On that ground, I should think it wrong to go to a ball or to join in the dance.

"2. The dress that is used at a dance is generally not only expensive but also indelicate.

"3. The hours that are kept are unreasonably late. Often the whole night is spent in dancing, and all the party is next day fagged and tired. Night is turned into day, and day into night.

"4. The light clothing and heated rooms are often followed by cold, consumption, and death.

"5. Private prayer and family worship must always be interrupted. I think we ought not to take part in anything which would unfit us for communion with God.

"Of course I am not surprised that the people of the world should dance. They have no pleasures in the exercises of religion. To them the Bible is an uninteresting book, and prayer is an irksome task. They often want something to occupy their thoughts and to pass away their time. But when such persons are converted to God they lose their relish for the ballroom."

Careful as the young minister of Baldock was, he did not always escape censure. He one day visited an aged Christian woman, who said, "I have heard a report of you, sir, which has very likely it is not true." the other evening you were open, and you were heard singing a song." "Oh, that

troubled my mind; but "What is it?" "Why, sitting with your window

is quite true." "Is it?" said the old lady anxiously; then detecting a lurking smile under the assumed gravity of her pastor, she said, "Ah! then, I dare say it was one of the songs of Zion." "No; it was not. I was singing to my baby, and you shall hear the song,' So he sang, 66 Home, sweet home." "Sure now," remarked the listener, "there was no harm in that." "Not a bit," was the cheerful answer; but the little incident showed the minister how carefully he was watched, and how anxious some people were to find a weak point in his armour, through which to send the arrow of accusation.

Mr. Rowland preached from home frequently, and on one occasion visited the town of Luton. Collections for some good object were made; the amount raised was considerable, and Mr. Rowland was asked to take charge of it. After leaving the town, he was letting his pony walk up a steep hill, when he observed that a man was close to the chaise and keeping pace with it. The road was lonely, and the appearance of his companion not very tempting, so he hinted to his steed that a quicker pace was desirable.

The pony, which without difficulty went at the rate of ten miles an hour, set off at a trot. To his owner's surprise the man threw back his head and started off with apparent ease at the same rate. The collection felt very heavy in the pastor's pocket, and the conviction arose in his mind that his undesired fellowtraveller intended to transfer it to his own. Again he touched the pony, it quickened its pace; but the

man, who had come quite close, remarked, "It is of no use for you to try to get away, I can easily keep up with your pony." This statement seemed uncomfortably true. So with a quick resolve Mr. Rowland pulled up, and turning to the man, said, quietly, "My friend, if you wish for a ride, you had better step in." He immediately accepted this offer, and remarked as he seated himself, "You could not drive faster than I can walk. I am a runner and a prize fighter; look at my arm, and he showed one of extraordinary strength and sinew. If I had chosen, I could have taken the spokes of your wheel and turned the chaise over." This was scarcely a pleasant observation to hear on a dreary road at night; and our father afterwards acknowledged that his heart never beat faster than it did then. To his companion he manifested no fear; but, after a little conversation, said, "You have one thing that you always take about with you of more value than anything else. Do you know what it is?" "No; I do not." "It is your soul." Then he pressed on the man's mind the value of the soul and the need of a Saviour. He

listened respectfully. Soon a place was reached where a narrow lane ran into the road. Opposite this the man gave a peculiar shrill whistle, then said, "I will get down here, sir ;" and having alighted, added, "Good night, sir, you are a gentleman, whoever you are, and I should be very sorry to hurt you." The minister went safely on his way, thanking God who had preserved him in time of danger.

He had no doubt that accomplices were waiting at the turning, and that the whistle was a signal to them. After this he would never take care of the proceeds of a collection.

In Baldock and the neighbourhood his ministerial services were greatly blessed; many ascribed their conversion to his ministry, and crowds gathered when he preached. His striking texts were quoted and talked of thirty years afterwards; and old people have frequently said to his children, "Ah! I heard your father preach from such a passage when I was young, and never forgot it."

Although the salvation of the unconverted was the great aim of Mr. Rowland's ministry, he strove also to awaken in Christians a sense of their responsibilities. His desire to quicken them to liberality was strong. Two instances of his efforts in this direction, one of success and one of failure, may be mentioned.

:

A brother minister called upon him one day in great trouble his salary was very small, his family large, his people possessed of a fair share of this world's goods, but forgetful that their pastor had some need of them also; he was oppressed and perplexed, hampered in his work and fettered with anxieties, yet he did not like to complain or appear mercenary. Our father heard his tale, sympathized with his sorrows, and engaged to see what he could do to help him. In a day or two he rode over to the place where the troubled minister lived, and calling on one of the more wealthy people in the congregation, said,

"I want you to double your subscription to your minister's salary." The good man was rather astonished, but when the matter was put fairly before him, and pressed home, he consented to contribute twice as much in future. Mr. Rowland went to a second gentleman, saying, "Mr. has agreed to double his subscription, will you do the same?" Stimulated by the force of example, he consented. A third promised an increase in proportion to his means. Having called upon most of the families, he went to a lady and gave her a list of all the poor people, saying, "I have called on as many as I can to-day; you go to these; they cannot do much, but get all to help, if possible; it will cheer your minister, and do his hearers good." The minister was grateful, and the people were led to think more of the temporal need of him who ministered to them in spiritual things. "Evil is wrought from want of thought as well as want of heart."

The second instance is one in which he could not prevail. He called upon a gentleman to ask him to become a subscriber to the London Missionary Society. He declined, on the ground that there were plenty of heathen at home who ought to be cared for first. "If that is your reason, will you contribute to the Home Missionary Society, which is on purpose to carry the gospel to the perishing souls in this land?” The gentleman objected at once, saying, that in large societies so much was wasted on salaries to secretaries and managers, that there was no means of knowing