial mound, adjoining Barwick, formerly the 
 seat of the kings of Northumberland, and supposed 
 to have been thrown up by Edwin, one of its brightest 
 ornaments. "The great extent and magnificence of 
 this fortification," says Dr. Whitaker, "which is four 
 furlongs in circumference, and contains an area of 
 more than thirteen acres, sufficiently prove that it 
 has been a royal park." The mount, called Hall 
 Tower Hill, was formerly encompassed by a double 
 trench ; on this mount, the royal mansion in all 
 probability stood, and is the only part that remains. 
 Here the preacher stood, and here Dawson, with the
 
 94 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 listening crowd, heard the Word of Life ; himself 
 declaring, that he "was in a measure enabled to lay 
 hold of the promise." The subject was the prophet's 
 expostulation with Nineveh ; and Jonah could not 
 have had a fairer view of that ancient city, than 
 the preacher had of Barwick and its population, over 
 the latter of whom he yearned with bowels of com- 
 passion. After this, William, as though he had 
 caught the spirit, entered upon out-door work himself, 
 and gave out the hymns at the funeral of John 
 Cawood, as the mourners passed from the house to 
 the church-yard. 
 
 Though he did not, as will have been perceived, 
 neglect to extend his knowledge by reading, yet he 
 seems, from the native force of his own mind, and 
 the fertility of his imagination, to have thought more 
 than read, and to have employed a considerable portion 
 of his time on new compositions. "A Word to the 
 Persecuted," was one which employed his pen ; writ- 
 ten probably with a view to console some of his 
 religious associates under domestic opposition. Another 
 was on the state in which Jesus Christ found man, 
 when he entered upon his divine mission, and the 
 blessings resulting from his obedience and death. In 
 one of his addresses, after looking at man as described 
 by the sceptic and the moralist, who deny the doc- 
 trine of human defection, he closed with "Here is 
 a brief, but pleasing picture of man ; differing, how- 
 ever, from the ugly original ; and in this state the 
 Redeemer finds us all. The fallen sons of Adam are 
 swimming on the ocean of their own passions, riding 
 on the tumultuous billows, blown onward by the 
 storms raised up by the prince of the power of the
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 95 
 
 air; going full sail with the tide, and, for anything 
 they know to the contrary, may the next day, nay, 
 this very night, have shot the gulph of eternity. 
 See them! there they are, there they ride unconcerned, 
 with their backs to heaven, and their faces towards 
 hell, striving against conviction, against light, till 
 they force their best Friend to seize them, and in 
 that friend, feel the grasp of an enemy, whom they 
 have compelled to become such by their carelessness 
 and their transgressions." Passages like these delivered 
 with his usual force and fire, would, however incorrect 
 and uncourteous to the ear of the fastidious critic, 
 fall with tremendous power on the heart of an untutored 
 sinner. 
 
 He now let himself out more freely in establishing 
 prayer-meetings, and in attending those already estab- 
 lished, in the neighbouring villages ; occasionally giving 
 a word of exhortation. After leaving church one day, 
 in company with his friend John Batty, and being 
 desirous of becoming more extensively useful, he pro- 
 posed a private meeting for prayer, that both might 
 be guided to the fittest scene of labour. They retired 
 to a wood, and in the bosom of that silvan scene, 
 poured out their supplications before the Lord, when 
 they agreed being most deeply impressed with it, 
 to go to Scholes, where they held a prayer-meeting 
 with the villagers. Samuel Hick, "The Village Black- 
 smith," was at Scholes on one of these occasions, 
 and requested "William to go to prayer. Not aware 
 that he had exercised in this way before among the 
 Wesleyans, the good man took the credit of introducing 
 him to public life, and was sometimes innocently 
 egotistic on the subject. Samuel passed no high
 
 96 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 encomium on the prayer, and was permitted, un- 
 disturbed, to indulge himself in the persuasion, that 
 he had been the honoured instrument of planting him 
 among the Wesleyans. 
 
 Soon after this, the subject of these pages wrote two 
 Sermons, one of which was founded on Prov. xxix, 25 
 and the other on Isaiah iii, 10. The one on Proverbs, 
 " The fear of man bringeth a snare," was probably 
 occasioned by previous embarrassment, arising from the 
 evil referred to. And this is the more probable, from the 
 reference there is to pride, cowardice, and courage, in his 
 piece on the dedication of himself to God at the commence- 
 ment of the year, and his prayer to be delivered from 
 the evils of which he stood so much in awe. The good 
 people of Scholes, having heard of his exhortations in 
 the school-room, at Barwick, and also in other places, 
 invited him to give them the benefit of his public 
 labours. He complied with their request, and informed 
 the biographer, that he took the above subject, and 
 addressed them upon it, both with a view to their 
 benefit and his own. He afterwards wrote in pencil, on 
 the MS., "This was the first text which I ventured to 
 take publicly." The school-room addresses were not 
 deemed public by him, but delivered to a select party of 
 religious friends ; and, in other places, the separate 
 texts around which the mind was permitted to revolve, 
 had never been formally announced. The MS., com- 
 prises eight closely written foolscap, 4to pages, and is 
 in his usually neat and small hand. It is headed with, 
 "The causes, character, and folly of the fear of 
 man;" and was subsequently "delivered at Colton." 
 The latter delivery is dated "June 24, 1798." The 
 composition is distinguished for acuteness, a good
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 97 
 
 knowledge of the human heart, a thorough acquaintance 
 with the trifling yet criminal subterfuges of sinners, when 
 pressed to duty, and a close application of the subject, 
 with a special appeal to the young. The following 
 sentiments will furnish an idea of his style and manner : 
 "Consider, that the season of affliction is fast 
 hastening to your door. How soon it will be said, 
 ' There is a sick man in the house,' no one knows ! 
 Will the best friend you have in the world, who is 
 himself but mortal, be able to, give you ease in pain ? 
 Can he prevent the disease from growing worse, or 
 impart comfort under it? Can he assuage the still 
 more poignant pangs of conscience prevent the light- 
 ning flashes of reflection, or settle the storm of misery 
 blowing over the soul, and say, peace be still ! No ; 
 perhaps he may have been the cause of the whole. 
 How is he, then, to quench the flame ! His presence 
 is the remembrance of your faults. You think, when 
 you see him, ' But for you, I might have been in 
 heaven!' Oh then, sit down and count the cost. 
 Review the whole. Weigh things fairly. Set Time 
 against Eternity, Man, whom you fear, against God ; 
 and see which end of the scale will fall, which will rise ! 
 You will find, that TEKEL will then be written upon 
 both the character and end of man, and also upon the 
 world. Every thing short of religion will be found 
 wanting, when weighed in the balance of equity. To 
 you who are young, I especially address myself; you 
 who are actuated by the fear of man. Your hearts are 
 yet tender ; impressions have been made upon them ; 
 and persuasion has made them consent to the reasons 
 adduced. You have been under conviction from 
 childhood. The Bible, your own consciences, and the 
 
 E
 
 98 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 secret suggestions of the Holy Spirit, have all spoken 
 in favour of the majesty, goodness, beauty, and 
 sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ. You have in 
 some degree yielded to the influence of gospel truth, 
 and assented to the importance of what you have heard 
 from faithful ministers, when reasoning on right- 
 eousness, temperance, and a judgment to come. You 
 have heard and trembled, resolved and feared. When the 
 gospel trumpet, like heavenly music, has sent its echoes 
 through your listening soul, you have been almost 
 persuaded to become Christians ; but like too many, 
 who wish they were in heaven, but never prepare for it, 
 your good desires have died in the place where they 
 were formed ; you have again mingled with your com- 
 panions at the close of the sermon laughed away your 
 feelings and forgotten what manner of persons you 
 were. Think, young friends, upon your state. Do 
 not permit the fear of man to bring you into a snare, 
 the snare of the devil, which, like a net, will entangle 
 you, and endanger your etenial happiness. Turn your 
 backs upon your former ways and companions. The 
 latter may laugh, may even curse, but you shall bless. 
 Give no ear either to their threatenings or their 
 promises. Jesus loves to see a young Timothy bold 
 and valiant in his cause." 
 
 In the sermon on Isaiah iii. 10, he has the merit 
 of more immediately keeping in view the unity of 
 his subject; and the convulsions arising out of the 
 French Revolution, would seem to have influenced 
 his mind in its composition, fortifying the Christian 
 against the perils of a threatened invasion. There 
 is much more nerve and condensation in it, than 
 in the preceding sermon ; being full of a fine mixture
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 99 
 
 of stirring, awakening, powerful, consoling thought, 
 and displaying a great deal of intuitive knowledge, 
 considering the comparatively limited character of 
 his reading. He never attempts to speculate, but 
 goes direct to the work of conversion and edifi- 
 cation, pouring forth the trumpet-clang of alarm 
 upon the ear of the sinner, and warbling out his 
 notes of consolation to the saint, which are felt in 
 the inmost soul, as though a songster of the grove 
 had taken up its residence in the breast. Had it 
 not borne the dates of 1797 8, in his own hand- 
 writing, it would have been mistaken for one of his 
 more matured productions in after life. It is of the 
 same size as the preceding, but is distinguished for 
 greater fire and earnestness, and evidently more adapted 
 to the character of his genius, and the state of his 
 religious feelings. Without attending to connection, 
 and merely to shew the strain of thought indulged, 
 two or three extracts may be made. 
 
 "Say ye" This he applies to the prophet, and 
 then to the Christian minister. " Souls," says he, 
 "are at stake! and shall the watchman sleep? Im- 
 mortal spirits are perishing, and shall the shepherd 
 not sound the alarm, and call for assistance ? God 
 speaks ! and are ministers to be careless ? Christ 
 commands ! and shall these disregard what is said ? 
 The Holy Ghost strives ! and shall we be indolent ? 
 Time flies ! and are not the stewards of the gospel 
 to improve it ? Eternity is at hand ! and shall they 
 loiter? The gates of heaven and hell stand open to 
 receive the ruined or the saved! and shall not the 
 minister of Christ warn men to escape the one, and 
 exhort them to enter into the other? Yes, men in
 
 100 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 this office, with their eyes open to see the value of 
 an immortal soul, must, in obedience to the dictates 
 of their own consciences, and in conformity to the 
 command of God, speak and spare not : say ye, &c." 
 Speaking of the " righteous," he observes, " His 
 estate is ' the pearl of great price ;' and, in this, he 
 has secured to himself that which is of greater value 
 than the world, were its mountains silver, and its 
 oceans liquid gold." Glancing at the future state of 
 the "righteous," he remarks, "They shall be ac- 
 quitted and honoured in the great judgment of the 
 world. The resurrection will deliver their bodies out 
 of prison ; and then, they will lift up their heads, 
 for their redemption draweth nigh. Suppose we had 
 a cause in any court of judicature, and that no bill 
 of indictment could be found, that no witnesses were 
 to appear, and that the judge was known to be our 
 sworn, constant friend! Should we be afraid, under 
 such circumstances, to appear in court ? Should we 
 tremble on our approach to the bar? Certainly not. 
 People would be heard to say, ' It cannot but go 
 well with them ; they have everything in their favour, 
 and nothing against them.' Such will be the case 
 with the righteous. Who is he that condemneth? It 
 is God that justifieth Christ that died yea rather, 
 that hath risen again. Then shall they eat of the 
 fruit of their doings. That which was sown in time 
 shall be their feast in eternity." 
 
 Turning to the more appalling side of the subject, 
 in connection with the other, he observes: "The 
 righteous have a rich inheritance on this side death, 
 and an invaluable treasury in the book of God. Not 
 so the ungodly. There are no promises to a hardened
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 101 
 
 sinner ; no comforts for an impenitent rebel. Every 
 leaf, which drops honey on the lips of the believer, 
 is a drawn sword to the wicked ready to cut him 
 down ; every command, in the performance of which 
 the believer rejoices, stands clothed in terrible armour 
 against the wicked against those, who, instead of 
 obeying the commandments of God, glory in the 
 breach of them. The threatenings are as a bow bent 
 with fiery darts, and ready to wing their way through 
 the soul of the sinner. The wicked flee, and flee 
 too, when no man pursues them ; and God, in their 
 flight, instead of assisting them, will exert the arm 
 of his majesty to hurl them into eternal perdition. 
 When the sword is commissioned to go through the 
 land, it shall make them tremble ; it will affright 
 them to see garments rolled in blood, themselves 
 expecting the next deadly blow. And oh, from whence 
 are they to have peace ? Shall they sing in the fires ? 
 Will they have God for a very present help in trouble 
 a refuge from the storm a shadow from the heat 
 a light in darkness a deliverer out of their distress ? 
 To the righteous, death comes on the kindest errand ; 
 he comes as their harbinger to glory, comes to knock 
 off their chains, and bring them to the liberty* of 
 the children of God. Is this the case with the 
 wicked ? No ; death will be to them the greatest of 
 misfortunes; an unwelcome guest, a visitant that 
 will bring intelligence to their ears, far worse than the 
 tidings brought to Eli of the defeat of the Israelites, 
 the death of his sons, and the loss of the ark ! Then 
 may they say, ' Hast thou found me, O mine enemy ? 
 Must I go ? Must I leave all that I love, and all I 
 once enjoyed?' Yes, go go go you must. The
 
 102 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 summons is from God, and death is the bailiff. Oh, 
 what horrible thoughts rush into the mind at this 
 moment ! what feelings excruciate the heart ! How 
 different the aspect of things ! The mask drops from 
 the face of every former foolery and enchantment! 
 Every thing appears in its native hideousness and 
 deformity. The devil, who once lulled them asleep, 
 now grins in their face, and enhances their misery by 
 his diabolical injections. The world has left them in 
 darkness and despair The flesh trembles through 
 fear, and swoons at the dreadful apprehensions of 
 approaching woe. They now open their eyes upon the 
 truths they once despised, and like Esau, with heart- 
 sinking disappointment, lift up their voice and cry, 
 with a great and exceeding cry 'Woe unto the 
 wicked, for it shall be ill with him !' WOE WOE 
 WOE WOE must be his portion, for God has said it ; 
 God who cannot lie : Christian ministers are com- 
 missioned to say so. But uncomfortable as the pre- 
 conceived notions of future torment may be in the 
 present life, they are but an earnest of what is laid up 
 in store ! A drop from the boundless, bottomless 
 ocean of pain ! An atom of the prodigious weight of 
 WOE that awaits them, on the judgment being set ! 
 Not a friend in court ! Not an answer to the ten 
 thousand charges brought against them ! Infinite 
 debtors, and not a farthing paid ! The Law lays down 
 its heavy charges, and appeals to the holiness and 
 justice of Jehovah. The Gospel adds to the long 
 series, and augments their condemnation. Father, 
 Son, Holy Ghost, angels, and ministers unite to 
 condemn ! No defence, no reply ! and conscience 
 seals up the whole ! Woe woe woe unto the wicked."
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 103 
 
 These snatches from the discourse, connected with 
 his energy, and peculiar manner of delivery, would 
 impress the congregation with the fact, that they had 
 no ordinary man before them, and would lead the pious 
 part of his hearers to cherish anticipations of future 
 greatness. 
 
 Reference having been made to a letter from Mr. 
 Dikes to him, in the course of the summer, it may 
 here be introduced, to shew the intercourse which still 
 subsisted between them. 
 
 "Hull, July 1-4, 1/97. 
 
 "DEAR SIR. I some time since received a letter 
 from you, which I ought to have answered before this 
 period; but I take the advantage of Mr. Atkinson's 
 return, to say, that it gives me great pleasure to hear 
 of your health and welfare. 
 
 "You enjoy many blessings. You have indeed lost 
 one excellent minister ; but another is come to supply 
 his place. You experience no great persecutions; but 
 can worship God according to the dictates of your 
 own conscience. These are great blessings. May we 
 make a good use of them, and not forfeit them by 
 our ingratitude and abuse of them ! 
 
 "You complain very much of the evils of your own 
 heart. These evils, I apprehend, you will feel more 
 or less to the end of your days. It is possible; yea, 
 I may say, it commonly happens, that in proportion 
 as a person grows in grace, he will see and feel more 
 depravity in his own heart. Not that there really is 
 more evil, but that he has more light to perceive it. 
 Various temptations will occur to call it forth to view; 
 and he will have his eye more upon his own ways. 
 Besides, when we see the holiness of God, the purity
 
 104 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of his law, and the true nature of sin, our own cor- 
 ruption will appear great and aggravated. Hence, 
 some persons have been led to suspect, they were 
 more vile than they were, before they knew anything 
 of religion. The truth is, all these evils existed; but 
 they were not known : they lay dormant. While we 
 are eagerly wandering after external pleasures, we 
 remain strangers " to ourselves; or, if we do see any 
 evils, we regard them as venial faults, which may be 
 very well passed over. 
 
 "You must endeavour to get good views of Christ. 
 He is the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin 
 of the world. If you were whole, you would not 
 have need of the physician. But amidst all the evils 
 of which you complain, you can have recourse to him. 
 You will find him able to save to the uttermost all 
 them that come to God by him. The more closely 
 you keep to him, the more confidence you place on 
 his atonement, the more peace you will enjoy in your 
 own conscience, and the more strength and power 
 you will find to resist all sin. 
 
 "I doubt not, but you will be preserved by the 
 power of God through faith unto salvation. He has 
 certainly begun a good work in you, and he will 
 carry it on to the day of the Lord. I hope your 
 meetings prosper, and that all things succeed well 
 with you. Believe me to remain, 
 
 "Yours, very sincerely,-r-T. DIKES." 
 
 Waiving the slender encouragement given to pray 
 for purity of heart, in the sentiment that its 
 "evils will be felt more or less to the end of life," 
 but which, in the mind of the excellent writer, might 
 refer rather to the Christian's conflict with evil, than to
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 105 
 
 its reign; there is great propriety in his other remarks, 
 namely, that increasing light produces greater con- 
 sciousness of the existence of evil, while at the same 
 time, it is no proof of the actual increase of that evil. 
 Thus, a person of a hale, robust constitution, is much 
 more conscious of an acute pain just on the tip of 
 the finger, than he is of the health possessed by the 
 whole body at the same moment. Whence is this? 
 It is not because there is more pain than health. 
 The pain, though acute, is confined to a very small 
 part of the system. So it is in the divine life. In 
 the struggle between the flesh and the spirit, the 
 one Imting against the other, in the phraseology of 
 Scripture, the pain of the flesh is much more felt 
 than the health of the spirit. Not, be it observed, 
 because the Christian, to preserve the phraseology, 
 has more of the flesh than the spirit ; for the cor- 
 ruption of the heart is neither perceived nor felt by 
 corruption, but by grace. The more acute the pain, 
 therefore, the greater the grace, and the less of corrupt 
 nature. Death, even in cases when not violent, is 
 generally painful ; nature will not die without a strug- 
 gle. But these pains are so many proofs that death 
 is approaching. The work of conquest is going on ; 
 victory is coming to a point. The struggle of the 
 believer, who is in the enjoyment of pardon, is to 
 get the monster inbred sin, whose power is already 
 broken, fully and finally expelled from the heart ; and 
 the struggle of a person entirely sanctified, is when 
 the door is closed, vigilantly to guard every corner 
 and avenue of the sacred temple against its return. 
 
 Doors of usefulness continued to open in different 
 directions, and in 1798, became next to oppressively 
 
 E2
 
 106 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 numerous. His zeal induced him readily to yield to 
 the promptings of friendship at home, and to the calls 
 of strangers at a distance, to favour the villages and 
 hamlets, till then unvisited by him, with a word of 
 exhortation. Persons belonging to the Establishment 
 were not only prepared for such meetings, by such men 
 as Mr. Remington, and the Wesleys, but also, by Mr. 
 Ingham, of Aberford, who married Lady Margaret 
 Hastings, and who was one of the persons that 
 accompanied Mr. "Wesley to Georgia. This gentleman, 
 together with his coadjutors and successors, established 
 the practice of preaching in private houses and in barns, 
 through the whole of that district ; thus rendering it, 
 long after his demise, not only easy, but in many cases 
 acceptable, and even respectable, for a person of piety 
 and talent, whether in or out of the Established Church, 
 to instruct the people from behind an old chair, as well 
 as from the curiously carved pulpit in places more 
 sacredly devoted to the worship of God. 
 
 Colton was the first place at which he preached, 
 and formally took a text out of his own parish, 
 Scholes, where he had previously taken one, being 
 considered in it. He preached in the house of Grace 
 
 the first time. The next time he took his stand 
 
 on the stone at her door ; and subsequently preached 
 on the common. His subject, on the occasion of his 
 second visit, was the general judgment. Having made 
 some statements in the course of his address, which 
 bore hard on sinners, an old man of the name of 
 Hardwick, standing in the skirt of the congregation, 
 sent his stentorian voice across the heads of the crowd, 
 demanding of the preacher a proof of what he ad- 
 vanced, asking "How do you know that?" Though
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 107 
 
 possessed of the obstinate courage of the man, who, 
 Si succiderit de genu pugnat, if his legs fail him, 
 fights upon his knees, yet not having been rocked 
 in the storm of out-door preaching, like a Whitfield 
 or a Wesley, his recollection was less at command 
 than his prowess, and his presence of mind failing 
 him, he was dumb for a few seconds before the people. 
 One of his hearers perceiving it, who was a man of 
 some weight of character, immediately encouraged him, 
 by shouting out with a no less audible voice, "Go on, 
 goon;" and perceiving he had the congregation with 
 him, he again rallied, and proceeded with freedom. In 
 this scene of early labour, he afterwards had the happiness 
 of seeing a chapel erected, which he opened in 1832. 
 
 His visit to Colton, seems to have led the way to 
 the establishment of preaching at Whitkirk, which 
 is in its vicinity. He here preached regularly in the 
 house of Mrs. Dean, a relative of Lady Irvine, who 
 was much attached to him as a preacher, and was 
 in the habit of designating him, "My "Willy." He 
 preached the funeral sermon of this excellent lady 
 some 3 r ears afterwards, at Whitkirk, when a somewhat 
 novel scene was presented to view. The respectability 
 of the deceased, and his own popularity, drew a large 
 concourse of people to the place, the consequence of 
 which was, the auditory had to adjourn from the 
 usual place of preaching to the open air. It was in 
 the evening, and exceedingly dark ; but such was the 
 temperature of the atmosphere, though the season was 
 far advanced, that little inconvenience was sustained. 
 That the people might have a faint gleam of his 
 person, as well as hear his voice, a friend suspended 
 a lantern and candle on the bough of a tree, beneath
 
 108 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 which he stood ; and there, in its dim glow lit 
 up for a different purpose than the lantern employed 
 by Judas, when filled with the execrable purpose of 
 betraying the Saviour, and himself bearing a message 
 unlike that which issued from the lips of the oak- 
 prophets of druidical times, he proclaimed, like the 
 Baptist in the wilderness, the doctrine of the kingdom. 
 He expatiated likewise on the value of that inward king- 
 dom to the deceased, and the glories of the heaven which 
 she was then enjoying, and which his auditory, on 
 passing through the shades of a deeper night than that 
 which enveloped them, might also enjoy. The whole 
 scene would present to the mind of the hearer a just 
 picture of the Christian's passage "through the valley of 
 the shadow of death," with hope glowing in the midst 
 like the taper over the head of the preacher, accompanied 
 by the voice of the "Great Teacher," cheering him 
 onward, and saying, "Fear not, for I am with thee." 
 The scene was admirably adapted to his genius, and 
 to the solemnity of the occasion ; and to persons just 
 emerging out of the darkness of nature, and visited 
 with a gleam of gospel light, the whole must have 
 been exceedingly touching. The preacher could avail 
 himself of every point could improve * every cir- 
 cumstance; would, while directing the finger to the 
 shaded candle, which rendered himself but dimly visible, 
 encourage the desponding penitent, by telling him, that 
 
 " The wretch, condemn'd with life to part, 
 
 Still, still on hope relies, 
 And every pang that rends the heart 
 
 Bids expectation rise : 
 
 that 
 
 Hope, like the glimmering taper's light, 
 
 Adorns and cheers his way, 
 And still, as darker grows the night, 
 
 Emits a brighter ray."
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 109 
 
 In addition to the places already noticed, he preached 
 subsequently in a barn belonging to Robert Moor, of 
 Swillington, in the house of Mr. Shillitoe, of Little 
 Preston, before the door of J. Birkenshaw, of Gar- 
 forth, at Horton, and in the house of John Loriman, 
 of Aberford. He was not satisfied with one service 
 in the day, as will afterwards be seen; nor did he 
 confine himself to the fittest seasons for travelling. 
 After attending public worship at Barwick, he usually 
 sallied forth to the villages at noon ; and when not 
 engaged elsewhere, would have returned to assist at 
 the prayer-meeting at Barwick in the evening. 
 
 As he advanced in the work, his zeal became more 
 ardent, and his manner more violent; so much so, 
 that his mother, after hearing him a few times, 
 observed to him, "I can do with anything but thy 
 shouting; it quite distracts my head." Not experiencing 
 any inconvenience from it himself, and therefore, the 
 less sensible of it, he remarked to her on returning 
 from preaching, on one occasion, " Mother, I have 
 not shouted much to-night!" "Shouted," she replied, 
 "why, child, I never heard thee shout so much before."
 
 110 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Voluntary and involuntary evil. Letter from Mr. Settle. College 
 trials. Bias towards Methodism. Miss Barritt. Lovefeasts. 
 Messrs. Mather and Blagborne. Pride. Balancings. 
 Fear. Enthusiasm. Reading. Lay help in the Establishment 
 not encouraged. Samuel Hick. Severity. Labours. Ex- 
 tracts from the Diary. Usefulness. Public Addresses. Sin 
 Assurance. Death. Sinners in danger. Sceptics. Grow- 
 ing Piety. Painful Exercises. Local Militias. State of the 
 Country. Prudence. Morning Communings. Scrupulosity of 
 Conscience. Stands Sponsor. Thoughts on Marriage. Feel- 
 ing manifested by external Signs. Letters from Messrs. Graham 
 and Settle. Freedom of mind. Trials often heighten coming 
 joys. Visit to the Rev. J. Graham, York. Genius of Method- 
 ism. Further References to the Elland Society. Prayer. 
 The turning point. Rev. Miles Atkinson. Peculiar situation 
 of W. Damson. Decides against Holy Orders. Rev. J. Gra- 
 ham. Rev. S. Settle. Rev. Joseph Benson, Rev. T. Dikes. 
 Religious state of W. Damson. 
 
 His evidence of his personal interest in the atoning 
 sacrifice of Christ, which had often been overshadowed, 
 became brighter and more constant as he proceeded, 
 and as he associated with persons who were them- 
 selves in possession of the blessing. He grew less 
 and less disposed also to charge the involuntary stir- 
 rings of a depraved nature upon himself with all the 
 force of voluntary transgression, and found that there
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. Ill 
 
 was a wide difference between the pain produced by 
 the one, and the guilt arising from the other ; being 
 able, in the former case, to approach the throne of 
 grace with less of downcast look and feeling, than 
 in the latter. He became less disturbed too, on the 
 subject of satanic suggestions ; aware that the most 
 innocent character as in the case of the immaculate 
 Jesus, may be tempted, and yet maintain his purity. 
 But such was the severity of his tests, that a temptation 
 to sin produced the same abhorrence, and almost the 
 same amount of painful feeling, as sin itself: and 
 though he rarely relaxed in the severity of his judg- 
 ment, yet his riper experience rendered his decisions less 
 harassing and painful to himself, enabling him to draw 
 a proper line of distinction between the temptations of 
 Satan, and the corruptions of the human heart ; between 
 a temptation to sin, and a participation in its guilt, 
 by surrendering himself to its power. His views 
 and feelings became better adjusted in all matters of 
 religious experience. He saw that a temptation might 
 be presented to the mind, in the way that the eye 
 may meet an uninvited and unexpected object ; and 
 that the mind may as quickly and as innocently 
 turn from the one, as the eye from the other. The 
 impression may still be left ; but it is the Christian's 
 duty to ascertain whether the impression is one 
 of pain or of pleasure : if of pain, then conquest may 
 be fairly anticipated. The mind, in its wandering, 
 and less watchful moments, may stumble upon what 
 is not altogether profitable or convenient ; but even 
 then without the least disposition towards that which 
 is unlawful, divine grace instantly interposes its check ; 
 and the conscience is left as free from guilt as the
 
 112 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 man is who looks upon a tree loaded with fruit in 
 a neighbour's orchard, but without the least disposition 
 to covet to look till he loves to love till he shall 
 put forth the hand to steal. The heart of a Christian, 
 like the mind of a wise man, should resemble a mirror, 
 which reflects the object without being sullied by it. 
 
 Though never otherwise than decided from the 
 commencement, in his adherence to Christian prin- 
 ciple and practice, yet owing to more constant peace, 
 and a stronger assurance of the divine favour, he was 
 enabled to enter with greater freedom into the minis- 
 terial work ; while his continued correspondence with 
 his friend, Mr. Settle, seemed to localize his views and 
 feelings to his own neighbourhood, by rendering 
 the discipline of a university less attractive, and holy 
 orders, in the same ratio, less probable and desirable. 
 Mr. S. thus addresses him : 
 
 "Cambridge, Jan. 23, 1798. 
 
 "DEAR DAWSON. After a long silence, I take up 
 my pen to give you a line. I have just taken my 
 degree; but, I fear, with little or no credit. I shah 1 
 never make a shining character. Some poor, obscure 
 village will be suitable enough for me. The manner 
 in which the public examination is conducted, were 
 I to describe it, would not be at all interesting .to 
 you. It will be sufficient to observe, that I laboured 
 under several disadvantages ; one of the principal of 
 which was, slowness and defective writing ; and the 
 other, too great a fulness in the proofs and demon- 
 stration of any particular problem. Besides these, 
 there were others, which I forbear to mention. A 
 maudlin man stands but a poor chance of success in 
 the senate house. The world, you are aware, is
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 113 
 
 not fond of seeing a religious man honoured; nor 
 can I conceive why a serious man should hunt after 
 reputation in the present life. But as Cambridge 
 professes solely and purely to regard merit, I do not 
 see that it is wrong to complain when any one does 
 not meet with the treatment which his merits deserve. 
 Were you acquainted with the proceedings of the 
 University, I could quickly make it appear to you, 
 that a great deal of unfairness and unjust conduct 
 has been shewn to Magdalen College. Mr. B r tt, 
 whom I have often named to you, has, in consequence- 
 of this, taken no honour. You are aware, that he 
 was to have been among the three or four first the 
 place which Mr. Th p n was pleased officiously to 
 assign to me; but I have lately had an opportunity 
 of seeing Mr. T, and told him that he lavished his 
 praise with too liberal a hand. He denied the charge; 
 but the evidence was too strong to be evaded. As I 
 am on this subject, I may observe, that persons can- 
 not be too cautious in what they say ; for without 
 intention, they may depress, and represent a man as 
 totally insignificant, or elevate him to a rank to which 
 he is not entitled. Mr. T. felt the force of what I 
 said, and acknowledged it to be wrong. You will be 
 ready to exclaim, 'You are full of complaints. Why 
 am I to be troubled with Cambridge affairs?' You 
 are sensible of this, that it is painful to be classed 
 among the first in mathematical merit, and in the 
 end to run the hazard of losing one's degree. 
 
 "I expect, should the Bishop not send me back, 
 to get into orders in March. It is supposed, that 
 his grace will have a private ordination in London; 
 and this is the reason why I shall not visit Yorkshire.
 
 114 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 "Receive my thanks for your last. The death of 
 Mrs. Jackson affected me much ; and that of Mary 
 Batty was sooner than I expected. I have not heard 
 anything more of Mr. Graham, and conclude your 
 information incorrect. As to Clifton, I can give you 
 little or no account. Parish tells me, that the people 
 are poor. Let me hear from you soon. Give my 
 respects to Mr. Atkinson, when you see him. I am 
 yours sincerely and have done with mathematics. 
 
 "S. SETTLE." 
 
 With all his attachment to the Established Church, 
 several things concurred, like so many small driftings, 
 to bear him out of his original course, and to ac- 
 celerate the force of the feeling by which he was 
 borne along. His visits to Scholes, Colton, Garforth, 
 Seacroft, Swillington, Little Preston, Aberford, Whit- 
 kirk, &c., not only became more frequent, but new 
 places, such as Kippax, Micklefield, Starks, Halton, 
 Hanks, Cross-Gates, &c., were included in his circuit; 
 making forty-four visits in ah 1 in the course of the 
 year, for public addresses, exclusive of prayer-meetings. 
 Some of these places were visited in church hours ; 
 and the church service was omitted by him in con- 
 sequence. Added to this, he was more frequent in 
 his attendance on the meetings carried on among the 
 Wesleyans, and preached much less on a Thursday 
 evening in connection with Mr. Atkinson though 
 generally present as a hearer, and sometimes engaging 
 in prayer. He addressed different congregations, in 
 places some miles apart from each other, on the Lord's 
 day, and occasionally preached to the people in the 
 same places in the course of the week ; taking Little 
 Preston in the forenoon, attending church service at
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 115 
 
 Kippax in the afternoon, and preaching at Garforth 
 in the evening. 
 
 Having heard a good deal respecting Miss Mary 
 Barritt, who, as a public speaker, was at this time 
 unusually popular, he was induced to go to Sturton 
 to hear her ; and availed himself of other opportunities 
 of hearing her in the course of the year, at Whitkirk, 
 Kippax, Mr. M. Jackson's, of Hillam Mill, and other 
 places. Her subject at Sturton was "Balaam's Wish;" 
 and he appears to have been favourably impressed 
 with the address, exclaiming, " I thank thee, O Lord, 
 for the least profit, which I have received. Let me 
 experience thy full salvation." But he lost, at the 
 close, as at the prayer-meeting at Barwick, conducted 
 by Mr. Miller, what he had gained in the beginning; 
 observing, "a confused meeting commenced at the 
 conclusion of the sermon, which rather pained my 
 mind." He prayed, however, that God would "lead 
 him right, and keep him right ; " and on his return 
 home, " found unusual liberty in family prayer. " 
 Though disposed to exercise candour, the tumultuous 
 meeting at the close, became the topic of conversa- 
 tion the next day, when he was not altogether satisfied 
 with his remarks upon it ; stating, that he " was hurt 
 with what he said ; " adding, in his Diary, " it seems 
 better, Lord, that I should say nothing." He was 
 afraid of speaking unadvisedly, and of rooting up the 
 wheat with the tares ; though by no means reconciled 
 to the noise, as is evident from subsequent conversa- 
 tions. The last time he heard her was at Barwick, 
 on a Wednesday evening, on which occasion his joy 
 appears to have been unmixed; saying, "Praise the 
 Lord! found some sweetness in hearing." On this
 
 116 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 occasion, too, he appears either to have courted, or 
 to have been allured, to a little Wesleyan fellowship,; 
 enjoying the society of Mr. Blagborne, then stationed 
 on the Leeds circuit, on his return home. 
 
 A further advance was made, by stepping from the 
 outer to the inner court of Wesleyan Methodism ; 
 having attended three love-feasts, one at Sturton, July 
 1st, another at Seacroft, October 7th, and a third at 
 Kippax, Nov. 25. Mr. Mather preached on the occa- 
 sion at Sturton, and dwelt chiefly on the love of God. 
 "I found," he remarks, in noticing the circumstance, 
 "a near approach to God. Blessed be the Lord! 
 Went from thence to Little Preston, full of hope of 
 a gracious time, and was not disappointed. I spoke 
 on the concluding clause of the Apostle's Creed. 
 May the Lord bless the word! I hope, I trust, he 
 will. I wish to leave all self, and simply to go on 
 with the glory of God in full view. Found a warm 
 reception on my return; but praised be the Lord, I 
 found a perfect calm within, and submission to his 
 will." No wonder that his mother, a rigid church- 
 woman, should manifest a little opposition, on seeing 
 him take one step after another though still un- 
 intentional on his part, towards a separation from the 
 Establishment. Mr. Blagborne led the lovefeast in 
 the latter case ; and it is probable, that this prepared 
 the way for the intercourse which Dawson had with 
 him, as noticed in the preceding paragraph. Here, 
 however, he was not quite so happy as at Sturton. 
 He complains of "pride," and inferior things occa- 
 sionally occupying the mind, though he laboured to repel 
 them, earnestly praying "for more heart religion." 
 Without positively affirming it, there is reason to
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 117 
 
 believe that he spoke on the occasion, and that it 
 became a source of temptation to him. It was not 
 the "pride" of which Chapman speaks, which is 
 blind, making us "eagles in matters that belong to 
 other men," and "beetles in our own:" but that 
 to which Pope refers, "a consciousness of having 
 done a poor thing, and a shame of hearing it." These 
 two appear to have entered into the composition of 
 the pride of the occasion. 
 
 Not only were the Wesleyan preachers followed 
 through the week, but when on a visit to Wetherby 
 and York, he found his way to the religious as- 
 semblies of the Methodists, assisting the friends in 
 the former of these places though a perfect stranger 
 to them, to carry on a prayer-meeting. Whether the 
 Thursday evening Lectures were regularly continued, 
 or whether he found his various engagements interfere 
 with the service, by making so many demands upon 
 his time, is not ascertained ; but certain it is," that 
 Barwick was omitted five times on that evening during 
 the twelve months, and only one of those times in 
 consequence of rain. The fact too, of being occa- 
 sionally under the disagreeable necessity of hearing 
 his old schoolmaster, Mr. H., in the church at Bar- 
 wick, operated painfully on his mind; observing, that 
 not only were "his notions of religion incorrect, but 
 his life was opposed to the ministerial character:" 
 further adding, "what a sad state should I have 
 been in, under such a minister ! " But though he had 
 lost his "mainstays" in Messrs. Dikes and Graham, 
 both of whom he ever remembered with respect and 
 affection, and a weakening process was going on, of 
 which he was not altogether sensible, he was not
 
 118 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 without his fears as to the propriety of the steps he 
 was taking, and the real character of the zeal displayed 
 by the Wesleyans. Hence, in his Diary, he writes, 
 " I found my mind in a frame of thanksgiving this 
 morning:" and then, as if afraid lest any of his 
 plans or purposes should at all militate against the 
 hallowed feeling, he directs the heart upward, and 
 pours out his spirit in prayer, requesting the Lord 
 to "Sanctify every faculty of the soul; not to allow 
 him to misunderstand any feeling ; to save him from 
 all enthusiasm, and from confounding the mere effu- 
 sions of a heated fancy with the comforts of the 
 Holy Ghost; to give him a discriminating eye, and 
 to enable him to discern Satan as deformed, at the 
 very moment that he is transformed in all his specious 
 appearances." This fear though he was frequently 
 called upon to engage in prayer, made him a little 
 shy, now and then, of letting himself out too freely. 
 Thus, about the same time, being alive to the practice 
 of calling upon him to exercise, the following entry 
 meets the eye: "Some men came from Leeds to 
 Barwick, and spoke upon 'This man receiveth sin- 
 ners.' I had some reasonings in my mind respecting 
 the propriety of going to prayer, if called upon." 
 He heard Mr. Atkinson, the curate, in the church, 
 in the afternoon of the same day, and went himself 
 to Garforth in the evening, and preached on the 
 "New Birth." His views, however, respecting Wesleyan 
 doctrine, worship, and discipline, became clearer and 
 more enlarged by a continued perusal of the Works 
 of Fletcher, and a close examination of Benson's 
 Defence of the Methodists against the attacks of 
 Tatham, Russel, and others. In the latter case, he
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 119 
 
 exclaims, " Oh, how hard it is to manage controversy 
 without bitterness ! " 
 
 His sphere of labour, which was still gradually en- 
 larging, and the slender encouragement given to lay- 
 interference and help in the Established Church, may 
 also be considered as contributing no small share to .the 
 change which was now drawing to a point; for in the 
 same proportion as he wandered from the general rules 
 and usages of the Church, in calling sinners to repentance 
 as was the case with the venerable Wesley, belonging 
 to the same community, in the same proportion he 
 entered further and further into the heart of Methodism 
 a system resulting from the same erratic, but apostolic 
 movements, of the extraordinary man from whom it 
 took its rise. 
 
 It is not surprising to find him, considering his 
 religious associates and training, a little at variance 
 both with Methodism and its promoters. Honest 
 Samuel Hick was one of those persons, whose pecu- 
 liarities he was at first unable to relish, though he 
 could afterwards not only bear with his weaknesses, 
 but duly appreciate his numerous excellences. But 
 though he objected to Samuel, he was no less grieved 
 with himself for the apparent severity of his criticisms 
 upon him ; and hence, revolving on the subject of a 
 Sabbath meeting at Garforth, he observed on the 
 Thursday following, when his sentiments had wound 
 their way back to him from an unexpected quarter, 
 "I was hurt at some unwary expressions which were 
 dropped respecting some observations made by Samuel 
 Hick, at Garforth, on Sunday afternoon." He had 
 not only the good sense to know, that extreme severity 
 is not only sure to arm everything against it, and often
 
 120 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 relaxes into supine neglect, but he carried about with him 
 a conscience tender of the faults and failings of others. 
 
 Still, though he lent occasional, and now more 
 frequent aid, to the Wesleyans, his labours were 
 chiefly directed to the improvement of the members 
 of the Established Church, as his principal friends 
 were yet to be found in that community. He 
 visited its sick not only at Barwick, but at Swilling- 
 ton and elsewhere, was invited to improve its funeral 
 solemnities, by praying and addressing the people, 
 prior to the removal of the corpse to the place of 
 sepulture, and sought to advance the spiritual interests 
 of the people, by religious discourse in social life. 
 With the same view, he carried his religion into the 
 "highways and hedges;" and on one occasion, rejoiced 
 in having to record, that he " met with a stranger on 
 the road, who jcnew something of the divine life," 
 and with whom he had taken sweet counsel. The 
 salvation also of his grandmother, and other friends 
 and relatives, to whom he frequently spoke, and with 
 whom he frequently prayed, was matter of great solici- 
 tude with him. Nor were his labours fruitless, either 
 in public or in private. Adverting to the influence 
 of some of his public addresses on different occasions, 
 both upon himself and others, he has the following 
 brief notices : 
 
 "At Hanks in the evening. Spoke on the wisdom, 
 power, faithfulness, and love of Christ. Bless the 
 Lord for a good, spiritual season ! Oh, may I ever 
 be moulded to his will ! Only let me be thine, O 
 Lord! 
 
 " Spoke on watchfulness at Seacroft. My only end 
 is the glory of God, and the good of precious souls.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 121 
 
 "In the evening at Garforth. Dwelt on the necessity 
 of the Spirit's influence to change the human heart, 
 and the equal necessity of that change, in order to 
 our admission into heaven. May the Lord hless the 
 means to the hearers! Found a remarkable nearness 
 to God in prayer at James "Watson's. Visited John 
 Clayton. Oh, may I ever feel the value of souls ! 
 God is my Father, Christ is my Redeemer." 
 
 "Found God present in the public ordinances. 
 Gave a serious exhortation to the people at Scholes. 
 
 "Thank the Lord for an earnest frame of mind in 
 the means of grace ! Spoke at Whitkirk in the evening 
 on Gal. iv. 4 6. It was a remarkable season of 
 refreshment. Praise the Lord! 
 
 "Received information respecting some good done 
 at Colton through my unworthy instrumentality. Praise 
 the Lord! May he bless the person upon whom the 
 effects were produced, and render the work permanent ! 
 
 "Spoke at Garforth on the advantages of early 
 piety. Heard, in the course of the week, of some 
 good effects produced on some minds. Ah, where 
 is the person, who has lived thirty years, that has 
 not had a transient work upon the affections at times! 
 To God alone I look for a blessing. May none of 
 my services rise up in judgment against any soul! 
 Satan, perhaps, desires to sift me as wheat. May 
 Jesus pray for me, that my faith fail not ! " 
 
 The addresses themselves bore strong marks of 
 originality, and were admirably calculated to rouse 
 and to fix attention ; nor were . his communings with 
 himself less calculated to preserve and augment the 
 life of God in his own soul. The latter, as is the 
 case with all who speak from the heart, were mingled 
 
 F
 
 122 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 with his discourses, and essentially aided him in all 
 his probings and searchings, when employed with the 
 consciences of his hearers. Two or three extracts 
 will shew the character of his thoughts at the time. 
 
 SIN. "Reflect upon the momentous concerns of 
 religion in health and strength. Deny thyself. Abandon 
 thy favourite sin. Tear it from the heart, though 
 entwined with its very strings. Carry it to the fire 
 of mortification, as the primitive sorcerers carried 
 their books to the fire to burn them. Sin is a poi- 
 son ; there is something of sweetness in it at the 
 moment of drinking; but oh, when swallowed, what 
 heart-twinges does it produce, what crampings within, 
 what a rending of the vitals ! Terrible, indeed, will 
 be its eifects, if not expelled from the mind. Abhor 
 it in thyself; reprove it in others." 
 
 ASSURANCE. "Can we be otherwise than struck 
 with the propriety and necessity of a sense of forgive- 
 ness, as applied by the Holy Ghost, in the comparison 
 between man as a sinner, and a debtor in a gaol? 
 We can no more suppose, that Jesus Christ would 
 permit a pardoned sinner to live in bondage, than a 
 man would permit a friend to linger out a life in 
 confinement, after he had discharged his debts. Never, 
 never rest, then, without a clear sense of the mercy 
 of God; and, once obtained, continue to walk in the 
 light of his countenance." 
 
 DEATH. "Think on a dying hour! Think on that 
 moment, when physicians and friends can do no more 
 for the body, and it lies gasping* for breath ! The 
 quivering lip hangs feebly down, and the muscles are 
 so unstrung, that they are unable to raise it to its 
 former position. It is sprinkled with a liquid from
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 123 
 
 a feather ; but small as it is, it is as refreshing to 
 the body as a slight dew to the earth, during the 
 most parching drought, though as quickly exhaled. 
 The tongue falters in its delivery, and the attendants 
 are obliged to lay the ear close to the opened mouth 
 to collect the half articulated sentence. When this is 
 the case, what will be the thoughts of the heart ? 
 What would be our language to our friends, waiting 
 to close our eyes, and to stretch the lifeless trunk 
 on a plank, if able only in broken accents to utter 
 the feelings of that heart? Should we be disposed 
 to say, 'Take warning of us ; we have done too much 
 for Jesus; we have gone further than his commands 
 required ; we have spent our breath, our prime, in 
 his service, and for his glory; and now we see onr 
 madness, our folly! We see that we might have 
 taken our ease, have indulged in the quiet of home, 
 while drudging for the Son of God!' Ah no! Realize 
 the approaching moment ; bring it to the eye set it 
 before you let it be imprinted in lively figures upon 
 the imagination." 
 
 So graphic were his various descriptions, that lie 
 seemed to give reality to everything he touched. 
 "Man," said he, when preaching at Scholes, "Man, 
 as a sinner, is like a person blindfold, walking upon 
 a bridge without battlements. Instead of going straight 
 along, he has got a turn, and is on his way to the 
 side. Crowds of diseases and accidents are pressing 
 upon him, and may, the next moment, jostle him 
 over into eternity. The folly of delaying repentance 
 to a death-bed, is no less extravagant, than if the same 
 person were to place one foot upon the edge of the 
 bridge, and the other off, beyond the chance ot
 
 124 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 recovery." After proceeding in this way with his 
 picturings and appeals, he suddenly ejaculated at the 
 close, just as the sinner appeared balancing in the 
 "mind's eye" of the auditor, on the perilous edge 
 of some of those bridges thrown across the opening 
 chasms among the Alps, " Lord, save, or he perishes 
 in the roaring, bottomless ruin below ! " 
 
 He appears to have met, in some of his perambula- 
 tions, about this period, with persons of sceptical 
 principles; and one objection urged was, That religion 
 only tends to nullify the natural appetites of the soul. 
 To this, Dawson replied in the course of the argument, 
 " Religion certainly changes the passions ; but that 
 no more proves that the Christian has no enjoyments, 
 than it proves that a man has no stomach, because 
 he does not live upon the same food as an ass." He 
 had penetration sufficient to perceive, not only the 
 different aliments, so to speak, upon which saints and 
 sinners subsisted, but the difference between a change 
 effected in anything, and its utter destruction; while 
 his simile, by the keen stroke of his wit, not only 
 affected the position maintained, but obliquely reduced 
 his opponents themselves to a somewhat assenine 
 condition. 
 
 The number of authors, whose works were read at 
 this period, does not only appear to have been enlarged, 
 but he seems to have been more deeply imbued with the 
 self-denying spirit of Brainard, and the hallowed tone 
 of piety exhibited by Baxter. In reference to the 
 former, he remarks, " He was a serious man ; his 
 life leaves a serious savour on my mind." And in 
 reference to the latter, he gives utterance to a similar 
 sentiment ; " A savour of religion remains upon the
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 125 
 
 soul on every perusal of his writings." This had 
 a beneficial influence on his correspondence, con- 
 versation, and public addresses ; and references to use- 
 fulness after this become more frequent. The means of 
 grace were evidently wells of salvation to him, and such 
 was his devotedness of spirit to God, that birth-days 
 usually seasons of festivity, were converted into 
 fast-days. He speaks of " nearness " in private prayer, 
 of "freedom" in family exercises, of divine assist- 
 ance in preaching, closing with, "Jesus died for me." 
 Numerous as were his blessings, his graces were not 
 a little tried with the "Holy War" carried on in the 
 "City of Man-soul," and with some external exercises 
 he was destined to experience ; so that while he found 
 strength sufficient for the day, he was sensible that it 
 was only for the day that there was no stock on 
 hand for any succeeding period. Among other things, 
 he was often tried with his own "spirit," upon which 
 he was always compelled to keep a tight rein. The 
 counting-house was entered by thieves ; and although 
 the booty was but slender, he found the circumstances 
 painful in which he stood between the depredators and 
 his master. Some ruthles villainss shot a calf, more from 
 malice apparently than wantonness. The farm was 
 unproductive, which led him to exclaim with deep 
 feeling, though with resignation, "The Lord seems 
 to be trying us in our temporal circumstances." 
 Various nefarious practices were committed also upon 
 property for which he was partly responsible to his 
 master; and not being able to obtain the least clue 
 to the persons or plans of the agents in the work, 
 he himself and happy for him that his master had 
 implicit confidence in him, was left without further
 
 126 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 means of freedom from blame than his general vigilance 
 and integrity of character. These, however, were 
 sufficient, and bore him through in triumph. He 
 was not only disturbed while preaching out of doors, 
 as already noticed, but as a proof that Satan found 
 bis interests in danger, in consequence of his zealous 
 efforts to spread the truth, a gentleman of the name 
 of Eamerson, who had considerable influence at Colt on 
 and Seacroft, warned his dependants away from hearing 
 him, and accompanied his prohibitions with threat en- 
 ings of dismissal on a repetition of the offence. In 
 an interview with the gentleman himself, some severe 
 language was employed by him; and William, who 
 was tender of his own Christian character, was afraid 
 lest either his own manner or matter should not have 
 reflected, in everything, honour on the cause he 
 espoused though without the least design to be un- 
 courteous. Hence his language on the occasion : 
 " Pardon, O Lord, whatever I might say amiss. 
 Bless and convert his soul. Keep his malicious 
 speeches from turning to our hurt ! " To be mild 
 and respectful under such circumstances, is next to 
 impossible, without the grace of God; for "there 
 is a time " with individuals, as well as with states, 
 in the language of Burke, "when the hoary head 
 of inveterate abuse will neither draw reverence nor 
 obtain protection." 
 
 A considerable portion of public spirit was infused 
 into his soul, in consequence of his public labours. 
 He mixed with society, indulged in an interchange 
 of sentiment and feeling, and acquired information on 
 subjects of national importance. He felt acutely at 
 this time for the disturbed state of Ireland, and no
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 127 
 
 less for the nation, which was threatened with an 
 invasion from the opposite shores. Sir Thomas Gas- 
 coigne, in consequence of the menaced state of the 
 country, compelled each of his tenants to find "a 
 man and horse for a troop of cavalry," and Mr. 
 Porter, the head steward, "took down the names of 
 all the colliers, to serve as foot soldiers." The men, 
 soon after this, were ordered by Sir Thomas, to 
 proceed to Garforth, when William accompanied them. 
 On such occasions, and especially at the formation 
 of a corps, when men who have everything to learn, 
 and many of whose vicious habits have never been 
 subjected to the severer restraint of military law, there 
 is often much to distress a conscientious mind, and 
 still more of which he finds it impossible to approve. 
 Dawson coupled the Christian with the hero, and made 
 as firm a stand for his God as his king, resolved to 
 fear the one, while he honoured the other. In acting 
 lawfully, however, in things lawful, he found he gave 
 offence. He bore his honest testimony against every 
 religious and moral impropriety. This brought down 
 upon him the displeasure of his superiors. Referring 
 to this, he observes, "I have just been informed 
 of Sir Thomas Gascoigne's disapprobation of my con- 
 duct at Garforth. What I did, was, I believe, agreeable 
 to the will of the Lord. His will I wish to know in 
 all things ; and my prayer is, that he would assist 
 me in everything I undertake." The probability is, 
 from his love to souls, his ardent zeal, and from the last 
 form of expression, that, as Garforth was one of his 
 "preaching places," he undertook to give such of 
 the men as might be disposed to listen to him, like 
 honest John Nelson in " olden times, " a little whole-
 
 128 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 some ethical advice, some of them being as little 
 versed in Christian morals, as in military tactics. 
 Whether he had more to do with the foot soldiers, 
 than to attend to different arrangements, is doubtful, 
 as his brother Richard supplied the demands made 
 upon the tenantry, by entering into the cavalry. Nor 
 is it to be supposed, that he acted altogether im- 
 prudently in the thing which gave offence ; for, as 
 an eminent writer observes, "if the prudence of reserve 
 and decorum dictates silence in some circumstances, 
 in others prudence of a higher order may justify us in 
 speaking our thoughts." So it was here. If "prudent 
 men," according to another writer, Shenstone, "lock 
 up their motives, letting familiars have a key of their 
 heart, as to their garden," they are not at the same 
 time to place a padlock upon the tongue, when the 
 imperative commands of God are upon them, urged by an 
 enlightened conscience. Dawson's heart dictated these 
 further sentiments on the occasion : " Into thy hands, 
 O Lord, I commend my soul, body, property, talents, 
 influence, and everything, to be at thy disposal. Oh, 
 give me such a measure of thy love, as will at all 
 times enable me to say, in sweet, passive resignation, 
 'Thy will be done.'" 
 
 He was generally fitted for the exercises of the day by 
 his habits ; for when he arose in the morning, he did 
 not only direct the heart to God in prayer, but con- 
 sulted him also in his Word ; and frequently wrote 
 in his Diary the passage, or the sentiment, by which 
 he was most impressed, thus collecting manna in the 
 morning, like the Israelites in the wilderness, as food 
 for the soul to feed upon through the day. Hence, 
 he writes: "'Be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 129 
 
 in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that 
 your labour is not in vain in the Lord.' This was 
 one of the first texts that my eye fixed upon this 
 morning. May the Lord enable me to take it into 
 my heart, and to adopt it into every thought, word, 
 and action!" Again, a short time after; "Rose in 
 a frame of prayer. Praise God ! Read God's promise 
 to Moses, 'My Spirit shall go with thee/ &c. 
 Experienced a divine unction proceeding from it. O 
 Lord, I rest upon it; and through it, rest upon 
 thee. Let me never do anything to forfeit such 
 blessings ! " It is an old proverb " After the master, 
 is manners." God is the Master of man, the soul 
 is the master of the body. God ought to be served 
 before man, the soul before the body. This truly 
 Christian man, to keep up the allusion, enabled the 
 soul to break its fast at the throne of grace, the 
 first thing in the morning; and he issued from his 
 closet like a giant refreshed with new wine. The 
 day that has a good devotional beginning, has gene- 
 rally a satisfactory close. When the Sun of Righteous- 
 ness gilds the spirit in the morning, the moon is often 
 found walking in her brightness in the evening. 
 
 There was a scrupulosity of conscience, however, about 
 him, which, though not at all interfering with the reli- 
 gious exercises of others, was often distressing to himself. 
 "Conscience," observes old Burton, "is a great ledger 
 book, in which all our offences are written and registered, 
 and which time reveals to the sense and feeling of the 
 offender." No man ever turned over the leaves of this 
 ledger more frequently than William Dawson ; and in no 
 such ledger were more minute entries ever to be 
 found. The following are a few of those things for 
 
 F2
 
 l.SO MEMOIRS OF 
 
 which he empaled himself, and on which he writhed 
 in agony: viz. Paying away "a bad shilling," though 
 perfectly unintentional ; receiving more than he thought 
 he deserved for certain sen-ices, though acknowledging he 
 would have " allowed others, in the same circumstances, 
 to have done the same ; " giving an opinion on men 
 and things, which, though just, might in some instances 
 detract from their worth in the esteem of persons not 
 sufficiently acquainted with them observing that, " in 
 free conversation, improper things are apt to slip 
 out;" omitting places, which his zeal prompted him 
 to visit, but which time, strength, and opportunity, 
 would scarcely allow; not practising greater abste- 
 miousness and self-denial, when further, in some 
 instances, might have unfitted him for duty; smiling 
 in a place of worship, when the oddity of the expression, 
 or burlesqued character of the figure, rendered it next to 
 impossible to repress the feeling; employing a sharper 
 tone in conversation, than what he might suppose 
 comported with Christian meekness ; engaging in dis- 
 course, which, though harmless, was no more than 
 harmless not profitable saying, on the occasion, 
 that "such things should not have been introduced," 
 and that "we ought rather to forbear lawful things, 
 than transgress against law ; " inadvertently substitu- 
 ting the word fortunate for providential, concluding 
 from the perversion of the term, that he might have 
 given occasion for a lax view of the government of God 
 in the world; allowing himself to lie awake in bed in a 
 morning, as though feigning sleep, in order to gain 
 two or three minutes indulgence, when a single call 
 would have instantly summoned him to the chamber 
 floor ; a fear of urging upon others what he did not
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 131 
 
 experience in all its fulness himself; naming any- 
 thing, which, though not strictly confidential, and 
 from the best of motives, might hare been as well 
 withheld ; accusing himself of a shame of the cross, 
 of the fear of man, or a disposition to indulge, in 
 his own language, "King Self," in the discharge of 
 duty, when it appeared to have been a stratagem of 
 the enemy to check him in his career of usefulness ; 
 unpleasant reflections, lest he should have become 
 a partaker of other men's sins, because of his not 
 having in every instance reproved them, when the 
 time, occasion, society, and other circumstances, might, 
 by possibility, have aggravated the case ; and for 
 indulging in cheerfulness, instead of grave, sober 
 thought and discourse. Still, though he could not 
 always stand clear with a scrupulous conscience, he 
 carried about with him the general "testimony" of 
 a "good" one: and agreeably to South, "A palsy 
 may as well shake an oak, or a fever dry up a 
 fountain, as either of them shake, dry up, or impair 
 the delight of conscience. For it lies within, it centres 
 in the heart, it grows into the very substance of the 
 soul, so that it accompanies a man to his grave; he 
 never outlives it, and that for this cause only, because 
 he cannot outlive himself." Here was William Dawson's 
 safety, in the midst of his distress. 
 
 It is rather singular, with so much scrupulosity, 
 and his attachment to the formularies, rites, and usages 
 of the Established Church can alone account for it, 
 that he should ever have been induced to stand spon- 
 sor for a child, which was the case, in the parish 
 church of Whitkirk, May 27, 1798; thus, as in all 
 such sponsorships, taking upon him to answer for
 
 132 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the future conduct of the child, solemnly promising 
 to renounce the devil and all his works, to follow 
 a life of piety and virtue; and by this act to lay 
 himself under an indispensable obligation to instruct 
 the said child, and to watch over its conduct. This, 
 when associated with his living and dying a bachelor, 
 gives rise to some rather amusing thoughts. And 
 yet, with him, it was at this time a serious thing ; 
 and he chides himself for some inward shrinkings on 
 the occasion, saying, " O Lord, pardon me ! I am 
 not half bold enough for thee : I blush at my shame- 
 faced folly." 
 
 It may be stated, however, once for all, on the sub- 
 ject of celibacy, and without any feeling of delicacy, 
 that he was not a stranger to the charms of the softer 
 sex and it would have been a shame if he had ! 
 There are intimations of an occasional leaning to the 
 marriage state, in his own hand-writing, and there 
 are facts to support it. But that, agreeably to his 
 own sentiments, " which he considered perfectly lawful 
 in itself, he concluded to be imprudent in him, because 
 of his temporal affairs, and more especially the position 
 in which he stood in reference to his mother and 
 the younger branches of the family." His excellent 
 mother, for whose comfort he could sacrifice any- 
 thing, lived till his habits of "single blessedness" 
 became fixed. After that, with a prudence only equalled 
 by his previous self-denial, he resolved to proceed to 
 the grave unfettered with new connexions and responsi- 
 bilities ; especially, as he had attained a period of life, 
 when he was less able to make provision for those 
 whom in addition to his brother Thomas, for whom 
 he had to provide, he might leave behind. No man,
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 133 
 
 however, could support a little pleasantry on the sub- 
 ject with a better grace than himself sometimes 
 styling himself, when others were talking of titles, 
 " Bachelor of Arts." "What," said a friend to him 
 jocosely one day, "I am told you have been dis- 
 appointed in a love affair!" He instantly returned, 
 looking shrewdly, but good-naturedly in the face of 
 the gentleman, who had passed the meridian of life, and 
 who had himself obtained no higher degree than bachelor, 
 "That, according to report, is only one ; but I am 
 informed, your disappointments have reached the teens" 
 This was as unexpected as the other, for neither of 
 them were aware though nothing is more common, 
 that reporters had been taking notes of their respective 
 cases. 
 
 His warmth of feeling, which led to certain external 
 manifestations, and which would have been less con- 
 spicuous hi a Methodist chapel, than hi a parish 
 church, attracted the attention of Mr. Atkinson, the 
 curate ; but as it was involuntary on the part of 
 William, he was the less conscious of the habit. It 
 would have been as difficult to stop the bubbling up 
 of a natural spring from the side of a mountain, as 
 to suppress the external expressions of any painful or 
 joyous emotion in him, whether in the social circle, 
 or hi a place of worship. 
 
 In the course of the same month, that he became 
 a godfather, he received a letter from Mr. Graham, 
 in answer to one of his own ; the only one apparently 
 received from that gentleman, not having any regular 
 "epistolary correspondence," as previously stated, but 
 chiefly personal "interviews," which rendered it the 
 less necessary.
 
 134 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 "York, May 2, 1798. 
 
 "Mv VERY DEAR FRIEND. Were I not unwilling 
 to fill my letter with apology, and did I not know 
 that I have scarcely a letter to write to a friend 
 that does not need one, I might entreat your forgive- 
 ness now for my long neglect in answering your 
 very friendly and agreeable letter. Be assured, my 
 affection for you is not abated, much as my silence 
 may deserve to be construed into neglect. If Barwick 
 is yet dear to me, it is not the soil, or the solitude 
 I enjoyed there, that makes it so; but the few of 
 the Lord's people that live in it. Among them, you, 
 my dear friend, who, while I was present with you, 
 administered most to my comfort, hold the first place 
 in my memory and aflFections in my absence. I 
 received your letter as a proof and pledge of your 
 sincere regard for me, with real satisfaction and have 
 resolved, and re-resolved, to gain a few minutes to devote 
 to you, till at last shame, which made me give it up 
 for awhile, has compelled me to realize my resolutions. 
 
 "My ministerial responsibility, as well as my private 
 regard, lead me to enquire how the Lord's work 
 goes on in you, and around you. I have no doubt, 
 from the Lord's dealings with you, while I was with 
 you, but that you have learned more and more of 
 his covenant love, wisdom, and goodness, in Christ 
 Jesus. I hope, that as the foundation was laid 
 deep, and attended with sharp conflicts with* the 
 pride of reason and the powers of hell the fruit of 
 righteousness is sown in peace to you; that you 
 stand rooted and grounded in light and love ; that 
 you find it easier to live by faith, and realize the 
 promises of an unchanging Jehovah.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 135 
 
 "Oh, my friend, we trust in a Saviour in whom 
 all fulness dwells ; we serve a master, who can richly 
 repay us ; we follow not cunningly devised fahles ; 
 we look for a city which cannot be moved ; we have 
 a friend with God, who is touched with the feeling 
 of all our infirmities, and who is able to save us to 
 the very uttermost. Let not our hands hang down; 
 let not our eye of faith quit its mark; let not our 
 affections languish ; let us not sleep as do others, 
 but let us run with patience the race set before us, &c. 
 
 "How stands the work of God among you? Does 
 the party meet as before? Do they maintain their 
 former state in numbers, in attention, in fervency of 
 devotion, in brotherly love, in righteousness of con- 
 versation? Do they grow in these graces, adorn the 
 doctrine of God their Saviour, and cause the light 
 to shine on those who sit in darkness around them? 
 Are you Mr. Atkinson's deacon and helper, as you 
 were mine? Give my best love to them all at your 
 next meeting ; and tell them, I often think of them ; 
 that it would give me pleasure to see them again, 
 and find them ripening for the great approaching 
 harvest. Request them, in my name, and in the 
 words of the Apostle, that they let their conversa- 
 tion be as becometh the gospel of Christ that whether 
 I come to see them, or else be absent, I may hear of 
 their affairs ; that they may stand fast in one spirit, 
 with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. 
 
 "I was not at Elland the last meeting, nor have 
 I heard any account of their finances, which I fear 
 are not yet extricated from embarrassment. I hope 
 your mind is at ease, in full resignation to the divine 
 will on this point. I should be glad if you could
 
 136 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 pay me a visit at York; and give me as much time 
 as you have to spare. You might continue over the 
 Sunday, on your visit. Do come, and soon. I beg 
 my best regards to your mother, sisters, and brothers, 
 and shall be glad to hear that they have all seriously 
 set their faces Zion-wards. My respects to Mr. 
 Atkinson, and believe me to be, with sincere regard, 
 
 "Your affectionate servant, J. GRAHAM." 
 
 William, instead of simply tendering Mr. Graham's 
 Christian regards to the "party," namely, the little 
 Christian society at Barwick, connected with the 
 Established Church, read the whole of this truly 
 apostolical epistle to them on the first occasion of 
 their meeting after its reception. This Society lay 
 near the heart of William, of Mr. Graham, and Mr. 
 Settle, the latter of whom was one of its early mem- 
 bers, and rarely wrote without an enquiry after its 
 welfare. An allusion to it, as well as to the Elland 
 case, which was still in suspense, will be found in 
 the following letter. 
 
 " South Clifton, near Newark, Notts. 
 "May 12, 1798. 
 
 "DEAR DAWSON. I have just received your letter. 
 The box, in one place or other, had been seven weeks 
 on the road. But 'better late than never.' You 
 have not seen, I dare say, in any of the papers, 
 The Rev. S. Settle, proposes opening, &c., for so 
 and so, upon the easiest, &c., for young gentlemen. 
 The situation, &c. You understand me. 
 
 "Some time since, you named a report respecting 
 
 his grace haA-ing taken another living from Mr. 
 
 Is the report correct? Have you seen Mr. Graham 
 lately, or heard anything from him ? Pray, how
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 137 
 
 does the meeting go on at Barwick ? Does it increase, 
 or does it stand still? You have said nothing in 
 reference to the Ellanders lately. I suppose the sub- 
 ject is set aside. Do you think they will ever call 
 upon you to undertake hie, fuse, hoc ? Does young 
 Mr. Atkinson ever propose anything, or do you give 
 him any hint on the subject of Orders? Have you 
 seen the rector, Mr. Dean, lately; and does he ask 
 you any questions on the matter? What are you 
 reading Euclid or Guthrie ? Perchance, the Methodist 
 Magazine now and then! You see what a number 
 of questions I ask you. There is yet another. Have 
 you heard any talk about Mr. Foster, the new curate, 
 at St. Paul's, Leeds? Does he please, displease, or 
 neither ? 
 
 "Your father, I hope, was a true prophet. A 
 preacher, of one kind or other, you will one day be, 
 I have little doubt. I have never given you much 
 encouragement in offering yourself to the Ellanders. 
 I have gone the road long and dreary, and without 
 a flower to regale the senses ; and I have found at 
 the end of it poverty, contempt, and almost universal 
 neglect. However, I make no complaints to any one 
 besides yourself. The first step to usefulness is to 
 be placed beyond the power of want. How Mr. D. 
 could think it possible, that a man, a clergyman, 
 one who, though he does not, ought to appear as 
 a gentleman, should be able to live, to keep body 
 and soul together, with the scanty allowance of thirty, 
 or at most, forty pounds a year, argues but little 
 for a knowledge of the world. This is poor encourage- 
 ment either for a man, like yourself, wishing to enter 
 into the church, or for one, like myself, with one
 
 138 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 foot already in, and a desire to continue within its 
 walls. But we may both multiply and magnify com- 
 plaints to infinity, and be no better. As I expect 
 little favour from the College, I wrote the other day 
 to request a person to take my name off the boards. 
 Young Mr. A. wrote to me, and put the letter into 
 the box. He advised me to look out for cheaper 
 lodgings. But there is not another place where I 
 could lodge at Clifton, either cheaper or dearer. 
 
 "I think, I have given you some pretty broad 
 hints respecting what I should do, were I in your 
 situation. I have not told you, to go and get into 
 the pulpit, and preach among the Methodists; but 
 I have almost told you, to lay aside all thoughts of 
 entering into the Church. But somehow or other, 
 you have never given me your sentiments on that 
 head ; and if I were not satisfied in reference to 
 your fidelity, I should hesitate to write to you in so 
 plain and frank a manner. "Without flattery, I know 
 that God has favoured you with many good qualifications, 
 and I think it is a pity that any of them should 
 remain dormant. One part of my letter, you state, 
 that you like ; and there is one part of yours that 
 I like. You inform me, that you address a word 
 now and then to the Methodists. Why is it only 
 'now and then?' why is it not as often as possible? 
 You write much about souls perishing, time flying, 
 &c. I think, I may retort, and say, You are halting 
 between two opinions; you are ordered to Nineveh, 
 but you seem resolved to go to Joppa. Apply this. 
 
 "Your advice respecting increasing the duty is 
 good. I had put it partially into practice before 
 you wrote. I have also written to Mr. Farish on
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 139 
 
 the subject. He is. willing too, that it should be 
 increased occasionally. Respecting catechising, I pur- 
 pose following Mr. Graham's plan. Would I could 
 execute it only half as well. I purpose, in the course 
 of the summer, to go over some evening in the week, 
 to Hanby, (Shadwell you know,) and for the sake of 
 order, read the evening prayers, and then explain a 
 little, not so much to the children, as to the people. 
 The same is intended to be done at Clifton on Sunday 
 evening. 
 
 "Two young men died lately of consumption, both 
 of whom I embraced the opportunity of visiting. One 
 lived within a mile of this place. Him I generally 
 saw daily. It was by mere accident, that I heard 
 of him. He did not live in the parish, but had 
 a farm in it. Only part of the town is in the 
 parish. I went to him, and spoke on the miseries 
 of human life, and the cause of them ; all generals, 
 you know. I enquired, whether the clergyman had 
 been to see him. f O yes,' was the reply, 'and 
 gave him the sacrament.' They had sent for him 
 on purpose. To my no small surprise, the man, as 
 I was taking my leave of him, asked me to pray 
 with him. I returned, 'Yes, by all means.' One of 
 the persons in the house enquired, whether I wished 
 to have a book. I answered, 'No.' After this, I 
 preached the gospel to him, conversed freely with 
 him, and proposed to him various questions. The 
 man, I trust, obtained saving knowledge. He was 
 exceedingly partial to my society, and expressed him- 
 self with a good deal of warmth. The other was at 
 Harley, and had a good sense of divine things. 
 
 "As it regards myself, I stand much in need of
 
 140 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 divine teaching. I want more real life in my soul. 
 My manner of speaking to the people, I fear, is 
 dull, and wants animation. But the minds of my 
 people require to be informed. They ought to under- 
 stand the Law before the Gospel. God himself first 
 preached the Law to his people, and then the Gospel. 
 
 "You perceive I have said nothing about certain 
 particulars ; and yet I expect many from you. Please 
 to tell my father that everything has been received 
 in safety. Pray, write soon. 
 
 "Yours, most sincerely, S. SETTLE." 
 
 Of Mr. Foster, William seems to speak favourably 
 in his Diary, having heard him at Barwick. As to the 
 Methodists, it will have been perceived, that Mr. Settle 
 only became more explicit in his remarks, after his 
 correspondent had stated that he occasionally ad- 
 dressed them in public. This was prudent, and shews, 
 that he wished his friend to be guided by the con- 
 victions of his own mind ; and the fact of .his having 
 laboured among the Methodists, long before he had 
 relinquished all thoughts of going into the Church, 
 and his friends had ceased to interest themselves in 
 the subject, is a proof that everything was the result 
 not of disappointment, but deep conviction, and 
 sober, careful deliberation. Nor would he, had he not 
 been sincere in all his movements, have ever attempted 
 to prejudice his case with the clergy, by taking a 
 part in the religious assemblies of the Methodists, 
 and more especially when advised by a clergyman, 
 some years prior to this, not even to associate with 
 them. His silence, too, on the subject of his intentions, 
 of which Mr. Settle complains, shews that he wished 
 to be left to his own reflections, as if afraid of any
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 141 
 
 improper bias from friendly interference. And not 
 anything can be more characteristic of his ardent zeal, 
 than the fact while he was furnishing the example 
 at home, of his urging his clerical friend to enlarge 
 the sphere of his usefulness. 
 
 The additional shades thrown into the picture pre- 
 viously sketched by Mr. Settle, of his struggles and 
 disappointments, are perfectly natural, and what might 
 have been anticipated. He had been engaged in secular 
 employment in early life, and had to enter upon his 
 studies on attaining the age of manhood. Early habits 
 had to be uprooted, and new ones planted in their 
 stead. He was anxious, like all persons of genuine 
 piety, to overstep that part of the path which though 
 fitting him for it, nevertheless kept him from his 
 grand object the pulpit. His touching description, 
 "I have gone the road long and dreary, and with- 
 out a flower to regale the senses," reminds the traveller 
 of the "long and dreary" road across the moors 
 from Sheffield to Hathersage, where all is sterility 
 for a distance of several miles, till he comes on the 
 brow of the hill, leading down to the village, when 
 the lovely vale of Hope suddenly bursts upon the eye, 
 which, in the language of Montgomery to the writer, 
 in reference to the same scene, "lies like a paradise 
 in the lap of desolation." But the heath, the jolting 
 road, and the rocks, which are all in stern contrast 
 with the scene, only add to the enjoyment of it at 
 the close ; as the happiness of the collegian would 
 be heightened when once within the sound of his 
 own "sweet evening bells," amidst scenes of rural 
 simplicity and beauty, with the prospect of general use- 
 fulness among his approving and smiling parishioners.
 
 142 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 So Mr. Settle afterwards realized the sweets resulting 
 from his mental toil; and it was no small privilege, 
 while on his journey to the better land, that he 
 had such an ear as William Dawson's to listen to 
 his sorrows, and such a breast to sympathize with 
 him under them: thus requiting him for his song 
 of joy in earlier times, when all was assurance and 
 peace on the one hand, and all was despondency on 
 the other. 
 
 It was not till the 27th of July, that the subject 
 of these Memoirs, found it convenient to accept of 
 Mr. Graham's invitation to York. He speaks of 
 experiencing great "nearness to God," as he rode to 
 the city on the Saturday. On the Sabbath, he appears 
 to have been "in the Spirit ; " and what is not a 
 little expressive of his freedom from all disguise, as to 
 his partialities and practice, he went to the Methodist 
 chapel in the morning, where he heard a sermon on 
 Matt. v. 17 20, under which his heart was filled 
 with thanksgiving. He next proceeded to hear the 
 Rev. "W. Richardson, who preached on Ephesians v. 
 13, 14, and whose voice, manner, and matter, revived 
 many early recollections. The public services of the 
 day were closed by attending on the ministry of Mr. 
 Graham, who expounded I. Bangs vii, by which his 
 visitant was greatly edified. In his private devotions, 
 he states, that he "felt a remarkable unction when 
 reading the cxxxix Psalm." The next day he had 
 a conversation with Mr. Graham, on what he terms, 
 "the Elland business," which seems to have been 
 the prime object of the visit, and respecting which, 
 his prayer was, "Direct my steps in thy goings, O 
 Lord. I am thine, do with me as thou wilt."
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 143 
 
 Some excellent remarks were penned by him in the 
 course of the month on the duty of " mortification," 
 in things lawful, and evidently applied to himself in a 
 case of some difficulty, in which he displayed the 
 Christian ; ending in a further dedication of himself to 
 God. 
 
 Additional influences and circumstances, appeared to 
 be bringing him to a decision between Methodism 
 and the pulpit of the Established Church. He found 
 that he had freer scope for the exercise of his talents 
 among the Wesleyans, than he was likely to have in 
 the Church in which he had been nurtured; and as 
 the founder of Methodism embodied the doctrines of 
 the Church of England in his writings, and defended 
 them against the attacks of several of the clergy, by 
 an appeal to the Liturgy, Articles, and Homilies, 
 there were the fewer impediments in his way, so far 
 as creed was concerned. In stating, that he found 
 fuller scope for his peculiar genius among the Wesleyans, 
 than in the community to which he belonged, is to 
 advance no more than will be admitted by all who knew 
 him ; for while he was with the Church violent as was 
 his manner very often, and loud as was his voice, he 
 nevertheless laboured to sober down his native im- 
 petuosity into the sedate, systematized manner of the 
 clergy, and so proceeded under partial, and sometimes 
 embarrassing restraint: whereas, on being let loose 
 among a few warm, simple-hearted Methodists, where 
 every man clerked and responded for himself, he sang, 
 he talked, he prayed, and seemed to feel the same 
 difference that is experienced by the bird which ex- 
 changes the confinement of the cage for the freedom, 
 the society, and the music of the grove; and that
 
 144 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 too, as in other cases connected with himself, with- 
 out fully ascertaining the cause the whole system 
 heing peculiarly adapted to his nature and his ge- 
 nius. And he had not to go out of the Establish- 
 ment, to turn his back upon it, and to enter another 
 community to feel it ; but it was while he was yet in 
 the one, and before he enjoyed the full fellowship of 
 the other ; and therefore, at a time when many of the 
 peculiarities and privileges of both were duly appreciated. 
 
 Mr. Atkinson informed him at the close of the 
 Thursday evening meeting, Oct. 11, that his father 
 wished to see him at Leeds, to speak to him in 
 reference to the Eh 1 and Society. Dawson's language 
 was, "Lord, let thy will be done in all things." He 
 wrote to his friend, Mr. Settle, on the Friday. On 
 the Saturday morning, he went to Garforth, and there 
 found his other bosom friend, John Batty, with whom 
 he communed; and afterwards visited widow Smith, with 
 whom he prayed. He received the sacrament at Barwick, 
 in the parish church, on the Sabbath, after the forenoon 
 service, when his heart was filled with "praise," and 
 when he states it to have been " a time in which God 
 shewed his reconciled face." In the afternoon, he 
 heard Mr. Atkinson; and in the evening, he went to 
 Scholes, where he addressed the people on the "Hap- 
 piness of heaven," placing it in contrast with the highest 
 happiness to be enjoyed on earth. 
 
 Monday, Oct. 15th, there is the following entry in 
 his Diary : "Dedicated to prayer ; praying that the 
 Lord would direct my goings in this most trying 
 season. Lord answer. Settle came down." 
 
 Here a little additional information may be supplied. 
 Finding his sphere of usefulness gradually enlarging
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 145 
 
 in his own neighbourhood, and having been led, as 
 far as he could perceive, step by step, in the order 
 of Providence, in the work in which he was engaged 
 for it was perfectly out of the ordinary course of 
 proceeding in the Establishment, he hesitated, and 
 hesitated the more as he found the door so long in 
 opening in reference to the Elland Society, to decide 
 whether he really ought to leave so fair a field of 
 usefulness. He was at the colliery on the Tuesday 
 morning, and so also was John Batty, who was waiting 
 his "stem" a term employed in the neighbourhood, 
 to denote a person waiting his turn for a load of 
 coals. The time of waiting happened to be longer 
 than usual, and turning to Batty, William said, "John, 
 this day is to decide whether I am to be a clergy- 
 man, or remain as I am." John, who was anxious 
 to bind him to the spot, and win him over to the 
 Wesleyans, proposed a meeting for prayer, when they 
 proceeded to "Grime Cabin," where the colliery ac- 
 counts were kept. On leisurely going to the place, 
 William observed, "The best time for thinking with 
 me is, when I have a little leisure, from eleven o'clock 
 in the forenoon to two in the afternoon, which is the 
 middle of the clay. These are my best hours ; and when 
 these are lost, the best part of the day is lost to me. 
 Now," continued he, " if it were to be decided in my 
 favour, that I should go to college, I should be obliged 
 to remain there three years : these three years would be 
 taken from the best part of my life; and, as far as 
 actual labour in the Church of God goes, would be 
 a mere blank." Whatever complexion this mode of 
 reasoning might assume to persons who had every- 
 thing to learn in religion, who had not yet entered 
 
 G
 
 146 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the field of ministerial toil, and therefore had no con- 
 gregations to leave, but only one to look to in the 
 distance, with Mr. Settle's "long and dreary way" 
 between, it had its influence upon the subject of these 
 Memoirs ; and, to a certain extent, prepared the way 
 for what followed. Unwilling, however, to lean to his 
 own understanding on the occasion, the twin spirits 
 entered the counting-house, to plead with God in 
 fellowship, as William had often sought directions 
 singly on the subject before. The service was com- 
 menced by singing the 429 Hymn, p. 403, * of the 
 Hymn Book, used among the Methodists, beginning 
 with 
 
 " Behold the servant of the Lord ! 
 I wait thy guiding eye to feel ; &c." 
 
 than which, scarcely any other in the book could be 
 found more appropriate : and their voices in those 
 days were not only powerful and harmonious, but 
 paired admirably with each other. They then prayed 
 alternately several times, when the power of God was 
 felt by each, and the glory of God seemed to fill 
 the place. It was to them, what the consecrated spot 
 at Haran was to Jacob "the house of God," and 
 "the gate of heaven;" and humble as was the shed, 
 the realities experienced there, seemed with a slight 
 transposition of the language of the poet, to 
 
 " Dissolve them into ecstacies, 
 And bring all heaven before their eyes." 
 
 As they issued from this little sanctuary, like giants 
 refreshed with new wine, or more appropriately, like 
 
 * The Hymn was composed by Charles Wesley ; and originally appeared at 
 the close of Mr. Wesley's " Farther Appeal," where it is headed "An act of 
 Devotion."
 
 WILLIAM DAWSOX. 147 
 
 the priest from behind the veil, where the divine glory 
 had been rendered visible, Dawson exclaimed, " John, 
 I believe I shall have to be a Methodist preacher yet." 
 This was music to the ear of Batty sweet as the 
 hymn itself which had just been sung in the, "cabin," 
 and made delightful melody in his heart the whole of 
 the day. 
 
 William, soon after this, mounted his horse and 
 rode to Leeds, where he had an interview with the 
 Rev. Miles Atkinson, by whom he was informed, that 
 the funds of the Elland Society were still low. This, in 
 connection with previous reasonings, and the impression 
 produced upon the mind by his meeting in the counting- 
 house, seemed to be an indication that the providential 
 cloud was moving in a direction towards the Wesley an 
 pulpit, rather than that of the Established Church. Mr. 
 Atkinson, however, not to lose his hold of such a 
 valuable man, and still hoping that the funds would 
 soon be replenished, endeavoured, with a view to wed 
 him to the people among whom he had been trained, 
 "to prove," according to the language of William in 
 his Diary, "the superiority of the Church Establish- 
 ment " over other communities. This, the Rev. gentle- 
 man might readily do, so far as his arguments applied 
 to himself, and other regularly ordained ministers : 
 but what applied to himself, would neither satisfy the 
 conscience or the reason of a man, who was unordained 
 pressed in spirit, as he believed, by God himself, 
 to preach the gospel, with a "woe" attached to 
 disobedience who stood alone, as a churchman, in 
 his ministerial character who could not legally enter 
 a single pulpit in the church to which he belonged 
 who had congregations in different places, glad to
 
 148 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 hear him, and benefited by him the Wesleyans throw- 
 ing the doors of their private dwellings open for him 
 the path to holy orders, through the medium of 
 the Society proposed to him, intercepted by an appa- 
 rently insuperable barrier and at the hazard of having 
 his energies cramped by the next rector that might 
 succeed Mr. Dean, or the next curate that might 
 follow Mr. J. Atkinson. 
 
 On leaving Mr. Atkinson, of Leeds, he continued, 
 to employ his own words, "earnest in prayer with 
 God for direction." The next day he went to "Wood- 
 house, in the afternoon," and was there "till late;" 
 and in the Diary for the same day, Wed. Oct. 17, 
 he adds "Gave Mr. Graham a denial of entering 
 the Church." Here, his conversations with the biog- 
 rapher, will again supply a few particulars. Mrs. 
 Graham's sister being a resident in Leeds, Mr. Graham 
 was at this time on a visit to the house of his sister- 
 in-law. Having heard that his old parishioner had 
 latterly mingled more freely than usual with the 
 Methodists, and might ultimately unite himself to 
 the body, he resolved, if possible, as one of his 
 early preceptors, and as was natural for him as a 
 clergyman strongly attached to the Established Church, 
 to rescue him from taking a step, which, in his esteem, 
 was so unadvisable. He intimated, that the Methodists, 
 however unintentionally, were increasing the number 
 of Dissenters from the Church of England, and ad- 
 verted to the dissensions in the body, occasioned by 
 Mr. Kilham and others, as offering but indifferent 
 inducements to persons disposed for quiet, to change 
 their religious connexions. Recurring to this interview, 
 the subject in question observed to the writer, "I felt
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 149 
 
 I had gone too far to recede, and employed a strong 
 expression, which not only startled Mr. Graham's 
 sister-in-law, but at which I afterwards trembled myself 
 I will risk my damnation upon it;" an expression, 
 which, by the way, could only have arisen from a 
 conviction clear and strong, that he was not seeking 
 his own, but was following the leadings of divine 
 providence. Reflecting on the whole the next day, 
 he entered into his Diary, "What have I done? 
 O Lord, have I pleased myself, or thee? thou only 
 knowest. Convince and pardon me, if I have sinned; 
 if not, strengthen and stablish me. Oh, give me not 
 over to mine enemies." He went to the Thursday 
 evening meeting as usual, where he heard Mr. J. 
 Atkinson on Matt. xiii. 47 52 ; in which the king- 
 dom of heaven is compared to a net cast into the 
 sea: and after Mr. A. had preached, engaged in prayer. 
 
 His friend, Mr. Settle, who was in the neighbour- 
 hood, preached twice in the church on the following 
 Sabbath, and at Kippax in the course of the week ; 
 on each of which occasions, William attended his 
 ministry; and on the evening of the Sabbath as 
 if honoured with a new commission, took his stand 
 on "Colton Common," and shewed the persons who 
 heard him, how far a person might proceed, and yet 
 only have "a form of godliness" what the power 
 of godliness was applying the subject both to pro- 
 fessor and profane, and demanding an answer to the 
 question, "That if persons, who had a mere form, 
 could not gain admission into heaven, how those could ex- 
 pect to inherit it, who were destitute even of that form!" 
 
 Though Mr. Settle knew the way in which the Lord 
 had led his friend, and had given him an intelligible hint
 
 150 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 on the subject of Methodism, yet when it came to a 
 decision, he seemed dissatisfied with him for deciding so 
 peremptorily against holy orders ; living in hope, like 
 Mr. Atkinson and others, that a way might still be 
 opened for him to the pulpits of the Established Church, 
 where he might be extensively useful. Mr. Wade advised 
 him to go into the Church, and others were grieved 
 with the result of his interview with Messrs. Atkinson 
 and Graham. Still, unwilling to do anything in haste, 
 and ready to retrace his steps if he had done wrong, 
 he resolved to acquire the best light on the subject 
 he could obtain, and so wrote for advice to the Rev. 
 Joseph Benson. He had heard what could be said 
 on one side of the case ; he now wished to know 
 what could be advanced on the other. Mr. Benson 
 wrote as follows : 
 
 "York, Oct. 30, 1/98. 
 
 "DEAR SIR. Having been very much engaged ever 
 since I was favoured with your letter, it has not been in 
 my power to pay proper attention to it till now. And 
 even now, having only half an hour to spare here 
 upon a journey I am taking into the North, I shall 
 not be able to return you such an answer as you 
 probably will expect. But if I can suggest any hint 
 which may be a means of casting light upon your 
 path, I shall be glad. Let me observe 1st, then, it 
 is matter of very great thankfulness, that so many 
 pious ministers have got into the Church hi different 
 parts of the kingdom of late years ; and it is much 
 to be desired that more still should be introduced 
 into it. For, as you justly observe, thousands will 
 hear the gospel in the Church, who will not hear it 
 out of it. Add to this, we are at no loss at all to
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 151 
 
 procure preachers to labour in our Connexion; we 
 have more offering every year than we can take in : 
 but it is not so easy to find persons proper to go into 
 the Church, or to get such as are proper, so educated 
 as that they can be admitted. Nevertheless, though 
 I speak thus, I would observe 2ndly, it is not in me 
 to determine how far it will be your duty to endeavour 
 to get into the Church. Divers circumstances should 
 be taken into consideration, as your inclination and 
 ability to apply yourself to the study of the classics : 
 how far you can be spared from the calls of your 
 father's family, who it seems are partly dependant 
 upon you for support. The loss of five years, which 
 if you went to the University, would be absolutely 
 necessary to qualify you for orders, is a serious objec- 
 tion which I could not get over, were it not for the 
 prospect of greater usefulness afterwards ; and yet that 
 is doubtful, should it please God to spare your life. 
 Upon the whole, the best advice I can give you is, 
 to remember him who has said, Acknowledge me in 
 all thy ways, and I will direct thy steps. If your 
 eye be single to God's glory, and you sincerely, 
 earnestly, and believingly ask his direction, you cer- 
 tainly shall be favoured with it, and not suffered to 
 take a wrong step. Praying that the Lord may make 
 darkness light before you in this business, and guide 
 you continually, I remain your sincere friend and 
 brother, " J. BENSON." 
 
 Had Mr. Benson not given greater satisfaction as 
 a commentator, hi illuminating what otherwise might 
 appear dark, than he did in removing the difficulties 
 which pressed upon his enquiring friend, he would 
 have been less popular than he is ; for in the language
 
 152 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of the subject of these pages to the biographer, 
 "his letter just left me where I was." But it is 
 probable, from the known character of Mr. Benson, 
 that he felt a delicacy on the subject; and that he 
 wished to leave his enquirer to the dictates of his 
 own conscience, the guidance of his own reason, the 
 counsel of his friends, and the openings of divine 
 providence. So William himself concluded. Hence, 
 in his Diary, it is remarked, " He leaves it entirely 
 to God and myself:" and then adds, "once, O Lord, 
 thou madest a way for me, in a case like the present, 
 when assistance was not to be found in any other 
 quarter. Suffer me not to walk in darkness, but to 
 follow thee. Attend me in all my concerns ; and 
 assist me in all things to act as becometh a Christian." 
 
 A few days after this, he received the following 
 note from Mr. Dikes : 
 
 "Hull, Nov. 5, 1798. 
 
 " DEAR SIR. I lately saw a letter from you to Mr. 
 Benson. I will take the liberty of giving you my 
 advise respecting the question you propose to him. 
 If your family do not require your attention, if your 
 entering upon a course of study would be no dis- 
 advantage to your mother and sisters, by all means 
 accept the offer of the Elland Society. Mr. B. tells 
 me, they i. e. the Methodists, have more preachers 
 than they want. As to the time. Why should you 
 be in such haste? Neither our Saviour nor John 
 the baptist entered upon their ministry till they were 
 thirty-one. And if persons were not so young, when 
 they entered upon so important an office, it would be 
 better. Only, if you accept the offer of the Elland 
 Society, you must comply with all their rules, and not
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 153 
 
 preach among the Methodists. Believe me, to remain 
 yours very sincerely, T. DIKES. 
 
 p. g. You must not think all is lost time, which 
 is spent in making preparation for the ministry. I 
 would wish you to pass through the University of 
 Cambridge: it will be a great advantage to you in 
 after life for the work in which you are about to 
 engage." 
 
 Mr Dikes had either not been fully acquainted with 
 the result of William's interview with Messrs. Atkinson 
 and Graham, or some sudden and unexpected change 
 must have taken place, in the improvement of the 
 funds ; otherwise, he would not have urged him to 
 "accept the offer of the Elland Society:" unless it 
 be supposed, that a strong hope was entertained that 
 he would, at no remote period, be admitted as a 
 candidate, and was therefore requested to wait a short 
 time longer. At all events, the " oifer" affords ad- 
 ditional proof, that his way was now open to holy 
 orders, and that his non-acceptance was the result of 
 the deliberate convictions of his own mind. 
 
 In his public addresses, and theological studies, he 
 often felt unspeakable delight, though he was not 
 without his moments of bondage and depression. The 
 one laboured against the other ; and while he was 
 encouraged on the one hand, he was preserved in a 
 state of dependance on the other. Some of his sub- 
 jects towards the close of the year, appear to have 
 originated in his own experience, arising from his 
 hopes and fears, his joys and his sorrows ; as the 
 comfort afforded to such as seek the Lord, Ezra viii, 22, 
 the preciousness of Christ to such as believe, 1 Pet. 
 ii, 7, the benefits enjoyed by those who are "born
 
 154 MEMOIRS OP 
 
 again," a caution to the lukewarm, taken from the 
 example of the members of the Laodicean church, 
 Rev. iii. 16, finally, warbling out his "Christmas 
 carol" at Aberford, Deer. 25, on Luke ii. 10. There 
 were several other texts and topics, as appears from 
 his notabilia, on which he dwelt; but these are ex- 
 pressive of his general state, making it his constant 
 business to seek the Lord himself, clinging to Jesus, 
 reaping the blessings arising from the change he had 
 experienced, and dreading lukewarmness as he dreaded 
 moral evil.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 155 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Wesley's Life. Reconciliation necessary for a Minister of the 
 Gospel. People generally moulded by the ministry. Increasing 
 faith. Little faith. Jeremy Taylor. Extracts from the Diary. 
 Bohlers advice to Wesley. Faith to be preached. Faith in 
 its simplicity Examples of it. Friendship. Covenant. 
 Messrs. Graham and Settle. Advantage of different Christian 
 communities. Authors and reading. Sentiments of Dr. John- 
 son and Sir P. Sidney on knowledge. " Visitation of the Sick." 
 Industry. Messrs. Settle and Wade. Mr. Suter. W. Dam- 
 son supplies the place of the Vicar of Thorpe-Arch. Personal 
 piety and public usefulness. Self-abasement. A hoary-headed 
 enquirer after truth. Watch-nights. Tries Class-Meeting. 
 Preaches in the coal-mine. Dress. Useless and unseasonable 
 conversation. Omissions of duty. Death of the Hector of the 
 parish. Public business, and rules to be observed in transacting 
 it. Hard bargains, and love of our neighbour. Inferior usage. 
 Contentment. Presentiment. Visit of an uncle to Barnbow. 
 Sermon to young people. Providential deliverance. Aptitude 
 for improving occasions and events. 
 
 THE Life of the venerable Wesley having been put 
 into his hand towards the close of 1/98, he began 
 to give it an attentive and serious perusal, at the 
 commencement of 1/99. He remarks in reference 
 to it, Jan. 8, "I read part of Mr. Wesley's Life; 
 and was struck with an observation, that 'none 
 are proper preachers, who have not the witness of
 
 156 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 pardon.' This, to me, appears to be a reason, why I 
 should forbear my present mode of proceeding." With 
 this may be coupled another passage in his Diary, 
 for Feb. 1. "I was deeply impressed with 2 Cor. 
 v. 18, 'All things are of God; who hath reconciled 
 us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us 
 the ministry of reconciliation.' From hence, it seems, 
 that a man must himself be reconciled to God previously 
 to his becoming a minister of the Gospel." 
 
 This may be considered as a new era in his Chris- 
 tian experience. The past, in his estimation, seemed 
 to amount to nothing. He appeared to himself to 
 have been satisfying his soul with occasional comforts 
 and flashes of joy, which were confounded by him 
 with assurance, or conscious pardon. But others, who 
 knew him, and with his Diaiy before them them- 
 selves meanwhile conversant with the operations of 
 the Spirit of God upon the heart, would not be in- 
 clined thus to view the past. His experience might 
 be deemed imperfect ; but still, the work was genuine, 
 as far as it went. The truth is, that God mostly 
 accommodates his work to the workmen, and the work 
 generally partakes of the character of the ministry. 
 When people sit under a ministry distinguished for 
 dry morality, little else but a decent morality is wit- 
 nessed. Where a God-fearing, gradual work of grace 
 is insisted upon, without the doctrine of assurance, 
 the people very often live beneath their privilege ; 
 and, instead of rejoicing in God, hang down their 
 heads like bulrushes, as if the religion of Jesus only 
 tended to generate gloom and melancholy. When, on 
 the other hand, present pardon present salvation 
 the seal and witness of the Spirit are pressed home
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 157 
 
 upon the soul, persons live in the enjoyment of them. 
 Let people hear nothing, expect nothing, pray for 
 nothing, believe in nothing in this way, and nothing 
 of the kind is either received or enjoyed. As far as 
 experience is concerned, the religion professed is a 
 mere religion of emptiness. The faith that is not 
 encouraged, is rarely brought into exercise. These 
 remarks are made in the spirit of the sentiment to 
 which the Apostle gives utterance, in his first Epistle 
 to the Corinthians, "Therefore, whether it were I 
 or they, so we preach, and so ye believed. " Nor 
 are they less in harmony with the language of the 
 Son of God, "According to your faith he it unto 
 you." This apostolical doctrine is, in its operation 
 upon the mind, one of the distinguishing features of 
 Methodism. An instantaneous work is believed and 
 urged, and instantaneous pardon is received, accom- 
 panied with its internal evidence. Christianity is 
 represented, Rom. vi. 1 7, under the nature of a mould 
 or die, into which its adherents are cast, and from 
 which they take the impression of its excellence ; "ye 
 have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine 
 which was delivered you." And as is the mould, so 
 will be the figures thrown oif perfect or imperfect, 
 feeble or strong. 
 
 The case seems to be this, the subject of these 
 pages, now saw more clearly what, to a considerable 
 extent, he before had felt. He began to adopt differ- 
 ent terms, and to affix either stronger or other meanings 
 to terms previously employed. He became more in 
 earnest too, for the direct abiding witness of the 
 Spirit; had a more correct perception of the nature 
 of faith, and was more deeply impressed with the
 
 158 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 necessity of living by it. In consequence of not having 
 lived in the constant exercise of faith hitherto, he 
 was often complaining of the "hidings" of God, of 
 "startings of anger," of "earthly desires," of an 
 inclination to "peevishness," over the first of which 
 he silently mourned, and against the latter of which 
 he proclaimed incessant war: but now, it was faith 
 faith in the beginning, faith in the middle, faith 
 at the close ; the faith in which he found he could 
 alone stand by which he found he could alone walk 
 through which he could alone overcome ; that faith, 
 in short, by which he only could live, and so secure, 
 in the smile of his God and Saviour, permanent re- 
 pose. A want of the constant exercise of faith will 
 as naturally induce doubt, fear, gloom, and consequent 
 dejection, as moral evil will entail its burden of guilt 
 upon the conscience. Hence, the momentous import 
 of that single sentence, uttered by the prophet "The 
 just shall live by his faith ; " a sentence, iterated and 
 re-iterated by the apostle; entering into the very 
 spirit of every dispensation of God to man ; urged 
 upon the ancient Jews, the Romans, the Galatians, 
 and the more modern Hebrews ; * informing the latter, 
 that they were to " LIVE " as their fathers had 
 done, "by faith," that faith was as essential to 
 spiritual, as food to natural life, and that a man 
 could, with as little safety to his comfort and reli- 
 gious being, cease to believe, as he could hope to 
 support existence in the present state without food. 
 Weak faith, like impoverishing diet, preserves the 
 soul in a sickly, languishing state ; strong faith pre- 
 serves it in vigour. Faith, when weak, endangers 
 
 Hab.ii. 4; Rom. i. 17; Gal. Hi. 11 ; Heb. x. 38.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 159 
 
 the life of an apostle, and he feels himself gradually 
 sinking through the yielding waters, in proportion 
 as he ceases to exercise it ; whereas faith, when strong, 
 gives courage to the heart, and vigour to the arm of 
 the patriarch, who, in the plenitude of its power, 
 goes forth to the sacrifice of an only son. 
 
 It was from his own experience, that he drew many 
 of his subsequent observations, and so far whatever 
 might be the cost of pain to himself, his exercises 
 were beneficial to others. When speaking of "little 
 faith" afterwards, he exhibited it under the imagery 
 of "A little lad, sitting in a corner, with a blood- 
 shot eye, and a green shade over it." Persons of 
 fastidious taste, would find latitude sufficient here to 
 find fault; but to the spiritually-minded, the right- 
 hearted, the imagery, with the truths couched under 
 it, would afford ground-work for half a dozen dis- 
 courses. "LITTLE FAITH," to extend, as well as 
 familiarize the subject, is but a "little lad" being 
 comparatively feeble, in consequence of not having 
 reached maturity; is found "sitting," instead of being 
 actively engaged, and on the alert our best divines 
 invariably representing it as an " active principle ; " 
 takes its position in a "corner," instead of going 
 abroad to benefit the public by its example, and to 
 be "seen and read of all men;" with a "green 
 shade," requiring, instead of imparting relief; "a 
 blood-shot eye," and so obstructing vision, by pre- 
 venting the free and full use of the faculty; the 
 whole forming a complete contrast to faith hi its 
 strength, or, to pursue the metaphor, faith in its 
 manhood, whose praise is thus chaunted by the bard 
 of Methodism
 
 160 MEMOIRS OP 
 
 " Faith lends ils realizing light, 
 
 The clouds disperse, the shadows fly ; 
 Th' Invisib'e appears in sight, 
 
 And God is seen by mortal eye." 
 
 And besides, as already hinted, and as was well 
 attested by the experience of the subject of these 
 Memoirs, "little faith" is more or less in pain 
 perplexed with doubts, and distracted with fears, which 
 was, no doubt, another idea he wished to convey. 
 Jeremy Taylor, in illustrating faith, takes the case of 
 the Israelites, who were bitten by the serpents; and 
 shews, to employ his own language, that when even 
 a "blear-eyed" person turned towards the object, 
 and reached it, there was sufficient virtue in the look, 
 in connection with the object so beheld, to save ; 
 though the vision of such a person might be but 
 dim, when compared with the clear, steady, penetra- 
 ting glance of others. Whatever becomes of the 
 language and the same apology that will serve the 
 prelate, may be deemed sufficient for William Dawson, 
 the simile, in both cases, is admirably adapted to 
 illustrate faith in its varied exercises and effects. 
 
 Two or three extracts from his Diary, in the course 
 of the year, of different dates, will shew how his mind 
 was absorbed on the subject of faith, and the blessings 
 consequent on its exercise. 
 
 " Read some of the experience of Mrs. Rogers. Thy 
 will, O Lord, be done in me and by me. Let thy mercy 
 preserve and bless my soul. Remove unbelief. Give 
 me faith. Opened on Zech. ix. 9 12, which was made 
 useful to me. 
 
 " Much in earnest for strength to believe. Frequently 
 opened on different texts in the Evangelists ; such as 
 'Thy faith hath saved thee,' 'Only believe,' ' If
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 161 
 
 thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that 
 believeth,' &c. In the afternoon of the same day, I 
 opened on Rom. iii. 25, ' Whom God hath set forth 
 to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare 
 his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, 
 through the forbearance of God.' Thus, in the death 
 of Christ, by applying faith, God's righteousness is 
 exemplified in the remission of sins that are past, and 
 he can be just, and yet the justifier of him that believeth 
 in Jesus. 
 
 " Engaged with the Lord all the day, for the full 
 application of the sense of pardon to my soul. In the 
 evening, when at private prayer, I found a little confi- 
 dence in the merits of Jesus, by believing in him. This 
 promise is useful to me, ' He that believeth on him is 
 not condemned.' Mr. Fletcher's letters are of service 
 to me, where he shews that believing, and the seal of 
 the Holy Ghost, are two distinct things. But, O Lord, 
 I trust I shall not rest hi anything, and especially with- 
 out this seal, this earnest of thine, this pledge of 
 heaven. Never till now did I see so much as is implied 
 in this promise, 'Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father 
 in my name, he will give it you.' Blessed Jesus ! I 
 hope this is the beginning of good days. The same day 
 I spoke at Garforth, on ' Believe on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and thou shalt be saved.' This is my earnest 
 wish, a more powerful application of the Holy Ghost 
 to my heart." 
 
 In thus preaching faith, while deploring his want of 
 it, and assigning that want as a reason why he should 
 desist from preaching, a person acquainted with the life 
 of Wesley, to which reference has been made, will be 
 led to advert to the following passage, where the latter
 
 162 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 remarks, "Immediately it struck my mind, 'Leave 
 off preaching. How can you preach to others, who have 
 not faith yourself?' I asked Bohler whether he thought 
 I should leave it off or not. He answered, 'By no 
 means.' I asked, ' But what can I preach ? ' He said, 
 ' Preach faith till you have it ; and then, because you 
 have it, you will preach it."'* It is not improbable 
 that Bohler' s reply to "Wesley was the means of not 
 only preserving Dawson in his work, but of his con- 
 tinuing to preach on the subject of faith. There is one 
 distinction, however, to be preserved in remembrance, 
 That while Mr. "Wesley felt the total absence of justi- 
 fying faith, William Dawson was only tempted to reason 
 himself out of what he had. He seemed like a person 
 not altogether satisfied with the fruit he had been per- 
 mitted to taste, and was desirous, if not of entirely 
 rooting up the whole tree, of at least grafting a scion of 
 a different species of apple on the old stock. But he 
 was soon taught to proceed "from faith to faith," 
 not differing in kind, but in degree, "by a gradual 
 series," as Mr. Wesley renders the passage, " of still 
 clearer and clearer promises." As the giant Anteus, 
 when wrestling with Hercules, is said to have acquired 
 strength by every fall to the ground ; so the faith of 
 Dawson, though occasionally foiled, rose again and 
 fought more valiantly, each succeeding conflict yield- 
 ing greater triumph. f 
 
 By repeated conferences with Mr. Thomas Stoner, 
 
 * Wesley's Works, Vol. I. p. 86. 
 
 + Simplicity in all matters of faith, is considered the best guide ; and with 
 this, while the poor are instructed, the learned are never offended. A peasant 
 of singular piety, being upon a particular occasion admitted to the presence of 
 the King of Sweden, was asked by him, " What he considered to be the nature
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 163 
 
 the father of the Rev. David Stoner, then resident at 
 Barwick, and Mr. John "Warner, together with others, 
 he became more and more established. Mr. Warner 
 was at that time in all the strength of his Christian 
 character, and William Dawson, who could never for- 
 get a kindness, was not the man to desert him, in 
 a reverse of circumstances. A false friend has been 
 very properly compared to the shadow on the dial, 
 appearing in clear weather, but vanishing as soon as 
 it becomes cloudy. The subject of these Memoirs, 
 on receiving an accession of spiritual strength, never 
 failed to strengthen the brethren, to uphold the weak, 
 and to reclaim the wanderer; and Mr. Warner was 
 one who shared in his kind attentions. 
 
 He entered into solemn covenant with God on the 
 anniversary of his birth-day, adopting the same form 
 
 of true faith ?" The peasant entered fully into the subject, and much to the 
 king's comfort and satisfaction. When the king was on his death-bed, he had 
 a return of his fears as to the safety of his soul, and still the same question was 
 perpetually put to those around him : " What is real faith p " The archbishop 
 of Upsal, who had been sent for arrived, and entering the king's bed-chamber, 
 commenced in a learned, logical manner, a scholastic definition of faith, which 
 lasted an hour. When he had finished, the king said, with much energy 
 " All this is ingenious, but not comfortable ; it is not what I want. Nothing 
 but the farmer's faith will do for me." 
 
 A minister, in America, desirous of communicating the notion of faith to a 
 little boy, took a chair, and placed it some distance from him, when he told 
 the boy to stand upon it to fall forward and he would catch him. The boy 
 immediately mounted the chair, but did not fall forward as requested. He 
 wished to obey, but was afraid the minister would fail in catching him. He 
 however, put one hand on the mantle-piece, thinking to save himself, if not 
 caught ; but the minister told him, that would not do, he must trust to him 
 alone; adding, that he would surely catch him, provided he would fall for- 
 ward. The boy immediately summoned all his courage and fell ; when he was 
 as quickly caught. The minister then told him, that that was faith, and that 
 he wished him to go with the same confidence to Jesus Christ. Any child may 
 comprehend this; but alas, the disposition is too often manifested, to lay hold 
 of some " mantle-piece " something in which self is interested, rather than 
 go direct to the anus of the Saviour.
 
 164 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 as the one of Friday, July 25, 1790, saying "repeated, 
 Saturday, March 30, 1799." 
 
 Mr. Graham visited Barwick in the spring, and Mr. 
 Settle in the summer; but no estrangement of spirit 
 was perceptible on either side. William notices his 
 interviews with both, with pleasurable feeling; and with 
 the latter, a regular correspondence was still main- 
 tained. They were satisfied with his sincerity in the 
 decision of the preceding year; and though it sun- 
 dered them in the field of operation, they knew that 
 the great moral waste could only be cultivated and 
 reaped by the different religious communities occupying 
 their different stations and plots, and working their 
 way to the centre, where on the work being com- 
 pleted, "Harvest home" would be shouted, and the 
 grand "Hallelujah chorus " sung over a once lost, 
 but finally saved world. 
 
 He became increasingly attached, in his reading, to 
 the Arminian Magazine, to the writings of Fletcher 
 of Madely, Richard Baxter, Joseph Alleine, and others ; 
 and added to them, in the course of the year, those 
 of Rogers, Bishop Newton,' Doddridge, Bunyan, Dr. 
 Owen, Ambrose, &c., together with a work on the 
 Success of the Gospel. He was not, as has been stated 
 of another, a labourer in the mines of learning ; but 
 more properly an assayer of the metal ; one who could 
 test the value of what he read, and then give it cur- 
 rency. His reading was but circumscribed; still, it 
 was good. He seemed instinctively led to some of 
 the most useful works; and as he read chiefly for 
 experimental and practical purposes, he rarely per- 
 plexed himself with the more controversial portions of 
 an author's writings. The end which he proposed to
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 165 
 
 himself in reading, preserved him from the error against 
 which others have been cautioned, of wheeling rub- 
 bish to the base of the mountain, without adding to 
 its height, or enlarging its prospect; of carrying 
 stones to the architectural pile, and only adding to 
 its bulk, without increasing its strength or its mag- 
 nificence. The time occupied in reading, was taken 
 in snatches from secular employments ; and as this 
 was compressed into comparatively small compass, he 
 contrived to improve it to the best advantage, by the 
 value of the works that came under his notice. He 
 felt in all its force, what Dr. Johnson with so much 
 judgment has expressed : " The foundation of know- 
 ledge must be laid in reading. General principles 
 must be had from books, which, however, must be 
 brought to the test of real life. In conversation you 
 never get a system. What is said upon a subject is 
 to be gathered from a hundred people. The parts of 
 a truth, which a man gets thus, are at such a dis- 
 tance from each other, that he never attains to a full 
 view." As a system can only be effectually formed 
 in this way, so that system when good, will have 
 its corresponding influence on human action ; for, "it 
 is manifest," says Sir. P. Sidney, in his more anti- 
 quated style, "that all government of action is to be 
 gotten by knowledge, and knowledge best by gathering 
 many knowledges, which is reading." 
 
 In obeying the apostolic injunction, " give attendance 
 to reading," he was careful not to permit his attempts 
 to acquire knowledge to trench upon other duties. He 
 knew the liturgy too well to forget " the visitation of 
 the sick ;" and the grace of God had too deep a hold of 
 his heart, to allow him to neglect the kindly office. A
 
 166 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 reference has been already made to his diligence and 
 tenderness in the discharge of this duty ; and he was 
 not without encouragement. " I visited," he remarks, 
 " a young woman at Scholes. May she know the whole 
 truth!" Two days after he adds, in reference to the 
 same person, "I am much comforted in the relation 
 of her triumphant death." 
 
 He was in the hahit, at this time, of composing a 
 new sermon every week ; and forty of these have turned 
 up among his papers, dated 1799, together with the 
 places at which they were preached. Exclusive of short 
 addresses, seventy-five distinct preaching sen-ices are 
 enumerated in the course of the year. This is the more 
 remarkable, as he stood nearly alone, not being wholly 
 either with the Established Church, or with the Wes- 
 leyans, though loved and courted by both, and an 
 attendant on the ministry of each. Among the clergy, 
 the Rev. Messrs. Atkinson, Hodgson, Foster, Marriott, 
 Smalpage, Hemington, and King, are noticed this year; 
 Benson, Pawson, Blagborne, and others, among the 
 Methodists. 
 
 Few were the instances in which he was repulsed, in 
 the course of public instruction which he was pur- 
 suing ; and two of these, which are the only cases that 
 have come to the knowledge of the biographer, were 
 not distinguished by anything discreditable to either 
 party. Some of the friends applied to Mr. Wade of 
 Sturton Grange, to allow him to preach in his house. 
 " No," returned Mr. Wade, with energy and firmness, 
 " he shall not preach in my house, till he is united to 
 the Methodists." Mr. Wade was ignorant of his inward 
 struggles, and of the difficulties he had to surmount, 
 arising from early prejudices and prepossessions. On
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 167 
 
 the friends at Seacroft requesting Mr. Suter, who 
 preached in the forenoon, to publish for him to occupy 
 the pulpit in the evening, he enquired with some appa- 
 rent sharpness, " Who is this Mr. Dawson ?" Further 
 observing, " He is not regularly acknowledged among 
 us ; we know nothing of him." Not being an accredited 
 local-preacher, and the old gentleman being tenacious 
 of rule, he considered himself justified in declining to 
 make the announcement. Yet such was the contrast, 
 in the same place, and about the same time, that when 
 the Rev. R. Remington, vicar of Thorpe-Arch, noticed 
 above, was announced to preach, but prevented from 
 attending, the congregation assembled on the occasion, 
 finding William Dawson present, pressed him to engage 
 in the service, which he readily did, and went through 
 the whole to the satisfaction of the hearers. His own 
 remark in his Diary, in reference to this circumstance 
 is ; " I was at Seacroft in the evening. Mr. Heming- 
 ton was expected, but did not come. I spoke to the 
 people. O Lord, let thy good Spirit be found in me, 
 to enable me to rejoice before thee with reverence, and 
 to bear an experimental testimony of thy pardoning 
 grace, in and through Jesus Christ!" He also occupied 
 the pulpit at Scholes, in the absence of Mr. Pawson. 
 Adverting to the extraordinary manner in which he had 
 been led by the providence of God, in early life, as 
 well as his consecration to the Missionary cause at 
 its close, he observed to the writer, after several other 
 remarks, " I have always considered myself a kind of 
 nondescript." 
 
 While the two or three rebuffs just noticed, produced 
 momentary pain, they contributed their quota towards 
 hastening another decision, consequent on that of
 
 168 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 deciding against holy orders, namely, his becoming an 
 accredited Wesleyan local-preacher. He continued, 
 meanwhile, in the spirit of his work, as the following 
 additional entries in his Diary for the year will shew ; 
 and though somewhat similar to extracts already made, 
 they will exhibit his progress in piety. 
 
 "At Barwick in the evening. Spoke upon Psalm 
 ciii. 2. Blessed be the Lord, my strength, for a sweet 
 confidential nearness to him in prayer ! 
 
 " Preached at Micklefield. Praise the Lord ! I found 
 him near and precious. I experienced, as I was going, 
 a sweetness of a peculiar kind, in thus being engaged 
 for God. I spoke on, ' He hath done all things well.' 
 It is still my prayer, that God would reveal himself in 
 my soul more fully in the full demonstration of the 
 Spirit. 
 
 "Had a powerful application of that text, 'How much 
 more shah 1 your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit 
 to them that ask him ? ' 
 
 " While at prayer, after dinner, I felt an uncommon 
 influence of God upon the soul ; and particularly in 
 reading John, xiv. 13 17. In the evening, I spoke at 
 Whitkirk, on our Lord's appearing to Mary Magdalene. 
 Praise the Lord, praise the Lord for all his benefits ! 
 those especially which I obtain while waiting upon him. 
 He is good. Oh, may he attend the poor hints which 
 have been dropped, with his divine blessing ! " At the 
 same place again, about a month after, he observes, 
 
 " I was at Whitkirk in the evening, and spoke on 
 Acts xix. 20. Bless the Lord, I think I never remember 
 receiving so much good in my life. Bless the Lord ! 
 He is mine, he is mine. A woman was deeply affected. 
 Oh, may she never rest, till she is completely changed
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 169 
 
 into the divine image ! Blessed Lamb ! I wish to be 
 the devil's enemy. O enable me to do much injury to 
 his interests in thy Name ! 
 
 "Life and liberty in speaking at Colton, on Prov. 
 xix. 23. I trust my visit will not be in vain. 
 
 "Spoke on Isaiah Ixii. 6. Solemnly affected in the 
 first prayer. A poor, simple-hearted man, stood up 
 in the meeting, and told us what God had done for 
 his soul. 
 
 "At Halton. Spoke on Matt, xviii. 3. My prayer 
 is, that God would attend my labours with abundant 
 success to precious souls ; and for this, my soul is 
 unusually drawn out. 
 
 "In a sweet frame of mind this morning. I hope 
 it will be the opening of a good day. So it pro- 
 ved. At Little Preston in the forenoon; at Robert 
 Moor's at two o'clock ; and at Scholes in the evening. 
 Bless the Lord for a finishing blessing ! May the 
 Lord hear our prayers for the poor creature that has 
 recently so much dishonoured the gospel, and raise 
 up many in his place ! Praise the Lord for a praying 
 frame ! Waking in the morning, and going to sleep 
 in the evening in it ! 
 
 "Blessed be the Lord for a gracious season at Sea- 
 croft ! A woman was set at liberty from the bonds of sin. 
 
 "Oh, may I be moulded, blessed Lord, into thy 
 likeness, so that as thou art the express image of 
 thy Father, I may be the express image of thee my 
 Redeemer ! " 
 
 Notwithstanding his repeated baptisms of the Spirit, 
 such passages as the following, mingling with the 
 preceding, shew, that with the patches of light, there 
 were also some deep shades. 
 H
 
 1/0 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 "Appear, O Lord, in my heart with power! I see 
 and feel my natural depravity. The character of Mary 
 Magdalene was far inferior to mine in sin. Oh, for 
 Mary's sensibility and success ! " The succeeding 
 month, he exclaims 
 
 "God he merciful to me a sinner! Surely the 
 earth never bore a greater ; yet, how little I am 
 affected with it, to what I ought to be ! Lord, give me 
 not over to a hard heart, and a reprobate mind!" Again, 
 
 "Thou knowest, O Lord, that I would rather die 
 than live in sin. Cleanse me fully! Found sweet 
 relief in, 'Where sin abounded, grace did much more 
 abound.' Praise the Lord! Oh, never, never, never 
 may I, for the twinkling of an eye, indulge the thought 
 of making Christ the minister of sin ! " Once more ; 
 
 *' After breakfast, I wrestled with the Lord, with 
 some short intermissions, till noon, for a manifesta- 
 tion of his grace. But he did not appear. Surely 
 it is pride, self, or unbelief, that prevents it. Went 
 to Methley ; found some faith to believe ; and, the 
 Lord was present to seal his word. In the evening 
 I experienced a calm in my soul. Indwelling evil 
 and fear, seemed to have fled. A quiet resting 
 upon the Lord seemed to be my state, though I 
 cannot say a lively faith. Oh, that it may be the 
 preceding stillness for the Lord speaking to my soul ! 
 and that this were my experience, 
 
 ' Restless, resigned, for this I wait' " 
 
 When thus abased before God, his evidence became 
 bedimned; and he would have implored reconciling 
 grace, like a penitent imploring pardon on first coming 
 to Christ, with an oppressive load of guilt upon the
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 171 
 
 conscience. Thus, "O Lord, thy promises, thy mani- 
 festations, all speak thy willingness to communicate 
 thy Spirit to any soul that longs for it. Do I ask 
 amiss? Lord, pardon me! Do I not ask the gifts 
 of thy Spirit with this one object in view thy yloryl 
 Thou knowest self creeps in. Work in me a thorough 
 change an entire, a new creation : and I protest, in 
 thy presence, and by thy assisting grace, which is 
 ever ready to help, I will not rest without the seal 
 of the Spirit, through faith in Christ Jesus. Thou, 
 O Lord, and thou alone, canst bestow the power to 
 believe. Thou hast given me a will. Let me enter 
 into the liberty of a lively faith in Christ, and out 
 of the bondage of all slavish fear. Let me taste the 
 powers of the world to come. Let the Spirit come 
 in thine own way, and in thine own manner. Thy 
 will be done ; only hear my breathings for a present 
 salvation. Bestow a holy sense of thy reconciliation, 
 that I may know, that thou, O Father, for Christ's 
 sake, hast blotted out mine iniquities, and I am ac- 
 cepted in the beloved. Lord, help helplessness; a 
 little child, that can only defend itself, and help itself, 
 by weeping ! Lord, help me. Let me gather up the 
 crumbs that fall from thy table. Infinite love ! let one 
 smile be afforded, that my soul may cease from its own 
 works, and rest in the full and eternal satisfaction of 
 the Redeemer of the whole world ! " Like David, he 
 lifted up his heart to the Lord ; but he found, as in 
 the weights of a clock, that the spirits might drop sud- 
 denly, and with ease, when it required steadiness, 
 strength, and perseverance to wind them up. 
 
 Then again, in his private musings, as well as in his 
 public exercises, to which reference has been made, his
 
 1/2 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 soul would reveal itself in smiles, breaking forth like 
 the sun from behind a cloud ; giving utterance to such 
 sentences as these, " I have a sweet sense of the un- 
 searchable riches of Christ in my soul. Take, oh take, 
 lovely and adorable Lamb, full possession of my breast !" 
 Again, " Delightful drawings after God. Surely this 
 is the day-star, the dawning of a happy day, when 
 heavenly zeal, burning love, true humility, and every 
 grace of the Spirit shines out with useful splendour on 
 a watching world ! " 
 
 But whether in cloud or in sunshine, he never lost 
 sight of his own spiritual interests, and the salvation of 
 those around ; and the Divine Being knowing his sin- 
 cerity, affixed, in both states, his seal to his ministry. 
 Dwelling, on one occasion, upon "repentance unto 
 faith," and shewing that the one, if followed up, would 
 lead to the other, an old man was deeply impressed 
 with the subject. After preaching, the man of hoary 
 hairs found his way to him, and told him that he had 
 often heard of repentance, but that there was something 
 in this "repentance unto faith," which he could not 
 understand; observing, "You must excuse me asking 
 you for an explanation ; but when you are in the pulpit, 
 you sometimes get above us, and at other times go 
 away to other things, when we want a bit more of what 
 we have just had." Dawson entered into a friendly 
 conversation on the subject, which only gave his auditor 
 a relish for more. Not long after this, he was going to 
 Leeds market, when his horse, somewhat quicker in 
 hearing than himself, started, and seemed disposed to 
 push forward. He had proceeded but a few paces, 
 when he heard a distant pattering noise in the rear, 
 and on suddenly turning round, saw a person posting
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 1/3 
 
 his way after him on a pony. It was his old friend, 
 who had watched for an opportunity of joining him on 
 his way to the market; and who, on coming up to 
 him, abruptly and unceremoniously accosted him with, 
 "now for a bit more of this ' repentance unto faith.' " 
 Dawson was again as ready to communicate, as his 
 companion was to receive ; and unfolding the scriptures, 
 he " preached unto him Jesus," just as Philip preached 
 to the Ethiopian treasurer, "as they went on their 
 way," the discourse continuing till he and his ven- 
 erable pupil reached Leeds. And in this way, and for 
 these purposes, his society was frequently sought. 
 
 Watch-nights were held once a quarter, on a Saturday 
 evening, at Garforth ; and these he generally attended, 
 as well as assisted in the service ; describing one as a 
 " pentecostal season," in the course of which he " spir- 
 itualized the Jewish Jubilee." The love-feasts were 
 also attended as heretofore. Thus, every door was now 
 open to him, and into most he had entered. He had 
 preached in several of the pulpits, exercised in the 
 prayer-meetings, assisted at watch-nights, and had 
 spoken in the love-feasts. But he had not yet passed 
 the Rubicon. Class-meeting, like that inconsiderable 
 stream separating Italy from Cisalpine Gaul, was a 
 boundary over which he had not dared to step ; as that 
 would have been if not to have placed him in a hostile 
 attitude to the Established Church, like Caesar against 
 the senate and against Pompey, at least to have recog- 
 nized his membership in the Wesleyan body. Without 
 any intention, however, to enter as a stated member, 
 and in all probability through the force of persuasion, 
 he at length made a solitary trial of class-meeting, on 
 Sunday, June 9th, in the present year 1799. His
 
 1/4 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 own account of the occasion is exceedingly brief: 
 " Hear, O Lord, and answer my poor petitions ! Thou 
 knowest the desires of my soul after thee. At Scholes 
 in the evening ; spoke on Rev. i. 5, 6. Found but a 
 slender movement of the affections in my breast. 
 
 ' Jesus, I fain would find, 
 Thy zeal for God in me.' 
 
 Stayed at the class in the evening. Felt rather better 
 in my approaches to God." Whatever might have 
 been the cause, which is not stated, it is certain 
 that some time elapsed before he again ventured to a 
 class-meeting. About the same time he has this 
 remark ; " Heard some reports respecting persons 
 professing godliness, committing sin. Saw a man who 
 had been a preacher, and who, it was said, had enlisted 
 as a soldier. Lord, help me !" These things, though 
 not occurring in the immediate neighbourhood, might 
 possibly exercise an improper influence over him, in 
 preventing a repetition of his attendance. With the 
 exception of class-meeting, from which he afterwards 
 derived much benefit, and which he never appears to 
 have discouraged in others, he manifested the utmost 
 anxiety for the spiritual prosperity of the several so- 
 cieties, and on one occasion, the circumstances of the 
 case demanding it, " wrote an address to the society at 
 H," probably Halton. 
 
 He was no less active below, than above ground. 
 His office, as steward, sometimes made it necessary for 
 him to descend into the bowels of the earth, to examine 
 the workings of the coal mines. He had a dress for 
 the occasion ; and after finishing his survey, he was 
 often accosted by the colliers on leaving, with " Come, 
 give us a word : there are some of your children here,
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 175 
 
 and they want a bit of bread." This appeal to his 
 ministerial character, made by those whom he had 
 " begotten through the Gospel," and who were anxious 
 for the bread of life, was rarely made in vain, never, 
 indeed, when time and prudence gave their suffrage. 
 And there not in clerical costume, but in his grotesque 
 under-ground habiliments, he addressed the sons of the 
 pit, like so many "spirits in prison," as they squatted 
 around him, with the hue of West Indian slaves, two 
 or three candles in the midst of the still deeper jet of 
 the mine, held in the hand, or attached by their own 
 tallow to the projecting blocks of coal, rendering the 
 white ring of the eye visible, as it gleamed in the 
 equally penetrating yet benignant glance of the preacher. 
 The biographer can easily conceive the effect of such a 
 preacher, such a place of worship, and such an auditory ; 
 having himself embraced the opportunity of preaching 
 to a company of miners, about a quarter of a mile under 
 ground, in a spacious apartment in one of the mines 
 of Cumberland, when led by curiosity into it, but with 
 this difference- it was less murky, the whole sparkling 
 like a spacious hall studded with diamonds. 
 
 Though necessity was laid upon him to change his 
 attire, when he descended into the earth, he made 
 little or no difference, at this time, between his pulpit 
 costume and his ordinary dress. As he always gloried 
 in the character of an English yeoman, who was quali- 
 fied to serve on juries, to vote for knights of the shire, 
 and to perform any other act where the law requires one 
 that is probus et leyalis homo, so he was partial to his 
 dress, which is thus quaintly described by Fuller: 
 "The good yeoman," he observes, "wears russet 
 clothes, but makes golden payment, having time in his
 
 1/6 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 buttons, but silver in his pockets. If he chance to 
 appear in clothes above his rank, it is to grace some 
 great man with his service, arid then he blusheth at his 
 own bravery. Otherwise, he is the sweet landmark, 
 whence foreigners may take aim of the ancient English 
 customs ; the gentry more floating after foreign fash- 
 ions." Notwithstanding the subject of these pages 
 avoided " floating after foreign fashions," and might 
 be considered as a fair and safe "landmark," always 
 habiting himself in a way suited to his situation in life, 
 yet it did not quite comport with the views of some of 
 his inferiors in society, and with their notions of the 
 ministerial office, though lay in its character. An old 
 man, somewhat facetious in his way, met him in an 
 adjoining wood one day, and touching his breast, said 
 " Put it in put it in, and cover it up." Dawson 
 had been preaching in a ruffled shirt, of which he was 
 perfectly unconscious, constituting a part of his ordinary 
 Sabbath dress, and which had as little influence upon 
 his spirit, as the shoes on his feet. But though this 
 soon disappeared, still all was not agreeable to those 
 who look at "outward and visible signs." While walk- 
 ing, on another occasion, through the fields, on his way 
 to Garforth, in company with John Batty, he took off" 
 his neckcloth, and disencumbered it of its " stiffner." 
 John, in a state of surprise, enquired, " What are you 
 about?" He returned "Nothing particular;" sub- 
 joining rather drily, "I am only becoming weak to 
 the weak ; Mrs. W. has sent me word that I am not to 
 appear again at Garforth with a stiffner in my neck- 
 cloth." In this, much more credit was due to the 
 preacher, than to the tongue of the fair hearer. 
 
 He was always much more afraid of the spirit, than
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 177 
 
 the costume of the world ; and had to complain of per- 
 sons, who, on leaving the house of God, entered upon 
 topics irrelevant to the ordinance and the word preached, 
 instead of improving what they had heard ; and up- 
 braided himself for not, in every instance, hearing his 
 testimony against it, as well as for not fully delivering 
 his mind in private, on matters of religion, saying, " Oh 
 
 that I could have said more to on the important 
 
 concerns of the soul ! " The least omission of duty 
 weighed down his spirits. " I heard a man," he writes, 
 " boast that he was once able to drink a certain quantity 
 of liquor." This same person appears to have become 
 religious, and ought to have been ashamed of giving 
 publicity to the circumstance. Dawson let it pass. 
 But what were his views and feelings afterwards ! "0 
 my soul ! " said he, when soliloquizing on the subject, 
 " why didst thou not give some reproof? Thou didst 
 wrong in not discharging thy duty. Forgive me, O 
 Lord ! I am a sinner. This will not excuse an omission 
 of duty, on another opportunity presenting itself." 
 This is a point of some moment. Persons have been 
 known to dwell on their past sins, when connected with 
 cunning, daring, or skill, more with a feeling of pride 
 than holy shame ; forgetting the odiousness of the act 
 in the dexterity displayed ; when they ought to have 
 wept before God, and blushed before man. He was 
 careful, however, in administering reproof, to award 
 only what was necessary for the occasion ; and would 
 have rebuked himself for any defect either in the matter 
 or the manner. Hence his complaint, " This afternoon 
 I spoke in sadly too strong language. Lord, pity me ! 
 I deserve not thy mercy." 
 
 On the demise of Mr. Dean, the rector, who quitted 
 H 2
 
 178 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 this life "Wednesday, February 6th, of this year, the 
 subject of these Memoirs felt much anxiety respecting 
 a successor ; saying, " O my God, give us a minister 
 who shall preach the whole, truth, as it is in Jesus ! " 
 The new rector, Mr. Hodgson, visited Barwick, on the 
 6th of March, and preached on the 10th. But "Wil- 
 liam's attendance at the church became less and less 
 frequent, in consequence of his almost incessant labour 
 elsewhere. He attended the sale of Mr. Dean's house- 
 hold effects, but was out of his element. " What 
 advantage," says he, " O my soul, is to be obtained 
 on such public occasions." 
 
 His talents, however, were such as to command at- 
 tention ; and he found it impossible to escape from the 
 more chafing parts of public business, being called 
 upon to engage in valuations, parish meetings, &c. 
 Nor had he a little trouble with the " Income Tax," 
 concerning which he speaks of having received his 
 instructions at Leeds. But into every act between man 
 and man, he took his conscience. Hence some of his 
 cautions : " Beware of speaking too positively in bar- 
 gaining." " Guard against an overcharge of liquor. 
 The least degree unfits the soul for communion with 
 God. And this may be the case, when its effects 
 cannot be perceived by man." " Avoid sharpness in 
 conversation." " Never speak disrespectfully of any 
 man." " Flee all self-seeking." 
 
 These, and similar maxims, he laboured to carry into 
 effect ; and if a bargain seemed hard to the party with 
 whom he was transacting business, though their own 
 deliberate act, while the circumstances in which he was 
 placed would admit of no alteration, he nevertheless 
 felt acute pain ; and instead of boasting of a slight
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 179 
 
 advantage, as is the case with many, whose trumpet is 
 the loudest in transactions the most unjust, especially 
 when the unsuspecting and inexperienced are the prey, 
 he threw his sympathies into the heart of the buyer, as 
 well as poured out his prayers for him, that the pur- 
 chase might prove beneficial, and exceed expectation. 
 An example occurs in his Diary, in reference to a 
 person who had taken a lime-kiln, and which he was 
 affraid would prove a hard bargain. The circumstances 
 had all been stated ; but the man ventured upon it ; 
 and though there was no complaint on his part, yet it 
 did not prevent the apprehensions and feelings of the 
 subject of these pages. And this is the very essence of 
 love to our neighbour, to make his case our own! 
 Just and liberal, however, as he was, he had not only 
 small wages, as before noticed, but even less wages and 
 fewer privileges than the other book-keepers, in the 
 service of Sir Thomas Gascoigne. But it is no uncom- 
 mon thing to find the children of this world better paid 
 than the children of light ; nor is it at all marvellous, 
 that a person of superior mind should be found to sub- 
 mit to it, who considers himself in the order of God, 
 and who has been taught to say with the apostle ; " I 
 have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be 
 content." The wheat, too, this year, was " much 
 sprouted." But instead of complaining, he looked 
 upon it as a punishment, saying, "Thy just judg- 
 ments, O Lord, are abroad in the earth ; but spare, oh 
 spare thy people ! " 
 
 A reference has already been made to his freedom 
 from superstition. But, like many others, he was not 
 a stranger to presentiment. " I am struck with the 
 idea," he observes, " that some trial is hanging over
 
 180 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 my head. If it be not a trial occasioned by, or proceed- 
 ing from, any fault of my own, the Lord's will be 
 done ! I have no doubt it will work for good." The 
 next leaf he notices, " Richard has taken himself out 
 of the Barkston-Ash volunteers." He adds, " Let 
 thy special providence, O Lord, be over us in all 
 things ! " Though Mr. Richard had sufficient reason 
 for the step he took, it was calculated to excite the 
 displeasure of those in command, and might possibly 
 have worked round painfully upon the family, through 
 the medium of Sir Thomas Gascoigne.* It is not un- 
 reasonable to suppose, that God occasionally permits 
 these secret forebodings and anticipations to take place, 
 which, like clouds settling upon the brow of a hill, 
 overshadow the mind, but which, in thus throwing 
 their dark shadows over the spirit, prepare and fortify 
 the individual against the event, as a sudden plunge 
 into the ocean of sorrow might terminate in despair ; 
 and this may be admitted, without going to the full 
 length of the Orientals in their doctrine of " Khismut." 
 His uncle William paid a visit to the family in the 
 course of the year, for whose salvation he had often 
 prayed ; and as he had to preach at Barwick on the 
 evening of the Sabbath he was at Barnbow, it is not 
 improbable that the uncle might be induced to hear the 
 
 * While one of our squadrons was blockading either Brest or Toulon, the 
 flag-captain had occasion to send for one of the warrant-officers, a veteran who 
 had shewn his undaunted face in some of our severest actions, to receive some 
 directions on the quarter-deck. As the ship was just standing off the .'bore, 
 and nearly three miles from it, a shot was fired from one of the batteries. On 
 seeing the Hush, the old seaman clenched his hands and exclaimed, " That is 
 for me ! I know it is for me ! " The astonished captain had scarcely com- 
 menced his rebuke, when the poor fellow's trunk lay bleeding on the v' an ks. 
 Tiie gun must have had an elevation of twelve degrees or more, so that the 
 chances of tbe ball touching anything but the sea were enormous ; and the 
 person destroyed was the only one who even thought about an effect.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 181 
 
 nephew. He spoke on Christ, in all things having 
 the pre-eminence ; and earnest was the prayer which 
 went from the lip, that " the Lord would change the 
 heart of his uncle by his grace." What a mercy to 
 have one in a family, if there were no more, to care 
 for the salvation of the remainder ! 
 
 From his earliest religious impressions, he had, as 
 occasion has been taken to shew, a tender solicitude for 
 the spiritual welfare of young people. And towards 
 the close of the year, he remarks, "The propriety of 
 preaching a sermon to young people, at Whitkirk, 
 occurred to me." This was speedily followed up by a 
 discourse to that effect. 
 
 In returning home after the public labours of the 
 Sabbath, over moors, and along deep narrow lanes, he 
 frequently had to encounter the tempest, driving the 
 rain, the snow, and the sleet full in the face ; and 
 in some instances, found it difficult to pursue his way 
 in the dark ; yet generally exclaiming at the end of the 
 journey, " The Lord has been my preserver and con- 
 ductor." On one of these occasions, he was benighted 
 on a moor; and being unable to discern the proper 
 track, he gave himself up to the guidance of divine 
 providence, throwing the bridle on the neck of the 
 horse, and praying for direction. The thunder pealed, 
 though in the month of December, and the light- 
 ning only rendered the darkness still more "visible. The 
 next flash struck the stick in his hand, but did no 
 further injury. Such was the vividness of each suc- 
 ceeding flash, that the face of the surrounding district 
 was suddenly lit up, as with a gleam of sunshine, 
 enabling him, though as suddenly ceasing, to guess 
 his way out of the labyrinth in which he was involved.
 
 182 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Having to preach at Barwick the same evening, he 
 arrived just as the people were about to disperse. He 
 related to them the occasion of the delay, telling them, 
 with some little improvement of the circumstance, that 
 it was a sermon sufficient of itself for their further 
 meditation. 
 
 There is little doubt that the improvement was a 
 good substitute for the sermon ; for he manifested a 
 considerable aptitude in improving passing events, as 
 well as a readiness to turn public occasions to good 
 account. Thus, at Garforth feast, he took for his 
 text, Isaiah Iv. 1, 2, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, 
 come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money ; 
 come ye, buy and eat ; yea, come, buy wine and milk, 
 without money and without price." At the same place, 
 on the occasion of a watch-night, he improved on the 
 "shipmaster's" address to Jonah i. 6, "What meanest 
 thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be 
 that God will think upon us, that we perish not."
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The old year. Time. The eighteenth century. Opinions of John- 
 son and Clarendon. Disinterested toil. Usefulness. Samuel 
 flick. Class-meeting. Thomas Stoner. Blessedness of Chris- 
 tian communion. Social literary advantages. Reading and 
 rtliyious discourse. Providential choice of lot. Wit, true and 
 false. Study. Reproof. HOME religion. Domestic changes. 
 Escape from death. Murder. Local preachers. Pulpit 
 preparation. Over exertion. Progress in piety. Sinners dis- 
 turbed in their pleasures by rousing sermons. Increasing labour. 
 Pity to the poor. Becomes an accredited Local Preacher. 
 Wesley, Whitfield, and Cennick's sermons. Richard Burdsall. 
 Enlarged sphere of labour. Affliction andits fruit. Meets the 
 Local Preachers, and attends the Quarter-Melting. Preaches 
 in Ljeeds. Rev. S. Bradburn. Rev. W. BramwcU. Sinkings 
 and swellings of heart. Watchfulness. 
 
 WHILE the close of an old year never fails to pros- 
 trate the Christian in the dust before God, and to 
 fill him with adoring gratitude, the commencement of 
 a new one is rarely without its holy purposes and 
 protestations. The brief parenthesis between the close 
 of one century, and the opening of another, is still 
 more impressive. So it was experienced by William 
 Dawson, who commenced January 1st, 1800, with a 
 solemn dedication of himself to God, imploring " spe- 
 cial grace," to enable him to do his "perfect and
 
 184 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 proper will," entreating at the same time, a "revival 
 of religion in the hearts of those around." Noiseless 
 as are the wings of time, they were next to heard 
 by him on the occasion, and roused him to renewed 
 exertion. He rested his hopes not on the past, but 
 on the future. The eighteenth century had completed 
 its cycle ; but he was aware, that " Time never turns 
 the glass again," to furnish man with an opportunity 
 of going over the ground, in order to improve it. 
 "Time," was to him, "the wise man's treasure," 
 "the nurse and breeder of all good:" but he knew, 
 if he could not change the past, by renewed purposes, 
 he could nevertheless make improvements upon it ; nor 
 did he fail in this, when defects were detected, though 
 few men had less reason to complain of misspent 
 moments. "Money and time," it is remarked by Dr. 
 Johnson, "are the heaviest burthens of life, and the 
 unhappiest of all mortals are those who have more 
 of either than they know how to use. To set him- 
 self free from these incumbrances, one makes collec- 
 tions of shells, and another searches the world for 
 tulips and carnations." The subject of these Memoirs 
 fixed his mind on things the most momentous; and 
 finding life exceedingly short, he contrived to press 
 the greatest amount of labour into the smallest pos- 
 sible compass of time ; and this he did under a full 
 conviction of the truth of the sentiments of Clarendon, 
 ''That our precious time is not lent to us to do 
 nothing with, or to be spent upon that which is worse 
 than nothing ; that we shall not be more confounded 
 with anything, than to find that there is a perfect 
 register kept of all that we did in that time ; and 
 that when we have scarce remembered the morrow
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 185 
 
 what we did yesterday, there is a diary in which 
 nothing we did is left out, and as much notice taken 
 when we did nothing at all." Hence his frequent 
 exclamations, when pressing important truths upon 
 himself and his hearers, "Let us look at everything 
 in the light of eternity, hring everything to hear on 
 a day of judgment." 
 
 In support of the devout resolutions formed, and 
 as a proof that he was anxious to forward the pros- 
 perity of Zion, his sermons in the course of the year 
 averaged ahout two each Sahhath, preaching on some 
 occasions, when a Sabhath had been omitted, four 
 sermons on one day, the places themselves being 
 some miles apart from each other. Several new places 
 too, were added to those which had been regularly 
 visited, as Bramham, Mickletown, Thorpe-Arch, Sher- 
 burn, Shippin, Lofthouse, Rothwell, Hemsworth, and 
 Ackworth. For all this toil, the only reward he re- 
 ceived, besides that of the approbation of his own 
 conscience, was an occasional social meal or two with 
 the friends on the Sabbath ; and even that was regu- 
 lated by his distance from home. He found his own 
 horse, paid his own tolls, and supported the whole 
 of the wear and tear of the road. In this, he had 
 an admirable example in many of the Local Preachers 
 among the Wesleyans; but not being familiar alto- 
 gether with the system, and being without an example 
 in his own peculiar situation, moving alone, to a 
 certain extent, his disinterestedness appears the more 
 conspicuous. 
 
 His usefulness kept pace with his sincerity and zeal. 
 Hence, at Kippax, on a Saturday evening, he observes, 
 "This was a season of help, while speaking for
 
 186 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Christ. A woman was remarkably affected. Let it, 
 my Lord, bring her effectually to thee. How far it 
 was right in concluding, the Lord only knows." On 
 another occasion, he remarks, "John Head has in- 
 formed me of a person receiving good under my 
 preaching. Praised be the name of the Lord for 
 this ! It is the Spirit that quickeneth. A tongue of 
 flesh alone profiteth nothing." Again, when at Sax- 
 ton, Barkston, and Sherburn, he observes, "I was 
 pleased with the happiness of a young person brought 
 into the liberty of the children of God. Keep her, 
 O Lord, under thy hand; and add many to thy 
 church, who shall be eternally saved. " Also at Whit- 
 kirk: "It delighted me to hear the intelligence of 
 J. Harrison's conversion. Praise the Lord, who 
 abundantly pardons all returning sinners ! " 
 
 The doubt entertained respecting "concluding" at 
 Kippax, seems to have arisen from the fact of the 
 person not having entered into Christian liberty, and 
 the propriety of leaving her in that state, without 
 a continued exercise of faith and prayer on her be- 
 half. He became better disciplined in this work 
 afterwards ; but the doubt itself was a favourable 
 symptom. * How far, in the other case, the expression 
 "under," rather than in the hand of God, was designed, 
 is not certain; yet it very much resembles one of 
 those happy verbal selections peculiar to himself. The 
 person was young ; and if, from her native buoyancy, 
 
 * He afterwards amused the biographer with a remark of the " Village 
 Blacksmith " in a similar case. " You will not leave the person in distress," 
 said the friends to Samuel, as he was quitting a meeting, on the blessing being 
 pronounced. " Bless you barns," he sharply returned, " she will serve as a 
 match to kindle the fire with to-morrow night." Dawson had no such design ; 
 and Samuel himself was probably either lacking in faith, or failing in physical 
 strength, when he gave the reply.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 187 
 
 she did not require the hand of severity to subdue 
 her spirit, and so "keep her under," she required 
 the constant, gentle training of the vine-dresser, that 
 "under" his "hand" "under" his tender care, she 
 might bloom in the paradise below. 
 
 Though still shy of class-meeting, he found it diffi- 
 cult to steer clear in his frequent associations with 
 the Wesleyans ; and accordingly, when preaching 
 at Little Preston in the evening of February 3rd, he 
 enters into his Diary, " Stopped at the class ; " sub- 
 joining, as though he could not avoid it, and was 
 at a loss to know how far he had acted properly 
 hitherto, in declining it, " The will of the Lord be 
 done!" The other prudential means of grace in the 
 body, such as love-feasts and watch-nights, were en- 
 joyed as usual, remaining in the latter sometimes, 
 when at a distance of some miles from home, till 
 twelve o'clock at night. Thomas Stoner had a meeting 
 too, at Barwick, but whether a fellowship, conversa- 
 tional, or prayer-meeting, is difficult to determine. 
 That it was not a class-meeting, is probable from the 
 fact of William first uniting himself formally to the 
 class at Scholes, and the great probability of his 
 joining the one in the house of Thomas Stoner, in 
 consequence of his attachment to him, and the hallowed 
 seasons he enjoyed under his roof. 
 
 Being at Seacroft, Thursday, June 20, "assisting 
 Mr. Porter with his hay," he states, that he attended 
 "Stringer and England's class;" again adding, "let 
 me do thy will, O Lord ! " Having at length decided 
 on becoming a member, he united himself to the 
 Society at Scholes, Thursday, July 3rd; on which 
 occasion, he remarks, " At Scholes class-meeting
 
 188 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 for the first time. It is under thy will and blessing, 
 O Lord, I trust, that I should attend there. Let 
 it be for thy glory, and the good of souls." His 
 previous visits were accidental rather than otherwise ; 
 now he formally entered as a member, and considered 
 it the " first time " of meeting in that character. 
 He subsequently notices the advantage which he re- 
 ceived from such Christian fellowship, in the following 
 terms; August 7- "At Scholes. A season of good 
 from God." August 14. "Great nearness to God. 
 Praise his holy name!" August 21. "In a serious 
 frame, produced by considerations on the shortness 
 of time." September 16. "A partial fast, to inter- 
 cede with God for his blessing upon the Society at 
 Scholes." September 18. " Visited Miss Collingworth. 
 The mind more open. The Lord appeared rather 
 distant at the class towards the commencement, but 
 nearer towards the close." September 25. "A precious 
 season at Scholes !" October 16. " A most profitable 
 meeting. Praise the Lord!" November 6. "Refreshed 
 with a solemn sense of God's presence." 
 
 Few men ever entered the Wesleyan Society with 
 greater weight of character, from purer motives, with 
 more matured judgment, or were equally qualified for 
 more immediate and extensive usefulness. And as 
 he had no quarrel with the Established Church 
 no objection to her creed and loved her pious minis- 
 ters, he was not without his regrets. He even venerated 
 her "studious cloysters pale," her "high embowered 
 roof," her "antique pillars ; " and although he was 
 going to another "full-voiced quire," and, in process 
 of time, another "pealing organ," yet he was leaving 
 her
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 189 
 
 " Storied windows richly dight, 
 Casting a dim religious light.'' 
 
 But service, ministers, and structures, were to be 
 practically given up, and the face and feet were to 
 be directed towards the ecclesiastical piles less mag- 
 nificent, and a people comparatively poor, for the 
 sake of a wider field of operation. 
 
 One serious disadvantage under which he laboured, 
 was the want of a few friends, who combined with 
 religion a good general course of reading ; for what- 
 ever may be a man's literary taste, yet, if he be left 
 to toil in the mine alone, or next to alone, without 
 the sound of other voices, and the operation of other 
 instruments, to cheer him on in his way, as well as 
 superior experience to guide him to the right vein, 
 he will rarely make the progress which he would 
 otherwise make with such helps at hand. As to 
 polished society, the want of this if such want 
 existed, was amply compensated by his visits of mercy 
 to the huts and homesteads of Hannah Smith, Alice 
 Tillotson, and other aged persons, ripe in religious 
 experience ; through whose conversation, together with 
 that of others, he was enabled to cherish the best 
 feelings of his heart ; the same having an indirect 
 influence, in the mean time, both upon his reading 
 and his ministry, by leading him chiefly to such 
 theological works as tended to foster genuine piety 
 both in himself and his hearers. These are admirable 
 schools of instruction, when the heart is right with 
 God, and often make up for other disadvantages. 
 There is great truth in the remark, that by read- 
 ing, we enjoy the dead by conversation, the living 
 and by contemplation, ourselves; adding, as the
 
 190 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 result, that reading enriches the memory, conversa- 
 tion polishes the wit, and contemplation improves the 
 judgment. Of these, however, as in the case of faith, 
 hope, and charity, reading is the most important, 
 because it furnishes both the others. In balancing 
 the advantages and disadvantages, the society into 
 which William Dawson was thrown, and which he 
 courted for the sake of its value to his spiritual 
 interests, was, perhaps, the best adapted to his genius. 
 Had he associated with wits, his own would have 
 flashed with the brightest of them ; nor would he have 
 soon become bankrupt for want of stock : but he would 
 have been placed in the most imminent peril of losing 
 his religion. His, however, was not the false wit 
 which consists in puns and quibbles, in anagrams, 
 chronograms, lipograms, and acrostics, but that sin- 
 gular and unavoidable manner of doing or saying 
 anything peculiar and natural to himself only, by 
 which his speech and actions were distinguished from 
 those of other men, and so far impressed with a char- 
 acter of their own ; and which would not have failed 
 to reach all, except those who are placed beyond its 
 "boundaries," and who have been compared to bodies 
 indissoluble by heat setting both furnace and cru- 
 cible at defiance, possessing "minds upon which the 
 rays of fancy may be pointed without effect, and 
 which no fire of sentiment can agitate or exalt. " 
 What he lost in intelligence, in some instances, he 
 gained in piety ; and applying himself to his books 
 at home, as he found leisure, and as has hitherto 
 been seen, he was generally on the advance of those 
 around, and never failed to enrich himself by com- 
 municating it being " more blessed to give than
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 191 
 
 receive." Among other works that engaged his at- 
 tention about this time, those of Romaine, Walsh, 
 Luther, Manton, &c., may be noticed ; and still further 
 to extend his knowledge, he entered into a Subscrip- 
 tion Library, distinct from the one referred to in the 
 earlier part of his history. Though he both read and 
 studied hard, he never read to satiety, nor yet studied 
 so "much" as to make it a "weariness to the flesh." 
 Each continued to have its charm ; and hence such 
 language as this in his Diary, "A sweet season, 
 while studying on 'My grace is sufficient for thee!" 
 The same spirit which was breathed into it, in his 
 closet, was wafted from it, like fragrance, the Sabbath 
 following, when he exclaims, "The Lord sent home 
 with sweet power, at Seacroft, 'My grace is sufficient 
 for thee.'" His reading and intelligence added to the 
 value of his society, and so held him in increasing 
 request. 
 
 Being frequently thrown into irreligious society at 
 Tadcaster, Wetherby, Eipon, Knaresborough, Leeds, 
 and elsewhere, while engaged in business, both on his 
 own account and on that of the collier}", he was often 
 annoyed with the profane conversation of those with 
 whom he came in contact. He notices two cases, two 
 successive days ; in the one of which he administered 
 reproof, in the other, for some reason not stated, the 
 sin was permitted to pass. In the latter case, he 
 condemned himself, so that the ground of omission, 
 must, on mature deliberation, have been deemed in- 
 sufficient. The first case involves a nice point, which 
 could only be suggested to a mind deeply imbued 
 with the Spirit of God, and a heart despite of all 
 his upbraidings, distinguished for its tenderness. What
 
 192 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 else is implied in the following expressions? "Par- 
 don, O Lord, the sins of my duties ! How little, 
 O my soul, didst thou feel, in reproving a man ? 
 How unlike that which Jesus felt, when he wept over 
 the city of Jerusalem. I say, how unlike nay, was 
 it not the very reverse ? " There is a great deal in 
 timing a reproof, as well as in the manner of its 
 administration. It should never be done when the 
 tempest is up, but when the soul is hushed into re- 
 pose. Abigail reproved Nabal, not when he was in 
 a state of inebriation, but when the morning light 
 had dawned, and his senses had returned. It is vain 
 to press the seal upon the wax, while it is hard ; let 
 it melt, and instantly the impression is perceptible. 
 There is a manner, as well as a time ; an oblique 
 way of reproof, which frequently takes off the sharp- 
 ness of it. Reproof is an excellent parent, but hatred 
 often constitutes a part of its progeny. To prevent 
 the latter, it should always be combined with counsel ; 
 and thus, like a sword anointed with balm, should 
 perform at the same moment, the twofold operation 
 of wounding and healing. But even this scarcely 
 entered into the case of Dawson ; he wished not only 
 to weep over the sinner, but to feel such an abhor- 
 rence of the sin as the sinner ought to have felt 
 himself. It was not an individual case only, that often 
 occasioned pain, but public meetings, when he found 
 it difficult to carry out all his desires and designs. 
 Hence, he says, "I was at Barwick settling the ac- 
 counts for the highways. Here my soul was hurt at 
 not being able to recommend the cause of my Divine 
 Master. Pardon me, O Lord! Justly do I deserve 
 the hidings of thy face. "
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 193 
 
 Having laboured hard in every department, without 
 ever considering it a toil, any uncomfortable feeling 
 which might be experienced, would, by another than 
 himself, have been laid at the door of anxiety for greater 
 good, rather than to neglect of duty ; for, like the per- 
 severing Roman, he deemed nothing done, while any 
 thing remained undone. In the same way though the 
 priest of the family for several years, and presenting 
 before it an example of piety and diligence, he seemed 
 to charge every defect upon himself, and feel as though 
 the non-conversion of a member was owing to some 
 negligence of his own. But his very upbraidings, here 
 again, were met by the prayers he offered up : " Lord, 
 have mercy upon me, and help me to walk before 
 my family agreeably to thy will ! Make me a HOME 
 CHRISTIAN !" 
 
 Several changes took place in the family in the course 
 of the year. His uncle Ingle died, January 10th; his 
 sister Mary married, November 1/th; and his aunt 
 Mary died December llth. On the demise of his 
 uncle, he had some thought of entering upon his farm. 
 He sought the advice of Mr. H. Gill on the subject, to 
 whom he had repaired on former occasions, and in 
 whom he could safely confide as a man of experience, 
 prudence, judgment, and piety. Mr. Gill saw no par- 
 ticular objection to it at first, but it was otherwise over- 
 ruled by divine providence. 
 
 Though death made inroads in some quarters, the 
 good hand of God prevented its ravages in others. "A 
 morning of mercy and judgment," he exclaims; "owing 
 to Mr. Cullingworth's horse running away with the 
 cart, while sister Bessey and brother Tommy were in it. 
 Praise the Lord, that matters wore no worse ! Lord, 
 i
 
 194 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 sanctify it to us all ! " About the same period, 
 one of those melancholy deeds was perpetrated in the 
 neighbourhood, which fill the mind with horror, when- 
 ever they occur, and which greatly disconcerted his 
 feelings. A person of the name of Medhurst murdered 
 his wife ; on which occasion Dawson poured forth the 
 meanings of his heart on the impotency and vileness of 
 man. Of such foul deeds, few have spoken more 
 strongly than Webster : 
 
 " Other sins only speak, murder shrieks out. 
 
 The element of water moistens the earth, 
 
 But blood flies upwards, and bedews the heavens." 
 
 In consequence of taking a wider sweep of country 
 than heretofore, he was thrown more frequently in the 
 way of local-preachers, who were not only anxious to 
 encourage him, but also occasionally to relieve them- 
 selves of an engagement. Messrs. J. Woodcock, T. 
 Hall, T. Richardson, and others, were among those 
 who opened his way to new scenes of labour. And 
 among those at a distance, he became acquainted with 
 the venerable Robert Spence of York, who preached at 
 Seacroft, and held a love-feast. 
 
 Though he frequently made considerable preparation 
 for the pulpit, yet he never trammelled himself with 
 either the plan or the filling up ; or even with the sub- 
 ject, when anything more impressive intervened. Thus, 
 he observes, " I was at Whitkirk in the evening, and 
 spoke on ' Thy kingdom come,' which powerfully 
 struck my mind, when Mr. Atkinson repeated the 
 sentence in the church, before the sermon in the 
 forenoon." 
 
 He sometimes suffered from overstrained speaking, 
 notwithstanding his physical strength, and the admoni-
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 195 
 
 tions of his mother. He thus bemoans his imprudence : 
 " Heard Mr. Hopkins, at Kippax. In the evening, I 
 spoke. Though in the middle of the discourse I lost 
 sight of God, for which I implore pardon, yet the Lord 
 was precious towards the close. The next day I found 
 some slight effects upon the body. O my soul, let not 
 self-murder be charged upon thee. Beware of suicide, 
 which may be committed by improper exertions even 
 in a noble and proper employment. Lord, teach 
 me ! " 
 
 In looking more immediately at his state of religious 
 feeling in the course of the year, though partially dipped 
 into already, there was the same earnest cry for an 
 increase of faith as in the year preceding, and often the 
 same feeling of destitution ; the clouds occasionally 
 thickening around him, and again breaking out into 
 light and joy. And being no less desirous to keep the 
 " inner " than the " outer man " in view, the secret 
 springs of action, than the actions themselves, a few 
 detached extracts may be given. These, as may be 
 expected on such a subject, are more remarkable for 
 depth of feeling than novelty of expression. 
 
 JANUARY. " O God, with reverence, I will call thee 
 Father. In thee, Christ, through grace, I will 
 believe. Pardon, O Lord, my unbelief, that poison 
 to the life of comfort and love ! I see, I must believe ; 
 Lord, I will believe. Thou art the propitiation for 
 sin. ' I hold thee with a trembling hand, but will not 
 let thee go. ' Appear, O Lord, to sin's confusion, 
 and my salvation. Amen. 
 
 FEBRUARY. "O Lord, refine my thoughts, words, 
 and actions ; baptize me with the Holy Spirit ; sanc- 
 tify me wholly; prevent me from resting upon any
 
 196 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 thing but thee; take away all props and hindrances. 
 Let thy glory fill my views, that I may pursue nothing 
 else. Give me a more tender regard for souls. Praise 
 the Lord for patience in a particular trial ! 
 
 MARCH. "Thou art my Father in Christ. But 
 thou wilt shew me greater things than these, if I keep 
 close to thee. Yet, Oh, what inward struggles to pre- 
 serve my confidence, to keep me from lukewarmness, 
 to prevent me from resting in divine favours ! 
 
 " A temptation presented itself. But, praise the 
 Lord, for grace ! I see the dispensations of Christ 
 require me to cry 'Lord, help me.' A baptism of 
 the Holy Ghost and of fire. Wrote a few pages on 
 Psalm xxxiv. 
 
 "My mind pained, and at a distance from God, 
 through unbelief. Oh, what reasons for thankfulness, 
 that I am not in hell. 
 
 APRIL. " This week much shut up in unbelief. 
 Delivered from fear after reading Luther on the Gala- 
 tians, especially his short comment on the 'fruit of 
 the Spirit. ' 
 
 MAY. "Bless the Lord, for a slight taste of mercy 
 and love ! Oh, how sweet how precious ! 
 
 ' A point my good, a drop my store, 
 Eager I ask, I pant for more. ' 
 
 JUNE. "My mind much distracted; but I have 
 obtained some comfort in reading Dr. Owen. 
 
 JULY. " O Lord, let me not be given over to mine 
 enemies : nor suffer me to be ' sounding brass, or a 
 tinkling cymbal.' Indisposed to prayer. Lord, quicken 
 me ! 
 
 " Read part of the Life of Walsh. Oh, what com- 
 munion with God! I am ashamed of myself. This
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 197 
 
 text kept running through my mind, ' Because I live, 
 ye shall live also.' 
 
 "My mind under the happy smile of God's face all 
 day. Oh, appear in my soul more fully, thou ' Hope 
 of glory?' Still happy in the application of some 
 promises, which I read yesterday. 
 
 AUGUST. "At Mr. Shillitoe's rape-thrashing. Praise 
 God, I got no hurt ! So much for preventing grace. 
 At Aberford in the evening. Glory ! glory ! glory ! A 
 precious season ! Souls were deeply awakened, and one 
 was enabled to praise the Lord. 
 
 "O my Lord, my Jesus, my Saviour, my Father, 
 keep me simple, humble, and holy ! A sweet taste 
 of redeeming love. 
 
 " Generally above the world ; and the mind more 
 solid than it has sometimes been. 
 
 " Not so happy. Oh, for simple faith ! My sins 
 appear numerous, heinous, and black. Oh, what a 
 wretch ! What an object of love and mercy ! What 
 but infinite love could have suffered me to live ? 
 
 "A sweet afternoon indeed to my soul. Oh, may I ever 
 possess the deepest self-abasement, and the divinest love ! 
 
 SEPTEMBER. "At Seacroft in the morning, and 
 found the Lord present. Heard Mr. Barber at noon 
 on the same text I had in the morning. At Scholes 
 in the evening, and found it profitable. While at pri- 
 vate prayer, the Lord shewed me such a fulness in 
 Jesus Christ as I never saw before, and my mind 
 closed in with it, to ask of him. Praise the Lord, 
 for such a frame produced by such a sight ! 
 
 "Much fervour in speaking ; but, I fear, a great deal 
 of it animal. Went to prayer in the kitchen at Whit- 
 kirk, and felt better.
 
 198 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 " Oh, how little do I know ! How ignorant and 
 weak ! 'Weak as helpless infancy ! ' Make me, my Lord, 
 more weak, that I may fall upon thee for strength! 
 At Aberford. Spent a little time with Mr. Hopkins. 
 On my return home, I felt such a power from God, 
 in the manifestation of himself in Jesus Christ, as I 
 never before experienced. My mind seemed swallowed 
 up in his. 
 
 OCTOBER. "A little of yesterday's blessing rested 
 upon my soul. 
 
 "Went to pray in a wood. My mind was at first 
 hard, wandering, and distant. On rising, I felt nearer 
 to God. 
 
 "At Aberford fair. Afterwards at the christening of 
 John Batty's child. May all I do and say be for the 
 glory of God ! 
 
 "While reading Baxter's Directory, my old sins rose 
 in view. Lord, I see that nothing can remove those 
 painful recollections, but the clear manifestation of thy 
 pardoning love in Christ. 
 
 " My mind, from this day to the end of the week, 
 under much insensibility. 
 
 " This morning I awoke with some sense of my past 
 sins. I wrestled with the Lord, and asked him to shew 
 me some promise in his Book, which would administer 
 relief. I opened the Bible, and the first text was, 
 'Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more.' 
 The next was, ' If the Son shall make you free; ye shall 
 be free indeed.' Bless the Lord, I claimed the pro- 
 mises. Some reasonings crossed my mind again, while 
 going to Saxton. But these expressions occurred, 
 'Believe, Holdfast your shield Who shall pluck you 
 from his hand ? ' I heard with profit Richard Burdsall
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 199 
 
 of York, at Barkston, in the evening. Praise the Lord, 
 O my soul ! 
 
 "NOVEMBER. "At Seacroft love-feast. Received a 
 letter from Thomas Richardson, which refreshed my 
 soul, containing good news. At Colton in the evening, 
 
 but much pained at some preparations made by R k ; 
 
 but was enabled to lay the case at the feet of the Lord. 
 
 " Pardon my useless conversation in the forenoon. 
 Made a fresh and solemn covenant with the Lord. May 
 he help me to fulfil it to his glory ! 
 
 " Heard Mr. Pawson. Felt a touch of divine power, 
 when he cited that text, ' He tasted death for every 
 man.' 
 
 " Praise the Lord for this day ! I had a glimpse 
 of God's love in giving Christ to be the the propitiation 
 for sinners. 
 
 "At Barwick. But my soul out of frame. My mind 
 still dark. Lord, shine upon it! 
 
 DECEMBER. "The soul is in an easy frame. At 
 Barwick till twelve o'clock. I hope some good was 
 done in the name of the Lord." 
 
 The last quotation refers to the service which closed 
 the old year. 
 
 His sermons became more and more alarming to 
 the sinner, more soothing to the penitent, more 
 cheering to the established Christian, and, upon the 
 whole, more graphic ; the several congregations taking 
 them away with them, and dwelling upon them, both 
 in the mass, and in detail. To sinners especially, 
 his breathings forth were like so many streams of 
 pestilential air upon their artificial enjoyments; his 
 thoughts and images, like so many swarms of locusts, 
 to devour the "fertility and fatness of their laughing
 
 200 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 fields of pleasure," making their past delights odious 
 to them, and each returning joy, after they had heard 
 him, just about as effective as falling snow upon a sheet 
 of water, 
 
 " The snow that falls upon the river, 
 One moment white then gone for ever!" 
 
 As time advanced, his labours became more arduous; 
 and although his Diary for 1801, upon which the 
 reader now enters, presents various omissions, par- 
 ticularly towards the close of the year, yet not less 
 than one hundred sermons may be enumerated, as 
 preached in different places. Some of these were of 
 course preached on the week-day, as usual ; and in 
 two or three instances, he preached four times on the 
 Sabbath, taking Saxton, Linnerton, Barkston, and 
 Shelburn successively. His attendance on the service 
 of the Established Church became, in consequence, 
 still less and less frequent, and when there, it was 
 mostly on sacramental occasions ; while the Thursday 
 evening, which was formerly the evening appropriated 
 to the delivery of his "Cottage Lectures," in -com- 
 pany with Messrs. Graham and Atkinson, was devoted 
 to his class at Scholes. Barwick, however, was not 
 less endeared to his heart, because of the transfer ; 
 for though the parish school-room was given up, and 
 his connexion with the curate had ceased, he generally 
 set apart the Friday evening for the purpose of preach- 
 ing to the inmates of the workhouse, and to such of 
 the villagers as might be disposed to attend. In this 
 labour of love, he was often more than ordinarily 
 blessed, exclaiming, " Oh, what a time of power from 
 God at the workhouse ! " 
 
 The kind attention which he thus paid to the
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 201 
 
 spiritual wants of the poor, some of whom were in all 
 probability unable to reach either church or chapel, 
 is strongly characteristic of his benevolent nature, the 
 impulses of pity in which were not only as sudden 
 as the sound of instruments of music, which obey 
 the touch, but as strong and lasting as the circum- 
 stances which called them forth. 
 
 Though he had entered the Society, in the summer 
 of the preceding year, it was not till the month of 
 February in the present year comprising a period of 
 eight months, that he was received as an accredited 
 Wesleyan Local Preacher. Messrs. Pawson and Bar- 
 ber were on the Leeds circuit at the time. "They gave 
 me three appointments," said Dawson to the biographer, 
 "leaving it to myself, whether to supply them or 
 not." Why this apparent indifference was manifested, 
 is difficult to determine; unless it was a fear, owing 
 to his having preached so long in connexion with the 
 Established Church, that he was more inclined to 
 the Church than the Wesley ans. Mr. Pawson had 
 found occasion, in one of his pamphlets, to animad- 
 vert on the conduct of some of the clergy towards 
 the Methodists ; and there was, at this time, some 
 sharp shooting, on both sides, in the way of con- 
 troversy. Admitting, however, the spirit of the times to 
 have had no influence on his case, in inducing caution or 
 hesitancy, there could be still less ground for it on 
 the score of talent or piety. Had there been any 
 doubt of the latter, he would not have been admitted 
 upon the plan at ah 1 ; and as to the former talent, 
 they were so fully persuaded of this, that he was 
 never once requested to preach what is ominously 
 denominated a trial sermon. He stood No. 22 on 
 i2
 
 202 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the plan, and fulfilled the appointments assigned him 
 with zeal, affection, and integrity. He was planned 
 to three places the first day Ledstone, Scholes, and 
 Kippax. On the first page of a full outline of a 
 sermon on, " My sheep hear my voice, and I know 
 them, and they follow me : and I give unto them 
 eternal life ; and they shall never perish, neither shall 
 any man pluck them out of my hand," John x. 27, 
 28, is written, " Ledstone and Scholes, Feh. 22, 
 1801. This was my first sermon, when my name 
 was on the plan ; and this was the frst Sabbath I 
 filled my place as a regular local preacher I was 
 never before on the plan. " It may be taken for 
 granted, that the same sermon was delivered at both 
 places. On another sermon, on Romans xii. 2, "Be 
 not conformed to this world," &c., written out in 
 full, he entered, "Kippax, Feb. 22, 1801. N. B. 
 This was the first Sabbath, which I preached, as a 
 regular accredited local preacher." In his Diary, of 
 the same date, he writes, "At Ledstone in the morning, 
 and Kippax at noon. Praise the Lord, for "a very 
 good time at Kippax. At Scholes in the evening. 
 In a solemn frame of mind." 
 
 Up to this period, he had paid but little attention, in 
 the course of his reading, to published sermons ; and 
 this was one thing, which, in all probability, indepen- 
 dent of his peculiar genius, gave such an air of 
 originality to his own discourses. He now read those 
 published by Wesley, Whitfield, and Cennick ; and was 
 especially benefitted by Mr. Wesley's sermon on "The 
 Witness of the Spirit," impressed " with the want of 
 an applied Christ, in reading Mr. Whitfield' s sermon 
 on healing the hurt of the daughter of the Lord's people
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 203 
 
 slightly," and "quickened by one of Mr. Cennick's 
 on the woman at Jacob's well." He added to his stock 
 this year, the writings of Dr. Goodwin and Matthew 
 Henry ; and borrowed the works of others belonging to 
 the old school. Having heard Richard Burdsall of York 
 preach a short time before, and being much struck with 
 the originality both of his matter and manner, he was 
 curious to know something more of him, and so pro- 
 cured the " Memoirs " of his Life, as "written by him- 
 self." He was enabled to perceive in the life of this "old 
 veteran," a fac simile of some of the leadings of provi- 
 dence, and many of the sacred drawings of God respect- 
 ing himself, and was not a little relieved by its perusal. 
 
 As the year rolled on, his ardour for more extensive 
 usefulness became more intense ; he was found nar- 
 rating his experience in different love-feasts preaching 
 occasionally for the travelling preachers and occupy- 
 ing the pulpits in Leeds, Holbeck, and Hunslet ; 
 together with the pulpits and stands of Fenton, Tadcas- 
 ter, Towton, Dunkeswick, Harewood, Woodside, Ecup, 
 Armley, Wortley, Forge, Allerton, Thorner, Shadwell, 
 Chapeltown, &c., &c. ; not omitting Sturton, which he 
 was not permitted before to enter, but which Mr. Wade 
 was now anxious to throw open to him, in order to 
 secure his labours. 
 
 In the early part of the year, God was pleased to 
 visit the family with affliction. William was the first 
 upon whom the rod was laid. The stroke was smart, 
 but short. He was no sooner restored, than his sister 
 Sarah was reduced very low, for whose salvation he 
 experienced great anxiety. She was little more than 
 recovered, when his brother Richard was " taken very 
 ill ;" himself again, in his own language, experiencing
 
 204 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 " symptoms of fever ;" further observing, " Let the 
 light of thy countenance, O Lord, shine upon me, and 
 then lay upon me what thou seest good for thine own 
 glory!" Persons who have known little of health, 
 like Watts, Baxter, and others, rarely feel its absence 
 so as to make them unhappy. It is from the remem- 
 brance of that which we have lost, that the arrows of 
 affliction are pointed. The subject of these Memoirs 
 had hitherto enjoyed an even flow of health ; and 
 although the present affliction did not affect the consti- 
 tution, he felt severely. But he knew, to go to his 
 own occupation for a simile, that " As thrashing sepa- 
 rates the corn from the chaff, so does affliction purify 
 virtue." A sentimentalist, sitting in his study, and 
 philosophising on the sufferings of humanity, observes, 
 " Before an affliction is digested, consolation ever comes 
 too soon ; and after it is digested, it comes too late : 
 there is but a mark between these two, as fine almost 
 as a hair, for a comforter to take aim at." This is very 
 pretty in theory somewhat like a piece of frost-work, 
 and might serve the purpose of an irreligious man, just 
 stepping into the room of a spendthrift, stung with 
 remorse at his folly, and putting a purse of gold into 
 his hand ; but the Christian must have his consolations 
 both before and after aye, and in the furnace too. 
 
 His indisposition occasioned but a partial interruption 
 of his labours ; and the spirit which he breathed after 
 it, is worthy of notice. 
 
 " Praise the Lord ! my mind is in a great measure 
 relieved of all painful reflections on my past imperfec- 
 tions, by the contents of ' If any man sin, we have an 
 advocate with the Father,' &c. I was free from dis- 
 traction, while at church, and had a sweet glimpse of
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 205 
 
 Christ as a Mediator and Intercessor. Was at Thomas 
 Stoner's at noon. Lord, keep those whom thou hast 
 called by thy grace. At Bramham in the evening. 
 Praise the Lord for a season of refreshing ! Oh, what 
 comfort thrilled through my soul, while singing a few 
 verses from 'The voice of free grace,' &c." A few 
 days after, he remarks, 
 
 " This text is impressed upon my mind, which 
 serves as a shield, ' Look unto me, and be ye saved.' 
 Bless the Lord for his word! A precious season at 
 B. Johnson's." 
 
 Every blessing is suspended as by a fibre of the finest 
 silk. So he felt it ; and hence, the day after, he thus 
 pours forth his lamentations : " At Leeds ; but lost my 
 shield on my return home. Levity broke out ; and 
 what aggravated it was, I fear it was the fruit of pride 
 or self-complacency. I heard Mr. Barber in the even- 
 ing at Barwick, and was properly affected with the 
 worship. In private prayer, I smarted for my lightness ; 
 for the Lord appeared not, nor visited my soul. Lord, 
 pardon me ! 
 
 " Next day I heard Mr. Barber at Scholes, and was 
 struck, on receiving my society ticket, to find the text 
 upon it, which had been such a blessing, ' Look unto 
 me, and be ye saved.' After this, I had a few precious 
 moments with the Lord in the counting-house." 
 
 He now, both as a private member, and as a local 
 preacher, took an interest in every thing that concerned 
 the circuit and the connexion. The local-preachers had 
 a meeting in " Wortley Chapel," April 22nd ; and there, 
 for the first time, he mingled with them, exclaiming on 
 the occasion, "Bless the Lord for all his mercies!" 
 June 29th, he attended, for the first time, the Quarter
 
 206 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Meeting at Leeds. Here, he observes, " I was rather 
 hurt, in giving my vote for a petition for Mr. Bram- 
 well;" afraid, apparently, of any interference with the 
 order of divine providence ; but finally leaving the 
 whole with, "Thy will be done! send, Lord, whom 
 thou wilt ; only come with them." 
 
 His first appearance as a preacher in Leeds, was July 
 18th, in the old chapel, on a Sunday evening. The 
 Conference commenced the week following, when he 
 attended the religious services connected with it ; em- 
 bracing the opportunity of hearing Messrs. Bradburn, 
 Coke, Benson, J. Wood. Averill, Pipe, &c. Mr. Brad- 
 burn preached, as on former occasions, in the chapel 
 occupied by the Rev. E. Parsons. "But it was the 
 last time he appeared there," said Dawson, when 
 relating the circumstance of his having heard him on 
 the occasion, to the biographer ; and no wonder. He 
 had preached delightfully ; but on coming out of the 
 vestry, when a person was about to assist him off with 
 the gown, either owing to a contempt of such habili- 
 ments, or from some recollection of having been incon- 
 venienced by it in his action in the pulpit, he assumed 
 one of his queer looks doubled his elbows by his side 
 clenched his hands before his breast, having taken a por- 
 tion of the gown in each, then suddenly sending for- 
 ward his .elbows, and shooting out his back at the same 
 moment, rent it from the shoulders downwards, making 
 an opening sufficient for him to escape by, without the 
 necessity of seeking egress in the ordinary way. The 
 friends felt the insult ; and as to himself, after the mood 
 was over, he had the full space of time given to him for 
 repentance, which intervened between the act itself and 
 the grave.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 207 
 
 Towards the close of Conference, the subject of these 
 pages was at Aberford, Tadcaster, and Towton. A 
 travelling preacher was expected at Tadcaster ; but no 
 one arrived in time for the service, and he was called 
 upon to exercise. Not long after, two preachers entered 
 the chapel, who had lingered behind on purpose to hear. 
 Neither of them, of course, would preach ; they were 
 anxious to hear him ; and though he suffered for it, 
 they were not disappointed. 
 
 Messrs. Reece and Bramwell were appointed to the 
 Leeds circuit at Conference, in connexion with Mr. 
 Barber, who had laboured in it the year preceding. 
 The preaching of Mr. Bramwell was peculiarly adapted 
 to Dawson's genius, and was made a special blessing 
 to him, owing, no doubt like his own, to its alternately 
 rousing and soothing effects : hence, 
 
 "I heard Mr. Bramwell. I thought every bar of 
 unbelief would give way. 
 
 "At Seacroft in the morning, where I heard Mr. 
 Bramwell. Saw clearly that nothing but the power of 
 God can make a preacher useful. At Armley at noon, 
 and Wortley at night. A blessed time at Wortley. 
 Stopped at Armley all night. The quarterly meeting 
 being on the Monday, I proceeded to Leeds. Found 
 my mind prepared for a full surrender to God. A 
 profitable day. Much rejoicing (Oct. 4.) at the news 
 of Peace. Oh, that our minds were equally affected 
 with the view of peace as offered in Christ ! 
 
 " Still happy in God ! Glory be to his name ! Heard 
 Mr. Bramwell." 
 
 Speaking of one of Mr. Bramwell' s peculiarities as a 
 preacher, he observes, "I thought the fire of his 
 genius never blazed so brightly, as when he was
 
 208 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 addressing the sinner. He had a natural talent for 
 poetry, and I have heard him speak, extempore, most 
 striking paragraphs, in a sort of blank verse, for twenty 
 or thirty lines together ; when he seemed to plunge the 
 sinner into the midst of tormenting flames, and we 
 heard him raving out the feelings of his enraged 
 passions in the most horrid soliloquies. I once heard 
 him preach on 2 Thess. i. 7 10, when he displayed 
 ' the terrors of the Lord ' in such a manner, as to make 
 the flesh cringe at the rehearsal." This is a just des- 
 cription of the more terrible character of Mr. Bramwell's 
 ministry. At other times, he was as soft as twilight, 
 and as tender as the mother singing her infant to 
 repose. 
 
 Though the subject of these pages had now a good 
 experience in the things of God, as will have been per- 
 ceived, and was tolerably well versed in the stratagems 
 of Satan, yet, he was often, as in the year preceding, 
 depressed in spirit. He found, that there was no hill with- 
 out its vale : and we have some of his sinkings-and swell- 
 ings of heart in the following passage from his Diary. 
 
 " I feel the uncomfortable approaches of that frame, 
 when I feel nothing but my want of feeling. Quicken 
 me, O thou Resurrection and the Life ! 
 
 " A degree of shame possessed my soul after speaking 
 at Kippax, because of my unprofitableness and unfitness 
 for the work in which I was engaged ; though I felt a 
 sweet taste of the love of God on my return home. 
 
 "This week, my mind has been much pained on 
 account of a want of real vital godliness. 
 
 " At West Gar forth ; but overcome with a fit of 
 lightness. Lord, help me ! 
 
 " I was at home in the forenoon, owing to the great
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 209 
 
 snow (March 15) that fell during the day and night 
 before. Bless the Lord for ever ! I, in some measure, 
 relieved my mind to the family. Lord, help me to 
 fulfil my duty in the situation in which I am placed ! 
 At Scholes at noon and Whitkirk at night. 
 
 "Alas, at night, I felt, in consequence of some un- 
 toward things, a violent start of angry grief which 
 made me groan. Oh, what must I do? what must 
 I do ? Lord, help me ! Lord, help me ! 
 
 "My spirit, at West Garforth, did not sufficiently 
 feel the awful truths I delivered to the people. 
 
 " At Seacroft love-feast, I found my mind dry, partly 
 owing, I helieve, to a slight prejudice against the 
 Leader. Oh, how careful should we be, not to pour 
 that sour evil into the breast of another by whispering ! 
 
 " Too much shame, and of the fear of man. 
 
 " A somewhat clamorous, boasting manner of talking 
 this morning. 
 
 " Not properly disposed for prayer this morning. 
 Fruits of bitterness rose in the mind in the forenoon. In 
 the afternoon, conversation wanted its proper savour ; 
 and now, at 4 o'clock, I am pained with just heart-aches. 
 
 " Blamed myself for allowing a slight spirit of mur- 
 muring to rise in the breast. 
 
 " Should have been at the workhouse ; but let the 
 rain prevent me. My soul is pained on this account. 
 
 "A friend came over, from whom I received no good. 
 I feel condemned for not having warned him more 
 solemnly. 
 
 "At Holbeck. A season of temptation at noon ; but 
 a blessed time at night. 
 
 "Blamed myself for not going to J. Barmiston's 
 funeral."
 
 210 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 In this way, he acted the part of a "watchman" 
 over himself, as well as to "the house of Israel;" 
 watching the temper of the mind, the words of the 
 lips, and the general carriage to those around, not 
 only at every point, but every hour of the day ; 
 and that too, with the vigilance, rigour, and fidelity 
 of a centinel, whose sole business it is to watch a 
 garrison. Cares, it is admitted, are as innumerable 
 both in kind and degree, as the sands on the sea 
 shore; and the fable so pleasantly constructed by 
 Hyginus on the subject, shews that man is their 
 proper and almost exclusive prey. But what is applied 
 in another case, will serve here. "Whenever our 
 neighbour's house is on fire, it cannot be amiss for 
 the engines to play a little on our own. Better to 
 be despised for too anxious apprehensions, than ruined 
 by too confident a security. " William Dawson saw 
 the miscarriages of others, and he knew the inclina- 
 tions, startings, shiftings, and windings of the human 
 heart. He had long manifested the utmost anxiety 
 to be "put right," and he was now equally anxious 
 to keep so. 
 
 The Divine Being, however, did not leave him com- 
 fortless ; hence, the following gleams of light, and 
 foretastes of heaven. 
 
 "Bless the Lord for his presence at Thomas Stoner's 
 in the afternoon ! 
 
 " Experienced some of the droppings of his love into 
 my soul at Whitkirk in the evening. Pour the mighty 
 flood! 
 
 "A precious season at Linnerton (on Dike-Side.) 
 Preserve the people, O Lord, humble and simple in 
 thy cause !
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 211 
 
 " A season of nearness to God, while hearing preach- 
 ing at Garforth in the morning. At Colton and Scholes 
 afterwards. In a solemn frame all day. 
 
 " Between sleeping and waking in bed this morning, 
 these words strongly impressed my mind, 'See all 
 your sins on Jesus laid.' Glory, glory be to God ! 
 
 "Preached at Ledstone, Kippax, and Scholes. Praise 
 the Lord for a good time at the two latter places ! 
 
 " Solemnly affected while reading John v. 28, 29. 
 
 "Bless the Lord for drawing me to some comfortable 
 verses while at private prayer. Found power and liberty 
 at Sturton. And Oh, how sweet at Allerton in the 
 evening, while singing the last hymn ! 
 
 "A sense of God's presence in private prayer. 
 
 "The Lord blessed my soul on opening upon these 
 words, 'Not imputing their trespasses unto them.' 
 
 "My mind was much blessed in reading the "Works 
 of Dr. Goodwin, as published in the 'Christian Library;' 
 and I seldom, or ever, was more enabled to surrender 
 my all to God. 
 
 "Thank the Lord, a precious afternoon! Religion 
 is no cunningly devised fable. 
 
 "Heard Mr. Pawson at Leeds in the morning. Found 
 much of the power of God, while I was preaching at 
 Holbeck in the forenoon. At Leeds love- feast in the 
 afternoon. There, blessed be God, I made a public 
 surrender of myself to him and to his people. 
 
 "Attended Barwick church in the forenoon, and heard 
 the rector. Heard John Holmes at Scholes in the after- 
 noon. Returned home, and read some of ' Baxter's 
 Saints' Rest ' to the family, and went to prayer. Bless 
 the Lord, O my soul! Preached at Barwick in the 
 evening.
 
 212 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 "At Church, Seacroft, Scholes, and Little Preston. 
 A sweet time at Church ! Bless the Lord, I feel the 
 good effects of yesterday." 
 
 The omissions previously noticed in his Diary for 
 this year, seem to have been occasioned by discourage- 
 ments, some painful feelings and conflicts often pre- 
 ceding them. But in the midst of all, whether in joy 
 or in sorrow, the following sentiments flowed freely 
 from his pen: "To thee, O Jesus, I willingly yield 
 myself, my all, to serve thine interest when, where, 
 and how thou pleasest. Keep me from evil, support 
 me in trial, and enable me to glorify thee in every- 
 thing through which I may have to pass ; and iu 
 whatsoever I may be engaged." Adding, in the way 
 of experience, as well as purpose and prayer, "My 
 soul is not only drawn out after God, but I feel some 
 drawings from him. This evening, I felt in lying 
 down a sweetness, a melting of heart, of a peculiar 
 kind. Glory be to God ! 
 
 ' Take my body, spirit, soul, 
 Only thou possess the whole."'
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 213 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Activity. Proposed for the itinerant work. Enlarged sphere of 
 action. Cotton Mather's "Directions.'' Desirous of a chapel 
 at Barrrick. Severe mental exercises. Doubts. Mr. Barber. 
 A. Mather's Life. Bunyan's " Grace Abounding. '' Indis- 
 creet praise. Pride and humility. Sensibility. Perplexity. 
 Appointed by Conference to a circuit. Declines travelling. 
 Dissimulation and sincerity met by the providence of God. 
 Mr. Bramwell. Visitations from aboi:e. Paradoxical character 
 of Christian experience to the world. Expense in dress. Pros- 
 perity of the work of God. W. E. Miller. High rents. 
 Feasts. Secrets. Unpleasant forebodings. Natal anniversary. 
 Death of William's grandmother. Ground bought, and a 
 chapel in the course of erection. Mr. Bramwell leaves the cir- 
 cuit. Reflections upon it. 
 
 NOTWITHSTANDING William Dawson's elevation in 
 the sphere in which he moved, he ascended by degrees 
 to the point which he attained ; and with the exception 
 of his non-admission to holy orders which was no 
 discredit either to himself or others, the ladder never 
 once broke beneath him to throw him back, and so 
 render additional ascent laborious. Besides the many 
 rare and curious pieces of " mathematical motion " in 
 the soul, common to all, he had a spring of ac- 
 tion within which would never allow him to stand 
 still. Piety and genius were constantly sowing their
 
 214 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 seeds, and he was as invariably indulged with the 
 honour which springs from them. Whatever may be 
 the truth of the sentiment, when generally applied, 
 that every man has a portion of rust about him at 
 the beginning, and that in England it accompanies a 
 man to the grave not even daring to pen a hie jacet 
 to speak out for him after his death, William Dawson 
 was an exception. Of his spirit, it might have been 
 said, 
 
 " Strong as necessity, it starts away, 
 Climbs against wrongs, and brightens into day. " 
 
 The ennui, or wearisomeness of inaction, was unknown 
 to him ; and he was so generally approved for piety, 
 talent, and zeal, that Mr. Barber proposed him for 
 the itinerant work, March 29, 1802, at the Leeds 
 quarterly-meeting, when he was unanimously approved 
 by his brethren. 
 
 His matter, manner, and Christian spirit, attracting 
 general attention in the societies, led him to take a still 
 more extensive range of country ; and not only did 
 he visit places, which to him were new, but greater 
 demands were made upon his labours in the large 
 chapels in Leeds and elsewhere. There was no diminu- 
 tion of attention, with this additional toil, to the 
 wants and interests of his own immediate neighbour- 
 hood. He was ready to every good word and work 
 throughout the week ; preserving the same anxious 
 solicitude for the welfare of the sick the poor inmates 
 of the workhouse and the life of God in the classes ; 
 not omitting his accustomed fasts, saying, with the 
 apostle, "I keep under my body, and bring it into 
 subjection ; lest that by any means, when I have 
 preached to others, I myself should be a castaway."
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 215 
 
 He was quickened in this work, and at the same 
 time humbled, by reading Cotton Mather's "Directions 
 to a Candidate for the Ministry." 
 
 A chapel being much wanted at Barwick, and there 
 being no immediate prospect of obtaining ground and 
 materials for one, he earnestly addressed himself to 
 God on the subject ; and observes, that he "dedicated 
 part of a day in prayer on account of a preaching- 
 house." 
 
 While thus caring for the churches, it was one of 
 the severest years for mental suffering he had ex- 
 perienced since the time he first escaped from spiritual 
 bondage. Such expressions as these are employed: 
 "The devil is determined to ruin my peace, my happi- 
 ness, my soul." "Heavy in heart and mind." "My 
 soul feels the want of true religion. I am afraid it 
 is too much in' the head ; and the reason is, I think, 
 if it were not, there would be greater pleasure and 
 weight in private prayer." "My spirits are depressed 
 while reflecting on my past life. God raise me up! 
 I would not sin against thee. My heart seems to 
 say though I may not wish what is said, I would 
 rather be in hell without sin, than be in heaven with 
 it." "Religion has not been felt this week in its 
 power, in the way I have sometimes experienced it ; 
 and I am dispirited in consequence." "At private 
 prayer, I am much resisted by the flesh and Satan." 
 " My soul lies humbled before God. Oh, that it were 
 more so ! Let me die, O Lord, rather than live to 
 grieve thee, or bring the slightest stain upon my soul." 
 " Lord, am I given up by thee for not doing thy 
 will?" "Afraid lest I should prove a castaway after 
 all." "Nearly in despair."
 
 216 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 The doubts entertained of the genuineness of his 
 experience in seasons of depression, are not at all re- 
 markable. A strong prejudice exists in the minds of 
 some people against that state of the understanding 
 termed doubt ; but a little reflection will soon convince 
 one, that on a subject that admits of strong proba- 
 bilities on both sides, doubt is as appropriate a state 
 of mind as belief or disbelief on others. It has been 
 properly argued, that there are doctrines, propositions, 
 and facts supported and opposed by every degree of 
 evidence, the proper effect of which is, to leave the 
 mind in an equipoise between two conclusions. In 
 these cases, either to believe or disbelieve would im- 
 ply that the understanding was improperly aifected. 
 Doubt, therefore, is the appropriate result from which 
 there can be no reason either to shrink, or over which 
 to utter the loud lament. If this is the case, in 
 matters purely speculative, it is still more difficult, 
 without the direct witness of the -Spirit, to arrive at 
 correct conclusions in things experimental, in moments 
 of depression, when the light is transmitted, as it 
 were, through the medium of stained glass, rather 
 than immediately from the sun ; for the soul, on such 
 occasions, enclosed within the narrow circle of its own 
 orbit, feels nothing strongly but what acts within that 
 circle ; and the present disposition, fear, or desire, 
 throws its own colouring on surrounding objects. 
 
 On these occasions feeling so much of his own 
 imperfection, he could scarcely assume sufficient cou- 
 rage to reprove sin to enter into the pleasures of 
 social life or proceed in the free and full discharge 
 of the various duties connected with family religion. 
 Hence, his personal upbraidings; "Hurt in hearing
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 217 
 
 a man swear, and not reproving. Oh, may I 
 learn wisdom by experience!" "I did quite wrong 
 in stopping so long at Sturton." "My mind was 
 remarkably solemnized in reading Baxter's 'Directory.' 
 I must, I must speak more to the family. Part of 
 the day has been devoted to private prayer, to plead 
 for more of the power of religion. I want it to take 
 full possession of my soul. Oh, where is the melting 
 heart? Where the humility and brokenness of spirit 
 that ought to possess me? Give it, thou Prince of 
 peace?" He had his siftings, also, as on a previous 
 occasion, on the subject of faith ; but was now as 
 much afraid of the Church as of himself. "I read," 
 he observes, "Mr. Wesley's first Journal. I see I 
 want that faith which raises me still higher into God. 
 Often have I prayed, that I might never become an in- 
 strument of bringing into the Church of Christ any 
 deadly evil. But, unless I possess this living faith, I shall 
 either bring an evil into the Church, or myself, or 
 both. Lord, give me this faith ! " As to social inter- 
 course, he was aware, agreeably to the sentiment of 
 an intelligent writer, that, "Company is an extreme 
 provocative to fancy ; and, like a hot-bed, in gardening, 
 is apt to make our imaginations sprout too fast." 
 One of his prayers was, that God would give him 
 "the bridle of inward love, to keep in check, and to 
 sweeten, conversation . ' ' 
 
 In the course of the same month, that he read the 
 last work, he remarks, "I heard Mr. Barber. Bless 
 the Lord, for an increase of faith in the truth of his 
 word! Lord, increase it till I believe myself into the 
 possession of the promised blessings. On account of 
 my offences, I look for God's chastening hand. Any 
 K
 
 218 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 thing, rather than sin against him ! " To supply any 
 real or imaginary defect at home, as well as to be 
 a constant monitor to himself, he commenced preaching 
 at Barnbow, where he seconded his private, by his 
 public appeals. 
 
 . He omitted, as in the year preceding, several entries 
 in his journal ; and states, that they were occasioned 
 by his depressed state of feeling : intimating, at the 
 same time, that it was for wise ends, and that rem- 
 iniscences of the more painful parts of a man's per- 
 sonal history, are useful to those in a public capacity, 
 by way of enabling them to succour such as may be 
 placed in similar circumstances. He obtained con- 
 siderable' relief by reading the Life of Mr. Alexander 
 Mather, and Bunyan's "Grace Abounding;" respecting 
 the latter of which, he remarks, " I perceive, in many 
 instances, a very great similarity between the experience 
 embodied in these pages, and my own. Dear Jesus, 
 I trust I shall yet see and feel thy great salvation." 
 
 He had committed himself to God; and that God 
 who has declared that he will never "forsake," saw 
 what was coming, and took care to wrap the soul up 
 in the garb of humility before the gale of popular 
 applause was heard, and which he was now be- 
 ginning to feel. " I have been much haunted with 
 pride and self-complacency," says he, "through the 
 breath of indiscreet praise, wafting like a breeze across 
 the soul. Oh, to be nothing ! Oh, to be nothing ! " 
 Again. " I preached at Hunslet. My soul was much 
 drawn out after God in prayer, the night before. But 
 in the afternoon and evening, I was much tempted 
 to self-complacency. ' Oh, hide this self from me, that 
 I no more, but Christ in me mav live ! ' These
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 219 
 
 temptations were but momentary ; but his honesty 
 would not suffer them to be passed unnoticed ; and it 
 was his safety to find, that they were but temptations. 
 Had pride been indigenous to the soul, he would have 
 been in the utmost jeopardy, with flattery so near, 
 to hasten its growth. But "pride," which is said to 
 be "as loud a beggar as want, and a great deal more 
 saucy," had no cravings in him. It was not even 
 permitted to take root, much less to throw out its 
 branches to court the sun and the "breeze." To be 
 noticed with esteem, by persons of sense, is often a 
 patent for esteem with those around ; then comes 
 flattery at its heels ; and in the rear of that again 
 pride, " the trappings of which men rarely put off, 
 till they who are about them put on their winding- 
 sheet." He knew, that 
 
 " Humble valleys thrive with their bosoms full 
 Of flowers, when hills melt with lightning, and 
 The rough anger of the clouds : 
 
 that 
 
 " Heaven's gates are not so highly arched 
 As princes' palaces ; they that enter there 
 Must go upon their knees '' 
 
 Though not at all parsimonious in praise himself, 
 when called for ; and ready to make selections from 
 the better part of a man's character and performances, 
 when in danger of being undervalued ; yet he was 
 careful never to administer the "flattering unction" in 
 the person's presence; and if led, unguardedly, to haz- 
 ard an unfavourable criticism, he was certain to smart 
 for it afterwards. Thus, " My mind has been wan- 
 dering this forenoon. I noticed, perhaps unnecessarily, 
 some innocent improprieties in a preacher's manner of 
 speaking. At all events, my remarks were not to
 
 220 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 edification. Oh, that my 'speech' may 'be always 
 with grace, seasoned with salt.' " On another occasion ; 
 " Gave way to some warmth of temper, in consequence 
 of which some hasty words were spoken, producing 
 great distance of soul from God. Lord, save me!" 
 In all cases in which pain seemed to be unnecessarily 
 inflicted upon another, he was instantly plunged into 
 the person's circumstances, and was tremblingly alive 
 all over : for robust as was his figure, and strong as 
 was his language, he was possessed of exquisite sen- 
 sibility, and was capable of receiving the most powerful 
 impressions, whether pleasant or tmpleasant, from every 
 subject that concerned the heart, as well as from every 
 object that addressed the senses. 
 
 The time approached for his acceptance or non- 
 acceptance, by the Conference, as an itinerant preacher. 
 Many obstacles of a domestic character stood in the 
 way ; and the exercise which he had experienced in the 
 interval, and which seemed to overshadow his Christian 
 evidence, was the circumstance selected by the disturber 
 of peace, for annoying him at this critical moment. 
 The following remarks are found in his Diary. 
 
 "Monday, June 28th. At Leeds, being quarter- 
 day. Blessed be God, I found my mind in a rising 
 frame, while a few of the brethren were praying. 
 
 "Tues. 29. Much perplexed in my spirit this mor- 
 ning, to know how far it is the will of God that I should 
 be a travelling preacher. Most wise and gracious God ! 
 over-rule the darkness of my understanding, remove 
 remaining unbelief, and correct self-will in my will and 
 affections ! Let all be done for thy glory ! Make thy 
 way plain before me, and direct my steps ! 
 
 "Thursday evening, July 1st. Disposed for prayer.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 221 
 
 One grand objection which appears to me against my 
 going out to travel is, that I have not at this moment 
 the clear witness of the Spirit. The apostles were to 
 be endued with power from on high, before they went 
 to preach. 
 
 "Friday 2. Set apart for fasting and prayer, that 
 direction may be afforded, and a blessing given, in this 
 important business. 
 
 " Saturd. 3. Purchased Mr. Beanland's barn for a 
 preaching-house. Lord, smile ! 
 
 "Sund. 4. Heard Mr. Reece preach at Bramley in 
 the forenoon. A precious season. I took the pulpit 
 in the afternoon. Not so good a season. 
 
 "Mond. 5. Much engaged in mind about travelling, 
 preaching-house, &c. 
 
 "Tuesd. 6. "Went to Leeds. Gave a cool consent 
 to travel. But my mind is touched in a tender part, 
 when I see my mother so much elated at the 
 thought that I shall continue a little longer, on account 
 of the preaching-house. Ah, Lord, how tender a 
 point is this ! Look in love upon me, for thy name's 
 sake! 
 
 "Thursd. 8. Backward to religious duties. God 
 help me ! 
 
 "Friday 9. Visited G. Haigh. He seems on the 
 verge of eternity, and under great pressure of pain. 
 
 "Sunday 11. At Halton and Colton. Bless the 
 Lord for a measure of liberty at both places ! 
 
 "Wed. 14. Dismissed my reasonings about travel- 
 ling, and committed the whole to the Lord. Spent the 
 afternoon with Mr. Reece, and was at Whitkirk in the 
 evening. Praise the Lord for a refreshing season ! 
 
 " Thursd. 15. Waited upon Sir Thomas Gascoigne,
 
 222 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 at Parlington, to obtain his acceptance of my brother 
 Richard in my place, as steward of the Colliery." 
 
 Though his mother was still opposed to his leaving 
 home, it was agreed, at length, that Richard should 
 take his office ; and here, his Diary, as to further 
 particulars, leaves the whole blank. But some frag- 
 mentary conversations, which he had with the biog- 
 rapher, will supply the omission. He was accepted by 
 the Conference ; and his name, in connection with 
 that of Mr. Filter, stood on the MS. Stations for 
 Wetherby, near Leeds. The Conference commenced 
 at Bristol, Monday, July 26th. On going to the 
 head steward, on the Saturday evening before, to close 
 his accounts, he found though everything had assumed 
 the appearance of being amicably settled, that his feel- 
 ings and expectations had been sported with ; the 
 steward coldly stating, that he thought they could 
 do without the services of his brother. Finding that 
 plans had been formed to prevent his brother from 
 entering upon the proposed situation, in order as it 
 afterwards turned out, to secure it for a relative of 
 the steward's own, Dawson's eye instantly flashed fire, 
 and he said, "Well, then, I'll remain ; and you may 
 give me less wages, if you judge proper : this," con- 
 tinued he, "was as great a thunder-clap to the steward, 
 as his statement was to me." He immediately wrote 
 to Mr. Barber, stating that, for the sake of others, 
 he deemed it his duty to relinquish all thoughts of 
 going out to travel ; entering into the particulars of 
 the case. What is not a little singular, he met Mr. 
 Bramwell at Chapeltown, on the 18th of the month, 
 who said to him, in his positive, yet familiar way, 
 " Billy, I think you ought not to go out to travel ;
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 223 
 
 the time has not yet come; you have not done all 
 your work at home : " assigning no reason, but leaving 
 the words to produce their own impression. It may 
 be further remarked, that though the steward thwarted 
 him in his designs of itinerating, the steward himself 
 was afterwards disconcerted in his plans ; for the place 
 which he had in view, on which to settle his relative, 
 was not only given up, but 30 acres of grass land; which, 
 though not rich, but serviceable to the farm, was 
 added to Barnbow in consequence of it; Sir Thomas 
 observing, to the subject of these Memoirs, "You 
 shall have the additional land at a rent which shall 
 not hurt you." So much for integrity and dissimula- 
 tion. Dawson, through whose "breast of crystal," 
 the steward was enabled to read every purpose, reaped 
 the reward of his sincerity ; and the steward, whose 
 "heart and face were so far asunder, as to hold no 
 intelligence," was disappointed of his hopes. The 
 path of dissimulation is not unaptly described by Blair 
 to be a "perplexing maze. After the first departure 
 from sincerity, it is not in our power to stop; one 
 artifice unavoidably leads on to another; till, as the 
 intricacy of the labyrinth increases, we are left en- 
 tangled in our own snare." Sir Thomas himself might 
 not be fully aware of the steward's designs ; and, 
 therefore, might have no intention to counteract them ; 
 but Providence employed him on the occasion to do 
 its own work, while leaving him in the free exercise 
 of the will. 
 
 William Dawson now dismissed all anxiety from his 
 mind, respecting any removal from home ; and con- 
 sidered himself as fixed in rural life to the end of 
 his days.
 
 ZZ4 MEMOIRS OP 
 
 He was at Chapeltown, Oct. 24th, and observes that, 
 with a mixture of inferior feelings, he felt "a strong 
 desire for the glory of God." But he adds, " On my 
 return home, I found an unusual emptiness of soul." 
 Two days after he remarks, " I have been much im- 
 pressed with an account of the sudden death of one of 
 my hearers at Chapeltown." 
 
 Though he profited greatly by the preaching and 
 conversation of the other preachers, the return of Mr. 
 Bramwell to Barwick and its neighbourhood, was es- 
 pecially hailed with joy. In November, he remarks, 
 " Surely the Lord will bless me this day. Mr. Bram- 
 well is expected at Barwick. Make bare thine arm, O 
 Lord, in this place ! At the time of preaching, my 
 soul was particularly drawn out after God, for a blessing 
 upon myself and upon the hearers. "We had a meeting 
 at six o'clock the next morning. It was a precious 
 season. Praise the Lord! Through the remainder of 
 the week, I experienced unusual power to draw near 
 to God, and to lay myself at his feet." 
 
 On other occasions, painful as the exercises of the 
 year had been, he could, at intervals, give utterance 
 to such expressions as these: "This morning, my 
 prayers have had wings. " " Uncommon liberty at 
 Aberford. It is thy Spirit, O adorable Lord, that 
 makes the preacher ! " " Inwardly resting upon God. 
 Oh, how sweet a spirit is passive resignation, grounded 
 upon the promises ! but how much sweeter must 
 answered expectations be ! " " The Lord is in our 
 class-meetings!" "A time of power at Barwick." 
 "Made a fresh surrender of myself to the Lord, 
 at the sacrament." "Some sweet thrills of melting 
 mercy!" "With gratitude, humility, self-abasement,
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 225 
 
 and self-devotedness, I adore God for his manifested 
 presence, while preaching at Barwick and Barnbow 
 Hall." "Oh, how easy and delightful it is to pray 
 and preach with divine liberty ! " "A particular 
 manifestation of God. Still, I claim him as my Father 
 reconciled." "Heard of good being done, through 
 my unworthy services, at Holbeck." 
 
 By connecting some of these triumphant bursts with 
 the heart -rendings noticed in the course of the year, 
 his religion will appear to be made up only of con- 
 tradictions ; or, if not of these, one part of his ex- 
 perience at the antipodal point from the other. And 
 yet, they are the contradictions, or opposites, that 
 are found in fellowship with saints of the highest order. 
 Such sentiments, as the following, are mere paradoxes 
 to the man of the world: "When I am weak, then 
 am I strong;" "as deceivers, and yet true, as 
 unknown, and yet well known, as dying, and behold, 
 we live, as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, as poor, 
 yet making many rich, as having nothing, yet pos- 
 sessing all things." Should the Christian be charged 
 with patronizing paradoxes, in holding forth such 
 expressions, he is entitled to answer with Chrysippus, 
 that they only proceed from his love of truth. He 
 can neither think nor feel like unenlightened men. 
 As he has joys, so he has conflicts, with which the 
 wicked have no power to intermeddle. Music may be 
 in his heart, and he may be ready to burst into song, at 
 the very moment a wicked man is passing him in the 
 street, and pitying him for his sombre views of real life. 
 
 We hear the subject of these pages again relieving 
 his soul in imploring accents : " Bless me, O God, 
 with saving grace in my soul ; and make me useful 
 
 K2
 
 226 MEMOIRS OP 
 
 in thy hands in saving sinners ! Be this the case, and 
 I care not what I am in temporal circumstances, where I 
 am in life, or how thou art pleased to deal with me ! " 
 
 An occasion was taken to notice his dress in the 
 preceding chapter, chiefly as to its form ; but he now 
 penetrated a little further. As he became more dead 
 to the world, he became more cautious not to indulge 
 in any needless expense ; that he might have the more 
 to spare for necessary purposes. His ruffles had been 
 laid aside, for which he innocently stood rebuked ; 
 but he saw that persons might appear plain, and yet 
 be costly in their attire, and that what they gained 
 in conscience by the cut, they might lose by extrava- 
 gance in the quality. In one instance, he complains, 
 this year, as he had done in earlier life, of going too 
 high in price for a part of his costume ; stating, 
 that the Christian should be "above unnecessary ex- 
 penses." As he strove to steer a medium course in 
 quality, so he knew there was a medium between 
 the fop and the sloven taking not only the yeoman, 
 as previously noticed, but the Christian, into all his 
 considerations. He had no objection to "the ermine's 
 skin," and to the "silk-worm" becoming the "spins- 
 ter" of the female, in certain ranks in life, but he 
 had a serious objection to men, and especially persons 
 connected with the ministerial office, appearing as 
 "Madame Superbia" is represented, as if constantly 
 "studying the lady's library The looking-glass." 
 While, however, he loved ease, plainness, and modera- 
 tion, he shunned coarseness ; persuaded, " that if Tully 
 himself had pronounced one of his orations with a 
 blanket about his shoulders, more people would have 
 laughed at his dress, than would have admired his
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 227 
 
 eloquence." It is a shrewd remark of a German writer, 
 that "dress is a table of our contents." 
 
 His Diary of 1803, he carried forward to the month 
 of October ; omitting the two following, and several 
 dates in those preceding. He began, no doubt, to 
 find a sameness in constantly adverting to his joys 
 and his sorrows ; and having the same battles to fight, 
 and the same grace to assist him in his struggles, 
 a record of them seemed less necessary. 
 
 On the 7th of January, he "renewed his covenant 
 with God, in the most solemn manner ; " and hoped 
 that it would be a "bond never to be broken." In 
 the same month, he was much profited by a visit 
 from Mr. W. E. Miller to Barwick ; and several per- 
 sons having joined the Society at Scholes, about that 
 time, he exulted to find "most of the lambs " enjoying 
 the full benefit of Christian fellowship ; and also to 
 find, that " Edward Joley's wife had entered into 
 liberty." On the Sabbath day following, he proceeds, 
 "I preached at Garforth for J. Ible, and heard J. 
 Richards at Barwick. I was at Barwick in the evening. 
 My soul was melted with the Divine presence the 
 whole of the day. P. Smith was deeply affected on 
 account of her lost state, while by herself. On our 
 return from the meeting, we found her in deep distress. 
 The Lord answered prayer on her behalf." 
 
 He had been gradually prepared for the more stir- 
 ring occasions, which often attended the ministry of 
 Messrs. Bramwell and Miller, by the living witnesses 
 that had sprung up under his own preaching, the 
 subjects, sometimes, being unable to repress their 
 feelings during service. 
 
 Some additional support from the flourishing state
 
 228 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of the Societies, seemed necessary at this time, to 
 enahle him to meet, with sanctified feeling, an exercise 
 which affected the family. Feb. 1, he remarks, "I 
 was at Aberford the whole of the day, waiting to 
 take the farm at the advanced rent. I am afraid I 
 talked too much. " It would have been marvellous, 
 had he been mute on the occasion, seeing that the 
 farm, with the exception of the grass land added to 
 it, was sufficiently high before. But during the war, 
 many of the landlords injured their estates, by raising 
 the rents, so as to place it beyond the power of the 
 tenant to enrich the land, by affording it proper cul- 
 ture. High rents are only calculated to exasperate 
 the restless, and dishearten the obedient : they leave 
 men helpless and hopeless, and accustom them to look 
 upon their best securities from ruin economy and 
 industry, as perverted for the worst of purposes by 
 those who can be, and who ought to be, the best 
 encouragers of their social interests. Where the grace 
 of God is not present as a corrective, they compel 
 men to exchange love for hatred, confidence for dis- 
 trust, and submission for resistance. William Dawson, 
 however, took the farm again, resolved, by patient 
 industry, to plod his way through another term ; and 
 for this he was tolerably fitted by exuberant vigour 
 and economical habits. 
 
 Two days after, he again visited Aberford, being 
 obliged to be present at the "Coal-feast." But he 
 returned from the feast as from a regular meal ; and 
 not as many do unfit for either mental or physical 
 labour; "like lamps choked by a superabundance of 
 oil, or fires extinguished by excessive fuel." On his 
 return, he observes, "I called at Thomas Goodall's,
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 229 
 
 and preached. " He was not one of those men, of 
 whom Seneca speaks, who divide their lives betwixt 
 an anxious conscience and a nauseated stomach ; and 
 who receive the reward of their intemperance in the 
 diseases it generates. Rising with an appetite, he was 
 sure to secure digestion ; and he was as fit for the 
 work of God after, as before the feast. This is a 
 fine example to the "drunkard," who is quaintly, 
 but pithily said, " to drown himself in his cups ; " and 
 to the "glutton," who, with equal force of expression, 
 is said, "to dig his own grave with his teeth." 
 
 A little point may be noticed which affected him 
 at the same time, and which may be adverted to for 
 the sake of others. Though he was prudent and 
 cautious, he was not close and suspicious. Christian 
 character inspired him with confidence. But he had 
 to repent of misplaced confidence. "I was hurt," 
 says he, " on hearing that J had told what I com- 
 mitted to him as a secret." The thing might have 
 been trivial in itself, and calculated to harm no one. 
 But he looked at the breach of trust. And yet, had 
 he only reflected for a moment, on the frailty of 
 human nature, he would have found, that there is 
 often a proneness to divulge a secret, from the vanity 
 of being entrusted with it. It has been stated, with 
 grave humour, but with some mixture of truth, that 
 " Secrets are so seldom kept, that it may be with 
 some reason doubted, whether the quality of reten- 
 tion be so generally bestowed ; and whether a secret 
 has not some subtle volatility by which it escapes, 
 imperceptibly, at the smallest vent, or some power 
 of fermentation, by which it expands itself, so as to 
 burst the heart that will not give it way." That is a
 
 230 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 fine sentiment, "What is mine, even to my life, is 
 her's I love ; but the secret of my friend is not mine. " 
 
 At the close of the same month, on which the farm 
 was raised in rent, Mr. Porter informed him, that 
 " Sir Thomas Gascoigne intended to set down the 
 colliery." This, of course, affected his stewardship, 
 and would continue to do so, till either the workings 
 should be resumed, or another pit should be opened. 
 "The account," he observes, "was sudden, and pro- 
 duced various thoughts and feelings." He adds, "Lord, 
 undertake for me and mine." This was probably 
 occasioned by the "advance" of wages, which took 
 place at the time. 
 
 His labours in the old and new chapels, in Leeds, 
 became still more frequent, and were not only highly ac- 
 ceptable, but rendered a great blessing in the conversion 
 of souls to God. Hearers and converts, also, continued 
 to multiply in his own neighbourhood ; and he himself 
 had become a leader, not only at Scholes, but apparently 
 at Barwick. "Mr. Bramwell was at Barwick, " he 
 remarks in March ; and proceeds, " Bless the Lord 
 for a very crowded house, for drawing so many to 
 hear ! Oh, that he would appear with power and glory 
 in my classes ! There is the appearance of an opening 
 work in the neighbourhood. May nothing retard it ! 
 May it be deep, clear, and effectual ! " 
 
 In the same month, he met his uncle William at 
 Wakefield, to consult him, apparently, respecting the 
 probable result of his situation, should the colliery 
 be laid aside. Just after this, on going to Kippax 
 to preach, he observes, "The mare fell under me, 
 and upon me ; but I was not much worse, except 
 in my leg, which was crushed. Bless the Lord, for
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 231 
 
 his hand of love, which was over me for good ! " In 
 the evening, his knee was much swelled at Little 
 Preston ; and he was compelled, in consequence of 
 it, to rest some time from labour. 
 
 On the 29th of the month, on the return of which 
 he was more than usually affected, he enters into his 
 Diary, "As I call this the last day of this year, 
 (being the day before the anniversary of his birth- 
 day,) I desire to be deeply humbled, because of my 
 past imperfections and unprofitableness ; and I wish 
 the feeling to be so strong, as to produce proper and 
 lasting impressions." The next day, he writes, "In 
 looking back, I find much, very much cause for self- 
 abasement. Looking inward, I feel the absence of 
 much good, and the presence of much of the evil 
 of human nature. Directing the view forward, clouds 
 and darkness appear to be lying on the face of the 
 scene not knowing what to do. My place at the 
 colliery is likely to cease, the farm is advanced, 
 and the necessities of the family are great! "What 
 the end will be, is not for me to state. The entrance 
 upon this year of my life is important. Surely it 
 ought to be attended with prayer and self-dedication 
 to God." So it was distinguished : and he could not 
 but see a providence in his remaining at home, that 
 the family might have the aid of his counsel, and be 
 encouraged by his example and his prayers. His 
 constant prayer, while passing through the cloud, was 
 " Lord, undertake for me ! " 
 
 June 4th, he remarks, "This day I have to record 
 an affecting providence. My grandmother was found 
 dead in her bed this morning. Pardon, O Lord, any 
 omission of duty in reference to her ! I praise thy
 
 232 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 name for what thou didst enable me to do and to 
 feel for her. But after all, forgive omissions." The 
 tender affections, comprehending all the different modi- 
 fications of love, appeared in him in various forms, 
 and degrees, from the transient good-will which he 
 felt for a common stranger, in matters purely civil, 
 to the fondness with which he watched over the spi- 
 ritual interests of his own family ; and they are never 
 so engaging as was the case with him, as when 
 they improve the character. This, indeed, is maintained 
 to be their natural tendency, inasmuch as they prevent 
 our attention from being confined to ourselves, and 
 create both an interest in the welfare of others, and 
 also an anxiety to recommend ourselves to their esteem. 
 When the grace of God spiritualizes the whole, then 
 the young Christian becomes a nursing father to the 
 patriarch in years. 
 
 One thing which greatly engrossed his attention, was 
 a new chapel at Barwick. He had prayed for one ; 
 and as events were hastening the fulfilment of his 
 wishes, and one would scarcely have been ventured 
 on without him, it was converted into another reason 
 in providence for his not going out to travel. April 
 18th, he states that he went to Fleet Mill, to see 
 whether Mr. Evens would sell a piece of ground for 
 a preaching-house, but did not meet with him, at 
 home. Having applied to him in the interim, Mr. 
 E. examined the ground, June 18, and consented to 
 allow him to take as much ground as was necessary 
 for the purpose, at one shilling per yard. This was 
 matter of praise, as before, the business had been the 
 subject of prayer. Wednesday the 21st, "The cha- 
 pel," he observes, "was set out, and a part of the
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 233 
 
 foundation dug." The "first stone was laid August 
 loth ; " and he states it to have been "reared Oct. 27." 
 
 In the midst of his joys and anxieties for a place 
 of worship, he had his fears exercised, and manifested 
 deep sympathy with the societies in the case of a 
 partial revolt from the body. July 5, he remarks, 
 "Important intelligence from Leeds. Mr. Bramwell 
 has departed from the Methodists. Great and un- 
 comfortable, I fear, will be the consequences, if the 
 Lord does not, in mercy, heal the breach. Spare 
 us, good Lord ; and do not permit the spirit of 
 division to rend the hearts of thy people from each 
 other ! Pardon any non-improvement of union and 
 peace; and if it be possible, let us not see a house 
 divided against itself, 'but make us one in heart 
 and soul, and keep us one in thee.' ' Such were 
 his musings in his closet. Fifteen years after, when 
 he preached a funeral sermon, occasioned by the 
 death of that excellent man, to thousands of persons 
 in the open air, in Leeds, he adverted to the subject 
 with great tenderness, fidelity, and ingenuity nicely 
 balancing between the Wesleyan body and his subject, 
 and desirous of giving to each the full weight of their 
 worth. As the sermon was printed and published on 
 the occasion, an extract will shew the delicacy of 
 some of his touches, in handling a subject which 
 involved a difference of opinion. 
 
 When adverting to particular traits of character, he 
 observes of his subject, that, "As he was zealous, so 
 he was jealous for the honour of his God. His love 
 watched with jealous eye, lest the Lord Jesus should 
 be robbed of his honour, and a rival admitted into 
 the heart of his church. His jealousy suspected that
 
 234 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 one was insinuating itself among us as a body, and that 
 was THE WORLD; that a criminal love was openly 
 manifesting itself in a growing conformity to the men, 
 the maxims, and the spirit of the world; and, as a 
 certain consequence, that there was an increasing de- 
 ficiency in spirituality of mind, and entire devotedness 
 to God. Now, it is well known that jealousy, which 
 is 'cruel as the grave,' always caricatures and mag- 
 nifies the object of its suspicions and fears. 
 
 "So it was with the prophet Elijah. The revolt 
 of Israel from their allegiance to the true God, and 
 their estrangement from his worship, were viewed 
 with a jealous eye; and he retired from the hateful 
 scene into a place where his heart could not be torn 
 asunder, by being a witness of the worship of Baal. 
 When the word of the Lord came to him, and said, 
 ' What doest thou here, Elijah ? ' he answered, ' I 
 have been very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts ; 
 for the children of Israel have FORSAKEN THY COVE- 
 NANT, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy pro- 
 phets with the sword; and I, even I, only am left; 
 and they seek my life, to take it away.' But the 
 evil was distorted and magnified ; and the Lord cor- 
 rected his error, by informing him, that he had yet 
 left, 'seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which 
 had not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which 
 had not kissed him.' 
 
 " So it was with Mr. Bramwell. At a certain 
 period of his pilgrimage, he suspected that the love 
 of the world was dividing our hearts with Christ; 
 and he could not bear the thought. His imagination 
 took the pencil, to draw the portrait of the hated 
 rival. It rose to a monster before his eyes. It alarmed
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 235 
 
 his fears ; it biassed his judgment ; it influenced his 
 will ; and, in the simplicity and sincerity of his heart, 
 he retired from his circuit. It was at this important 
 crisis, that some of his brethren met with him and 
 enquired, 'What doest thou here, brother?' He 
 might have answered, with great propriety, 'I have 
 been very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts. I fear 
 a criminal love of the world is rivalling Jesus Christ 
 in the heart of his Church ; and, therefore, I thought 
 my best course was to retire, and try what can be 
 done by me in any other way.' But when his breth- 
 ren softened dpwn the distorted features of the 
 detested object, which his trembling hand, at the 
 instigation of his jealous heart, had drawn, when 
 they took off the deep shades with which he had 
 overcharged its countenance, when they drew the pic- 
 ture of the monster DIVISION, when they proved 
 that, in the present state of the Methodist body, 
 the evils of a schism and division would be much 
 greater than the evils which he lamented and deplored, 
 he then saw, in some measure, as they did. Con- 
 viction, like a voice behind him, cried out, 'This is 
 the way; walk ye in it.' He listened. He obeyed. 
 He retraced his steps. He returned to his work ; 
 filled his station with credit to himself and profit to 
 the Church ; and lived and died in union with his 
 brethren."
 
 236 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Opening of a chapel at Barwick. Collecting Book. The Rev. 
 Thomas Taylor and John Grant. Occasional sermons. Visit 
 to Hull. Rev. Joseph Bradford. Character. Characteristic 
 distinctions. Dr. Bates's Works. Samuel Popplewett, Esq. 
 Afflictive dispensation of Providence. Friendship. Rev. Miles 
 Atkinson, as a preacher. Increasing popularity. Biographer's 
 first interview with Mr. Damson. Rev. Andrew Fuller. First 
 public Missionary Meeting among the Wesley ans at Leeds. An 
 extract from Mr. Damson's speech on the occasion. Compara- 
 tive view of the Wesleyan Missions. The partial and indirect 
 influence of Mr. Dan-son's occasional play of fancy upon speakers 
 and hearers. 
 
 WITH the exception of two or three brief notices, his 
 religious Diary appears to have terminated with the 
 year 1803. "What chiefly followed from hence, were 
 minutes of the places he \isited, and the texts on which 
 he preached. Had he indulged in the particularity of 
 Ralph Thoresby, of Leeds, in his " Diary," or Samuel 
 Pepys in his " Memoirs," he might, with his observing 
 eye and warm heart, have furnished many curious, 
 instructive, and moving incidents, while travelling, as 
 he afterwards did, from one end of the kingdom to 
 another. 
 
 The chapel which was " reared " at Barwick, Octo- 
 ber 27th, the year preceding, and in the erection of
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 237 
 
 which he exulted in being able to state, that " not an 
 accident, as the world employs the term, had happened 
 to any one," was opened by Mr. Thomas Taylor, April 
 29th, 1804. "This day," he observes, "Mr. Taylor 
 opened the preaching-house, in the presence of a great 
 company of people ; and, what is better, under the 
 gracious smile of God, which was sensibly felt by many 
 of his children. We may turn our eyes upon it, and 
 ask, 'What hath God wrought?' And with equal 
 astonishment may we look, when we consider by whom 
 he has wrought. We dare not impeach the wisdom of 
 the Lord in the choice of such unworthy instruments, 
 but adore it as an instance of his unsearchable proceed- 
 ings, who, in this, as in many other cases, has ' chosen 
 the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, 
 the weak things of the world to confound the things 
 that are mighty, and base things, and things which 
 are despised, yea, and things which are not, to bring 
 to nought the things that are ! ' May the Lord answer 
 prayer /or it and in it, that generations yet unborn may 
 find in it the Lord Jesus Christ ! " He further ob- 
 serves, " The first love-feast was held at Barwick by 
 Mr. Grant, July 8. He preached excellently. May 
 the Lord follow the means with a lasting blessing to 
 souls ! " 
 
 Nearly the whole of the trouble connected with 
 the erection devolved upon himself, as to purchases, 
 looking after the builders, joiners, glaziers, painters, 
 &c. ; collecting the monies, and meeting expenses. 
 His " Collecting Book," which has been preserved, is 
 a curiosity, comprising fine specimens of penmanship, 
 exactness, and piety. It is preceded with notices of 
 laying the foundation, rearing, opening the chapel, &c.
 
 238 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Then follows, as a kind of title-page, "June 1803. 
 ' Prosper thou the work of our hands upon us.' Psalm 
 xc. 17' 'They shall prosper that love Zion.' Psalm 
 cxxii. 6. June 1804. *EBENEZER.' 1 Sam. vii. 12. 
 1 Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.' " The next page 
 is headed with, " An Account of Monies promised and 
 given, hy those who love the prosperity of Zion, towards 
 the expense of a preaching-house at Barwick." Imme- 
 diately after this, columns are ruled for double entry, 
 in pounds, shillings, and pence, the first three appro- 
 priated to monies " promised," the second to monies 
 "given." The "heading" of each page encloses a 
 text of Scripture, in the Roman character, as if set in 
 type, with a view, apparently, immediately to catch the 
 eye of the persons to whom he presented the book for 
 donations. The texts selected are ; " God loveth a 
 cheerful giver," 2 Cor. ix. 7. " Freely give," Matt. x. 
 8. " Honour the Lord with thy substance," Prov. iii. 
 9. "Give, and it shall be given unto you," Luke vi. 
 38. " With such sacrifices God is well pleased," Heb. 
 xiii. 16. "He which soweth bountifully, shall reap 
 also bountifully," 2 Cor. ix. 6 " He which soweth 
 sparingly, shall reap also sparingly," 2 Cor. ix. 6 " I 
 know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith," 
 Rev. ii. 19. "There is that scattereth, and yet in- 
 creaseth," Prov. xi. 24. "Give to every man that 
 asketh of thee," Luke vi. 30 ; closing with, "Thou 
 shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just," 
 Luke xiv. 14. In consequence of taking with him 
 his " THUS SAITH THE LORD," he had scarcely a 
 dozen failures, in the various promises made to him 
 some of which might possibly arise from a change of 
 circumstances ; and in comparatively small sums, from
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 239 
 
 "Benny Swift's " shilling, to the jive pounds subscrip- 
 tions of Mr. Warner, of Garforth, Mr. Pawson, jun., 
 of Thorner, Thomas Stoner, of Barwick, and Mr. 
 Whitehead, of Leeds, he collected, at intervals, from 
 June 1803, to April 18, 1805, the sum of .150. 7s. 9d. 
 
 Mr. Taylor, who opened the chapel, had neither fine 
 sense, nor exalted sense, so called ; but he had what is 
 much more useful, good, strong, common sense ; that 
 of which there is much less in the world than the world 
 is aware. He had no glitter ; he despised it ; knowing, 
 in the language of a wit, that "he who will carry 
 nothing about him but gold, will be every day at a loss 
 for want of readier change." His sermons profited the 
 mass, being within the comprehension of all, and in- 
 tended to improve the heart, rather than gratify the 
 taste. Mr. Grant, who led the love-feast in the 
 newly erected building, was of a different class. He 
 was an engaging preacher, and was much admired by 
 the subject of these Memoirs, for ease, perspicuity, 
 occasional elegance, and general usefulness. He pos- 
 sessed springs of rhetoric which were rarely dry ; and 
 his eloquence, which never failed to plead in companion- 
 ship with nature, was often irresistible. 
 
 This year 1804, the subject of these pages was 
 invited to preach in the Birstal circuit ; and being now 
 occasionally selected for special work, he preached a 
 sermon on occasion of the death of Mrs. Wade, of 
 Sturton Grange, towards its close. The text selected 
 was, Isai. Ivii. 1, 2 ; and being in the masculine, might 
 be deemed a little out of place ; but as he had to expa- 
 tiate on character rather than sex, and it was the text 
 in all probability which most deeply affected his heart, 
 it became the object of his choice.
 
 240 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 In the year 1 805, he stood No. 4, on the plan, while 
 older men were below. This, without making any in- 
 vidious distinction in reference to talent or popularity, 
 might have arisen from the length of time he had been 
 employed in the work, having been engaged in preach- 
 ing, including his labours in the Established Church, 
 from twelve to thirteen years. Towards the close of 
 the year, he preached at Methley, on 1. Sam. xii, 24, 
 being the day appointed for a general thanksgiving, in 
 consequence of Lord Nelson's victory at the battle of 
 Trafalgar. 
 
 From 1805 to 1809, his course, though laborious, 
 was not strongly marked with incident. It was dis- 
 tinguished, however, for increasing piety and useful- 
 ness. But as these have been dwelt upon, particularly 
 his religious experience, by way of shewing the solidity 
 of the foundation upon which the rising superstructure 
 of holiness was to be reared, the biographer may now, 
 with a view to prevent sameness, be more sparing in 
 his remarks on these topics. 
 
 His friends kept dropping into the grave around 
 him, like leaves strewing the ground in autumn ; and 
 over these, as over the remains of Mrs. Wade, he 
 generally had to pronounce the funeral oration. Among 
 the departed, may be noticed, Ann Smith, S. Thomp- 
 son, Gabriel Tomlinson, and Mary Clarkson, of Barwick, 
 Charles Abbott, Mr. Barbey, of Swillington, Mrs. 
 Philips, of Weeton, not omitting his old patroness, 
 Mrs. Dean, of Whitkirk, Feb. 4, 1807, whose lantern- 
 light obsequies have already been the subject of remark. 
 Mary Clarkson selected her text on her death-bed, 
 Isaiah Ixi. 10; the others were 2 Tim. iv. 7, John 
 ix. 4, Rv. xiv. 13, Titus iii. 4 8, Heb. xi. 24
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 241 
 
 26, Isaiah xxv. 8 ; and that selected for good old 
 Mrs. Dean, which was a magnificent one for the out- 
 door scene, was Rev. v. 9 14. 
 
 Having had occasion to go down to Hull on the 
 business of the colliery, and Mr. Joseph Bradford 
 being stationed there at the time, he was anxious to 
 see and hear him; "a man," as he observed to the 
 writer, "who had been on such terms of intimacy 
 with Mr. Wesley." But he was disappointed; dis- 
 appointed, he further remarked, both in reference to 
 "matter and expression." This led him to state, with 
 respect to another, "There was the greatest same- 
 ness in Mr. P , as a preacher, of any of the old 
 
 preachers I ever heard." With regard to Mr. Brad- 
 ford, he must either have heard him to disadvantage, 
 or have suffered in consequence of having his expecta- 
 tions raised too high, which is the case with all those 
 who forget that it is " more pleasing to see the smoke 
 brightening into flame, than the flame sinking into 
 smoke." However, being recognized by some one, he 
 had himself, on the same day, to officiate in the same 
 pulpit, in Scott-Street Chapel, which Mr. Bradford had 
 previously occupied. As Mr. John Hill, a merchant 
 in Hull, a man of general reading, and of a highly 
 cultivated mind, sat in the pulpit behind him, it is 
 probable that Dawson had been engaged to preach in 
 his stead. His text was 1 Pet. ii. 1, &c. Joseph 
 Agar, Esq., of York, who was present on the occasion, 
 and who then for the first time had seen him, preserved 
 a vivid recollection of him as a preacher, when re- 
 lating the circumstance to the writer, between thirty 
 and forty years after, and cherished strong hopes of his 
 future celebrity.
 
 242 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 He had by this time, both as a Christian and a 
 preacher, acquired what is generally comprehended in 
 the term character, and that too, in some of its more 
 striking peculiarities. "We are," says Helvetius, 
 "what we are made by the objects that surround us." 
 This, though not without truth, will serve the purpose 
 equally of the most refined sceptic, and the brute 
 system of Robert Owen, which, like a common sewer, 
 with his doctrine of circumstances, is ready to receive 
 the vilest filth that is capable of being poured forth 
 from the most depraved part of human society. Never- 
 theless, properly guarded, and in connexion with a 
 wholesome religious education, it is a fact, as stated 
 in the "Ethical Questions" of an elegant writer, that 
 the young pupil is in the habit of taking lessons 
 from every thing around him, and that his habits and 
 character are forming, before he has any consciousness 
 of his reasoning powers. But whatever character per- 
 sons may receive from the circumstances in which they 
 are first placed, and however wise and benevolent the 
 superintendance may be, which a proper education 
 exerts, to give a correct bias to the intellectual and 
 moral character, exercising an influence on the im- 
 provement and happiness of the mind to the latest 
 period of existence, there will be found in the same 
 school among boys, and in the same neighbourhood 
 among adults, under the same circumstances and ad- 
 vantages, one who will stand out from all the rest, 
 distinct in character, exclusive of all other attainments. 
 Character, in a moral sense, is defined as that habitual 
 disposition of the soul, that inclines it to do one thing 
 in preference to another of a contrary nature. Duclos, 
 in his reflections upon manners, very judiciously
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 243 
 
 remarks, that the greatest part of the errors and follies 
 in the conduct of mankind, happen because they have 
 not their minds in an equilibrium, as it were, with their 
 characters. Thus Cicero was a great genius, but a 
 weak soul ; which is the reason of his being elevated to 
 the highest pinnacle of fame as an orator, although he 
 could never rise above mediocrity as a man. Two 
 things seemed to possess the whole soul of William 
 Dawson, his own salvation, and the salvation of others. 
 His mind was intent on both ; and the disposition 
 which gave rise to character, was vigorously at work at 
 all times, and kept him constantly before the public, 
 in all his native vigour, with " this one thing I do," 
 imprinted upon every passion of the heart, every sermon 
 from the lips, and every movement in society. He 
 never suffered the disposition to flag which contributed 
 to the formation of character never allowed himself to 
 undervalue or lose sight of character itself and pre- 
 served a constant recollection of the position in which 
 he stood before the church and the world. These con- 
 siderations preserved every hallowed feeling in full 
 exercise, and gave a beautiful uniformity to what was 
 at the same time bold, elevated, and commanding, 
 attracting attention, like a mountainous district, after 
 the eye has for some time reposed upon tamer scenes. 
 There was another local preacher on the plan, of the 
 same name ; and being made of quieter materials than 
 the subject of these Memoirs, they were distinguished 
 by the ruder part of the people, when an enquiry was 
 made as to which of the two should occupy the pulpit, 
 not, as in the plan, by their seniority or juniority, 
 but by their characteristic manner of preaching giving 
 to the one the appellation of "sleepy," and to the
 
 244 MEMOIRS OP 
 
 other, that of "shouting Billy." The cognomen of 
 Billy, which could only arise from that low familiarity 
 which "breeds contempt," and which was too common 
 even with persons whose sense and education ought to 
 have taught them better, was never relished by his 
 mother; who said, "he was never called Billy at 
 home, and I cannot conceive why he should be so dis- 
 tinguished abroad."" As to his zeal, which gave energy 
 to voice, matter, and manner, it was not remarkable 
 that he should be distinguished for loud speaking, as 
 he continued in the same strain which marked his 
 earlier pulpit history. Names have great weight, both 
 with the vulgar and the learned ; but they very often 
 have, beyond their proper signification and applicability 
 to the persons on whom they are imposed, a tincture of 
 the character of those who bestow them, shewing a 
 disposition to degrade, by lowering the dignity of those 
 to whom they are applied. 
 
 ,In 1810 and 1811, his circle of admirers was greatly 
 enlarged ; and he was obliged to yield to pressing 
 invitations to preach occasional sermons, and make 
 collections, on behalf of Sunday Schools, chapels in- 
 volved in debt, at the opening of places of worship, 
 &c. ; from friends at Batley, Mirfield, Dewsbury, Wake- 
 field, Rotherham, Halifax, and elsewhere. He preached 
 also at Naburn, in the kitchen of Mr. Leaf, and in 
 other places belonging to the York circuit. 
 
 His power over the passions, and his tact for improv- 
 ing funeral occasions, specimens of which he had 
 already abundantly afforded, continued to augment his 
 engagements in this way. In addition to those of his 
 friends noticed in a preceding paragraph, he was called 
 upon to improve the death of John Stead, of Kippax,
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 245 
 
 Mrs. Batty of Barwick, on Psalms Ixxiii. 26, and of 
 Mr. Ragg of Wetherby, on Matt. xxiv. 45, 46, &c. 
 Of John Stead he wrote a memoir, which was published 
 in the Methodist Magazine for 1810, p. 321. 
 
 He was much pleased and profited, at this time, by 
 reading the works of Dr. Bates, and forwarded some 
 admirable extracts, to the editor of the above periodical, 
 from the Doctor's sermon on "The Death of Dr. 
 Jacomb," on John xii. 26, for the special benefit of 
 "PREACHERS" of the gospel. These extracts are 
 inserted in the same volume in which the above memoir 
 is found, p. 379 ; and not only show the kind of mental 
 aliment hi which his soul delighted, and which afforded 
 greater pleasure to his intellectual taste than the 
 " savoury meat" could yield to the palate of the patri- 
 arch ; but the portrait drawn by Dr. Bates, exhibiting 
 what a minister ought to be, is no bad likeness of what 
 William Dawson himself actually was, he having been 
 led to frame his conduct, as a preacher, according to 
 similar instructions, suggested by the word of God, and 
 the impulses of a regenerate heart. 
 
 About the same time, his friend Samuel Popplewell, 
 Esq., Steward of the Right Hon. Lord Harewood, was 
 passing through deep waters, in consequence of some 
 commercial liabilities to which he had subjected himself, 
 with a view to benefit a part of his family. Mr. Daw- 
 son for thus it is now proper to designate him, from 
 the rank he held in society, met Mr. Popplewell in 
 Leeds, in the beginning of his troubles ; and it was 
 just such a friend a man destitute of the sentimental 
 flights of the novelist, and the sage philosophy of the 
 mere moralist, that the mental sufferer required ; one 
 capable of the most intimate and cordial coalition of
 
 246 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 friendship from the mere instincts of a benevolent 
 nature, exclusive of religion, and of yielding the respect 
 and tenderness which man deserves from man. It is 
 remarked by a writer of celebrity, that "neither the 
 cold nor the fervid, but characters uniformly warm, are 
 formed for friendship." So it was here ; they were 
 not "flush heats" from whence his sympathies sprung ; 
 it was a permanent glow. He was one who " kept his 
 friendship in constant repair." Real friendship has 
 been represented as a " slow grower," and incapable of 
 "thriving, unless engrafted upon a stock of known and 
 reciprocal merit." Whatever may have been the time 
 of growth in this instance, it was genuine ; not that 
 tormenting and taunting kind of friendship, which tells 
 a person what he might have been, had he followed the 
 advice given ; but that which " weeps with them that 
 weep." After the usual salutations, Mr. Popplewell 
 returned to the enquiries made, " I find my mind as 
 well as I can expect, considering my situation." Mr. 
 Dawson replied, " As far as sympathy can share your 
 sorrows, I feel deeply concerned for you ;" observing, 
 by way of comment afterwards, that "the soothing 
 voice of friendship melted his honest heart, the tear 
 started in his eye, and, among other things which he 
 said, he emphatically remarked, 'though I do not 
 know whether I am worth a farthing, yet I should not 
 so much heed the loss of my property, if I could only 
 see a satisfactory end of the business."' In the space of 
 a month subsequent to this, he again saw him, when he 
 again poured the balm of consolation into his wounded 
 spirit. This was work for which he was always in 
 tune, differing widely from those " sweet instruments 
 hung up in cases, that keep their sounds to themselves."
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 247 
 
 Within the space of about eight months more, he was 
 called upon to preach the funeral sermon of this excel- 
 lent man, of whom he furnished a memoir for the 
 Methodist Magazine, where it is to be found, Vol. xxxv, 
 p. 941. In that memoir, he gives a characteristic 
 notice of the Rev. Miles Atkinson, under whose min- 
 istry Mr. Popplewell had derived much good, and who 
 had manifested great interest in his own welfare. 
 Having first heard him, when he was unable to form an 
 opinion, it is curious to know Mr. Dawson's more 
 matured views. "He preached," he observes, "the 
 plain gospel of Jesus Christ. His appearance was 
 venerable, his voice peculiarly commanding, and his 
 whole manner, both in the desk and the pulpit, was 
 calculated to arrest the attention of his hearers. Such 
 a minister in the Church was a phenomenon in those 
 days, so that his congregations were uncommonly 
 large." 
 
 Mr. Dawson's own congregations were now so " un- 
 commonly large," that he was compelled, in many 
 instances, to preach out of doors. As an exception to 
 a general case, "A prophet is not without honour, 
 save in his own country," he was as popular at Bar- 
 wick, and apparently as new, at the close as at the 
 commencement of his ministerial career embracing, in 
 all, a period of about forty years. Each returning visit 
 to the pulpit, was as welcome as the return of an 
 endeared friend, whose absence is regretted, and whose 
 presence is the joy of the circle in which he moves. 
 The faces of the people were all lit up with smiles on 
 his appearance, disclosing the emotions of the heart, 
 like flowers in May unfolding their beauties to the solar 
 heat. When disappointed of a preacher, he ascended
 
 248 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the pulpit, would stroke his hand over his forehead, 
 then partially raising it, and modestly peeping as 
 from heneath a veil, would say, " It is the old 
 face again, friends ! " The simple action and expression 
 operated like a charm, preacher and people were in- 
 stantly on the sweetest terms of amity with each other ; 
 no one besides himself was wanted, for he could 
 impart, in his peculiar way, what no one else could 
 give. His presence and acceptability, however, were 
 sometimes rendered available by the timid and luke- 
 warm, as an excuse for absence ; and thus, occasionally, 
 the pulpit labours of others were imposed upon him. 
 Such was the hold he maintained on the public mind, 
 that even in Leeds, when appointed to preach there, 
 some of the most eminent travelling preachers in the 
 connexion, both on ordinary and extraordinary occasions, 
 have met numbers pouring along the streets, to hear 
 him, belonging to the several chapels in which they 
 were appointed to officiate. The chapels, new and old, 
 were invariably crowded ; and the anxiety to hear him, 
 was only equalled by the intense feeling of the people 
 under his effective ministry. 
 
 It was in the spring of 1813, when the biographer 
 first became acquainted with him. Their first interview 
 was in the vestry of Armley chapel, near Leeds, Mon- 
 day, April 1 9th, on the day of its opening. The Rev. 
 Richard Watson was then stationed in the Wakefield 
 circuit, and was one of the ministers who officiated on 
 the occasion. Mr. Dawson continued the opening ser- 
 vices the Sabbath following, where he rejoiced with the 
 people in the erection, having often had to preach out 
 of doors before, for want of more ample accommodation. 
 His text was Psal. Ixxxvii. 5, 6 ; " And of Zion it
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 249 
 
 shall be said, This and that man was born in her ; and 
 the Highest himself shall establish her. The Lord 
 shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this 
 man was born there." The writer will never forget the 
 impression his first personal appearance made upon the 
 mind. Mr. Dawson was then in his prime, stout, 
 firm, compact ; not robust ; and his fine forehead 
 was unclouded by the hanging eaves of the thatch-like 
 roof of false hair which afterwards disfigured it, 
 escaping, however, by its homeliness, the application of 
 the censure which Milton apph'es to the ladies, 
 
 ' of outward form 
 
 Elaborate, of inward, less exact. 1 ' 
 
 He was seated on a bench, with his body inclined for- 
 ward, one elbow on the knee, and the face directed 
 towards the floor, musing, apparently, on some sub- 
 ject ; while the sole of one shoe was grinding the sand 
 beneath it, to the sound of which he was lending 
 partial attention. Just at the moment he was pointed 
 out to the \vriter, he suddenly raised his head, and shot 
 a glance across the room, from whence a voice issued, 
 which had caught his ear ; and it was this, in all pro- 
 bability, that gave additional force to the eye, and so 
 deepened the impression produced. The expression 
 was not so clear as pointed, not so brilliant as quick ; 
 equally remote from the diamond, the pellucid stream, 
 or any transparent substance, as from the slow languor 
 that contributes to its beauty, being attractive rather 
 than searching, enlivening rather than lovely. It seemed 
 to give life to the whole form, and to confirm the opinion 
 of those, who believe that the story of Argus implies no 
 more, than that the eye is in every part ; that is, as 
 such persons express themselves, every other part would 
 
 L2
 
 250 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 be mutilated, were not its force represented more by 
 the eye than even by itself. This " outward portal," 
 this "common thoroughfare" to the "house within," 
 j to the mind and aifections, was a fair introduction 
 to what might be opined of the man; and in no 
 instance, after first acquaintance, did he blight expec- 
 tation. 
 
 Great exertions were making, at this time, by the 
 Baptists, and the agents of the London Missionary 
 Society, on the behalf of the heathen. The Rev. 
 Andrew Fuller, a man of masculine mind, and origin- 
 ality of thought, preached in the chapel occupied by 
 the Rev. E. Parsons of Leeds, and made a collection in 
 aid of the Baptist Missions. Mr. Dawson heard him, 
 and was much delighted, not only with his matter and 
 unassuming manner, but with the sweet racy feeling 
 that accompanied the word spoken. After Mr. Fuller 
 had elucidated his subject, and expatiated on the great 
 good that had been effected abroad by Dr. Cary and 
 others, he asked, in his energetic way, " Where will 
 it end ? '' " In heaven," responded Mr. Dawson, in a 
 tone sufficiently loud to be heard, with his face beaming 
 with pleasurable emotions. This was not the ebullition 
 of that enthusiasm, which, in religion, operates like 
 alchymy in philosophy, but of steady, fervid zeal, 
 answering to the touch of the preacher, who had bound 
 him, as by a spell, to the all-absorbing subject, the 
 conversion of a WORLD. Ardent zeal was a vein which 
 nature herself had strongly marked on the temper of 
 his mind ; and when religion came to its aid, he pursued 
 each divine object, as all inamoratos are admitted to do, 
 whether in art, science, or what else, with his whole 
 soul. He adverted afterwards, with delighted feeling,
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 251 
 
 to the biographer, to the influence which the subject 
 had upon his mind. 
 
 This was an excellent preparation for the first public 
 Missionary Meeting among the Wesleyans, which was 
 held soon after, in the Old Chapel, Leeds. Mr. Wesley 
 had furnished the example in modern times, of weekly, 
 monthly, and quarterly contributions, for the purpose 
 of extending the religion of Christ in the world, and 
 supporting Christian ministers in the work. The ex- 
 cellence of the precedent belongs to St. Paul, who says, 
 " Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you 
 lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him." 
 The weekly contributions of the primitive Church had 
 the benefit of " the saints " for their object ; Mr. 
 Wesley's was originally intended to liquidate the general 
 debt at Bristol. The measure was ridiculed for many 
 years; and the preachers were reviled as "roving men- 
 dicants," as "men without a local habitation or a 
 name ;" and the peculiar mode by which the cause of 
 God was supported among the Wesleyans, was insidi- 
 ously styled, "a paltry and unlikely scheme for pro- 
 curing eleemosynary subscriptions." But in process of 
 time, the views and feelings of a large proportion of the 
 community were changed ; for many of the very per- 
 sons that had previously treated the Wesleyans with 
 such scurrility, began "to perceive such utility in the 
 labours of Itinerants, as to induce them not only so to 
 employ unordained noviciates, around the places of 
 their education, but to recommend, as opportunity 
 might serve, such a practice to fixed pastors." The 
 Wesleyan method, also, of raising money, so much 
 despised before, had, by this period, received the sanc- 
 tion of several of the bishops and nobility of the land,
 
 252 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 and was resorted to by almost every denomination of 
 Christians, a decisive proof of the favourable change 
 of public opinion. Bible, Missionary, and Tract Asso- 
 ciations, had brought, by such means, a vast accession 
 of pecuniary strength to their respective parent estab- 
 lishments. As the plan, in modern times, was purely 
 Wesleyan, and had never been adopted by the Societies 
 as a source of supply to the Missionary fund, as other 
 Christian communities were acting on the example, and 
 opportunities for evangelizing the heathen were on the 
 increase, and more especially as the Missionary cause 
 was losing the personal exertions of Dr. Coke, it was 
 deemed advisable to convene public meetings, and form 
 associations, for the purpose of raising monies to extend 
 the Missionary work. Mr. Scarth of Leeds, had re- 
 peatedly remarked to Mr. Dawson, before Dr. Coke 
 took his departure for India, " The Missionary cause 
 must be taken out of the Doctor's hands ; it must be 
 made a public a common cause" This, in Mr. Daw- 
 son's view, as expressed to the biographer, was the germ 
 of the whole. The Leeds preachers, on taking up the 
 subject, visited the preachers at Bramley, with a view 
 to consult further on the subject ; and all agreed in the 
 propriety, necessity, and practicability of the measure. 
 The fine feelings and gigantic powers of the late Rev. 
 Richard Watson, were instantly brought to bear upon 
 the subject, on being applied to by the Leeds brethren ; 
 and having enlisted him in the cause for which he was 
 so admirably fitted, and which brought him out with 
 redoubled splendour before the public, success, under 
 God, seemed at once ensured. Accordingly, after due 
 deliberation and preparation, with other lay and minis- 
 terial accessions, a public meeting was appointed to be
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 253 
 
 held, October 6th, 1813, in the Methodist Old Chapel, 
 Leeds, at two o'clock in the afternoon.* 
 
 The occasion was deeply interesting, and fraught 
 with the most important results to mankind. Thomas 
 Thompson, Esq., M. P., after singing and prayer, was 
 called to preside, and opened the proceedings of the 
 meeting. After a speech of some length, distinguished 
 for good sense, and a general attention to Missionary 
 operations, he concluded his remarks by observing, 
 " I will only beg leave, before any other proceeding take 
 place, to request that you will not signify your appro- 
 bation of the speeches which you may hear from my 
 honoured brethren, by modes of applauding, like those 
 which are practised in theatres, and other places of 
 public amusement. The consideration of the sacred 
 purpose for which we are assembled, will banish from 
 our conduct every expression of our feelings which bor- 
 ders on levity. Whatever may have been the practice 
 of other Christians on similar occasions, let it be 
 our care that 'all things are done decently and in 
 order. ' " 
 
 One of the preachers, in social mood, said to Mr. 
 Dawson, previously to the meeting, " You must take a 
 resolution." All was new ; it was like going an appren- 
 ticeship to a new profession. "Me take a resolution!" 
 he returned ; "I know not what to do with it ; I shall 
 be blundering over it, like one of our senators, who had 
 to take the sacrament to qualify him for his seat." 
 This reply, as it was in the freedom of conversation, 
 excited a little curiosity. " How was that ? " It was 
 
 "A Report of the Principal Speeches' 1 delivered on the occasion, was 
 published by James Nichols; and the Resolutions moved, were published in 
 the Methodist Magazine for 1813, p. 950, under the head of " Religious Intel- 
 ligence."
 
 254 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 replied, "He was an irreligious man; and being as 
 ignorant of religion, as he was personally indifferent to 
 it, he went to church supposing his appearance within 
 its walls sufficient when a female was returning thanks, 
 and was thus churched with her ;" repeating, " I shall 
 be sure to blunder." The disposition to something 
 like jocularity, was a sufficient intimation, that he had 
 no grave objection to engage in the services of the 
 occasion. Accordingly, the seventh resolution was 
 committed to his care, which he moved, and spoke 
 with great eifect. Having caught the fire from the 
 preceding speakers, he commenced, 
 
 " MR. CHAIRMAN, I rise with pleasure before you 
 and this congregation, because I believe that the 
 grand object of our meeting is under the distinguished 
 smile of Jehovah. You know, Sir, that the intention 
 of our assembling here to-day, is, to propose, adopt, 
 and prosecute the best plans of spreading 'pure and 
 undefiled religion' to the utmost extent of our abilities. 
 Noble Designs ! Methinks the happiness of sur- 
 rounding angels is augmented, when they behold 
 these projects, and the spirit with which we enter 
 into them. They anticipate the season when these 
 plans will be executed, when they will have new 
 melodies to raise over penitent sinners returning to 
 God. In my humble opinion, Sir, in what we are now 
 contemplating, there are two weighty considerations, 
 which deserve our particular .attention. One is, 
 That a Missionary ministry of the Gospel is under 
 the peculiar approbation of God, and is, in his hand, 
 the grand mean of enlightening a benighted world ; 
 the other That of all people, the Methodists should 
 be the first to encourage Missionary efforts." These
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 255 
 
 positions he established ; took a glance at the divine 
 mission of Jesus Christ to the world the commission 
 he gave to his disciples, and the energy with which 
 they acted in carrying it into execution the spirit 
 which was roused at the time of the Reformation 
 and the efforts to diffuse evangelical truth at sub- 
 sequent periods. 
 
 On the other proposition, viz. " That of all others, 
 the Methodists should be the first to encourage Mis- 
 sionary efforts," he remarked, that, "the reasons for 
 it appeared in the DOCTRINES which they believed, 
 and the PRIVILEGES which they enjoyed." He pro- 
 ceeded, linking himself to all the interests of the 
 body, 
 
 "The doctrines which we believe, bind this duty 
 upon us in an especial manner. You know, Sir, we 
 believe that in the Gospel is provided a full, free, 
 and present salvation from all the moral evils con- 
 sequent on the fall of Adam. We believe that this 
 salvation is of infinite importance, as being a complete 
 deliverance from infinite evils, and a personal possession 
 of infinite benefits. We believe that wherever the 
 Gospel is faithfully preached, this salvation is within 
 the reach of all. We believe that, as its duties are 
 imposed upon all, its benefits are offered to all. We 
 believe that when ministers preach the Gospel fully, 
 they preach ' Christ in us, the hope of glory, warning 
 every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, 
 that they may present every man perfect in Christ 
 Jesus.' Now these are some of the doctrines which 
 we believe ; and if we act consistently with our prin- 
 ciples, we shall not be the least nor the hindmost in 
 Missionary efforts. How highly proper it is that our
 
 256 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 conduct should illustrate and harmonize with our creed ; 
 and that we should shew our faith by our works ! 
 
 " But, Sir, the privileges which we enjoy bring on us 
 an additional and powerful obligation why we should 
 be the first in promoting this good work. Is a 
 Missionary ministry of the Gospel under the peculiar 
 approbation of God? Our regular ministry is truly 
 of the Missionary kind. Do Missionaries make great 
 sacrifices ? So do our ministers. Do they sacrifice 
 the pleasures of social enjoyments? Do they leave 
 father, and mother, and brethren, and sisters, to pro- 
 mote the salvation of souls? So do ours. Do they 
 sacrifice all prospects of accumulating wealth ? So do 
 ours. Do they sacrifice a state and spirit of indepen- 
 dence, and enter upon a humble and dependent life ? 
 So do ours. ' Foxes have holes, and the birds of 
 the air have nests,' to which they claim an exclusive 
 right, but our ministers have not a place of their own 
 where they can lay their heads. "We lend them houses ; 
 we lend them furniture ; and we lend them those 
 things only for two years, and then they must re- 
 move again to another station, and preach the Gospel 
 to other persons. Do Missionaries many times sacrifice 
 the sweets of Christian friendship ? So do ours. When 
 a preacher has just got acquainted with some kindred 
 souls in his circuit, and has begun to repose his 
 confidence in them, and to taste the delicious gratifica- 
 tions of their friendship, his two years are expired, 
 and he is torn away, and sent to some distant part 
 of the country, and perhaps never sees the faces of 
 his friends again, until he meets them in heaven. 
 -Do Missionaries engage in arduous duties? So do 
 ours. Almost every night in the week, and generally
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 257 
 
 three times on Sundays, are they engaged in the 
 honourable, but arduous duty of preaching the Gospel ; 
 besides their additional labour in the quarterly ex- 
 amination of the societies. 
 
 " In proceeding, Sir, upon this interesting subject, I 
 may, perhaps, wound the generous feelings of my 
 honoured fathers and beloved brethren in the ministry, 
 who are now before me; but permit me at this time 
 to give vent to my own pleasures, though it be at 
 the expense of theirs. I therefore venture to ask, 
 Is a Missionary ministry under the peculiar approba- 
 tion of God? With humble gratitude I would answer 
 So is ours. The best of all is, GOD is WITH 
 THEM. Stand in the centre of Great Britain, and 
 ask concerning our ministers, 'Have they laboured, 
 or do they labour in vain?' Thousands upon thou- 
 sands would immediately answer, No. Fly over to 
 the West Indies and ask, 'Have they laboured, or 
 do they labour in vain?' And 15,000 voices answer, 
 No. Stand upon the vast continent of America, and 
 ask once more, 'Have they laboured, or do they 
 labour in vain ? ' Upwards of 200,000 voices answer, 
 No. But let us concentrate our views and enquiries ; 
 I now look round upon this congregation ; and though 
 we are in the presence of so many of our dear fathers 
 and brethren in the ministry, * I ask you, ' Have 
 they laboured, or do they labour in vain?' (Here, 
 hundreds of voices interrupted the speaker, and spon- 
 taneously spared him the trouble of repeating his 
 negation, by emphatically answering, 'No.') 
 
 "I thank you, my friends. Then, Sir, may I not 
 
 * A considerable number of preachers sat directly before Mr. Dawson, to 
 whom he directed the eyes of the congregation while he was asking this ques- 
 tion.
 
 258 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 be permitted to ask Shall we monopolize the benefits 
 of such a ministry? By the instrumentality of these 
 men, we have received our spiritual eye-sight ; and 
 have we received it for no other purpose than to see 
 our poor fellow-creatures going blindfolded to rum? 
 Is it possible that we can behold such a spectacle, 
 without attempting to relieve them, by sending them 
 the same means by which we got our eyes opened? 
 Surely not. By these men we were directed to the 
 Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, and he has broken 
 our bonds, and snapped our fetters in sunder, and 
 we walk at liberty. And shall we view the poor 
 heathens not only blindfolded, but 'tied and bound 
 with the chain of their sins,' and the grand Deceiver 
 leading them across the stage of h'fe to the 'lake 
 burning with fire and brimstone, ' and not strain 
 every nerve to send them ministers to ' proclaim liberty 
 to the captives,' and, under God, to ' turn them from 
 darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto 
 God ? ' It cannot be that we can look upon this 
 heart-rending and melancholy scene unmoved ! 
 
 " Under the ministry of these men, we enjoy ' feasts 
 of fat things, of wines on the lees well refined ; ' 
 and shall we see our poor heathen brethren famishing 
 with hunger, and not send them one dish of the 
 dainties of the Gospel ? It cannot be ! Especially, 
 Sir, when we consider that we have a number of 
 young men truly converted, and deeply devoted to 
 God, who would gladly imitate the angel in the 
 Revelation, and fly through the earth, and 'preach 
 the everlasting Gospel to every nation, and kindred, 
 and tongue, and people.' But they want wings? 
 And shall we deny them pinions, when it is in our
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 259 
 
 power to furnish them with such useful appendages? 
 Surely not ! To-day we are met to devise the mea- 
 sures best adapted for attaining this important object ; 
 and I trust we shah" not meet in vain. If we possess 
 any proper sympathy for our fellow-creatures, if we 
 feel any powerful sense of our superior obligations 
 to God, we shall neither be the last nor the least 
 in missionary efforts." 
 
 Including thanks to the chairman, there were nine- 
 teen resolutions in all, each with its mover and 
 seconder. Of the travelling preachers, who had 
 resolutions assigned them, to move or second, only 
 eight were living in 1841 ; and of the laymen, about 
 an equal number. The first committee too, of which 
 Mr. Dawson was a member, exhibited the same af- 
 fecting waste by the ravages of death. Out of twenty - 
 six travelling preachers, whose names were upon it, 
 belonging to the Leeds district, only eleven were 
 living ; and of forty-eight laymen, only about fifteen. 
 Eternity alone will disclose the full importance of that 
 meeting to the interests of religion in the world. 
 Independent of its influence on other sections of the 
 Christian church, its direct influence on the Wesleyan 
 body has been highly beneficial, in extending the 
 knowledge of the people, in opening up new sources 
 of benevolence, in deepening, elevating, and expanding 
 the piety of the heart, and in employing a number 
 of active agents in the general work of well-doing, 
 who might otherwise have lived in comparative seclu- 
 sion and ease. * 
 
 * In 1785, the Wesleyans had only three foreign stations Nova-Scotia, New- 
 foundland, and Antigua, 3 Missionaries, and 1408 members on those stations. 
 
 In 1813 embracing a period of 28 years, when the Missionary Meetings 
 commenced, they had only 4 Districts in the foreignfleld, including 22 circuits,
 
 260 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Than on this occasion, the biographer rarely ever 
 saw Mr. Dawson to greater advantage; not so much 
 for the extraordinary character of his materials, as 
 for the deep tone of piety which he displayed, the 
 sunshine he threw over the meeting, the spirit which 
 he enkindled in the breasts of those around the tact 
 which he displayed and the ease with which he fell 
 into, what afterwards constituted the work of the plat- 
 form. A missionary spirit was soon excited through 
 the whole Wesleyan Connexion, and invitations poured 
 in upon him thenceforward, not only from newly- 
 instituted societies, but societies as they grew old, 
 some of whose annual meetings he attended for a 
 succession of years. From this period, he advanced 
 in popularity and usefulness, beyond all precedent 
 among his brethren. It was not that kind of reputation 
 which depends upon mere accident, as when the mass 
 of the people are guided by the opinions of their 
 
 upon which were 22 Missionaries, comprising exclusive of France, Gibraltar, 
 and Ireland, 16,833 members. Seven additional Missionaries were appointed 
 at the Conference of 1813, for Asia and South Africa, but had not reached their 
 several destinations. The principal Mission Stations at that period were 
 Sierra-Leone, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and the West Indies. 
 
 In 1841 a second period of 28 years, the following " Recapitulation " of a 
 " Summary View," was published as a " Postscript" to the January " Mis- 
 sionary Notices : " " The Society occupies, 
 
 Principal Stations, about 256 ; 
 
 Missionaries, about 380; 
 
 Catechists and Salaried Schoolmasters, &c., 322. 
 
 Assistants and Teachers, not Salaried, upwards of 5,600; 
 
 Printing Establishments, 7 ; 
 
 Members or Communicants, 78,504 ; 
 
 Attendants on the Ministry, more than 200,000 ; 
 
 In the Schools, Adults, and Children, 55,078 ; 
 
 Upwards of 20 languages used by the Missionaries; into several of which 
 the translation of the Scriptures, and of other useful and instructive books, is 
 in progress. 
 
 The Annual Income of the Society amounting to between NINETY and ONK 
 HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS.' So much for Missionary Meetings .' .'
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 261 
 
 superiors; the few, in such cases, being the keepers 
 of the elevation of others, upon whom the trumpet 
 of applause is hound to attend, and give forth its 
 notes, on a solitary display of talent, or an extra 
 act of benevolence : it was that which arose from his 
 native genius and ardent desire to promote the pub- 
 lic good, sacrificing personal ease, profit, and all 
 private considerations, to promote the grand object. 
 'Without this the public good as a motive, a man 
 is at best but "an inglorious neuter to mankind." 
 
 Notwithstanding the chairman's caution to the au- 
 ditory, self-restraint seemed next to impossible. Such 
 assemblies are, to a certain extent, in the keeping 
 of the speakers ; and to the speakers, rather than 
 the hearers, such cautions should be administered. 
 His style and manner, from the effects produced by 
 them, and which in himself were generally admissible, 
 led the way to certain imitations, and produced a 
 lighter spirit occasionally than what comported with 
 the object of the meetings, and which, so far as 
 others were concerned, it was found necessary to tone 
 down and to check. The evil became the greater, 
 from the circumstance of the imitators being destitute 
 of the weight which he otherwise possessed, and which 
 invariably counter-balanced the flights of fancy in 
 which he was sometimes pleased to indulge. 
 
 What was rather extraordinary, on the present occa- 
 sion, the chairman himself, who was a man of almost 
 stern gravity, was, if not carried away with the excite- 
 ment, overpowered by the deeper feeling. He had 
 seen Mr. Dawson before, and remarked to a friend 
 afterwards, that he was frequently drawn to observe 
 him, while the speakers that preceded him were
 
 262 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 addressing the meeting, and was deeply impressed with 
 his appearance, as heing something more than an 
 ordinary character, and especially with the expressions 
 of his face, which every now and then manifested the 
 strongest internal emotions. But when he began to 
 speak, the chairman was apparently under as strong 
 emotions as himself, and towards the close, wept under 
 the affecting appeals which were made to himself and 
 to the assembly.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 263 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Conscience, a singular Incident. Tenderness in Preaching. 
 The Shepherd personified. Indirect self-praise. Revivalists. 
 Mistakes in Conversion corrected. Early Gift in Prayer among 
 young Converts. Establishment of Missionary Societies at 
 York and Wakefield. Extracts front Speeches. Mr. Edn-ard 
 Wade's death. Selby Missionary Meeting. Timidity. Char- 
 acteristic Remarks. Conversational Meetings among the Local- 
 Preachers. A spiritual Ministry. Deputation from a distance. 
 Death of the Princess Charlotte. Visit to the North. A 
 Dream. Quarrels from trifling causes. Fault-Jinders. 
 Prejudice. Chester and Liverpool Meetings. Dr. Adam 
 Clarke. Propriety of bringing acquired knowledge to bear on 
 the cause of Truth. Death of the Rev. William Bramnell. 
 The Backslider. Tract Distribution. Addresses to Children. 
 Objections. The eternal Sonship. Authors. 
 
 His ministry, if possible, became more energetic 
 than heretofore, and was increasingly effective in the 
 conversion of sinners. Among many other extraor- 
 dinary effects produced, as to the conviction it carried 
 to the conscience, one may be here adduced. He was 
 preaching in the neighbourhood of Leeds, on Daniel v. 
 27, " Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found 
 wanting." A person who travelled the country in the 
 character of a pedlar, and who was exceedingly partial 
 to him as a preacher, was one of Mr. Dawson's auditors.
 
 264 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 The person referred to, generally carried a stick with 
 him, which answered the double purpose of a walking- 
 stick and a "yard-wand;" and having been employed 
 pretty freely in the former capacity, it was worn down 
 beyond the point of justice, and procured for him the 
 appellation of "Short Measure." He stood before 
 Mr. Dawson, and being rather noisy in his religious 
 professions, as well as ready with his responses, he 
 manifested signs of approbation, while the scales were 
 being described and adjusted, and different classes of 
 sinners were placed in them, and disposed of agreeably 
 to the test of justice, truth, and mercy, uttering in a 
 somewhat subdued tone, yet loud euough for those 
 around to hear, at the close of each particular, "Light 
 weight" "short again," &c. After taking up the 
 separate characters of the flagrant transgressors of the 
 law of God, the hypocrite, the formalist, &c., Mr. Daw- 
 son at length came to such persons as possessed religious 
 light, but little hallowed feeling, and the semblance 
 of much zeal, but who employed false weights and 
 measures. Here, without having adverted in his mind 
 to the case of his noisy auditor, he perceived the 
 muscles of his face working, when the report of " short- 
 measure " occurred to him. Resolved, however, to 
 soften no previous expression, and to proceed with an 
 analysis and description of the character in question, 
 he placed the delinquent, in his singularly striking 
 way, in the scale, when instead of the usual response 
 the man, stricken before him, took his stick the 
 favourite measure, from under his arm, raised one 
 foot from the floor, doubled his knee, and, taking 
 hold of the offending instrument by both ends, snap- 
 ped it into two halves, exclaiming, while dashing it
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 265 
 
 to the ground, "Thou shalt do it no more." So 
 true is it, to employ the language of an eminent 
 minister, that " no man ever offended his own con- 
 science, but first or last it was revenged upon him 
 for it." Conscience is an equitable and ready judge, 
 when permitted to speak out, and tells a man that he 
 cannot injure another, without receiving the counter- 
 stroke, that he must necessarily wound himself in 
 wronging another. Let conscience be waited upon in 
 all transactions between man and man, and like the 
 fingers of a steady time-piece, it will generally be found 
 to point to the golden rule of equity ; but let it once be 
 tampered with, and it will soon become "seared as 
 with a hot iron," robbed of the integrity in which it 
 was created, and neither have purity sufficient to carry 
 a man to heaven, nor yet light enough to enable him to 
 select the path. 
 
 When the subject led to it, Mr. Dawson, as has been 
 seen, could be as tender, as on other occasions, he was 
 rousing and severe. At the opening of Wortley chapel, 
 near Leeds, he took for his text, Isai. xl. 9 11. He 
 told his hearers, that the text was like a well-toned 
 organ full, varied, powerful, sweet ; but that it re- 
 quired some one to touch the keys with skill ; and yet, 
 he added, "a skilful hand, without the breath of 
 heaven, will avail nothing." However he himself, he 
 observed, might attempt to handle the instrument, all 
 would be in vain, unless the breath of God, " the inspi- 
 ration of the Almighty," filled the pipes. He believed, 
 at the same time, that a person like himself, engaged 
 in agricultural pursuits, and of pastoral habits, could 
 enter more readily into the meaning of some parts of 
 the text, than many of his hearers, who had to attend 
 
 M
 
 266 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to the loom, and seldom stirred abroad. He then 
 adverted to the eleventh verse, "He shall feed his 
 flock like a shepherd ; he shall gather the lambs with 
 his arm, and carry them in his bosom ; " and depicted, 
 in fine style, from personal experience, the shepherd 
 going out into the fields, hours after the day had closed, 
 or hours before day-break, in the cold month of Feb- 
 ruary or March, to visit his flock. The hearers were 
 then transported in imagination into the rural districts ; 
 the heavens, in addition to the darkness of the hour, 
 sometimes overshadowed with clouds, with a strong 
 cold vapour floating in the atmosphere, and at other 
 times, the stars sparkling in the midst of the dark blue 
 overhead, with the ground either covered with snow, 
 hardened by the frost, or slightly crisped under the 
 feet, with a sharp searching wind. Under these cir- 
 cumstances, the shepherd was beheld by the "mind's 
 eye," like a stalking shadow in the midst of the gloom, 
 now pausing, now listening, pausing and listening 
 again, once and again deceived by fancied sounds, 
 then hearing the palpitation of his own heart ; proceed- 
 ing, and halting, and listening, and looking, till a small 
 white speck appeared a few paces before him. It was 
 readily conjectured to be a lamb, only a few hours old, 
 and nearly frozen to death. The shepherd, moved with 
 tenderness, as much as by interest, was again repre- 
 sented as stooping down, taking it up, putting it in 
 his bosom, beneath his upper garment, carrying it 
 home, placing it before the fire, looking upon it with 
 anxious solicitude, his eye glistening with joy on see- 
 ing it stir its limbs, still more on it raising its head, 
 and finally transported to behold it, though stagger- 
 ing, upon its feet, and to hear it bleat. Just at the
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 267 
 
 moment the bleating of the lamb seemed to die upon 
 the ear of the congregation, the poor penitent was 
 exhibited, as followed by the mercy of God, Jesus, 
 the " Great Shepherd of the sheep," pursuing him, 
 going into the wilderness, laying hold of him by his 
 Spirit, bringing him to the fold, fostering, anima- 
 ting him, and at length delighted with the voice of 
 prayer, "bleating in the ear of heaven, 'Mercy, 
 mercy, mercy ! ' " feeble at first, then waxing stron- 
 ger and stronger. Here, owing to the manner of 
 working up the subject imitating, as far as was com- 
 patible with the sanctity of the place, the first feeble 
 cries of the returning sinner, which were instantly asso- 
 ciated with the first bleatings of the lamb, the subject 
 was overwhelming, and encouraging beyond expression, 
 to seekers of salvation. The Shepherd's ear was repre- 
 sented as ever open to their cry, and his heart as 
 beating with compassion towards them having a deep 
 interest, at the same time, in the purchase of his own 
 blood. 
 
 Though numbers received a sense of sin forgiven 
 under his ministry, he was not in the habit of trumpet- 
 ing his success from society to society, and from one 
 social party to another, in order to keep up a fever of 
 feeling in his favour, and to attract attention to himself 
 as the principal actor, saying, in effect, " Look at me, 
 talk of me, think of me, follow me." Pride is always 
 the herald of its own fame ; and this is its vice, that it 
 paints its own virtues and success, and counts its own 
 numbers, as though no one received good except when 
 the trumpeter himself was there. He was no monopolist, 
 but distributed the success among the different labourers 
 in the vineyard, and shewed that men might have popular
 
 268 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 tact, without much talent. Listening, one day, to two 
 or three revivalists, so called, men of warm hearts, 
 little thought, and less reading, who were stating that 
 " so many souls were born of God, in certain meetings 
 while they were present," he observed with considerable 
 point and emphasis, and perhaps a slight degree of 
 impatience to administer correction, " You, and your 
 friends, talk of such a number being born of God in 
 your meetings, and you number them as David num- 
 bered the people. No such thing ; they were begotten 
 of the word, to employ the language of the apostle, by 
 the ministry of others, were convinced, and had be- 
 come penitents. You are not the men, your ministry 
 is not of that cast, to beget souls by the preaching of 
 the Gospel : I can compare you to nothing but so many 
 old midwives, calculated to help persons already born 
 into a little more liberty. Yours is a very humble 
 department indeed, and you have but little in which to 
 glory. Do not make so much noise ; and never boast of 
 souls being born under you, that wexe prepared by others. 
 You only entered upon other men's labours ; and they 
 would have remained unborn for you." He found that 
 the case admitted of strong language ; that the labours of 
 others were not duly appreciated ; and was anxious that 
 the work of God should speak for itself, in the life of 
 each reformed character, and in the temper of each 
 converted heart ; being persuaded that less mistake 
 would arise from the realities of the one, than the 
 reports of the other. M 
 
 In conformity with these sentiments, a case may be 
 stated, showing his settled views on the subject. Two 
 young men were brought to God in his own neighbour- 
 hood, who, the Sabbath after they received liberty,
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 269 
 
 attended a prayer-meeting in a neighbouring village, 
 where they prayed with fluency in public. This was 
 noised abroad as a wonder. Just about the same period, 
 Mr. Dawson, in company with a relative, proceeded to 
 an inn in the vicinity, to meet one of the regular 
 coaches. On entering one of the rooms, to wait the 
 arrival of the coach, they found some persons seated, 
 with whom the conversion of the young men was the 
 subject of marvel, and had been the topic of conversa- 
 tion. Mr. Dawson listened ; and being known to some 
 of the party, the discourse was at length directed to 
 him, with a view to elicit an opinion. " God," he 
 observed, "has no still-born children." "True," it 
 was replied, by some one who knew something more of 
 religion than he practised ; " but you must admit that 
 conversion, in the case of these persons, was quick 
 work." Mr. Dawson returned ; " It may have been 
 quick in its crisis, but slow in its progress." Then 
 turning upon the spokesman, and -through him upon 
 the others, of whom he had some knowledge, he pro- 
 ceeded, " Some of you have attended religious meet- 
 ings for years ; you have had convictions, but have 
 refused to yield. Here we find the work begun. You 
 have long struggled against God, and I hope the process 
 of conviction will go on. You know what is wrong, 
 and can talk about what is right ; the work may be 
 sudden at last, and I care not how soon. But how do 
 you know what may have been the light, the thoughts, 
 the feelings of these young men ? It may be that God 
 had been at work with them for a series of years, and 
 that now they may only have yielded to former convic- 
 tions." While this placed the subject before them in 
 a new light, it served Mr. Dawson' s purpose of reaching
 
 2/0 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the conscience. There is another key to the subject, 
 besides that given by Mr. Dawson. " I will pour upon 
 the house of Israel," says the Lord, "and upon the 
 inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and suppli- 
 cation." The Holy Spirit not only animates the affec- 
 tions in prayer, but imparts to the mind something of 
 the inventive, both as to thought and expression. 
 " Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities ; for 
 we know not what we should pray for as we ought : 
 but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with 
 groanings that cannot be uttered." Here is both the 
 unutterable groan, and the fluent speech a help to 
 infirmity ; and that aid must be effectual, as it is divine 
 in its character. With such a helper as the HOLY 
 GHOST, we scarcely need be astonished at the power, 
 the ease, the fluency, and, in some instances, the cor- 
 rectness, with which some new converts, together with 
 poor, uneducated, plain-minded men, pour out their 
 souls in prayer before God. Nor can the gift, in many 
 instances, be accounted for on any other principle than 
 that of the Spirit's influence upon the mind. 
 
 Among the numerous Missionary Meetings in the 
 establishment of which he assisted, those of Wakefield 
 and York may be named ; the former, Feb. 7th, and 
 the latter, Mar. 24th, 1814. At Wakefield he showed, 
 in a speech of great originality and vigour, that the 
 tolerant spirit of the British Government, the peace- 
 able and loyal state of the lower classes of the commu- 
 nity, and the commanding attitude of Britain among 
 the nations of the earth, were strong reasons for at- 
 tempting the conversion of the heathen. He humor- 
 ously personified the Conventicle Act, as a monster that 
 had made dreadful havoc in former times among good
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 271 
 
 men, but which was afterwards chained by the Toler- 
 ation Act, and finally put to death by a recent law of 
 the legislature, securing the religious liberties of the 
 country. He then argued, that if Christians enjoyed 
 so much quiet at home, they ought to do much to pro- 
 mote the kingdom of Christ abroad. The "Age of 
 Reason," too, he observed, had passed away, and with 
 it infidelity, blasphemy, insubordination, and civil in- 
 quietude. This called for gratitude ; and he thought 
 the friends could not shew it better, than by spreading 
 that religion to whose influence they owed so happy a 
 state of society. That great man Mr. Pitt, he remarked, 
 died sighing, " O my country I " "We too, he inti- 
 mated, in glancing at the state of affairs, might say, 
 " O my country ! " but it was with the transport 'of a 
 fond mother, who clasps her child in her arms, just 
 rescued from danger, and exclaims, " O my child ! " 
 The effect produced at this moment, is well recollected 
 by the biographer, who was seated near him at the 
 time. He proceeded, " If God has done so much for 
 our political interests, it is not to inflate our pride, but 
 that he may employ our influence, our example, and 
 our means, in diffusing his truth through the world. 
 Let us, then, send Bibles and Missionaries in every 
 direction. Our ships which carry them, will be like 
 the lights of heaven in their courses. As they make 
 their revolutions round the world, they will reflect the 
 glory of the Sun of Righteousness upon every land they 
 approach." 
 
 At York he was much more argumentative: but 
 without attempting to follow him in all his reasonings 
 and details, he observed, that the subject of Christian 
 Missions would bear the closest examination, and that
 
 2/2 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 nothing would be lost by the investigation. He then 
 adverted to the state of the heathen world in point 
 of morals; and shewed that, circumstanced as they 
 were, they had no means of improvement among them- 
 selves. He further observed, that the preaching of 
 the gospel was the grand instrument to be employed 
 in the work of evangelizing the world, hut regretted 
 to find persons disposed to rob that gospel of its 
 vital principles, by setting up mere morality as a 
 substitute. "The various miseries of human life," 
 he remarked, "have claims upon us, but they are 
 not superior to those of Christian Missions. Hos- 
 pitals, almshouses, and public charities, with which 
 York abounds, have claims upon its inhabitants, but 
 their claims are not superior to those of Missions. 
 The Bible Society has claims, great claims upon us ; 
 and though much has been said and done for it, yet 
 there has not been enough said and done ; but even 
 these claims are not superior to those of Missions. 
 The Bereans had the Scriptures ; but it was necessary, 
 notwithstanding, that Paul and Silas should go and 
 preach the gospel to them. In the Bible Society, 
 we see the blushing of an opening dawn ; in the 
 Missionary Society, we see the brightening beams of 
 a glorious sun, portending a glorious day." He con- 
 cluded, by stating, that York stood one of the first 
 on the list of the Bible Society, and he hoped it 
 would not be the last in missionary exertions. 
 
 July the 7th, the day appointed for Thanksgiving 
 for Peace, he preached in Barwick chapel on Psalm 
 cxvii. and Ixviii. 5, 6, 7 ; and August 14th, he 
 preached a funeral sermon at Huntington, near York, 
 on occasion of the death of his old friend, Mr. Edward
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 2/3 
 
 Wade, formerly of Sturton Grange, on Job xix. 25 
 27. Mr. Wade married, as his second wife, Mrs. 
 Gibson, a relative of the Rev. Walter Sellon, and a 
 lineal descendant of the celebrated John Wickliffe 
 "the morning star of the Reformation." Mrs. Gib- 
 son's son, which she had to her first husband, Walter 
 Sellon Gibson, was brought to God under the minis- 
 try of Mr. Dawson, when a boy, at Sturton Grange. 
 After preaching the funeral sermon in a field near 
 the village, Mr. Dawson returned to the city, and 
 preached in New-Street chapel to a crowded and deeply 
 affected congregation. 
 
 November 16, the biographer had the pleasure of 
 another interview with him, at the formation of the Selby 
 Missionary Meeting. It was at this Meeting the "Village 
 Blacksmith " made his debut on the platform. The 
 venerable Walter Griffith was in the chair; and for 
 high wrought feeling, the writer rarely ever witnessed 
 anything equal to it. Materials for speeches were 
 then scarce ; and a preceding speaker having occupied 
 the ground, which the biographer intended taking, 
 he found it more difficult to strike out a new track 
 
 on the platform than in the pulpit. "Friend E ," 
 
 said Mr. Wild, of Armley, jocularly, on returning 
 home, "take care, when you go to a Missionary 
 Meeting again, to provide yourself with a double- 
 barrelled gun ; if the one does not go off, the other 
 may." Mr. Dawson amused himself with this after- 
 wards, when adverting to missionary beginnings. 
 
 He himself, however, was not always at home. A 
 
 person of intellect, having heard of his popularity, 
 
 observed one day, that he was going to hear him 
 
 preach, and that he would measure the extent of the 
 
 M 2
 
 2/4 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 mind of his hearers by the sermon he preached. Mr. 
 Dawson heard of this, and having to preach a mis- 
 sionary sermon at D , was not a little embarrassed 
 
 in finding the same gentleman putting on a stern 
 front, and seated in a conspicuous part of the chapel. 
 "I felt," said he, "on seeing him, the barometer 
 of my feelings going fast down to rain ; but still 
 more so," he continued, "when I saw a platform 
 full of preachers, and a chapel full of emptiness : 
 then, the barometer was fixed for rain." There were 
 several prejudices to surmount, in solitary places, 
 against public meetings. On other than missionary occa- 
 sions, however, he invariably drew, in the same place, 
 immense congregations. Since then, the missionary 
 cause has flourished in the town and neighbourhood. 
 
 In his own remarks on ministers, he was more 
 characteristic than severe ; and he generally found his 
 way to the leading features of a person's manner. 
 "Such a one," said he, "is like a tailor's goose, 
 hot and heavy" This was not in the spirit of fault- 
 finding; for no one could entertain a higher opinion 
 of the fine expansive mind of the preacher, the delight- 
 ful feeling which pervaded his discourses, and his 
 genuine piety, than himself. The remark was solely 
 applied to manner. Of another, he observed, "when 
 I first heard him preach, he was like the gentle dew 
 to me ; then came the mizzling rain, next a little 
 more rapid ; after that, a heavy shower for an hour 
 together; at the close of this, the clouds began to 
 collect and darken ; then succeeded the lightning, 
 when the thunder rolled, and the whole assembly 
 seemed moved." Speaking of the late Rev. Richard 
 Watson one day, and comparing him with another
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 275 
 
 eminent minister, he observed, Mr. always re- 
 minds me, in his preaching, of a person who writes 
 a beautiful running hand, neat easy every letter 
 properly formed, with its elegant body and hair stroke 
 and every word in its proper place. Mr. Watson 
 can write equally as good a hand as he ; but then, 
 (imitating the penman by the motion of the hand 
 the while), he throws in the additional flourishes, 
 and these, gracefully curving and sweeping around 
 the letters, add to the beauty of the penmanship, 
 and attract greater attention." This comparison em- 
 braced the peculiarities of the two men, Mr. Watson, 
 who combined beauty and genius with judgment ; and 
 the other, who had taste and judgment, but was with- 
 out imagination. Addressing another minister a strong 
 minded man, and one with whom he was on familiar 
 terms, "You," said he, "are one of the best taker's 
 of a likeness I ever met with. In drawing the char- 
 acter of a sinner, you do it to the life : but on holding 
 the likeness up to the man, you invariably get him 
 to laugh at himself." The person referred to has 
 been gathered to his fathers many years ; but it was 
 one of those defects to which his ministry was subject, 
 though otherwise distinguished for numerous excellences. 
 "The taste of the public for reading," said he, "in 
 the present day, is like that of sheep put into a new 
 pasture : no matter how rich and good the grass may 
 be ; they will run and nibble a bit here a second 
 bit there a third elsewhere, never resting till they 
 have gone round the whole then, at last, they settle 
 quietly down to one spot and feed." To a person 
 who sustained the character of a "snarling critic," 
 and who was hazarding some remarks in Mr. Dawson's
 
 276 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 presence, the latter looked at him, and said, " I passed 
 some geese on Friday evening, on the way to my 
 class, when the old gander stretched out his neck 
 and hissed at me : you are just like him, for you 
 can do nothing but hiss." "Daniel Isaac," said he, 
 in reference to his severity in controversy, " could bite 
 through a nail." "Three things," he observed on 
 another occasion, " distinguished the character of John 
 Wesley openness to conviction deadness to the world 
 and attention to the openings of Providence." 
 
 A meeting was established by the Local Preachers 
 of the Leeds Circuit, for "Familiar Conversation." 
 Connected with this was a sermon ; and Mr. Dawson 
 being selected to preach on the occasion, delivered a dis- 
 course, May 15th, 1815, in the Old Chapel, to a crowded 
 auditory on " It is the Spirit that quickeneth ; the 
 flesh profiteth nothing," John vi. 63. This was just 
 the subject, and the occasion for which he was pecu- 
 liarly fitted. No man was more anxious to preserve 
 a living ministry than himself; and few understood 
 better in what it consisted. There is the same differ- 
 ence between the spirit and the letter a living and 
 a dead ministry, that there is between the. execution 
 of a drawn sword in the hand of a person skilled in 
 its use, and one thrown off on canvass by the hand 
 of an artist, the latter producing as little effect as 
 the sword in the image of George and the Dragon. 
 The word preached, without the Spirit, is like the 
 pool of Bethesda without the angel, the water pos- 
 sessing no virtue till troubled. The letter killeth ; 
 it is the Spirit that quickeneth ; by which letter, is 
 not understood, as Origin would interpret it, the literal 
 meaning of the sacred text, and by the spirit, the
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 277 
 
 allegorical ; nor yet, as some Antinomians would ex- 
 pound it, the former referring to the Old Testament, 
 and the latter to the New; but the mighty energy 
 of Almighty God, accompanying the word preached, 
 as in the ministry of Peter, when, with the swiftness 
 of lightning, its unconquerable edge penetrated the hearts 
 of three thousand shiners, under one sermon. The word, 
 taken alone, may tickle the ear, and please the fancy ; 
 but without the Spirit, it is like a shell without a 
 kernel, a tree without fruit, a well without water, a 
 body without a soul ; and will lie as harmless on the 
 shelf, and be as passive in the hand of the bookseller 
 as any unheeded volume penned by the Apostolical 
 Fathers. In support of this, on casting the eye around 
 the Christian world, congregations and ministers may 
 be beheld, who have been fixtures from ten to twenty, 
 thirty, forty years, presenting neither diminution nor in- 
 crease, except by natural births and deaths without 
 the conversion of a single soul to God, or the exhibition 
 of a solitary reformed rake, the blind leading the 
 blind, and both falling into the ditch together. Than 
 this a sapless ministry, and a heartless congregation, 
 there cannot be a heavier curse inflicted upon a town 
 or neighbourhood, both resembling an old decayed 
 tree hollow at the heart, without even the leaf of 
 profession, with the axe of the woodman laid at 
 the root, and ready to cut it down as a cum- 
 berer of the ground! How different the ministry of 
 the prophets and apostles, before whom even kings 
 turned pale and trembled ! How different the ministry 
 of the Reformers, of the Wesleys, Whitfield, Romaine, 
 Newton, Venn, Grimshaw, Rowland Hill, and others ! 
 How different the ministry of old Mr. Berridge, with
 
 2/8 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 all his wit and eccentricities, who was visited by a 
 thousand awakened persons in the course of one year, 
 and under whose joint ministry, with that of Mr. 
 Hicks, four thousand persons were converted to God 
 in the course of the same given period. 
 
 These remarks are made, because Mr. Dawson de- 
 lighted to advert to the successful labours of such men, 
 and because of the fruitfulness of his own ministry. 
 The word of God in his mouth, was accompanied by 
 the quickening Spirit. He drew from the Bible, as 
 from a grand arsenal, the materials that formed the 
 thunder which he wielded over unrepenting sinners ; 
 but he knew, to pursue the metaphor and there- 
 fore making it a subject of earnest prayer, that it 
 was only the lightning flash of the Spirit that could 
 wither, blast, and destroy the "man of sin" in the 
 human soul. He rarely preached but the occasion 
 was adverted to either in social converse, in the classes, 
 or in the love-feasts, as beneficial to either saint or 
 sinner, or both : an^l what ought not to be omitted 
 in his case shewing the kind of material in which 
 he dealt, the conviction produced by his ministry was 
 deep and lasting. It was not a mere flush of feeling 
 a tear a noise a gathering and then a dearth 
 for others to bewail after he was gone. The per- 
 manency of the work shewed that GOD was in it 
 not man. 
 
 Instead of his labours being confined to his own, 
 and the neighbouring circuits and districts, his calls 
 for special service now extended to the neighbouring 
 counties. The friends in one of the principal towns 
 in the kingdom, being about this time disappointed 
 of some of their leading men on a missionary occa-
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 2/9 
 
 sion, Mr. Dawsou was proposed by a member of the 
 committee to supply the lack in the emergency. But 
 though fame ran high, yet as he had never visited 
 the place as only one or two of the less influential 
 members had heard him as great expectations were 
 raised, and they were not to be realized by the brethren 
 who had been solicited, it was agreed, instead of a 
 letter for no time was to be lost, that a deputa- 
 tion should be sent forthwith to Leeds and Barnbow. 
 On the arrival of the gentlemen at Leeds, they tried 
 what additional help could be obtained there ; but were 
 unable to secure any. They then enquired, with some 
 anxiety, respecting the suitability and the abode of Mr. 
 Dawson. "The very man for you!" was reiterated 
 in different quarters. Thus encouraged, they took 
 a post-chaise, and drove on to Barnbow. On their 
 arrival, they enquired of Mrs. Dawson, to whom they 
 were introduced, for her son. A chaise in the cross 
 road to Barnbow was rather an unusual thing. They 
 soon advertised the old lady, however, of the object 
 of their visit. She told them, that her son was in 
 the fields ; but having no boy at hand, and the gentle- 
 men being wishful to go in quest of him themselves, 
 they proceeded in the line directed. The visitants 
 coming up to a person in crossing the fields, who 
 was engaged on the farm, paid their respects to him, 
 and enquired, "Are you Mr. Dawson, Sir?" An 
 answer in the negative was humbly and respectfully 
 returned ; the man adding, " Master is in a close 
 down there," pointing in the direction which he wished 
 them to go. It was not long before they saw a person 
 busily engaged in hedging and ditching ; and being 
 pretty near him before they spoke, the humble ditcher
 
 280 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 lifted up his head, with the spade in his hand. The 
 query was again proposed, but with greater certainty 
 "It is Mr. Dawson, we presume?" "Yes, gentle- 
 men, my name is Dawson. " "We have been deputed 
 to wait upon you," naming the place and the occasion, 
 " to request your kindly aid." Mr. Dawson returned, 
 "You must be mistaken of your man." "No; it 
 is no mistake : go, and help you must ; we cannot 
 do without you." Lifting the spade, he struck it 
 into the earth ; and quitting the handle, he said, 
 "If it must be so, why then, it shall be so." Just 
 at that moment, he put his first and third finger 
 into his mouth doubling the second and fourth, and, 
 drawing a full breath, sent forth a shrill whistle, 
 that might have been heard a considerable distance 
 from the place. Instantly, on the sound striking the 
 ear, a man popped his head over the hedge, a little 
 further down the field, ready to attend the signal ; 
 thus, bringing to the recollection of the reader, the 
 tales of gone-by days, when the men of some ancient 
 chief, started from ambush at the sound of the horn, 
 and suddenly appeared by the side of their master. 
 Mr. Dawson waived his hand ; and the man appearing 
 on the spot, he said " You must go on with this 
 job cut in that direction so low and it will be a 
 right depth." So saying, and the servant replying, 
 " Very well, " Mr. Dawson threw his coat over his 
 arm, proceeded homeward with the gentlemen, where 
 there was a cold collation provided for them. Before 
 Mr. Dawson himself partook of it, he went up stairs 
 washed shaved and, in a few minutes, appeared 
 at the table, attired in black, with all the respectability 
 of an English squire. They soon entered the chaise ;
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 281 
 
 and being in fine health and spirits, Mr. Dawson 
 kept them alive the whole of the way to Leeds with 
 wit and anecdote. They soon found they were in the 
 presence of a man who would lend them efficient 
 help: he proceeded with them, and at the meeting 
 crowded, and in one of the largest chapels in the 
 Connexion, the whole tide of popular feeling was in 
 his favour. With the paramount claims of religion 
 over all affairs of state, and the surpassing importance 
 attached to the conquest of a world, by means of 
 Christian Missions, when compared with a single con- 
 flict between two armies, it can be no degradation 
 to history, to name William Dawson in connection 
 with Cincinnatus; the former brought from his spade 
 and from his ditching, into a large Christian assembly, 
 whose movements were intended to move the world ; 
 and the latter informed, while ploughing in his field, 
 that the Roman senate had chosen him to fill the 
 office of Dictator. The ploughman went forth at the 
 bidding of the senate, entered the field that was to 
 be turned up by the ploughshare of war, conquered 
 the Volsci and ^Equi, who had besieged his country- 
 men, and returned, in the space of sixteen days after 
 his appointment, to plough his favourite grounds. No 
 such laurels were won by William Dawson ; and there 
 is no disposition to institute a comparison between 
 the two men. The simple act of calling both from 
 the field to posts of honour, in the crowded assembly, 
 renders the one as fit for Christian, as the other for 
 classic story. 
 
 Among the several chapels which he opened, from 
 1814 and upward, was a new one at Selby, November 
 19th, 1817, the day in which the Princess Charlotte
 
 282 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 was interred. His reference to the subject was exceed- 
 ingly touching ; and being almost, if not altogether 
 all the circumstances considered, without a parallel in 
 English History, it was calculated to awaken all the 
 sensibilities of his nature. Montgomery, in his " ROY- 
 AL, INFANT," strung his " Harp of Sorrow " on the 
 occasion, with fine Christian feeling : 
 
 " Yet while we mourn thy flight from earth, 
 
 Thine was a destiny sublime ; 
 Caught up to Paradise in birth, 
 
 Plack'd by Eternity from Time. 
 
 " The Mother knew her offspring dead : 
 
 Oh ! was it grief, or was it lore 
 That broke her heart ? The spirit fled 
 
 To seek her nameless child above. 
 
 " Led by his natal star, she trod 
 
 The path to heaven : the meeting there, 
 And how they stood before their God, 
 
 The day of judgment shall declare.' 1 
 
 As the biographer domiciled under the same roof with 
 Mr. Dawson, on the occasion, and had the same couch 
 assigned to him, it afforded a fine opportunity, during 
 the more early stage of their acquaintance, of witnessing 
 his habits and enjoying his conversation. 
 
 About the same time, after repeated and pressing 
 invitations, he visited different places in the North, in 
 the counties of Durham and Northumberland. Mr. 
 Reay had long importuned him to visit Carville, and 
 added to letters by post, one journey to Darlington, and 
 another to Barnard Castle, to give him the meeting, and 
 to request him to pay the Colliers a visit in the 
 neighbourhood of Newcastle ; but his lists of engage- 
 ments were complete on both occasions. Mr. Reay told 
 him the next journey would be to Barnbow, unless he 
 prevented it by promising a sermon during the first
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 283 
 
 vacancy. They slept in the same room together, at 
 Darlington, in the house of Mr. Dove, afterwards of 
 Leeds. Mr. Dawson, contrary to his general indiffer- 
 ence to dreams, as noticed in an earlier part of his 
 history, observed to his companion in the morning, 
 that he had, in the language of one of our poets, 
 "dreamt a dream" that he saw a man swaggering 
 past a pit that he was on the point of falling in and 
 that he caught hold of him and brought him back 
 again. He added, " I do not like it. " Mr. D., 
 a popular local preacher from another circuit, occu- 
 pied the pulpit in the afternoon, and Mr. Dawson 
 himself preached in the evening, when he came 
 down like "a rushing mighty wind," in full sweep, 
 both upon saints and sinners. Miners, and others, had 
 travelled from the " Dales" to hear him, some of them 
 a distance of twenty miles on foot, and had twenty more 
 to measure back again after the evening service, 
 having to commence work at the usual hour the next 
 morning. On retiring to their room, Mr. Dawson plea- 
 santly remarked to his companion, "I have had an 
 interpretation of my dream. When I saw Mr. D. in 
 the pulpit, I said to myself, on observing his manner, 
 ' This person will come down either like a man or a 
 mouse.' Alas ! he was in trammels, and came down 
 like the latter. Something within whispered, 'Thou 
 canst do better than that/ The feeling accompanying 
 the sentiment might have endangered my spirit ; but I 
 instantly threw myself on God ; He saved me ; he 
 was with me, and so I escaped the pit dug for me." 
 This, to say the least, jf not to be numbered among 
 pleasing dreams, and as the French would say, tant 
 gagne, so much added to the pleasure of life, was
 
 284 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 devotional in its improvement, and while it added to the 
 safety of his religious character, shews not only nice 
 observation, but great delicacy of Christian feeling. 
 
 No. such interest had been excited in Newcastle, 
 Sunderland, and other places, in the North, by any 
 preacher, except himself, since the days of Messrs. 
 Benson and Bramwell : and the sons of the " Coaly 
 Tyne," as Milton designates the river, were enraptured 
 while listening to him, on this, and other texts, " He 
 brought me up also out of the horrible pit, out of the 
 miry clay, " &c. 
 
 Deep as was the general tone of religious feeling he 
 preserved, it was impossible to be grave in listening to 
 some of his descriptions and comparisons. Two fe- 
 males happening somewhere to imbibe a strong preju- 
 dice against each other, in consequence of the one 
 having hazarded a remark on the dress of the other, 
 and the thing itself, though exceedingly trivial, affect- 
 ing others besides themselves, it became a topic of 
 conversation, and was introduced into a party where he 
 was, when from home. This he set aside in a fine 
 vein of satire, mixed up with the ludicrous, and not 
 only shewed the unprofitableness of such discourse, but 
 the imprudence not to say wickedness, of persons al- 
 lowing trifles to disturb their peace suffering, perhaps, 
 what was said in pleasantry, to influence the passions, 
 and so stir together the bad feelings of a whole neigh- 
 bourhood. The Italian proverb may be appropriately 
 applied here " The mother of mischief is not bigger 
 than a midge's egg." But though the case to which 
 reference was made would apply to every small matter 
 that kindles a great fire, "Satire is a sort of glass, 
 wherein beholders generally discover every body's face
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 285 
 
 but their own ; which is the chief reason for that kind 
 of reception it meets in the world, and that so very few 
 are offended with it." His satire might touch some of 
 the party ; but being in company, it was kicked Jike a 
 ball from one to another, though it would in all proba- 
 bility settle somewhere after the society had broken up. 
 
 In a similar manner, he silenced a fault-finder, whom 
 he met in Leeds, the day after he had occupied one 
 of the pulpits in that town. 
 
 Gentleman. "I had the pleasure of hearing you 
 preach yesterday." 
 
 Mr. Dawson. " I hope you not only heard, but 
 profited?" 
 
 Gent. "Yes, I did; but I don't like those prayer- 
 meetings at the close. They destroy all the good 
 previously received. " 
 
 Mr. I). " You should have united with the people* 
 in them." 
 
 Gent. " I went into the gallery, where I hung over 
 the front, and saw the whole ; but I could get no good; 
 I lost, indeed, all the benefit I had received under the 
 sermon." 
 
 Mr. D. "It is easy to account for that." 
 
 Gent. "How so?" 
 
 Mr. D. "You mounted the top of the house; and, 
 on looking down your neighbour's chimney to see what 
 kind of a fire he kept, you got your eyes filled with 
 smoke. Had you 'entered by the door' gone into 
 the room and mingled with the family around the 
 household hearth, you would have enjoyed the benefit 
 of the fire as well as they. Sir, you have got the 
 smoke in your eyes." 
 
 Prejudice is an equivocal term ; and will apply to
 
 286 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 good opinions deeply rooted in the mind, as well as 
 those that are false and grown into it : but persons 
 not properly affected towards religion, very often enter 
 the maze of error; and having wandered there some 
 time, they often find to their cost, that they have 
 wandered too long to find their way out. 
 
 Mr. Dawson was in Cheshire and Lancashire in the 
 spring of 1818, and attended Missionary Meetings at 
 Chester and Liverpool, April 20, 21. It was at the 
 former of these places, that Dr. Adam Clarke first 
 met with him ; Messrs. R. Newton, Dawson, and the 
 Doctor being the preachers on the occasion. Mr. Dawson 
 represented the heathen world under the notion of a 
 field ; and the Baptists, Moravians, Calvinists, &c., 
 as engaged in cultivating the great moral waste. The 
 Doctor was much pleased with the force and ingenuity 
 displayed. But on travelling between Chester and 
 Liverpool, in a post-chaise, in company with a friend, 
 who had lost a limb, and who, in consequence of the 
 vehicle not being exactly adapted to the bulk of three 
 such personages, aided by its joltings, permitted on 
 first starting, of course unintentionally, the unfeeling 
 substitute to play off a few rubbers against the Doctor's 
 more sensitive shin, there was less disposition for 
 free conversation at first, than the social arm-chair would 
 have admitted. However, as Mr. Dawson observed 
 to the writer, they were soon indulged with some fine 
 gleams of sunshine ; and the Doctor adverting to the 
 cultivators of the foreign waste in his speech, play- 
 fully remarked shewing, at the same time, his strong 
 general redemption principles, " If I found a Calvin- 
 istic field in heaven, I would flee from it, and go to 
 some other." This pleasantry having passed off, the
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 287 
 
 Doctor, in allusion to Mr. Dawson, as an agriculturist, 
 employing his knowledge of husbandry in the service 
 of religion, remarked, " Mr. John Mason, with whom 
 I was well acquainted, had an extensive knowledge of 
 botany, and Mr. James Kershaw had a good know- 
 ledge of medicine ; and yet, though plants have their 
 healing virtues, and sin is compared to a disease, I 
 never knew either of these men bring their peculiar 
 knowledge to bear on a single text, or illustrate 
 by it, a single subject : under such circumstances, 
 all was lost. As to myself, I have brought all my 
 knowledge to bear on the illustration of truth. I 
 have no imagination, that I am aware of. My peculiar 
 forte is investigation. Give me a subject for I cannot 
 create ; let that subject be proposed : whatever it may 
 be, I can investigate it (smiling) aye, down to the 
 black art ; yes, and I can elucidate it too, bring it 
 out, and make it help truth." Whatever credit the 
 Doctor might take to himself in part of this statement, 
 in the freedom of conversation and he took no more 
 than what would be readily ceded to him by those 
 who knew him, he underrated himself in another, for 
 he evidently shewed ingenuity in the application, as 
 well as acuteness in the process. Adverting to the 
 old preachers again, he observed, "Talent is as great 
 now as it ever was, but it is more monotonous much 
 less varied." 
 
 In travelling the eighteen miles, the Doctor forgot his 
 shins and his wedgings at least two-thirds of the way, 
 being so much enamoured with the conversation of 
 his companion : and the next morning accosted Mr. 
 Newton, who gave them the meeting, thus : "Your 
 friend Mr. Dawson and myself talked all the way to
 
 288 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Liverpool yesterday evening, and what an astonishing 
 mind he has got ! He assigned reasons all the way 
 for everything he had done." 
 
 Shortly after this, Mr. Dawson again met with him 
 in the city of Bristol, when he was much struck with 
 a statement made by Dr. Clarke, viz. that he had ex- 
 amined the religion of the Hindoos, the Mahomedans, 
 &c., &c., hut in all the different religions which had 
 passed in review before him, CHRISTIANITY was the 
 only religion that staked its credit for pardon on 
 present belief. 
 
 Mr. Bramwell, the friend of Mr. Dawson, died 
 suddenly in Woodhouse-Lane, Leeds, August 13, 1818, 
 as he was leaving the house of a friend. The latter 
 improved the occasion of his death near the place where 
 he fell, September 14th, taking for his text, Isaiah Ivii. 
 1,2. It was calculated, that not less than ten thousand 
 persons were present on the occcasion. In addition 
 to a sketch of his character in the sermon, which 
 was published at the time, he entered more largely 
 into it in a separate article, comprising twenty-six 
 pages, 12mo., published in the Life of that extra- 
 ordinary man. Among other conversations which Mr. 
 Dawson had with the biographer, respecting Mr. B., 
 he observed, " Mr. Bramwell might be classed among 
 the first men for offering Christ to saints and sinners. 
 Persons, owing to his sincerity, were more ready to 
 receive Christ from him than from others ; being 
 convinced that he himself had made the experiment, 
 and was in possession of Him." This was not intended 
 as a reflection upon other Christian ministers, but 
 simply referred to the peculiar "gift of God" possessed by 
 Mr. Bramwell, and exercised so eminently in his ministry.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 289 
 
 With his more public engagements, he continued 
 to keep up his "way-side" duties, knowing the blessed- 
 ness of those who " sow beside all waters." He often 
 either met or overtook a person who was in the service 
 of a miller, on his way to, or from Leeds. The 
 man had been soundly converted to God, and lived in 
 the enjoyment of religion some years ; but unfortunately 
 had retraced his steps into the world. He was rarely 
 permitted to pass Mr. Dawson without a word. "Well, 
 John, have you joined the regiment again?" "No, 
 master, not yet, " was generally the reply. After 
 having accosted him in this way some time, mingling 
 serious remark with his interrogatories, Mr. Dawson 
 met him full in front one day, and with great emphasis 
 fixing his eyes upon him like daggers, said, "I 
 tell thee, John, thou art a deserter from God and 
 truth ; and as such, thou wilt either have to be whipt 
 or shot, " and so left him. This fastened upon his 
 mind ; and the dread of some heavy personal afflic- 
 tion, together with that of final misery, haunted him 
 wherever he went ; and it was not long after, that 
 Mr. Dawson was overjoyed with the tidings of the 
 poor wanderer being reclaimed, 
 
 He was in the habit, also, of scattering religious 
 tracts along the road, when there was a probability 
 of them falling into the hands of passengers. A man 
 seeing him drop one, on one of these occasions, and 
 perceiving, by the keen eye of the distributor, that 
 it was intended for himself, he took it up : but being 
 unable to read, and conscience either smiting him for 
 seme misdemeanour, or memory helping him to the 
 recollection of some undischarged debt, he concluded 
 it to be a "summons ; " and running after Mr. Dawson, 
 
 N
 
 290 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 in a state of alarm, he enquired into the reason of 
 his conduct. Mr. D. instantly caught the idea of a 
 summons, and improved it to the man's benefit ; and 
 also shewed, in other cases, the advantages arising 
 from a knowledge of letters. 
 
 He had a peculiar tact for addressing children ; and 
 was frequently requested to speak to them, when 
 preaching sermons for the benefit of Sunday Schools. 
 After attracting their attention with a play of fancy, 
 alternately indulging in the strange, the beautiful, the 
 great, and the good, he would then have wound his 
 way to their little tricks and sinful propensities. The 
 writer was with him on one of these occasions, and was 
 delighted with the manner in which he accommodated 
 himself to the capacities of the children becoming 
 a child in simplicity for the sake of children. Having 
 arrested attention, he inclined forward, and fixing his 
 eye upon some of the children, he said, in a half 
 interrogatory and half affirm atory tone, with an ex- 
 pression of tenderness, "You don't tell lies, do you?" 
 Several of the little creatures, who had experienced 
 searchings of heart from what had previously been 
 said, and who were anxious to acquit themselves, 
 spontaneously responded, " No ; " one of them adding, 
 in a subdued, yet conscious tone of guilt " I am sure 
 I do not tell lies. " Other questions were answered 
 in a similar way. 
 
 Flexible as he was, in accommodating himself to 
 youth and age, to the higher and the lower classes 
 of society, he would never sacrifice truth or character, 
 or suffer his interest in Methodism to be suspected. 
 A gentleman, who had been a Methodist in early 
 life, asked him to step into his house, and take a
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 291 * 
 
 glass of wine. He no sooner sat down, than the 
 gentleman erected a battery "I do not like the 
 aristocracy of Methodism. " Mr. Dawson, finding 
 where he was, replied, " That, Sir, is a subject which 
 I never studied : " and, after several remarks, enquired, 
 "Pray, how do you feel as to personal piety?" The 
 gentleman returned, "I have family prayer." "In 
 that reply," said Mr. Dawson to the writer, "I at 
 once saw the nakedness of the land. Soon after this, 
 out came Mark Robinson's pamphlet, when I said to 
 
 a friend, 'Why, these are the views of Mr. , which 
 
 I have already had to combat in private." An appeal 
 to personal piety, was a weapon which he often wielded 
 with amazing power, when argument failed, and when 
 he suspected the disease to be in the heart rather 
 than in the system opposed. 
 
 Few questions agitated either the body, or separate 
 societies, but what he grounded a firm opinion upon, 
 and had his answer at hand, when thrown into cir- 
 cumstances which compelled him to speak. At the 
 time Dr. A. Clarke's view of the Eternal Sonship of 
 Christ was agitated, he acted the part of moderator; and 
 in a company where opposite opinions were espoused, 
 he pleasantly broke off the debate, by observing 
 in allusion to the persons of each, "Dr. Clarke is 
 tall, and Mr. Watson is still taller; but if the one 
 were placed on the shoulders of the other, the doc- 
 trine of the Sonship such is its profundity, will be 
 found deep enough to drown them both." Then, 
 in reference to the friends of each, he smiled, and 
 said, adopting the proverbial expression "'Every dog 
 has its day ; ' I have had mine, and it has been a 
 very good one ; many have patted me on the back,
 
 292 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 and stroked my head : in the midst of all I have 
 said and that is my language now, 'I ask not life, 
 but let me love."' He was pleased with the parallel 
 between the Word and the Son, by the Rev. Abraham 
 Scott, but found fault with another writer, for adopting 
 it as his own in a critique on the subject, without 
 having the ingenuousness to acknowledge the source 
 from whence it was borrowed. 
 
 Conversation moving in another direction, Mr. Daw- 
 son, among other remarks, observed, " Jeremy Taylor 
 is a charming writer, but not strictly evangelical. 
 Robert Hall is too severe upon Dr. Owen. I am 
 less partial to Howe than to Dr. Bates. Herbert 
 and Quarles are stiff and quaint. Herbert, however, 
 must have been exceedingly popular in his day, which 
 may be inferred from the fact of his being so often 
 quoted." The biographer rejoined, "good sacred 
 poetry was scarce at that time, which is another 
 reason that may be assigned." On Mr. D. stating, that 
 he was much more partial to " Flavel's Husbandry. 
 Spiritualized, " than to his " Navigation, " the writer 
 returned, that such a predilection might be accounted 
 for on the ground of his own occupation. " Not 
 altogether," said he, "for in the one instance, the 
 writer is improving upon nature, in the other, he 
 has to do with art. "
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 293 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Staye Coach Dialogues. Retort. Incognito. Lord Milton. 
 Touching Tale. Conversations. Matrimony. Business. 
 Misers. Popery. Socinianism. People. Ministers. Poetry 
 of action. Impotency. Penitents. The Worldling. The 
 character of Mr. Damson as a Preacher. Power of imagina- 
 tion. Terrific Imagery. Candour in hearing. Selection of 
 Hymns, and Remarks upon them. Indiscretion in singing 
 pieces after sermon. Death on the pale Horse. The secret of 
 succcessful preaching. Sermon to Sailors. Death of Friends. 
 Rev. David Stoner. Different Pulpit methods. Mr. Daw- 
 ton's Class. False wit. Bible Meeting at Hull. Death of 
 Mr. Damson's Mother. 
 
 IT was sometimes amusing, but rarely otherwise than 
 instructive, to listen to him while detailing "Incidents 
 of Travel," when associated with him in the social 
 circle. He was seated in a "Six Inside" coach 
 during one of his peregrinations, travelling between 
 Halifax and Leeds, when he heard the following 
 conversation between a gentleman and a lady, who 
 sat opposite each other, preceded by a few prefatory 
 remarks : 
 
 Gentleman. " You are in the habit, then, of hearing 
 popular ministers ? " 
 
 Lady. "At Manchester, I am, not at Halifax." 
 
 Gent. "You have, no doubt, heard Mr. ?" 
 
 Lady. "I have." 
 
 Gent. "What is your opinion of him ? "
 
 294 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Lady. " His imagination is like a young colt turned 
 into a field." 
 
 Gent." Have you heard Mr. ? " 
 
 Lady. " Never." 
 
 Gent. "Mr. , you will of course have often 
 
 heard." 
 
 Lady. "Yes, often." 
 
 Gent. "What is your opinion of him ? " 
 
 Lady. " I never got a new thought from him in my 
 life." 
 
 Gent." Have you heard Dr. ? " 
 
 Lady. " Never. " 
 
 Gent. " Have you heard Mr. ? " 
 
 Lady. "Yes." 
 
 Gent. " He is an excellent preacher. " 
 
 Lady. "There is too much the appearance of manu- 
 facture ahout his sermons." 
 
 Gent. " Have you ever heard Mr. Watson ? " 
 
 Lady. "Yes. He never exhausts a figure. I would 
 go ten miles to hear him any day." 
 
 Gent. "There is a great deal of noise about Mr. 
 Irving. Have you heard him ? " 
 
 Lady. " No ; nor would I go to hear him. He is 
 for destroying the whole language of preaching, and for 
 creating something in its place." 
 
 Mr. Dawson was in a large party some time after 
 this, in which one of the gentlemen referred to was 
 present, who sported with a gentleman of wilder imagi- 
 nation than his own, and did not fail to direct attention 
 to the playful fancy of Mr. Dawson. The latter, in 
 the way of pleasant retort, related as much of the 
 above dialogue as comported with the occasion, and 
 was more than usually pointed, when he turned the
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 295 
 
 lady's "colt loose into the field." This prevented 
 the gentleman from ambling at the rate he was pro- 
 ceeding. The person, who was partner with Mr. 
 Dawson in the pleasantry, heing seated near him, 
 turned round, and said, "This colt has trodden 
 upon both of us." Mr. Dawson replied, "He has 
 not hurt you, I hope?" "No," responded his friend, 
 "for like most young horses turned out to grass, 
 he is without shoes." 
 
 An incognita may be noticed in connection with 
 another journey. He was on one of the Manchester 
 coaches, and seated beside two gentlemen. Passing 
 through Huddersfield, several large placards were 
 perceived posted on the walls, with his name upon 
 them, having been there but a short time before, 
 preaching occasional sermons. 
 
 First Gent. " I have often seen that name posted 
 in different parts of the country, and have heard a 
 great deal about the man : pray, do you know, " 
 turning to the person next him, " anything about him ? " 
 
 Second Gent. "I heard him preach several years 
 ago, and can recollect the text too ; " naming it. 
 
 First Gent. " Is he a regular preacher among the 
 Methodists ? " 
 
 Second Gent. " No ; I am informed he is a farmer, 
 and lives with his mother. He generally goes by 
 the name of the 'Yorkshire Farmer.' But he is a 
 very extraordinary man." 
 
 First Gent. "He will not have such polish, of 
 course, as such men as Mr. Newton; still he will 
 do very well, I should think, for the lower orders 
 of society." 
 
 Mr. Dawson was not a little amused with their
 
 296 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 remarks, and embedded his chin more deeply in his 
 neckcloth, the more effectually to conceal his features, 
 while the broad brim of his hat threw its shadow 
 over the upper part of the face. He concluded 
 himself rather favourably dealt with, as they had 
 assigned him a post of usefulness among those who 
 most required help the poor. The first gentleman 
 finding that he knew something of Leeds, turned to 
 him, and asked, ^Y. ' 
 
 " Are you acquainted with Leeds and its neighbour- 
 hood, Sir?" 
 
 Mr. Dawson. "I am, Sir." 
 
 Firxt Gent. " Do you know the person of whom 
 we have been speaking ? " 
 
 Mr. D. "I do." 
 
 First Gent. "Have you heard him preach? " 
 
 Mr. D. "I have." 
 
 First Gent. " Let us have your opinion of him." 
 
 Mr. D. " If my opinion is worth anything, I think 
 he is greatly overrated in being supposed to be an 
 ' extraordinary man. ' ' 
 
 Second Gent. " He is by no means a learned man ; 
 but in support of what I have said, I adduce, by way of 
 proof, the popular feeling in his favour, and the immense 
 congregations he obtains." 
 
 First Gent. "Had he not extraordinary natural 
 powers, and were he not a good speaker in addition, I 
 cannot conceive how he, as an illiterate man, could 
 produce such amazing effects by his preaching." 
 
 On arriving at the foot of Stanedge, the outside 
 passengers had to walk : and now, Mr. Dawson began 
 to regret, that he had been forced into any part of 
 the conversation, and still more, lest he should be joined
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 297 
 
 by his companions, and cross-examined in walking up 
 the hill. One of them, as has been seen, had been 
 favoured with a half length view of his figure in the 
 pulpit, some years before, and had little more than a half 
 length view of him on the coach. But he knew not 
 how far a closer inspection of himself on the ground, 
 might not reveal the secret. It seemed, however, 
 that his travelling dress, his half-muffled visage, and 
 his more robust form, having become stouter, pre- 
 served his hearer of by-gone days in ignorance. The 
 only point of delicacy with him was, lest, by a dis- 
 closure, the two gentlemen should feel a little unpleasant 
 on recollecting the freedom of some of their remarks 
 on the station they had assigned him, and his want 
 of learning. He heard himself, however, freely dis- 
 cussed for the above is only a specimen of the whole. 
 But he felt most on arriving at Manchester, lest the 
 same eyes should recognize him in the pulpit the 
 next day, and so embarrass both parties, when the 
 mind should be engaged on more important subjects. 
 In addition to his native worth, fire, and extraordinary 
 powers, the conversation of the gentlemen shewed, 
 that two or three adventitious circumstances contributed 
 to increase public impression in his favour. He was 
 in the world, though not of it ; and hence, in what- 
 soever direction the current flowed, the "Yorkshire 
 Farmer" was always floating on the surface. It was 
 next to marvellous, with the irreligious and uneducated, 
 that a man of business, on his farm, and remote 
 from the walks of public life, should be enabled to 
 bring out of his intellectual treasury such an in- 
 exhaustible store of "things new and, old," and one 
 too, so rural often in his appearance, not being 
 
 N2
 
 298 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 always in black, but sometimes in coloured small 
 clothes boots with tops, and otherwise plain, though 
 becoming his station, and, above all, one not entirely 
 devoted to books and to the work of the ministry. 
 
 The present Earl Fitzwilliam, then Lord Milton, was 
 an inside passenger on another occasion. His Lordship, 
 of course, knew nothing of Mr. Dawson, though Mr. 
 Dawson recognized his Lordship, having the advantage 
 of a hearer over a minister the one being known, 
 when the other passes unobserved in the crowd. Mr. 
 Dawson made a few passing remarks to draw his 
 Lordship into conversation; but he might with the 
 poet have said, 
 
 " Lo ! Silence himself is here. " 
 
 Euripides was wont to say, " Silence is an answer 
 to a wise man." So it would have been to Mr. 
 Dawson ; but there were two or three points on which 
 he wished to know the opinion of the statesman ; and 
 at length, hitting on one particular subject, his Lord- 
 ship awoke as from a reverie, kindled into life, and 
 proceeded with the interest he might be supposed to 
 feel in a debate in the senate. 
 
 A touching tale, in connection with another journey, 
 a few years after, ought not to be lost. Seated beside him, 
 on a coach, was a young man, who seemed to be a 
 sailor by his dress. He was full of mirth; singing 
 amusing the passengers with anecdotes, and with 
 one piece of wit and drollery after another ; and yet 
 so delicate were his strokes, as Mr. Dawson observed 
 to the biographer, that the most refined modesty 
 could not have been offended with them. On a gentle- 
 man being named, he stated that he knew him, and 
 had been a student with him at college. The youth
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 299 
 
 was familiar with the Hebrew, and quoted Virgil, in 
 the original, with great readiness. When a poor person 
 came in his way, he invariably dropped something 
 into the hand, and treated such of the passengers as 
 were disposed to share his bounty. Mr. Dawson spoke 
 to him on the subject of religion, directing his atten- 
 tion, especially, to that of redemption. He instantly 
 turned it off with " There is no Redeemer mentioned 
 in the Old Testament." Mr. Dawson reminded him 
 of the passage in Job, " I know that my Redeemer 
 liveth." The youth immediately quoted the Hebrew, 
 and said it signified an avenger as well as a Redeemer ; 
 adding, "there is no certainty to which it belongs." 
 After a short discussion, to which he was evidently 
 indisposed, he asked the passengers, whether they 
 would have a song ? and elevating his voice, he sung 
 a tune to some lines composed on a boat disaster 
 on the Ouse, at Naburn Lock, about four miles 
 below the city of York. Mr. Dawson found afterwards, 
 that he had been educated under Mr. Wellbeloved, 
 at the Socinian Seminary in that city, had been 
 in the boat, and had seen his companion carried 
 over the Lock and drowned. On coming to the 
 part of the lines that described the catastrophe, 
 he was sensibly affected, and could proceed no 
 further. Some time before he reached the end of 
 his journey, he had squandered away the whole of 
 his money, and had not wherewith to procure a dinner. 
 A gentleman, who had been amused with him, pro- 
 posed to treat him, but his proud spirit spurned the 
 offer. Mr. Dawson was provided with a little refresh- 
 ment in his pocket, and asked him delicately to partake 
 with him. He did; and Mr. Dawson was happy in
 
 300 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the opportunity to aid him. In the first case, there 
 was something like part payment, for mirth received ; 
 in the second, there was an air of friendship which 
 wound round the softer feelings. When the gay 
 youth arrived a short way on the other side of Bir- 
 mingham, he became pensive, and was disposed to be 
 silent. Turning to Mr. Dawson, whom he took for 
 a Wesleyan, he said, "My father's house is within 
 eight miles of this place; and this night, I shall 
 either be shut in or shut out : if shut in" looking 
 at his poor habiliments, " I shall then have as fine 
 a coat on my back as a Methodist parson." Mr. 
 Dawson observed, on relating the circumstance, "I 
 thought within myself, this poor youth has perhaps 
 broken a mother's heart, and has either been sent, 
 or run, from home." The young man added, just 
 as the thought crossed Mr. Dawson's mind, "This 
 night will settle all." About two years afterwards, 
 Mr. Dawson was preaching at Chapel-Town, near 
 Leeds, when he related part of the anecdote, and 
 employed the expression, "Shut in or shut out," 
 applying it in his sermon in reference to heaven. After 
 preaching, a lady stepped up to him, and said, "I 
 am not at liberty to mention names ; but the circum- 
 stance, character, and family are known to me; and 
 I have the satisfaction of informing you, that the 
 young man was that night shut in" 
 
 Mr. Dawson was a close observer of anything that 
 came in his way, and, if capable of improvement, was 
 sure to make it tell either in the pulpit or in social 
 Ufe. This rendered him exceedingly agreeable as a 
 companion ; and when he chose to offer remarks, even 
 in the way of criticism, there was nothing of asperity
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 301 
 
 mixed up with them. "The preaching," said he, 
 
 "of Mr. is like the building of Solomon's temple, 
 
 without noise ; not so much as the sound of a 
 hammer is heard." But he intended something more 
 here than the want of animation ; he knew there was 
 symmetry, and even beauty. Some of his more sportive 
 sallies might border upon the extravagant, though still 
 allowable. Stepping into a barber's shop in Leicester, 
 when without his razors, he accosted the man "If 
 you please, I want your smoothing iron drawn over 
 my face." The man stared, not being able to com- 
 prehend his meaning at first ; but on seeing the growth 
 of his beard, he perceived what he meant, and soon 
 found his customer on his way to something more 
 tangible and profitable. 
 
 It was impossible to be with him any length of 
 time, without being forcibly struck with some points 
 of conversation. He was rarely consecutive, except 
 some special subject was proposed. Seated one day 
 with a few friends, the two subjects of matrimony 
 and business were introduced. " Matrimony," said he, 
 "has two ways leading to it. The one lies straight- 
 forward ; the lady is beautiful possesses property the 
 path is strewed with flowers all is inviting. The 
 other has inscribed upon it, 'Be not unequally yoked 
 with unbelievers ; ' but the former is chosen, and the 
 flowers are instantly pointed with thoms. Business 
 has also two ways : the one is, be rich here is a 
 good opening a fine speculation probable success. 
 The other has affixed to its entrance, ' I have learned, 
 in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.' 
 In this case, too, the former is chosen the bait is 
 swallowed the way promises success you follow on
 
 302 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 speculate go over the precipice and are lost. " 
 He further intimated, that a good man had no occa- 
 sion to walk in darkness, in either case ; being per- 
 suaded that the providence of God would guide all 
 who sincerely sought direction at his hand. A person 
 in the room, who was high in his profession, and 
 frequently occupied the pulpit, acceded to what Mr. 
 Dawson said in reference to matrimony, though sus- 
 picions had been entertained of the purity of his 
 motives in reference to marriage ; but on business 
 being named, he was silent, and seemed uncomfortable 
 in his feelings. In the course of half a year, he made 
 a disgraceful failure, and was found to have been 
 acting the villain at the time. "No legacy," says a 
 writer, "is so rich as honesty ; " and it may be added, 
 in the language of another, by way of caution, that 
 "he who prorogues the honesty of to-day till to- 
 morrow, will probably prorogue his to-morrows to 
 eternity." To a young friend who commenced the 
 business of a druggist, in Leeds, with a fair prospect, 
 Mr. Dawson said, on first entering his shop, " You 
 have got a good shop ; I wish you a good trade, a good 
 wife, a good life, and a good end." 
 
 Without furnishing the occasion of several of his 
 remarks, or the conversations of others with which 
 they were often interwoven, a few more may be intro- 
 duced from the memoranda of the biographer. Of 
 misers, he seemed to entertain the same opinion as 
 Samuel Hick, and gave them no quarter. " Immedi- 
 ately on seeing a placard for a religious meeting upon 
 a wall," he observed, " the miser turns away his skin 
 and bones, and says, * It is money they want.' Ad- 
 mitting it, what becomes of his own ? He is heaping
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 303 
 
 it up, like manure on a dunghill. And what is it worth 
 in his hand ? Even a midden will do no good till it is 
 spread ; so with money. He hoards it up ; and his 
 midden of gold will heat and rot, and will breed vipers 
 and cockatrice eggs ; and these vipers will sting will 
 coil round his heart, and enwrap his whole form for 
 ever." Popery, as a system, shared the same fate ; 
 " It is a mere carcass decorated with the flowers of 
 religious ceremonies, having the form without the power. 
 Socinianism is much worse ; for it is a body without 
 blood and spirit ; neither possessing the ATONEMENT, 
 nor the influence of the HOLY GHOST." Turning to 
 a medical gentleman seated beside him, he enquired 
 with quiet sarcasm, what he could do in the way of 
 giving life in such a case, obliquely glancing at the 
 hopeless efforts of Socinian ministers to produce any 
 thing like religious life, when the blood was drained off 
 from the system, and the spirit had fled. Changing 
 the metaphor, in reference to ministers attempting to 
 resuscitate a lifeless form, he observed in the presence 
 of some colliers, " The private members of the Chris- 
 tian Church are all ' live coals / some of them, it is 
 true, are small, but heaped together they make a blaze. 
 Ministers, and especially great and good men, are mov- 
 ing 'pillars of fire,' going before the people." Here, 
 with grace and majesty, he raised his noble well rounded 
 form, and advanced a few paces, turning slowly round 
 as if every part admitted of the closest inspection, 
 and was intended for use, suiting the action to what 
 might be conceived of the movements of " the pillar of 
 cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night," thus 
 presenting the moving column before the camp. The 
 whole was so modulated by his spirit and manner, that
 
 304 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 it operated on the soul like electricity on matter. It 
 was the poetry of action ; and to deny the presence and 
 the power of poetry in deeds arid in visible things, is to 
 deny its existence altogether. It is the silent poetry of 
 Nature, which, with its scenes of awe, sublimity, and 
 beauty, steals out the soul with magnetic influence in 
 sympathetic rapture, and bids the poet give it a tongue. 
 A person complaining of his feeble efforts, and his 
 poverty, was met in the following manner by him ; 
 " You say you are poor, and can do nothing. If you 
 have the grace of God in your heart, you can do some- 
 thing. You shall have the credit of being a farthing 
 candle. Well, a farthing candle can give light. Take 
 it into a dark room, and the inmates will be thankful 
 for it. What, a farthing candle, and can do nothing ! 
 Yes, you can give light to a beggar. A farthing candle, 
 and can do nothing ! Yes, you can set a town on fire. 
 Can do nothing! Yes, you can set a world on fire. 
 Some of the first public speakers were probably lighted 
 by the feeblest taper." He was no less encouraging to 
 the poor in spirit, than ingenious in meeting objections 
 of listlessness. "Christ," said he to a person seeking 
 for mercy, " shall make his enemies lu's footstool. Not 
 so, the penitent. Thou, poor distressed soul thou art 
 to come to his footstool. He will place thee at his 
 feet, and thou, in humility, wilt place thyself there. 
 His enemies he will place under his feet, he will tread 
 them down." With a view to find his way to the better 
 sense of a worldling, by shewing him the absurdity of 
 his conduct, he represented the floor as strewed with 
 new coined sovereigns and old farthings. "A man," 
 said he, " enters the apartment, and is seen anxiously 
 picking up the old copper coins, without either image
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 305 
 
 or superscription ; while those of gold, with both image 
 and superscription, lie neglected. This," continued he, 
 in this burlesque way, "is a picture of the worldling, 
 who is spending the whole of his time in picking up 
 trifles, while he is neglecting the ' pearl of great price,' 
 ' gold tried in the fire*;' forgetting at the time, that if 
 he were to pick up the sovereigns, he would have the 
 farthings in the sovereigns." This imagery was gravely 
 sealed with " Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and 
 his righteousness ; and all these things shall be added 
 unto you ;" and fastened more powerfully than Mr. 
 Mather's " pack-thread," in connexion with the same 
 text. "Let the backslider," said he significantly, 
 "who is unable to stand on his feet, get upon his 
 knees." 
 
 From 1821 to 1 824, he was frequently engaged in 
 the Metropolis, Bristol, and the large towns in Corn- 
 wall, in the southern, western, and northern counties ; 
 and- there were few places of magnitude, with innumer- 
 able places of minor note, from which he had not letters 
 of invitation. On one of those occasions, when attend- 
 ing a Missionary Meeting at Birmingham, an eminent 
 dissenting minister, to whose opinion further reference 
 will be made, went to hear him. Mr. Dawson's text was 
 " Be it known unto you, therefore, men and breth- 
 ren, that through this man is preached unto you the 
 forgiveness of sins; and by him all that believe are 
 justified from all things, from which ye could not be 
 justified by the law of Moses." Service being over, 
 the minister, after a striking exclamation, observed, 
 that he had heard some of the boldest and most original 
 conceptions that he had ever heard uttered, and clothed 
 in language equally remarkable and powerful. The
 
 306 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 gentleman to whom the observation was made, acceding 
 to the justice of the remark, enquired, "What would 
 he have been, had he been favoured with an academical 
 education in early life? " "He would have been spoiled," 
 retumed the minister. 
 
 The effect of Mr. D's. ministry might have been em- 
 bodied in a sentiment of his own; "If Methodism does 
 not make men into parsons, it certainly converts them 
 into clerks ; for they are responding ' Amen ' ' glory 
 be to God,' wherever we go." This was the case with 
 his own pulpit exercises, much more than with that of 
 most others. He was irresistible. Preaching on the 
 returning Prodigal, he paused, looked at the door, and 
 shouted out, after he had depicted him in his wretch- 
 edness, "Yonder he comes, slip-shod! make way 
 make way make way there ! " Such was the approach 
 to reality, that a considerable part of the congregation 
 turned to the door, some rising on their feet, under the 
 momentary impression that some one was entering the 
 chapel in the state described. In the same sermon, 
 paraphrasing the father's reply to the son that was 
 angry and would not go in, he said, " Be not offended ; 
 surely a calf may do for & prodigal, shoes for & prodigal, 
 a ring and a robe for a prodigal ; but ALL I have is 
 THINE." As to the more striking part, when pointing 
 to the door, similar effects were produced, when refer- 
 ring to the Witch of Endor. His picturings took such 
 hold of the imagination, that, on exclaiming " Stand 
 by stand by there she is," some of the poor people 
 inadvertently directed the eye downward, where his own 
 eye was fixed, and the spot to which he was pointing, 
 as if she were about to rise from beneath their feet, and 
 become visible to the congregation. It was by the force
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 307 
 
 of his own imagination, that he created corresponding 
 images in the minds of his hearers ; and many of them 
 seemed abandoned, for the time being, to its power, 
 and to dwell upon, the visionary scenes presented, 
 their feelings varying with the shifting images flitting 
 before them, either sparkling with beauty, or hideous 
 as spectres. 
 
 On one of his visits to the North, when among the 
 colliers, he represented to the imagination of the sinner 
 a pit, a chain thrown over a windlass, a weight at 
 one end of the chain ; the other end coiled round the 
 body of a man on his way to the pit ; the windlass 
 whirling round, the weight increasing in velocity on 
 its way downward, the man drawing nearer and nearer 
 to the mouth of the pit, the weight still more and 
 more rapid in its motion ; then shouting out amain, at 
 the moment the head seemed to be whirling with the 
 machinery "He is going, he is going, there is no 
 stopping him ; he is nearer and nearer, the final step 
 is taken, he dashes over, disappears, and the splash 
 startles the very devils." Here a thrill of horror 
 seemed to seize the whole assembly. To give effect to 
 his imagery, the weight was the collective sins of the 
 sinner, the chain, the Divine Perfections, all harmon- 
 izing even in the destruction of the finally impenitent, 
 the windlass, the constant whirl of time, to which 
 " stop" might be cried in vain. Through the fertility 
 of his imagination, the whole was represented as revolv- 
 ing the reverse way, in the case of the righteous, good 
 works, arising from saving faith in Christ, drawing the 
 Christian more and more from earth, and nearer and 
 nearer heaven. 
 
 Another piece of imagery, equally effective and terrific
 
 308 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 in its close, though less rapid in its progress, was 
 worked up to rouse the conscience of a drunkard, into 
 whose shop he entered the day after the man had been 
 indulging hi intoxication. " Suppose yourself to be a 
 servant," said he, "and your master were to come in 
 the morning and order you to make a strong chain ; on 
 the following morning he came again, and urged you to 
 get on with it ; and thus, day by day, you were ordered 
 by your master to the same job. Suppose again, that 
 while you were working, a person came in and asked 
 you if you knew what the chain was for ; and that you 
 answered in the negative, adding, that you did not care 
 so long as you got your wages. But this person tells 
 you, that he knows it to be a fact, that it is your mas- 
 ter's intention to bind you with it in perpetual bondage : 
 would you, I ask, add another link to it ? " The man 
 answered "No; and all the money in the world would 
 not hire me to it." Mr. Dawson then asked him, 
 whether he was not aware that drunkenness was the 
 devil's chain, in which he kept poor sinners in perpetual 
 bondage, and that when they had added the last link, 
 he would chain them in hell for ever. He further 
 observed, " Whether you know it or not, every drun- 
 ken frolic is a link added to the chain, and Satan will 
 wrap it round you red hot" This continued to operate 
 upon the 'conscience of the man for some time, the 
 thought constantly crossing his mind, " I am making 
 another link for my chain ! " till he relinquished his 
 wicked course of life, when he published his personal 
 history, in "The Tale of the Reformed Drunkard." 
 
 Being asked one day, what he thought of the sermon 
 of a preacher from whom little could be brought away 
 either for fireside converse or closet thought, he felt the
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 309 
 
 position in which he was placed, and instantly returned, 
 " I eat what I can, but pocket nothing ;" thus 
 dexterously guarding against any reflection upon the 
 preacher, as well as escaping himself from the charge of 
 being a forgetful hearer. Yet he was sometimes amused 
 with the remarks of persons upon himself. "What," 
 said a poor man, when disappointed of another preacher, 
 " is it you ? " " Yes," replied Mr. Dawson, " it is I." 
 "Well," returned the man, intending it for a welcome 
 in his way, " you are better than nobody." Mr. Daw- 
 son pleasantly observed, "I know my place I am 
 next to nobody" 
 
 His introductory remarks on the hymns which he 
 selected, as well as his observations on particular lines 
 and verses, were not only often very striking, but just 
 and valuable, and shewed that they had been chosen 
 for his subjects with unusual care. Two or three cases 
 may be noticed from the many that came under the 
 observation of the biographer. On giving out the 672nd 
 hymn, he paused when he came to the first and second 
 lines of the second verse, 
 
 " True, 'tis a strait and thorny road, 
 And mortal spirits tire and faint;" 
 
 and enquired, " Why do they tire ? Is it because it is 
 ' strait and thorny ? ' No 
 
 ' But they forget the mighty God, 
 That feeds the strength of every saint ; ' '* 
 
 thus gliding into the succeeding lines without suffering 
 the congregation to feel any interruption by the break, 
 while he furnished them with a subject for reflection 
 shewing them that they should " sing with the under- 
 standing." 
 
 On another public occasion, he announced the 204th
 
 310 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 hymn, on the 200th page of the large Hymn Book. A 
 number of musical instruments being in use in the ser- 
 vice, and each performer evidently bent on attracting 
 attention, he turned suddenly round to the orchestra, 
 on coming to the fifth verse, and with a mixture of holy 
 jealousy for his God, and fear on account of the persons 
 engaged, exhorted them with a rebuking eye, to guard 
 against the evils to which they were exposed; and 
 then, slowly and gracefully turning to the assembly, he 
 said, in an earnest plaintive tone, and with an expres- 
 sion of pity in his countenance, " O friends ! pray for 
 them pray fot them for they are in danger ! " pro- 
 ceeding with the verse, 
 
 " Still let us on our guard be fuund, 
 And watch against the power of sound, 
 
 With sacred jealousy ; 
 Lest, haply, sense should damp our zeal, 
 And music's charms bewitch and steal 
 Our hearts away from thee. " 
 
 In this way, he shewed the depth of his piety, being 
 anxious to preserve the spirit of public worship in 
 all its simplicity, purity, and power. There was 
 nothing indifferent to him in the worship of God ; 
 his eye was fixed on every part, and his heart run out 
 after it in its performance, both as to spirit and manner. 
 Anything light and airy at the close of the service, 
 which is too often the case on special occasions, when 
 the singers wish to shew off, and the organist is dis- 
 posed to give a specimen of his execution, met with 
 his decided disapprobation. He observed, that " such 
 displays often spoiled the effect of a whole sermon." 
 Indiscretion of this kind is much more hurtful than 
 direct opposition. In the latter case, a man only 
 attacks his enemies, and those to whom he wishes
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 311 
 
 harm ; in the former, he injures indifferently both 
 friends and foes. 
 
 Again, in selecting the 190th hymn, page 186, 
 "Jesus, thy blood and righteousness," &c., on coming 
 to the last, or 10th verse, he broke off somewhat 
 abruptly ; and with a view to combine prayer with 
 song, of which the lines are susceptible, he remarked, 
 in addressing the auditory, " I have often been deeply 
 impressed with the language of the minister to the 
 people in the Communion service ; the priest proceeds, 
 saying, ' Lift up your hearts ; ' the people answer, 
 'We lift them up unto the Lord.' The priest again 
 strikes in, ' Let us give thanks unto our Lord God ; ' 
 the people respond, ' It is meet and right so to do ; ' 
 when the priest closes with, ' It is very meet, right, 
 and our bounden duty, that we should at all times, 
 and in all places, give thanks unto thee, O Lord, 
 holy Father, almighty and everlasting God.'" Then 
 glancing round the audience, he elevated his voice, 
 and with amazing energy said, " 'Lift up your hearts ' 
 yes, and let the whole congregation repeat, 'We 
 lift them up unto the Lord ' " instantly announcing, 
 
 " Thou God of power, thou God of love, 
 Let the whole world thy mercy prove .' 
 Now let thy word o'er all prevail ; 
 Now take the spoils of death and hell. " 
 
 The power of sound seemed increased at least two- 
 fold by the additional number of voices, that had 
 previously been silent; and twofold in the strength 
 of those that had taken an interest in the singing. 
 He had perceived that there was not the power em- 
 ployed, that the multitude warranted ; and in thus 
 testing it, he produced one of the finest bursts of
 
 312 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 congregational singing the biographer ever heard. Every 
 soul seemed suddenly elevated by the power of sacred 
 song; and dropping on his knees, the feeling was 
 carried through the whole of the prayer the people 
 responding to the various petitions presented to God, 
 with all the sweet eifect produced on a devout auditory 
 by the emphatic responses at the close of the Litany. 
 The whole of the Church service being familiar to 
 him, he occasionally employed different parts of it with 
 great advantage, both as to argument and acts of devotion. 
 The 8th verse of the 1st hymn, "See all your 
 sins on Jesus laid," produced a similar beneficial 
 effect on the side of piety. Before announcing it, 
 he suddenly turned to the Bible, and scanned a few of 
 the first verses of the sixth chapter of the Apocalypse, 
 where the expression, " Come, and__see, " is repeated 
 on the appearance of the different horses ; closing by 
 saying, "I do not ask you to come and see the 
 preacher, or to hear the voice of thunder, but to 
 come and see yourselves, your sins, and your SAVIOUR." 
 Then, with increased energy, and with a fine extem- 
 poraneous intonation of voice, his eyes sparkling with 
 pleasure, he proceeded, " I ask you to come and see 
 what ? 
 
 " SEE all your sins on Jesus laid : 
 The Lamb of God was slain : 
 His soul was once an offering made 
 For every soul of man." 
 
 His quick mind had just caught the catch-word, 
 " See ; " and by a certain association of ideas, at once 
 turned to a favourite subject, and by one of his sudden 
 transitions or sallies, gave relief to the length of the 
 hymn, and produced singular and striking effects. In 
 many cases, this was purely accidental ; but in no
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 313 
 
 instance did there appear anything like an impertinent 
 obtrusiveness in his remarks, by permitting one idea, 
 or one class of ideas, to appear to the exclusion of 
 others. He always connected his outbreaks with the 
 subject in hand, and found his way back with the 
 same ease, as if the subject introduced had constituted 
 "part and parcel " of the hymn. Locke would designate 
 such interruption a weakness ; and in the midst of 
 less grave subjects, would humorously describe it "as 
 a childishness of the understanding, wherein, during 
 the fit, it plays with and dandles some insignificant 
 puppet, without any end in view." But such wanderings 
 never excluded Mr. Dawson's subject : the thoughts 
 were not of the " puppet " kind, and he invariably 
 kept the most important "end in view." 
 
 That he should advert to the Apocalypse in the last 
 instance, is the less remarkable, as it constituted part 
 of a text on which he had preached, and part of which 
 he worked up in a similar way. The text was the one 
 alluded to, Rev. vi. 7, 8. "And when he had opened 
 the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast 
 say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale 
 horse ; and his name that sat on him was Death, and 
 Hell followed with him." 
 
 " In the middle of the Apocalypse," observed Mr. 
 Dawson, "there are hieroglyphics, and characters of 
 prophecy, which we do not fully understand ; and, in 
 many instances, those hieroglyphical representations 
 which are brought before us, are only what ceremonial 
 observances were to the Jews ; they are the shadows of 
 realities which we do not see at present ; and we shall 
 only know the import of the shadows, when we see the 
 whole width and breadth of the reality. There are 
 o
 
 314 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 some persons who have a natural talent for explaining 
 these things. They never seem to be at home, but when 
 they are breaking seals, and pouring vials, and blowing 
 trumpets. It is neither my taste nor my talent. A 
 pious clergyman once asked, ' Mr. Dawson, what do 
 you think about the figures in the Revelations ? ' I 
 answered, I do not think much about them, Sir ; nor 
 do I care much about figures ; I shall not break seals, 
 pour vials, or blow trumpets I blow no trumpet but 
 that of salvation to every penitent believer.'* 
 
 With this summary dismissal of the mystic language 
 of the Apocalypse, and the diffuse commentaries of 
 learned divines on the subject, he proceeded in his own 
 original way, to discuss the text ; and though some 
 hearers might disrelish his mode of treating the signs 
 and symbols of prophecy, they could not but admire 
 the ingenuity displayed in giving the words a literal 
 interpretation. The following extract forms part of 
 the peroration, and will, perhaps, serve to illustrate 
 what was considered by some persons, his "power" 
 in preaching. 
 
 " 'Come, and see,' then, the awful condition of an 
 unsaved sinner. Open your eyes, sinner, and see it 
 yourself. There he is in the broad road of ruin ; 
 every step he takes is deeper in sin ; every breath 
 he draws feeds his corruption ; every moment takes 
 him farther from heaven and nearer hell ; he is going, 
 and death and hell are after him. The horse and 
 the rider are increasing in speed ; they are coming 
 quickly on ; they are getting nearer ; they are over- 
 taking him. Can you bear the sight? 'Come, and 
 see.' If the rider overtakes that poor sinner, un- 
 pardoned and unsaved, and strikes his blow, down he
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 315 
 
 falls, and backward he drops : hell behind him, and 
 as he falls backward, he looks upward, and shrieks, 
 * Lost ! lost ! lost ! Time lost ; Sabbaths lost ; means 
 lost; soul lost; heaven lost!' Backward he drops; 
 all his sins seem to hang round his neck like so 
 many millstones, as he plunges into the burning abyss. 
 ' Come and see.' Lord, save him ! O my God, save 
 him ! ' Come and see.' Blessed be God ! the rider 
 has not overtaken him yet ; there is time and space yet 
 for that poor sinner ; he may be saved yet, he has not 
 dropped into hell. 'Come and see.' The horse and 
 the rider have not overtaken you yet ; there is, there- 
 fore an 'accepted time,' there is a 'day of salvation.' 
 ' Come and see.' There is God the Father inviting 
 you ; God the Father commanding you ; God the 
 Father swearing he has no pleasure in your death. 
 'Come and see.' Christ has come to seek you. He 
 says, ' Come unto me, and I will give you rest.' ' He 
 that believeth in me shall never die.' " 
 
 Death on the pale horse, when Mr. Dawson had 
 freedom, was with him, in speaking, what the same sub- 
 ject was to West with his pencil, the one being the 
 poetry of painting, and the other the poetry of preach- 
 ing. This peroration is a specimen, too, of his more 
 Tarsic manner of treating a subject, sudden abrupt 
 and apparently unpremeditated. * 
 
 He was often peculiarly happy in arresting attention 
 in the outset, in this way. A minister who had heard 
 much of him, came some distance to hear him preach, 
 when he was in the North ; and not being introduced 
 
 The subject was taken up by old Samuel Ward of Ipswich, in 1635 ; and 
 has more recently engaged the attention in a separate treatise, 12mo., pp. 209, 
 by the Rev. J. Bruce of Liverpool ; but both differ widely from Mr. Dawson.
 
 316 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to him through some mishap, he entered into conver- 
 sation with a gentleman sitting next to him, on the 
 properties of Sir Humphry Davy's safety lamp. Mr. 
 Dawson listened to him ; and concluded from his dress, 
 manners, and conversation, that he was some colliery 
 agent residing in the neighbourhood. He was not a 
 little surprized, after the service, to he complimented 
 by this gentleman for his sermon, when he heard him 
 add, " I wish I could produce the same effect in the 
 pulpit when I am there." "Ah, sir," said Mrs. Reay, 
 the lady of the house, " you must move the hand of 
 Him that moves the world, before you witness these 
 effects." Here lay the "power" of Mr. Dawson, and 
 not barely, or even chiefly, in his manner of handling a 
 subject. Though his remarks were often either awfully 
 solemn, eccentrically original, or movingly natural and 
 pathetic, the great secret of his success lay in the 
 power which God alone can supply. 
 
 The occasion of his first visit to Sunderland, was 
 to preach to the sailors. He was met by Mr. B. 
 Dowell, at Durham, at whose house he was to reside 
 on reaching his destination ; and the next day was 
 taken by him to see the life-boat, &c. Having to preach 
 in the evening, the objects that engaged attention 
 through the day were not lost upon him. Some of the 
 imagery which he employed to rouse the torpid con^ 
 science of the sinner was terrific. To accomplish his 
 purpose, he depicted a shipwreck, the storm raging, 
 the billows tumultuously roaring, the wind heaving 
 up its ocean-mountains, and scooping out its vallies, the 
 vessel on a lee-shore, the rocks at hand, the mariners 
 at their "wits end," some crying for mercy, all dis- 
 posed to aid each other, and to exert themselves to the
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 317 
 
 utmost ; wives, children, and friends on the shore, 
 but unable to render them the least assistance ; one 
 crying amain, " My brother is lost," another exclaim- 
 ing, " My father is there ;" the vessel at length striking, 
 flying in pieces, the survivors clinging to the wreck, 
 and the whole on the point of disappearing. At the 
 moment, when all seemed crashing, reeling, roaring, 
 separating into still smaller fragments, and sinking, he 
 shouted, " What is to be done now ? all is going 
 going for ever ! " " What is to be done ! " bawled out 
 a tar in the midst of the congregation, "why launch 
 the life-boat." This, with the vivid, bold imagery of the 
 preacher, produced an extraordinary sensation in the 
 congregation ; and on the feeling partially subsiding, 
 Mr. Dawson being in all the majesty of his freedom and 
 power, turned his eye of terror upon the sinner, and 
 rolling forth a volume of voice in some of its boldest, 
 wildest, loudest, and when suited to the sentiment 
 and action tenderest tones, rushed down upon the 
 previously prepared and awakened feelings, representing 
 man as lost hi the general shipwreck of human nature, 
 plunging, on rejecting the only means of salvation 
 and safety, into the gulf of hell, where every thing was 
 aggravated by circumstances ; the sufferers, in the one 
 case, being friendly to each other, every man meeting 
 a friend in the vessel, with the additional hope of again 
 meeting and hailing each other in a future state ; while 
 in the other case, every lost spirit in perdition would 
 meet an enemy, pious friends, father, mother, brother, 
 and sister seen no more, the lost soul tossed on a 
 liquid sea of fire scudding on, and on, and on the 
 breath of the Almighty, like an everlasting hurricane, 
 sweeping across the sea, and blowing up the flames !
 
 318 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 After employing this imagery, he took the Bible in his 
 hand, and in reference to the exclamation of the sailor, 
 said, " Blessed be God ! though there is no life-boat 
 in hell, we have one here ! " He then adverted to the 
 Word of Life, which pointed out CHRIST, the author 
 and the way of life. This was denominated by the 
 sailors, "The Life-Boat Sermon," and was talked of 
 years afterwards. 
 
 In 1823, the society at Barwick sustained the loss of 
 two excellent members by death, the mother of the 
 Rev. David Stoner, and Mrs. Newby ; the former Aug. 
 10th, and the latter Sep. 9th. Brief memoirs of both 
 were forwarded by Mr. Dawson to the Editor of the 
 Wesleyan Magazine, where they appeared in 1824, pp. 
 140, 209. He wrote also an account of Mrs. Broad- 
 belt of Killinghall, for his friend Mr. Thompson. 
 There were only eleven members in his class at Barn- 
 bow at this time, including himself. The Barwick 
 class met a long time in the house of Mrs. Batty. 
 
 There were four out of five children, left by Mrs. 
 Stoner, who were found in the ways of righteousness. 
 David was the oldest, who was much esteemed by Mr. 
 Dawson, and the more so, as he was brought to God 
 under his ministry. There was another young man of 
 promising talents, who began to preach about the same 
 time with David. Mr. Dawson speaking of them one 
 
 day, observed, " J cooks a good dinner, and sets it 
 
 in order before his guests : but they may either take it 
 or not : if they do not, they may let it alone ; but in 
 such a case ; the infant, as well as others, may starve. 
 David, on the other hand, says, ' I'll make you take 
 it :' he takes the spoon in one hand, and the child by 
 the nose with the other, and pours the contents down
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 319 
 
 the throat. J exhibits, David preaches." The 
 
 eloquence of David Stoner was that which may be 
 compared to a stream that is fed by an abundant 
 spring, and not that, as a writer observes, "which 
 spouts forth a little frothy water on some gaudy day, 
 and remains dry the rest of the year. " And yet, 
 though few men equalled him for the uninterrupted 
 tide of eloquence he poured forth in the pulpit, he 
 was exceedingly reserved in social life. Indulging one 
 day his taciturn mood, Mr. Dawson full of spirit, 
 rallied him on the subject. David, a little tried with 
 it, took up the old proverb,- "Empty casks sound 
 most ; " and threw it at Mr. Dawson. "What are 
 full ones good for," returned the latter, "till they 
 are tapt ? " 
 
 The slender number of members in Mr. Dawson' s 
 class, as just adverted to, was a source of grief. Mr. 
 Russom, of Tarperly, Cheshire, referring to this period, 
 observes in a letter to the biographer, " Sixteen years 
 have passed away since myself and two others went 
 to his class at Barwick. ' I had last night,' said Mr. 
 Dawson, ' an impression upon my mind, that God was 
 about doing something for us, and now,' pointing to 
 us, 'see, here it is three souls three souls. Bless 
 the Lord ! Bless the Lord ! After enquiring into the 
 state of my mind, and directing me to the 'Lamb 
 of God,' he solemnly put his hands upon my head, 
 and prayed, while raising his eyes to heaven, 'Lord, 
 bless this lad, and make him a blessing ! ' Sub- 
 sequently, I was often impressed with his deep humility 
 at class, and once observed to a member, ' Mr. 
 Dawson seems wholly unconscious of his worth to 
 the church. ' "
 
 320 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 A person meeting with a few religious friends, while 
 Mr. Dawson was present, began to sport his wit, and 
 to state, that when he became serious, he advertised 
 a sale of his effects referring to sin, and resolved 
 upon selling all off. Mr. Dawson, to put a stop to 
 what might lead to a trifling mode of conversation, 
 on a subject so awfully serious as sin, returned, 
 "A buyer would be wanting for the stuff; the devil 
 would not give a price, for it was his already ; God 
 would have nothing to do with it, for he hates it ; 
 and man needed it not ; for he would find he had 
 enough of his own without it." He could relish wit ; 
 but not when "reason put in her claim for the one 
 half of it, and extravagance for the other." 
 
 Being down at Hull/ preaching occasional sermons, 
 the friends of the Bible Society availed themselves of 
 his aid, at one of their meetings. His speech excited 
 great interest, especially when he turned to Mr. Dikes, 
 and acknowledged him as his spiritual father. This 
 revelation to the meeting was the more grateful, be- 
 cause of the esteem in which Mr. Dikes was held, 
 and the members of the Established Church began 
 to look with more respect upon the son in the gospel, 
 for the venerable pastor's sake; and it drew many 
 to a Methodist chapel, who had not been in the 
 habit of entering one before. 
 
 His excellent mother died July 9th, 1824, in the 
 76th year of her age, and was sincerely lamented by 
 the family ; but by no one was the stroke so severely 
 felt as by himself, having been at home with her 
 from childhood, and now, comparatively alone in the 
 house !
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 321 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Increasing labour. Conversion of a Sceptic. Opening of Bruns- 
 wick Chapel, Leeds. Contrast betneen the Pulpit and the Farm. 
 Silver taken at the foot of the gallery stairs. Difference 
 between popularity and usefulness. Revivals. Industry. The 
 grave and the ludicrous. Daniel in the Lions' den. John 
 Richardson. Biography. Death of the Rev. David Stotier. 
 His character. The fallen trumpet. Difference bettveen Nature 
 and Art. Mr. Samuel Entwistle.Mr. Hugh Gill. Dr. Me 
 Allum's character and death. Leeds Organ Question. Mr. 
 Baines and the Leeds Mercury. Disputes. Journies. A mis- 
 hap. Platform Readings. Prayer-Meetings, and their good 
 fjf'ects. Divine Influence. Restitution. Contentment. Solici- 
 tation of Subscriptions. Melancholy effects of false alarm at 
 Heckmondnnke. The Rev. Gideon Ouseley. Popish Controvert- 
 ists. Death of " The Village Blacksmith." Farm unsuccessful. 
 Curiosity in check. Visits. Obituaries. 
 
 THE anxiety to obtain the services of Mr. Dawson, 
 in places which had not been favoured with them, 
 became more and more intense from 1825 to 1830, 
 which embraces that portion of his history to which 
 the reader is now directed: and yet the spirit which 
 he kindled in the societies that had been so favoured, 
 rendered it extremely difficult for him to extend his 
 acquaintance, owing to the friends pressing him to 
 repeat his visits. This induced many to apply to 
 o2
 
 322 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 him twelve months before his services were required. 
 He had public engagements now, in a general way, 
 from January to July, as far as his regular work 
 would allow, and also towards the close of the year. 
 "The latter part of July," said he to the writer, 
 "as well as August and October, I reserve to myself; 
 the first, because of the hay, the second being the 
 time for cutting the corn, and the third for sowing 
 the seed.'' The way in which he accomplished his 
 Herculean toil, may be accounted for partly on the 
 principle laid down in the remarks of a writer of 
 close observation : " It is an undoubted truth," says 
 he, "that the less one has to do, the less time one 
 has to do it in. One yawns, one procrastinates, one 
 can do it when one will, and, therefore, one seldom 
 does it at all : whereas, those who have a great deal 
 of business, must (to use a vulgar expression), buckle 
 to it ; and they always find time enough to do it in." 
 "With Mr. Dawson, it was not barely a "must" be, 
 though he was sensible of a "woe be to me," if 
 I do it not : but his duty was his delight. He could 
 adopt the language of Ezekiel, "The Spirit lifted 
 me up." This gave ardour to his love, strength to 
 his faith, and animation to his hope ; removing from 
 the soul the various weights that clogged it, and 
 adding to it the pinions by which it was borne on- 
 ward in its flight to heaven; being ready, ever and 
 anon, to exclaim, through the fine flow of feeling 
 of which he was the subject, in what might possibly 
 have been proverbial language, "Or ever I was aware, 
 my soul made me like the chariots of Ammi-nadib." 
 
 In one of his excursions to the north at this time, 
 he preached at Carville, near Newcastle. Two persons
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 
 
 were passing the chapel, one of them, a professed 
 deist, said to the other, " Let us hear what this 
 fellow is bawling about." They went near the door- 
 way, which, as usual, was crowded the chapel being 
 unequal to the accommodation of the people. After 
 stopping two or three minutes, the other said, "Come, 
 let us go." " Nay," returned his companion, " I will 
 hear him out." He did "hear him out," and heard 
 to profit ; for on the outside of the chapel the win- 
 dows and doors being open, the word of God fastened 
 on his conscience ; the " strong man armed " was 
 slain; and within a fortnight, having given every 
 evidence of a divine change, a stone fell from the 
 top of the pit where he was working, and killed him 
 on the spot ! Whether the man was a reader, and 
 entitled to the character of a thinker, or whether his 
 infidel principles arose from the natural enmity of 
 the human heart to God and truth, is of little im- 
 portance. His principles, or his feelings, or both, 
 preserved him in hostile array against everything sacred : 
 and whether scepticism attempts to rear its own system, 
 or employs its efforts to undermine a better, it is equally 
 fatal to the individual, though not equally easy and 
 pleasant. Hence the truth of the remark, that we 
 may find a thousand engineers, who can sap, under- 
 mine, and blow up, with admirable dexterity, for one 
 who can build a fort or lay the platform of a citadel. 
 The point of interest to contemplate is that there 
 was hope in the man's death, adding another testimony 
 to the fact, that 
 
 " The quality of mercy is not strain'd: 
 
 It dropped), as the gentle rain from Leaven, 
 
 Upon the place beneath. "
 
 324 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Few chapels were now opened, including a con- 
 siderable extent of country around, to the sen-ices 
 of which he was not either pressingly invited, or in 
 a part of which he did not actually engage. It was 
 common on such occasions, to find his name associated 
 in the same advertisements, in newspapers, and in 
 the posters on the walls, with those of Dr. Clarke, 
 Messrs. R. Watson, R. Newton, and other popular 
 ministers. Among the chapels opened in 1825, 
 Mytholmroy, in the Todmorden circuit, Cullingworth, 
 Osset, Eastbrook, Bradford and Brunswick Leeds, 
 may be noticed. 
 
 The last, which was considered the largest chapel 
 in the Wesley an Connexion at that time, being 96 
 feet in length and 72 in width, was opened Friday, 
 September 9th. The services were resumed Sunday, 
 September llth. Its cost was estimated to be about 
 7900 ; the collections at the opening, amounted to 
 .853, which were augmented by a few spirited indi- 
 viduals to .361000, exclusive of previous subscriptions, 
 amounting' to nearly ^2000. The chapel was calculated 
 to accommodate 3000 persons ; and in the genuine 
 spirit of that text of mercy, " The poor have the 
 gospel preached to them," one thousand free sittings 
 were appropriated to such as were unable to pay for 
 them : since then, however, it is to be regretted, the 
 free seats have been considerably circumscribed. 
 
 Mr. Dawson was visited by a friend on the 10th, 
 the Saturday intervening the services, when he was 
 found busily engaged in marking sheep on his farm. 
 Adverting to his employment, he slyly turned up his 
 eye his meaning eye, to his friend, who was ap- 
 proaching him, and said, "I hope to mark some
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 325 
 
 other sheep to-morrow. " He did so ; for in the 
 afternoon of the Sabbath during the adjourned ser- 
 vices, it was found that he had indeed marked some 
 of the Lord's stray sheep in Brunswick chapel. The 
 honour thus put upon Mr. Dawson, in opening the 
 largest chapel in the Connexion in his own circuit 
 he himself a local preacher and in a town in which 
 he had preached upwards of twenty years, reminds 
 the biblical student of the honour which God con- 
 ferred upon David, of whom it is said, "he keepeth 
 the sheep," and who was translated from the sheep-cot 
 to the court of Saul; of Elisha, "who was ploughing 
 with twelve yoke of oxen, and upon whom Elijah, as 
 he "passed by him, cast his mantle;" and "of 
 Amos, who," when the spirit of prophecy descended 
 upon him, "was among the herdmen of Tekoa." 
 
 One thing annoyed Mr. Dawson here, as in many 
 other places. At the close of the circular announcing 
 the services, it was added, "The trustees, wishing 
 to accommodate the respectable friends who may attend 
 on the occasion, purpose to reserve the entire gallery 
 of the Brunswick Chapel for their use. To facilitate 
 this, silver will be taken at the foot of the stairs." 
 This was always repulsive to his feelings, and the 
 collectors employed were characterised by him as pre- 
 senting so many " silver daggers " at the people on 
 their way to the gallery. He associated with the case, 
 the resemblance it bore to persons paying on entering 
 a place of amusement its apparent opposition to a 
 free gospel and the painful manner in which it 
 operated upon the poor. But such were the crowds 
 to hear him, especially in Manchester and other popu- 
 lous places, that the chapel doors were beset with
 
 326 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the people long before they were opened for service, 
 the best seats were often occupied by non-contributers, 
 while the most liberal givers were left without. In 
 many instances, the police were obliged to parade 
 before the places of worship, to prevent disturbance 
 among the multitudes who were anxious to hear him, 
 the baser sort availing themselves of the occasion 
 for the worst of purposes. 
 
 Mr. Dawson was not merely popular ; nor was the 
 feeling which accompanied his public labours evan- 
 escent. There may be popularity without either solid 
 or permanent good, excitement without a genuine 
 work of God. Popularity is often the mere crea- 
 ture of circumstance, and owes its existence as well 
 as its continuance, to some external attraction, in- 
 dependent of either extraordinary mental endowments, 
 or exalted piety. Mere excitement is generally confined 
 to the man ; it circumscribes itself within his own 
 sphere of operation, moves, like his shadow, by 
 his side, never puts up its appearance, except when 
 he is there, and leaves all around, save that one 
 spot, blank or dreary. A genuine revival of the work 
 of God, in a town or neighbourhood, is not seen 
 following in the wake of only one person ; every chapel 
 is benefited ; every minister of God receives his quota 
 of hearers; the week-day services are more numerously 
 attended, as well as those appointed for the Sabbath ; 
 the forenoon services are as respectable for number 
 as those in an evening, that have the charm of a 
 prayer-meeting appended to them; and people are 
 as partial to the word of GOD, as to the prayers of 
 MAN. Newly-awakened souls persons hungering and 
 thirsting after righteousness, will not refuse the food
 
 WILLIAM DAW8ON. 327 
 
 because of the less distinguished platter upon which 
 it is served; they will he thankful for the bread of 
 life from any minister of Christ. The ministry that 
 renders people fastidious, that enamours them merely 
 with the man, to the neglect or contempt of others, 
 is defective in its essentialities. The subtle poison of 
 the Corinthian church is in it. The design of the 
 Christian ministry is to endear God, his house, and 
 his word, to man, and not man to a solitary individual. 
 This was the genuine effect of Mr. Dawson's ministry. 
 Though he was loved and respected, the word of God 
 was loved the better for his services ; he did not 
 take the work away with him to the next place ; but 
 he left a savour of hallowed feeling behind him, by 
 which ministers and people were benefited after he 
 had quitted the spot. Though he took the torch 
 with him, a number of lamps were left burning at 
 the place, which had been kindled at his flame ; and 
 he found them more bright on his return. This was 
 the case at Grimsby and other places, where a genuine 
 revival of the work of God broke out, through which 
 whole societies shared in the benefit. The moving 
 of the waters did not subside immediately on his 
 departure, as in the departure of the angel from the 
 pool of Bethesda, and remain a dead calm till his 
 return. The people were left with a relish for the 
 ministry of others, as well as his own. They did 
 not take their ideas of a minister from himself barely, 
 cherishing the notion that they could receive good 
 from no other ; all others sinking in their esteem 
 in proportion as he himself advanced. He drew them 
 to God, not to himself; and yet, in drawing them 
 to God, he was honoured both of God and man.
 
 328 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Here is the difference between sheer popularity and 
 usefulness ; the former follows the man wherever he 
 goes, and moves only in his train ; the latter is sta- 
 tioned at the different places : the one has a rambling, 
 gipsy kind of existence ; and the other has its fixed 
 settlement, and erects, if not towns, its congregations 
 and its temples found years after, as so many monu- 
 ments of ministerial toil. 
 
 He very often had to turn out of the different places 
 of worship, and preach in the open air, to accommodate 
 persons who could not gain access to the chapels ; 
 and the chapels themselves could only be endured, 
 from the intense interest the people felt to hear him. 
 A person came up to him at Cullingworth, nearly 
 breathless, wiping the perspiration off his face, and 
 saying, by way of shewing his hardships, and exciting 
 pity, "I have had to stand all the time ! " " So have 
 I," returned Mr. Dawson, when silence was instantly 
 imposed ; the person perceiving that Mr. D. had the 
 fatigue of the pulpit added to it. 
 
 In the course of 1826, he assisted at the opening 
 of chapels at Brotherton, Rochdale, Otley, Long- 
 holme, Thome, York, Mebmerly, Colton, Monkwear- 
 mouth, Spitalfield Leeds, Minsten, Shuckerstone, &c. ; 
 and visited Nottingham, Newark, Sheffield, Doncaster, 
 Newcastle, Shields, Sunderland, Darlington, Halifax, 
 and different places in Lancashire and elsewhere : and 
 it was not uncommon for him to be sowing seed, 
 stacking corn, clipping sheep, &c., on the same day 
 that he was opening chapels and attending missionary 
 meetings, working " double tides," to employ a nau- 
 tical phrase, that one thing might not interfere with 
 another, and so bringing "forth his fruit in his season."
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 329 
 
 While preaching in Albion-street chapel, in one of 
 his visits to York, he took for his text, Ezekiel iii. 
 17 19. Towards the close of the sermon, he pro- 
 posed the question with solemnity and deep feeling, 
 "Why will you die?" stating, that he would sit 
 down, and give them time for deliberating upon an 
 answer, taking his seat at the same time in the 
 pulpit, in the midst of death-like silence. The effect 
 would have been ludicrous, had the people not been 
 awed into stillness and sober thought by his previous 
 reasonings and appeals to the conscience. After a 
 short pause, he turned his scrutinizing eye to one 
 side of the gallery, and asked, " Why will you die ? " 
 then to the other, shifting the emphasis on different 
 words, "Why will you die?" next to the front, 
 "Why will you die?" and lastly below, "Why will 
 you die ? " With the sound of death still vibrating 
 on the ear, he rose, and in a modulated tone, said, 
 "What, not an answer! not one capable of assigning 
 a reason for his conduct ! Is silence your only reply ? 
 Speechless here, and speechless hereafter! At that 
 moment for it had not occurred to him to employ 
 it before, the fact of one of the judges having sen- 
 tenced a poor wretch to be hung in the city two days 
 before, flashed into his mind ; and with the same 
 solemn feeling, he imitated the judge while putting 
 on the "black cap," one of his customary actions 
 coming to his aid at the instant, of stroking down 
 his wig on each side with both hands, pronouncing 
 with firmness and vehemence, that part of the text, 
 " Thou shalt surely die." The whole was easy, natural, 
 and, contrary to what any one can be supposed to con- 
 ceive, except those who witnessed it, deeply impressive.
 
 330 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Though, his manner occasionally approached the con- 
 fines of the ludicrous, and his expressions were some- 
 times overstrained, there was so much pure nature 
 in the one, and so much meaning in the other, that 
 he generally found an apologist at hand among his 
 auditors. When preaching on Daniel in the lions' 
 den, he drew largely on the pencillings of his imagina- 
 tion, and after depicting the place in all its gloom 
 and horror the animals in all their power, hunger, 
 and ferocity, he contrasted the whole with the ecstatic 
 frame of mind in which Daniel might be supposed 
 to have heen wrapt in the presence of the "angel" 
 of the Lord, while in deep communion with heaven, 
 finally, representing him as bursting forth into song, 
 till tamed and charmed by his strains, the lions, 
 under a more powerful spell than the harp of Orpheus, 
 united in the concert, and "growled bass" to the 
 tenor of his finer and more elevated Hebrew warblings, 
 which were poured into the ear of his angelic com- 
 panion. 
 
 February 29, 1826, his friend John Richardson of 
 Barwick, died, with whom he had often taken "sweet 
 counsel." John was a rare man, and made a blessed 
 exit. But it could not be said of him as of many, 
 who may say of themselves, in the affecting language 
 of Sir "Walter Raleigh, the night before he died, 
 
 " The dark and silent grave 
 * * 
 
 Shuts up the story of our days ; " 
 
 for Mr. Dawson wrote a memoir of him, which was 
 published in the Wesleyan Magazine for 1827, p. 721, 
 and which enables him to speak, though dead a 
 sense in which Sir Walter's own "story" still lives,
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 331 
 
 though the " days " of his life have long been num- 
 bered, or "shut up." 
 
 Biography had a particular charm in it to Mr. 
 Dawson. Speaking of the Lives of eminent men, he 
 observed, "The Life of Mr. Benson came into my 
 hand about the same time that I received the Life 
 of the Rev. Thomas Scott. With the latter, I was 
 much pleased. I said to myself, 'There is substance 
 here.' A man is best seen in his unstudied letters 
 to his friends. Diaries are of little worth, except 
 for personal use in private, and will only admit of 
 brief extracts for publication. The sum of the whole 
 is," continued he laughingly, "he got up in the 
 morning took his breakfast sat down to dinner 
 drank his tea took his supper and went to bed. 
 The next day is a fac-simile of its predecessor. " 
 There is much truth in this, so far as diaries of 
 mere experience and domestic life are concerned ; and 
 it shews the change that had passed over him, in 
 reference to his own. But the Lives of eminent men 
 were differently viewed, and that for very substantial 
 reasons ; for " Biography," as Burgh observes, " sets 
 before us the whole character of a person, who has 
 made himself eminent either by his virtues or his 
 vices shews us how he came at first to take a right 
 or a wrong turn the prospects which invited him to 
 aspire to higher degrees of glory, or the delusions 
 which led him from his virtue and his peace ; the 
 circumstances which raised him to true greatness, or 
 the rocks on which he split, and sunk to infamy. 
 And how can we more effectually, or in a more enter- 
 taining manner, learn the important lesson, what we 
 ought to pursue, and what to avoid ? "
 
 332 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 A death with which Mr. Dawson was more sensibly 
 touched, followed in the course of the same year 
 that of the Rev. David Stoner, who died at Liver- 
 pool, after a short illness, Monday October 23rd. The 
 mournful intelligence was communicated to Mr. Dawson 
 on the 25th; and he felt like a father. Mr. Stoner 
 was born near Barwick-in-Elmet, in April, 1/94. His 
 parents, who were the intimate friends of Mr. Daw- 
 son, taught him what is the good and the right way; 
 and the Divine Spirit seconded the prayerful instruction 
 communicated, with many drawings from the Father. 
 In the spring of 1806, much fatal sickness, and 
 many sudden deaths, occurred in Barwick ; and, as 
 might be supposed, great alarm prevailed. Among 
 others, who were taken away upon this occasion, was 
 the father of a large family, and Mr. Dawson was 
 called upon to improve the event in a funeral sermon. 
 His text was Deuteronomy xxxii. 29, " Oh. that they 
 were wise, that they understood this, that they would 
 consider their latter end ! " Young Stoner was present ; 
 the word entered his heart ; and he was convinced 
 of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment : and at 
 the prayer-meeting which followed the sermon, "he 
 offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying 
 and tears, unto him that was able to save him from 
 death ; and was heard in that he feared." It was a 
 night much to be remembered by him ; for he obtained 
 the blessing of conscious acceptance with God. He 
 was then only twelve years of age; and yet he held 
 fast this early beginning of his confidence steadfast 
 unto the end of his life. He was received upon the 
 plan as a Local Preacher, when teacher in an academy 
 at Leeds; and during the period of the first plan,
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 333 
 
 it being necessary to call out another preacher for 
 the regular duties of the Leeds circuit, he though 
 a native, and resident in it, was fixed upon to fill the 
 vacancy. He commenced the itinerant work in 1814, 
 and thus finished in 1826. 
 
 The eloquence of David Stoner was, what all true 
 eloquence is described to be good sense, delivered in 
 a natural and unaffected way, without the artificial 
 ornament of tropes and figures. Our common eloquence, 
 is, with equal propriety, described by Baker, as usually 
 a cheat upon the understanding, deceiving us with 
 appearances, instead of things, and making us think 
 without reason, while it is only tickling our sense. 
 David Stoner was a modern Apollos, "An eloquent 
 man, and mighty in the Scriptures ; " overwhelming 
 in the application of divine truth to the understanding 
 and the conscience. A good characteristic memoir of 
 him was drawn up by Dr. Me Allum a man, who, 
 like David himself, in the prime of life, and in the 
 glory of his ministerial character, dropped into the 
 tomb the year following. This brief sketch was pub- 
 lished in the Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, for 1827, 
 p. 289. A separate, and more extended memorial of 
 him was published the year subsequent to his death, 
 12mo., pp. 287, price 4s.; combining with character, 
 " Copious Extracts from his Diary and Epistolary 
 Correspondence." To the preface are affixed the sig- 
 natures of Mr. Dawson and Mr. Hannah. As a joint 
 production though highly creditable, it would have 
 probably added to the popularity of the work, if, to 
 Mr. Hannah's good taste, further distinct traces of 
 the sprightly and vigorous mind of Mr. Dawson had 
 been perceptible, to relieve the graver character of
 
 334 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the work. It is, however, a volume, which young 
 preachers would do well to peruse, and merits, for the 
 sake of its pulpit model, a more extensive circulation. 
 
 Mr. Dawson, at the earnest request of the friends 
 in several of the circuits in which Mr. Stoner had 
 travelled, and in places where he was personally known, 
 preached funeral sermons on the occasion of his death ; 
 as at Leeds, Huddersfield, Bradford, Birstal, Tadcaster, 
 Barwick, &c. At Bradford, where Mr. Stoner had 
 been extensively useful to the church of God, and 
 where he successfully battled, discomfitted, and drove 
 the comedians out of the town, Mr. Dawson was 
 unusually moving. In highly impassioned mood, when 
 referring to the ministry of the deceased, he said, 
 
 "When he blew the trumpet of war, hundreds 
 rallied round the banner of the cross, and were ready 
 for the charge of the enemy. Nor was he less successful 
 when he blew the trump of Jubilee, hundreds going 
 forth at the sound, were crowned with joy and glad- 
 ness! But look at him now; look at the coffin and 
 the corpse ; look, my brethren in the ministry ! 
 There he lies. The trumpet has fallen from his hand. 
 Speak to him ; say, ' Blow blow blow the trumpet 
 in Zion ; sound an alarm ! ' but he heeds not. Let 
 those of us, then, who are in the work, give the 
 sacred blast. No trumpet ever gave a more certain 
 sound, than did that of the deceased. How many 
 will have cause to bless the day they ever heard the 
 joyful sound from his lips ! You, who were in church 
 fellowship, when he occupied this pulpit, look upon 
 his coffin and his corpse ! He confirmed your faith, 
 warned you of danger, prayed for you, rejoiced 
 over you. Many of you were his joy ; now you are
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 335 
 
 his crown! You were delighted when you saw him, 
 and still more when you heard him ; you went forth 
 at his bidding, with your loins girt, in the gladness 
 of your hearts. He placed before you the Saviour, 
 by whom he himself was saved, and whose example 
 he imitated. And thou, poor backslider, roused from 
 thy lethargy by his voice, but again prostrate in the 
 encounter, what shall I say to thee ? I would take 
 up his fallen trumpet, and sound an alarm in thine 
 ear an alarm both loud and long, What meanest 
 thou, O sleeper ? Start at once upon thy feet ; 
 awake to righteousness and sin not ; otherwise the 
 measure of thy punishment will be great. What do 
 I read in his Journal? 'If ever a sigh is recorded, 
 it is when the classes are deserted ! ' And why, I 
 ask, did you plant a thorn for his pillow, and make 
 him sigh in secret, instead of sing a song of praise? 
 Oh, let his death be your life ; rise and return to 
 your first love ; let his happy spirit hear to-night 
 in heaven, that the prodigal, who has left his Father's 
 house, is returning to it ! And you, O my young 
 friends, I invite you also to look at his coffin ! Thirty- 
 two years are set upon the lid, twenty of which were 
 spent in the service of God. Did he, at the close 
 of life, lament that he commenced his religious course 
 so soon ? Ah, no. His day was short, but well filled 
 up. His work is done. The trumpet has dropped 
 from his hand." Then, looking round upon the con- 
 gregation, doubling at the same time his hand, and 
 placing it to his mouth, when he quoted, with a full 
 swell of voice, an appropriate passage of Scripture, 
 embodying in it the tidings of salvation to a lost 
 world, he seemed to place his favourite son in the
 
 336 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 gospel, on the summit of Mount Zion, whence he 
 sent his voice, with the clang of a trumpet, across 
 the "holy city," to rouse its slumbering inhabitants 
 from their sins ; asking, while the blast appeared 
 echoing among the "hills round about Jerusalem," 
 and dying in the distance, " Is there no young man 
 in this congregation, willing to take up the fallen 
 trumpet, and to occupy the station of the deceased 
 in the Church ? " accompanying the question with 
 some other pointed interrogatories and remarks, 
 shewing the need of labourers, to supply the lack 
 of service occasioned by the death of such men as 
 Mr. Stoner. 
 
 It is almost impossible to divest the mind of an 
 impression of the ludicrous being mixed up with the 
 solemn occasion, when assuming the tone and character 
 of a person blowing a trumpet; as in his imitation 
 of the judge passing sentence. Yet here, as there, 
 a sacred something was connected with it, which re- 
 pressed every light feeling, and which produced, 
 not omitting the sanctity and solemnity of the occasion, 
 the same effect noticed by Goldsmith, between natural 
 and unnatural speaking, when he observes, that "natu- 
 ral speaking, like sweet wine, runs glibly over the 
 palate, and scarce leaves any taste behind it ; but being 
 high in a part resembles vinegar, which grates upon 
 the taste, and one feels it while he is drinking." This 
 was the critical moment with Mr. Dawson, and between 
 these two points he was sometimes placed in the utmost 
 peril of miscarrying and did actually occasionally mis- 
 carry in the esteem of others than persons of refined 
 taste; but it operated prejudicially only on a few minds, 
 and to these it was onlv like a discordant tone in
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 337 
 
 music, preparatory to the richest harmony, a passing 
 cloud, shading for the moment the disk of the sun, 
 without excluding the surrounding day. Nature, like 
 music, is felt or known by all, and works strangely 
 upon both mind and matter, raising joy or grief, plea- 
 sure or pain giving motion to the blood as well as 
 the spirits tranquillizing the disturbed thoughts and 
 even heightening the spirit of devotion itself. But 
 the query is, what part of nature is to be admitted 
 into the pulpit, and what part is to be kept out ; 
 as well as what particular parts harmonize, most with 
 each other. 
 
 On this occasion, the simple question, "Is there 
 no young man in this congregation willing to take 
 up the fallen trumpet? " was like a voice from heaven, 
 entering the inmost soul of one lovely youth Samuel 
 Entwisle, who had been impressed some time with it 
 being his duty to give himself to the work of the 
 ministry, but had resisted the call, till he brought 
 himself into the deepest distress of mind. At that 
 moment, he resolved to yield took up the trumpet, 
 to pursue the metaphor began to preach entered 
 the itinerant work but soon, like David Stoner, to 
 whom he would have been an admirable successor, 
 sickened, laid aside the clarion, and died the death 
 of the righteous. He was the son of the late Rev. 
 Joseph Entwisle, "the beloved disciple" of modern 
 times. 
 
 Some of the chapels opened by Mr. Dawson in 1827, 
 were those of Leuthley, Farsley, Henley, Ulleskelf, 
 Kirk Deighton, West Auckland, Farnley, and one in 
 the neighbourhood of Croft ; and among the numerous 
 places in which he preached other occasional sermons,
 
 338 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Stockport, Manchester, Salford, Middleton, Ratcliffe 
 Close, Longholme, Keighley, Sheffield, York, Bir- 
 mingham, Bristol, Bingley, Skipton, Halifax, Wake- 
 field, Bradford, Dewsbury, Pontefract, Snaith, Otley, 
 Stokesley, Darlington, Barnard Castle, Newcastle-on- 
 Tyne, Wall's End, Thirsk, Bawtry, and Ashton-under- 
 Lyne, may be named. 
 
 His long tried and excellent friend, Mr. Hugh Gill, 
 died April 27th, this year, aged 74, forty-eight years 
 of whose life had been consecrated to the service of 
 God. Mr. Dawson wrote a memoir of him, which 
 was inserted in the Wesleyan Magazine for 1828, p. 
 651. He was one of those men, who never forfeited 
 the reputation of his integrity, and out of whose 
 commercial transactions, the Christian was constantly 
 coming before the eye, like stars, unobtrusively stealing 
 into sight as the evening approaches, and attracting 
 attention, not so much by their sparkling appearance, 
 as by their shining. Mr. Dawson not only penned 
 a memoir of Mr. Gill, but preached his funeral sermon ; 
 as also the funeral sermons of Mrs. Baggott, Betty 
 Scholes, and Dr. Me Allum. 
 
 The last was preached at York, July 28 ; and Mr. 
 Dawson was probably selected, not so much from any 
 long established friendship between himself and the Dr., 
 as from the intimacy which subsisted between the latter 
 and Mr. Stoner. The biographer knew the Doctor from 
 boyhood, and was stationed with his excellent father 
 in the Shields circuit, in 1807, when he came from 
 Kingswood School, on finishing his education in that 
 seminary. He even then, manifested unusual powers 
 of mind; quick, yet not volatile, adventurous, yet 
 possessed of sufficient firmness to be relied upon ;
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 339 
 
 and could pursue an argument with care, acuteness, 
 and foresight, without as is too often the case with 
 persons of more matured intellectual abilities, suddenly 
 striking off, like the tangent of a circle, and incapable 
 of being brought back into his orbit by attraction or 
 gravity. He was usually recollected and guarded. The 
 same rare combination of sprightliness and solidity 
 advanced with age; and had his life been prolonged, 
 he would have ranked still more eminently among 
 those men described by Lord Brougham whom, by 
 the way, he could imitate to a nicety as a public 
 speaker, who, by diffusing useful information, by fur- 
 thering intellectual refinement, and by promoting moral 
 improvement, " hasten the coming of that bright day, 
 when the dawn of general knowledge shah 1 chase away 
 the lazy, lingering mists, even from the base of the 
 great social pyramid ; " superadded to which, was the 
 Christian, as well as the philosopher and the scholar, 
 in which exalted character he shone still more bril- 
 liantly even as one of the "stars" hi the "right 
 hand" of Jesus Christ. His "Remains," preceded 
 by a Memoir from the classical pen of the Rev. 
 Jonathan Crowther, deserve a wider circulation than 
 they appear to have had. 
 
 The close of the year was distinguished for great 
 excitement among the Wesley ans in Leeds. The main 
 point of dispute was the introduction of an organ into 
 Brunswick chapel ; a number of pamphlets, comprising 
 when bound together, two thick octavo volumes, 
 were published on the occasion. The agitated state 
 of the Society had been a source of pain to Mr. Daw- 
 son for several months; it was brought, however, to 
 a crisis, and " A special District Meeting of Wesleyau
 
 340 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ministers" was "held at Leeds" on the case, "on 
 Tuesday, the 4th of December, 1827, and continued 
 by successive adjournments." Mr. Dawson, in a memo- 
 randum made by himself, notices that he was present 
 at the " meeting " on the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th ; 
 and appends to the latter date, " The case of Messrs. 
 Sigston and Mallinson examined, and both were ex- 
 pelled." 
 
 Several of the ministers and principal friends were 
 assembled in the house of one of the preachers prior 
 to the meeting, when some strong remarks were made. 
 Mr. Dawson observed, " Hitherto, I have taken part 
 with neither side ; and although I cannot justify the 
 dissentients, yet there are some palliations to be offered 
 
 on their behalf. I put it to you, Mr. , and, in 
 
 so doing, I may bear hard upon Mr. , whether, 
 
 after the organ question was put in the Quarterly 
 Meeting, and there was an overwhelming majority 
 against it, it was judicious in such a state of things, 
 to grant permission to the trustees to put one up?" 
 To this, Mr. Dawson remarked to the biographer, 
 
 "Mr. was silent." "And now," continued Mr. 
 
 D., " I turn to Mr. , and I may bear hard upon 
 
 him: but would it not have been better if Mr. 
 
 had avoided the suspension of ? I am aware 
 
 he acted on the rule of 1797 ; but that rule had been 
 slumbering for a period of thirty years ; and that 
 being the case, would it not, taken in connection with 
 what preceded, have shewn a disposition to conciliate 
 matters? I repeat it, I do not justify the men; but 
 these circumstances may be stated as palliatives in 
 the present stage of the business." Mr. D. further 
 observed to the writer, "Not a word was said in
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 341 
 
 reply." After a brief pause, Mr. said, "Well, 
 
 but what is to be done ? The case is before us, and 
 we must deal with it." "Do with it," returned Mr. 
 Dawson : " the dissentients have arrived at that point/ 
 that must now compel you to put them down: there 
 is no peace to be maintained with them; and strong 
 measures are necessary to preserve the healthy part 
 of Society, by separating it from the infected." So far 
 he closed in with ulterior measures, not as desirable 
 in every instance, but as necessary. 
 
 During this struggle, Mr. Baines of Leeds, mani- 
 fested anything but candour and fairness towards the 
 Wesley an Methodists, throwing open the columns of 
 the Mercury to the dissentients, and narrowing the 
 door, as far as possible, as to the admission of papers 
 in defence of the opposite party. Mr. Dawson felt 
 this, not only on the ground of justice, but on the 
 score of friendship, Mrs. Baines when Miss Talbot, 
 having been a frequent visitor at Barnbow, and Mr. 
 Baines himself having received personal kindnesses from 
 members of the Methodist body. He addressed, there- 
 fore, a letter to him, through the medium of the 
 Leeds Intelligencer, of December 18, 1828, signed "A 
 METHODIST," in which the reader will find a repe- 
 tition of the comparison of a " snarling critic " to a 
 gander, and of which the following is a copy : 
 
 "SiR. In the last fifteen months, the disposition 
 of deep-rooted enmity which you have evinced against 
 the Methodist system, and the Methodist ministers, 
 has given me considerable pain. This, in my appre- 
 hension, has been as obvious as the light of day. It 
 has always appeared to afford you real pleasure to 
 insert any paragraph sent from any person, or collected
 
 342 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 from any quarter, which had a tendency to lessen 
 the system of Methodism in the public estimation. 
 When the unhappy disputes began about the Brunswick 
 chapel organ, paragraph after .paragraph appeared in 
 the most interesting column of your paper, the direct 
 tendency of which was, to embitter and inflame the 
 spirit of your readers, and those paragraphs inserted 
 ' without money and without price.' But, as I have 
 been informed, when Mr. Grindrod sent his commu- 
 nication, then it must be paid for as an advertisement ! 
 And pray, Sir, in what particulars have the Methodists 
 injured you ? Look over the list of the subscribers 
 to your paper, and will you not find scores of per- 
 sons who honour that list with their names, who are 
 Methodists? But, Mr. B., review the past; and 
 'look to the rock from whence ye were hewn, and 
 the hole of the pit whence ye were digged ; ' and I 
 ask, who was the gentleman that lent you a hundred 
 pounds, to begin that business with, in which you 
 have succeeded so well? Was he not a Methodist? 
 And, after all this, though at times you appear covered 
 with a cloak of candour, yet, under it, you hide a 
 dagger, with which, at every convenient opportunity, 
 you aim a deadly blow under the fifth rib. Ungenerous 
 ungrateful man! Do the Methodists deserve this 
 at your hands? Let any man of sober reason look 
 at your last week's paper, and see the way you have 
 treated the Rev. T. Galland; and can any one con- 
 clude that this is the conduct of & friend ? Impossible ! 
 Whatever may be the merits or demerits of his speech, 
 I shall not now decide. But he spoke like an honest 
 man, faithful to his convictions. Has he been answered 
 like a man? If his arguments are weak, they are
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 343 
 
 the more easily refuted. If they are strong, do you 
 suppose that low banter and ridicule will make them 
 fly like chaff before the wind ? Pray, Sir, what have 
 your doggerel rhymes and lines upon Mr. G., to do 
 with his cool reasonings upon the Catholic Question? 
 Surely, nothing. Answer his reasonings like a man 
 of reason, and not like a goose ; who, when a gentle- 
 man walks steadily on, runs and hisses at him, and 
 returns to her flock, and informs them what a victory 
 she has got, and flutters and cackles most triumph- 
 antly! I would advise you, Sir, not to indulge and 
 manifest such perverseness to the Methodist system 
 and the Methodist ministers ; as I think they do 
 not merit it from you: and, therefore, how far it is 
 proper in our friends to support such a paper, I will 
 not determine. Indeed, it must be said, to the praise 
 of every Methodist subscriber, that he fulfils that 
 apostolic injunction, ' If thine enemy hunger, feed 
 him; if he thirst, give him drink, for in so doing, 
 thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.' That 
 the fire may melt every particle of the dross of ma- 
 levolence, and fully imbue your heart with Christian 
 charity, is the worst wish for you, in the heart of 
 
 Yours, &c., A METHODIST." 
 
 Some time after this though anticipating the period 
 of his personal history, Mr. Dawson observed to the 
 
 biographer, "You have been suspending Mr. , I 
 
 understand, for attending public meetings of a political 
 character." "Such," it was replied, "has been the 
 decision of the District Committee." Mr. Dawson 
 returned, "There is great sympathy excited for him 
 in the country." "That may be," it was answered;
 
 314 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 "in all cases of suspension, the greater the offender, 
 the greater the sympathy. Witness the still more 
 serious suspension of Fonntleroy!" "Honest men," 
 he subjoined, "are not treated in that way." Then, 
 whirling round his finger, like a person suspended 
 from the fatal tree, he said, "It is sure to affect 
 
 the crowd. When we suspended Mr. at Leeds, 
 
 about seventy Local Preachers espoused his cause, 
 and went off with him. A gentleman came to me, 
 and asked, ' What is the matter with you at Leeds ? ' 
 I replied, We have had a riot, have laid hold of 
 the ringleader and suspended him ; and having ex- 
 ercised discipline upon him, there are about seventy 
 others of the Local Brethren, who are determined 
 to hang or, if you please, suspend themselves, in 
 consequence of it." 
 
 Subsequent to this again, he observed to the writer 
 somewhat playfully, when speaking of the Protestant 
 Methodists, as they were denominated, "Every man 
 has his own interpretation of St. Paul's thorn in the 
 flesh. I have mine. It appears to me, that it was 
 some restless person who wished to rule in the Corin- 
 thian church ; and who, by his conduct, pierced like 
 a thorn acting, at the same time, the character of 
 a messenger of Satan, being sent with a view to buffet. 
 
 At Leeds, Mr. seems to be Paul's thorn in the 
 
 flesh." After a formal separation took place, he rarely 
 made any enquiry respecting the dissentients, and only 
 noticed the subject when casually drawn into it in the 
 course of conversation. War was not his element ; 
 and besides this, he possessed a portion of the wisdom 
 embodied in a sentiment of Plutarch, when he observes, 
 "It is of use to a man to understand not only
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 345 
 
 how to overcome, but also, how to give ground when 
 to conquer would rather turn to his disadvantage : 
 for there is such a thing sometimes as a Cadmean 
 victory ; to which the wise Euripides attesteth, when 
 he saith ; 
 
 ' Where two discourse, if the one's anger rise, 
 The man who lets the contest fall is wise.' " 
 
 He knew, too, in the language of a wit, that "It 
 is in disputes, as in armies; where the weaker side 
 sets up false lights, and makes a great noise, to make 
 the enemy believe them more numerous and strong 
 than they really are." In all disputes, it would be well 
 to observe the moderation recommended by Hierocles ; 
 "When we are in a condition to overthrow false- 
 hood and error, we ought not to do it with vehemence, 
 nor insultingly and with an air of contempt; but to 
 lay open the truth, and with answers full of mildness, 
 to refute the falsehood." Still, as much depends upon 
 the temper of the sword in the scabbard on the one 
 side, as on the other, whether the case does not warrant 
 the exercise of the apostolic injunction, "rebuke them 
 sharply." 
 
 The organ in Brunswick chapel, respecting which 
 there had been so much angry feeling, was opened 
 September 12th, 1828; on which occasion, Mr. Daw- 
 son was present. He preached sermons on special 
 occasions, in the course of the year, at Stokesley, 
 Manchester, Salford, Rothwell, Burslem, Knaresbro', 
 Bacup, Derby, Ashley, Burton- on-Trent, Belper, Shef- 
 field, Norton, Yarm, Appleton, Bedale, Gatonby, Pick- 
 ering, Hull, Beverley, Newport, Briestfield, Hapton, 
 Barnsley, Skipton, Pateley-Bridge, Gloucester, Bir- 
 mingham, Birstal, Nottingham, Burrow Ash, Macclesfield;
 
 346 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Harrogate, Pontefract, Ashbourne, Masham, Middle- 
 ham, Bradford, Great Horton, Retford, Newcastle- 
 on-Tyne, Carville, Sunderland, Rochdale, Longholme, 
 York, Acaster, Staley Bridge, Ashton-under-Lyne, New- 
 castle-under-Lyne, Bingley, &c. To some of these 
 places, as Manchester and Burslem, his visits were 
 repeated in the course of the twelve months. In addi- 
 tion to this extra toil, he assisted at the opening of 
 chapels at Wakefield, High Town, Wighill, Gomersal, 
 Stamford Bridge, Tadcaster, Ryther, Wesley chapel, 
 Leeds, and Langton-Street, Bristol. The latter was 
 opened June 19th ; the Revds. Richard Watson and 
 Robert Wood, were also engaged on the occasion. 
 Some of these journies, when one engagement was in 
 the train of another, occupied a week. These taxes 
 upon his time, imposed heavy agricultural toil upon 
 him, when he reached home. But still, he was never 
 behind with his work ; taking care to say to his ser- 
 vants, "come," instead of "go;" the difference 
 between which two words, according to a well-known 
 anecdote, occasioned the transfer of an estate from a 
 master to his steward. He not only inspected, but 
 put his hand to the work. Sixty places may be 
 enumerated, as above. Several of the journies would 
 require three or more days to accomplish them, and 
 most of them two; and if we include his Sabbaths 
 at home, we may consider this excellent man with 
 no other temporal reward than his travelling expenses, 
 and not always these, as devoting upwards of the 
 one-half of his time to the public service of God. 
 
 In one of his excursions, a lady of great gravity 
 was desirous of being introduced to his society. Supper 
 was on the table ; and the lady sat opposite him,
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 347 
 
 conning him with an apparently curious eye, and lending 
 deep attention to every remark he made. He was 
 served with fowl, &c. The plate by some mishap, 
 got to the edge of the table, and lost its balance, 
 when the contents fell upon his drapery. The lady 
 was now doubly attentive to see how he felt in this 
 predicament ; and it is with a view to shew the man, 
 that the somewhat ludicrous and trivial circumstance 
 is introduced. The misfortune was not generally per- 
 ceived; but a lady, a friend of the biographer, con- 
 cluding from the expression of two or three fair faces, 
 that something had occurred to provoke a smile, and 
 not being able to ascertain the occasion by the dim 
 candle-light, glided from her seat, and asked in an 
 under tone, " What is the matter ? " Mr. Dawsoii 
 coolly replied, while scooping up the contents with 
 his hand, till a towel was brought, "Only a small 
 mishap." No difference was perceptible in his spirit 
 or manner, though his clothes were spoiled by the 
 accident ; and he pleasently remarked to the lady who 
 made the enquiry, "Do not look at my clothes on 
 the platform to-morrow ; attend to what is said, not 
 to what is seen." But it was too visible to an eye 
 acquainted with the fact, not to be seen when he 
 presented himself in front of the platform. Very 
 unlike the "bashful man," it seemed to be no con- 
 cern of his; and the lady of demure look was as 
 much delighted with his philosophy as his Christianity. 
 The tables were generally crowded at the houses of 
 the friends where he was entertained, the parties 
 knowing the general anxiety which existed to enjoy 
 his society. Being seated at the corner of a well- 
 crowded table one day, he pleasantly observed, " I
 
 348 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 love the corner; for here I have elbow-room." And 
 this position he generally had hy common consent ; so 
 that the honour conferred upon him, by being placed on 
 the right or the left of the heads of the house, came 
 to the relief of his more masculine form, which would 
 otherwise often have been inconveniently crowded. 
 
 One of the speakers, when out on a Missionary 
 occasion, appearing on the platform with a bundle 
 of papers hi his hand, Mr. Dawson, suspicious of an 
 attempt to inflict punishment on the patience of the 
 people, enquired "What are you going to do with 
 all them papers?" "To read them, to be sure," 
 was the reply. " What, the whole of them ? " he 
 repeated. " Yes," returned the intended reader ; sub- 
 joining, "such documents constitute the life-blood of 
 a speech." "Let me tell you, then," said Mr. 
 Dawson, who looked upon reading on a platform as 
 producing the same effect upon a congregation, that 
 the damper produces when put into the oven ; and 
 who knew well the difference between the exercise 
 of the intellect upon written documents, and matter 
 bubbling up from the heart, " Let me tell you, 
 that your speech will die of apoplexy, for the blood 
 has all gone up to the head." 
 
 His aversion to everything that tended to produce 
 weariness in a congregation, rendered him solicitous 
 to keep the affections on the move with the mind. 
 Though strictly a revivalist, he employed great dis- 
 cretion in timing the meetings ; watched with narrow- 
 ness the influence of the Spirit upon the mind, and 
 rejoiced over the smallest indications of good. In a 
 prayer-meeting, in Oldham-Street, Manchester, after 
 a very impressive sermon, a person came up to him,
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 349 
 
 while the Rev. Jonathan Crowther was standing by 
 his side. Turning to Mr. Crowther " This is Moses," 
 said Mr. Dawson. Mr. Crowther not having either 
 seen or heard of the person before, was rather amused 
 with his introduction to him under the simple name 
 of the Jewish Lawgiver. Mr. Dawson added, "He 
 met in my class, but fell away : " then, suddenly 
 wheeling round to the man, he said, " Moses, pray 
 and begin afresh." The man, as quickly dropped 
 upon his knees. Impressed with the loss he had 
 sustained in his spirit, while early days rushed upon 
 his mind with all their hallowed associations, he 
 seemed to pray in the Holy Ghost. "Aye," said 
 Mr. Dawson, "hear him; he knows the way; he 
 has not forgotten it." After a brief space, while he 
 was yet on his knees, Mr. Dawson again, at inter- 
 vals, continued to encourage his wrestlings, with 
 "There, Moses, pray on; bless the Lord! Hear 
 him, O God." Poor Moses at length rose from his 
 knees, professing to have found peace. 
 
 The morning following one of .those meetings, a 
 young person came to him, and stated with great 
 simplicity, the good feeling that continued in the 
 prayer-meeting, after he, (Mr. D.), had retired. "There 
 was one man," said the informant, naming him, "who 
 was under a concern for his soul the night before. 
 But he did not obtain the blessing ; and I was cer- 
 tain he would never obtain it, till he acted differently." 
 Mr. Dawson enquired, " How so ? " " Why," it was 
 replied with great artlessness, but with a good know- 
 ledge of outward signs, "he was down only o' ya 
 knee. But last night," it was continued, "he was 
 down o' both knees ; and then, I said to mysen,
 
 350 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 when I saw this, he will get the blessing. Yes, 
 and he did get it tu ! " This was appended in a tone 
 of triumph. Mr. Dawson sometimes employed this 
 little circumstance with good effect, when shewing, 
 that prostration of person generally accompanies pros- 
 tration of spirit. The best of men know, that they 
 are but recipients, and that to be indebted to another, 
 and yet to be too high to show it, by a becoming 
 carriage to the donor, "is but the old solecism of 
 pride and beggary, which, though they often meet, 
 yet ever make but an absurd society. " 
 
 Being at Brunswick chapel, Leeds, two or three 
 friends followed him into the small vestry, where he 
 stood by the fire a few seconds, while others were 
 carrying on a prayer-meeting in another part, after 
 public service. Looking at the Rev. R. A., he plea- 
 santly, yet significantly remarked, while pulling down 
 his wig on either side, under a deep sense of the 
 Divine presence, " I may as well go home ; there 
 is nothing for me to do here, or indeed, for any of 
 us ; God seems to have taken the whole into his 
 own hand." And yet, on other occasions, under a 
 similar overpowering influence of God upon the mind, 
 he both spoke and acted in a reverse way. Preaching 
 at Ancoats, Manchester, on Judges viii. 4, "Faint, 
 yet pursuing," every eye seemed at one time suffused 
 with tears ; and when people and preacher were craned 
 up to the highest pitch of feeling, a momentary pause 
 ensued, during which the clock struck twelve, and 
 broke the stillness that reigned, like the hammer on 
 the bell at a watch-night, on the departure of the 
 old year. In an instant, he darted his eye to the 
 front of the gallery, and personifying the time-piece,
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 351 
 
 said, "You may speak clock, but I am not done 
 yet." Though no apparent expectation existed on the 
 part of the auditory, that he would close his dis- 
 course with the hour, yet it had all the effect of 
 reviving disappointed hope, and threw a gleam of 
 sunshine into every countenance. 
 
 When preaching in Irwell-Street chapel, Salford, he 
 adverted to the subject of restitution in his sermon, 
 and drew the harrow across the consciences of some 
 of his hearers. Such were his appeals, that a per- 
 son sent him a letter after the service, enclosing a sum 
 of money ; stating, that he had been abroad, that 
 with others, he had committed a theft, that the 
 persons, if not dead, were out of reach, to whom res- 
 titution should be made, and that as he had no 
 likely way of ever restoring to them the value of 
 the plunder, he enclosed the amount, requesting him to 
 dispose of it, as he might judge proper for the further- 
 ance of the cause of God. It was not only Christian, 
 to permit conscience to speak out, but highly honour- 
 able; much more so than those who retain the property 
 of others till the near approach of death, when they 
 secretly endeavour after a 1 ! the advantage derived 
 from its use, and all tho injury sustained by its rightful 
 owner, in consequence of being deprived of it, to make 
 amends by their will, subsequent to their decease. 
 But such persons, in the esteem of a popular Essayist, 
 "had as well do nothing, as delude themselves both 
 in taking so much time in so pressing an affair, 
 and also in going about to repair an injury with so 
 little demonstration of resentment and concern. They 
 owe over and above something of their own, and by 
 how much their payment is more strict and incom-
 
 352 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 modious to themselves, by so much is their restitution 
 more perfect, just, and meritorious ; for penitency re- 
 quires penance." 
 
 It may be readily supposed, that Mr. Dawson ex- 
 perienced great variety in his travels, as to accommoda- 
 tion, both in the way of lodging and conveyance. 
 He was at the house of a friend, in a part of his 
 own county, where he was put into a bed which was 
 the worse for wear, and which was used occasionally 
 by a gentleman of more slender make than himself. 
 On lying down, away went the sacking, when he was 
 immediately placed heels up. His invention was never 
 at fault; and turning the pillows to the foot of the 
 bed, he lay, as on an inclined sofa, till morning. Even 
 this, amusing as it may seem, shews the character of 
 the man. Some persons would not only have been 
 disturbed themselves, but would, perhaps, have dis- 
 turbed the family, already retired to rest ; and would 
 have either hazarded an exchange of beds to the in- 
 convenience of some of the members of the family, 
 or rendered them uncomfortable by a knowledge of 
 the peculiar situation of their guests. There is a 
 moral here. The fountain of content springs up in 
 the mind ; and the trouble it would have given to 
 the family, would have disturbed Mr. Dawson' s repose 
 much more than any inconvenience experienced by 
 himself. 
 
 Glancing over his outgoings for 1829, he appears 
 to have lent himself out as freely, and to have gone 
 as far from home, as in the year preceding. He opened 
 new chapels at Farnsfield and Batch worth. As many of 
 his engagements were on the week-day, it must still be 
 borne in remembrance, that he regularly fulfilled his
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 353 
 
 Sabbath appointments, according to the plan, when at 
 home. 
 
 His time was trenched upon also, in various valua- 
 tions, and in having to attend to the executorship 
 of the wills of some of his friends. Aware of his 
 influence with the people, he had often to engage 
 too in the "drudgery of begging;" into the work 
 of which he was drawn by others. His friend, Mr. 
 Sumner of Cowick, having been deputed to solicit 
 subscriptions for a chapel at Goole, concluded if he 
 could obtain the aid of Mr. Dawson, he would be 
 able to assist his object in the town of Leeds. Ac- 
 cordingly, he set off for Barnbow, where he found 
 Mr. Dawson ready for_ every " good work ; " and, in 
 company with him, proceeded the next day to Leeds, 
 in the cold month of February, at the expense of 
 several other engagements demanding his attention. 
 Mr. Dawson was generally the spokesman ; and ac- 
 costing the first friend they visited, he jocosely observed, 
 "I have often appeared before you in my own 
 person, in the character of a beggar ; but to-day, 
 I am begging for a beggar : " next stating the case. 
 In the space of about two hours, he obtained the 
 sum of 2620 for his friend. There was a cheer- 
 fulness in his manner, which would have disarmed 
 the churl ; a cheerfulness, however, which bore no 
 affinity to mirth ; the latter, to a prudent man, 
 being merely accidental, and never to be effective, 
 premeditated. Cheerfulness with him, was in the 
 temper of the mind; and it is a fact, that "The 
 most manifest sign of wisdom is continued cheer- 
 fulness : her estate is like that of things in the regions 
 above the moon, always clear and serene." Besides
 
 354 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 its being natural, it was improved by grace; and, 
 with a heart brimmed with love, he was the better 
 equipped for errands of charity. Importunity, in his 
 case, was unnecessary. His own warm sun thawed 
 the ice wherever it was found. There was no occa- 
 sion for a man to purchase his own quiet, and so to 
 relieve himself, by getting rid of rude, eager impor- 
 tunity and vexatious noise ; the subject of these pages 
 had too much delicacy to push any case beyond a 
 certain point, and was too much beloved, not to 
 excite a readiness and pleasure in the donor, to 
 impart of his abundance. 
 
 A painful occurrence took place in one of his "beg- 
 ging excursions." He was invited to preach occasional 
 sermons, and make collections at Heckmondwike, Sun- 
 day, April 12. Some person, during the service, either 
 inadvertently rested upon a stove-pipe, which did not 
 fit exactly, or was pressed against it in consequence 
 of the crowded state of the place, when it suddenly 
 gave way, and raised an alarm. Persons who were 
 not aware of the cause, rushed to the door, under 
 the impression that some part of the chapel was 
 giving way. The shrieks and tumult cannot be de- 
 scribed ; and the effects were fatal. In a memorandum, 
 left by Mr. Dawson, he has penned, within a broad 
 black border, somewhat in the shape of a coffin, 
 " Heckmondwike : a panic in the chapel ; five persons 
 killed ; one died next day. " Besides these, many 
 were seriously hurt. It left such a painful impression 
 on Mr. Dawson' s mind, that, though much importuned, 
 he could not be induced to revisit the place till Oct. 
 3rd, 1837. 
 
 In the course of the spring, he met with Mr.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 355 
 
 Gideon Ousely, and heard him preach. He was much 
 pleased with the old veteran, who, as a protestant, 
 had been so often in the field against popery in Ire- 
 land. Gideon was not one of those "theological knight- 
 errants " who converted controversy into a species of 
 quixotism ; nor was he one of those testy and quarrel- 
 some persons, who have been contemplated in the light 
 of a loaded gun, which may by accident go off and 
 kill the by-stander. He seemed to have looked upon 
 the ignorance and superstition of the people, and the 
 "illiterate presumption" of the priests, like Milton in 
 another case, as the disease of the Roman Catholic 
 peasantry, a disease that had entered into the very 
 constitution, and proved " the hectic evil " of Ireland. 
 He was, in general, of the opinion of Sir W. Temple, 
 that it " is best to take words as they are most com- 
 monly spoken and meant, like coin, as it most cur- 
 rently passes, without raising scruples upon the weight 
 of the alloy:" but then, he took the advantage of 
 Sir William's exception, which renders it more than 
 admissible in a man, even praiseworthy, to test the 
 metal, when the "cheat or defect is gross and evident." 
 The conflict between Popery and Protestantism, is a 
 conflict between darkness and light, truth and error, 
 gold and dross. Gideon, though far from elegant, 
 was generally convincing. He tested every doctrine 
 by the word of God, and every absurdity in argu- 
 ment by the light of reason. Not so the papists. 
 With them, remarks Addison, " The most notable way 
 of managing a controversy, is that which we may call 
 arguing by torture. These disputants convince their 
 adversaries with a sorites, commonly called a pile of 
 faggots. The rack is also a kind of syllogism which
 
 356 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 has been used with good effect, and has made mul- 
 titudes of converts. Men were formerly disputed out 
 of their doubts, reconciled to truth by force of reason, 
 and won over to opinions by the candour, sense, and 
 ingenuity of those who had the right on their side ; 
 but this method of conviction operated too slowly. 
 Pain was found to be much more enlightening than 
 reason. Every scruple was looked upon as obstinacy, 
 and not to be removed but by several engines invented 
 for that purpose. In a word, the application of whips, 
 racks, gibbets, gallies, dungeons, fire and faggot, in a 
 dispute, may be looked upon as popish refinements 
 upon the old heathen logic." This is a fine piece 
 of irony, and not out of place, it is hoped, in the 
 present connection. Mr. Dawson was not more de- 
 lighted with Mr. Ousely, than Mr. Ousely was delighted 
 with the flashes of Mr. Dawson' s genius, elicited by the 
 introduction of the corruptions of the Romish Church. 
 Towards the close of July, Mr. Dawson had an 
 attack of rheumatism, which prevented him from ful- 
 filling an engagement at Otley. Though sharp, it 
 was short in its stay, and he was soon in the work 
 again. In September, he preached a sermon on occa- 
 sion of the death of Mrs. Martha Tarboton of Thorner, 
 the wife of a nephew of the venerable John Pawson, 
 and sent an account of her to the Editor of the 
 Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, which was published 
 in the obituary of 1829, p. 568. But another case, 
 touched him still more tenderly. Samuel Hick, "The 
 Village Blacksmith, " was in his last sickness ; and 
 in the month of November, Mr. Dawson visited him, 
 settled his temporal concerns, and attended his remains 
 to the grave. He preached two funeral sermons on
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 357 
 
 the occasion, one at Aberford, in the open air, with 
 snow on the ground, and another at Rothwell. * A 
 Memoir of Samuel appeared from Mr. Dawson's pen 
 in the Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, for 1831, p. 
 217, which he wrote at the time of his death. 
 
 Mr. Dawson's farm was at this time a losing con- 
 cern. He lost, also, through distemper, three horses 
 at once, and found it difficult to replace them. His 
 friend, Mr. Reay, of Carville, who had bought a farm 
 in the neighbourhood of Newcastle, knowing his cir- 
 cumstances, offered it to him, generously proposing 
 to take any rent Mr. Dawson might judge proper to 
 give. But there was equal nobility on the side of 
 Mr. Dawson, not to take advantage of the kindness 
 of a friend, while there remained the slightest hope 
 of improvement; and besides, he knew not how far 
 he might be in the way of providence, in removing 
 from the neighbourhood in which he had so long 
 resided. 
 
 Having been at Stokesly, he crossed the country 
 in the gig of a friend, and proceeded within a few 
 
 * There are rare things respecting honest Samuel yet untold. Calling upon 
 his sister one day, at Tadcaster, he said, " Thou hast a poor fire.'' She re- 
 turned, " We are not so near the pit as you." He made no reply, went 
 borne, rose early next morning, proceeded to the pit, loaded his cart, and, 
 before eight o'clock, poured the coals down before her door, and returned 
 home without looking into the house, being a distance of about 20 miles there 
 and back. The neighbours, as the coals lay undisturbed, said to her, "Why 
 do you not get the coals in ? " She looked surprised, and could not be per- 
 suaded that she had any claim to them, till she was informed her brother had 
 placed them there. 
 
 A grave man on a Missionary platform, knowing that Samuel had to speak, 
 whispered to him," Let us have no levity to-day, Sammy." When he arose, 
 he observed, "Mr. I., sitting there," pointing to him, "says, 'let us have 
 no levity to-day.' Why, bit- ss him, as to himself, he can nother mak folk laugh 
 nor cry." To another gentleman, who said, "Be short, Sammy," as he 
 ascended the platform steps, be smartly returned, " Stop a bit, I have not 
 begun yet "
 
 358 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 miles of Stockton, where he had to wait an hour at 
 the station, to catch the train for Darlington. The 
 good woman belonging to the station, had to go to 
 Stockton, for which purpose she borrowed the gig, 
 hoping to arrive at her own residence before the train 
 arrived. She left Mr. Dawson in charge of the house, 
 and gave directions as to matters of business. During 
 her absence, he felt the smell of something burning 
 in the oven ; but as he had received no commands 
 respecting the cooking department, the oven not 
 being specified among the items to which he had to 
 attend, he left it, together with its contents, to itself. 
 On her return, she found a spice-cake reduced to a 
 cinder ; leaving, however, her guest much more inno- 
 cent than Alfred, who permitted the peasant's cakes 
 to burn while stringing his bow, a subject admirably 
 portrayed by Sir David Wilkie. Had his curiosity 
 been strong, he might have saved the cake; but he 
 acted in the absence of persons, as in their presence, 
 erring on the side of too little, rather than too 
 great a curiosity ; with a conviction, in all probability, 
 of the general truth of the remark, that the "person 
 who is too nice an observer of the business of others, 
 like one who is too curious in observing the labour 
 of the bees, will often be stung for his curiosity." 
 
 The year 1830 brought much more foreign labour 
 than the year preceding. In addition to the opening 
 of Cawood, Summerseat, Budsworth, and Bradmore 
 chapels, he visited, on special occasions, Barton, Hut- 
 ton Rudby, Stokesley, Malton, Marston, Sheffield, 
 Belper, "Wirksworth, Wensley, Salford, Selby, Bolton, 
 Market "Weighton, Beverley, York, Sowerby Bridge, 
 Ripponden, Tadcaster, Rochdale, Littleborough, Halifax,
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 359 
 
 Wakefield, Otley, Derby, Elland, Bradford, Chesterfield, 
 Wimeswould, Loughborough, Leicester, Darlington, 
 Barnard Castle, Bishop Auckland, Howden, Stillington, 
 Helmsley Black Moor, Doncaster, Lincoln, Sleaford, 
 Billingbro', Grantham, Brierley, Wragley, Yarm, Danby 
 Dale, Seamour, Harrogate, Birstal, Longholme, Stock- 
 port, Bullock Smithy, Manchester, Osset, High Town, 
 Great Horton, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Wall's End, Shi- 
 ney Row, Monkwearmouth, Snaith, Tockwith, Rothwell, 
 Nottingham, Barrowford, Colne, Steeton, Bradford. 
 Some of these places having been visited twice in the 
 course of the year, his journies out of his own cir- 
 cuit could be little short of a hundred. 
 
 A short account of Alice Manchester of Thorner, 
 proceeded from his pen, and was published in the 
 Wesley an Methodist Magazine for the year, p. 716. 
 These Memoirs are noticed the more readily in their 
 succession, to shew the esteem in which he was held, 
 as proofs of his industry, and because of the vein of 
 piety which runs through them, all shewing the high 
 value he set upon the "excellent of the earth," and 
 his readiness to perpetuate the remembrance of them 
 in the Christian church.
 
 360 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Christian friendship. Rev. J. Starry. Martha Hick. Excessive 
 labour. Sensibility. Extempore speaking. Common sense. 
 Young' s Night Thoughts. Mercy. Critics. Living Epistlet. 
 Shadow of death. Attitudes. Conversation. Backslider 
 restored. A School Address. Hymns. The wig. The" Fac- 
 tory Question. " Affability. Visits. London. Collections. 
 Hard toil Titles of Public Addresses. The Reform Bill. 
 War. Tfte cholera. The tax-cart. Invitations. Travelling 
 conducive to health. Dr. Clarke and the Rev. Richard Watson. 
 Successful begging. Manner. Stripes of Transgressors. 
 Power over an auditory. Providence. Mr. Reinhardt. Mrs. 
 Turton. Willingness to labour. The Auctioneer's stand. 
 Piety maintained. Rev. Robert Aitkin. Sociability. Good 
 done at Barwick. A travelling fete. Contentment. The north. 
 The Theological Institution. Additional labour. 
 
 IT is disputed by some writers, whether a vigorous 
 friendship can strike root in a bosom chilled by years. 
 Though this sentiment comprehends a general truth, 
 and the most lasting friendships are usually the pro- 
 duce of early life, when persons are susceptible of 
 warm and affectionate impressions, there are exceptions, 
 and Mr. Dawson was one. The fire of nature never 
 ceased to burn ; he had a deep and ready insight 
 into real worth, and never failed to affix his own 
 approving stamp upon what he valued. There is a
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 361 
 
 great deal of difference too, in the character of real 
 friendship, when Divine grace enters into companion- 
 ship with the finer feelings of the heart. Friendship 
 is not a thing that a person can "regularly undertake 
 to cultivate," hut seems to be born with some persons, 
 as they may be born poets. Two men may meet, 
 as Goldsmith observes, and may imperceptibly find 
 their hearts filled with good nature for each other, 
 when they were at first only in pursuit of pleasure 
 or relaxation: then the current of tendemess widens 
 as it proceeds. Mere speculators in friendship expect 
 too much ; and by drawing the bands too closely, 
 they at length break them, and so dissolve the con- 
 nection. Catharine Phillips seems to have had a just, 
 and therefore, an exalted notion of friendship. It is 
 to reduce her verse into prose, an abstract of the truly 
 noble flame of love love, purified from all its dross 
 love refined next to angelic for its strength, that 
 which antedates the joys of eternity and is an epitome 
 of heaven : or, to return to her poetry ; 
 
 " Thick waters shew no images of things ; 
 
 Friends are each other's mirrors, and should be 
 Clearer than crystal, or the mountain springs, 
 And free from cloud, design, or flattery. 1 ' 
 
 Such was Mr. Dawson, as a friend ; and such was 
 the friendship he enjoyed with the Rev. John Storry 
 while he travelled in the Leeds circuit, and to which 
 friendship he refers in a note, dated 1831 the year 
 before the demise of that excellent man, and useful 
 minister of God. Wesleyan ministers did not occupy 
 an ordinary place in his esteem ; and it was his delight 
 when he could avail himself of an opportunity, on 
 visiting Leeds, of returning into the country with them, 
 Q
 
 362 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 when their labour lay at Barwick, or the neighbour- 
 hood for the evening: nor was it less an enjoyment 
 on their part to be in his society. He refers to 
 the Rev. R. Treffry, sen., and others, in this way. 
 
 In the month of February, of this year, 1831, Mr. 
 Uawson paid a visit to the widow of Samuel Hick, 
 and presented her with a copy of the Memoir of her 
 husband. Though like her careful namesake Martha, 
 her true nobility of soul never forsook her. On Mr. 
 Dawson presenting her with the first-fruits of the 
 profits of the first edition, she observed, "I cannot 
 
 think of taking anything, till I know that Mr. 
 
 shall suffer no loss by it ; " and it was not till she 
 was satisfied on this point, that she could be induced 
 to accept the offering. With all the prudence and 
 care which characterized her proceedings, proper occa- 
 sions were all that was necessary to draw out the 
 fine independant spirit which she possessed, and of 
 the credit of which she had though not intentionally, 
 been partly deprived from the heedless exuberance of 
 her husband's givings. Her faculties were now some- 
 Avhat impaired ; and the year following, she left the 
 world, if not with Samuel's triumph, in Christian peace. 
 
 Though this year, like its predecessors, was dis- 
 tinguished for little short of a hundred journies, exclu- 
 sive of his regular work, and some of them long, there 
 were two or three months in the spring which exceeded 
 anything he had before accomplished in travelling, and 
 which could only have been performed by another 
 minister besides himself in the Wesleyan Connexion 
 the Rev. Robert Newton, whose Herculean minis- 
 terial labours are unequalled, perhaps, in ancient or 
 modern history. In the months of April and May,
 
 WILLIAM DAWSOK. 363 
 
 including a few days in- June, he either occupied the pul- 
 pits, or was on the platforms, engaged often in double, and 
 sometimes treble services, of Tadcaster, Huddersfield, 
 Old Chapel Leeds, Liverpool, Chester, Micklefield, 
 Aberford, Armley, Weeton, Barnsley, Doncaster, Ep- 
 worth, Leicester, Long Eaton, Nottingham, Alfreton, 
 Mansfield, Brunswick Leeds, Pudsey, Farnley, York, 
 Newark, Boston, Sibsy, Wainfleet, Spilsby, Raithby, 
 Horncastle, Lincoln, Seacroft, Chapel Town, Barwick, 
 Albion-Street Leeds, Stamford Bridge, Dewsbury, Dar- 
 lington, Wakefield, Barnard Castle, Bramham, Burnley, 
 Todmordon, Sowerby, London, &c. And yet, mixed 
 up with these, as heretofore, we find during the inter- 
 vals, when at home a day, or a few hours, the following 
 items in his memorandum book, " Oat-stack got in." 
 "Finished sowing at Ashole." "Sowed barley on 
 the Car." "Sowed Well Close." "Finished a survey." 
 "Winnowed oats in top granary.'' "Settled accounts 
 in different places." "At Barwick Court." "Made 
 a duck-pond." "At Leeds market." "At Collieries." 
 "Measuring malt." "Cutting potatoes to set." 
 "Thatched the holm." "Set potatoes." " Sowing 
 Sweed turnip seed in Quarry Close." "Clipping sheep, 
 &c." "Winnowing wheat," &c. These things were not 
 barely superintended by him, but, as has been intimated 
 elsewhere, it was work in which he often took a share. 
 Idleness would have been a heavy affliction to him, 
 as it must be to all who are subject to it ; for man 
 must be always either doing or suffering. Well he knew, 
 with Franklin, that "Sloth makes all things difficult, but 
 industry all easy ; and he that rises late must trot all 
 day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night; 
 while laziness travels so slow, that poverty soon over-
 
 364 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 takes him." He was a living comment on that text, 
 as his biography hitherto attests, "Not slothful in 
 business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord." 
 
 The chapels opened or re-opened by him in the 
 course of the year, were those of Long Eaton, Hensal, 
 Colton, Gateshead Fell, Oakham, and the Park 
 Sheffield. He observed to the biographer, in reference 
 to the Oakham chapel, that he was obliged to take 
 the mail coach, in consequence of the line of road 
 he had to travel, and to engage a seat in the inside, 
 because of the night and the state of the weather, 
 and that when his expenses were deducted from the 
 collections, he felt exquisite pain. In this way, it 
 may be remarked, he was often rewarded by his sen- 
 sibilities for the toil, risk, inconvenience, wear and 
 tear of travelling in the midst of dust and mud, 
 the heats of summer and the colds of winter, storms 
 and calms, sunshine and rain. "While he was honest 
 to a fraction to others, he exacted with severity upon 
 himself. 
 
 In the midst of his exertions, he rarely ever lost his 
 elasticity of mind ; and when even slightly chafed, 
 he had the good sense to conceal it, and not disturb 
 the minds of others with it. Follow him whither- 
 soever we might, there was always something inter- 
 esting connected with his society. Speaking of a 
 clergyman in his own neighbourhood, who read a 
 sermon in the forenoon, and attempted extempore 
 preaching in the afternoon, but who found less freedom 
 in the latter case than is witnessed among some other 
 Christian communities, it was remarked by a person 
 in the company, "He should have commenced his 
 work bv meeting; in class. That is the foundation
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 365 
 
 of extempore speaking among the Wesleyans. People 
 give expression to two or three sentiments, these 
 accumulate, they grow up to exhorters, and then 
 into preachers." With this Mr. Dawson coincided, 
 as the secret of successful extempore preaching, in 
 connection with the love of God in the heart, and 
 then gave his own enlightened views of the subject. 
 
 A person being named, one day, possessed of learning 
 and sense, but who was often blundering in practical 
 matters, and therefore without the art of using the 
 knowledge he had acquired, Mr. Dawson observed, 
 " Common sense is a very good thing when it is used ; 
 but it is like a five-hundred pound bill, it is good for 
 nothing till it is cashed." This remark will pair 
 admirably with a couplet of Young, 
 
 " Of plain sound sense life's current coin is made ; 
 With that we drive the most substantial trade. 
 
 Conversation turning upon criticism, "A critic," said 
 he, "sitting in judgment on a sermon, is like a fly, 
 which selects the sore part of a horse's back to revel 
 on, to the neglect of the sound, unbroken flesh. " 
 Adverting to a passage in Young's Night Thoughts, 
 where the poet exclaims, "Bound every heart, and 
 every bosom burn," and where he represents Mercy, 
 or Love's " lowest round, high planted in the skies," 
 he said, "I beg leave to differ from the poet. If 
 its ' lowest round ' were in heaven, we should be unable 
 to reach it. Thank God ! its ' lowest round ' is on 
 earth, and encircles the globe." Passing from the sub- 
 ject of criticism to the Christian, and seizing on the 
 expression of the apostle, "epistles seen and read 
 all men," he observed, " Some EPISTLES are neither 
 fit to be seen nor read ; they are blotted and blurred
 
 366 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 with sin; the sight is grievous. But the finger of 
 God has written the Epistles which are created anew 
 in Christ Jesus ; they are seen and read of all men, 
 worthy of being posted at the corner of every street, 
 may he read in time, and to all eternity!" 
 "Shadow of death!" he exclaimed on another occa- 
 sion, when encouraging the timid at the approach 
 of death, "what Christian's bones didst thou ever 
 break ? A shadow cannot break bones ! " 
 
 When in conversation, he sometimes rolled his body 
 in a kind of circle next inclining it forward and 
 then, in that position, would turn up his face and 
 his eye, sidelingly, to see the effect of an anecdote 
 upon the person he was immediately addressing, 
 and when wishful to impress the mind with it, would 
 again raise his person, twitch up his nose, and rub his 
 face with both hands, unable to restrain the motion of 
 the more risible faculties, particularly when the subject 
 closed with anything of a stirring character, a keen stroke 
 of wit, or a little humour. He was sometimes play- 
 ful, but never imbecile ; and therefore, an exception 
 to the reflection couched in a remark of Addison, 
 when he affirms, that "in private conversation between 
 intimate friends, the wisest men very often talk like 
 the weakest ; for the talking with a friend is nothing 
 else but thinking aloud." It is by no means inti- 
 mated, that he was either a sage, or that he delivered 
 oracles : no more is intended by it, than that his 
 good sense never forsook him. Some of his loud 
 thinkings, however, even when softened with a little 
 playfulness, told with unusual power. A person of 
 penurious habits, possessed of property, but of whom 
 he stood in doubt, said to him one day, either from
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 367 
 
 an aversion to be examined too closely, or a wish to 
 leave an impression on the mind that he was one 
 of those persons who prevented the right hand from 
 knowing what the left did. "What I gives is nought 
 to ony body. " Mr. Dawson quickly and pointedly 
 returned, though not the version wished by the 
 speaker, "You are right there, friend, for I believe 
 you give nothing to any body." 
 
 As he never lost the spirit of his work, God never 
 ceased to use him in the conversion of sinners. A 
 person writing to the Rev. Daniel Isaac, requesting 
 him to use his influence with Mr. Dawson to induce 
 him to pay a visit to Malton, observed in a letter, 
 "He (Mr. Dawson), will have the pleasure of seeing 
 a very respectable man here, when he comes, who 
 was till he heard him when last at this place, a 
 poor degraded, drunken backslider, and had been for 
 years. He confesses that Mr. Dawson was the instru- 
 ment in the Lord's hand of his conversion. " This 
 was by no means a solitary case. He combined, in 
 his addresses to backsliders, the tender and the severe, 
 and was more than ordinarily successful in his appeals 
 to their consciences. 
 
 He was at a public breakfast, and attended a public 
 meeting of "The Teachers and Friends of Sunday- 
 Schools, assembled in the Music-Hail, Leeds, to celebrate 
 the SUNDAY-SCHOOL JUBILEE, and to commemorate 
 the CORONATION of His Majesty King WILLIAM IV., 
 September 8th." A speech which he delivered on the 
 occasion, was "Published by request," and had an 
 extensive circulation in Leeds and its vicinity. The 
 day following, he attended the funeral of an old friend, 
 Mr. Thomas Pawson of Farnley, and afterwards preached
 
 368 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 his funeral sermon. There is a Memoir of this Chris- 
 tian man, (whose son is now, 1842, mayor of Leeds), 
 from the pen of Mr. Scarth, published in the Wesley an 
 Methodist Magazine, 1834, p. 489. 
 
 Some notice has heen taken of the use Mr. Daw- 
 son made of the hymns, when giving them out during 
 divine sendee ; and he was equally striking when he 
 referred to them, either in whole or in part, in 
 the course of his sermons. Adverting to the 4th 
 verse of Hymn 599, p. 553 of the "Supplement," he 
 observed, that a boy, weak in mind, was asked, while 
 rubbing a brass plate on a door, what he was doing ? 
 when he replied, "I am rubbing out the name." 
 "Little," said Mr. Dawson, "was the poor boy aware, 
 that the more he rubbed the brighter it shone. So 
 it is with Satan, who wishes to obliterate the word 
 of God from the memory, as well as every impression 
 of its internal evidence from the understanding and 
 from the heart. But," continued he, in holy triumph, 
 
 " ' Engraved as in eternal brass, 
 
 The mighty promise shines; 
 Nor can the powers of darkness rase 
 Those everlasting lines: '" 
 
 then shouting amain, as if the chief fiend of hell were 
 as idiotish as the poor boy, and engaged in the same 
 useful employment, "Rub, devil rub! but all is 
 vain ; the evidence only brightens by the attempt ; 
 for the Lord, yes, of the Lord it may be said, 
 
 ' His hand hatli writ the sacred word 
 With an immortal pen. '" 
 
 Citing another verse, on another occasion, which had 
 the Bible for its theme, he took the sacred volume 
 in his hand, and held it up to the congregation,
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 369 
 
 turning to the right and the left, above and below, 
 as if exhibiting an article which he could safely re- 
 commend for sale ; closing the exhibition with some 
 striking sentiments on the value of the sacred writings, 
 and the deep interest man has in acquiring a know- 
 ledge of their contents. At one place, the gravity of 
 the people, as well as his own, was in danger of 
 being disturbed, while announcing, 
 
 " Oh that it now from heaven might fall.'" 
 
 some plaster falling from the ceiling at the moment. 
 The singularity of the coincidence was felt the more, 
 as no harm ensued to soften the lighter feelings. But 
 the solemn subject 'invoked, soon returned upon the 
 soul with all its impressive weight. 
 
 Some of his actions and attitudes, however, placed 
 certain parts of his adornments in jeopardy. His head 
 was singularly formed, being rather long from back 
 to front, the forehead high, abrupt, and almost 
 inclined to jut. This rendered it as difficult to fit 
 him with a head-dress, as it was impossible to keep 
 it always properly adjusted, when highly impassioned. 
 Being on the platform at Scarbro' once, and for- 
 tunately it was the platform instead of the pulpit, he 
 slipped his hands, in the height of his zeal, beneath 
 his wig, and unintentionally placed the sides where 
 the back and front should have been. Though not 
 particularly unseemly, from the peculiarity of its con- 
 struction, it occasioned a momentary smile, till it was 
 adjusted, which was instantly done. A friend or two 
 in Manchester, confounding the peculiarity of its form 
 with what they deemed a state of decay, sent a new 
 wig for him to the biographer in the month of January,
 
 3/0 MEMOIRS OP 
 
 1832, with a respectful message, that it should be 
 delivered to him, as from those who valued him as 
 a man and a Christian minister. Mr. Dawson, aware 
 of the trouble he had experienced in such matters 
 before, enquired, when it was presented to him, 
 "Who has taken the measure? For a wig, without 
 first gauging the head for it, is one of the worst 
 things in the world to guess at ; and my head, among 
 all heads, is one of the most difficult to hit, and 
 therefore to please. There are heads of all sizes and 
 shapes; and mine," proceeded he, smiling, "which 
 belongs to the second class, is the largest that is 
 made of the kind : " thus humorously giving the 
 notion of a number of human heads turned off by 
 some mechanical process, and fitted on the trunk by 
 the artist. 
 
 Mr. Dawson was the staunch friend of the poor ; 
 and the " FACTORY QUESTION, " so called, being 
 agitated at this time, a question which had for its 
 object, the " shortening of the hours of labour in 
 factories," he addressed a letter to his friend M. T. 
 Sadler, Esq., M.P., who, with himself, felt deeply 
 interested on the subject; stating his readiness "to 
 throw into the scale the weight of his humble influ- 
 ence, to cast the beam on the side of justice and 
 mercy." The letter was dated from "Barnbow, Jan. 
 27, 1832," and was published, not only in the Leeds 
 and other papers, but in a separate form. He was 
 invited by the Secretary of the operatives to attend 
 a public meeting, and being prevented from acceding 
 to the request, in consequence of public engagements 
 in another part of the county, he addressed a letter 
 also "To the Chairman of the Meeting assembled at
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 371 
 
 Halifax, to petition Parliament for restricting the hours 
 of labour in various Factories through the United 
 Kingdom, appointed to be held March 6, 1832," in 
 which he apologized for his unavoidable absence, ex- 
 pressed how cordially he sympathized with the chair- 
 man and others in the object proposed ; and laid 
 before them more fully his general views of the subject. 
 Messrs. Wood and Walker of Bradford, Mr. G. B. 
 Chappell of Manchester, and other gentlemen belonging 
 to the manufacturing interests, have felt deeply on 
 this subject, and laboured hard in what may be de- 
 nominated the cause of humanity. The Athenians, 
 who were the politest and best natured people of their 
 day, were the kindest to their slaves. What would 
 be their opinion of the hearts of some of the "Millo- 
 crats" of the present day? The "long hour" system 
 is admirably adapted to a race of beings without 
 souls, children who have no mind to cultivate, 
 families regardless of domestic comfort. No wonder 
 it should rouse the indignation of Mr. Dawson not 
 a man, be it observed, who ever either sympathized 
 with idleness in others, or shrank from labour him- 
 self, but a man who had a head and a heart, and 
 permitted reason, justice, humanity, and religion, to 
 speak for the servant as well as the master. 
 
 Between the first arid second of these letters, he 
 had a correspondence with some persons in Canada, 
 which was resumed in June, highly honourable to him- 
 self, but respecting the complimentary part of which 
 his modesty maintained a general reserve. Amidst 
 all his popularity, such was his approachableness, 
 and such his fine temper of mind, that those who 
 knew him, felt they could make free with him without
 
 3/2 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 giving offence. "We have been looking for a preacher," 
 said a friend at Holbeck to him, " to preach our charity 
 sermons; but we have met with so many disappoint- 
 ments, that I believe we shall be driven to come to 
 you at last." "We want not," observed another, in 
 a letter to him, " men of the first order for our 
 sermons ; we shall be quite content with the Dawson's 
 of the day." They knew well, that they could not 
 only secure larger congregations, but larger collections 
 through him, than almost any other man. 
 
 His friend, E. Brookes, Esq., paid him a visit in 
 the month of March, and they both proceeded to 
 York and Malton, where they engaged in different 
 religious services, to the edification of the people. 
 In addition to his regular appointments, parish meet- 
 ings, and the cares of the society and chapel at Bar- 
 wick, such as attending to the seat-rents, &c., he had an 
 unusual press of business this year connected with his 
 colliery agency, both at home and abroad : and yet he 
 contrived to open, and re-open chapels at Hoby, Head- 
 ingley, Garforth, Beeston in Bedfordshire, and Bedford, 
 and to take scores of other separate journies, east, 
 west, north, and south, for the purpose of attending 
 Missionary meetings and preaching occasional ser- 
 mons. 
 
 He was twice in London in the course of the year, 
 once in April, and another time in December. During 
 his first visit, he examined, in connection with other 
 places of public interest, the West India Docks. He 
 preached in the Wesleyan chapels at Kensington, Lam- 
 beth, Walworth, and South wark. The morning sermon, 
 founded on Mark v. 36, " Be not afraid, only believe," 
 was taken down by a short-hand writer, and published
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 3/3 
 
 in "The Wesleyan Preacher," Vol. II., part 3, p. 
 52. The object of his services at Lambeth, was to 
 make a collection towards the reduction of a debt 
 incurred by exertions to maintain and spread the 
 preaching of the gospel in various villages and ham- 
 lets of that populous district. The monies collected 
 on the occasion amounted to 140. The object of 
 his second visit, to connect them by way of dismissing 
 the subject, was to diminish the debt of the circuit 
 belonging to Queen-Street, hi which chapel and on 
 which occasion, the collections amounted to ^690. Here, 
 for the first time, he was apprehensive of diabetes, 
 and had symptoms of it till the March following. 
 The Rev. George Marsden, adverting to his extra 
 work, enquired of him, by what name he was to be 
 designated, when he replied, in Hibernian mood, 
 " A TRAVELLING local Preacher. " And certainly, 
 some of his fetes, were rarely equalled, previously to 
 the introduction of rail-roads. During six days in 
 the course of summer, aided only by the regular 
 heavy coaches, it appears from a note in his own 
 hand-writing, that " from the 27th of June, till the 
 3rd of July," he "travelled 340 miles preached 10 
 sermons, was only three nights in bed, and during 
 the whole of those three nights, the time allowed for re- 
 pose, occupied only a space of 1 hours, not averaging 
 quite three hours and a half. 
 
 Some of his popular speeches at this time, on the 
 Missionary platform, were denominated by his hearers, 
 owing to the parallelisms, metaphors, and allegories 
 employed, " The Telescope," "The Rail-Road," 
 "The Musical Clock, ""The Enclosure Act," 
 "The Reform Bill," "The Transportation of Reli-
 
 374 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 gion," "The Silent Man," "The British Lion," 
 "The Slave Speech." " The Openings of Providence." 
 "The Cause of Christ our own." "Arguments in 
 favour of Christian Missions. " &c. 
 
 He attended a Missionary meeting at Bristol during 
 the interregnum of Earl Grey's ministry, when the 
 nation was anxious for reform, and popular feeling ran 
 strong against the Duke of Wellington. It was a 
 time of peril. James Montgomery, Esq., the bard 
 of Christianity, was in the chair ; who, adverting to 
 the spirit that was abroad, observed to the biographer, 
 when giving an account of the meeting, that, in poli- 
 tics, the nation seemed to be placed as on a mine- 
 ready to spring at any moment ; and that, at such 
 a time, in such a city, a city that had witnessed 
 its populace in a state of riot, and its buildings in 
 flames, it was hazardous to introduce the subject of 
 politics in any shape. He called one speaker to order, 
 in the morning, and cautioned others against even 
 political allusions. Mr. Dawson had to come on at 
 night, and Mr. Montgomery, who well knew the daring 
 character of his genius, was afraid lest anything should 
 escape from his lips, capable of a political construc- 
 tion. What should his speech be, but the "REFORM 
 BILL," that had just been thrown out! the Bill, 
 the whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill ! Well, 
 observed Mr. Montgomery, "I concluded to say no- 
 thing, but let him as he appeared to have come 
 primed and loaded, have his full sweep. It was a 
 piece with twelve barrels, and every barrel had its 
 contents." The bard's continued description of the 
 speaker, and of the speech, was truly characteristic. 
 He represented him as proceeding to the front of
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 375 
 
 the platform bowing with respect to himself and the 
 audience, and then placing his broad shoulders before 
 the chair, after which he was never once able to 
 see even the tip of his nose, as if half afraid of meeting 
 a rebuking eye, because of the line of remark adopted. 
 He run a parallel in the allegorical way for which 
 he was so remarkable, and went, according to Mr. 
 Montgomery's account, over the whole Bill taking 
 up clause after clause, frequently running as along 
 the verge of a precipice, yet never though often in 
 danger of it, falling over nicely cautious often wild 
 but with a great deal of that which was excellent, 
 and of which he was never any length of time without 
 exemplifying. The whole was so dexterously managed, 
 that the auditory would have found it difficult to 
 determine at the close, whether, in politics, the speaker 
 was Whig or Tory. 
 
 August 24, the cholera first made its appearance 
 at Barwick, and a person of the name of Eliza Bean 
 died of it in the evening. For several successive days, 
 its victims were carried to the tomb, and the class 
 was removed from a private dwelling to the chapel 
 in consequence. Mr. Dawson preached a sermon on 
 Wednesday the 29th, to improve the awful visitation, 
 taking for his text, Ecclesiastes vii. 2. In addition 
 to this, the weather was such, as to lead him to 
 exclaim, " A dark appearance for harvest ! " Yet, 
 in the midst of all exposures, he acted the part of 
 a guardian angel to those who escaped the contagion, 
 as well as an angel of mercy to the poor families 
 that suffered, by collecting money for their relief. At 
 the commencement, there were seven deaths out of 
 nine cases, and afterwards, fifteen out of twenty.
 
 376 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 War with Holland being the subject of conversa- 
 tion, towards the close of autumn, a person in a 
 half jocose and half serious mood, observed, " It is 
 now seventeen years since we had a war ; many of 
 the sons of the nobility who were then young, have 
 grown up to manhood in the interim, these are in 
 want of employment ; there are others among the 
 poor, who are lazy and profligate ; in both cases, 
 they constitute the surplus stock of society, and are 
 often taken off by war." Another gentleman remarked, 
 that Lord Hill had a great number on his list, soli- 
 citing commissions, some of whom had waited for 
 years, and were in want of that kind of employ- 
 ment. Mr. Dawson, without entering into the subject, 
 observed, when connecting with it the wickedness of 
 man and the providence of God, "It is an awful 
 way of skimming the pot." So thought an old author, 
 when he said, "For a king to engage his people in 
 war, to carry off every little humour of state, is like 
 a physician's ordering his patient a flux for every 
 pimple. " Equally correct was another writer about 
 the same period, when he remarked, that in all cases 
 of war, "Very much of the man must be put off, 
 that there may be enough of the beast." 
 
 When in some of the southern counties, in the 
 months of October and November, he rode in com- 
 pany with two friends in a gig, on one of the cross- 
 roads which was not quite in Macadamised order. 
 A good man and his wife passed them on the road, 
 in a tax-cart, drawn by an active pony, the shaking, 
 setting, and jolting of which, made them forget their 
 own tossings, and excited the smile. Their gig, how- 
 ever, was soon disabled by an accident, and Mr.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 377 
 
 Dawson was obliged to leave his more respectable 
 conveyance for the tax-cart, which was so well packed, 
 that the owner, who acted as charioteer, was obliged 
 to stand. He took his position in the front, which 
 not only shaded the view from the company, but the 
 jolting of the vehicle threw him occasionally against 
 them, giving an extra double to the hat and the 
 bonnet. Mr. Dawson, for the two-fold purpose of 
 relieving both the driver and his companions, got 
 the latter to compress themselves into as small a 
 space as possible, requesting the good man at the 
 same time to sit down on the part they contrived 
 to make vacant for him. He, on the other hand, 
 disposed to be polite, and to give the party the 
 full benefit of the seats, told Mr. Dawson to be per- 
 fectly at rest in his mind, repeating, "Don't mind 
 me, don't mind me ; " appending to it, for further 
 satisfaction, and by way of at once settling the business, 
 "this is the way, I always stands when I drives 
 calves." Such a remark was too much for Mr. Daw- 
 son's gravity; but the worthy man, unconscious at 
 the moment of the bearing of it upon the stock he 
 was driving, again touched the flank of the pony, 
 and stood to his work to the end of his journey. 
 Time being short, expedition was required. Against 
 this, however, the rough road was in constant opera- 
 tion; and when Mr. Dawson narrated the journey to 
 the writer, combining with it the action of the driver, 
 the crack of the whip, the laugh of the persons 
 they passed on the road, now rolling from side to 
 side, occasioned by the cart roots, then bouncing 
 from their seats in consequence of the loose stones, 
 it was as much for the writer to sustain with any-
 
 3/8 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 thing like sober feeling, as was the driver's reply 
 respecting the calves to Mr. Dawson. 
 
 Till Mr. Dawson was forty years of age, he had 
 never, except when he went to Hull, been forty miles 
 from home. It was well for the Christian church, 
 that travelling was conducive to health. He observed 
 to the writer, that he was of opinion, if he were 
 to retire, and indulge in a sedentary life, he would 
 soon die. Numerous, however, as the invitations were 
 to which he acceded, he could by no means meet 
 the one-third of the demands made upon him. This 
 year he had one for nearly every day included in 
 it no less than three hundred and ten for occasional 
 sermons in different parts of the kingdom. 
 
 The calls of the year 1833, were no less numerous 
 than those of the year preceding, embracing exclu- 
 sive of his own county, and without enumerating the 
 distinct places, journies into the counties of Northum- 
 berland, Durham, Cheshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire, 
 Staffordshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Lincoln- 
 shire, Warwickshire, Cambridgeshire, Gloucestershire, 
 Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Norfolk, &c. He 
 visited Sheffield twice in the course of the year, 
 Nottingham twice, and Manchester four times; and 
 in the course of some of his journies opened new chapels 
 at Howden, Bishop thorpe, Peterborough, and Bristol. 
 
 Mr. Dawson, who venerated Dr. Adam Clarke, and 
 sincerely lamented his death the year preceding, had 
 now to sympathize with the friends of Christian 
 Missions and of humanity, in the demise of the Rev. 
 Richard Watson ; both great men, but differing from 
 each other, as one star differeth from another star in 
 glory. " The worth of some men," it has been stated,
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 379 
 
 " lies in their mighty names ; upon a closer inspection, 
 what we took for merit disappears. It was only the 
 distance which imposed upon us before." Not so 
 here : the men could bear inspection while living, and 
 their works speak for them now that they are dead. 
 Even in their last hour, like all great men, they " bore 
 a countenance more princely lhan they were wont." 
 And why ? " It is the temper of the highest hearts, 
 like the palm tree, to strive most upwards, when it is 
 most burthened." Can anything be more simple and 
 touching to a truly devout mind, than the remark of 
 Mr. Hobbs to Dr. Clarke, and the Doctor's mono- 
 syllabic reply to it, so characteristic of his trustful, 
 unadorned, simple, yet truly Christian mind,, " My 
 dear Doctor, you must put your soul into the hands of 
 your God, and your trust in the merits of your Saviour." 
 " I do, I do." After this declaration of the work of 
 faith being perfected, then follows Richard Watson with 
 his dying testimony, the testimony itself being not 
 only Christian, but bearing the stamp of real genius, 
 " When I come before God, I feel myself like a worm 
 that has crawled out of its hole in the earth, and meets 
 the glory of the meridian sun. It behoves me to lie 
 low in the dust before him." There is no glorying 
 here, none in either case. How true it is, that " He 
 only is great who has the habits of greatness ; who 
 after performing what none in ten thousand could 
 accomplish, passes on like Sampson, and ' tells neither 
 father nor mother of it.' " 
 
 Actively engaged as Mr. Dawson had hitherto been, 
 the extinction of these two great "revolving lights" 
 rendered it still more imperious in him to replenish his 
 lamp with fresh oil, and to hold himself, if possible, in
 
 380 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 still greater readiness to obey additional calls to hold 
 forth the word of life in places yet personally un visited. 
 And what was not a little extraordinary and in this he 
 was on a par with Dr. Clarke, if not in the amount, at 
 least in the principle, the collections of one year 
 almost invariably exceeded those of the year preceding. 
 He obtained about 90 for Wesley Chapel, Manchester, 
 this year ; and the sum of ^681. 8s. 2fd. at Oldham, 
 for the Sunday Schools, the largest amount that had 
 ever been collected on the occasion. 
 
 The writer having had repeated opportunities of hear- 
 ing him in the course of this year, availed himself of 
 them ; as well as enjoyed much of his private society. 
 Meeting him at the coach on one of these occasions, he 
 was accosted by a friend, who was unperceived, till his 
 hand was felt upon the shoulder, and the words were 
 uttered " You are my prisoner." Mr. Dawson turned 
 round and smiled. But he was scarcely seated in the 
 house of Mr. Braik, before he was beset by suppliants 
 from different places, soliciting the benefit of his services. 
 This was no unusual thing. He observed to the friends 
 not ostentatiously, but to shew the impossibility of 
 complying in every case with their wishes " Out of 
 twenty-six Sundays in the last plan, I have been only 
 six at home, exclusive of week-day services; the re- 
 mainder having been devoted to extra work. I only 
 reached home last night at twelve o'clock, having been 
 at a missionary meeting in York, and had to start for 
 Manchester this morning." 
 
 Speaking in the morning on "We would see Jesus," 
 in Oldham-Street chapel, he observed, " He is to be 
 seen in the Bible ;" then suiting the action to the 
 expression, he placed the Bible on its edge, which
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 381 
 
 was unfolded about the middle, and, turning it to 
 each part of the congregation, with his head inclined 
 towards it, and his eye fixed upon its page, he pointed 
 his finger to its sacred contents, as to a mirror, into 
 which every one might look, and perceive the image 
 of the divine personage referred to, repeating "You 
 may see him here ; ' see ' him in the Old Testament, 
 in prophesies, types, and figures; 'see' him in the 
 New, in his life, miracles, doctrines, promises, pre- 
 cepts, death, resurrection, and ascension ; 'see' him 
 in the beginning, middle, and end : yes, seen here 
 not at the dance, not at the card table, not at the 
 theatre, not at the horse-race ; to such as attend these, 
 if seen at all, it is in the distance ; and the more 
 such amusements are indulged, and such places are 
 frequented, the further he recedes from view further 
 and further and further, till he becomes invisible." 
 Having thus fixed attention, he then unfolded and 
 applied his subject. Without adverting to his plan, 
 a reminiscence or two forces itself upon the mind, 
 which may be preserved, as many of his fillings up 
 were never committed to paper. The backslider, whom 
 he depicted as having lost sight of Jesus, after having 
 seen him by faith, and enjoyed him in fellowship of 
 spirit, was further portrayed as conquered, and laid 
 prostrate on the ground, while Satan, in the character 
 of a victor, was brandishing his sword over him, and 
 shouting in triumph, with his foot upon his neck, 
 "Ah, so would we have it ; so would we have it ! " 
 suiting the intonations of the voice to the subject, 
 and producing a living image on the imagination. 
 
 In the evening, while dwelling on Luke xii. 41 
 48, he was somewhat trite in the former part of
 
 382 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 his discourse. He shewed that all were the servants 
 of God by creation, preservation, and redemption, 
 whether slothful, disobedient, or faithful ; and that the 
 congregation especially, knew his will and owed him 
 obedience. Passing over the intermediate parts of the 
 sermon, when he came to apportion to each offender 
 his "few" or his "many stripes," according to the 
 nature and magnitude of the offences committed, the 
 sinewy, athletic body of his thoughts seemed to burst 
 their scanty apparel: he was like a person who had 
 just had a vision of the misery of lapsed intelligences, 
 but unable to tell the whole of what he had seen 
 and heard. He illustrated the enormity of sin, by 
 shewing its several degrees of aggravation in offences 
 against civil authority, passing from the private subject 
 to the constable, from the constable to the magistrate, 
 and from the magistrate to the monarch, when it 
 reached the climax in treason. Sin, he observed, was 
 an offence against the Majesty of heaven, in sight 
 of the atonement of Christ, against a positive law, 
 and in defiance of the strivings of the Holy Ghost. 
 "Such," said he, and this is only a faint image of 
 his terrific power, "shall be beaten with 'many stripes.' 
 The sinner, in this country, in this day, in this con- 
 gregation, has not the plea of the Jews, who cru- 
 cified Christ ignorantly ; nor yet of Saul of Tarsus, 
 who 'did it ignorantly." He has no plea to offer. 
 Bring him forth, and let him see himself, as a lost 
 spirit, tied, like a soldier, to the halberts receiving 
 his 'stripes.'' The devil comes forward, and commences 
 with his ' stripes ; ' and every stroke makes him cringe, 
 while his misery is enhanced, by hearing his tormentor 
 say, ' We had no Bible, no Saviour, no remedy,
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 383 
 
 but you had. ' Next comes the Law, issuing, as of 
 old, from Mount Sinai, enveloped in fire and smoke, 
 and gives its round of lashes. After that, comes 
 Conscience, which applies the lash, with its internal 
 upbraidings. Then comes Jesus, with the aggravation 
 of rejection. In the rear of Jesus comes Justice, 
 whose every stroke is like the cut of a whip upon 
 a sheet of water, which instantly closes on the lash 
 being taken out, and is ready for another gash; an 
 eternity of healing and wounding ! " He next changed 
 the imagery, and represented each lost spirit under 
 the notion of a flame of fire, lighted up, and pre- 
 served burning by the wrath of God, the separate 
 flames differing from each other in force, width, and 
 fierceness ; and each flame with its own distinct lamp 
 or vehicle, the congregated mass being 'vessels of 
 wrath, ' some large, some small, yet all full of 
 misery. To follow him, except hi short-hand, in 
 his lightning flashes and thunder peals, is next to 
 impossible. On applying the subject to backsliders, 
 to the children of praying parents, and to formal 
 professors, he was equally tremendous; especially hi 
 reference to the second class. "The prayers of thy 
 father," said he, "will be like breath to fan up the 
 flames of hell ; and the tears of thy praying mother, 
 which had been deposited in the Lord's bottle for 
 thee, will be constantly dropping, like oil, on the fire 
 of hell, to feed it." The sinner was depicted hi all 
 his odiousness, " enough to startle the devil him- 
 self;" and as met in the "regions of woe," by com- 
 panions "whose eyes shot lightning at him," piercing 
 the inmost soul with the very essence of mental 
 agony. Several persons were convinced of sin under
 
 384 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the sermon, and some obtained a sense of mercy in 
 the prayer-meeting at the close of the service. 
 
 Anything like sober, sedate feeling, through the 
 whole of even a solemn discourse, was very often 
 out of the question ; and in his more tempestuous 
 moods, he was dangerous as a model, and never to 
 be imitated. He stood alone, and ought to remain 
 alone ; but in that individual form, as in all unique 
 cases, he was rather to be prized than diminished in 
 value. He paid a visit to Sheffield about the same 
 time, as above, and preached in Carver-Street chapel. 
 The congregation was large, and the feeling was in- 
 tense. He exhorted his hearers, in the course of his 
 sermon, to give their hearts to the Lord, and added, 
 laying his hand upon his own, with a fine gush of 
 feeling, and his eyes lifted up to heaven, " Here's 
 mine!" when a voice from the gallery cried out, 
 " Here's mine too, Billy ! " Nor was this the only 
 audible token of the effect of his preaching ; such 
 exclamations as, "That's right," "True," "Glory 
 be to God," &c., being frequently repeated during 
 the service. 
 
 Having had occasion to advert to Providence, he 
 remarked, that its inequalities argued the necessity 
 of a general judgment ; while providence itself was 
 illustrated, in connection with the assertion, "The 
 ways of the Lord are not equal," by a straight stick 
 put into a vessel of water, which, in consequence of 
 the medium through which it was viewed, appeared 
 crooked ; and by the wheels of a piece of mechanism, 
 moving in opposite directions, yet guiding the fingers 
 aright, and directing them to the proper hour. 
 
 His friend, Mr. Reinhardt of Leeds, died early in
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 385 
 
 the spring, whose funeral sermon he preached March 
 1 st, and to whose will he administered April 9th. Mr. 
 Reinhardt had been a memher of the Wesleyan Society 
 thirty years, and had filled, for several years, the 
 offices of Class-Leader, Steward, and Trustee. 
 
 In the summer of the same year he was called to 
 improve the death of Mrs. Turton, the wife of the 
 Rev. Isaac Turton, who was awakened to a sense of 
 her guilt and danger as a sinner, in the eighteenth 
 year of her age, under a sermon which he preached 
 in her native place, the village of Harewood, near 
 Leeds, in 1809. Mournful as it is, yet it is satis- 
 factory for a Christian minister to see the fruit of 
 his labour safely housed; not only first to place the 
 sapling in the nursery, but to see it finally trans- 
 planted to another soil, where it is to bloom for 
 ever ; and of all the fruit of Mr. Dawson's ministerial 
 toil, he never saw a more lovely Christian in person 
 and character grow up, flourish, bend, and fall 
 before him than Mrs. T. ; closing life with, "All is 
 well." A few weeks after this, he observes, "I called 
 upon William Thompson of Barnber, and, to my great 
 surprise and grief, found him dead." A funeral tribute 
 was paid to the memory of this person also. 
 
 His labours were not always confined to the places 
 he visited, according to previous arrangement ; but 
 he was sometimes drawn into work of which he had 
 no anticipation when he set out on his journey. 
 Thus, the friends at Rudham, in Norfolk, finding 
 that he was to be at Lynn, waited upon him, to 
 ask him to give them an extra sermon in aid of 
 their chapel. Never backward to labour, when a door 
 was thrown open, and time and physical strength would
 
 386 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 allow, he preached twice at Lynn on the Sabbath, 
 proceeded to Rudham, and preached there at 1 1 o'clock 
 in the forenoon, returned to Lynn, where he preached 
 in the evening, and went forward the next day to 
 preach at Wisbeach. Being the first time of his ap- 
 pearance at Rudham, &c., some dissenting ministers 
 were drawn to hear him, who intimated that it was 
 a style of preaching they had never heard before, and 
 could not fail to awaken the attention of the people 
 to sacred subjects. In consequence of his pulpit 
 labours, and conversation with the friends at Wis- 
 beach, the latter were led to commence a plan for 
 the enlargement of their chapel, which he afterwards 
 re-opened, and the anniversaries of which he sub- 
 sequently attended. 
 
 Having succeeded so well in stealing a march upon 
 his time and toil for Rudham, the good friends at 
 Fakenham, in the Walsingham circuit, were equally 
 successful on the occasion of a subsequent visit to 
 the county of Norfolk, in securing a few of his "Spare 
 Minutes." The chapel, though large enough for or- 
 dinary occasions, was too small for the congregation ; 
 in the evening, therefore, being in the height of 
 summer, he proposed to conduct the service in a 
 field adjoining the place. An auctioneer obligingly 
 furnished him with his "stand" as a substitute for 
 the pulpit; a fine incident in connection with the 
 peculiarities of his playful fancy. Behind this, with 
 a very different company before him to that with which 
 the knight of the hammer was generally indulged 
 a company in whom were in operation widely different 
 vieivs, feelings, and expectations, and with an article, 
 which he could not only conscientiously recommend,
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 387 
 
 but in the praise of which he could not be too high, 
 he could safely say to each, to all, "Buy the truth." 
 But as this was not his text, the elevation in open 
 air, furnished him with an equally favourable oppor- 
 tunity of enquiring with Moses, who, while he "stood in 
 the gate of the camp," asked, "Who is on the Lord's 
 side?" a question, involving a subject, which he pressed 
 in no ordinary way upon the conscience. The good 
 effect of this sermon is noticed in the "Cottager's 
 Friend" for 1840, p. 35, in a Memoir of Abraham Jacob. 
 In the month of November, he acceded to a pressing 
 invitation to the Metropolis, when he preached in Great 
 Queen-Street chapel, at Islington, Southwark, and City 
 Road. From thence he proceeded to Bristol, where 
 he opened the chapel noticed in a preceding page. At 
 the close of this journey, he exclaimed, on entering 
 his own house, under a deep sense of his obligations 
 to Divine goodness, "Praise the Lord, O my soul, 
 and all that is within me praise his holy Name ! " 
 Travelling, which is but too often the case, never seemed 
 to dissipate his mind. He returned home, not poorer 
 in spirit, but more enriched in grace ; he resembled 
 the bee loaded with honey. The mind was rarely 
 so intensely employed on particular subjects as to lose 
 its vigour in the exercise ; and when it did flag, being 
 impatient of ease, it soon recovered itself again, not 
 by continuing inactive, but by varying its applica- 
 tions. He was thrown only into such society as kept 
 up the flame of devotion in himself; while his habits 
 of piety, and his love to souls, led him to augment 
 the flame in others. His happiness was derived from 
 God, and therefore, beyond the power of circumstances 
 to change. This world was beheld only as a kind
 
 388 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of stepping-stone to a better. While such a state of 
 mind, simply referring to its bias respecting the 
 future, adds a double relish to every enjoyment, it 
 blunts also, in the language of Dugald Stewart, the 
 edge of every suffering. Even in cases where human 
 life presents to a man no object upon which his hopes 
 can rest, religion invites the imagination beyond the 
 dark and troubled horizon which terminates every 
 earthly prospect, to wander unconfined in the regions 
 of futurity. While memory soothed the mind of Mr. 
 Dawson, by storing it with the repollection of past 
 mercies, hope overjoyed it with "pleasant pictures" 
 of the future. 
 
 1834 an eventful year in the history of Methodism, 
 brought still heavier labour to Mr. Dawson than that 
 to which he had been accustomed, and which the 
 reader will perceive has been gradually growing upon 
 him. 
 
 The Rev. Robert Aitkin, a clergyman of the Estab- 
 lished Church, had preached some time in the Wesleyan 
 chapels, in different places, and had been extensively 
 useful in the awakening of sinners ; and persons, like 
 him, with more than ordinary zeal, were sure" to find 
 their way to the subject of these Memoirs. Mr. Aitkin 
 paid him a visit at Barnbow ; Mr. Dawson heard him 
 preach in the month of January, some letters passed 
 between them, and they met on different public 
 occasions. His friend, Mr. Brookes, also paid him a 
 visit in the course of the same month, and preached 
 in the neighbourhood. Bachelor as Mr. Dawson was, 
 he was a social being ; he loved society, and was 
 loved by society: not because of the fineness or in- 
 tensity of his feelings, or the display of a little
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 389 
 
 amiable sensibility, which only requires a little acting, 
 but because of his experience, his talents, the value 
 of his character, and his ability and willingness to 
 benefit the church and the world. 
 
 In the month of February he rejoiced in symptoms 
 of public good at Barwick, while the Rev. Robert 
 Bond was preaching, saying, "Praise the Lord! His 
 presence was with us ; souls were enquiring their way 
 to Zion, and some found the road." The Rev. Francis 
 West was noticed by him also, as succeeding Mr. 
 Bond, and whose ministry was useful to the society. 
 In consequence of this spring of feeling given to 
 the people, the Missionary Meeting produced 16 
 15s. 4d. While God was enlarging his boundaries 
 in the country, he was also extending his work in 
 the town. Hence, says Mr. Dawson, "I was at 
 Leeds, Wednesday, Feb. 19, at the laying of the first 
 stone on the premises adjoining the Old Chapel. On 
 my return home in the evening, I preached at Bar- 
 wick." 
 
 Lady Hertford, under whom he had an agency, 
 died in the month of April; but her demise eifected 
 no immediate change with him ; and he seems, about 
 this time, in addition to his farm and executorships, 
 to have had the business of two or three collieries 
 in charge. But in the midst of his secular engage- 
 ments, which his business qualities would never suffer 
 him to mistime or neglect, he was found within the 
 space of four brief days, proceeding with his relative, 
 Mr. Edward Phillips, to Colne and Cornshaw, in Lan- 
 cashire, and instantly on his return, attending the 
 Leeds market, from thence to Aberford, and, without 
 returning home, proceeding, as by express, with his
 
 390 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 friend, Mr. J. Peart, to Pocklington, to engage in 
 the work of the sanctuary there. And yet this was but 
 trifling compared with one of his feats in the month 
 of June, when, in different kinds of conveyances, 
 in one route, he embraced, including intermediate 
 places, Newark, Wisbeach, Downham, Wireton, Swaff- 
 ham, Northampton, Thetford, Kilbro Mills, Falkenham, 
 Norwich, Marsh, and Peterboro', closing his account, 
 after giving the milage from place to place, with 
 "Returned home. Travelled, by cross-roads, in nine 
 days, upwards of two hundred miles, and exercised 
 sixteen times. As was my day, so was my strength. 
 Halleluia, praise the Lord ! " 
 
 In all his journies, he avoided giving the respective 
 families with whom he domiciled, any unnecessary 
 trouble, and took such fare as was placed before 
 him with cheerfulness. Even at an inn, where the 
 traveller may assume the airs of a gentleman, and 
 issue his commands to the master and mistress of 
 the house, as to his own servants, Mr. Dawson was 
 as unobtrusive and untroublesome, as in a gentle- 
 man's family. He reached Market Harborough at 
 twelve o'clock one evening, towards the latter part of 
 September, when the weather was setting in cold. 
 There was no time for bed between the leaving of 
 one coach, and the arrival of another by which he 
 hoped to be fowarded; and yet such was his feeling 
 for the servants, whom he considered as having had 
 fatigue enough with the toil of the day, and little 
 enough time allowed for refreshing repose, that he 
 allowed them to close the doors, and retire to rest, 
 under the impression that he was going to take up 
 his residence somewhere in the town, while, in fact,
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 391 
 
 he stepped quietly into one of the stables in the 
 yard, where he remained with the horses as his com- 
 panions, till half-past two o'clock in the morning, 
 when he left for home. He might, while there, have 
 trilled one of the Madrigals from Wilbye, of 1598: 
 
 " There is a jewel which no Indian mine can buy, 
 No chemic art can counterfeit; 
 It makes men rich in greatest poverty, 
 Makes water wine, turns wooden cups to gold, 
 The homely whistle to sweet music's strain ; 
 Seldom it comes, to few from heaven sent, 
 That much in little all in nought, Content." 
 
 In the course of four days after this, he was in 
 Newcastle-upon-Tyne, with the Rev. Robert Aitkin. 
 The visit was well-timed, there being a division just 
 then in the Gateshead Society. Both preached, and 
 both attended the quarterly love-feast in Brunswick 
 chapel. Poor Crister, the "Wall's End Miner," was 
 present, and spoke with great interest. Mr. Aitkin 
 also gave a narrative of the dealings of God with his 
 soul, clear, striking, artless, and attended with 
 a divine unction. Whatever might be his subsequent 
 doctrinal or merely notional wanderings, it would be 
 as difficult to get rid of the genuineness of such expe- 
 rience, as it would have been for Robinson of Cambridge, 
 in later life, to answer his own arguments in favour of the 
 Divinity of Christ, as embodied in his " Plea." Several 
 souls were saved in the course of the Sabbath. The writer 
 was present on the occasion, and was in the chapel from 
 half-past ten o'clock in the morning, till five in the after- 
 noon. One young man, may be noticed, of the name 
 of Robert Combey, who was awakened to a sense of his 
 moral wretchedness, and who, in the space of nine 
 months, was swept into eternity, with upwards of a
 
 392 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 hundred more, men and boys, by a blast in one of 
 the pits. 
 
 Shortly after this, Mr. Dawson was at Hull, preaching 
 occasional sermons, and addressing the seamen, shew- 
 ing the latter, " the difference between a pious and 
 an ungodly sailor." The next forenoon he was in 
 Leeds market, by half-past eleven o'clock. So mild 
 was the weather, that, on the second of November, 
 the larks, to the joy of his soul, for he was a 
 close observer and lover of nature, were singing their 
 morning carols ; and in the same month, he sent up 
 his own carols to heaven, on his return from a 
 journey of hazard, saying, "I came by railway to 
 Lazencroft. Adored be Divine providence, for returning 
 me without the slightest injury, and finding all right 
 and well at home ! " 
 
 The dissension occasioned by the establishment of 
 the "Theological Institution," had arrived at a con- 
 siderable height by the close of the year. Scores of 
 pamphlets and letters were published, pro and con, 
 comprising, when bound together, four thick octavo 
 volumes, exclusive of the "Illuminator," &c. Mr. 
 Dawson was at first a dissentient ; and so also was 
 the biographer, the latter strongly so. Some of 
 their reasonings and objections paired with each other, 
 though neither were averse to^the abstract question 
 of ministerial improvement. When, however, they 
 found men passing over from the Theological Institu- 
 tion to the Wesleyan Constitution, and trying to sap 
 its foundation, they perceived it was high time to 
 sacrifice mere opinion for the sake of essentials, to 
 give up an outwork or two for the sake of the citadel. 
 Hence, Mr. Dawson, addressed a letter, December
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 393 
 
 16th, to Dr. Warren, entitled, "More Work for Dr. 
 Warren;" and his name stands in the Subscription 
 List of the first " Report of the Wesleyan Theological 
 Institution," as a subscriber of 5. Is. As his pri- 
 mary opposition had more the character of a fear 
 of consequences, than actual hostility, so his subscrip- 
 tion was given in hope, rather than confidence and 
 not without prayer. 
 
 Without entering into the merits of the question, 
 which may now be considered as settled, one great 
 good resulting from the whole, in the trial which 
 ensued, and the decision of the Lord Chancellor Lynd- 
 hurst on the case, is, the act of legalizing the dis- 
 cipline of the Wesleyan Conference in reference to 
 the preachers, during the intervals of its sittings, 
 and, to a certain extent, making the Wesleyan Con- 
 stitution a part and parcel of the law of the land. 
 The removal of a few factious spirits from the body, 
 who were dissatisfied with the system, was merely 
 temporary; but this boon will go down to the latest 
 posterity with British Law ; and in this invaluable 
 boon Mr. Dawson rejoiced, nor less the biographer. 
 During the conflict, the language of Sir T. Brown 
 could not but impress the minds of those persons 
 who were familiar with it; "Scholars are men of 
 peace ; they bear no arms, but their tongues are 
 sharper than Actius' razor; their pens carry further, 
 and give a louder report than thunder. I had rather 
 stand in the shock of a basilisk, than in the fury 
 of a merciless pen." Though the times cannot be 
 contemplated without painful feeling, the subject is now 
 capable of a much more dispassionate consideration. 
 Selden was not far wrong, when he said, "In troubled 
 
 R2
 
 394 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 water you can scarce see your face ; so in troubled 
 times you can see little of truth. "When they are 
 settled and quiet then truth appears." 
 
 The year 1834 has been stated to have been a 
 laborious one for Mr. Dawson ; and as another little 
 memento for the friends in the respective places he 
 visited, as well as a memorial of Christian zeal, it 
 may be remarked, that he either attended in the course 
 of the year, public meetings, or preached occasional 
 sermons, or both, at Clayton Heights, Grantham, 
 Wansford, Yeadon, Ripon, Sheffield, Stokesley, Guis- 
 bro', Whitby, Robin Hood's Bay, Manchester, Salford, 
 Almondsbury, Wansley, Kendal, Addingham, Acaster, 
 Tadcaster, Stockport, "Wakefield, Dewsbury, Hudders- 
 field, Birmingham, Bradwell, Colne, Cornshaw, York, 
 Pocklington, Nottingham, Borrow Ash, Draycolt, Derby, 
 Sandiacre, New Basford, Skipton, Keighley, Doncaster, 
 Lincoln, Sleaford, Gainsbro', Chesterfield, Macclesfield, 
 Bacup, Cheadle, New Mills, Stamford, "Wrotton, Top- 
 ham, Downham, Swaffham, Thetford, Kilbro' Mill, 
 Fakenham, Norwich, Marsh, Peterboro', Doncaster, 
 Malton, High Town, Wetherby, Otley, Minsten, Leek, 
 Barton, Ashby de la Zouch, Cromford, Wensley, Belper, 
 Brotherton, Addingham, Bradford, Higham Ferrars, 
 Bedford, Rowell near Kettering, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 
 Carville, Shields, Blyth, Retford, Hull, Gildersome, 
 Loughbro', Bramcote, Beeston, Granby, Broomsgrove, 
 Tockwith, London, Luton, "Wednesbury, Stoke-upon- 
 Trent, Rochdale, Congleton, Middlewich, Stokesley, 
 Selby, Darlington, and Gainford. To half a dozen of 
 these places, he paid two visits in the course of the 
 twelve months ; besides opening chapels at Biggies- 
 wade, Granby, Hull, and also St. Peter's, Leeds.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 395 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Love, a great moving principle. Rev. S. Settle. The old ship, 
 John Patrick. Rev. R. Aitkin. Visit to the Theological 
 Institution. Hint to chapel-keepers. Scattered fears. A 
 Rent-day homily. Religion requires constant application. 
 Continuance of excessive labour. Liberality. A platform di- 
 lemma. Failures. Tea Party. Presentations. Humility. 
 The Damsonian Fund, and its object. Symptoms of physical 
 decay. Outgoings. Mr. R. M. Beverley's " Travelling Revi- 
 valist. " Perseverance. Correspondence. The Hoppings. 
 Second case of liberality. The Holy Spirit. Menders of 
 Systems. The Christian race. Penitents. ' ' Teetotallism.'' 
 Politics prejudicial to religion. Adaptation of the Gospel to 
 Man. Monies subscribed towards the Dawsonian Fund pre- 
 sented to the Missionary Committee, and accepted. Mr. 
 Damson's views on the subject. Extraordinary Collections at 
 Huddersjield. Conversions. 
 
 SPECIAL attention having been paid to the opera- 
 tions of the Spirit of God upon the mind of Mr. 
 Dawson in the early part of these pages, and sub- 
 sequently to his excessive labours, it may be proper 
 to observe, that while those labours rose out of a 
 continued growth in grace, his advancement hi the 
 divine life was, in the way of re-action, augmented 
 by his labours. God alone was permitted to occupy 
 the chief place in his heart. He knew, and he felt,
 
 396 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 that to put him in a second place, was to treat him 
 opprobiously ; that even to equal another object with 
 him, was to insult him. With him, it was a fixed 
 principle, that wherever God is, he must possess the 
 throne ; and that, if a holy heart is an image of 
 heaven, as in effect it is, he must reign there, and 
 everything must submit to his authority. The love 
 of God in his soul was an immense fire ; and like 
 the fire of the vestal virgins at Rome, which was 
 lit up by no common flame, and never suffered to 
 go out; or more sacredly, like the fire in the temple 
 at Jerusalem, which the priests were bound to pre- 
 serve alive on the altar, he continued to fan the flame 
 with earnest, constant, faithful prayer. While God 
 was loved, not barely supremely, a slight degree 
 above other things, but with all the heart, he found 
 that such love would admit of love to man : but then, to 
 man with his good alone for its object, it was only 
 like the emission of a few sparks, or faint emotions, 
 compared with the body of flame that mounted up- 
 ward; just as a king is said to collect in his own 
 person all the honours of his kingdom, and commu- 
 nicates some lucid titles to inferior objects. Hence, 
 with even the love of God brimming the soul, the 
 parent loves his child, the husband his wife, and 
 man his fellow. But then, agreeably to what has 
 been stated, divine love will neither admit of any 
 other love contrary to itself, nor yet any other object, 
 except God himself, to occupy the chief seat in the 
 soul. It is in the heart, amidst all the other affec- 
 tions, what a prince is among the officers of his 
 army ; or in still stronger language, what God himself 
 is among all the creatures of the universe giving
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 397 
 
 to all life, and motion, and power, and efficiency. 
 This was the case with Mr. Dawson. His love to 
 God was without measure, as well as without sub- 
 ordination, without bounds, as well as without par- 
 tition. The reason of this will be found in the object, 
 which it resembles, and which is infinite. It is true, 
 in one view of the subject, it is impossible for finite 
 creatures to perform infinite acts. But still they are 
 in a manner infinite ; and this comparative infinity 
 has been argued as consisting in two things: first, 
 the good man's emotions go to the utmost extent 
 of his power without coolness or caution ; and secondly, 
 when he has stretched his soul to the utmost of his 
 power, he is never content with himself, but acknow- 
 ledges his duty goes infinitely beyond his emotions 
 and actions. Thus it was, that the soul of Mr. Daw- 
 son was continually running out after God in all the 
 ardour of divine love; and to promote his glory, in 
 the salvation of man, in connection with all the ener- 
 gies of both body and mind, he devoted every hour 
 he could spare from his farm. 
 
 In the commencement of 1835, he was engaged at 
 "Thorp Hall in surveying the boundaries of Lady 
 Gordon's property, in order to the opening of a new 
 Winning ; " and was much employed in other secular 
 affairs. His correspondence was also becoming more 
 and more heavy; and was such as, in other cases, 
 would have justified a secretary or an amanuensis. 
 To one of his early correspondents, the Rev. Samuel 
 Settle, he wrote on the 30th of January; to whom 
 a special reference is here made, with a view to 
 revive early associations, and to shew the endeared 
 friendship still subsisting between them.
 
 398 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 The uneasiness manifested in different societies, 
 towards the close of 1834, was carried into 1835. 
 Serious as was the subject, a somewhat amusing con- 
 versation took place upon it between Mr. Dawson and 
 John Patrick, the latter, an excellent man, who met 
 a class near Kirkstal Abbey. 
 
 Mr. Dawson. " "Well John, how is your class suc- 
 ceeding ? " 
 
 John Patrick. In a pensive mood. " We are doing 
 very well ; but the disturbance existing in some of 
 the societies affects me a good deal." 
 
 Mr. D. "Nothing has occurred recently I hope? " 
 
 J. P. "Why, perhaps not. But I was with a 
 person the other day, who asked me, whether I was 
 not going to leave the Old Connexion ? " 
 
 Mr. D. "What reply did you make? " 
 
 J. P. "I said, no; I am resolved to abide by 
 the old ship." 
 
 Mr. D." What then?" 
 
 J. P. " He said, ' She is not sea-worthy.' " 
 
 Mr. D. Amused with the simile, though familiar 
 to him, and desirous of hearing the result, " How 
 did you meet that ? " 
 
 J. P. "I considered the Wesleyans as forming a 
 part of the Church of God ; and in reference to that 
 Church, I said, She carried all the Old Testament 
 saints to heaven ; and when he, who, by way of deri- 
 sion, was called the carpenter's son, appeared upon 
 earth, she was new bottomed, and I think she will 
 now carry the New Testament saints into the same 
 port." 
 
 Mr. D. " What was his answer ? " 
 
 J. P. "He asked, 'Why all the mischief at Man-
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 399 
 
 Chester, Leeds, and elsewhere, if the vessel were not 
 in a sinking condition ? ' : 
 
 Mr. D. Pleasantly, " How did you surmount that 
 difficulty ? " 
 
 J. P. "I said, Oh, the vessel is as good and 
 safe as it ever was : a few of the crew are only 
 striving for the mastery. " 
 
 Mr. Dawson relished this not a little ; and the last 
 stroke the most, as he was aware that John knew 
 the character of the person he was addressing. 
 
 The Rev. Robert Aitkin, who was impressed with 
 it being his duty to leave the Established Church, 
 wrote to Mr. Dawson on the subject. Not long after, 
 he published a pamphlet on the existing dissensions, 
 which shewed, however well meant, that he was 
 unacquainted with the system of Methodism. Mr. 
 Dawson being asked his opinion of the pamphlet, 
 returned, "Mr. A. was never designed for a legis- 
 lator ; at most, he is only intended for a bellows to 
 blow the dust from the embers, and then to kindle 
 the embers into a flame." 
 
 Being in the metropolis in the course of the year, 
 preaching occasional sermons at Great Queen-Street, 
 and at Chelsea, he visited the "Theological Institu- 
 tion." He informed the biographer, that the students 
 expressed a wish to receive an address from him, 
 and that the Rev. Samuel Jones, the classical tutor, 
 urged him to write his address and read it to them. 
 To the latter he objected, while he acceded to the 
 wishes of the former ; and as in early days, at Bar- 
 wick, when he occupied the Chair in the place of 
 the Rev. John Graham, so now, he occupied the 
 office of a Professor of Theology, telling the students,
 
 400 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 in playful terms, that they were about to be addressed 
 by "Bishop Dawson." Among other observations, 
 he told them, that it was their duty, in the out- 
 set, to convince the people that they wished to do 
 them good, that he at first, with some others, had 
 his fears and prejudices respecting the "Institution," 
 and that it remained with them, by improving their 
 talents, and turning out well, to shew the groundless- 
 ness of such fears. The several topics to which he 
 adverted, and the force and point which accompanied 
 several of his remarks, diverted attention from his 
 rural appearance, and a few of his provincialisms, 
 and rendered them much less singular, the home- 
 training of some of the students being taken into 
 account, than they would have been at either our 
 English or Scotch universities : and besides, there 
 was a soul in all he said. On his return home from 
 this journey, he exclaimed, "Praise the Lord! all 
 is well in body, soul, and circumstances." 
 
 It was not always that he could exclaim, " all is 
 well in circumstances ! " For, on one occasion, he 
 found himself minus a top-coat, after preaching in 
 Brunswick chapel, Newcastle-on-Tyne ; some miscreant 
 having gone into the vestry during divine service, 
 and stolen it. Though soon re-placed with another 
 by the friends, it is a hint to chapel-keepers, and 
 it is for this purpose that the subject is introduced, 
 to prevent access to the vestry by strangers, in time 
 of service. 
 
 But even under untoward circumstances of import- 
 ance, and not those of a trivial character like the 
 preceding, his argumentative resources for gratitude, 
 patience, and contentment, in the midst of them,
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 401 
 
 were endless ; nor less so, when consoling and encou- 
 raging others. His introductions, however, to some 
 of his pathetic addresses, were sometimes characterized 
 with a buoyancy and eccentricity, which, while they 
 yielded no immediate promise, were nevertheless sure to 
 find their way to the heart, and were rendered the more 
 welcome the moment they were recognized as the 
 means leading to that end. He was at Colne, during 
 a period of great commercial distress, when the spirits 
 of the people were depressed, and hut slender hopes 
 were entertained respecting the collections for the day. 
 On commencing the service, by opening the Hymn- 
 book, he said, "When I am engaged in preaching 
 occasional sermons, I am often presented with a number 
 of notes containing different announcements. After 
 reading them, I put them into my pocket, where 
 they sometimes inconveniently accumulate, till I reach 
 home. Going into the fields, I sometimes take them 
 out, and look at them, to see whether any of them are 
 worth preserving. I read one, not being worth any- 
 thing, I tear it into fragments ; up comes a breeze, 
 and away the shreds fly ; I look at a second, a third, a 
 fourth, and a fifth, tear them, and scatter them in 
 the same way. " While he was narrating this little 
 incident, imitating himself, by putting his hand into 
 his waistcoat pocket, as if reading, tearing, and scat- 
 tering, the congregation meanwhile on their feet waiting 
 for the hymn, and wondering what the relation might 
 mean, with the shreds of paper drifting like flakes 
 of snow in the imagination across the field, he sud- 
 denly adverted to the depressed state of the trade of 
 the place, directed his hearers to an overruling pro- 
 vidence, exhorted them to exercise confidence in God,
 
 402 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 gliding into the hymn in his peculiar way, as noticed 
 in other cases, announcing, with the number of the 
 hymn and page, 
 
 " Give to the winds thy fears j 
 Hope, and be undismay'd : 
 God hears thy sighs, and counts thy tears ; 
 God shall lift up thy head. 
 
 " Through waves, and clouds, and storms, 
 
 He gently clears thy way : 
 Wait thou his time, so shall this night 
 Soon end in joyous day." &c. 
 
 The effect was overpowering ; and the sermon being 
 of an encouraging character, the whole had a per- 
 manently soothing influence on the minds of devout 
 persons, who were exhorted as he had done the flying 
 shreds, to "give to the winds their fears." 
 
 He was present at the ceremony of laying the "first 
 stone " for a new chapel in the Leeds West circuit. 
 Wednesday, Feb. 4th ; and on Wednesday, April 8th, 
 he had the pleasure of laying the foundation-stone of 
 a new Sabbath-School, at Barwick, where he had 
 laboured so long and so effectually, and relative to 
 which erection, he devoutly prayed, that it might "be 
 a blessing to the village and the neighbourhood." In 
 the midst of his various other engagements, he con- 
 tinued to preach occasionally at Barwick on the week- 
 day. Here we have an association not often to be 
 met with ; " Bent-day, and preached in the evening 
 on 'One thing is needful.' ' Nor was this a solitary 
 case. It was the same the year succeeding. Any of 
 the other tenants, who might be disposed to linger 
 behind, to hear the sermon, would find that their 
 own vineyard required cultivation, as well as the ground 
 they rented of their landlord; that, in the language
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 403 
 
 of Young, " No man is blest by accident ; " but, 
 in order to be holy and happy, he must "Redeem 
 the time, '' and, to his " funds and acres, join his 
 sense." A sentiment of Cowley may be worked out 
 with considerable effect, in its bearing upon the im- 
 mortal interests of man ; " The first minister of state 
 has not so much business in public, as a wise man 
 has in private ; if the one have little leisure to be 
 alone, the other has little leisure to be in company ; 
 the one has but part of the affairs of one nation, 
 the other all the works of God and nature under 
 his consideration." What is the cultivation of even 
 some thousands of acres of land, when compared with 
 the cultivation of the mind and the improvement of 
 the heart? The "One thing needful," combines with 
 it "This one thing I do." 
 
 The Connexion at home being still in a perplexed 
 state, and the annual Conference being about to com- 
 mence its sittings, Mr. Dawson wrote to the Rev. 
 Joseph Taylor, the President, July 21, and still lived 
 in anticipation of peace and prosperity. No state of 
 things, however, caused him for a moment to relax his 
 exertions to promote the welfare of his fellow-creatures. 
 He felt the labour hard, but never complained. 
 Between the close of September and the beginning of 
 October, he exclaimed, on reaching home, "A laborious 
 week ! but, praise the Lord ! my strength has been equal 
 to my work." No wonder that he should feel. He 
 had been engaged the whole of the Friday in " leading 
 oats out of the Marlpit Field," after which he went to 
 Leeds, where he took the mail at nine o'clock the same 
 evening, and did not arrive at Bedford till one o'clock 
 the next day. On the Sunday, he preached three
 
 404 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 sermons in Bedford; three more at Ridgemount on 
 the Monday ; one at St. Ives on the Tuesday, and 
 attended a missionary meeting ; delivered two more 
 at Littleport on the "Wednesday; the same number 
 at Up well, in Norfolk, on the Thursday ; thence 
 to Wisbeach ; from "Wisbeach to Newark on the 
 Friday ; from the last of which places, he set off at 
 half-past eleven o'clock at night, and reached home on 
 the Saturday. The next day, he was again in the 
 pulpit, preaching twice in his regular appointment. 
 Though the repetition of these extraordinary exer- 
 tions may be in danger of palling in some instances, 
 yet it is in their continuity that we see the man ; and 
 in that continued toil, the marvel is, how human nature 
 bore up under it so long ; for, in his ardour of spirit, 
 and through his vehemence, he put as much physical 
 strength into the delivery of one of his sermons, as the 
 ordinary run of preachers put into half a dozen. It was 
 not here, as stated by Tillotson, in other cases, " What 
 men want of reason for their opinions, they usually 
 supply and make up in rage." He never substituted 
 sound for sense, mere noisy declamation and rant 
 for argument: nor was he ever vehement, but when 
 most burthened with strength of thought. In the 
 esteem of some persons, " Great turns are not always 
 given by strong hands, but by lucky adaptation and 
 at proper seasons;" and with these, "it is of no 
 import where the fire was kindled, if the vapour has 
 once got up into the brain." But there was no 
 " vapour " here ; nor was it unimportant either, where 
 " the fire was kindled " to accommodate the simile to 
 the present case ; for fire, like the lights on a stage, 
 may be lit up from beneath ; and it was of prime
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 405 
 
 " import" with Mr. Dawson, that his fire should proceed 
 from the heart, and that the altar there should receive its 
 warmth from above. And others than Wesleyan Meth- 
 odists, had no objection to warm themselves at such 
 fires. Hence, at Wisbeach, Nov. 5th, after preaching 
 in the Wesleyan chapel, he remarks, that in the evening 
 he " preached in the Calvinistic chapel, on ' Wherefore 
 the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling 
 and election sure,'" &c., 2 Pet. i. 10; a perilous text 
 for an Arminian to take in a Calvinistic pulpit ! But 
 Mr. Dawson had the good sense to waive all minor 
 matters on debateable ground, and to deal out the 
 essentials of religion in which all agreed. 
 
 It is not to be omitted, however, that, on another 
 occasion, he was on the point of a breach of religious 
 courtesy, in a chapel belonging to the particular Bap- 
 tists, when assisting at a missionary meeting. He 
 took up the subject of the "Sower," scattering his seed 
 quoting appropriate passages of Scripture for his pur- 
 pose and imitating the sower in his action. On coming 
 to that text " He is the propitiation for our sins, and 
 not for ours only, but also for the sins of " he sud- 
 denly turned round to the Baptist minister, who sat 
 behind him, and repeated, hesitatingly, but with an 
 expressive, cheerful look, "of of of of;" then 
 wheeling again to the congregation, who perceived where 
 he was, and smiled at his manner, he added, with 
 another evolution of the body, while bending his eye 
 once more on the worthy pastor, "of the whole world;" 
 further observing, "It is there ; I cannot help it ; do with 
 it what you like." Being asked the reason of his conduct 
 in the evening, he replied, that he felt completely 
 imbued with the spirit of his subject, and being
 
 406 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 accustomed to congregations of his own people, in chapels 
 of all forms and sizes, he forgot every thing but his 
 work, and just at the moment he had proceeded half 
 way with the passage in question, he recollected where 
 he was, and immediately drew up hesitated but 
 found he had gone too far to recede without being per- 
 ceived, and of either laying himself open to the charge of 
 cowardice, of defending his creed, or of incurring the 
 displeasure of the good people, who might construe it 
 into a designed insult ; and therefore it was, that he 
 had recourse in his haste to the expedient, which he 
 was happy to find, from the expression of the meeting, 
 produced pleasure rather than pain. Though he escaped 
 censure, there is great truth in the remark of an 
 elegant writer, that " the greatest parts, without dis- 
 cretion," may be fatal to their owners ; a Polyphemus, 
 deprived of his eye, was only the more exposed on 
 account of his enormous strength and stature. 
 
 As he often manifested great dexterity in extricating 
 himself out of a difficulty, he was no less adroit in 
 taking the edge from off a disappointment ; though no 
 man had less occasion to do it than himself, in the case 
 to be introduced, owing to his popularity. Having to 
 supply the place of the Rev. R. N. at Lofthouse, near 
 Guisborough, he opened his sermon with :" In looking 
 over the Bankrupt Gazette, we find that failures are 
 very common now-a-days. If people pay ten shillings 
 in the pound, it is considered very fair ; fifteen is 
 deemed handsome. You expected Mr. N. ; he, though 
 altogether unavoidable on his part, has failed you. 
 Never mind ; let us look up to heaven for the presence 
 of the Lord, and we shall have twenty shillings in the 
 pound, notwithstanding." This not only gave him
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 407 
 
 ready access to the good feelings of his hearers, gene- 
 rally, but at once arrested attention, and furnished him 
 with a fine opportunity of enforcing the advice of Sir 
 Matthew Hale ; " Run not into debt, either for wares 
 sold or money borrowed ; be content to want things 
 that are not of absolute necessity, rather than to run up 
 the score : such a man pays at the latter end a third 
 part more than the principal comes to, and is in per- 
 petual servitude to his creditors ; lives uncomfortably ; 
 is necessitated to increase his debts, to stop his creditors' 
 mouths ; and many times falls into desperate courses." 
 
 Exclusive of opening Dringholm, West Bromwich, 
 Kirkstall, Ruddington, Hemmingbrough, Yeadon, and 
 Guisely chapels, together with that of Oxford-place, 
 Leeds, he preached occasional sermons in far on 
 to one hundred other places, including Whitby, 
 Beverley, Broomsgrove, Shrewsbury, Kidderminster, 
 Birmingham, Leicester, Darlington, Macclesfield, Hud- 
 dersfield, Lincoln, Halifax, Birstal, Doncaster, Leek, 
 Newcastle-on-Tyne, Grantham, Leighton Buzzard, Cam- 
 bridge, Woolwich, Burslem, &c., &c., repeating his 
 visits to Nottingham, Manchester, and London, in the 
 course of the year. At the close of his last Metropo- 
 litan journey, in connection with which were several 
 other places, requiring a succession of hard labour, his 
 heart was filled with " melody to the Lord," saying, 
 " Praise the Lord ! he hath done all things well." 
 
 On Christmas Eve, which was two days after his 
 return, an interesting Tea Meeting was held, in the 
 vestry of Brunswick Chapel, Leeds, of the Committees 
 and friends of the Juvenile Missionary Society for the 
 Leeds East Circuit. The room was tastefully decorated 
 with evergreens, and the tables were amply furnished
 
 408 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 with provisions suited for the season. Tea being 
 finished, the Rev. Robert Newton was called to the 
 chair, who introduced the business of the evening 
 in a very appropriate speech, distinguished for its 
 manly eloquence. He stated that the object of the 
 meeting was to present Mr. Dawson with a copy of 
 Dr. Adam Clarke's Commentary, as a testimony of 
 their regard for his exertions in the Missionary cause. 
 He alluded to Mr. Dawson's unremitted exertions in the 
 service of the Leeds Juvenile Missionary Society, and 
 stated that, with one exception, he had every year 
 attended its anniversary since its establishment in 
 1816. Mr. Newton concluded by calling upon Mr. 
 Alfred Brigg, the Treasurer, who, after a few short 
 but appropriate remarks, formally presented Mr. Daw- 
 son with the Commentary, on behalf of the Committees. 
 Mr. Dawson then rose, and in a very suitable manner 
 acknowledged the reception of the gift. He adverted 
 at considerable length, to the advantages resulting 
 from an early cultivation of religion and strongly 
 deprecated the conduct of those who slighted the 
 ordinances, and were ashamed of the practice of the 
 religion of their parents. The Rev. W. Vevers, 
 R. Young, and W. Barton, together with Messrs. T. 
 Denham, J. H. Gibson, M. H. Davis, and D. C. 
 Roadhouse, severally addressed the meeting. Thanks 
 were given to Mr. Newton, the chairman, and after 
 singing the doxology, Mr. Dawson concluded the 
 meeting with prayer. In order to avoid crowd and 
 confusion at the meeting, the number of tickets issued 
 was limited to 250, but so great was the interest 
 excited, that double the number could have been dis- 
 posed of. Several friends actually offered five times
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 409 
 
 their price, but were unable to be accommodated. 
 The Commentary was the last edition, published by 
 Tegg and Son, in six volumes 4to. It was handsomely 
 bound in Russia leather, gilt lettered, and with gilt 
 edges. Within the back of the first volume was the 
 following inscription, in gilt letters ; " Presented to 
 Mr. William Dawson, of Barnbow, by the Committees 
 of the Juvenile Missionary Society, Leeds East Circuit, 
 as a testimony of their regard for his indefatigable, 
 disinterested, and successful exertions in the cause of 
 Missions. Deer. 24th, 1835." 
 
 Having attended the Bradford Juvenile Missionary 
 Society for a series of years, he was presented by the 
 Committee of that Society with the Works of Arminius, 
 as a similar token of respect for character, and a grate- 
 ful remembrance of his services. His friend, the Rev. 
 Thomas Galland, A.M., sent him the Rev. Richard 
 Watson's Exposition, as far as the revered author 
 had proceeded with it. His language on the first of 
 these occasions, in a private memorandum, is, " O, 
 my Lord, thou knowest, I am an unprofitable servant. 
 I would render all back to thee." These humbling 
 views of his services were evident indications of his 
 increasing piety, and are the more to be relied upon 
 for their sincerity, from the circumstance of their 
 not having been addressed to the ear of any one, 
 and so exposed to the charge of "voluntary humility," 
 or penned for the sake of inspection, but uttered 
 in his communings with God, and not expected to 
 proceed beyond his own notice ; and thus illustra- 
 tive of the fact, that " The best way to prove 
 the clearness of our mind, is by shewing its faults ; 
 as when a stream discovers the dirt at the bottom, 
 s
 
 410 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 it convinces us of the transparency and purity of 
 the water." 
 
 Two days after the presentation of Dr. Clarke's 
 Commentary, he called upon Mr. Scarth, who com- 
 municated to him an " outline " of what himself 
 denominated, " the Sheffield scheme ; " a plan for 
 rendering his labours still more generally available 
 to the missionary cause, by raising a fund for the 
 purpose of enabling him to devote himself exclusively 
 to the interests of the Wesleyan Connexion, and in 
 reference to which his prayer to God was, "Thy 
 will be done. " A Meeting of several of the friends 
 was held in Leeds, Feb. 5, 1836 ; and a circular, 
 containing a list of subscribers of one guinea each, 
 was issued Feb. 20, embracing a view of the object, 
 together with certain Resolutions to forward it, and 
 so constituting a new era in his personal history.* The 
 circular was afterwards inserted in the Wesleyan Meth. 
 Mag., 1836, pp. 296, 311. 
 
 " Leeds, February 20th, 1836. 
 
 * " DEAR SIR. I beg to submit to your kind consideration the subjoined 
 Statement and Resolutions ; and most respectfully suggest, that, if you approve 
 of our object, you will kindly aid us in its accomplishment. 
 
 I am, Dear Sir, (on behalf of the Committee) 
 
 Tour's very respectfully, 
 
 W. G. SCARTH. 
 
 " At the suggestion of many Preachrrs and Gentlemen of various Circuits, 
 (particularly of the two Sheffield Circuits,) who have long thought it desirable 
 that such arrangements should be made in reference to Mr. WILLIAM DAW- 
 SON, of Barnbow, as would enable him to spend the evening of his life 
 unencumbered with temporal anxiety, and entirely at liberty for those occa- 
 sional religious services, to which he is so frequently called, in which he so 
 much delights, and which, under the Divine blessing, have been rendered so 
 efficient in the support of the WESLEYAN METHODIST CHAPELS, SABBATH 
 SCHOOLS, and FOREIGN MISSIONS; services which have been long con- 
 tinued, at great personal sacrifice and inconvenience and for which, any 
 thing that can be done to promote his comfort, will form but a very inadequate
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 411 
 
 Adverting to the subject, in a conversation with the 
 biographer, he observed, " I am as comfortable at 
 present on my farm as I need to be. Home has 
 
 remuneration : A Meeting of a few friends of the two Leeds Circuits was held 
 in the vestry of Brunswick Chapel, in the Leeds East Circuit, February 5th, 
 1836: 
 
 ALDERMAN SCARTH IN THE CHAIR. 
 
 " IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED. 1st. That to promote the object con- 
 templated by the friends of Mr. Dawson, it would be highly creditable to the 
 Wesleyan Connexion, to raise by voluntary subscriptions not less than the 
 Sum of Four Thousand Guineas, to be invested with the General Treasurers 
 of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, on condition that they allow to Mr. Daw- 
 son, an annuity of Two Hundred Pounds, during the term of his natural life ; 
 and at his decease, an annuity of Fifty Pounds to his brother, Thomas Daw- 
 son, should he be the survivor, (who is fifty years of age, and from peculiar 
 circumstances dependant on his brother), during the term of his natural life . 
 The said sum of Four Thousand Guineas to be at the disposal of the saiJ 
 Treasurers for the time being, for the purchase or erection of suitable premises 
 for a Mission House, Offices, &c., for the transaction of the general business 
 of the Society, in London; or for the general purposes of the Wesleyan 
 Missionary Society, as the Committee may deem expedient. 
 
 " 2nd. That in order to allow the numerous friends of Mr. Dawson to unite 
 in this testimony of affection for him, and express their estimation of his 
 valuable services, no single subscription is expected to exceed One Guinea, 
 but any smaller sum will be thankfully received. 
 
 " 3rd. That these Resolutions be addressed (by circular) to every Super- 
 intendent Preacher in England ; and that he be requested to adopt such 
 measures in his Circuit, as he judges most likely to promote the object 
 proposed. 
 
 "4th. That William Gilyard Scarth, Esq., be appointed General Treasurer. 
 It is desirable that such Subscriptions should be forwarded by the 1st of 
 June, 1836, at the latest. 
 
 " 5th. That the following persons form a Committee (with power to add to 
 their number) to carry these Resolutions into effect, viz : all the Itinerant 
 Preachers in the two Leeds Circuits, with W. G. Scarth, Esq., F. Marris, 
 Esq., J. Hargrave, Esq., John Burton, Esq., Joshua Burton, Esq., 3. Sykes, 
 Esq., W. Smith, Esq., J. Ogle, Esq., Messrs. C. Turkington, B. Stocks, C. 
 Smith, T. Bell, M. Outhwaite, S. Tarbotton, B. R. Vickers, T. Mawson, 
 R. Scartb, B. Stocks, jun., W. D. Bootbman, D. Underwood, and T. Simpson, 
 f the Leeds East Circuit : and J. Musgrave, Esq., B. Beverley, Esq., Messrs. 
 J. Howard, C. Dove, W. Dove, C. Watson, J. Ramsden, J. Patrick, E. Joy, 
 S. Watson, H. Spink, J. Raynar, G. Reinhardt, J. N. Brigg, J. Walton, T. 
 Holt, J. Thackrah, C. Bowes, W. Haley, J. Richardson, S. Holmes, B. 
 Dewsbury, J.Johnson, R. Ripley, S. Whalley, and E. Heaton, of the Leeds 
 West Circuit. -W. G. SCARTH, CHAIRMAN."
 
 412 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 many endearments. The house was built by my 
 father; the family have lived in it for a period of 
 sixty years; and I shall have to give up my classes, 
 to the members of which I feel strongly attached. 
 With me, it is a hard struggle. I only wish to know 
 the will of God; that once known, I can make any 
 sacrifice. The question has come to this, In which 
 of the two situations shall I be able most to honour 
 God, and unreservedly consecrate myself to his ser- 
 vice ? But the scheme begun at Sheffield, seems 
 likely to be spoiled at Leeds, by confining the sub- 
 scription within a guinea, and so depriving the mis- 
 sionary cause of the advantage of higher sums." 
 
 One of his friends informed him, that the fund 
 proceeded but slowly in his neighbourhood, and plea- 
 santly added, "If you cannot obtain .200 per annum, 
 you must be content to sit down, like a supernumerary, 
 with .100." Mr. Dawson, who did not altogether 
 relish the jocularity, returned as he stated to the 
 writer, "There is a difference between my case and 
 that of a supernumerary. The latter receives .200 for 
 sitting down; whereas I am to receive aGlOO for 
 rising up. At present, I am in a state of inde- 
 pendence ; then, I shall be at the call of every one. 
 Besides, I may now be considered in the decline of 
 life, and shall soon work myself out." For a con- 
 siderable time, he was in great suspense respecting 
 the propriety of giving up his farm, as proper notice 
 was requisite, and some time would have to elapse 
 before he could sell his stock, &c. ; such a measure 
 being exceedingly impolitic, should the " scheme " 
 not succeed; and yet much time would be lost in 
 the event of its success, on leaving the whole till then.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 413 
 
 After some time elapsed, another circular was issued, 
 to awaken the attention of the friends to the suhject ; * 
 but this second appeal was still not equal, in effect, 
 to what might have been anticipated, especially when 
 it is considered, that it was made to a people imbued 
 with a missionary spirit, and that the prime object 
 of the measure was to promote the interest of the 
 missionary cause. 
 
 In observing to his friend, as in a preceding para- 
 graph, that he was "now in the decline of life," 
 
 *DEAR SIR. I beg to submit to your kind consideration our renewed 
 appeal, with the subjoined statement and Resolutions, respecting the Daw- 
 sonian Fund ; and as this measure has received the sanction of the Conference, 
 we hope that you will make such arrangements in your Circuit, as you may 
 deem necessary to the accomplishment of our object. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, (on behalf of the Committee), 
 
 Yours very respectfully, 
 
 W. G. SCABTH, TREASURER. 
 Leeds, Nov. 1st, 1836. 
 
 DAWSONIAN FUND. " The Committee for securing an Annuity for Mr. 
 DAWSON, deem it expedient to renew their application to their friends, with a 
 view to the immediate accomplishment of their object. They gladly embrace 
 this opportunity to present their thanks to those Preachers and friends who 
 have kindly co-operated with them ; and are happy to state that the Subscrip- 
 tions already received by their Treasurer amount to the sum of 1,500. 
 
 " While the Committee have pleasure in stating this fact they regret to find 
 that the ultimate appropriation of the total amount of the Subscriptions, ' for 
 the purchase or erection of suitable premises for a MISSION HOUSE, OFFICES, 
 &c. ; or for the general purposes of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, as the 
 Committee may deem expedient,'' as stated in their original Resolutions, a copy 
 of which they subjoin, has been in some cases overlooked : they must there- 
 fore remind their friends, that though their first object is to secure for Mr. 
 Dawson such a provision as they deem desirable, and thus to secure to the 
 Methodist Connexion the entire services of one who has already rendered such 
 efficient aid, by his labours in the pulpit and on the platform, to Sabbath 
 Schools, embarrassed Chapels, and Wesleyan Missions ; yet their ultimate 
 object is to secure to the WESLEYAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY the entire amount 
 of the sum to be raised. This part of the Plan they find it necessary to bring 
 in the most prominent manner before the attention of their friends. 
 
 " The Committe have also reason to believe that some friends have not 
 contributed to this Fund, from an apprehension that to institute a subscription 
 of a connexional character, without previously obtaining the approbation of
 
 414 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 he was reminded of this, by certain symptoms of 
 physical decay. He had lost some of his front teeth, 
 which slightly affected his articulation, particularly in 
 moments of rapidity, and when highly impassioned. 
 His sight also was now such as to compel him to 
 resort to the occasional use of glasses. Looking across 
 the table at the writer one day, during dinner, he 
 smiled, and said, in reference to the first defect, 
 "My grindstones do not fit each other." And in 
 
 the Conference, was establishing a precedent which might be very objection- 
 able : they are, however, happy to state, that the subject was considered at the 
 last Conference .-and they now renew their appeal with the sanction of that 
 Body : and without any wish to institute any invidious comparison between 
 Mr. Dawson and any other member of the Methodist Connexion, they hesitate 
 not to avow it as their deliberate conviction, that Mr. Dawson, during the 
 last twenty years, has served the interests of the whole Wesleyan Connexion, 
 by his labours for SCHOOLS, CHAPELS, and MISSIONS, at an expense of time, 
 personal convenience, and even of pecuniary sacrifice, to which no other lay 
 gentleman can make the slightest pretensions. But while the Committee 
 unequivocally express their opinion, that Mr. Dawson is legitimately entitled 
 to consideration for his past services, yet they ground their present appeal, 
 chiefly upon the increased facilities of usefulness which will be given to their 
 esteemed friend, by relieving him from the care and attention connected with 
 the management of his farm, and enabling him to devote the residue of his 
 days to the bests interests of humanity, and the welfare of the Methodist Con- 
 nexion. 
 
 "The Committee in their first appeal, thought it expedient to limit the 
 Subscription to One Guinea, anticipating that many of their friends would 
 subscribe for the members of their families, which in many instances has been 
 the case ; but they now withdraw that limitation, and will be happy to receive 
 Subscriptions to any amount, which the services of Mr. Dawson, and the 
 ultimate application of the money to Missionary purposes, may induce them 
 to contribute. 
 
 " In again submitting this subject to the consideration of the friends of Mr. 
 Dawson and of Wesleyan Missions, the Committee are only influenced by a 
 desire to extend his usefulness : and place at the disposal of the Missionary 
 Committee, the sum of Four Thousand Guineas, for the general objects of the 
 Wesleyan Missionary Society. 
 
 "As it is the intention of the Committee to print an entire List of Subscrip- 
 tions with as little delay as possible, they respectfully request, that any money 
 received tor this Fund, may he forwarded to the Treasurer, W. G. SCARTH, 
 Esq., Leeds, by December 21st., at the latest ; by whom, and also by the 
 Itinerant Preachers, in their respective circuits, Subscriptions will be received.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 415 
 
 reference to the last, he said, " The first time I 
 detected a failure in my sight, was when I was at- 
 tempting to mend a pen." 
 
 Yet no symptom of decay, whatever might be its 
 nature, was ever rendered available as an excuse for 
 him to abridge his labours : and hence for it is a 
 matter of curiosity, as well as personal history, to 
 recur to such things, we find him in the course of 
 the year at Darlington, Stokesley, Sheffield, New 
 Basford, Nottingham, Congleton, Heywood, Salford, 
 Ripon, Belper, Derby, Clifford, Malton, High Town, 
 Almonbury, Colne, Conningby, Middleton, Oldham, 
 Dudley Hill, Tadcaster, Coventry, Wellington, Walsal, 
 Broomsgrove, Birmingham, Barnsley, Gainsbro, Caw- 
 thorne, Skipton, Towcester, Northampton, Leicester, 
 Sandiacre, Yarm, Middleham, Newton, Bolton, Burnley, 
 Tanfield, Northallerton, Woodhouse Grove, Rawcliffe, 
 Macclesfield, Manchester, Norfolk, Downham, Thelford, 
 Little Port, Spalding, Boston, Ashley, Draycott, Key- 
 worth, Greetland, Rothwell, Killinghall, Brompton, 
 Whitby, Swinefleet, Birstal, Thome, Doncaster, Leek, 
 Yeadon, Cheadle, "Wensley, Otley, Wetherby, Gotham, 
 Bedford, Dunstable, St. Ives, Daventry, Banbury, New- 
 castle-on-Tyne, Blakely, Carville, Carlisle, Tockwith, 
 Glass Houghton, Louth, North Sumercote, Grimsby, 
 Loughbro,' Markfield, Biggleswade, London, Brentford, 
 Colchester, Lambeth, Stoke, Pontefract, Longholme, 
 Rochdale, Burslem, Newcastle-under-Lyne, and Brad- 
 ford : and at some of these places, two or three times, 
 as usual. In the course of one of these journies, 
 which occupied seven of the hottest days of the year, 
 he was engaged in ten public services, in five different 
 places, wide apart from each other, and travelled 242
 
 416 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 miles. And yet, this is not equal to another journey, 
 in autumn, when, in eight days, in six places still 
 more remote from each other, he engaged in thirteen 
 sen-ices, and travelled 432 miles, and nearly the whole 
 by the regular coaches. But, in a general way, how- 
 ever arduous his duties, he returned home more like 
 a person who had been indulging himself with the 
 recreation of a morning walk, than one who had been 
 engaged in Herculean toil; giving utterance to such 
 sentiments as these ; " Travelling is meat and drink 
 to me." "Left Carlisle a quarter before eight o'clock, 
 (Oct. 12), by the Glasgow mail; on the outside; a 
 tremendous wet night ; but blessed be God, I took 
 no harm. Hallelujah." "Returned home; all well, 
 and in health. Praise the Lord for all his benefits!" 
 Here was spirit in its most buoyant state ; not in the 
 perverted sense in which the term is employed in the 
 fashionable world, when it is said, that a man acts 
 with spirit, when acting rashly and indiscreetly ; but 
 the man who shews his spirit by words of love, and 
 resolute actions, who burns without consuming, and 
 knows nothing of timidity while there is work to 
 perform, and strength to accomplish it. 
 
 An extract from Mr. R. M. Beverley's "Letters 
 on the present state of the visible Church of Christ," 
 referring to an " itinerant revivalist " having at this 
 time been so arranged in juxta-position with editorial 
 remarks, in the columns of one of the public jour- 
 nals, as to lead to a supposition that it "referred 
 to Mr. Dawson, the well known preacher of the 
 Wesleyan Methodists ; " Mr. Beverley, to prevent such 
 a mistake, addressed a letter to the Editor, in which 
 he observed, " I beg to state, that my remarks in
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 417 
 
 that extract have no reference to Mr. Dawson, whose 
 character I much esteem, and whose talents as a 
 preacher, both In natural eloquence, powers of pathos, 
 and originality of thought, do, in my judgment, entitle 
 him to a high station among pulpit orators." 
 
 He assisted in the services of opening a chapel at 
 
 , Wellington, at Glass-Houghton, and a new School-Room 
 
 at Garforth, with a few extra journies, one of them 
 
 to Hull and Lincolnshire with his endeared friend, 
 
 the Rev. Thomas Galland, which closed the year. 
 
 Like the good man, who is not only devising liberal 
 things, but doing them, Mr. Dawson started the year 
 1837, by going "to Parlington, to solicit Mr. Gas- 
 coigne to give a little ground for a chapel at Saxton." 
 But not finding him at home, he wrote a letter to 
 him on the subject the next day, not omitting to 
 pray, "Lord, give success." The application was 
 successful ; for soon after, he had to remark, on a 
 second visit, " I went to Parlington respecting ground 
 for Saxton chapel, when Mr. Gascoigne, in the most 
 gentlemanly manner, gave leave for ground to be 
 selected for the purpose. Hallelujah. " His notes, 
 however, were on a less elevated key the day fol- 
 lowing ; observing, " I went by Parlington to Saxton, 
 with Mr. Fox, when he made such propositions, and 
 started such objections, as sunk our hopes. Lord, 
 help ! " By the resistless force of perseverance, he 
 at length completed his object. 
 
 Returning from a journey to Derby, West Brom- 
 wich, Coventry, and Tipton Green, in the month of 
 February, he had immediately to set to work, and with 
 "the hand of a ready writer," to answer nineteen letters 
 with which he was greeted on entering the house. 
 s2
 
 418 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Between two and three weeks after this, he went 
 to Haslingdon, in connection with some other places, 
 and was there during the " Hoppings. " * But taking 
 the " Horrible pit " for one of his subjects, and 
 "Escape for thy life," for another, he spoiled the 
 hoppings of some who had repaired to the place for 
 amusement. May 3rd, he preached two sermons in 
 the Independant chapel, at St. Albans, and made 
 collections for the benefit of the Wesleyan Trust in 
 that place ; another instance of liberality to be added 
 to those which have preceded. On the 14th of the 
 same month, he opened a new chapel at Mirfield, near 
 Dewsbury. 
 
 During the summer months of this year, he preached 
 more frequently out of doors than usual, owing to 
 the crowded state of the chapels, particularly in Nor- 
 folk, Suffolk, &c. Five of these open air services 
 occurred in the month of June. In the same month 
 he preached in the Calvinist chapel at Wellingboro', 
 in Northamptonshire. We are reminded here, in con- 
 nection with the case at St. Albans, of a saying 
 of Tillotson : "A good word is an easy obliga- 
 tion ; but not to speak ill, requires only our silence, 
 which costs us nothing. " These interchanges go 
 further ; they require the sacrifice of party .feeling ; 
 and when such kindly interchanges take place in a town, 
 they are not only creditable to the spirit that dictates 
 
 * This term is derived from the Anglo-Saxon hoppan, which signifies to leap 
 or dance Hence, dancings in the country, are called hops. The word, in its 
 original meaning, is preserved in grass-hopper. Both were indulged in by the 
 Grecian youth. One was called akinetinda, which was a struggle between the 
 i-ompetitors, who should stand longest motionless on the sole of his foot. The 
 other, denominated ascoliasmos, was dancing or hopping upon one foot ; the 
 i onqueror being he who could hop the most frequently, and continue the per- 
 formance longer than any of his comrades.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 419 
 
 them, but they invariably benefit the individuals con- 
 cerned, by promoting the growth of Christian charity. 
 Mr. Dawson himself found his soul much enriched 
 by the journey, chanting his usual notes, on his 
 return home, "Praise the Lord, O my soul, and 
 forget not all his benefits ! " 
 
 The biographer having had different interviews with 
 him in the course of the year, was, as usual, much 
 delighted with his society. The following are a few 
 miscellaneous remarks, made on different occasions, 
 and drawn forth either by particular circumstances, 
 or the introduction of certain topics by others. Fic- 
 titious feeling being the subject ; " It is easy to detect 
 it," said he. "The Spirit of God can no more be 
 mimicked, than the sun in the firmament. The works 
 of God's fingers, too, are always to be distinguished 
 from the works of man's hands. So, in the soul : 
 the finger of God leaves a shine, the finger of 
 man a soil." Speaking of the dissensions of 1834, 
 he remarked, " We never had a doctor but once ; 
 and what was the result? The first year we had 
 a storm, the second a dead calm, and now, the 
 third year, a few breezes are springing up here and 
 there. " He here made a distinction between warding 
 off what- might be deemed by some of the best men, 
 as well as by himself at the first, the introduction 
 of either a real or an imaginary evil into the body, 
 and that of tampering with the system, and so en- 
 dangering the general health, by an actual prostration 
 of strength. To ward off is one thing ; to preserve 
 what we have is another. There is no occasion for 
 a man to destroy a valuable and extensive estate, 
 because of an attempt to add an odd patch of land
 
 420 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to it, of which he may not exactly approve, in con- 
 sequence of it requiring a different mode of cultivation 
 from that of which he is already in possession, and 
 which he may still enjoy, secured to him by law, 
 and sufficient for all the purposes of social and public- 
 life. 
 
 . The race of eternal life being adverted to, he said, 
 "Abraham, Moses, Peter, Paul, and John, were all 
 found in the course. And for what did they run ? 
 Abraham was running out of the obscurity in which 
 he was shrouded, to see the ' day ' of Christ, and 
 was glad to have a glimpse of it in the distance ; 
 Moses run for a ' recompense of reward ; ' Peter 
 for an 'inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that 
 fadeth not away ; ' Paul for an ' eternal weight of 
 glory;' and John, that he might be 'like' Jesus. 
 In an earthly race, people tire ; but here, they renew 
 their strength. The man noticed in the seventh chapter 
 of the Epistle to the Romans, was unable to run 
 with ' the law of sin ' in his ' members,' and a ' body 
 of death ' at his heels. But as the first verse of the 
 eighth chapter necessarily connects itself with the 
 last of the seventh, he had nothing to do but to 
 step across, and then he was ready for the race." 
 Directing attention to the " bruised reed " and " smo- 
 king flax," he observed, by way of encouraging the 
 drooping spirit ; " There is some fire, because there 
 is smoke. The fire cannot be seen; but the smoke 
 has got into the eyes, the eyes begin to smart, 
 and the penitent thus sheds tears of sorrow before 
 the Lord. Fear not. He who has lit up the spark, 
 will kindle the flame." 
 
 " Teetotallism " being introduced, he observed:
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 421 
 
 "Some of the friends have ahused me, for not con- 
 fining myself to water ; though when I take anything 
 stronger, I take it medicinally. They insist upon 
 sober persons setting the example of total abstinence 
 to others. But this is absurd: here are some men, 
 who will not behave themselves, who will not keep 
 their hands from picking and stealing ; the consequence 
 is, that they are handcuffed, to prevent further depreda- 
 tions : but here are others, who not only know how 
 to behave well, but, having no temptation or inclination 
 to behave ill, conduct themselves with propriety. For 
 the sake of example, however, and to deter others, 
 they must wear handcuffs too. Is there, I ask, any 
 reason why I should become a teetotaller, because 
 another man gets drunk ? " An enquiry having been 
 made respecting the work of God at Leeds, he replied, 
 " Our numbers do not increase in the way we had 
 a right to expect, after the erection of our new chapels. 
 Some persons attribute this to one cause, and some 
 to another. My opinion is, that we have the ' Reform 
 Bill ' chiefly to blame for it. It introduced several 
 of our friends into office ; they next began to dabble 
 in politics ; attention was soon divided ; and muni- 
 cipal business put in its claim for the time and care 
 they formerly gave to the Church." Here is, at least, 
 an opinion ; but if it should be founded on fact, then 
 a retreat becomes necessary. At all events, it is worth 
 an enquiry with such as may feel interested in it as 
 a question. It is scarcely possible to pay undue 
 attention to minor matters, without doing positive 
 injury to things of greater moment : and all that 
 know anything of politics, are aware, according to 
 the definition of an eminent statesman, that "Political
 
 422 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 reason is a computing principle; adding, subtracting, 
 multiplying, and dividing, morally, and not meta- 
 physically or mathematically, true moral denomina- 
 tions," furnishing the mind, when improperly indulged, 
 with everlasting employment and vexation. 
 
 Though Mr. Dawson did not permit politics to 
 engross his attention, he is not to be considered as 
 totally indifferent to public affairs, or to his privileges 
 as a subject. No; Aug. 3rd, he is heard stating, 
 "I went to Leeds to vote for Mr. Wortley." How- 
 ever difficult it might be to discover his political bias 
 at Bristol, when Mr. Montgomery was in the chair, 
 it is easy to perceive his creed in this instance. But 
 religion was the atmosphere in which he loved to 
 breathe : and he expressed himself with greater plea- 
 sure, when, the day before, he said, "I went into 
 Leeds in the evening to witness the ordination of 
 the young men." About the same time, he preached 
 in the same place, a funeral sermon occasioned by 
 the death of Mrs. Bywater. 
 
 The criminal in the condemned cell, was a favourite 
 simile with him when addressing the penitent. But 
 he varied it, as will be perceived in the following 
 instance ; and this was the case when he was the 
 most impassioned, as it was then he was most in 
 the habit of extemporizing. Thus combining the pic- 
 torial with the pathetic, in brief, broken sentences, 
 to animate the hopes of "the contrite," he exclaimed, 
 while addressing such, "The gospel is just adapted 
 to the state of a sinner. The penitent says he is 
 unworthy, that it would be presumption in him to 
 look for pardon. What! presumption to do what 
 God commands, to take what he offers ! In the
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 423 
 
 suitableness of the gospel to thy state, for I address 
 myself to thee, poor penitent, thou hast only to advert 
 to the case of the criminal in his cell, for an illustra- 
 tion. The criminal is visited, he is told that a person 
 has left him a thousand pounds ; he feels the kind- 
 ness, but it avails him nothing, 'to be hanged to- 
 morrow ! ' It is added, he has become heir to an 
 estate, is shewn the title deeds, but no comfort, 
 ' to be hanged to-morrow ! ' The king's coronation 
 robe is thrown around him, but this is only solemn 
 mockery, ' to be hanged to-morrow I ' At length his 
 Majesty's pardon arrives; but 'it is too good news 
 to be true ! ' When once persuaded of the fact, 
 then, ' Oh, what a sovereign ! Oh, what a sovereign ! 
 I will bless him all the days of my life ! ' Yes, 
 penitent spirit, though guilty, the gospel offers thee 
 pardon through a Saviour. " In this way, by some 
 sudden turn of thought, he often depicted the de- 
 spondings and the rejoicings of man in separate states, 
 and in peculiar moods. 
 
 At a meeting of the SPECIAL MISSIONARY COM- 
 MITTEE, during the Conference, "W. G. Scarth, Esq., 
 who was a member of that Committee, adverted to the 
 arrangement which had been proposed, in order to 
 secure the entire services of Mr. Dawson, both to the 
 missionary cause and to the connexion generally. He 
 observed, that it would be impossible for him to say 
 anything in reference to the excellent character of Mr. 
 Dawson, which would make a deeper impression than 
 had been already made on the minds of the committee. 
 "His past life," said he, "especially during the last 
 twenty years, had been devoted most disinterestedly 
 devoted to the service of the Missionary Society :
 
 424 MEMOIRS OP 
 
 however, it had been thought by many of his personal 
 friends, and the friends of Missions, that if the remain- 
 der of his life could be separated from all secular cares 
 and concerns, he would be still more able to continue 
 those services which had been so acceptable to the 
 connexion at large, and so owned and blessed of God, 
 in raising the supplies which the missionary cause 
 required." Mr. S. then detailed the measure which 
 had been adopted by the committee of the Dawsonian 
 Fund in Leeds. It appeared that the sum originally 
 proposed had not been realized, and that not more than 
 2,OOQ had been raised, though a few hundreds more 
 might probably be received, in consequence of the 
 appeal made to the connexion. As it was somewhat 
 below the amount anticipated, he thought it reasonable, 
 in placing it at the disposal of the general committee, 
 to suggest that a smaller annuity than was originally 
 proposed, should be secured, both to Mr. Dawson and 
 his brother, in case the latter should be the survivor. 
 With the amount named, Mr. Dawson was perfectly 
 satisfied. He (Mr. S.) thought it right to state, that 
 this matter had not been taken up under the idea of 
 remunerating Mr. Dawson for his past services. Mr. 
 Dawson was not the man to urge the slightest claim in 
 reference to those services ; he himself would say, the 
 society was welcome to them ; he had his reward in the 
 testimony of a good conscience, the approbation of God, 
 and the success with which his endeavours had been 
 blessed. Neither was Mr. Dawson under any circum- 
 stances of necessity whatever to require any aid of the 
 kind at the hands of the society ; on the contrary, he 
 considered himself in the hands of Providence, comfort- 
 ably circumstanced, as to all things needful for this
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 425 
 
 life. The great object of the committee was to benefit 
 the missionary cause, both in reference to the sum to 
 be raised, and the future services of Mr. Dawson. He 
 did not mean to say, that the committee wished Mr. 
 Dawson' s labours to be devoted exclusively to mission- 
 ary objects, but they did wish them mainly and 
 principally to be employed for that cause; while he 
 occasionally, as at present, served trustees by preaching 
 at chapel anniversaries, or pleaded the cause of educa- 
 tion. In conclusion, Mr. S. stated, that as treasurer, 
 he offered them the money, upon the condition he had 
 specified. It was remarked by other members, that 
 independent of Mr. Dawson' s valuable services, the pro- 
 position, merely as a matter of finance, ought to be 
 accepted. The proposition was accepted by the special 
 committee, and was forwarded for the sanction of the 
 general committee. 
 
 Mr. Dawson wrote to the missionary committee, 
 August 14th, and the following is a copy of a rough 
 draught of the letter, found among his papers : 
 
 " To the Missionary Committee. Dear Brethren. 
 Last Saturday the "Watchman* fell into my hands, 
 when I received the first information of the Conference 
 discussion respecting the Dawsouian fund, so called ; 
 and though I cannot give expression to my gratitude 
 for the unmerited and liberal intention of my friends, 
 yet one subject gives me some little pain, and that is, 
 that the sum of ,3,000 has not been raised to meet 
 the offer of .36 150 towards my living and expenses. It 
 is on this subject that I feel the most sensible regret, 
 because it was the benefit of the missionary cause that 
 conquered my will, and obtained my consent to leave a 
 
 * The account was published in the number for Wednesday, August 2nd.
 
 426 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 comfortable home though with its cares, labours, and 
 forbearances, to promote the glory of God in the 
 advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom in the earth : 
 and my views and feelings oblige me to confess, that I 
 shall reluctantly embark in the plans of the Conference, 
 until at least some attempt is made to raise the sum to 
 563,000. I feel the greatest objection to have the 
 deficiency made up from the missionary collections. 
 To make it up from these, would open the mouths of 
 our enemies, and would grieve the hearts of some of 
 our best friends. If some of our respectable friends 
 were apprised of my views on this point, they would, I 
 am inclined to think, be ready to remove my scruples 
 respecting it. This point once settled, I should think 
 it my duty to obey the call of the church ; and, yield- 
 ing to the generosity of God's people, should put body 
 and soul into the work, so long as health and strength 
 might be afforded. I am not unreasonable, I hope, in 
 my wishes, that this sum should be raised, as I have 
 no present interest in it, and the annuity would be 
 given at least so I suppose, whether the amount were 
 raised or not. Do, my brethren, endeavour to meet my 
 request, by some sort of appeal or statement, such as 
 may be judged best by yourselves. This alone will 
 relieve my feelings, and make my way more plain to 
 acquiesce in the wishes of the friends. 
 
 "I was surprised when I read Mr. R. W.'s sug- 
 gestion, which went to confine my labours to the 
 missionary work. Had a resolution been grounded on 
 it, and that resolution been carried, it would have 
 effectually barred me out from engaging in the enter- 
 prize at all, as I could never have suffered my liberty 
 to be so palpably infringed upon by such a measure. I
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 427 
 
 consider myself the servant of the Connexion, and not 
 of any committee for any distinct and separate fund ; 
 and therefore, to have excluded me from serving the 
 Chapels, Sunday Schools, &c., according to my ability, 
 would never have met with my consent. I think even 
 the modification of my friend Scarth goes full far 
 enough, which states that my labours shall be ' mainly 
 and principally ' directed to the missionary interest. I 
 perfectly agree that the missionary cause should have 
 the preference, both as to time and place ; but I should 
 be sorry to be deprived of the pleasure of assisting the 
 Trustees of Chapels, and the friends of Sunday Schools, 
 through my time being taken up by the missionary 
 cause, for which I sensibly feel I am but ill qualified. 
 It would be impossible for me to go with deputation 
 after deputation on this important business. For such 
 employment I have neither mental variety, nor yet 
 physical energy ; and should, therefore, shrink from 
 the task. But I know the members of the missionary 
 committee are ' Men and Brethren,' and would not 
 think of laying more upon me than I am able to bear. 
 I have deemed it proper to open my heart to you, and 
 leave you to take those steps which you think will best 
 meet the wishes of the heart of Dear Brethren, 
 
 "Yours, &c., W. DAWSON. 
 
 " P. S. The suspense in which I have long been 
 kept, must painfully continue, as you are aware, until 
 something definite is settled. I can neither properly 
 manage my farm, nor yet give legal notice to quit ; and 
 I hope the time is not far distant, when I shall be able 
 to say ' Yea ' or ' Nay ' to my landlord." 
 
 On the arrangements being brought to a termina- 
 tion, which were to fix Mr. Dawson for life as the
 
 428 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 servant of the public, he received the following com- 
 munication from the Missionary Committee, through 
 the medium of one of the Secretaries : 
 
 "London, 28th Sep., 1837. 
 
 "My DEAR MR. DAWSON. The Committee of the 
 Wesleyan Missionary Society have desired me to convey 
 to you their decision on your letter of the 14th of 
 August, which was laid before them yesterday, together 
 with one on the same subject, from Mr. Scarth of 
 Leeds. 
 
 " The committee rightly appreciate your motives 
 for wishing that means should be taken to increase 
 the sum which has been raised for the purpose of 
 securing your valuable services to the cause of Christ, 
 without interruption or embarrassment from secular 
 engagements : but on the fullest consideration, they 
 are of opinion, they cannot with propriety, for various 
 reasons, take any step, or make any appeal for that 
 purpose. There are, at present, two special objects 
 before the friends of the Society, the Stockholm 
 Chapel, and the Negro Schools, and it is not im- 
 probable that another may be presented before long. 
 At the same time, I am directed to assure you, that 
 the committee most cheerfully adopt the recommenda- 
 tion of the Conference committee of review. They 
 will take the amount which has been collected, and 
 secure to you an annuity of 1 50 ; and ^630 annually 
 to your brother, in case he should survive you. The 
 committee are also anxious that such arrangements 
 should be made with you as would leave you, as 
 much as possible, consistent with the claims of the 
 Society, at liberty to follow your own judgment and 
 inclinations. They have, therefore, resolved to propose
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 429 
 
 to you, that for six months in the year, not continuous, 
 but to be specified by mutual agreement, as the interests 
 of the Society may appear to require, you shall be 
 considered under the direction of the Society, to attend 
 such anniversaries as they may think best : and that 
 for the remaining months you shall be at liberty to 
 gratify your friends and your own kind heart, by 
 attending such other missionary, chapel, and school 
 anniversaries, &c., as you may please. And they 
 hope the arrangement will meet your wishes. If agree- 
 able to you, you may, therefore, consider yourself an 
 annuitant of the Society from the 29th of September, 
 1837 ; and you will please to signify to us your 
 acceptance of this plan ; or if any practicable modifica- 
 tion occurs to you, you will suggest it. 
 
 "I am desired to say, that your valuable services 
 have been promised to the Cornwall District. Their 
 anniversaries are held in the end of March and be- 
 ginning of April, but you shall hear farther, when 
 we receive your approval of the plan." 
 
 On receiving this letter from the Missionary Com- 
 mittee, which came to hand just as he was setting 
 out on a tour to the north, he exclaimed, "Father, 
 thy will be done ! " And on Monday, Oct. 23, he 
 observes, "I went to Parlington, and finally settled 
 to give up the farm ; " to which he again appended, 
 " Lord, thy will be done ! " 
 
 His extra journies this year amounted to nearly 
 one hundred; and the chapels which he assisted in 
 opening, were those of Wath, Shaw Green, Mickle- 
 field, and Buxton Road, Huddersfield. The collections 
 at the village of Wath, amounted to 56110. In the 
 opening of Huddersfield chapel, which is capable of
 
 430 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 accommodating 2000 people, he was associated with 
 the Rev. R. Newton, G. B. Me Donald, Dr. Beau- 
 mont, &c., among the Wesleyans, and the Rev. James 
 Parsons of York, and the Rev. J. Harris, the cele- 
 brated author of "Mammon," the "Great Teacher," 
 &c., among the Dissenters. The sermons were stated 
 by the public journals to be of the highest order 
 of excellence, the attendance uncommonly numerous, 
 and the collections munificent ; the latter assertion being 
 borne out by the fact, that they amounted to ^61578. 
 18s. 3d. 
 
 Instances of usefulness were constantly stealing into 
 public notice, as effected under the ministry of Mr. 
 Dawson. Mr. Edward Jennings Olley was noticed 
 among the "Recent Deaths" of the Wesleyan Methodist 
 Magazine for the year, as one who had been both 
 convinced of sin, and received a sense of pardon, 
 while the subject of these Memoirs was officiating. 
 An interesting account, too, is given in the same 
 periodical of Mr. W. J. Brown, who was convinced 
 of sin some time prior to this. He was in the 
 establishment of Mr. Wilton of Doncaster, where he 
 had been about six months, and from which Mr. 
 Wilton was about to dismiss him, in consequence of 
 his infidel principles. In his own account of himself, 
 he observes, that when Mr. Wilton was on the point 
 of sending him home, "at Mrs. Wilton's solicitation, 
 he consented to try me a little longer, that I might 
 have an opportunity of hearing a celebrated Local 
 Preacher, of the name of Dawson ; who, it was said, 
 had been instrumental in awakening some of the most 
 desperate sinners in the land. He was going to open 
 a new chapel at Thorne ; and, though I knew it not,
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 431 
 
 the religious members of the family agreed to make 
 it matter of earnest prayer, that God would bless 
 the opening services to my conversion. The day 
 arrived, and I was easily persuaded to make one of 
 a large party who went from Doncaster. Mr. Daw- 
 son's text in the morning was Matt. xiv. 31. The 
 subject was much more applicable to timid Christians, 
 than to hardened sinners ; and as I had gone merely 
 to have a little fun, I was not greatly affected; but 
 though my affections were not much moved, my under- 
 standing was enlightened. In the evening, his text 
 was Heb. iii. 15, 'To-day if ye will hear his voice, 
 harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.' The 
 sermon was expressly to the ungodly and unawakened. 
 His language was powerful and glowing ; and there 
 was an overwhelming influence with it, which seemed 
 to carry every sentence into the inmost recesses of 
 my soul. I left the chapel with views and feelings 
 of the most distressing kind, arising from a piercing 
 sense of my awful state and condition as a sinner 
 before God. I felt a burden on my conscience which 
 I could neither bear nor remove. My sins had been 
 great; consequently my convictions were deep." Mr. 
 Dawson had spoiled the "fun" of many a sinner in 
 the way.
 
 432 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Notice of Mr. Damson's engagements. Residence in Leeds. 
 Unmitigated toil. CENTENARY OF WESLEYAN METHODISM. 
 Speech. Moral and religious Advantages of the Centenary. 
 List of Appointments. Out-door preaching. Narration of 
 Cottage Stories. Eccentricities. The Holy Spirit. Spurious 
 Christianity. Plainness in Preaching. Leeds Parliamentary 
 Revision. Courtesy of the Mayor of Leeds. Windsor Castle, 
 Busts, and Paintings. Nature and Art. Leadership. Charac- 
 ter. Kindness and Friendship. Ireland and the Irish. Mr. 
 Thomas Stoner. Sermons. The Gown. Duke of Devonshire's 
 grand Conservatory. Habit of Industry. Disinterestedness. 
 Sheffield. Indisposition. A second case of Restitution. 
 Presentiment. The London " Times." Mr. Thomas Lumb. 
 Isle of Wight. Sickness. 
 
 MR. DAWSON being now in a position in which he 
 had not been placed before, and the people, in various 
 places, taking it for granted that he was more at liberty 
 than he really was, petitions poured into the Mission 
 House from different quarters, requesting a share of 
 his public service. In consequence of this, the fol- 
 lowing x advertisement appeared on the cover of the 
 "Missionary Notice" for January, 1838 : "In answer 
 to the numerous applications to the general Secretaries 
 of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, for the attendance 
 of Mr. Dawson at missionary anniversaries, &c. ; the
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 433 
 
 Secretaries beg to state, that, for several months, Mr. 
 Dawson's engagements with the Society will not come 
 under their cognizance. When Mr. Dawson's engage- 
 ments with the Society commence, a plan will be 
 made, with Mr. Dawson's concurrence, embracing that 
 portion of his time, during certain specified months 
 in the year, which may be at the disposal of the 
 Missionary Society ; and the places included in that 
 plan will have due notice at what time they may 
 expect Mr. Dawson's valuable services." 
 
 He continued to proceed in his usual way till he 
 quitted his farm, and entered upon his engagements 
 with the Missionary Society ; after which he went to 
 reside at Xo. G, Springfield Terrace, Burmantofts, Leeds, 
 where his niece, Miss M. Dawson, kept his house, his 
 brother Thomas residing with them. In his niece, he 
 had everything he could wish in reference to domestic 
 happiness ; prudence, piety, good sense, industry, 
 order, and affection. He himself was a man of order, 
 especially in the arrangement of his papers, and any- 
 thing which belonged exclusively to his own depart- 
 ment. It was his custom also, to write out a list 
 of his engagements during a given period, and give it 
 to Miss Dawson, that she might know in what part of 
 the kingdom he W 7 as, and how to answer enquiries. He 
 opened a new chapel at Tingley, March 1 1, and another 
 at Batley Car, April 24 ; both in the Dewsbury circuit. 
 
 His work now became sometimes excessive. The 
 good friends, in different places, attended chie^y to 
 their own wants and wishes, without considering the 
 claims of others ; and to have complied with the 
 wishes of all, would have required the compression 
 of two years into one. "Uncle," said Miss Dawson, 
 T
 
 434 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 "your labour is too oppressive; you should contrive, 
 in your arrangements, to secure two or three days 
 to yourself occasionally, for rest." "Mary," he re- 
 turned, " I shall rest in my grave. I must work while 
 it is day; the night cometh when no man can work." 
 At the Conference held in Bristol, July and August, 
 several resolutions were entered into on a proposition 
 of the preceding Conference respecting the celebration 
 of the "CENTENARY OF WESLEYAN METHODISM." 
 Minutes, pp. 115 119. On the morning of Nov. 
 7th, 1838, pursuant to these resolutions and directions 
 of the Conference, a meeting of ministers and gentle- 
 men, convened by the President from different parts 
 of the United Kingdom, was held in Oldham-Street 
 chapel, Manchester, in order to devise a proper plan 
 for its celebration the ensuing year. This meeting 
 the biographer had the pleasure of attending ; at 
 which were present the President and Secretary of 
 the Conference, seven Ex-Presidents, and about two 
 hundred and fifty other ministers and gentlemen con- 
 nected with the Wesleyan-Methodist Societies and con- 
 gregations in London, Manchester, Salford, Liverpool, 
 Leeds, Bramley, Birmingham, Bristol, Sheffield, Bolton, 
 Stockport, Halifax, Bradford, Wolverhampton, West 
 Bromwich, Macclesfield, Bury, "Wakefield, Newcastle- 
 upon-Tyne, Sunderland, Chester, Rochdale, Oldham, 
 Huddersfield, Sowerby-Bridge, Birstal, Hull, Whitby, 
 York, Louth, Haslingdon, Dublin, Bandon, and else- 
 where. The resolutions and speeches delivered at the 
 meeting, were published in a " Supplement to the 
 Watchman" of Nov. 21st, and also in the Wesley an 
 Methodist Magazine for December, pp. 932 944. On 
 this occasion, and at subsequent meetings, the members
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 435 
 
 of the Methodist Society, and the friends of Methodism, 
 poured into the Centenary Fund, for various connexional 
 purposes, upwards of .220,000. 
 
 At the adjourned Meeting of the Centenary Com- 
 mittee held in Brunswick chapel, Leeds, in the month 
 of December, Mr. Dawson took a share in the pro- 
 ceedings. He observed on the occasion, that he was 
 a stranger at home ', and that having been so much 
 engaged elsewhere, and with other matters, he had 
 had no time to direct his attention to the. subject of 
 the Centenary. He expressed the pleasure he expe- 
 rienced in seeing his brethren dwelling together in 
 unity ; and he was sure the feeling connected with 
 the meeting would not disturb a dying hour. He 
 remembered meetings in the circuit of a very different 
 description, meetings that occasioned pain, that 
 occasioned the separation of brethren, a separation 
 of hearts and minds. He even then felt for some, 
 and wished them present to behold their joy. He 
 stated, that he once made a speech at a meeting, 
 referring to the division, when forty of them left their 
 brethren. But after they left, God was evidently with 
 both himself and his brethren ; and now, they seemed 
 to be tied together with a band, like a sheaf, not 
 only united, but full of good fruit. As to himself, 
 he further observed, he had always been a non- 
 descript, and he remained so up to that period, 
 an itinerant Local Preacher, or, according to others, a 
 middle link between the travelling and Local Preachers ; 
 something like the Acts of the Apostles between the 
 Gospels and the Epistles, which united the two. Taking 
 hold of the latter comparison, he said, " If I could, 
 I would take hold of the Travelling Preachers with
 
 436 MEMOIHS OF 
 
 the one hand, and of the Local Preachers with the 
 other, and would draw them still closer to the body. 
 A friend of mine once observed to me, that when 
 Matthew Henry died, he was in the Acts of the Apos- 
 tles. That, I replied, is where I should like to be 
 when I die, in the Acts of the Apostles. I exercised 
 a sort of preachment some years before I became a 
 decided Methodist ; but I found it would not do to 
 be halting between the Established Church and the 
 Methodists, and gave myself to the latter, soul and 
 body, head, heart, and hand. On Mr. Pawson sending 
 me a class-paper and a plan, I entered at once upon the 
 work." After giving a sketch of the characteristic pecu- 
 liarities of Methodism and its Founder, he then adverted 
 the Theological Institution, and expressed a hope, that 
 " the lads would come out like naming torches. " 
 There were two meetings in Leeds on the same day ; 
 and the "day's receipts" were announced in the 
 evening to amount to 10, 5 90, which, added to .366,130, 
 previously received, amounted to .3616,720 for the 
 Leeds Centenary District, exclusive of what was after- 
 wards contributed. 
 
 Exclusive of finance, there were several other im- 
 portant beneficial results arising out of the celebration 
 of the Centenary of Wesleyan Methodism. It brought 
 both preachers and people back to first principles. 
 Upon these, the whole Wesleyan body seemed to fall, 
 and found in them both footing and repose. Methodism 
 was ascertained to be the very same then, in all the 
 essentials of religion, that it was when it first came 
 out of the hand of its Founder : and although, like 
 Christianity itself, it had passed through various gloomy 
 and turbulent periods, it always came out of the cloud
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 437 
 
 and out of the storm, the same in substance as it 
 entered. The waves had sometimes been heard to 
 roar, but when they reached a certain point, a voice 
 had been heard, " Hitherto shalt thou go, but no 
 further. " The sun had been occasionally overcast, 
 but never totally eclipsed. The Wesleyans had wit- 
 nessed a few volcanic eruptions, but their Pompeii still 
 stood, their Herculaneum had not been permitted 
 to disappear beneath a superincumbent mass of ashes 
 and burning lava. The members of the body could 
 still say, "Beautiful for situation is Mount Zion;" 
 and although they could not affirm her - to be the 
 "joy of the whole earth;" yet they could invite 
 the gaze of the crowd, and say, "Walk about Zion, 
 go round about her; tell the towers thereof; mark 
 well her bulwarks, consider her palaces, and tell it to 
 the generation following ; " tell them that Methodism 
 was, at the close of the century, as to the essentials 
 of Christianity, what it was in the beginning. A 
 second result was, that it brought together a number 
 of facts and incidents, as well as a great deal of 
 Methodistical lore to h'ght, which otherwise, in all 
 probability, would have sunk into oblivion. These, 
 together with local histories, were calculated to form 
 the ground-work of a general ecclesiastical history of 
 the Wesley an body, which is still a desideratum in 
 Methodism. It produced, as a third result, a stronger 
 bond of union among the members of Society. There 
 had not been an era in Methodism, in which the 
 people were more united ; nor was there a circum- 
 stance in the history of Methodism, that had imparted 
 equal pleasure ; never a measure that had been better 
 supported. Rich and poor, young and old, seemed
 
 138 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to vie with each other in paying a tribute of respect 
 to a system, which, under God, had placed them 
 among the princes of his people. In addition to 
 others, it was the means, as a fourth result, of re- 
 claiming several wanderers, if not in life, at least 
 \\\ feeling, sentiment, and expression. Children, grand- 
 children, great grand-children, nephews, nieces, distant 
 relatives, and friends, who seemed to have forgotten 
 for a season, that such a thing as Methodism ex- 
 isted, and that even they themselves owed their 
 wealth and respectability to the habits induced by 
 it in those that had gone befere, threw the mind 
 back upon early days, and brought the past to bear 
 upon what was then passing in review before them. 
 Hence, in the list of Centenary contributions, were 
 tributes of respect for a revered grandfathar, a beloved 
 father or mother, friend or relative, of the first, 
 second, or third generation of Wesleyan Methodists. 
 These things afforded proofs, that if they were not 
 with the body, they were in the way of being of 
 it ; that a latent , spark of affection still existed in 
 the soul, which might burst forth, and not only become 
 a burning, but a shining light. 
 
 During part of the winter, and the whole of the 
 spring of 1 839, Mr. Dawson was employed in fulfilling 
 such engagements as he had entered into prior to those 
 which were immediately connected with the arrange- 
 ments of the Missionary Committee ; which engage- 
 ments were not completed till the month of July. 
 A list of the places, commencing with July 25, 1839, 
 and ending January 23, 1840, as constituting the 
 labours of the half year claimed by the Missionary 
 Committee being, during that time, obliged to preach
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 439 
 
 twice a day very often, and to attend Missionary 
 Meetings, at a period of life when he was fast verging 
 towards seventy years of age, somewhat stiff and 
 unwieldy in bulk, will abundantly shew, while it ex- 
 hibits a constitution of brass, and the most ardent 
 zeal in the cause of Christianity, that the office upon 
 which4ie thus entered, after leaving all secular employ- 
 ment, was no sinecure. * On one occasion, in addition 
 
 The plan given to him, and which he fulfilled to the letter, is as follows : 
 1839. 
 
 July 25 Beal Sep. 4 Armley, near Leeds 
 
 26 Snaith 5 Middleton 
 
 28 (Sund.) Doncaster 6 Horsley, Woodhouse 
 
 29 Misterton 8 (Sund.) Burton-on-Trent 
 
 30 Goole 9 .Tamworth, near Bir- 
 
 31 Ancoats mingham 
 
 Aug. 1 Kelfield 10 Ticknale, nr. Ashby 
 
 2 Acaster 11 Heanor, near Derby 
 
 4 (Sund.) Leeds 12 Ilkestone, near Not- 
 
 5 Worksop tingham 
 
 6 Grundle on the Hill 13 Breedon, near Ashby 
 
 8 Ferry 15 (Sund.) Lougborough 
 
 8 Proceed to Nottingham 16 Thurmanstoue 
 
 9. Kadcliffe, near Do. 17 Anisty 
 
 11 (Sund.) Leicester 18 Ecton,nr.Northampton 
 
 12 Through Coventry to 19 Finedon, ditto. 
 
 St. Albans 20 Higham Ferrers 
 
 13 St. Albans 22 (Sund.) Bedford 
 
 14 Thrussington, near Sep. 23 Perhaps Newport- 
 Leicester pagnell 
 
 15 Broughton ditto. 24 Aylsbury 
 
 18 Scarborough 25 Oakham 
 
 19 Ditto. 26 Grimsby, Lincolnshire 
 
 20 Ditto. 27 Ditto, ditto. 
 
 23 Chickingly, near 28 Caister, ditto. 
 
 Dewsbury 29 Scumthorp, ditto. 
 
 25 (Sund.) Cross Mills,nr.Skipton 30 Minterton, ditto. 
 
 26 Otley Several engagements are omitted here. 
 
 27 Manchester Oct. 31 Set off for Birmingham 
 
 28 Swanlow Lane, near Nov. 1 Newport-Pagnell 
 
 Nantwich 2 Gate, St. Albans 
 
 29 Etruria, Potteries 3 (Sund.) St. Albans and Watford 
 
 Sep. 1 (Sund.) Biddings, nr. Belper 4 St. Albans 
 
 2 Critch, Derbyshire 5 Watford
 
 440 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to the instances of excessive labour, already mentioned, 
 he preached twenty-five sermons, delivered fifteen ad- 
 dresses at Missionary Meetings, and travelled 88(5 
 miles, in less than a month. 
 
 Some of his outdoor scenes were exceedingly pictur- 
 esque. When on a visit to Wheatley, near Retford, in 
 
 Nov. 6 A wish for me to preach Dec. 17 Water 
 
 in the neighbourhood 18 Acaster 
 
 7 City Kuail, Missionary 19 Foggrethorpe anil 
 
 Meeting Holme 
 
 8 In London 20 Home 
 
 J> Go to Ipswich 21 Set off for Congleton 
 
 10 (Sund.) ditto. 22 (Sund.) Preach at ditto 
 
 Nov. 11 Ipswich Miss. Meet. 23 Middlewich, Cheshire 
 
 12 Woodbridge 24 Return to Bradford 
 
 13 ".Manningtree 25 Bradford Juvenile 
 
 14, 15 Unengaged Miss. Meeting 
 
 10 Travel to Brighton 26 Preach near Bradford 
 
 17 (Sund.) Preach ditto 27 Home 
 
 18 .. ditto ditto 28 Go to Oldham 
 
 19 ... .Lewis 29 (Sund.) Preach at Oldham 
 
 20- Worthing 30 GotoWinsford,Cheshire 
 
 21 .... Wahvorth 1840. 31 Burslem 
 
 22 In London Jan. 4 Go to Stokesley, 
 
 23 Travel to Windsor Cleveland 
 
 24 (Sund.) Preach at ditto 5 Stokesley 
 
 25 Meeting ditto 6 Return 
 
 26- Maidenhead This week is not yet filled up 
 
 27 Stanhope-street 12 (Sund.) Ripon 
 
 28 Chelsea 15 Sheffield 
 
 29, 30 Unengaged 16 Ecclesfield 
 
 Dec. 1 (Sund.) City Road & Lambeth 19 (Sund.) Bilston 
 
 2 Spital Fields 20 Kidderminster 
 
 ' 3....- -..Westminster 21 Uttoxeter 
 
 4-. Southwark 26 (Sund.) Rochdale 
 
 5, 6. ..... Unengaged This week not yet filled up. 
 
 7 Go to Brentford Feb. 2 (Sund.) Hnll 
 
 8 (Sund.) Brentford 4 Driffield 
 
 9 Hinde-street 5 Crowle 
 
 10 Go to Stainford 9 (Sund.) Derby 
 
 12 1 hope to see home 10 Belper Potteries 
 
 13 Home 11 Buxton 
 
 14 Set off for York 16 (Sund.) Nantwich 
 
 15 (Sund.) Preach at York This week not yet filled up 
 
 16- Missionary Meeting V3 Near Manchester.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 441 
 
 Nottinghamshire, he was compelled to leave the chapel, 
 in consequence of the multitude of persons anxious to 
 hear him, but unable to gain admission. He took his 
 stand near a stack-yard ; and soon, boys, girls, men and 
 women, were perched on walls, carts, stacks of stubble, 
 and any little eminence that would admit of a sight of 
 the preacher, apart from the dense mass of human 
 beings before him, collected from the neighbouring 
 places. A few smiled at first, at the novelty of the 
 scene ; but every eye was speedily fixed, and a death- 
 like silence prevailed, except in cases where persons 
 were wrought upon by the force of truth. The rustic 
 simplicity of the major part of his hearers, and the rural 
 objects around, furnished a fine picture of primitive 
 times, not of those when " Paul stood in the midst of 
 Mars-hill," with the splendid temples of Greece, and 
 the polished and philosophical orators of Athens before 
 him, but when he " went out of the city by a river 
 side, and sat down and spake unto the women that 
 resorted thither." It is no wonder that Dr. Southey, 
 with his fine genius, should have fastened on such scenes 
 as these, in his Life of Mr. Wesley, and have expatiated 
 abstracted from religion, on their poetic effect on the 
 human mind. But visible things had fewer attractions 
 than the voice of truth ; and not a few were impressed 
 with the subject, which was selected from that portion 
 of scripture which relates to the worth of the soul. 
 
 His sermons were always of a character that might 
 be understood ; and being occasionally interwoven with 
 " COTTAGE STORIES" and "COTTAGE SCENES," par- 
 ticularly in the rural districts, they never failed to rivet 
 attention, and affect the heart. The author of " The 
 Wanderer of Switzerland." has been heard to express 
 
 T2
 
 442 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 his admiration of Mr. Dawson's tact for relating 
 " Cottage Stories," being distinguished for so much 
 simplicity, ease, character, and pure nature ; combined 
 with point, and good moral and religious improvements ; 
 and often so beautifully illustrative withal, either of the 
 general subject, or some particular point arising out of 
 it, as well as admirably adapted to the occasion. 
 
 On the platform, when in a state of high-wrought 
 feeling, he sometimes proceeded to extreme lengths. 
 
 This was the case at S . He had been rolling on 
 
 in all his strength for some time, and, in the esteem of 
 most, even seemed to surpass himself for freedom of 
 expression, power of thought, and splendour of imagery; 
 when, all on a sudden, some freak of fancy shot across 
 the mind, and he took his seat. He had borne the 
 people onward with himself, who seemed like persons 
 transported into a strange country, when their leader 
 suddenly disappeared, and they were left in silent 
 astonishment. After a short pause, he sprang from his 
 seat again, with the elasticity of youth, and directing 
 his eye to the chairman, said, " with your permission, 
 Sir, I should like to sing a little ;" and immediately 
 pitched a tune to 
 
 " We are soldiers fighting for our God, 
 Let trembling cowards fly," &c., 
 
 assuming, at the same time, a martial air, as he crossed 
 the platform, bidding defiance to all the powers of 
 earth and hell, and representing the missionary cause 
 as towering abov^ all opposition. The effects of this 
 eccentric movement were various, but such as would 
 scarcely warrant a repetition ; nor could the thing itself 
 apparently have been premeditated, as under such cir- 
 cumstances it must have been an evident failure.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 443 
 
 At the same place, on another occasion, he was inter- 
 rupted in his speech by an unusual commotion, in which 
 every eye was directed towards the door, accompanied 
 with loud peals of approbation ; on which he coolly and 
 mildly turned to the chairman, saying, "I'll stop a 
 little, Sir ;" adding, with a sudden turn of pleasurable 
 feeling " There he is there he comes all are glad to 
 see him, fresh as a roe from the mountains of Israel, 
 and leaping with all the agility of a Luck over his 
 neighbour's fences." This only heightened the feeling 
 of gladness, as the Rev. George Roebuck, who had 
 travelled in the circuit, and just then unexpectedly 
 appeared, making his way over the backs of the seats 
 to the platform, being unable to gain access to it by 
 any other mode, owing to the crowded state of the 
 aisles. In this way, he often laid hold of little inci- 
 dents, to relieve attention, incidents which would 
 prove the death of mere rehearsals, but which were life 
 to him, as they were the occasion of life in others. 
 
 Several remarks escaped from him in different social 
 parties, in the course of the year, when the biographer 
 was present, some of which, though separate from their 
 connection, may be useful to others, and also serve as 
 a key to the character of his mind. "Without the 
 SPIRIT, the promises of God are ineffectual. You may 
 lay promise upon promise, like plaster upon plaster, to 
 staunch the bleeding wounds of the soul ; but all is 
 vain, till the Holy Ghost presses his hand upon them. 
 With the letter we must have the Spirit. Look at 
 Adam ; one of the fairest creatures of God ; perfect in 
 all his limbs and features. God breathes into him a 
 living soul, and he instantly starts on his feet. So 
 much for forms without the Spirit. There is yet a
 
 444 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 little wreck of divinity in man ; but he must be in 
 Christ before he can live ; and thus, in Christ, divinity 
 meets divinity." He met in his travels, one of the des- 
 cendants of Oliver Hey wood ; and referring to this, he 
 observed, " I regret to find, that most of the descen- 
 dants of that excellent man are Socinians." Then 
 glancing at the history of the Church, he said, " Mo- 
 hammedanism arose at an early period, and the Arab 
 thief from hell tried to rob Christ of his honours. 
 Popery, though long working, came next in its grosser 
 form ; and required paintings, vestments, and other 
 adornings, to hide its hideous features. But we, as 
 Methodists, preach Christ the MEDIATOR, and have 
 no need to go to the virgin Mary to mediate for us. 
 We preach forgiveness, through faith in his blood, and 
 have no need to go to the priest for absolution ; we 
 receive it from our Great High Priest. We preach the 
 sanctification of the Spirit, and have no need to go to 
 purgatory to be purified; no, we shall glide past it 
 without feeling its heat. After the Reformation, the 
 Church again relapsed. The Nonconformists, some 
 of whom were among the best men that ever lived, were ex- 
 pelled from the English Church: then came Socinianism, 
 into which most of the Presbyterians fell ; and chapels, 
 erected by orthodox men, were consecrated to error." 
 " The Letters of Joseph Alleine/' said he, "are equal 
 to those of Fletcher for piety ; but he cannot stoop 
 like the latter." Directing attention to preaching, he 
 observed, " Ministers cannot be too plain and striking, 
 provided they are not vulgar and absurd. Let Mr. E. 
 read a page out of Bishop Butler's Analogy of Religion, 
 Natural and Revealed, to a Christian congregation, and 
 another out of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, and it will
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 445 
 
 soon be seen which will strike the most, and with which 
 they will feel most interested." 
 
 At the Leeds borough parliamentary revision, before 
 Mr. Kaye, Mr. Dawson was objected to by the liberals, 
 when some rather amusing questions were propased, 
 arising from the station he occupied in the Wesleyan 
 body ; but the " objection was dissallowed."* 
 
 * The following account appeared in the Leeds " Mercury,' 1 among other 
 cases. 
 
 Mr. William Damson, house, Springfield Terrace, Burmantofts. Objected 
 to by the Liberals. 
 
 Mr. BOND called a person named Hargreave, who proved the occupancy 
 of the house in question by Mr. Dawson, the sufficiency of value for the pur- 
 pose of conferring a vote, and also the period of possession by the voter. 
 
 Mr. PREST. What is Mr. Dawson? 
 
 Witness. He's a Methodist preacher. 
 
 Mr. PREST. Don't you know he occupies the house under trustees ? 
 
 Witness. He is not a travelling preacher, unless he has become so very 
 lately. 
 
 Mr. PREST. Why, you anticipate the question. 
 
 Mr. BOND. I believe Mr. Dawson is not called 'Reverend.' 
 
 Mr. MORGAN". He is as much ordained as any other Methodist preacher. 
 
 Mr. PREST. Dont you know that gentlemen of Mr. Dawson's calling are 
 removeable at pleasure? 
 
 Witness. I believe he is considered a local preacher, and not a regular 
 minister. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Simpson, painter, said, that he had a notion 
 
 Mr. PREST. We dont want any of your notions here unless you can swear 
 to them. 
 
 Mr. Simpson. I bare known Mr. Dawson for thirty years. 
 
 Mr. KAYE. Then what is he? 
 
 Mr. Simpson. He is a local preacher, and nothing more. He takes the 
 house himself, pays the rent, and no one has any control over him. I am a 
 local preacher, same as he is. 
 
 Mr. PHEST. How do you know that? 
 
 Mr. Simpson. I know it as well as I know my own brother's affairs. 
 
 Mr. PREST. Can you give us the definition of a local preacher' 
 
 Mr. Simpson. If the Barrister wishes it I will give him one, but I don't see 
 that it is requisite. 
 
 Mr. KAYE. Does Mr. Dawson occupy this house under trustees? 
 
 Mr. Simpson. No ; he has nothing to do with trustees. 
 Mr. KAYE. Does he preach in any particular chapel. 
 
 Mr. Simpson. No ; he travels from one part of the country to uuotlu r, and 
 preaches to any congregation who may send for him.
 
 446 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 At the time the liberals were disputing his civil 
 rights, he received marked attention from the Mayor ; 
 to whose polite note he returned the following answer : 
 
 " The right worshipful the Mayor of the borough of 
 Leeds. 
 
 " Honoured Sir, Your kind invitation to dine with 
 you on "Wednesday the 1 6th instant, came to my house 
 in due season. But not being at home at the time, I 
 was unable to do myself the honour and the pleasure of 
 complying with your wishes : the honour, so far as 
 being under your roof as the chief magistrate of the 
 borough of Leeds goes ; and the pleasure of being in 
 your presence, as a friend, not omitting, a friend and 
 relative of old and dear friends. To have been with 
 you, would have afforded a gratification, which few, if 
 any, of your respectable company would equally have 
 felt. So speaks the heart of Honoured Sir, 
 
 "Yours, most respectfully, W. DAWSON." 
 
 Mr. KAYE Then he takes the house, and the furniture is his own? 
 
 Mr. Simpson. Yes. 
 
 Mr. BOND. Is he removeable by Conference ? 
 
 Mr. Simpson. No. 
 
 Mr. KAYE. If you show me that this house belongs to certain trustees, then 
 the occupation is a permissive one, and there is an end of the case : but if, to 
 use a familiar expression, he takes it in his own private right, why then he 
 stands unconnected with the trustees. 
 
 Mr. PREST. He mayjje removed. 
 
 Mr. KAYE. Show me the difference between an officer in the army or navy, 
 sent on foreign service, and the case of Mr. Dawson. You don't mean to 
 contend that an officer sent abroad is not entitled to have a vote. I think 
 there is nothing in the objection. 
 
 Mr. PREST. My objection is, that Mr. Dawson may be removed at any 
 time from this house by the Conference, and sent to a distant part of the 
 country. 
 
 Mr. KATE. Exactly: he may be sent from Leeds to attend a congregation 
 in some other part ; but can you, as I said before, distinguish him in any way 
 from an officer in her Majesty's service. You might as well say that I have 
 no vote in London, because her Majesty's Judge of Assize sends me here for so 
 many days in a year. I think there is no validity in your objection. Otgeclion 
 disallowed.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 447 
 
 Being in the house of a friend about the same time, 
 and looking at a bust, he said to the biographer, " I 
 never like to see a bust. There is no soul in the eye ; 
 it always appears ghastly, and reminds me of death in 
 a coffin." Painting had rather more charms than 
 sculpture ; but here too more perhaps from a want of 
 knowledge than a want of taste, he felt comparatively 
 little interest. "If I have any taste," said he, "it 
 belongs more immediately to the ear than the eye. 
 When I visited Windsor Castle, I was struck with the 
 antiquity, the grandeur, and the majesty of the place. 
 In passing from room to room, I saw paintings, which, 
 I take for granted, were by the first masters ; but they 
 were all lost upon me. I was pleased with the group- 
 ing, colouring, &c., but could not tell why. I was 
 grieved at myself, and said inwardly, ' I wish I had my 
 
 friend Mr. here ; he would be able to point out 
 
 the peculiarities and excellences of each.' This itself 
 was a drawback upon my pleasure." The truth is, in 
 all art there is more or less deception ; and hence, the 
 artist is advised to " put a generous deceit on the 
 spectators, and effect the noblest designs by easy 
 methods." Another authority Sir Joshua Reynolds, 
 tells us, " What has pleased, and continues to please, 
 is likely to please again ; from whence are derived the 
 rules of art." The more perfect the deception, there- 
 fore, the more likely it is to please. Mr. Dawson was 
 a pure child of nature, and hence it was, that nature 
 had always more charms than art. In the mean time, 
 " it must be a great mortification to the vanity of man, 
 that his utmost art and industry can never equal the 
 meanest of nature's productions, either for beauty or 
 value. Art is only the under-workman, and is employed
 
 448 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to give a few strokes of embellishment to those pieces 
 which come from the hand of the master. Some of 
 which may be of his drawing, but he is not allowed to 
 touch the principal figure. Art may make a man a suit 
 of clothes, but nature must produce a man." The 
 " Mountain Daisy," or the cowslip possessed more 
 attractions for such a man as Mr. Dawson, than the 
 chef-d 1 -ceuvre of the most eminent master of either the 
 chisel or the pencil. 
 
 When speaking of the tour, in the course of which 
 he visited Windsor, he observed to the biographer, 
 " My heart was wrung with grief during the six weeks. 
 With only one reluctant exception, the speakers Avert- 
 never cheered when Popery was referred to with disap- 
 probation. The people seemed absolutely afraid of 
 giving the smallest countenance to any discussion on 
 the subject. So much for popish influence in the 
 cabinet and elsewhere." 
 
 In the course of this journey also, he met with his ven- 
 erable friend, the Rev. H. Moor. Speaking of the leader 
 of a certain party, and the dissension occasioned by 
 him ; "Yes," said Mr. M., "the devil took it into his 
 head once to set up for himself; but he soon found, 
 he had better have been quiet." Mr. Dawson himself 
 made a good remark, when speaking of two persons 
 who were often striving for the mastery, " The English 
 [language] will never admit of two great I Is together." 
 Referring to Mr. M's attack of paralysis, he related the 
 following characteristic anecdote : " When he began 
 to rally in mind, he expressed a wish to be taken down 
 stairs. There were none but females in the house at 
 the time. He was impatient to be removed, unable to 
 assist himself, and the females were unequal to the
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 449 
 
 effort. One of them going out for aid, saw a gentle- 
 man passing, and requested his assistance. When 
 they got him down stairs, and matters adjusted, Mr. 
 M. thanked the gentleman, who, as he was about to 
 retire, politely put his card into his hand. Mr. M. 
 looking at it, and seeing 'UNDERTAKER' upon it, 
 returned it, and coolly observed, 'Thank you, Sir, 
 for your kind attentions ; but it has not come to that 
 yet.' " With the exception of physical debility, Mr. 
 Dawson thought the mind of Mr. M. very little 
 impaired. 
 
 Mr. Dawson having been advised, in a certain trans- 
 action in which an equivalent was not given for value 
 received, and which would admit of certain claims of 
 justice and mercy, in the event of success, called upon 
 
 the biographer, and said, " I was at , in the 
 
 course of my journey, and recollecting your hint, I 
 
 called on Mr. , who handed me ten pounds, as 
 
 part profit on ; I therefore made iip my mind, the 
 
 first time I should meet with you, to thank you for ten 
 pounds. This I shall devote to the two orphan chil- 
 dren." These were the children of a friend. Friend- 
 ship, with Mr. Dawson, was not merely, as La Roche- 
 foucauld defines it, an exchange of good offices, a 
 reciprocal management of faults and virtues, a com- 
 merce in which self-love finds something to gain. To 
 lower thus the principle of human actions, may serve 
 the cause of infidelity, but not that of disinterested 
 Christianity ; and the worst of consequences may be 
 deduced from such theories. These orphans would 
 have lost ten pounds on reducing such principles to 
 practice : and say What would be the loss to the poor 
 in particular, and to the world at large !
 
 450 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 He was at Swanlow Lane, in Cheshire, about the 
 same time. His friend Mr. Russom drove him to the 
 house of Mr. Stones, where he was to lodge. Having 
 perspired profusely while preaching, and forgotten his 
 top-coat, he felt chilled by the evening air. While his 
 friend was urging on the horse, he said, " Friend R., 
 a prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself, 
 but the simple pass on and are punished." He was 
 providentially preserved, however, from receiving any 
 material injury. 
 
 After much hard labour in the course of the winter, 
 and in the early part of the year succeeding, he left 
 Leeds, March 30th, 1840, for Liverpool, and set sail 
 for Ireland, April 1st, the day on which the Rev. R. 
 Newton embarked for America. He had not been in 
 Ireland before. While there, he travelled from place to 
 place, preaching, and attending missionary meetings. 
 His fire and his genius were admirably adapted to gain 
 the attention and the hearts of the inhabitants of the 
 Emerald Isle ; and his conversations, on his return, 
 afforded no small proof of close observation, and shewed, 
 that if he had been so disposed, and had had sufficient 
 time at command to have gone forth for the purpose, 
 he might have produced a good article, not in an 
 offensive sense, on the " Lights and Shadows of Irish 
 Life ;" omitting, of course, the farce of brogue and 
 humour, the gusto and buoyancy, and the finish of 
 touch displayed by some authors that might be named. 
 The productions of his pen would have been more 
 adapted to the closet than the drawing-room table, 
 his " Lights " arising from the wholesome effects of 
 Protestant instruction and piety, and his " Shadows " 
 from Popish ignorance and superstition. Some him-
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 451 
 
 dreds of volumes and pamphlets have been published 
 on the evils of Ireland, and the remedies for those 
 evils ; but it has been affirmed, and affirmed with truth 
 too, that scarcely any three of the doctors are agreed 
 as to the nature of the disease ; and there is still a 
 greater discrepancy as to the mode of cure. Two or 
 three valuable aphorisms, however, may be selected 
 from some of these brochures. "The evils of Ireland," 
 says a sound thinker, "are high rents and low wages ;" 
 and he is perfectly correct. "The evils of Ireland," 
 says another, " are its book-makers and its speech- 
 makers ;" and he is not very far wrong ; especially if 
 the latter be coupled with Daniel O'Connel, who, by 
 the way, has made as much in hard cash by his 
 speeches, as some of the greatest landed proprietors in 
 Ireland have made by their estates. Here comes a 
 third : " Give me," said the celebrated Mr. Stephens 
 and the saying contains volumes " Give me," said 
 he, when the government was about to send an armed 
 force into Ireland, " Give me an army of school- 
 masters, and I will conquer Ireland." Aye, there it is, 
 WHOLESOME INSTRUCTION ! The evils of Ireland 
 must be traced, in a great measure, to the important 
 fact, which, with the exception of Mr. Taylor in his 
 " Civil Wars of Ireland," both Protestant and Catholic 
 writers have been careful to suppress, the fatal gift 
 of the island by the Pope to Henry II. To this 
 atrocious act may be attributed most of the misery 
 of Ireland. It armed the conquerors with a right 
 divine, and it unnerved many of the wisest Irish 
 chieftains, who imagined that opposing the will of 
 one, whom other nations regarded as the infallible 
 head of the Church, was at once fruitless and impious.
 
 452 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Popery is at the root of all : its crimes and follies 
 have disorganized Irish society, rendered the fertility 
 of the Irish soil a curse, and derived misery from 
 the very bounties of heaven. 
 
 Few men, with the exception of the author of 
 "Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry," who 
 has been justly denominated a Crabbe in prose, would 
 have been better able to depict the state of the pea- 
 santry, than Mr. Dawson. Like the author in question, 
 he would have delineated with sternness, but with 
 fidelity ; with inexorable severity when a vicious system 
 was to be portrayed, yet ready to shed the tear of 
 sympathy over those whom that system had made 
 its miserable victims. He possessed the power of 
 giving reality to humble life, and the consistency of 
 his narratives never failed to convince those who at- 
 tended to them, of his fidelity ; constantly reminding 
 a person acquainted with them, of some of the Dutch 
 painters ; possessing like them, minute fidelity, even 
 in the circumstances which are apparently the most 
 trifling, and depicting matters often slurred over by 
 mere narrators of fiction. 
 
 Mr. Dawson saw enough of the Irish character, dur- 
 ing his brief stay, to produce a love of it; every 
 peasant with whom he met and this is the general 
 feeling pervading society, considering his visit more as 
 a compliment paid to himself, than a general love to 
 the cause of Missions, and deemed it a direct duty to 
 pay him every possible respect. 
 
 Not long after his return from the green isle, he re- 
 opened a chapel in Gloucester, and improved the death of 
 his beloved friend, Mr. Thomas Stoner, the father of the 
 Rev. David Stoner, with whom he had been intimately
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 453 
 
 acquainted, for a period of forty years. He died, 
 Friday, May 22nd, 1 840, aged 75 years. Mr. Stoner, 
 as well as himself, was brought to God under the 
 ministry of the Rev. Thomas Dikes ; and afterwards, 
 he received the sanctification of the Spirit, Friday, 
 April 12th, 1806, under Mr. Dawson' s own ministry. 
 He was a man of slow speech, of great tender- 
 ness, timidity, and modesty ; uniform in his Christian 
 character, powerful in prayer, faithful and persevering 
 in the discharge of religious duty. When he joined 
 society, the "Wesleyans in Barwick had only one sermon 
 in the month from the local preachers 011 the Sabbath 
 afternoon : but the few members who were competent 
 to exercise in prayer, and in this Mr. Dawson joined, 
 " went two and two, on a Sabbath evening, to hold 
 prayer meetings in the neighbouring places." On the 
 alternate Sabbath, he threw open the best room in his 
 house, for a "fellowship meeting;" and it was here 
 that Mr. Dawson received so many baptisms of the 
 Spirit. Mr. Dawson, in a MS. account of this good 
 man, observes, in reference to this room ; "This was 
 the birth-place of many souls. This room was, for 
 years the study of the preachers. They felt, when 
 within its walls, that it was like the ' holy of holies,' 
 in which the glory shone from between the cherubim 
 upon the High Priest, while worshipping within the 
 veil. If the figure may be allowed, it was always kept 
 well warmed, well aired, and well perfumed with the 
 ' odour of sweet smell,' emanating from the presence 
 of God, who appeared to take up his abode within its 
 sacred walls." Mr. Stoner established a class of young 
 boys and girls, and was eminently useful in the Sunday 
 School. Before he died, instead of a room, preaching
 
 454 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 once a month, and only one class, he lived to see a 
 chapel, preaching twice every Sabbath and once on 
 the week day, and four classes. Though called to pass 
 through deep waters in the course of a few of the last 
 years of his life, " the bitters of his cup," observes 
 Mr. Dawson, "were softened and sweetened by the ex- 
 emplary, and truly praiseworthy affection of his beloved 
 daughter, and her no less worthy husband ; added to 
 which was the love and care of his youngest son, who 
 was to him a JOSEPH." He left Tadcaster on the 7th 
 of May, to visit his son, resident at Barwick. There 
 he took ill and finished his earthly, where he com- 
 menced his Christian course. During his last illness, 
 the family wished to know what message he had to 
 deliver to his daughter, the wife of the Rev. George 
 Croft, a Missionary in the West Indies, when he said 
 "Heaven! Heaven!" Some of his last words were, 
 " I am ready ! I am ready ! 
 
 ' For me my elder brethren stay, 
 And angels beckon me away, 
 And Jesus bids me come.' " 
 
 Mr. Dawson preached the same sermon on the occa- 
 sion, both at Tadcaster and Barwick. His friend John 
 Batty heard him at both places ; and named the cir- 
 cumstance. " I had forgotten yon were there," said 
 Mr. Dawson ; " and it is as well I did, or it would have 
 been a snare to me." John replied, " I liked it better 
 the second time than the first." This was not a solitary 
 case; for as he often extemporized, and always left 
 room for the inspirations of the Spirit in the pulpit, his 
 sermons, by the occasional introduction of episodical 
 matter, though substantially unaltered, carried a fresh- 
 ness with them, resembling the breath of spring and
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 455 
 
 the balm of summer. Hence, when his .sermons were 
 published by short-hand writers, he met occasionally 
 with passages which he had forgotten, being struck off 
 at the moment, and possessed of amazing force and 
 beauty. 
 
 Prior to the Newcastle Conference, the "Gown" 
 question, which was settled the Conference following, 
 became a subject of conversation. " My prejudices," 
 said Mr. Dawson, " are in favour of a gown ; but my 
 reason, in the present state of affairs, is against it. 
 When young, I could not bear to hear a person preach 
 without a gown ; and hence I feel strong objections to 
 the use of one in the Sheffield Proprietary School. 
 The boys will, like myself, imbibe a prejudice in favour 
 of the gown ; and it will have a tendency to alienate 
 the mind of the boys, on their return home, to find 
 Wesleyan Ministers denuded of what they have been 
 practically taught to value." 
 
 In one of his excursions, in the course of summer, 
 he was in the neighbourhood of Chatsworth, and availed 
 himself of the opportunity of going over the house and 
 grounds belonging to his Grace the Duke of Devonshire. 
 What he was especially struck with was, the " CON- 
 SERVATORY ; " * from which he came to Acaster, fresh 
 
 *Thi:> is stated, by Dr. Granville, in his " Midland and Southern Spas of 
 England," to be perfectly original and unique, so far as it was proceeded with, 
 when his work was published. It would, by modern Parisians, receive the 
 title of " Terre Monstre." It stands at a short distance from the great water- 
 work or cascades in the park. Here a spot of ground was cleared of trees and 
 shrubs to the extent of two acres, one of which is covered over with glass. 
 The glazed surface contains seventy thousand square feet of glass, divided into 
 slips, each two feet long and six inches wide, arranged in perpendicular rows, 
 and so that the angles upwards and downwards, give to the whole the appear- 
 ance of a series of horizontal zig-zag lines of panes of glass one above 
 another. Under this enormous dome, some of the best garden soil is strewed 
 on the levelled ground, to the extent of seventy thousand square feet, including
 
 456 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 as from paradise, where the biographer met him at the 
 house of his brother, Mr. Richard Dawson. He took 
 up the subject at a Missionary Meeting, which was held 
 in a large barn, and with a fine play of rich imagina- 
 tion, and gorgeous colouring, represented the Christian 
 Church as the Conservatory of Jesus Christ, adorned 
 with every variety of character, like flowers of various 
 hues, and enriched with " the fruit of the Spirit." 
 
 After this, he went into the north, and though not in 
 full strength, yet he had, on reaching Carville, travelled 
 four hundred miles, and preached twenty-nine times, 
 within the space of eighteen days. 
 
 On completing this tour, and returning home, he 
 visited the Rev. Alexander Bell, Superintendant of 
 Leeds first circuit, and, making a low bow, pleasantly 
 said, "I am a poor man, and have been out of work 
 four days ; will you be kind enough to give me a job ?" 
 Such were his habits of industry, that he could not en- 
 dure the thought of being out of employment. He had 
 never eaten the bread of idleness ; and even with his 
 limited annual stipend from the Missionary Fund, he 
 never thought he could do enough for the sacred cause. 
 When he went to John Burton, Esq., of Roundhay, 
 who was commissioned by the Missionary Committee, 
 
 both wings ; and in it is planted, sown, and transplanted, every vegetable 
 production that requires a permanent atmospheric heat, higher than what is 
 peculiar to our own climate, a temperature for which a suitable provision is 
 made under the Conservatory, by means of boilers and pipes, conveying hot 
 water along corridors some hundreds of feet in length, ami high enough for a 
 man lo walk upright in them from one to another. Tim various plants, shrubs, 
 and flowers of the two tropics, and Australia, are reared in this artificial 
 southern hemisphere, arranged in groves and parterres, as if growing naturally 
 on the spot, v.'itliout the appearance of pot or box of any kind ; streamlets of 
 running water, or standing pools, giving freshness to the sultry atmosphere ; 
 and meandering paths through these bowers, and a carriage-way, across every 
 part of ihis conservatory.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 457 
 
 to pay him his quarterly instalment, which was little 
 more than an acknowledgment for labour so great, he 
 would say, " You had better take ten pounds of this 
 for the Missions ; I have no use for the whole." Mr. 
 Burton replied, " I am commissioned to pay the whole, 
 and the whole you shall have from me. Do with it 
 what you please, when you receive it." 
 
 Adverting to his physical state at this time, he re- 
 marked to one who wished to engage his service, " You 
 must not trust to such a broken reed, as your old 
 friend." He was troubled with cough and shortness of 
 breath. 
 
 Having to go into the north again, he wrote to his 
 friend Mr. Longden, of Sheffield, from North Shields. 
 "DEAR SIR, God willing, I hope to set off on 
 Saturday evening, by the train which leaves Leeds at 
 five o'clock in the evening, and professes to arrive at 
 Sheffield about half-past six, when I expect to enjoy the 
 mental, social, and spiritual pleasures of your society, 
 and that of your worthy partner and family. So be it, 
 says the heart of, Yours truly, W. DAWSON. 
 
 " P. S. I write this note in the house of Mr. Bram- 
 well. Mr. and Mrs. B. desire to be affectionately 
 remembered to you and yours." 
 
 On reaching Sheffield, he was a good deal indisposed. 
 Mr. and Mrs. L. urged him to seek medical advice ; but 
 to this he objected, owing, it was supposed, to his 
 having been so seldom in the hands of the gentlemen of 
 the profession. This passed over ; and Mrs. L. having 
 to make a call or two the day following his pulpit ser- 
 vices, asked him to accompany her, with which request 
 he readily complied, supposing a morning ride might be 
 serviceable to him. Alighting at the door of a friend, 
 o
 
 458 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 he was soon introduced to the good lady of the house. 
 Not long after, the gentleman of the house stepped out 
 of an adjoining room. Combined with the object of 
 Mrs. L. seeing her friends, was the welfare of Mr. 
 Dawson. The plan was complete. The gentleman 
 belonged to the medical profession. Mrs. L. told him 
 Mr. Dawson had been complaining a little, and wished 
 to know whether he could prescribe anything to afford 
 relief. Mr. Dawson found where he was, and saw no 
 way of escape. He, therefore, entered frankly into the 
 state of his health, when the doctor told him, that 
 there was water in the chest. " That," said Mr. Daw- 
 son, without any emotion of fear, " is the complaint of 
 which my mother died." The doctor advised him to 
 relax his pulpit exertions ; stating, that if he did not, it 
 would be perilous, if not fatal. 
 
 No advice, however, of this kind, seemed at the 
 time to be availing, in consequence of the engagements 
 into which he had entered, and his anxiety to fulfil them. 
 
 While at Sheffield, the following account on "the 
 power of conscience," was written, which pairs well 
 with another case mentioned in the preceding pages. 
 " It is always pleasing," says he, "to a pious mind, to 
 observe the workings of Divine grace in the soul, as it 
 manifests itself in appropriate fruits ; but seldom do we 
 witness such a remarkable instance of its power on the 
 conscience as in the following case, which lately came 
 under my observation : About seventeen years ago, a 
 young man in this town was sent to get change at a 
 neighbouring shop for a ten-pound note, when, by 
 mistake, he was paid ten guineas, which he received, 
 and said nothing on the subject. Of late he has been 
 converted to God ; and, having an uneasy conscience
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 459 
 
 on account of this transaction, felt desirous of making 
 restitution. But the person from whom he received 
 the money being dead, he was unable for sometime to 
 obtain any information concerning the family. At 
 length he discovered where the son resided ; and having 
 ascertained that neither of the parents was living, 
 during the last week, he sent a person to inform him 
 of the circumstance, and to pay him the extra ten 
 shillings which had been received of his father at the 
 time stated, with interest, if required ; adding, that he 
 could not be happy until he had paid the same. The 
 son expressed pleasure in witnessing such an instance 
 of the grace of God ; but said he would not take the 
 interest, and that the ten shillings should be given to 
 the cause of Christ. He has since presented it to the 
 "Wesleyan Missionary Society, as God's own peculiar 
 property. I understand the same person has made 
 restitution in several other cases of a like nature." 
 This account appeared in the Wesleyan Methodist 
 Magazine, 1841, p. 123, signed, " William Dawson." 
 The Rev. B. Clough appends to it, " The ten shillings 
 referred to in this interesting note, have been paid to me 
 on the behalf of the Missions, and accounted for ac- 
 cordingly." 
 
 He visited the city of York in December, where the 
 biographer had much of his society, and where he 
 could not but observe a change for the worse in his 
 physical energies. While accompanying him to the 
 houses of a few old friends, Messrs. Peart, Rocliife, 
 Lyth, and Agar, he observed to the writer on passing 
 along the street, " I believe I shall die of diabetes 
 at last. " He lodged at the house, as usual, of 
 Mr. Isaac Taylor, while in the city ; and when the son
 
 460 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of his friend was parting with him at the railway 
 station, he said, " Farewell, John ; this is perhaps the 
 last time I shall see you upon earth ; I have a presenti- 
 ment that I shall go off suddenly, and you must not be 
 surprised if you hear tell of me being found dead some- 
 where." 
 
 In addition to his regular missionary work, which, as 
 already intimated, included one-half of his time, he had 
 no less than four hundred and twenty letters of invita- 
 tion to different places in the course of the year : not 
 from small insignificant places leading him hither and 
 thither, and giving the notion of a mendicant, by 
 accepting them with hungry anxiety, as though "the 
 smallest offering would be thankfully received." His 
 popularity was of a higher order ; it partook of the 
 character of that of some of the "mighty dead," not 
 forgetting a few of the living, to whom the Connexion 
 is so deeply indebted. 
 
 The London " Times," relying on the report and 
 comments of the York Herald a paper not to be 
 trusted for too much candour where Methodism is con- 
 cerned, nor yet for too little when Popery is in question, 
 passed some strictures on Mr. Dawson's speech at the 
 York Missionary Meeting, stating, that railway travel- 
 ling and steam-engines were improved in a style which, 
 though common two centuries ago, and not unknown to 
 the early ages of the Church, bordered too closely on 
 the ludicrous to be- properly applied to sacred subjects. 
 It was admitted that the speaker's meaning was good, 
 and that the speech was well received ; but that they 
 seldom had read anything which gave them a lower 
 opinion of the taste of orator or audience. In this, 
 there is as severe a reflection on the Wesleyans, for
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 461 
 
 being pleased with such an orator, as on the speaker 
 himself. But Mr. Dawson, with all his eccentricities, 
 was too high for the pages of the York Herald, 
 which it would be much more easy to burlesque, than 
 the subject in question. 
 
 A few days after Mr. Dawson left York, he preached 
 a funeral sermon at Barwick, occasioned by the death 
 of his friend, Mr. Thomas Lumb, a local preacher, 
 who died suddenly, on the 15th of December, in the 
 fortieth year of his age, just after he had been praying 
 with his family. A few sentiments at the close of Mr. 
 Dawson' s address will show the views he entertained of 
 " sudden death ; " and these taken in connexion with 
 his own presentiment, expressed at the York station 
 to Mr. Taylor only a few days before, cannot but 
 awaken in the mind some powerful emotions ; the 
 preacher living hi daily expectation of the sudden 
 transit on which he was descanting, in reference to the 
 subject of his discourse! "Blessed is that servant 
 whom when his Lord cometh shall find watching ; so 
 he found our beloved brother. the delightful, the 
 important change ! Now bowing before the throne of 
 grace, and in a few minutes worshipping before the 
 throne of glory ; one minute surrounded by his fellow 
 creatures, clad in the garments of mortality, and another 
 minute, surrounded by angels, archangels, and the 
 spirits of just men made perfect, one minute holding 
 communion with the presence of his adorable Saviour 
 by faith, and in another minute, beholding him face to 
 face. Farewell ! may we meet thee in glory ! " A manu- 
 script account of this excellent man was found among Mr. 
 Dawson' s papers. His demise is noticed among the "Re- 
 cent Deaths," in the Methodist Magazine, 1841, p. 152.
 
 462 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Immediately on this, Mr. Dawson, appears to have 
 paid a visit to the Isle of Wight, where he was put into 
 a bed, which was too thinly clothed for the season of 
 the year, and of which the family do not appear to 
 have been sufficiently aware. The consequence was, 
 that he took cold, and became much indisposed. Ill as 
 he was, he had to preach. In this state also, he pro- 
 ceeded to London, where other public services awaited 
 him. Having fulfilled these engagements, he returned 
 to Leeds, where he instantly took a cab, and proceeded 
 to the house of Mr. Morley, who bled him, till, in his 
 own language, he "was almost drained," but without 
 producing faintness. Mr. Morley was apprehensive of 
 pleurisy following ; but by precautionary measures, it 
 was prevented, and Mr. Dawson began to recover. 
 Although he had experienced a few slight illnesses, yet 
 till this period, he had never been confined to the house 
 one whole week through indisposition.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 463 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 The King's Daughter. The Will of God. Proverbial Sayings. 
 Indisposition. Acaster. Plan of Labour. Mr. J. Wild. 
 Dover. Letter to Mrs.Ince. Croydon. Birkhamstead. Last 
 Sermon. Return Home. Colne. Sudden Death. Reflections. 
 Processions. Funeral Obsequies. Tokens of Respect. 
 
 MR. DAWSON commenced the labours of 1841 with 
 his accustomed spirit, but not with his usual physical 
 strength. 
 
 Being at Nottingham, he took for his text, Psalm 
 xlv. 13, &c., "The King's daughter is all glorious 
 within; her clothing is of wrought gold," &c. ; a 
 part of the imagery according as much with the 
 net, lace, and needle-work of the place, as it was 
 suited to the peculiar character of his genius. His 
 manner of handling the subject was peculiar to him- 
 self; and in consequence of making every thing tell 
 on the conscience and the understanding, the sermon, 
 connected with an extraordinary influence of God upon 
 the people, was rendered extensively useful. A friend, 
 who had heard him in different parts of the country, 
 enquired afterwards, " How is it, we have not had 
 this sermon before?" Mr. Dawson replied, "It is 
 not altogether new ; -for I took it at Manchester, in
 
 464 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Oldham-street chapel, on the evening of Dr. W's. 
 return from his chancery trial in London, when the 
 Society was balancing, and when it was unknown a 
 short time before, whether I should be allowed to 
 occupy the pulpit. Since then, I have had her, in 
 true oriental style, though the daughter of a king, 
 locked up, and have not once suffered her to go 
 abroad till to-night." And with his touchings and 
 embroiderings, she was, indeed, on the testimony of 
 those who heard him, made "glorious " to the auditory, 
 being arrayed in the "beauties of holiness." 
 
 When speaking of subjects for the pulpit, he ob- 
 served to the writer, " I never preached on the will 
 of God but once." This was owing to the compre- 
 hensive character of the subject, the nicety required 
 in its management, and to what he conceived to be 
 the pre-requisites of the speaker, whose own will, 
 should, in everything, be swallowed up in the will 
 of God : and though few men could, with greater 
 sincerity, say, "Thy will be done," yet such were 
 the views he had of his many imperfections, that 
 they awed him away from the subject. Glancing at 
 Acts xiii. 36, "For David, after he had served his 
 own generation, by the will of God fell on sleep, and 
 was laid unto his fathers," he said, "I have long 
 viewed this passage as David's epitaph, endited by 
 the Holy Ghost, written by the pen of an apostle, 
 and placed, as it were, over his tomb, to be read by 
 the Church and by the world to the end of time." 
 
 In his tcte-h-tetes with his private friends, he often 
 introduced the proverbial expressions of rural and 
 humble life ; and even seemed to delight in them. 
 "Allow me to help you to a little more, Mr. Dawson,"
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 465 
 
 said a friend at a social meal, where plain col- 
 loquy was in use. " " No more, I thank you, " 
 was returned ; hitching in, "if there have been 
 shameful eatings, there shall not be shameful leavings:" 
 a gentle hint, by the way, for the more saucy part 
 of the community, who pay more attention to the 
 desire of the eye, than the wants of nature and the 
 feelings of the provider of the repast, by turning 
 aside what they have, perhaps, previously solicited. 
 To waste, sauciness, and extravagance, he was a deter- 
 mined enemy. 
 
 He was down in Lincolnshire, preaching occasional 
 sermons in connection with Mr. Charles Welch of 
 Hull, author of "Wesleyan Polity," and some other 
 excellent publications ; on which occasion he stated, 
 that he felt the work too laborious for him; further 
 adding, " I purpose going on till July, and then 
 I shah 1 state to the committee, that I must become 
 a supernumerary." It was not the feeling of a tri- 
 fling ailment, that induced him to make this remark ; 
 and it is only to be regretted, that it had not been 
 made earlier, and made also to the committee, as 
 his labours would have been instantly diminished. 
 
 In the month of March, he spent three days with 
 his brother, Mr. Richard Dawson, at Acaster, one of 
 which was his birth-day ; the longest period the 
 family had enjoyed his society for many years, and even 
 then, he was engaged part of the time in preaching 
 in the neighbourhood. He complained of indisposition ; 
 and said to Mrs. Dawson, who was previously pain- 
 fully impressed with what she had observed, that he 
 was "troubled with a wheezing, tickling cough, ac- 
 companied with difficulty of breathing, and believed 
 u2
 
 466 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 he was labouring under the complaint of which his 
 mother died. " He manifested on this, as on a 
 former occasion, no painful apprehensions, but was 
 cheerful, as usual, and under a sweet religious influence. 
 He left Acaster for Leeds, on the 1st of April, 
 and on his arrival at his own house, he had almost 
 immediately to set out on his missionary tour.* This 
 he undertook with the fortitude of a martyr going 
 to the stake ; and with as full a persuasion apparently, 
 that his adherence to the good cause was hastening 
 his dissolution, as the sufferers for Christianity were 
 
 * The following is his route. 
 1841. 
 
 April 4 (Sund.)Burslemand Tunstal May 11 Bristol 
 
 5 Uttoxeter, Staffrdsh. 16 (Sund.) Pontefract 
 
 6 Newcastle-under-Lyne 17 Ditto 
 
 7 Burslem ditto 19 Bramley 
 
 8-- Tunstal ditto 23 (Sund.) Northampton 
 
 9 (Good Friday) Leek 24 Ditto 
 
 10 Return home 25 Daventry, Nortbamp. 
 
 11 (Sund.) Huoslet & St. Peter's 26 Towcester 
 
 12 Aberford 28 Leighton Buzzard 
 
 13 Vacant 30 (Sun.) Dudley 
 
 14 Barwick S. School June 1 Perhaps Burton circuit 
 
 15 Vacant 4 Melbourne 
 
 16 Ditto 6 (Sund.) Borrowash near Derby 
 
 17 Go to Birmingham 7 Hyson Green near Nott. 
 
 18 Birmingham 8 Long Eaton, ditto 
 
 19 Ditto 13 (Sund.) Richmond 
 
 20 Ditto 14 Brompton near Northal. 
 
 21 ..-..- Redditch, Worcestersh . 15 Perhaps Masliam 
 
 22 Tewksbury, ditto 16 Weeton near Harewood 
 
 23 Evesham, ditto 20 Queen-street, London 
 
 24 ....... .Go to Oxford 25 Tunbridge Wells 
 
 25 (Sund.) Oxford 27 (Sund.) Perhaps Canterbury 
 
 26- Return to BirminghamJuly 4 Colne 
 
 27 Denby potteries 5 Haworth 
 
 28 Riddings, Derbyshire 6 Steeton 
 
 29 Rotherham 11 (Sund.)New Mills 
 
 May 2 (Sund.) Cheltenham 18 (Sund.)Knaresbro' 
 
 9 (Sund.) Bristol 25 (Sund.) Doncaster 
 
 10 Bath 26 Worksop
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 467 
 
 assured, that their creed was the cause of their pre- 
 mature death. But it was a cause in which he gloried, 
 to advance the interests of which he laboured, 
 for which he felt he was ready to die ; and, to the 
 memory of such a man, everything is due, in the 
 shape of honour, from the Wesleyan body. 
 
 In the course of his peregrinations, he preached 
 the funeral sermon of his old friend, Mr. John Wild 
 of Armley, of whom there is a brief account in the 
 Wesleyan Methodist Magazine for 1841, p. 620. From 
 a nearly thirty years acquaintance with this man of 
 worth, the biographer does not say too much, when 
 he affirms from his personal knowledge, that the reli- 
 gion of Mr. Wild bore the character of Seneca's 
 description of virtue, which, like fire, turned every- 
 thing into itself; his actions and his friendships being 
 tinctured with it, and whatever it touched was im- 
 proved. He died at the age of between eighty and 
 ninety; and in advanced life had the ruddy hue of 
 youth. He suffered long and much, before he died; 
 but his religion, like precious odours, became the 
 sweeter, the more he seemed to be crushed by affliction 
 in its exercise. 
 
 Mr. Geden observed, in correspondence with a 
 friend, that Mr. Dawson had been at Dover, where 
 he preached on Psalm xl. 1 3, and Luke xv. 11 
 
 July 27 Hayton Aug. 22 (Sund.) Scarbro' 
 
 28 Tnxford 29 (Sund.) Ashton-under-Lyne 
 
 Aug. 1 Birstal Sep. 5 (Sund.)Farnley 
 
 3 Acaster 6 Armley 
 
 8 (Sund.)Cullingworth 12 (Sund.) Perhaps Camileo 
 
 9 Bradford Low Moor 19 (Sund.) Liverpool 
 
 10 Wibsey perhaps 21 Wensford, Cheshire 
 
 11 Wilsden 26 (Sund.) Selby 
 
 15 (Sund.) Loughborough 30 At Workington, Curob. 
 
 17 Draycott
 
 4G8 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to the end ; and also, that he had preached at 
 Canterbury on Acts xiii. 38, 39, and Matt. xvi. 26 ; 
 and that at Dover especially, his ministry was made 
 a great blessing, while his private conversation was 
 truly spiritual and impressive. On leaving the house 
 of Mr. Geden, he laid his hand upon the head of 
 his son, who was just entering upon the work of 
 the ministry, and said, with great affection and solem- 
 nity, "Live when I am dead, live better than I 
 have lived ! " This was truly Dawsonian ; urging 
 others to duty, while he attended to it himself, 
 but with his glory swallowed up in shame. 
 
 Though the introduction of Letters from Mr. Daw- 
 son himself, has been studiously avoided, for reasons 
 stated in the preface, yet it may be proper here to 
 give an extract from one to Mrs. Ince, 21, Bedford- 
 Street, Covent Garden, London, dated June 11, 1841. 
 "I thank God," he remarks, "that my health is 
 considerably restored, though I still feel a little diffi- 
 culty in breathing, when going up stairs, or walking 
 quick up hill. But I must not expect to be exempt 
 from the failings of mortality. The pins of my taber- 
 nacle must loosen, and the canvas must have its 
 rents and holes, as well as others ; and, therefore, the 
 leading wish of my heart is, as strikingly expressed 
 in those words of the German Hymn, translated by 
 Mr. Charles "Wesley, and which I often say and sing : 
 
 ' Let me in life, in death, 
 
 Thy steadfast truth declare ; 
 And publish with my latest breath, 
 Thy love and guardian care.'" 
 
 When in the metropolis, in the latter part of June, 
 he domiciled several days in the house of his friend,
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 469 
 
 Mr. William Ince ; and proceeded from thence to Tun- 
 bridge Wells, and some other places. 
 
 The following notice in the "Watchman," of July 
 7th, shews that he was at Croydon on the 30th of 
 June. " On Wednesday last, the friends of this place 
 were favoured with the services of Mr. W. Dawson, 
 who preached two sermons in aid of the Sabbath 
 School. The congregations were excellent, particularly 
 in the evening. The use of a meadow, adjoining the 
 chapel, was kindly granted by W. Taylor, Esq., where 
 a spacious booth was erected, in which about 250 
 persons sat down to tea ; after which the friends 
 re-assembled in the chapel, and were gratified with 
 appropriate addresses from the chairman, E. Corderoy, 
 Esq., Haynes, Esq., (Independant), Mr. Dawson, 
 J. Corderoy, Esq., and the Rev. H. Castle." 
 
 According to previous promise, having a little time 
 to spare for more extra work, he proceeded the next 
 day to Great Birkhamstead, in the St. Albans circuit, 
 to engage in the services connected with the opening 
 of a place for divine worship. These services he 
 closed on Thursday, July 1st, by preaching in the 
 afternoon and evening. On commencing the after- 
 noon service, he remarked, in reference to the hymn 
 he was about to give out, "This is a solemn and 
 remarkable hymn ; unlike most of those we sing. 
 It is neither a hymn of praise, of adoration, nor 
 yet of prayer : it is a soliloquy, and represents a 
 person talking to himself. Let each person in the 
 congregation, then, talk to himself, as I purpose talking 
 to myself, while singing these solemn words : 
 
 'And am I only born to die ? 
 And must I suddenly comply 
 With nature's stern decree ? '" &c.
 
 470 MEMOIRS OP 
 
 He then joined in the singing, with a loud and clear 
 voice, and manifested great depth of feeling. On 
 offering up a deeply interesting and ardent prayer, 
 and reading the thirty-second chapter of the book of 
 Exodus, he selected part of the 26th verse of the 
 same chapter as his text, "Who is on the Lord's 
 side?" In introducing the subject, he observed, 
 "This is a most remarkable chapter, respecting a 
 most remarkable people, by a most remarkable man;" 
 and afterwards, in his peculiar and impressive manner, 
 pointed out the base ingratitude of the children of 
 Israel to Moses. At the close of the afternoon ser- 
 vice, he took tea with about one hundred friends ; 
 immediately after which, he delivered an appropriate 
 and interesting address, in reference to the infant 
 cause in the place, and exhorted the friends, tenderly, 
 watchfully, and perseveringly, to care for the infant, 
 with which they had thus been entrusted. At the 
 evening service, the congregation was exceedingly large, 
 many of the people having journeyed several miles 
 to the place. He took for his text, "And now also 
 the axe is laid unto the root of the trees : therefore, 
 every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn 
 down, and cast into the fire." Matt. iii. 10. In 
 preaching on this text, his familiar acquaintance with 
 rural life, furnished him with various observations, 
 which, proceeding from some ministers, might have 
 been deemed not sufficiently dignified for the pulpit, 
 but which, with the Baptist before him as a model, 
 a plain, pointed preacher, homely in costume, and 
 with a "wilderness" for his sanctuary, were rendered 
 strikingly illustrative of the subject. He made, in 
 the course of his sermon, some interesting and touching
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 471 
 
 references to the doctrine of divine Providence; and, 
 in support of it, noticed the particular providence 
 of God towards himself and his family connexions. 
 After this, he offered up a devout and suitable prayer 
 for the salvation of souls, and thus closed the public 
 service. 
 
 The last text was mixed up with several affecting cir- 
 cumstances in the mind of Mr. Dawson. He preached 
 on it at Horseforth, near Leeds, in the year 1819, 
 when much good resulted from it. Mr. J. Verity, 
 having to wait upon him some time afterwards, told 
 him, that Thomas Jackson, who had heard him on 
 the occasion, retired to rest in health, about nine 
 o'clock the evening, after taking his supper, and 
 was found dead, by the side of his son, at eleven. 
 Mr. Dawson clasped his hands, and, after a brief 
 pause, said, "It is very strange! I never feel my 
 mind impressed to preach upon that text, but it is 
 almost invariably followed by a sudden death." 
 
 Having completed his southern tour, which, with 
 journies in other directions, had occupied a period of 
 some months, and during which he had been engaged 
 in almost incessant pulpit and platform labour, he 
 returned home, where he arrived on the Friday, 
 having travelled all night. On his arrival, by rail- 
 way, at Leeds, he was about to engage a cab, to 
 convey himself and his luggage to his own house. 
 Two of the cab-men, each asserting his right to the 
 conveyance of his person to the destined place, quar- 
 relled, both maintaining the priority of addressing 
 him. Mr. Dawson, in order to settle the dispute, 
 having been frequently annoyed by such officious- 
 ness, dismissed them both, and resolved upon car-
 
 4/2 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 rying his own luggage. It was heavy, and fatigued 
 him so much, that he was compelled to leave it at 
 a friend's house on the road. He felt the effects of 
 the exertion, but concluded, that a little rest would 
 enable him to regain his wonted state of feeling and 
 strength. Accordingly, after a few hours repose, he 
 felt improved ; set to work, and wrote sixteen letters, 
 in answer to a number he found, lying in the house, 
 and which required immediate attention. One of the 
 shorter, to the Rev. P. "Wilkinson, being among the 
 last letters he wrote, may be here introduced. 
 
 " Burmantofts, Leeds, July 2nd, 1841. 
 
 DEAR SIR. Returning home this morning, after 
 a fortnight's absence, I found your letter. My arrange- 
 ments at present, are as follow : Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 
 Sunday, July 18th; Wall's End colliery, 19th; Middles- 
 bro', 21 ; and Dishforth, 22nd. I thought I could 
 get from Middlesbro' on Wednesday, and then by 
 railway to Thirsk on Thursday, and from thence to 
 Dishforth that day, and return next day. But as 
 I am not yet sufficiently acquainted with the railway 
 communication, I cannot speak positively upon the 
 subject. I have received no intelligence from Middles- 
 bro' yet ; but I think of writing to-day to Mr. 
 Jackson, to know his mind upon the subject. 
 
 Could I meet every case, it would highly delight, 
 Dear Sir, yours affectionately, 
 
 W. DAWSON." 
 
 After this, he went into the town to see the mem- 
 bers chaired, who passed the house of his friend, Mr. 
 Reinhardt, where he enjoyed himself with a social 
 religious party, and was Tory enough to express his 
 satisfaction in the non-election of Mr. Joseph Hume.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 473 
 
 While in the shop of Mr. Reinhardt, druggist, a 
 friend enquired into the state of his health, when 
 he replied, laying his hand on his hreast, and gently 
 patting it, " I am not right here ;" subjoining, "my 
 work is too hard for me. " The propriety of medical 
 advice was suggested, and the Rev. Edward "Walker, 
 with his accustomed kindness, proposed to attend to 
 his appointment, provided he would tarry at home. 
 He returned, that he was always hest when in the 
 open air and travelling, and hoped that the journey 
 would be conducive, rather than prejudicial to health. 
 On his return home with Mrs. Phillips, he paused, 
 and said, " I am short of breath ; " and reclined 
 himself against a wall. Mrs. Phillips, on their reaching 
 Spring Field, again urged the propriety of medical aid, 
 coupled with the advice of a few days' rest from labour. 
 But he still clung to the hope, that the journey would 
 be advantageous to health. He, therefore, rose about 
 six o'clock on Saturday morning, July 3rd, and left 
 Leeds for Colne, in Lancashire, in company with his 
 relative, Mr. Phillips, at which place they arrived in 
 safety, and took up their residence at the house of 
 Mr. John Phillips, the brother of Mr. Edward. 
 
 Though his appearance seemed to indicate, that 
 he was not quite well, when he arrived at Colne, 
 yet he did not complain, but conversed on various 
 subjects in his usual cheerful manner with the friends 
 in whose society he spent the afternoon. He also 
 joined in singing several hymns, and selected the 
 tunes which he wished to have sung in the chapel 
 on the ensuing day. At eight o'clock, he took a 
 Bible, and went to his apartment, where he remained 
 for some time. On his return, after a light supper,
 
 4/4 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 he prayed with the family in a very comprehensive 
 manner, for the nation, the Church, and particularly 
 the inhabitants of Colne, that the Lord would assist, 
 and crown with his blessing, the services of the ap- 
 proaching Sabbath. He retired to his chamber about 
 eleven o'clock, and was soon after followed by Mr. 
 E. Phillips, with a floating light, in order to leave 
 it in the room, stating, that as he had not been very 
 well, it would be better to have a light at hand; to 
 which Mr. Dawson replied, "O child, I am much 
 better; there is no need of it, blow it out." It 
 would seem, that he soon sunk into a state of rest, 
 on his friend leaving the room, as nothing was heard 
 of him till two o'clock in the morning, when he awoke 
 Mr. Phillips, saying, "Edward, get up, I am very 
 poorly." Mr. Phillips was instantly at his side ; and, 
 in a few minutes, several members of the family and 
 a medical gentleman were present, to render all the 
 assistance in their power. But it was unavailing. 
 
 While sitting in a chair, and labouring for breath, 
 he spoke a little to those around him. His walking- 
 stick, which is preserved as a little memento of 
 private friendship by the biographer, was reached 
 to him by Mr. Phillips, to grasp, while the medical 
 attendant endeavoured to open a vein. But the 
 hand had nearly become powerless. He slightly 
 pressed the "staff" between his finger and thumb, 
 upon which, like another Jacob, he had so often 
 leaned, an incident not beneath the pen of inspira- 
 tion, and fell back in the chair on which he sat. The 
 increasing difficulty experienced in respiration, soon 
 rendered speaking next to impracticable. The few 
 sentences, however, which fell from his lips, attested
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 475 
 
 that all was right within, and his last words were, 
 
 " Let ns in life, in death, 
 
 Thy steadfast truth declare." 
 
 In attempting to repeat the other lines of the verse, 
 
 " And publish with our latest breath, 
 Thy love and guardian care, " 
 
 utterance failed ; and in his inclined position, he 
 crossed his hands upon his breast, as occasionally 
 in the pulpit, and expired without a struggle; thus 
 giving reality to poetic expression, he " ceased at 
 once to work and live. " 
 
 His sudden departure from the present state of exist- 
 ence itself but transitory, reminds us of the sentiments 
 to which he gave utterance in the sermon he preached, 
 occasioned by the sudden death of the Rev. "William 
 Bramwell. " Mr. Bramwell," said he to the listening 
 multitude, who, in open air, stood near the spot where 
 he had expired " Mr. Bramwell was unusually favour- 
 ed in this respect. His health was seldom interrupted 
 by sickness ; and he tasted little of the bitter cup of 
 indisposition, of which many take large draughts. In 
 the time of his removal from this world, he was also 
 peculiarly indulged. Never was Jordan's current 
 smoother than when he embarked, and along its banks 
 was never seen a narrower place than that which he was 
 privileged to cross. He was not, as some have been, 
 five or six weeks, or even a longer period, in passing 
 over the river, 'tossed with tempests and not com- 
 forted.' No : in a few minutes he was wafted across the 
 stream : so that we may justly adopt the language of 
 the Rev. Henry Moor, who emphatically remarked, upon 
 the suddenness of Mr. Bramwell's removal, ' We can 
 scarcely call it DEATH. It is almost a TRANSLATION.' "
 
 476 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 In this brief statement, he might have been describing 
 his own general state of good health ; nor could he, if, 
 with the eye of a seer he had been capable of glancing 
 at his own exit, have portrayed it more correctly. It 
 was, indeed, a narrow place, occupying only a few 
 minutes in crossing, from ten to twenty ! All was like 
 the sudden dropping of a curtain ; and when over, and 
 once awakened from the hurried surprise, left upon those 
 around the impression of a dream. In his own house 
 at Leeds, in Yorkshire, on the Saturday, and at Colne, 
 in Lancashire, the same evening. In Time, when the 
 clock struck twelve on the Saturday night, and in Eter- 
 nity a few minutes after two on the Sabbath morning ! 
 leaving the dawn of one Sabbath for the brighter day of 
 another and one whose day should never have a close. 
 The body animated by its active spirit, and in its home, 
 at the close of one week ; and after a sudden transit 
 from one county to another, coffined within the walls of 
 that home, at the beginning of another week ; and in 
 the space of two brief days more, conveyed to the 
 church in which he had sat as a hearer, when a boy, 
 and laid in the ground over which his boyish feet had 
 strayed! It brings to recollection also, some of the 
 expressions he employed in his sermon a few months 
 before at Barwick, on the equally sudden death of 
 Thomas Lumb, to which the reader will be able to 
 advert. 
 
 Another reminiscence may be here indulged, relative 
 to a previous visit to Colne, in company with his friend 
 Mr. Phillips. It will be recollected that the two lines 
 of the hymn which he falteringly quoted, form a part of 
 the eighth verse of the hymn which he gave out with 
 his accustomed energy and animation, in the pulpit of
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 477 
 
 the Wesleyan Chapel, in the same place, on a public 
 occasion, at the time to which reference is made. It 
 was, as has been already observed, during a period of 
 considerable commercial depression, when the spirits of 
 many serious persons were bending beneath the load, 
 and when he laboured to elevate their spirits by singing 
 
 " Giye to the winds thy fears ; 
 
 Hope, and be undismayed," Sec. 
 
 Little was he aware, that part of the last verse of that 
 hymn would be the last words that should escape from 
 his lips that they should be uttered in the town to 
 which he was then on a visit that they should be 
 addressed to the ear of the friend who was with him on 
 both occasions, and in the house he had just left and that 
 the last " night " on which he closed his eyes, should so 
 
 " Soon end in joyous day." 
 
 Equally remote was it from his apprehension, on the 
 Thursday previous to his death, when giving out the 
 hymn at the commencement of the service at Great 
 Birkhamstead, that he was, on that day, closing his 
 public services, that " nature's stern decree " was to 
 be fulfilled within the space of little more than two 
 days from the close of the one on which he was preach- 
 ing, that the text and sermon which had been so 
 often the forerunners of the sudden death of others, 
 should immediately precede his own, and that he was 
 not only unconsciously sounding the requiem of his 
 ministerial labours, but that he was, as if in prophetic 
 strains, singing, in mournful yet in fearless notes, his 
 own funeral dirge. But, being " on the Lord's side," 
 the "axe " was "laid at the root of the tree " of mor- 
 tality, only for the purpose of fixing him by the side of 
 the " Tree of Life " for ever.
 
 478 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 The tidings of his death soon spread through the 
 town and neighbourhood, and the house was beset with 
 a crowd of people by five o'clock in the morning. After 
 Mr. Phillips had given orders for a lead coffin to be 
 made, and entered into other necessary arrangements, 
 he hastened into Yorkshire, to communicate the melan- 
 choly intelligence of his death to his friends ; and in 
 the afternoon of the same day, the tidings reached 
 Acaster, near York, at the residence of Mr. Richard 
 Dawson. 
 
 On Mr. Phillips leaving Colne, the itinerant and local 
 preachers, and other officers in the Society, with the 
 members and friends, assembled in the chapel, to pay 
 their last tribute of respect to the memory of the de- 
 ceased. The Rev. T. Powell, of Burnley, it may be 
 observed, very obligingly preached the sermons on the 
 Sabbath day. Mr. Charles Smith, co-executor with 
 Mr. E. Phillips, left Leeds at four o'clock on the Mon- 
 day morning, from whence a hearse had also been 
 forwarded, to convey the corpse to its place of rest. On 
 the coffin being placed in the hearse, it was preceded by 
 travelling and local preachers, stewards, trustees, and 
 leaders ; and these were followed by a crowd of Wes- 
 leyans and others. Some of the factories having been 
 stopped, in order to give the members of society an 
 opportunity of joining the procession, the crowd of 
 attendants became the greater. In passing slowly 
 through the town, the people sung one of Mr. Dawson' s 
 favourite hymns ; and when the procession had pro- 
 ceeded about a mile, the people divided themselves into 
 two companies, one on each side of the road, where 
 they stood men and boys, with their heads uncovered, 
 while the hearse passed between ; when, as a last fare-
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 479 
 
 well, they again united in singing the verse which he 
 had attempted to repeat the morning before carrying 
 it out for him, as it were, and wafting it with becoming 
 reverence to heaven : 
 
 " Lot us in life, in death, 
 
 Thy steadfast truth declare ; 
 
 And publish with our latest breath 
 
 Thy love and guardian care." 
 
 Before the hearse reached Keighly, it was again met by 
 Wesleyans and others, when another procession was 
 formed, accompanying it some distance through the 
 town; where, as the friends had done at Colne, they 
 halted, bared the head, gazed sorrowfully on the mov- 
 ing vehicle as it passed between the lines, and then 
 sung, 
 
 " Oh that without a lingering groan, 
 
 I may the welcome word receive ; 
 My body with my charge lay down, 
 And cease at once to work and live." 
 
 The same respect and deep feeling appeared in every 
 place which the hearse had to pass through. The 
 remains arrived in Leeds on the same day. It was in- 
 tended that the funeral should take place on the 
 Friday ; but circumstances rendered it necessary to fix 
 upon Wednesday the 7th, as the day of interment ; so 
 that little more than twenty-four hours could be secured 
 to give notice to the friends, and make other arrange- 
 ments. But short as the time was, the feeling of 
 respect was such, that the hour had only to be an- 
 nounced, for public homage to be paid. 
 
 The Trustees of the principal Wesleyan Chapels in 
 Leeds, expressed a wish that the remains should be 
 interred in connexion with one of the places of worship 
 belonging to the body, and kindly offered a vault, and
 
 480 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 proposed a tablet to his memory. But the family 
 burying ground was preferred by the surviving relatives. 
 One o'clock was the time fixed for removal ; and on 
 the corpse being brought out, an interesting service 
 took place in the open air. The Rev. Edward Walker 
 commenced by giving out an appropriate hymn ; after 
 this, the Rev. Alexander Bell, engaged in prayer ; he 
 was followed by the Rev. Thomas Galland, A.M., who 
 delivered an interesting address, combining with it the 
 character and talents of the deceased ; then the Rev. J. 
 Cusworth concluded with prayer. At the close of the 
 service, the procession formed, composed of the travel- 
 ling and local preachers, together with the leaders, 
 &c., of the four circuits belonging to Leeds ; these 
 preceded the hearse, six abreast. A long train of 
 people followed the hearse and mourning coaches. The 
 streets, and public road out of Leeds, for the space of 
 about a mile and a half, presented one congregated mass 
 of people, though the weather was rather unfavourable, 
 and the funeral had thus taken place earlier than was at 
 first anticipated by the populace at large ; and multi- 
 tudes of these followed to the distance of a mile and a 
 mile and half. The distance from Leeds to Barwick-in- 
 Elmet is seven miles, and the funeral did not reach the 
 village till six o'clock. The hearse, drawn by four 
 horses, was preceded by the singers, and followed by 
 three mourning coaches. Besides many persons on foot, 
 who proceeded the full length of the journey, it was 
 calculated that there were not less than a hundred per- 
 sons on horseback, while sixty eight carriages were 
 counted in the train, multiplying to eighty-six when the 
 remains reached the village, containing friends of various 
 ranks, who thus paid their voluntary respect to one
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 481 
 
 whom they loved in life, and by the effects of whose 
 ministry they were likely to be benefited forever. 
 Hymns were sung in passing through Seacroft, Scholes, 
 and Barwick, while the old family residence of Barubow 
 appeared on the brow of a hill to the left, reviving 
 many recollections in the minds of the mourners. The 
 church was crowded, and those who were unable to 
 gain admission stood in the church-yard amidst heavy 
 rain. The service was impressively read by the Rector, 
 the Rev. W. H. Bathurst, nephew of Earl Bathurst, in 
 the midst of deep feeling ; and the 50th hymn on page 
 52, of the Wesley an Collection, was sung, the son of 
 one of the early friends of the deceased officiating as 
 clerk. Another hymn was sung at the grave. The 
 grave itself was very deep, penetrating through the rock, 
 lined at the bottom with brick, and at least a couple of 
 yards deeper than the remains of his mother, part of 
 whose coffin was visible to the eye. On seeing the mul- 
 titudes, hearing the sighs, and witnessing the tears that 
 were shed, the writer could not but recur again and 
 again to that portion of holy writ, " Them that honour 
 me, I will honour." But even "THIS honour have" 
 NOT "all his saints." Thus lived thus died and 
 thus was honoured WILLIAM DAWSON, who departed 
 this life, July 4th, 1841, in the 69th year of his age. 
 
 In his Will, dated April 15, 1841, written by him- 
 self, we find the following bequests : To the Wesleyan 
 Missionary Society, 50 guineas ; to the Methodist 
 Preachers' Annuitant Society, 30 guineas ; and to 
 Kingswood and Woodhouse Grove Schools, 30 guineas. 
 
 Funeral sermons were preached in different places, 
 on the occasion of his death. The Rev. R. Newton 
 preached on the occasion at St. Peter's, Leeds, on 
 x
 
 482 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 2 Sam. xiv. 14, the circuit in which Mr. Dawson 
 had resided. The biographer preached sermons on 
 the same occasion at Banvick, Bradford, Tadcaster, 
 Bramley, in Wesley Chapel, Leeds, and in York. In 
 the last place, the collectors of the Juvenile Mis- 
 sionary Society were all arranged in front of the 
 gallery of the Centenary Chapel, some of whom were 
 Mr. Dawson' s children in the gospel, and at the for- 
 mation of which Society he preached the sermons, 
 as well as generally aided the young friends for a 
 period of upwards of twenty years. 
 
 Several touching tributes of respect were paid to 
 his memory, at missionary meetings. The day after 
 his death, a Missionary Meeting was held at Thorp- 
 Arch, in the Tadcaster circuit, at which W. G. Scarth, 
 Esq., presided. On the forenoon of the same day, 
 a trustee meeting was held at Tadcaster, and when 
 Mr. Dawson' s name was called over, which stood at 
 the head of the list, the mournful intelligence of his 
 sudden death was communicated. At the Missionary 
 Meeting, in the afternoon, Mr. Scarth, to whom Mr. 
 Dawson had been endeared by an intimate friendship 
 of forty years, adverted to his character and labours. 
 Several of the speakers also referred to his services, 
 and their value to the missionary cause ; and at the 
 evening meeting, a substantial proof of a feeling of 
 gratitude to God, and affectionate regard for his de- 
 parted servant, was furnished by the presentation, 
 through the Rev. Alexander Bell, of a purse of gold, 
 containing .11 10s., privately offered in the course 
 of the meeting by various friends in the chapel, and 
 announced as " A token of affectionate esteem, pre- 
 sented by a few mourning friends of the late Mr.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 483 
 
 William Dawson, in support of the Mission cause, 
 which lay so near his heart, and which he so zealously 
 laboured to promote." Mr. Bell was much affected 
 while presenting this appropriate expression of truly 
 Christian feeling ; and ventured to express a hope, 
 that the example set in this probably the first mis- 
 sionary meeting held after Mr. Dawson' s death, would 
 be followed by his numerous friends thnnigh the Con- 
 nexion. 
 
 Two or three friends at the small village of Buck- 
 land, in the Aylesbury circuit, who heard Mr. Dawson 
 preach his last sermon at Berkhamstead, were deeply 
 affected by the intelligence of his death so soon 
 after, and felt an earnest desire to offer some memo- 
 rial of their attachment to him, and of the high 
 estimation in which they held his services. In reading 
 an account of the above meeting at Thorp-Arch, 
 which appeared in the "Watchman," and especially 
 that part of it which stated that the sum specified 
 had been presented to the meeting, hy certain friends, 
 in grateful remembrance of Mr. Dawson' s services, it 
 was thought something might be done at Buckland 
 for the same noble cause. The subject was named 
 to the Society and other friends, and the sum of 
 4 was raised for the Mission fund, as a thank- 
 offering to God for raising up a man so eminently 
 distinguished for his Christian virtues, ministerial 
 abilities, and great usefulness ; and in mournful, but 
 submissive remembrance of that Providence by which 
 the Church was so suddenly deprived of his valuable 
 sen-ices. A donation also, of ^10, was given by 
 Jacob Harrison, Esq., of the St. Albans circuit, to 
 the Mission cause, in memory of his labours. In
 
 484 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 none of these instances are we to look so much at 
 the sum, as at the principle ; in each we recognize 
 a principle recommended hy our Lord, "She hath 
 done what she could; verily I say unto you, Where- 
 soever this gospel shall be preached throughout the 
 whole world, this also that she hath done shall be 
 spoken of for a memorial of her." 
 
 The Rev. Louis Rees, it may be added, composed 
 a "Funeral Anthem" on the occasion of his death, 
 to " Servant of God ! well done ; " a piece entitled, 
 "The Christian Soldier," by the Author of the 
 "World before the Flood," &c. 
 
 In " The Annual Address of the Conference to 
 the Methodist Societies," is the following tribute to 
 his memory, " Valuable members of the Connexion 
 have likewise been removed by death; among whom 
 we feel it right to mention the venerable William 
 Dawson ; who, after many years of useful and ac- 
 ceptable labour as a Local Preacher, has this year 
 died in the Lord. Few men were ever more exten- 
 sively known in the Wesleyan Connexion in Great 
 Britain, or more highly esteemed wherever known : 
 it is, therefore, unnecessary that we should speak 
 to you at any length of either his character, talents, 
 or labours. Earnestly desirous of promoting the 
 prosperity of the work of God, especially in its 
 Missionary department, he devoted his very popular 
 talents to its advocacy. His numerous sermons and 
 addresses, delivered with all that sanctified energy 
 which belonged to his character, were highly acceptable, 
 and often produced the most important results. His 
 removal was sudden, and he was engaged in his valu- 
 able labours to the last. During the brief interval
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 485 
 
 between his final seizure and death, he was enabled 
 to express his unfailing trust in the Saviour who had 
 died for him, and been his guide through life. While 
 he lived, he had always been ready to attend to the 
 voice of Providence when it called him to labour : 
 by the grace of God he was not less ready when 
 suddenly called to die. The calmness which he mani- 
 fested on experiencing what he felt to be the stroke 
 of death, and the holy joy with which he at once 
 commended his spirit to his Redeemer, proved that 
 while he had long and extensively lived what may be 
 termed a public life, he had yet maintained all the 
 inward power of religion, and had walked humbly 
 with God. His happy death was a suitable close to 
 his holy and useful life." Minutes, 1841, pp. 1378. 
 
 To such as were personally acquainted with Mr. 
 Dawson, any description of his external appearance 
 will be unnecessary, as a correct portrait of him 
 in full length, will be found suspended in the inner 
 chambers of the soul, touched off to the life with 
 all the colourings of the imagination, and will there 
 hang for the eye of the inner man to repose upon, 
 till its own outward form shall crumble into dust, 
 and mingle with the clods of the valley ; for, with 
 such, his image will ever live. It was that of a man, 
 a man in the most manly sense of the term. He 
 was strong of bone, muscular, well built, well 
 rounded, proportionate, standing about five feet 
 nine inches, had hair of a deep auburne, and a 
 complexion approaching the embrowned rather than
 
 486 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the dark. The eye, of a lightish grey, and with a dark 
 pupil, was round, keen, full of fire, and well set 
 in the head, mounted with slightly overhanging eye- 
 brows. The face too, was round, somewhat full ; 
 the ears small, thick, and closely attached to the head ; 
 a good mouth, with a somewhat biting expression, 
 similar to what is found in some of the portraits of 
 Sir Walter Scott ; and an excellent forehead, covered 
 in later life, as was that of the Rev. Daniel Isaac, 
 with false hair, but hair much worse in construction, ill 
 adapted to the head, and overhanging the fine sin- 
 ciput like an eave of thatch, an article on which 
 the writer did not fail to rally him, though perhaps 
 indispensable to comfort. The features might be pro- 
 nounced regular, but expressive, inclining to the 
 fierce, on the eye being fixed, full of meaning, and 
 conveying the impression of thought ; that thought 
 which is brilliant, active, penetrating, which only 
 himself could seize, and which others could neither 
 tame nor break, fertile in a fruitfulness which only 
 died with himself. Three or four years prior to his 
 death, he shrunk a little, walked with a stick, 
 and complained of being more timid in pointing the 
 foot at night, than formerly, lest he should fall. Still, 
 his general health was unbroken, and he soon regained 
 more than he had lost in actual corpulence. 
 
 In social life, there was an agreeableness which 
 ingratiated Mr. Dawson into the good feelings of the 
 heart, and made him a general favourite. It was 
 not that, however, which connects itself with softness, 
 and with a something bordering upon harmlessness 
 and insipidity, turned off" with a smile ; but that 
 which partakes of cheerfulness; that which proceeds
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 487 
 
 from the heart rather than the will, and is innate 
 rather than acquired. When his wit was the most 
 sparkling and penetrating, he never assumed any osten- 
 tatious airs; and when his thoughts appeared a little 
 high in their hearing, they were still perceived to be 
 seated in a heart of tenderness and of courtesy. Though 
 free to converse, he was never forward or loquacious, 
 always leaving the company with a relish for more, 
 rather than producing satiety ; and though void of polish, 
 possessed of a fine sense of propriety ; that kind of 
 behaviour which is destitute of all squeamishness and 
 fastidiousness, and which, in the higher walks of life, in 
 properly constituted minds, " gives beauty to pomp, and 
 majesty to adversity." This is not too much to claim for 
 Mr. Dawson, and would only be denied him by "puppets 
 led about by wires," and who would reverse the order of 
 things, by converting the cottage into a drawing-room, 
 and who confound good behaviour with affectation. 
 
 Though he loved society, yet he was not one of 
 those persons, who can only live in its bustle. He 
 took society in his way to more important work, and 
 enjoyed it as a relaxation from severer mental toil. 
 His popularity was not merely the result of certain 
 peculiarities, combined with great native genius; but 
 added to good soil to work upon, there was more 
 than ordinary persevering industry. For want of this, 
 even talented men, men popular in early life, have 
 become formal and insipid before they have more 
 than reached their prime. They have settled down 
 upon a few years' industry, at the commencement of 
 their ministerial career ; and by attending to anything, 
 but the thing itself for which God called them into 
 the work of the MINISTRY, have lost the freshness
 
 488 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 which they once had for the pulpit, have starved 
 the spirit of preaching out of their souls, and at 
 length have found the sacred work of calling sinners 
 to repentance irksome, and have shunned it ; moving 
 in the church of God, with a decent morality, the occa- 
 sional cant of better things upon their lips, in full 
 orders, and in full pay, and yet living monuments of 
 indolence, as to pulpit reading and pulpit thought. 
 It is melancholy, when men outlive the spirit of their 
 office. Not so with the apostles of Christ, who im- 
 proved as they proceeded ; nor yet with the subject 
 of this sketch. He earned his notoriety with hard 
 toil, though he might have flourished a little without 
 it ; and candidates for the Christian ministry should 
 be deeply impressed with the fact, that the industry 
 which is necessary to raise a man to a high point 
 of elevation, is equally necessary to keep him there ; 
 for, like a growth in grace, not to proceed, is to draw 
 back, and a man often loses the past for want of per- 
 severance. Mr. Dawson's studies and reading could 
 not be denominated systematic : but still he thought, 
 and thought intensely too ; and he also read to 
 purpose, not absorbing the mind in the newspapers 
 of the day, and giving a political hue to every thing 
 he touched, but works that assisted his piety and his 
 preaching. He was far from being extensively read, as 
 to the actual number of volumes which passed through 
 his hands, though extensive when taken in connexion 
 with the small portion of time he had at command for 
 the purpose : but when we advert to the authors that 
 have incidentally occurred in the course of the Memoir, 
 such as Dr. Walls, Flavel, Drelincourt, Sherlock, Dr. 
 Owen, Romaine, Burgess, Scougal, Dr. Bates, Saurin,
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 489 
 
 Dr. Manton, Dr. Goodwin, Baxter, Alleine, Showers, 
 Law, Fletcher, Brainard, Young, Venn, Benson, Bishop 
 Newton, Bishop Butler, Bunyan, Rogers, Ambrose, Dod- 
 dridge, Wesley, Whitfield, Cennick, Henry, Preston, 
 Watson, Clarke, &c., and others that might be noticed, 
 a familiarity with the theological writers of his own coun- 
 try may be fairly inferred ; and when the manuscripts 
 he has left, are taken into the account, comprising at 
 least four hundred sermons, mostly full, and others in 
 outline, exclusive of essays, diaries, speeches, and other 
 public addresses, and an extensive correspondence, he 
 may, all his secular engagements, travels, and pulpit 
 labours, being preserved in remembrance, be exhibited 
 as an unusual type, or extraordinary model of industry ; 
 a son in whom the Founder of Methodism himself 
 one of the most laborious men that ever lived, would 
 have gloried. A sentiment found in Ischomachus, will 
 apply either in a civil or ecclesiastical sense, "He 
 who will not apply himself to business, evidently dis- 
 covers that he means to get his bread by cheating, 
 stealing, or begging, or is wholly void of reason. " 
 In Methodism, however, there are, perhaps, fewer 
 opportunities for the indulgence of indolent habits 
 than in almost any other religious system ; and if a 
 man's zeal is not tempered with knowledge, he may 
 soon abridge life, and bring it into much less compass 
 than the portion of time allotted to humanity. 
 
 Such a habit, in connection with talent, was sure 
 to raise a man above the common-place characters of 
 which society is often composed. In passing from 
 his private, to what more immediately connects itself 
 with his public character, his manner might not, in 
 every instance, be prepossessing when in the pulpit ; 
 x 2
 
 490 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 but it was rarely offensive, though sometimes strange 
 to strangers. He did not uniformly commence his 
 sermon by announcing his text ; and then proceed 
 with his introduction ; but very often made two or 
 three remarks before, by way of awakening attention, 
 and then by an easy transition glided into it. When 
 the text was rousing, and the materials he had to 
 bring to it, by way of enforcing and applying it, 
 partook of the same character, he sometimes employed 
 too much vehemence in the outset, and conveyed the 
 notion of a general resolved to storm and fire a 
 city, rather than to take it by tact and stratagem. 
 On these occasions, while grappling with a subject, 
 and battling with the vices and follies of men, there was 
 generally fixed attention and deep feeling in the hearers ; 
 but through continued excitement, a degree of fatigue 
 ensued. This, however, was only the case when he 
 missed his way in the commencement, which was 
 but seldom. His more general manner was not sub- 
 ject to this charge ; and if brought to bear upon the 
 energy displayed by the celebrated Dr. Chalmers, the 
 difference would be found to exist in the circumstance 
 of the latter giving out in greater lengths, that which 
 the former usually let out at intervals. In Mr. Daw- 
 son, the disturbed air, so to speak, came in more 
 frequent and unexpected gusts ; in the doctor, the 
 tempest, when he himself was in the hey-day of 
 health, was of longer continuance ; yet both moving 
 the leaf, the twig, the branch, the stem, and the trees 
 of the human forest, over which the voice was per- 
 mitted to pass. 
 
 Though very far indeed from being a finished speaker, 
 yet there was that about him, as there has been already
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 491 
 
 occasion to remark, which at once disarmed criticism, 
 and disposed persons to apologize rather than find 
 fault. The energy which he displayed, often trenched, 
 as has been seen, on violence; but it was not energy 
 throughout, as in the comparison of his manner with 
 that of Dr. Chalmers; it was not the torrent over 
 the wide and inclined champaign, which sweeps on 
 with one continued force ; it belonged more to the 
 flood among the mountains, rolling over tremendous 
 heights ; and in proportion to the depth of its falls, 
 again tossing its spray upward, with breaks and 
 pauses among the rocks, then murmuring along the 
 plainer portions of the country, and rarely ever, in 
 its loudest roar, its boldest dashes, distracting the 
 ear of the bystander. The secret of this is, that he 
 was never vehement, never impassioned, except in cases 
 where truth from its strength, and sin from its 
 atrocity and other peculiar characteristics, required k ; 
 then, and then only, was he energetic, powerful, 
 overwhelming, almost oppressive. He seemed to set 
 persons before him, in danger of drowning or burning. 
 Every turn bore on the point of rescue ; and inven- 
 tion was always the most rife when trying to succeed 
 in desperate and difficult cases. To save was his 
 object. 
 
 One point, touched by the Rev. R. Philip, in his 
 Life of the celebrated George Whitfield, chimes in 
 here, and is distinguished for its justice, so far as 
 the moving principle by which Mr. Dawson was ac- 
 tuated goes ; when he says, " I studied Whitfield 
 until I understood him ; and therefore, I have instinc- 
 tively recognized whatever resembled him, in all the 
 popular preachers of my time. James, of Birming-
 
 492 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ham, has occasionally reminded me of his alternate 
 bursts of tenderness and terror, in all but rapidity; 
 Rowland Hill of his off-hand strokes of power; and 
 Spring, of New York, his off-heart unction, when it 
 fell like dew, copiously and calmly. Baptist Noel, 
 also, has reminded me of this. Robert Newton has 
 some of Whitfield' s oratory, but none of his high 
 passion. Irving had nothing of him but his voice. 
 Cooper, of Dublin, when in his prime, and preaching 
 in the open air, has enabled me to conceive how 
 Whitfield commanded the multitude in Moor-fields. 
 I must add, although I shall not be generally under- 
 stood, that Williams of the Wern, and my friend, 
 Christmas Evans, of Wales, and Billy Dawson, of 
 Yorkshire, have oftener realized Whitfield to me, than 
 any other preacher of my time : and yet, these three 
 men do not resemble him, nor each other, in mind 
 or body ; but they can lose themselves entirely as he 
 did, in tender and intense love to souls. This is 
 what is wanted ; and it will tell by any voice or 
 style, and from any eye or stature." Mr. Philip's 
 either did not know Mr. Dawson personally, or had 
 ceased distinctly to remember him, when he states 
 him not to have resembled Mr. C. Evans "in mind 
 or body ; " for in both of these there was a striking 
 resemblance. Both were corpulent, each had a strongly 
 marked countenance, and there was a similarity in 
 the formation of the head. Mr. Evans was taller than 
 Mr, Dawson. With regard to mind, a friend well 
 acquainted with both, observes, "If originality of 
 thought a luxuriant imagination a peculiarity of voice 
 a singularity of style and influence over their 
 hearers, beyond precedent, possessed by both, will not
 
 WILLIAM DATVSON. 493 
 
 identify likeness, I am at a loss to imagine what 
 will." Admitting Mr. Philips to have seen and heard 
 Mr. Dawson, he must only have glanced at him, 
 while he studied Mr. Evans. On intense love to 
 souls, Mr. Philips is correct ; and it was this that 
 influenced Mr. Dawson' s manner, as well as his matter. 
 Never, never did man, in modern times, take captive 
 an audience sooner or more effectually, in consequence 
 of the ardour of his love. He bore his hearers along 
 with him, after first drawing them to him, relieved 
 them every now and then from an intensity of feeling, 
 under which was manifested the stillness of the tomb, 
 by some lighter, but more graphic picture presented 
 to the imagination, and coming upon them as un- 
 expectedly as a beautiful, yet picturesque scene, in a 
 lovely valley, invisible to the tourist, till he is brought 
 in his rambles to the verge of the elevated ground 
 in the vicinity. 
 
 Instances have occurred in the course of the Memoir, 
 to shew, that there was as little formality in his mode 
 of commencing the general service, as in commencing 
 his sermon ; but his usual manner was, to glance at 
 the hymn, after announcing the number and page, 
 and to give out the first and second line, with his 
 eyes closed, engaging in the singing himself, and 
 often beating time with his hand, which rose and 
 fell either on the Bible, or the open pages of the 
 hymn-book, accompanied with an occasional graceful 
 sweep, like a half circle, and a pendulum kind of 
 motion, with the palm spread downwards. The eyes 
 were often closed, too, when delivering a sentence 
 or two during sermon. This was chiefly the case, 
 when, through impetuosity of feeling, he struggled for
 
 494 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 expression ; and it was too rapid for distinct enuncia- 
 tion. His features then became distorted, the nose 
 was partially drawn up, the eye-brows were knit 
 together, the eyelids compressed, and the fore- 
 head was thrown into conflicting curves, shewing the 
 struggle within. The face, meanwhile, was flushed ; 
 and the veins, full and throbbing, seemed like snakes 
 writhing their way up the temples. These, to per- 
 sons unacquainted with him, were moments of peril, 
 being half afraid of the rupture of a blood-vessel. 
 But he was no sooner relieved by expression, than 
 though crippled and halting before, away he went, 
 the curves retiring like dying waves, leaving the 
 face open, the eyes piercing through the unruffled 
 countenance, like planets breaking forth from a serene 
 sky. He had amazing flexibility of muscle ; and could 
 have accommodated the whine, the wooing, the smirk, 
 the comic, the sneer, the tender, the terrific ; and, 
 with a little more refinement, would had he been 
 disposed to indulge in them, have made as great a 
 noise in the world, as the most noted for such qualifica- 
 tions. When he was in his gayer moods, he was 
 a little extravagant in this way, not being in every 
 instance well timed, and bordering upon the ludicrous, 
 though mostly tolerated, and always within the pale 
 of forgiveness. 
 
 When very vehement, there was often a sway of the 
 whole person from side to side, like a vessel yielding 
 to the rocking of the waves ; and the hand occasionally 
 placed on the top of the head, as if a little anxious 
 respecting the proper adjustment of his upper adorn- 
 ment, which, owing to its form, was apt to shift 
 its position with his violence, sometimes requiring
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 495 
 
 the thumb and finger of each hand to draw it over 
 the ear. His hand was inclined to the thick and 
 short, was sometimes laid upon the breast, as if 
 suddenly smiting it, and at other times, according 
 to the subject in hand, as if gently patting it. On 
 other occasions, when extremely emphatic, it was 
 suddenly driven down by his side, as if giving a 
 sudden stroke to a stake, with a -view to fix it in the 
 earth ; during which the shoulders were slightly raised, 
 the chin partially lowered on the breast, the eye- 
 brows rising and falling like curtains, and the eyes 
 flashing from beneath them. His actions were occa- 
 sionally a little heavy towards the close of life, but 
 never, strictly speaking, awkward ; almost invariably 
 comporting with his person, his matter, and the ex- 
 pression of his face. There was generally ease, if 
 not, in every instance, grace ; and, till latterly, they 
 corresponded with his eye, varied and quick ; and 
 though sometimes slightly redundant, not offensive. 
 In his more colloquial moods, when he had a rest 
 for the hand, or the arm, he often planted one leg 
 across the other ; but when impassioned, the union 
 was instantly dissolved, and there was an occasional 
 stamp with the foot. 
 
 He had a tolerable ear, but not a correct one ; 
 and here, as in the case of certain provincialisms, 
 persons are much more alive to the defects of others, 
 than their own. Hence, Mr. Dawson has sometimes 
 remarked to the writer, on the monotonous manner 
 in which the late excellent Rev. Daniel Isaac gave 
 out the hymns ; and yet, when he brought his own 
 imitative powers to bear on some exquisitely tender 
 subjects, or those of a bolder character, such as pro-
 
 496 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 clamations, &c., the subjects were occasionally over- 
 wrought by the manner. The subject of the Memoir, 
 like all others, was most natural when without design. 
 When he set his heart on the manner, he often 
 failed. His voice was not adapted to all circumstances, 
 subjects, and occasions; and yet he tried all with it, 
 when it would gladly have yielded, but could not, for 
 want of flexibility. It was not, like some, equally 
 adapted to the sarcastic, the ironical, the colloquial, 
 the pleasant, and the oratorical, but excelled in the 
 three latter, in which it sometimes yielded the same 
 variety to the ear, that a tolerable landscape affords 
 to the eye. 
 
 In reading the Lessons, he was sometimes running 
 and monotonous ; leaving the impression, that there 
 was not only a defect in taste, but in the ear, for 
 though he delighted in music, he had not the nice 
 discrimination requisite to enable him to form a judg- 
 ment in every case ; being pleased, without the ability 
 critically to examine it. Hence, in imitating the per- 
 sons supposed to speak, which he often did while 
 reading and preaching, he sometimes failed to hit to 
 a nicety the intonations required, as just noticed, 
 being either underdone or overdone, but most frequently, 
 in consequence of the strength of his own feelings, 
 the latter. At other tunes, he was extremely happy ; 
 though generally more natural in extempore speaking 
 than reading. His expositions of the Lessons, when 
 he indulged in this way, were mostly brief sentences 
 on some particular verse or turn of expression ; rarely en- 
 tering comprehensively into the design of the sacred pen- 
 man, connecting one part with another, or bringing one 
 part to bear upon another. His forte was not exposition ;
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 497 
 
 and, therefore, he generally, and wisely, avoided any 
 formal attempt to elucidate Scripture in that way. 
 
 But though he failed in real effectiveness occasionally 
 in reading, he amply made up for it in his sermon. His 
 voice was not clear, nor yet sweet and musical, and 
 rarely varied beyond three or four notes ; but amazingly 
 effective in its higher and bolder tones. In its middle 
 tone, there was occasionally the apparent effect of a 
 slight hoarseness, after hard labour and outdoor ex- 
 posure, accompanied with something like roughness, 
 but not unpleasantly so ; perhaps, rather a want of 
 sharpness, than otherwise. Its ordinary tone could be 
 given out with great fuhiess, then, screwed up to a 
 height till it became shrill, narrowing the mouth, 
 and pouring it out from a smaller aperture, still rising 
 till the key differed, and there was a pause for want 
 of breath, the last note quitting the ear, like the 
 last shrill blast of a bugle horn among the moun- 
 tains, which was as much felt in the sensations pro- 
 duced, as the other is heard in its echoes. He would 
 next, according to the subject, move the more tender 
 feelings, or rouse the stronger passions, sometimes 
 roaring it out, like the lien in the forest, while his 
 eyes seemed to flash fire upon all that looked upon 
 them. At a moment, when perception was clear, but 
 recollection was faulty as to expression, in not bringing 
 up words for the occasion, he became rapid, stut- 
 tered, and would have run on three or four times, 
 with "there, there, there, &c., but seemed to feel 
 no pain on that account ; or if any were felt, it 
 instantly died on the sentiment being delivered, pleased 
 with its anticipated beneficial effect upon the audience. 
 On some of these occasions, he exhibited some of the
 
 498 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 finest and most sublime strains of natural oratory. 
 One of his sermons, on "the fields are already white 
 unto the harvest," which he preached at Hull, on 
 a Missionary Anniversary, in 1818, which the writer 
 heard, was in the highest style of sacred action ; 
 especially when, like an ancient priest under the law, 
 he waved his hand over his head, as if filled with 
 stalks of precious grain, and with a heart teeming 
 with the finest emotions, his prophetic eye, mean- 
 while, darting forth its rays to the grand millenium, 
 when God shall have gathered into his church all 
 nations, and the reapers shall be seen returning, 
 and heard shouting, " Harvest home ! harvest home ! 
 harvest home ! " The voice and manner being adapted 
 to the occasion, and for which they were admirably 
 fitted, nothing but the "joy of harvest" was felt by 
 an electrified auditory. The same fine intonations 
 were heard also in his appeals to sinners, hastening 
 to destruction, and whom he was urging to enter 
 the Christian race ; " Stop, stop, strip, strip, start, 
 start sinner ! " 
 
 Often at the close of an impressive passage, he 
 would offer up a petition in prayer, as "The Lord 
 grant it! The Lord apply it," &c., during which, 
 the hands were either clasped or spread, the face turned 
 up to heaven, and the piercing eye, like a wedge, seemed 
 as if it would cleave the heaven towsards which it was 
 directed. 
 
 In singing, his voice was much sweeter than in 
 speaking ; he could humour it more ; and it seemed 
 as if it had acquired additional flexibility in the exer- 
 cise. His voice was, upon the wh.ole, sound, though 
 not like a bell ; and full, rather than richly varied.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 499 
 
 He bad much more eloquence of feeling, than correct- 
 ness of ear. His feelings were right, when his into- 
 nations and emphasis were not always properly placed, 
 but always most correct when loud, or rising to a 
 climax. His, in short, was not among the " airy 
 tongues that syllable men's names," but which put 
 forth things, and dealt them out with tremendous 
 force. 
 
 As to his language and pronunciation, there were 
 several defects to a merely critical ear ; the one, in 
 some instances, being homely from preference, and the 
 other provincial from habit and localization. It was, in 
 some cases, expressively Yorkshire ; as nou, shou, 
 nou-en, shou-en, for know, show, known, shown, 
 giving the two latter the effect of words of two syllables. 
 Wouldn't, shouldn't, &c., were often employed, and 
 earthen had the sound of ear t hern. Yet, like most 
 persons, he was unconscious of some of his defects, and 
 could occasionally smile at those of others, when tried 
 upon his own ear. His accentuation very often partook 
 of the same character as his pronunciation. When in 
 a homely vein, he would as to language, have selected 
 " black hole " instead of prison or cell ; and would 
 have represented, in true "Pilgrim Progress" style, 
 the devil as the "gaoler" of the "prison house of 
 sin," and the sinner with the chains of his unforgiven 
 crimes "clanking around him." Then, in a moment, 
 like a sudden gleam of sunshine, he would have stolen 
 over the spirit, with " But even, in this state, there 
 is, while on this side the gulf, encouragement for the 
 poor sinner. If angels sung, ' Glory to God in the 
 highest,' when Jesus was in a manger, we may well 
 sing it now, that he is upon a throne." There was a
 
 500 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 negligence about him now and then, a want of neat- 
 ness in his style ; but still, in the general, his language 
 was respectable, sometimes rough, or rather plain, 
 but never vulgar. Its leading characters were strength 
 and perspicuity. Though occasionally undignified, it 
 was never distorted, laboured, or inharmonious. He 
 was not among the defilers of the pure " well of Eng- 
 lish," but preserved the idiosyncracy which it possesses 
 independant of mere grammatical rules. He was never 
 harsh, crude, dissonant, or obscure, but might have 
 been understood by a child. "Style" has been prop- 
 erly denominated "the envelope of the inner thoughts ;" 
 and his perceptions being invariably clear, his language 
 was in harmony with his ideas. There was nothing misty 
 and undefined. It was not difficult, as just stated, to detect 
 occasional inaccuracies, and to perceive a want of early 
 classical training sometimes, in his impetuosity, sub- 
 stituting were for teas. But even here, there were no 
 blemishes of thought, through the weight of which he 
 sometimes broke down. Independant, however, of his 
 own style, and also of the style of those men, he united 
 in himself the allegory and tenderness of two of the 
 most famous of the Italian poets ; and he would have 
 excelled in language, in its strength, if not in its ease, 
 if polite literature, instead of the world's business, had 
 engaged his time and attention. " He sought," in his 
 own words, " to impress truth upon the heart in living 
 characters of light." 
 
 In his writings, as in his public speaking, are to be 
 found some fine touches, and some passages of great 
 brilliancy and strength. He published a sermon, as 
 already adverted to, on occasion of the death of the 
 Rev. William Bramwell, several short memoirs, a few
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 501 
 
 letters, and some addresses on passing events ; and 
 some of his sermons were taken down in short-hand, 
 and published in the " Wesleyan Preacher." But he 
 was not equally happy in writing as in speaking. The 
 reader loses the fire and the unction enjoyed by the 
 hearer. And besides, except in his private letters to 
 his friends, many of which are exquisitely tender, faith- 
 ful, forcible, and graceful, he generaUy wrote under 
 restraint, when the press and the public stood before 
 him, owing to a consciousness that he wanted the pre- 
 requisites for the niceties of English composition. 
 Proceeding in fear, a degree of stiffness was the result ; 
 the fountain of his thoughts sent forth its streams with 
 less copiousness, and the affections of the heart were 
 but partially unsluiced. Yet, in this case, his poverty 
 would have been another man's wealth ; and it was 
 only the poverty of a rich man, under less felicitous 
 circumstances. He always paid for perusal, and im- 
 parted to the reader what he could not obtain else- 
 where, though somewhat less than might have been 
 obtained from himself under more auspicious cir- 
 cumstances. He frequently interlined his manuscript 
 sermons with large emendations introduced whole 
 paragraphs wrote out new plans, and prefixed them to 
 the old materials, and sometimes re-wrote the greater 
 part, and intermixed the new with the old, in such a 
 way as to confound any one besides himself; and in 
 such a way too, as, would have even distracted his own 
 attention, had he been a mere memoriter preacher. 
 But he dwelt on things, not on mere verbiage ; the 
 thought was there, and the drapery followed. 
 
 Perhaps, in prayer, he was less acceptable to the 
 fastidious, than in preaching and writing. By some
 
 502 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 persons, who knew but little of his sincerity, and could 
 make no allowance for the peculiar cast of his mind, he 
 would have been deemed too colloquial at a throne of 
 grace, and more desirous of producing an effect upon 
 the hearer, than of obtaining a blessing from God; 
 more busily engaged with man than with his Maker ; 
 more disposed to strike the one, than to produce 
 reverence towards the other ; in short, too quaint, 
 figurative, and familiar giving the notion of a person 
 working out, and working up a thought, with a view to 
 impress the creature, rather than interest the Supreme 
 Being. Not only the fastidious, but pious, candid, and 
 intelligent persons, have demurred here. Hence, the 
 Rev. J. A. James, of Birmingham, in a letter to the 
 biographer, observes, "It occurred to me, that with 
 occasional real pathos, there was blended, as in the 
 case of my venerated friend, Rowland Hill, too much of 
 the humorous : and, in prayer, I thought there was a 
 too great familiarity in his style of address to God." 
 This defect was sometimes felt by his best friends ; and 
 both matter and manner might give rise to an impres- 
 sion of this kind ; but it was generally more at the 
 commencement, than in the body of his prayer. As 
 an example ; he commenced his prayer, on a particular 
 occasion, by telling his Maker, that he is the centre 
 and element of man ; that man had wandered from his 
 proper centre, and must now address himself in the 
 language of the Psalmist, " Return unto thy rest, O 
 my soul ;" and that he could no more be happy out of 
 his clement, than " the fish of the sea could be satis- 
 fied to live in green fields." Than this, not any thing 
 can be more naturally or theologically correct. The 
 last expression was the result of the previous train of
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 503 
 
 thought ; and though few men, besides himself, would 
 have employed the simile in prayer, yet the intonations 
 of the voice which followed his earnestness of spirit 
 his evident hold of God and the thorough Christian 
 feeling of his heart, instantly swallowed up the first 
 impression of the ludicrous ; and nothing but the sober, 
 deep, devout, yet fervid emotions of the soul, were felt 
 by all present. These were the general impressions 
 left upon the minds of religious characters, who united 
 with him in devout addresses to heaven, with the excep- 
 tion of the drawback to which reference has been made. 
 
 Being familiar with the liturgy of the Church of 
 England, he not unfrequently interwove a part of its 
 sentiments and phraseology into his prayers ; which, 
 with his earnest pleadings, had an amazing effect upon 
 the heart, and drew forth the deep response from the 
 audience. On other occasions, he would lay hold of 
 some text of Scripture, such as, " I will sing of 
 mercy," or, " His mercy endureth for ever," and 
 would apply it to the various states in which persons 
 might be found, or the circumstances in which they 
 might be placed, and then plead with God for mercy, 
 in connection with his promises to man. 
 
 He was always most in danger when he indulged his 
 fancy, which led him to the verge of the wild and 
 ludicrous. This faculty, when restrained, has been 
 aptly compared to a fountain, which plays the highest 
 by diminishing the aperture. But though he occasion- 
 ally, apart from prayer, indulged in the arabesque, 
 and the picturesque ; and was fond, especially on the 
 platform, of bewitching fancies ; and though he abound- 
 ed in carelessnesses, yet he rarely dealt in the super- 
 ficial, and scarcely beyond a few moments, ever lacked
 
 504 s MEMOIRS OF 
 
 vigorous variety. There was such glowing imagery, 
 such strength of expression, such fine strokes of wisdom, 
 such tenderness ; that the turns of humour, and the 
 sportings of fancy, were soon lost, " like the splendid 
 but unsubstantial creations which rise in the mists of 
 the morning, but are dissolved in the noon-day sun." 
 He knew, to change the metaphor adopted by another, 
 that sand often contains gold, but that sand would 
 make a very sorry foundation ; and therefore, never 
 failed to dig till he reached the rock. 
 
 Imagination, which is less airy in its character, and 
 somewhat more sedate in its movements, as well as 
 more correct in its delineations, was still more con- 
 spicuous. This was always at his command ; and 
 through the influence of the grace of God upon his 
 heart, he rarely failed to mirror things to the life. 
 Eveiy man could see himself in the glass held up, and 
 the particular truth in which he was most interested, 
 as immediately connected with his state and character. 
 The likeness was not always finished, but it was invari- 
 ably strong ; and no one could mistake the object or 
 character portrayed. He had the power, in a high 
 degree, of representing even sentiments and abstract 
 ideas, such as justice, mercy, and truth, and of 
 putting appropriate speeches into their mouths, as in the 
 " Sacred Dramas " of Mrs. H. More, and other moral 
 dramatic pieces ; and these impersonated ideas, had very 
 often an extraordinary effect upon his auditors. Had he 
 not been under the influence of religion, and had he 
 belonged to the reigns of JAMES and CHARLES, or to 
 the seventeenth century, he would have excelled Daniel 
 in his masques a species of writing consisting chiefly of 
 dialogues, and supported by allegorical characters.
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 505 
 
 On subjects where all was gay and brilliant, fancy 
 would sometimes steal a march upon him ; as when 
 representing the church under the similitude of a 
 building. "There," he would say, "every stone is 
 polished each fitted to its place ; and on one square is 
 written sparkling, not in letters of gold, but in living 
 letters of light, ' Him that cometh unto me, I will in 
 no wise cast out ;' on another, ' Wherefore he is able 
 also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God 
 by him ;' and on the top-stone, ' Glory to God in the 
 highest.' " Yet, for the spiritually-minded class of 
 hearers before him, the whole was sufficiently intelligible, 
 and his other matter amply atoned for any little freak of 
 imagination in which he might indulge, the object and 
 motive tolerating, if not justifying, the thing itself, 
 when even at issue with good taste and rigid criticism. 
 His descriptions were sometimes mixed up with 
 pictorial remarks, referring to moral and religious ideas, 
 while his moral and religious sketches and personifica- 
 tions were now and then as quaint as Quarles ; at 
 one moment horrid and unearthly, and at another 
 gay ; thus rendering them occasionally repulsive to 
 persons of refined taste but accordant with the feelings 
 of the uncultivated mass. 
 
 He seemed to have the faculty for representing what 
 are called the "Miracle Plays," whose object was to 
 present the principal supernatural events of the Old 
 and New Testament, not with their proofs of divine 
 authority by argument, but in their proper character, 
 and the incidents attendant on them. This remark 
 is of course made with a view to shew the character 
 of his mind, and is not to be understood as expressive 
 of regret, that it was not employed in that peculiar 
 
 Y
 
 506 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 way on divine subjects. Like Bunyan, he stood in 
 a class by himself. He exhibited some of the darker 
 and more violent passions of human nature, often 
 beautifully relieved and contrasted with the sorrows of 
 an unoffending and virtuous mind, as to the characters 
 he drew. He spoke as a traveller writes, who has 
 seen the object, and designs not neatly, but boldly, 
 touchingly, and sometimes minutely, as by the pencil 
 of an artist ; and he felt like a man who believes what 
 he says. His descriptive powers were such, as to 
 enable him to throw off what might be deemed faithful 
 portraits : they were exact and living, and often rapid 
 in their succession, for he had amazing quickness ; 
 and such, though often explored in their hidden 
 depths, as were not always brought to view. Others 
 often referred to what he described ; and the descrip- 
 tions, as already observed, in reference to himself, 
 were hung up in the chambers of the heart like 
 a portrait, but sometimes in the reverse way to his 
 own, for the portraits, as noticed in the commence- 
 ment of this article, were such, that the possessors, 
 when they themselves were represented, would have 
 gladly exchanged for others, but could not get rid of 
 them, and memory would not permit their destruction ; 
 and though sometimes a little caricatured, still the 
 likeness, even under these seldom occurring circum- 
 stances, might be seen, and the portrait fastened on 
 its rightful owner. He never attempted, however, to 
 caricature, but with a view to induce the sinner to 
 fall out of love with his sins and with himself. He 
 seemed now and then to have the singular faculty, 
 which is said to have been possessed by an eminent 
 German poet, of divesting himself of intellectual
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 50,7 
 
 identity, of becoming that which he contemplated or 
 described, of feeling the sensations, of thinking the 
 thoughts, of other persons. He would have become 
 the mother, the child, the penitent, the joyous Chris- 
 tian, the horror-stricken sinner, and his hearers 
 seemed to see and hear the person, and sympathize 
 with him. 
 
 Distinct from imagination, and from his descriptive 
 powers, there was the faculty of invention, and that 
 too, in an eminent degree. This may be distinguished 
 from the creative power which he possessed, and which 
 will not be overlooked, by applying the one to the act 
 of bringing a world of thought, so to speak, into exist- 
 ence, in the mass ; and the other, to the power of 
 eliciting from that mass, things in detail, in an almost 
 endless diversity of form. Not that his inventive 
 faculty was equal to his creative powers. He had his 
 divisions and subdivisions ; but still his sermons were 
 not branched out into various puritanical particulars. 
 Multiplicity would have embarrassed him ; a settled 
 plan of this kind would have destroyed his freedom. 
 It was the inspiration of the moment that awakened 
 his inventive faculty. He could have taken up a 
 single thought or figure, which flashed upon his 
 mind, could have turned it round and round in a 
 cylindrical way, both in prayer and preaching, con- 
 stantly exhibiting, as it revolved, some new point, 
 some new appearance on the surface, producing on 
 the minds of others the same effect that is experienced 
 by panoramic exhibitions upon the eye. On other 
 occasions, to employ the still less sanctified allusion 
 to the chase, which almost demands au apology for 
 its use, because of other more serious associations,
 
 508 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 he would start a thought, pursue it for some length 
 of time, keep pressing upon it, lose sight of it for 
 a few seconds, then branch off in another direction, 
 in consequence of other conceptions, suddenly, and, 
 in an unexpected moment, springing upon the old 
 thought again, in another part of the field, then 
 re-pursuing it for a brief space, till, like an animal, 
 taking shelter among the brushwood, it no less sud- 
 denly disappeared. When he broke away thus, they 
 were moments of intense interest with the hearers, 
 who were all fixed in palpitating pleasure in the 
 pursuit. He never, in any of his chasings, any of 
 his revolvings, failed to rouse and to instruct : and 
 on other occasions, he would have conjured up enemies 
 to the truth, of all sorts, and would have knocked 
 them down like "nine pins." 
 
 When not on particularly touching subjects, his wit 
 would sometimes unexpectedly escape ; and though not 
 always refined, yet always helpful to the point in ques- 
 tion, and never indulged merely with a view to produce 
 amusement. He invariably gave greater latitude to his 
 devious, roaming, and abrupt imagination on the plat- 
 form, than in the pulpit ; a proof of his discretion. 
 
 As is generally the case with highly imaginative 
 characters, he never shone as a logician ; and would, 
 from his want of ability to enter consecutively into 
 subjects of a profound, subtle, and abstract nature, 
 have been soon baffled by a metaphysician. Yet, 
 notwithstanding this, there was great shrewdness and 
 quickness of perception : but with him, it was the 
 blade that made an entrance at once, the logic of 
 a single stroke ; a few sentences grasping the general 
 argument, but specially, and, as by instinct, finding
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 509 
 
 their way to a vulnerable part, laying it bare, and 
 producing such conviction as to affect, and to render 
 suspicious, if not to demolish, the whole, in the esteem 
 of his unsophisticated hearers. He frequently employed 
 the terms therefore and consequently, which shewed 
 that the mind was exercising its reasoning powers. 
 But while he admitted with Fuller, that " Reasons 
 are the pillars of the fabric of a sermon," he knew 
 with him at the same time, that " similitudes are 
 the windows which give the best light." Hence, he 
 dismissed argumentation the moment he found he had 
 established his point, and gave scope to his imagination. 
 But though it was not a mind that could delight itself 
 with entering into the various subtleties and niceties 
 of an argument, pursuing it through all its intricacies, 
 doublings, and bearings, ferreting the designs of an 
 opponent out of all their lurking places, and keeping 
 close to the heels to the very last; yet he possessed 
 what was infinitely better for his purpose and for 
 his work, and this, by the way, is no bad proof 
 of the sagacity of the friends and members of the 
 Missionary Committee in the selection they made, a 
 ready perception of truth, took a masculine grasp of 
 his subject, and had a bold, persuasive, effective ora- 
 tory. The facts of man's fall were too glaring, and 
 the truths of the gospel too clear, for a profuse 
 expenditure of logic. In thus speaking of his argu- 
 mentative powers, it is by no means insinuated that 
 there was any essential defect in the manner, the 
 process, or the result of his reasonings. He sustains 
 no injury, when it is affirmed, that he was not a 
 Locke, not a Reid, not a Beattie, not a Dugald Stewart. 
 There are many gradations of intellect between a person
 
 f*10 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of respectable talents and the first of these masters. 
 He might not have reached any of these, and yet 
 have surpassed millions of the human species. Mr. 
 Dawson's was not the long even thread of the finest 
 spun silk, but a logic of points and angles, shooting 
 out in unexpected directions, and excessively annoying 
 to the persons against whom it might be directed ; 
 scattering, to change the metaphor, his shafts, like a 
 shower of barbed arrows, which were left rankling 
 in the conscience of the sinner, compelling him to 
 flee to the spiritual physician for healing and strength. 
 It was the logic, not of the study, but of the market, 
 of the exchange, and of the counting-house ; the logic, 
 not of the few, but of the multitude ; the logic which 
 the least cultivated could understand. It was, in short, 
 the logic of the lightning, whose stroke was death 
 to the subterfuge of every sinner, and whose flash 
 was conviction to the lukewarm professor. 
 
 He proceeded to work with an argument, like the 
 eagle, on perceiving its prey, never for a moment 
 busying itself in the examination of the plumage or 
 the form of the bird upon which it is about to 
 pounce, but viewing it as a whole, making one fell 
 swoop, clutching it at once, and bearing it up, writhing 
 in very agony, till lost for ever to the gaze of the 
 spectators. There was no delicacy in the handling ; 
 it was prey he had to deal with, prey to be 
 destroyed, not for its value, but because of its odious- 
 ness, having been hurtful to the life of the sinner 
 himself and his associates, and in the destruction of 
 which angels might rejoice. This was the man for 
 the work of the ministry. If there was a naked point, 
 it was seen ; and though visible before to the sinner, it
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 511 
 
 was laid still more bare to the public eye, so that he began 
 to suspect he was as well known to the preacher and 
 others as to himself. If deception had been resorted 
 to, it was exposed ; if the sinner persevered, the 
 branding iron was applied. If he had been in the 
 hands of others, had been tampered with, and his 
 case had become desperate, he was dealt with like 
 a person whose life was at stake. There was no 
 ceremony, rank never occurred to the mind, health 
 was the object, a few twinges and writhings in the 
 patient were unheeded, so intensly was the eye fixed 
 upon the grand object to be attended to, health, 
 perfect health. He boldly lashed the vices and follies, 
 both of individuals and whole classes, sometimes with 
 bluntness, but always with fidelity : and when he found 
 persons ministering to the grovelling tastes, and un- 
 reasonable prejudices of the multitude, he never failed 
 to launch a bolt at them, regardless of consequences. 
 Every thing was done and said, whether in the pul- 
 pit or the social circle, with such honesty of purpose 
 and manner, that his very failings commended him 
 to confidence. There were no suspicious pretensions 
 to credit. When speaking of himself, though he might 
 excite a quiet smile now and then at his own expense, 
 it was unmixed with anything offensive ; and at no 
 time did he ever attempt to raise himself by sinking 
 others. All his remarks upon himself were good- 
 natured, not selfish, somewhat gregarious ; and he 
 felt a pleasure in extolling others whenever praise 
 was due. The fact is, that, in the minutest circum- 
 stances, and in all his transactions with men, he 
 permitted an enlightened conscience to tell its own 
 tale ; and trivial things, things unavoidable in them-
 
 512 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 selves, produced the greatest sensibility, when they 
 would have been passed off by others as things of 
 course. 
 
 Generally speaking, he had a consummate know- 
 ledge of man, a shrewd insight into business trans- 
 actions, and good judgment and experience in the 
 leading truths of the Bible. This, with his rich 
 imagination, which aided him in drawing out and 
 illustrating the general doctrines of the gospel, in his 
 peculiar way, formed a good ground-work for his appeals 
 to the conscience. In some very rare cases, the love 
 of novelty, and the desire of producing effect, gave 
 a momentary bias to the judgment ; particularly when 
 grappling with some great subject, or employed in 
 the work of illustration, and at the moment that 
 thoughts appeared to be teeming in upon him, re- 
 turning to them again and again, then, throwing 
 out his feelers for expression, but still in love with 
 the conceit or novelty, and trying to justify it, with 
 a disposition to maintain it, from a pure love of its 
 being new, till the judgment rose up in rebellion 
 against it. Thus, in an attempt to encourage the 
 desponding sinner, he observed on one occasion, 
 " There are two Infinite Loves ; one in the Deity, 
 and another in the humanity of Christ; two infinite 
 oceans meeting in one." Now, the idea of two in- 
 finities, and one of those infinities in a finite humanity, 
 involves an absurdity which would soon Jbe detected 
 by the mind, though capable of administering encourage- 
 ment to the feelings of an uninstructed awakened 
 sinner. Besides, an attempt to augment the infinite 
 love of God by dividing it for it could never in- 
 crease it, will admit of but little support in the way of
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 513 
 
 argument. This, however, was urged by the excellent 
 subject of the Memoir ; and when, in his amplification, 
 he found the love of novelty fetter him, he endeavoured 
 to qualify it, by asserting an infinite love in the God- 
 head, and a perfect love in the manhood. The same 
 consequence resulted from his desire to produce effect, 
 which was generally mixed up with his love of novelty, 
 the one originating chiefly in his creative powers, 
 and the other in his deep feeling. The latter some- 
 times led him to mar his best thoughts, by over- 
 shooting them. His mouth was generally, in the 
 language of the apostle, full of " strong meat " from 
 GoS to the people. His thoughts resembled his phy- 
 sical frame ; they were solid, full, strong. It was 
 not unfrequently the sledge-hammer, the battering 
 ram, the thunder, the lightning. In some instances, 
 he would be heard by persons of no religious feeling, but 
 of refined taste and classical attainments, for amusement, 
 owing to his light, daring, terrific, singularities. 
 
 If he ever failed, it was when fancy was in- 
 dulged in the illustration of a subject : in his deduc- 
 tions from scriptural truth, he was remarkable 'for 
 soundness of judgment ; always clear and condensed 
 in his definitions, and convincing in his conclusions. 
 He had a quick and clear insight into the Word of 
 God; and the truths there, like certain propositions 
 noticed by Reid on the "Intellectual Powers," were 
 no sooner understood than believed. The judgment 
 followed the apprehension of them necessarily ; and 
 both were equally the work of nature, and the result 
 of his original powers. There was no searching for 
 evidence, no weighing of arguments ; no inference 
 drawn from other things. He saw the light of truth
 
 f>14 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 in itself; and with the same clearness, and force, 
 and correctness, he imparted it to others. There is 
 hut too much truth in the remark, that "it is with 
 our judgments as our watches ; none go just alike, 
 yet each believes his own." But if a man wish to 
 keep his watch right, he will take care to regulate 
 it by the sun, as the good man takes care to regu- 
 late his creed by the Bible. This was the case with 
 Mr. Dawson, who read and examined the Sacred Re- 
 cords for himself, and would never rely on "visual 
 beams refracted through another's eye." 
 
 In directing still further attention to the mind, his 
 originality seemed at once to invite observation ; a 
 talent by which things and qualities not previously des- 
 cribed, are discovered and exhibited, or, if familiar, are 
 shewn in new lights. It is only occasionally, as it 
 was in his case, united with power, for it is a slow 
 and studious faculty ; and when combined with genius, 
 is often mistaken as the peculiar element of that 
 remarkable energy. His creations were numerous and 
 varied, and of a character peculiar to themselves but 
 never finished. They resembled a bold, rich, well- 
 wooded country, not the gay, lined, systematized 
 pleasure-ground, in which art is stealing upon the gaze 
 of the spectator at every turn : but though rich, always 
 in want of a certain portion of cultivation, the veriest 
 trifle of which would amply compensate for the labour 
 bestowed, and which stood more in need of the hoe, the 
 knife, and the mattock, than the shower, the sun, and 
 the manure. When most unfinished, they still bore the 
 hand of a master, the principal thing required to im- 
 prove them being, not so much the general adjustment, 
 as merely a little levelling here and there, for the sake
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 515 
 
 of greater grace and ease, there being prominences 
 sufficient, even more than a due proportion, without 
 it. Nor were they, it may be added, always beautiful, 
 indeed rarely ; but they were invariably striking. He 
 was never without original imagery, striking sentiment, 
 fertility of expression, and happy combinations though 
 occasionally a century behind some of the modem 
 sermonizers, associating more immediately with the 
 most useful, the purest, and noblest of the Puritan divines. 
 The Rev. J. A. James, of Birmingham, himself an 
 excellent model, as well as an admirable judge of minis- 
 terial character and qualification, whose opinion has 
 already been adverted to, observes in the same letter to 
 the biographer, " With respect to the opinion which I 
 am alledged to have expressed of Mr. Dawson, I cannot 
 take upon myself either to confirm, or deny the report. 
 
 If you had it from Mr. himself, I have no doubt of 
 
 its correctness : for if I did not say it, I thought it. Mr. 
 Dawson was in every respect a man sui generis, and 
 must not be tried as a public speaker by the rules 
 which are applied to other men." Mr. James then, in 
 allusion to what the classical reader will find in one of 
 the most admired Italian poets one of those thoughts 
 which could only proceed from a great mind, and only 
 occur once to the same mind, 
 
 " Natura lo fece, e poi ruppe la stain pa ;" 
 
 " Nature formed him, and then broke up the mould ;" 
 further observes, " The mould in which his mind and 
 manner were cast, was exclusively his own, and was 
 broken up when his character was formed. No one 
 should none I believe did, for none could imitate him. 
 I never heard him preach but once, nor did I ever hear 
 more than one speech from him ; but both the sermon
 
 516 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 and the oration displayed a force of genius, and com- 
 mand of striking illustration, such as I had scarcely 
 ever heard. The taste of some of his most splendid 
 corruscations of mental brilliance might be questioned, 
 but their power over a certain class of minds was irre- 
 sistible." In a conversation which the biographer had, 
 about the same time, with the author of "The World 
 before the Flood," the latter remarked, when speaking 
 of Mr. Dawson, that he often employed beautiful 
 figures, not figures for the occasion, introduced for 
 the sake of embellishment, as in a poem, but woven 
 into the very texture of his language, and forming a 
 part of it. He admitted that he occasionally bordered 
 on the absurd, when he gave scope to his fancy, but 
 that he sometimes rose into sublimity, and into the 
 highest style of natural eloquence ; added to which, 
 and it was here that he admired him most, there was 
 often uncommon power of thought, and unusual pathos ; 
 though he always preferred him in the pulpit to the 
 platform. He considered him a good subject for 
 biography, though not equal to Samuel Hick for sim- 
 plicity and unexpected variety ; being much more varied 
 in his discourse than in his character, and so consti- 
 tuting one difference, with many others, between 
 Hick's originality and his own. In matter, he pro- 
 nounced him to be exceedingly varied having height 
 and depth, with all the shades between. 
 
 It will be easy to perceive the kind of matter in 
 which it was likely he would deal, from the peculiarity 
 of his genius, and the strength of his feelings. His 
 thoughts, both in prayer and preaching, were like 
 masses of ore and often of the most valuable kind, 
 like ingots of pure gold, from which the most beautiful
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 517 
 
 current coin might be struck into form and size, and 
 without which, though devoid of polish, a realm might 
 have been without a currency ; at least, without a 
 currency but for similar minds ; as it is not likely that 
 the "coinage of the brain," would have received the 
 same sort of die if die at all, except taken up from 
 such minds, by others of inferior intellectual grade. 
 Throughout the whole, there was an evident want of 
 refinement, which a thorough discipline might have 
 produced. It is doubtful, however, whether the exu- 
 berance of his fancy and genius, would have ever allowed 
 him to be pinioned down to order. The question pro- 
 posed to the Rev. J. A. James, of Birmingham, 
 " What would he have been had he been favoured with 
 an academical education?" and the reply given to it, 
 " He would have been spoiled," comprehends much 
 more of truth without at all interfering with the gen- 
 eral question which involves the propriety of a whole- 
 some early training than will at first sight be admitted ; 
 for it is not improbable, that the buoyancy of his native 
 genius, whatever might have been the polish bestowed, 
 would have turned up the surface, and have rendered it 
 occasionally a little rough to the eye. He was one of 
 the patriarchs of Methodism not in years but for 
 being hale both in body and mind unsmitten by 
 effeminacy ; a diamond in the rough, who received 
 sufficient polish from the station which he was destined 
 to adorn, as he rolled on with the tide of labour that 
 carried him forward precious for his value, and 
 dazzling for his brilliancy, without being indebted to 
 the hand of the lapidary. His value was seen and 
 known through his coating ; as much so, as was that 
 of John the Baptist through his "leathern girdle,"
 
 518 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 and his garment of " camel's hair. " He thought 
 strongly, and he spoke strongly. The thoughts, how- 
 ever, which he bolted forth, were not mere huge, 
 shapeless masses, 'but were often worked up with con- 
 siderable skill. 
 
 Love and fear were the two passions on which he 
 principally laid hold ; and these had a corresponding 
 influence upon his matter. No congregation could 
 resist his appeals, when addressing the maternal, filial, 
 or fraternal feelings. On all pathetic subjects, the 
 people were like a piece of mechanism in his hand, 
 which he could wind at will. In the same sermon, 
 and within only a few seconds, the same persons, 
 melted into tenderness, and like the wax, ready to 
 receive the impression, or like the ore in a fluid 
 state, ready for the mould, would have been suddenly 
 awe- struck, the eyes fixed, the lips apart, the 
 body motionless, and within hearing of the beating 
 of their own hearts. On the horrors of hell, the 
 flame seemed to flash upon the eye, representing, 
 in terrific contrast, the rich, the titled, the gay, 
 surrounded with everything calculated to fascinate the 
 eye, captivate the ear, and minister to the taste, 
 tossed from a bed of feathers into a bed of fire, 
 exchanging the salubrious air for the suffocating stench 
 of brimstone, the salute of fondest friends, for in 
 his own language, the "grin of demons," and where 
 "the least and meanest fiend in the regions of woe, 
 was permitted to spit hell fire in their face. " It 
 was, indeed, on such occasions, " the reign of ter- 
 ror." But even Here, he was very often on his way 
 to something exquisitely tender. He was never remote 
 from the cross ; rarely out of sight of it, generally
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 519 
 
 hovering round it, and sometimes, like a bird of 
 heaven, would seem to alight upon it, and there 
 make his stay. He generally avoided long declama- 
 tion ; and his style being_ highly impassioned, was 
 consequently metaphoric, and therefore striking ; for 
 all metaphor is the natural language of a raised 
 imagination and agitated heart : and his own heart 
 being affected with his subject, he found ready access 
 to the hearts of others. When he did declaim, he 
 was generally brief; though he was as powerful a 
 declaimer, as he was an excellent painter ; and always 
 had logic enough for the subject upon which he des- 
 canted. 
 
 In connexion with his matter, and uninjured by his 
 lighter moods, was a certain authority which he 
 invariably exercised over his respective auditories. 
 Whatever he might have felt, he appeared an utter 
 stranger to everything like fear in the pulpit. He 
 was there like " one having authority." Beside his 
 native courage, the immense crowds that attended 
 his ministry sometimes, as in Manchester and other 
 populous places, rendering the presence of the police 
 necessary, attested how much he was beloved by the 
 people ; and it was love in him which, in return, 
 " cast out fear." He spoke, whether colloquially or 
 oratorically, acted, and was as free, even with the 
 most splendid, and most numerously attended audience 
 in the city, as with the smaller and humbler in the 
 rural districts. On entering the pulpit, and closing 
 the door, he was like a man who had entered his own 
 dwelling, where he only, of human beings, exercised 
 the authority of a master, and those around were at 
 his bidding, and under his influence, as dependants.
 
 520 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 The pulpit was his home, wherever it might stand. 
 Yet, though master, there were no authoritative airs. 
 With a becoming dignity, there was always that feeling 
 of reverence present, that left the impression, that one 
 was his Master even CHRIST. In his fearlessness 
 and authority, with other qualifications, he reminds us 
 of the self-possession, and some other traits that were 
 found in the character of Bridane, who, like himself, 
 acted in the capacity of a Christian Missionary.* 
 
 *The Abbe Maury has given us a striking exordium of Bri Jane's. Speakii.g 
 of Cicero, and extolling his eloquence, he says, 
 
 " If there remain any traces of this ancient and vigorous eloquence, which 
 is no other than the voice of nature, it is among the missionaries, and we 
 must go to the country for examples. These apostolic men, endued with an 
 imagination vigorous and strong, know no other success than conversions, no 
 other applause than tears. Often destitute of taste, they descend, I grant, tt> 
 burlesque details ; but they strongly strike the senses. Their threatenings 
 impress terror ; and the people hear them with concern. Yet many among 
 them have sublime strokes; and an orator does not attend them without profit, 
 when he knows how to distinguish the great effects of his art. Mr. Bridane, 
 the man of this age the most justly celebrated of that order, was born with a 
 popular eloquence, full of metaphors and fire ; and no one possessed in a 
 higher degree the talent of seizing on an assembled multitude. He had such 
 a fine voice, as rendered credible all the prodigies that history recounts of the 
 declamations of the ancients. He could be as easily heard by ten thousand 
 people in the open air, as though he had spoken under the most sonorous arch. 
 One could remark in all he said natural turns of eloquence ; very expressive 
 metaphors; blunt, new, and striking thoughts, with all the characters of a 
 fertile imagination; some extemporaneous stroke, and sometimes even whole 
 discourses, delivered with the correctest taste and warmth. I remember to 
 have heard him preach his first sermon in the church of St. Sulpicius, in Paris, 
 in the year 1751. The most brilliant circles of the capital, excited by curiosity, 
 came to hear him. Bridane perceiving in the assembly many bishops and 
 persons of distinction, with an innumerable crowd of ecclesiastics, the siglit, 
 far from intimidating, inspired him with the following exordium: 
 
 "'At the sight of an audience so new to me, it might seem, my brethren, I 
 should not open my mouth, but only ask favour in behalf of a poor Missionary, 
 destitute of those talents which you require when we address you on the 
 concerns of your salvation. But I feel impressed to-day with a sentiment 
 widely different ; and if I appear to humble myself, do not believe that I abase 
 myself to the miserable inquietudes of vanity, as though I were accustomed to 
 preach myself. God forbid that a minister of heaven should think he has any 
 need of apologizing for himself to you I For, whosoever you are, yon are no
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 521 
 
 Associated with his authority, was his power, which 
 was still more perceptible, though often confounded by 
 less critical minds, with power altogether divine, as 
 attendant on his ministry. This faculty was distin- 
 guished in him, not barely by bringing a creation of 
 the mind into existence, but by occasionally heaving up 
 the mighty mass manufacturing materials already 
 brought into being, and shewing a Herculean power 
 
 other than sinners like myself. It is before your God and mine that I feel 
 constrained to smite upon my breast. Ace Maria .' 
 
 '"Till the present time, I have published the righteousness of the Most 
 High in temples covered with thatch ; I have announced the rigours of 
 penitence to the miserable who wanted bread ; I have proclaimed to the good 
 inhabitants of the country the most terrific truths of my religion. What have 
 I done 'wretch that I am? I have saddened the poor, the best friends of 
 my God. I have carried grief and dismay into those simple, faithful souls 
 whom I ought to have consoled j and with whom I should have sympathized. 
 " ' But here my looks fall on the great, on the rich, on the oppressors of 
 suffering humanity ; or on sinners audacious and hardened. Ah .' it is here 
 only I should make the holy word resound with all its strength and thunder ,- 
 and place with me in this pulpit, on the one hand, death, which threatens 
 you; and on the other, my great God, who is about to judge you. I hold 
 to-day your sentence in my hand. Tremble, then, before me, ye haughty and 
 disdainful men, who hear me. The necessity of salvation, the certainty of 
 death ; the uncertainty of that hour so terrible to you ; final impenitence ; the 
 lust judgment; the small number who obtain salvation; and, above all, 
 ETERNITY ETERNITY ! These are the subjects with which I come to enter- 
 tain you, and which I ought, without doubt, to have reserved for you alone. 
 Ah ! what need have I of your applause, which might damn me without saving 
 you ? God is going to affect you by his unworthy minister who addresses 
 jou ; for I have acquired a long experience of his mercies : then, penetrated 
 with horror for your past sins, you shall come and cast yourselves into my 
 arms, pouring out tears of compunction and penitence ; and, by the force of 
 remorse, 'you will find me to be eloquent enough. Ah.' upon what do you 
 found your hopes, my brethren, that your last moments are so distant? Is it 
 because you are young ? Yes, you say, / have as yet but twenty or thirty years. 
 Ah ! it is not you who have twenty or thirty years, but death who has twenty 
 or thirty years in advance upon yon. Take heed. Eternity approaches. Do 
 you know what eternity is ? It is a clock, the pendulum of which incessantly 
 says, ALWAYS ! EVEE! EVER! ALWAYS! ALWAYS! During these vibrations, a 
 damned soul cries out, What o'clock is it? And the same voice replies, It it 
 KTERXITY ! '" Dicours sur f Eloquence de la Chaire, page 45. 
 
 I am afraid we have no traces of this missionary eloquence in England, 
 unless it be among the itinerant missionaries.
 
 522 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 in their use : hence it has been styled, and not un- 
 aptly, "a manufacturing faculty." It is not in the 
 light, superficial, "namby pamby" way that it acts; 
 but it shews itself by wielding the mace, or, like the 
 giant of old, by handling the weaver's beam ; or, 
 perhaps, more appropriately still, like Samson, shaking 
 pillars, temple, and all, but without expiring in the 
 struggle, again, and again rising with the same giant 
 might as before : and here was a peculiarity in the 
 subject before us ; for it was not with him. as with 
 a man, who puts forth all his energies on a solitary 
 occasion, and, by one single effort, exhausts his strength, 
 requiring a lapse of time to recruit again, but it 
 was a regular succession of efforts, without any appa- 
 rent feebleness occasioned by exercise, year after year, 
 and in place after place, manifesting the same power 
 in body and in intellect. He had a remote resem- 
 blance to one of our first poets, whom to name 
 might be deemed a profanity by some, and a weakness 
 by others, but so it is believed is the fact, he had 
 a power of conceiving characters, and, after conceiving 
 them, a readiness of throwing himself into them, as 
 has been shewn, though a little too comic now and 
 then, so as to bring from them a discourse which 
 would generally be allowed, to be such as would be 
 spoken under the supposed circumstances. It was 
 the same with characters selected from Scripture, from 
 personal observation, and general history. He seemed 
 to have strong pleasure, when his subject led to it, 
 in whatever was terrible, even though it bordered 
 sometimes upon extravagance ; and there were single 
 passages in his sermons, which, as exhibitions of the 
 more violent passions, were inferior to nothing in the
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 523 
 
 whole range of modern pulpit oratory. He shewed ex- 
 traordinary power also, as has been noticed, of managing 
 argument in sentences, of compressing his thoughts, 
 like Pope, in his "Essay on Man," into clauses of the 
 most energetic brevity, as well as of expanding them 
 into passages glittering though in the rough, with 
 every ornament calculated to captivate the general 
 hearer. Such a man, it would not be unnatural to 
 conceive, when we connect with his native energy, 
 the overwhelming power that attended his ministry, 
 would have been a fine companion in open field with 
 Luther ; nor is it at all derogatory to either the 
 birth or native character of Luther, his learning of 
 course unmixed with the comparison, to have another 
 noble creation of God placed by his side. 
 
 There is a passage in the works of a popular author, 
 on the least fascinating portion of Luther's character, 
 which as it contains some points of similarity, will 
 produce the impression that the writer wishes to con- 
 vey, and so form an apology for the subject in question, 
 an apology, be it observed, not so necessary because 
 of any positive defect in the subject alluded to, as 
 because of the mistaken views of others. "Hitherto," 
 the author observes, " the too common idea of the 
 great Reformer's character has been, that it was a mere 
 compound of violence and ruggedness. These traits 
 have been made so prominent, that the finer lines of the 
 portrait have been completely shaded from the sight. 
 If, in fact, we knew nothing of Dr. Johnson but his 
 occasional bursts of savage and vmcouth manners, we 
 should not have a more erroneous impression of him 
 than is generally entertained of Luther. Another 
 reason of our misconception is, that we too often honour
 
 524 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 mere daintiness of mind with the name of delicacy, 
 sensibility, humanity, and virtue; whilst the rough 
 exterior and the passionate expression, smack to the 
 taste of drawing-room, fashionable society, whence 
 opinions are usually circulated, only of brutality and 
 ferocity. Perhaps, however, the finest, richest, and 
 most generous species of character is that which pre- 
 sents to the dainty the most repulsive surface. Within 
 the rough rind the feelings are preserved unsophis- 
 ticated, robust and healthy. The rough outside keeps 
 off that insidious swarm of sensibilities, which taint, 
 and adulterate, and finally expel all natural and vigorous 
 emotions from within us. The idea of a perfect man 
 has always been figured forth in our minds by the em- 
 blem of the lion coming out of the lamb, and the lamb 
 coming out of the lion. Of this description of charac- 
 ter was Luther. Nothing could exceed his submissive- 
 ness and humility when choice was left him whether to 
 be humble or daring; but when conscience spoke, no other 
 consideration for the moment was attended to, and he 
 certainly did then shake the forest in his magnificent 
 ire. But if we behold him one moment, to use his own 
 quotation from Scripture, pouring contempt upon princes, 
 and highly raging against the highest upon earth, we 
 see him the next in his familiar correspondence, a poor, 
 humble, afflicted man, not puffed "up with pride at the 
 great things he had accomplished, but rather struck 
 down at a sense of his unworthiness. As to his violence, 
 it was part of his mission to be violent, and those who 
 charge it as a fault, blame Divine Providence. Not to 
 have been violent, would have been in him not to be in 
 earnest. And here it may be observed, that his violence 
 was not verbal ; it was merely the rousing voice to
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 525 
 
 awaken Europe from the lethargy of ages. In his 
 opinions and views, he was the most moderate of all 
 reformers. In his coarseness, however, his low origin 
 certainly speaks out ; yet there is something sublime in 
 the peasant (the miner's son) dragging popes, and 
 kings, into his wrestling ring, and handling them with 
 as much roughness and as little ceremony as he would 
 a hob-nailed clown from a country market-place. He 
 was moulded by the hand that sent him. The acci- 
 dents of this world had no power to change or modify 
 his moral conformation. There was a oneness, a whole- 
 ness, an uncompoundedness of character in him. The 
 Divine finger had chiselled on his moral frame but one 
 idea and that external to his earthly condition. Hence 
 was begotten the simplicity and homeliness of Luther's 
 walk and life. Had he acted the great man, he would 
 have proved that he was not the apostle." 
 
 The similarity between the two men, the son of the 
 Isleben, or Saxon Miner, and the son of the Yorkshire 
 Colliery Agent, is not, as already intimated, so much to 
 be seen in the detail in the filling up as in the broad 
 mass, the masculine character sustained in the separate 
 spheres in which they moved. The one had the range 
 of Germany, the other, England, Ireland, and Wales ; 
 the one had to do with princes and ecclesiastical 
 dignitaries, the other with the humbler orders of 
 society ; the one had to uproot error in the church, 
 the other to grapple with vice, in its various forms, in 
 the world ; the times of the one were of the most 
 sombre character, those of the other, of religious light ; 
 the one had few aids, and public favour was on 
 the side of the other : but like Luther, from the collo- 
 quial cognomen of " BILLY " in his own neighbourhood,
 
 526 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 and the "YORKSHIRE FARMER" abroad, an air of 
 rusticity was thrown around his character which did not 
 belong to it ; and from the mistaken notions of others, 
 who never entered within the walls of a Wesleyan 
 chapel, and who received their impressions from the state- 
 ments of either the ignorant, the irreligious, or from the 
 burlesqued accounts of the profane, he dwindled down 
 into the character of a plain well-meaning man, with 
 something of fancy, with less of judgment, whose 
 popularity arose from his eccentricities, the thunder 
 of whose power was merely in the strength of his voice, 
 and whose religion was enthusiastic rant. But com- 
 bined with vast power, he possessed, beyond all ques- 
 tion, the greatest degree of originality of any of his 
 contemporaries in the ministry. His genius too, was 
 of a high order the highest in the body ; but it was 
 by his power and originality that he was principally 
 distinguished. In Luther's day, and in Luther's cir- 
 cumstances, he would have been found, vested with a 
 Luther's prowess, and armed with the quailing power 
 comprised in some of the best and most condensed of 
 Luther's replies. Who, but a man of more than ordi- 
 nary mental capacity, could have given birth to the 
 conception, or would have been ready with the reply 
 which Mr. Dawson gave to the question respecting the 
 sublime and benevolent object of Christian Missions ? 
 " Their object," he returned, "is no other than that of 
 blocking up the ' broad icay ' of covering it over 
 with verdure and of preventing the keen eye of an 
 archangel from seeing so much as the print of a human 
 foot upon it." This was reformation on a much more 
 magnificent scale, an object much more sublime, than 
 Luther ever contemplated, whose object was not so
 
 WILLIAM DAWSON. 527 
 
 much the conversion of the world, as the purification of 
 the church. 
 
 But in that which has been stated, we can scarcely 
 fail to perceive, in the late Mr. William Dawson, the 
 MAN, the CHRISTIAN, and the MINISTER; the Man, 
 who was an honour to human nature, the Christian, 
 who was an ornament to the Church, and the Minister, 
 who, in Methodism, whether ancient or modern, stood 
 more apart from his brethren than almost any other 
 preacher for the peculiarity of his genius, and the bold, 
 original, and successful character of his ministry 
 approaching the nearest of any man to the definition 
 given by the poor countryman of the celebrated George 
 Whitfield as a preacher, who, in reply to the interroga- 
 tory of his master on the subject, returned, " Preach, 
 Sir ! He preached like a lion ; " a metaphor full of life, 
 full of fire, full of power, full of majesty. But if Mr. 
 Dawson preached like a lion, he lived like a lamb ; and 
 has in this furnished posterity with another example of 
 a " perfect man " as far as perfection can be attached 
 to the human character, in connexion with its own 
 peculiarities " the Lion coming out of the Lamb, and 
 the Lamb coming out of the Lion " bold, yet harmless, 
 innocent, inoffensive; nay, more, a blessing to his 
 species; thus terminating one of the most brilliant 
 and extraordinary careers in the history of the lay 
 ministry of Methodism, at the close of its first trium- 
 phant CENTENARY. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 YORK : J. COULTAS, PRINTER.
 
 
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