FROM THE LIBRARY OF 
 REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON, D. D 
 
 BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO 
 
 THE LIBRARY OF 
 
 PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2013 
 
 http://archive.org/details/richardweaOOmorg 
 

 
 
THE LIFE 
 
 or 
 
 RICHARD WEAVER, 
 
 THE CONVERTED COLLIEE 
 
 BY R. C. MORGAN. 
 
 lie hatli put down the mighty from their seats, 
 And exalted them of low degree."— Luke i. 52. 
 
 LONDON: MORGAN AND CHASE, 
 
 38, LUDGATE HILL. 
 
 (Entered at Stationers' Hall.— The Right nf Tran trvtd]. 
 
A cheap edition of the " Life of Richard Weaver/' is now 
 published, price 4<d. Those who wish to purchase the work for dis- 
 tribution will find this edition very suitable for the purpose. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 To give a vivid idea of the man and liis work, 
 rather than a detail of every event of his life in 
 the order of its occurrence, has been my object 
 in this sketch. 
 
 Those who are familiar with Richard "Weaver 
 and his preaching will not think any of the anec- 
 dotes here related very improbable ; but some of 
 them are so unusual as possibly to impress others 
 with the idea of invention or exaggeration. In 
 order to assure myself of their reality, by the 
 testimony of eye and ear witnesses, I visited 
 Prescot, where some of the most remarkable 
 events occurred, and there read to several Chris- 
 tians, of various rank in life, that which, had been 
 written. Their common testimony was, that 
 nothing had been stated which was not true, and 
 that indeed much more should have been said, in 
 order to convey an accurate conception of his 
 sojourn there. 
 
PKEFACE. 
 
 Objections have been raised against the pub- 
 lication of this narrative during the life-time of 
 its subject. I will not attempt to combat these. 
 Results will justify or condemn. I will but say, 
 that in writing it my own heart has been 
 far more occupied with the God who thus picked 
 up a worm and used it to thresh a mountain, 
 than with the worm itself. And while commend- 
 ing my dear friend, and this story of God's 
 dealings with him hitherto, to the prayers of 
 all who love our Lord Jesus Christ, let me hope 
 that they who reap will also be led to glorify 
 u Him that liveth for ever, and doeth according 
 to his will, in the army of heaven, and among 
 the inhabitants of the earth." 
 
 Results have abundantly justified the publica- 
 tion of this " Life." To the glory of God be it said, 
 few books have been more abundantly blessed to 
 the salvation of souls. 
 
 Having obtained help of God, Richard Weaver 
 continues unto this day a Interesting details of 
 his preaching and its results from time to time 
 have been, and continue to be, published in The 
 Revival. 
 
RICHARD WEAVER. 
 
 Richaud Weaver was born on the 25 th of June, 
 1827, at the little village of Asterley, nine miles from 
 Shrewsbury. His father was a farm-labourer, an un- 
 godly, drinking man, who walked before his children 
 in the road to hell, and bitterly opposed his pious 
 wife in her endeavours to lead them in the way of 
 holiness. This ill-assorted couple had four children, 
 all sons, of whom Richard was the youngest. His 
 eldest brother, John, about fourteen years older than 
 himself, still works in the Shropshire collieries. 
 George, the second son, Richard's senior by eleven 
 years, is a local preacher amongst the Primitive 
 Methodists. Wc shall have occasion again to refer 
 to him in the course of the present narrative. The 
 remaining brother, Thomas, was killed by one of 
 those accidents which are so frequent in the collieries. 
 We have seldom heard Richard Weaver preach 
 without some affectionate allusion to his praying 
 mother, the old woman in Shropshire, whose loving 
 heart ever yearned over her prodigal boy ; who ten- 
 derly nursed him in infancy ; taught him in child- 
 
b THE PRAYING MOTHEIi. 
 
 liood of the Holy One who came down from heaven, 
 and became a Child for children's sake ; warned, coun- 
 selled, pleaded with him, as, growing up into man- 
 hood, he forgot her instruction and laughed at her 
 reproof; and, with the tenacity of a mother's love, 
 prayed for him still, when he had cut himself adrift 
 from his best earthly friend, leaving his home and 
 her, without one parting kiss or one word of kind 
 farewell. 
 
 Looking back upon these early days, Eichard says : 
 " I could tell some sad tales of sorrow that I witnessed 
 when quite a child. Many a time have I clung to my 
 mother, and cried to my drunken father, ' Don't kill 
 my mother.' Yes, I think, as I write this, of the days 
 of my childhood, when the praying mother has been 
 down on her knees asking God to help her in her dis- 
 tress. My oldest brother was always kind to her. The 
 Lord reward him. But we others were a burden to 
 her night and day. She told her Father in heaven 
 all her sorrows and our sins." 
 
 The first hymn she taught her lad, and which, we 
 doubt not, he, for her dear sake, has in turn taught 
 to his little boy, was this : 
 
 " Happy the child whose tender years 
 Receive instruction well ; 
 "Who shuns the sinner's path, and fears 
 The road that leads to hell." 
 
 "How her face beamed with joy when she took 
 me to a friend's house," says Eichard, who, being her 
 youngest, perhaps was her favourite child, " and put 
 me to stand on a chair to say that hymn. The soft 
 
the niisx OATH. 7 
 
 kiss from her lips on my cheek, and a short prayer 
 heaved to God from her heart, ' The Lord bless my 
 boy ! ' I shall never forget." 
 
 Nor were these motherly instructions in vain 
 even then. Through them the Spirit of God often 
 spoke to his sold ; and though the whisper of the 
 Holy Dove was quenched by the chattering of the 
 unclean and hateful birds of which his heart too soon 
 became the cage, yet the almighty " still small voice" 
 would ever and again woo iiim for awhile to holier 
 thoughts, and awaken in his breast desires after God. 
 One day, in the coalpit, when a little boy, while push- 
 ing a wagon along the rail, something angered him, 
 and he uttered an oath. It was his first oath : and 
 hardly were the words spoken before he was shocked 
 at his own wickedness, and dropped on his knees at 
 the end of the wagon and prayed for pardon ; pro- 
 mising, that if the Lord would spare him till he 
 became a man he would begin to serve Him. The 
 reason why he did not at once resolve to turn to God 
 was, that he thought the boys who cursed and swore 
 got on better than he who, up to this time, had feared 
 an oath. It is a terrible thing to trifle with eternal 
 things. God might justly have smitten him in the 
 utterance of that blasphemous prayer. But these 
 times of his ignorance God winked at ; though from 
 that moment, as he did not like to retain God in his 
 knowledge, God gave him over to a reprobate mind, 
 to do those things which are not convenient. From 
 that hour Richard Weaver dates the commencement 
 of a life of ever-increasing ungodliness and profanity, 
 which woidd probably ere this have landed liim in 
 
8 HAIRBREADTH ESCAPE. 
 
 a drunkard's grave, and ushered him into a terrible 
 eternity; but that the Sovereign Lord bad separated 
 him from his mother's womb, in due time to call him 
 by his grace, to reveal his Son in him, that he might 
 preach Him among the people as the God who par- 
 doneth iniquity, transgression, and sin. 
 
 " My poor old mother soon found a change in me," 
 he says, " and when she knew her boy was beginning 
 to lie and swear, I thought it would have broken her 
 heart. At night, when I went to rest, she watched, 
 and seeing I got into bed without praying, she came 
 and fell down on her knees by the bedside, and 
 pleaded with God to have mercy on her boy. I re- 
 member that I used to leave my work and go into the 
 fields, and she has followed me for hours in a day, 
 entreating me with tears to be a good boy ; but all 
 to no purpose, my heart was steeled against her 
 counsel." 
 
 Having thus begun to walk in the counsel of the 
 ungodly, the next step was quickly taken, and he 
 stood in the way of sinners. As he grew up he 
 increased in wickedness. "While yet a youth he took 
 to drinking and fighting with other lads ; began to 
 frequent balls and dances; and often spent his 
 nights in drunken revelry with other spirits more 
 wicked than himself. 
 
 About this time God saved him from a fearful 
 death. He was standing at the mouth of a pit ; his 
 foot slipped and he fell over. But He that watched 
 Joseph in the pit took care of Richard Weaver. 
 As he slipped down he instinctively clutched the 
 rails of the tramway over the pit, and there he hung 
 
THE LANDLORD'S SLAVES. 
 
 with a hundred yards of empty air beneath him ; so 
 he says, " If I had fallen I must have been dashed to 
 pieces, and my soul to hell." But his cries brought 
 a man to his rescue, and his life was saved. Yet 
 though he had cried out in terror for fear of the 
 double death of body and soul, this merciful escape 
 produced no lasting impression. 
 
 He was fast becoming a diligent servant of Satan ; 
 spending night after night at the ale-house amongst 
 men many years his seniors, who encouraged him in 
 lying and swearing, and applauded him with ' ' Well 
 done, young Weaver ! " when he had sung a song ; for 
 the singing which has now been consecrated to God's 
 glory was first exercised in such unhallowed scenes as 
 these. We find him, in his preaching, frequently 
 alluding to those days in some such way as this : — 
 
 ' ' The ransomed of the Lord are a singing people, 
 and the way to Zion is a singing way — ( They shall 
 return to Zion with songs.' I was always fond of 
 singing ; I believe I was born singing. But the 
 songs I used to sing are not the songs I love now. 
 I remember when i Old Dog Tray,' and i Britons 
 never shall be slaves,' used to be my songs. Oh, 
 my dear men, you sing, 
 
 " ' Britons never, never shall be slaves,' 
 
 what slaves you are to your own lusts, to the devil, 
 to the landlord. I used to sing, 
 
 " ' We won't go home till morning.' 
 
 The landlad}- loves to hear that. I've sung that five 
 nights together, and spent fourteen pounds on ono 
 
10 THE ALE-HOUSE AND THE HOME/ 
 
 spree, and got turned out at the end, and she wouldn't 
 trust me for a sixpence. But I've learned better 
 songs than those. I'll tell you some I love now. 
 Here's one: 
 
 " ' O happy day that fixed my choice 
 
 On Thee, my Saviour and my G-od ; 
 Well may this glowing heart rejoice, 
 And tell its raptures all abroad.' 
 
 And here's another — 
 
 " * There is a fountain filled with blood, 
 Drawn from Immanuel's veins ; 
 And sinners plunged beneath that flood 
 Lose all their guilty stains. 
 
 I do believe, I will believe, 
 That Jesus died for me, 
 That on the cross He shed his blood, 
 From sin to set me free.' " 
 
 Some events in our life often impress us more 
 deeply than others which are, apparently, of greater 
 consequence. Thus, one scene has enduringly fixed 
 itself upon Richard's remembrance, causing him 
 poignant remorse whenever it recurs to his mind. 
 He had been spending the night in noisy revelry at 
 one of the hell-houses (as he now calls the beer-shops 
 and gin-palaces), and there had had a quarrel with a 
 companion, which ended as usual in a fight. "With 
 bruised and bleeding face he reached home as the 
 day was breaking ; and the first sound that fell upon 
 his ears was the faithful mother praying Grod to save 
 her son. This hurt him more, he says, than the 
 blows he had received in the fight ; it came home to 
 his heart. As soon as his knock was heard, the poor 
 
" I WILL NEVER GIVE THEE UP. 11 
 
 old woman ran to the door, and the eyes that had 
 been weeping in prayer for him were greeted by his 
 disfigured and drunken face. When she had given 
 him a chair, and washed away the dirt and blood, and 
 ministered to him as he needed, she knelt down and 
 prayed again that God, for the sake of Christ, woidd 
 save her boy ; and pleaded with the lad himself that 
 1 ' God so loved the world, that He gave his only-be- 
 gotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should 
 not perish, but have everlasting life." But while she 
 prayed the lad cursed, swearing that he would murder 
 her if she did not leave off praying and preaching to 
 him. He went up to bed, but the mother's love con- 
 strained her to follow him ; and, kneeling down by his 
 bedside, again she poured out the abundance of her 
 01 >mplaint and grief before her Heavenly Father. But 
 no comforting human voice said to her, " Go in peace ; 
 and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that 
 thou hast asked of Him." Far otherwise; her repro- 
 bate son in a rage sprang out of bed, and grasping 
 her grey hair, shook her while on her knees. She 
 took hold of his arm with her trembling hands, and 
 said, * ' This is hard work, Lord, to nurse and watch 
 our children till they begin to be men, and then to 
 hear them say that they will murder us for asking 
 Thee to save them. But though Thou slay me yet 
 will I trust in Thee." And then turning to her son, 
 she said, "I will never give thee up." 
 
 " Can a mother forget her sucking child, that she 
 should not have compassion on the son of her womb ? 
 Yea, she may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Be- 
 hold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands." 
 
12 RICHARD LEAVES HOME. 
 
 Blessed be the loving Father, for a mother's love to 
 teach us the quality of his own. Blessed be his name 
 that even that falls infinitely short of the eternal love 
 which cannot fail while God endures, for "God is 
 love." 
 
 Soon after this he became discontented at home. 
 Perhaps the tears and prayers of his mother made him 
 uneasy; though, truth to say, he loved her so little, 
 or his passion so got the better of his love, that on 
 another occasion he smote her to the ground. As we 
 have said, he determined to leave Asterley, and having 
 made arrangements with another young man, they 
 ran away from home, taking with them some money 
 which their parents had given them to pay their sub- 
 scriptions to the Odd Fellows' Club, of which they 
 were members. Richard's three brothers were at 
 this time working at Biddulph, in Staffordshire. 
 Thither he and his companion went, and there he 
 flung the reins on the neck of his sins; and, by 
 drunkenness, gambling, fighting, and debauchery, in 
 the company of the most debased and profligate men 
 and women, was borne madly and furiously on the 
 highway to perdition. 
 
 Yet a seed had been sown which the Spirit of 
 Holiness watched and fostered. Those old words 
 listened to at home had a life in them, and again and 
 again came back to his remembrance. Often did 
 Richard weep in secret and resolve to be better ; but 
 it was Ephraim's goodness, like the early dew, and 
 soon passed away. Many a time did God's Spirit 
 move upon the dark waters of his soul, and alter- 
 nating with the lash of remorse would come recol- 
 
LETTERS FROM THE PRAYING MOTHER. 13 
 
 lections of less guilty days, awakened by the letters 
 from the old mother at home, ever assuring him that 
 come what might she would never cease praying for 
 her boy. 
 
 Leaving Biddulph, after a while he removed to 
 another town in Staffordshire, where, to use his own 
 expression, he ripened fast for hell. The tap-room, 
 the boxing-saloon, and the brothel, were his resort ; 
 thieves, harlots, and blacklegs, his boon companions ; 
 gambling, fighting, drinking, and debauchery, his 
 daily occupations. Not without reason does he often 
 sing — 
 
 "O'er ruin's brink I almost fell; 
 Glory to God I'm out of hell." 
 
 But while he devoured his living with harlots, the 
 praying mother was still found, late and early, 
 wrestling with God for her husband and her children. 
 Thank God for a praying mother ! And not only did 
 she pray to God, but she wrote again and again to 
 her thankless prodigal. One day he sat in his accus- 
 tomed place, the public-house, and a letter came to 
 him. A companion read it ; and there were the 
 same old words, "I will never give thee up, my 
 child," — words learned, dear soul, from her own 
 Heavenly Father: "How shall I give thee up, 
 Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee over, Israel? 
 How shall I make thee as Admah ? how shall I set 
 thee as Zeboim ? Mine heart is turned within me ; 
 my repentings are kindled together. ' ' After the young 
 man had read it, Richard wanted to burn it. " Nay, 
 it will never do to burn the praying mother's letter," 
 he replied ; and with tears he added, " I wish I had 
 
14 TEMPTATION TO SUICIDE. 
 
 a praying mother. I wish my mother was alive now. 
 Her last word was, ' Samuel, will you meet me in 
 heaven?' And, by the help of God," he cried, "I 
 will meet her in heaven." That was the turning- 
 point in his career ; the Spirit of God strove with 
 him, and gave him no peace until he laid his weary 
 head upon the Saviour's breast. Richard subse- 
 quently heard of him, that he died full of faith and 
 joy in the Holy Ghost. 
 
 You may picture to yourself a young man, with 
 bloodshot eyes, a burning brow, and bloated cheeks ; 
 with a dry tongue and parched lips ; with troubled 
 heart and downcast look; just risen from his bed, 
 after frightful dreams of the infernal pit, and devils 
 saying to him, " Thou art too bad to live; thy cha- 
 racter is blasted ; thy home deserted ; thy constitution 
 broken ; and every one frowning upon thee. Put an 
 end to thy life." Such are his recollections of himself 
 at the age of twenty-four. Driven and tossed by 
 the waves of these fierce temptations, writhing under 
 the stings of an accusing conscience, ashamed to be 
 seen in the streets, with a drunkard's heavy head 
 and empty purse, he rushed up stairs, determined to 
 destroy himself. Strange that a man should quail 
 beneath the eye of man, yet rush unbidden to the 
 judgment-seat of Him before whose eyes of fire the 
 night shineth as the day, and who with divine exact- 
 itude awards to every deed its righteous recompense. 
 
 He took the razor from his box, and untied his 
 neckerchief; then tried to chalk upon the floor (he 
 could not write) some message to his landlady. 
 While sharpening the instrument of death, a voice 
 
RESTRAINED BY HOLY MEMORIES. 15 
 
 came to him, " Remember that old woman that cried 
 in her prayer, l Lord, save my lad.'" "What will 
 she say," he thought, "when she hears of my sending 
 my soul into eternity before its time?" That was 
 the Spirit's whisper, and it was with power. Casting 
 aside the razor, he ran down stairs, and told his 
 landlady what he had been tempted to do. She 
 threw up her hands in fear; and, though not a godly 
 woman, cried " The Lord have mercy upon thee." 
 He began to wring his hands, and curse the day that 
 he was born; but she said, " Lord bless thee, lad; 
 thank God thou'rt yet alive. There's hope for thee 
 yet." And so he was saved from self-destruction. 
 
 And is it strange that words of holiness, uttered 
 by a mother's voice from the depth of her loving 
 heart, should have been summoned into action to stay 
 the hand uplifted to take the precious life ? We re- 
 member one who had no such holy memories, arrested 
 on the brink of the same fathomless pit : c l My heart, 
 wrung with grief for which there was no redress," 
 so wrote our friend, ; ' looked only on the utter ruin 
 of my life's vain sacrifices and lost hope. One refuge 
 seemed left me — death. The moment it flashed on 
 my mind, I sprang up the companion-ladder of the 
 vessel in which we were sailing at full speed through 
 the stormy waters ; every one was engaged on the 
 look-out for land ; not a human eye beheld me. The 
 white waves, as they rose and broke over the bul- 
 wark, seemed to beckon me, and to promise rest. 
 Another moment, and I had been — in hell ! A ray 
 of sunlight broke through the clouds above me; a 
 little slanting beam, such as you may see after a 
 
16 ATTEMPTED MUEDEK. 
 
 stormy day, before the sun goes down ; it fell over 
 the snowy shrouds, and rippled to rny feet. It 
 was enough ; the golden beam had done its mission ; 
 it brought back a memory of childhood — of heaven, 
 where they said my dead mother lived. ... I did 
 not weep ; I had no tears to shed ; but, calm and 
 subdued, I retraced my steps. A voice whispered 
 ' Live ! ? and though to me it seemed but another 
 word for 'Suffer,' I took up the burden of life ; and 
 never afterwards did the temptation assail me to lay 
 a murderous hand upon the precious gift for which 
 the Lord of life had died. Do not suppose it was an 
 instantaneous conversion ; it was not so ; but it was 
 the turning-point from which I was led, step by step, 
 to ' behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the 
 sin of the world.' " 
 
 But that interposition of God's restraining mercy 
 had no lasting influence upon the mind of the prof- 
 ligate. Drinking, fighting, and debauchery, still 
 marked his downward career ; and, accustomed to 
 deeds of violence as he was, it is not perhaps very 
 strange, that though he had been preserved from 
 shedding his own blood, he was restrained only by 
 the same Almighty hand from taking the life of a 
 fellow- creature. In one of his drunken fits, he had 
 quarrelled with a woman who was in the same state ; 
 and determining to murder her, he tied a rope round 
 her neck, passing the other end over a hook in the 
 ceiling. Her cries and struggles, while he was 
 endeavouring to sling her up to the beam, were heard 
 by one of his companions in the house, who rushed 
 into the room just in time to save her life. 
 
0XWARD A^D DOWNWARD. 17 
 
 lie referred to this when addressing some fallen 
 women at Edinburgh, at a breakfast given them by 
 Mr. and Mrs. RadclifFe : "I know the temptation of 
 the razor and the river. Once I would have taken 
 the life of one like you, if I could. And I know the 
 merc} r of a praying mother, too ; and shall never 
 forget her last look when I went back to Shropshire 
 to see her, and found her foot to foot with the last 
 enemy. I hear her farewell yet, as it followed me 
 down the cottage stair. She died hoping in the 
 blood. Nought but the blood for her poor sinful 
 son. And oh, sisters, the blood, the blood, the 
 blood for you. Yes ; 
 
 " ' His blood can make the foulest clean, 
 His blood availed for me.' " 
 
 II. 
 
 Still onward and downward, till he went to live 
 with his brother George, who had by this time been 
 plucked as a brand from the burning, and was 
 glorifying God by a consistent life, and serving Him 
 as a Primitive Methodist local preacher. Richard 
 was now about twenty-five years of age, and "the 
 time of the promise drew nigh." It sometimes 
 happens that when God is about to renew a man, 
 and to break the fetters wherewith Satan has bound 
 him, He removes him from his evil associations, and 
 transplants him into quite another soil. So was it 
 with the writer of this sketch. God had pleaded 
 with him for many a year ; but though, with aching 
 
18 THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 heart and weeiung eyes, he remembered a mother's 
 .dying counsel, and the assurance that God had pro- 
 mised her her boy should live before Him, yet evil 
 associates drew his weak heart after them, and he 
 stifled, for fear of man, his convictions of sin, and 
 hardened his heart against the pleadings of the Holy 
 Ghost. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his 
 great love wherewith He loved him, removed him 
 from the evil influences which enthralled him, and 
 placed him amongst those who loved and feared his 
 name ; and there, gradually and quietly, did the 
 Holy Spirit lead him to rest and peace in Jesus. 
 Not exactly thus did the Lord deal in the case of 
 Richard "Weaver. He did not altogether remove 
 him from evil . associations ; but he surrounded him 
 with counter influences; and, breathing the atmo- 
 sphere of a holy home, this child of prayer was 
 made, in the midst of his ungodliness, to think of 
 better things. 
 
 One Wednesday night, in May, 1852, as he lay on 
 his bed, thinking about a battle which he was to 
 fight on the following Saturday, his brother came 
 home from meeting; and Richard heard his wife 
 ask what the text had been. He replied, "What 
 then shall I do?" (Job xxxi. 14.) "I rehearsed 
 this over in my niind," says Richard, " and I thought 
 there must be something more than that ; and I 
 rehearsed to myself in this way, ' What then shall 
 I do when God rises up in judgment against me?' " 
 The Spirit of God began to operate on his mind, and 
 he thought, "If I die now, hell will be my doom." 
 That was a sleepless night. The morning brought 
 
BATTLE AND VICTORY. 19 
 
 him no comfort ; and after a weary day, and another 
 anxious, sleepless night, he thought ho would endure 
 this no longer, but would drive away the feeling 
 which oppressed him, and drown the memory of it 
 in drink. He went to Congleton, four miles from 
 Biddulph where he lived, and got drunk. As he 
 returned home, hell seemed to open before him, and 
 such words as these were sounded in his ears, " Who 
 shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" Every step 
 he took, he prayed for mercy, and promised that if 
 spared till morning he would decide for God. 
 
 Oh, the omnipotence of prayer ! That mother was 
 still at her pleading work, watering her couch with 
 tears. As Samuel said to Israel, so had she said over 
 and over to her boy: " Moreover, as for me, God 
 forbid that I should sin against the Lord, in ceasing 
 to pray for you ; but I will teach you the right way." 
 And now God was about to show Himself a prayer- 
 answering God. 
 
 The next morning, when the drunkenness had died 
 out of him, Richard, still in fear of hell, went out 
 into a field, and crept into a sand-hole, where no eye 
 could see him but the eye of God ; and there, 
 praying to his Father in secret, he told Him all his 
 sorrows, confessed all his iniquities, cried to be 
 delivered, trusted in the blood, and was made free. 
 He was to have fought with a man to-day ; but he 
 began the day with a more terrible adversary. "In 
 that sand-hole," so he says, "I had a battle with the 
 devil. Christ and Satan fought it, and Christ gained 
 the victoiw ; and I came off more than conqueror 
 through Him that loved me." 
 
20 THE CONFLICT. 
 
 True of ancient Israel ; true of Jesus ; true of 
 every child of God : is that which was spoken of the 
 Lord by the prophet, saying, "Out of Egypt have I 
 called my son." He that in his fatherly pity said of 
 old to Moses, "I have surely seen the affliction of my 
 people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry 
 hj reason of their taskmasters ; for I know their sor- 
 rows, and I have come down to deliver them out of the 
 hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of 
 that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land 
 flowing with milk and honey," now brought the pray- 
 ing mother's repentant son into a wealthy place; 
 gave him a goodly heritage, blessed him with a south 
 land and springs of waters, even the upper and the 
 nether springs. But it may be interesting to the 
 reader to hear the freed soul tell its own story of its 
 conflict and deliverance : 
 
 "My body trembled from head to foot while the 
 struggle lasted between the power of darkness and 
 the power of light. Now where was the poor old 
 mother all this time ? Why she was still wrestling, 
 as she had wrestled for five -and- twenty years ; and 
 God had tried her long enough. 'Now,' He said, 
 'praying mother, thy prayers shall be answered. 
 Behold, he for whom thou hast prayed for five-and- 
 twenty years is down upon his knees. I hear the 
 sigh of his broken heart — his prayer, "Lord save 
 me.'" Yes, I knelt down and shut my eyes, saying, 
 'Lord, I will never open my eyes till Thou, for 
 Christ's sake, hast pardoned my sin.' But unbelief 
 said, 'You don't know whether you are elected or 
 not.' 'Well,' I said, 'God so loved the world that 
 
THE DELIVERANCE. 21 
 
 He gave liis only -"begotten Son, that whosoever 
 believeth in Him should not perish, but have ever- 
 lasting life.' And I thought that ' whosoever' 
 meant me. "What faith was I could not tell, but 
 I had heard it was taking God at his word ; and so 
 I took God at his word, and trusted in the finished 
 work of my Saviour. Yes, bless God : 
 
 " 'Soon as my all I ventured 
 On the atoning blood, 
 The Holy Spirit entered, 
 And I was born of God.' 
 
 And now being justified by faith I had peace with 
 God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The happiness 
 I then enjoyed I cannot describe ; my peace flowed as 
 a river. Oh, thought I, what a fool I have been, 
 these five-and-twenty years I have spent in sin." 
 
 That conflict in the sand-pit marked, indeed, an 
 era in his history. Then and there he passed from 
 death to life ; there and then God brought him out 
 of darkness into his marvellous light ; and from that 
 hour he knew that he had no more to wrestle against 
 flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, 
 against the rulers of the darkness of this world, 
 against wicked spirits in heavenly places. True, 
 indeed, he did not always conquer ; true that, as we 
 shall soon have to record, he fell back for awhile into 
 grievous sin ; but, nevertheless, to him had a Child 
 been born ; to him had a Son been given ; upon whose 
 shoulder the government should be ; whose name is 
 AVonderful! Counsellor! The Mighty God! The 
 Everlasting Father! The Prince of Peace! Yes, 
 that great mystery had been wrought in the drunken 
 
22 PRAYER IN THE COAL-PIT. 
 
 collier, the profligate man and pugilist, by which the 
 glorious Lord takes up his dwelling in a human 
 heart ; the mystery which hath been hid from ages 
 and from generations, but now is made manifest to his 
 saints ; to whom God would make known what is the 
 riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gen- 
 tiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 
 
 With what joy was the intelligence sent to the 
 poor, old mother, and how differently was she thought 
 of, now that her prayer was answered, and the rebel 
 brought into the arms of his Saviour. As soon as 
 she received the joyful news she went into her closet, 
 and on her knees thanked her Father in heaven for 
 hearing and answering her prayers. It seemed, 
 indeed, too good to be true, and the tempter whis- 
 pered doubts into her ear. But God said, "Be not 
 faithless, but believe. The child is made whole." 
 
 Those days of first love were happy and peaceful 
 days. The light of the Glory of God, the excellency 
 of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord, shone into 
 his soul ; and many a spot down in the dark coal-pit 
 is sanctified in his remembrance by the Word of God 
 and prayer; for often, while at his daily labour, 
 would he lift up his heart to God for grace to help in 
 time of need. And very soon did God begin to use 
 him. One night when at work, taking off his cap, 
 he fell on his knees and prayed. . A oollier in a 
 neighbouring stall heard him groaning, as he thought, 
 and ran to see if anything had fallen upon liim ; but 
 found him asking the Lord to bless his fellow- work- 
 men. Weaver went on in his prayer, unoonscious of 
 any one being near, and, on looking up, was surprised 
 
THE FBUITS OF THE SPIRIT. 23 
 
 to find his comrade weeping at his side. " I wish," said 
 the poor fellow, "I could say what thou canst say, that 
 God had pardoned my sins." "The blood of Christ/' 
 said Kichard, "was shed for thee. Only believe on 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." 
 Still weeping, he said, "Lord save me; " and before 
 he returned to his work, the load of sin was gone, and 
 he rejoiced in a present salvation. 
 
 "My nights at that time," Weaver says, "passed 
 quickly, for I lost sight of myself and found Christ ; 
 I forgot all but Him, and was wrapped up in his 
 love, and my soul was led into green pastures, and 
 lay down beside still waters." 
 
 The fruits of the Spirit were brought forth in 
 various ways. Amongst others, thus : When con- 
 verted, he was many pounds in debt, chiefly for 
 drink. But now that God had forgiven him all his 
 debt to Him, he felt that, for his glory's sake, he 
 must pay what he owed to man; and accordingly, 
 little by little, as he was able, he saved out of his 
 earnings, and paid them all. 
 
 There were many who doubted the genuineness of 
 his change. For although both Testaments contain 
 abundant instances of God's grace to the worst 
 sinners, and although Church history, by thousands 
 of saved publicans and harlots, corroborates the fact, 
 yet even Christians are slow of heart to believe, 
 when one whom they have accounted the vilest of tin • 
 vile turns from his evil way, and God receives him to 
 his heart and home. 
 
 One afternoon Kichard went to a love-feast, in- 
 tending to tell his experience, how God had pardoned 
 
24 TEMPTATION AND BACKSLIDING. 
 
 his sins ; but no opportunity of doing so occurred. 
 In the evening, however, he went to another place, 
 and there he proclaimed what the Lord had done for 
 his soul. Many were incredulous; but some believed 
 it; and, best of all, he himself knew in whom he 
 had believed, and was persuaded that He was able 
 to keep that which he had committed unto Him 
 against that day. 
 
 For six months he held on his way blamelessly, 
 suffering considerable persecution from his fellow- 
 workmen, and from the frequenters of the public- 
 houses which he used to haunt. But he was enabled 
 to stand his ground. The love of God had cast out 
 the love of sin, and he had no desire to return to his 
 former habits. But let him that thinketh he standeth 
 take heed lest he fall. When David, in his pros- 
 perity, said "I shall never be moved; Lord, by thy 
 favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong," 
 in the same breath he adds, "Thou didst hide thy 
 face, and I was troubled.' ' So was it with our 
 convert. Failing in his direct attacks upon himself, 
 Satan tried him in another way. Some of the men 
 one day, in "Weaver's presence, grievously insulted a 
 Christian young woman, a friend of his. His blood 
 was up in a moment; and, striking out with both 
 his fists, according to ancient custom, he fiercely 
 avenged her of her chief assailant, and would have 
 seriously injured him, even if he had escaped with 
 life, had not some of those present stayed his arm. 
 
 This was the beginning of sorrows. For several 
 months he returned to his old courses, with more 
 abandonment than ever. Drinking and fighting, 
 
THE PEEY OF THE SPOILER. 25 
 
 chambering and wantonness, and all his previous 
 sins, bound him more slavishly than before. In the 
 restlessness and bitterness of his spirit he wandered 
 off into Lancashire, the Holy Spirit ever following 
 him, as the Lord God followed his lost child in Eden, 
 crying, "Where art thou?" It were worse than 
 profitless to enter into the details of those loathsome 
 months. No man cared for his soul. He had got 
 away from the few who knew him as a child of God : 
 and whereas if any had lovingly wooed him back, he 
 might very probably have returned at once, yet, with 
 none to counsel, or reprove, or comfort him, he went 
 on in his madness, till God arrested him in a way 
 which none but He could have devised. 
 
 Mrs. Weaver has told us that during this sad period 
 of his backsliding she used frequently on a Sunday 
 morning to pass Richard amongst his ungodly asso- 
 ciates. On one of these occasions, a companion with 
 whom she was going to the house of prayer said, "I 
 would rather go a mile round than pass that man ; he 
 stares so. And yet, " she added, l i who knows but he 
 thinks he ought to be going where we are going ?" 
 This was really the case, and if any one had asked 
 him he would thankfully have gone. How many a 
 poor backslider may be at this hour remaining in his 
 sin because no man careth for his soul. "They are 
 for a prey, and none delivereth ; for a spoil, and none 
 saith, ' Restore.' ,J But the Lord had not forsaken him. 
 At. one time by loving persuasions, at another by 
 terrible things in righteousness, did the Father plead 
 with his rebellious child. His nights at this timo 
 were as dreadful, as before they had been full of joy. 
 
26 A DREAM OF IIELL. 
 
 When lie said, " My bed shall comfort me ; my couch 
 shall ease my complaint, " then God scared him with 
 dreams, and terrified him through visions. One of 
 these dreadful visitations he thus describes : 
 
 "I dreamt one night that I was dead, and that 
 my soul was lost. At the mouth of the bottomless 
 pit was a door, with a great hanging lock ; and I 
 was carried to the place of torment, as I thought, by 
 two black creatures, with my hands and feet tied. 
 When they brought me to the mouth of the pit, a 
 Being stood clothed in white, having a girdle round 
 his waist, at which hung a large key; and as He 
 spoke, I trembled from head to foot. He said, ' Put 
 him down.' They laid me on my back; and He 
 uncovered my breast, and said, l Where is the robe 
 I gave thee ? ' I said, 'I have lost it.' Then He took 
 a stamp (it was red hot), and He put it on my 
 breast; and in a moment, in letters of fire, was 
 branded the word ' Backslider.' Then I prayed 
 Him to forgive me ; but He said, in a voice like 
 thunder, i It is too late now. Depart, ye cursed, into 
 everlasting fire.' He opened the door of hell, and 
 threw me into the infernal pit; and as I dropped 
 among the flames, there was such a yell as I had 
 never heard before; and all the devils, with their 
 eyes of fire, and every damned soul, chased me 
 through the caverns of hell, some biting me, some 
 kicking me, others crying out, 'What made you 
 come to torment us in these flames?' Oh, how I 
 declared, if the Lord would deliver me from that 
 place, I would do anything to save others from it ! 
 But no; 'Too late!' rung in my ears; and again 
 
THE INTERCESSOR . 27 
 
 I thought a host of the infernal followed me through 
 the blue flames, and overtook me, and held me 
 with their blazing hands. Then I thought they cut 
 my breast open, and began to pour a burning fluid 
 into my heart. But I still cried, ' Lord save me ! ' 
 And I awoke. Oh, what a state my body was in ! 
 I sweat till the bedclothes were wet. But I thanked 
 God that it was only a dream." 
 
 Still he was not restored. Weeks passed away, 
 and found him still a slave to Satan and sin. But 
 He who prayed for Peter, and who ever liveth, at the 
 right hand of the Majesty on high, to make inter- 
 cession for his brethren below, pleaded for the 
 backslider, " Spare him yet a little longer." Oh, the 
 power of that glorious Intercessor ! Oh, the grace 
 of Him with whom He intercedes ! The Lord said, 
 "How shall I pardon thee for this? Thy children 
 have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no 
 gods. When I had fed them to the full, they then 
 committed adultery, and assembled them by troops 
 in the harlots' houses. My people are bent to back- 
 sliding from me; though they called them to the 
 Most High, none at all would exalt Him." But 
 Jesus pleads for his people with God, and sends his 
 Spirit to plead with them for Him. And now the 
 Lord heard his poor backsliding child bemoaning 
 himself: " Thou hast chastised me, and I was chas- 
 tised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. Turn 
 Thou me, and I shall be turned ; for Thou art the 
 Lord my God." And the Lord replied, " Ephraim is 
 my dear son ; he is a pleasant child ; for since I 
 spake against him I do earnestly remember him still. 
 
23 THE PRODIGAL RESTORED. 
 
 Therefore my bowels are troubled for him. I will 
 surely have mercy upon him. I will heal his back- 
 sliding; I will love him freely; for mine anger is 
 turned away from hini." 
 
 Hichard was sparring one night, in a boxing-saloon, 
 with a black man ; and, striking a tremendous blow, 
 the blood streamed down the negro's face. At the 
 instant, the Holy Ghost reminded him that God 
 ' ' giveth to all life, and breath, and all things ; and 
 hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to 
 dwell on all the face of the earth ; " " for there is no 
 difference between the Jew and the Greek ; for the 
 same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon 
 Him ; for whosoever shall call upon the name of the 
 Lord shall bo saved." "The blood of Jesus Christ 
 his Son cleanseth us from all sin." 
 
 He left the room, and went to his lodgings ; and 
 there, while on his knees, the Lord fulfilled to him 
 all his gracious promises to his backsliding people. 
 He thus relates his experience of this restoring 
 mercy: " I said, l He hath both spoken unto me, and 
 Himself hath done it.. Lord, by these things men 
 live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit ; 
 so wilt Thou recover me, ■ and make me to live. 
 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness ; but Thou 
 hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of 
 corruption; for Thou hast cast all my sins behind 
 thy back.' And the Lord answered me, 1 1, even I, 
 am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine 
 own sake, and will not remember thy sins.' So He 
 put the ring on my hand, and shoes on my feet. 
 Then I rose from my knees, after having been 
 
THE BROKEN HAND. 29 
 
 pleading for about four hours for the Lord to forgive 
 me for Christ's sake. And I cried, 
 
 " ' Lord, Thou dost this moment save, 
 And to full salvation bless ; 
 Redemption through thy blood I have, 
 And perfect righteousness.' 
 
 Through Thy blood I have it ; not through my 
 prayers or tears, but through the precious blood of 
 Christ." 
 
 The next day he went to chapel, and joined the 
 "Wesleyan Society at Openshaw, near Manchester; 
 and from that time, though with much, doubtless, to 
 grieve over, he has walked consistently with God. 
 
 A little while after this, his right hand was caught 
 and broken by the wheel of a lurry.*''' In spite of 
 the pain and of the fear of being unable now to 
 earn his living, he was made to feel that it was all 
 for the best. God spoke to his heart : "I will never 
 leave thee, nor forsake thee;" and he felt that 
 neither earth nor hell should draw him back from 
 his Lord again. He was taken to the iiinrmary at 
 Manchester, and was greatly tried by the fear of 
 losing his hand altogether. He went one day to have 
 it dressed, and the doctor, finding the inflammation 
 veiy great, said he thought he should be obliged to 
 take it off. 
 
 "Nay, I will not lose my hand," said Weaver. 
 " Then it will kill you," replied the surgeon. " Kill 
 me?" "Yes." "Then die or not, my hand shan't 
 be cut off," replied the patient. "If I die, heaven 
 will be my home ; I don't fear death. " " Don't you ? " 
 
 • A truck used on railways. 
 
30 richakd's marriage. 
 
 "No; Christ has taken away the fear of death, and 
 I shan't let yon take my hand off." 
 
 He stood while a poor fellow's arm was amputated, 
 but still refused to lose his own hand. The surgeon 
 continued to dress it from day to day, and, as "Weaver 
 believed, in answer to prayer, the inflammation sub- 
 sided, and it began to heal. The hand remains, 
 however, permanently and seriously injured. 
 
 III. 
 
 Eichard now began to think of settling in life ; and 
 in January, 1853, he was married to a young woman 
 who had been converted to God some years before, 
 and who has always been a blessing to him, a help 
 meet for him, becoming in some sort to him as a man 
 that which his dear and faithful mother had been to 
 him as a boy. 
 
 He often speaks with thankfulness of God's mercy 
 in preserving him from being unequally yoked with 
 an unbelieving wife, and reminds young men and 
 young women of the question, full of solemn interest, 
 " How can two walk together except they be agreed?'' 
 The only wise God commanded of old time for our 
 learning, " Thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled 
 seed. Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass 
 together. Neither shall a garment of linen and 
 woollen come upon thee." And more directly and 
 explicity in his newer revelation He has said, "Be 
 ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers ; for 
 what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteous- 
 
A WARNING. 31 
 
 ness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 
 and what concord hath Christ with Belial ? or what 
 part hath he that belicveth with an unbeliever?" 
 
 "Too many men," Weaver says, " who are con- 
 verted, marry unconverted women, and make their 
 homes unhappy for life. And young women think 
 that after they arc married they shall be able to win 
 their unconverted husbands to the Lord. But such 
 cases are very rare. How many do I know who 
 seemed to run well, but it was all changed when they 
 got married to an unconverted husband. 
 
 "Dear reader, if you love Christ, let me entreat 
 you, be advised to take care what sort of a companion 
 you choose. Ask God about it, for I have known 
 some young men and young women who have said, 
 ' Oh that I had never married my wife, or my hus- 
 band. ' And I have known some brought to their 
 graves before their time from this cause. 
 
 " One young woman I went to see in Liverpool — 
 and had you been with me you would have wept, as 
 I did. There she lay, on a bed (if I may call it a 
 bed), a young woman only twenty-four years of age, 
 with a little baby on her dying arm, and a little boy 
 of three years crying in the desolate room. ' Oh my 
 poor babes,' she exclaimed, 'what will you do now I 
 am dying? No mother to love you; no friend to help 
 you.' Then looking up to heaven, she cried, 'Lord, 
 take my children to heaven.' I broke her prayer when 
 I said, 'Thy will be done;' and she said, 'Oh sir, let 
 me tell you my tale of sorrow.' She told me she had 
 been brought up in the fear of God, and when she 
 was eighteen years old had give! her heart to Christ. 
 
32 A SAD STORY 
 
 About this time a young man began to pay attention 
 to her. Her father and mother many a time entreated 
 her to give him up, being persuaded that he was not 
 a saved man. But she thought she could influence 
 him when she became his wife. Against her parents' 
 wish she married him, and for a few months all went 
 on comfortably ; but after a while he began to stop 
 away from chapel, and then he would want something 
 done for him, just to hinder her from going. To keep 
 quietness, as she thought, she remained at home, till 
 she had lost all inclination to go. After a time he 
 began to spend his nights away from home, and re- 
 turned drunk, and cursed and abused her, not giving 
 her enough to buy bread. When her first child was 
 born, she and the babe would have died for want 
 if her father and mother had not cared for them. 
 
 " 'One night,' she said, ' I thought I would watch 
 him. I followed him to a house, and what were my 
 feelings, with the starving babe at my breast, to find 
 him where I did. When I spoke to him he jumped 
 up and struck me and ordered me off. I left with a 
 sorrowful and wounded heart; he never came home 
 for four days, and I had to beg of the neighbours a 
 bit of bread for myself and my child. Then I had to 
 go to the workhouse till he was made to support me, 
 and I came out again. Oh sir, I cannot tell you all 
 I have suffered through marrying an unconverted 
 man. Two nights after this babe was born, in the 
 depth of winter, he turned me out in my night-dress. 
 Yes, my husband is my murderer. Look at me, sir, 
 twenty-four years of age, and dying, but all through 
 being unequally yoked. And now I am dying he 
 
OF AW UNEQUAL MARMAGE. 33 
 
 wants to call me liis dear wife, and asks me to forgive 
 him. But no ; heaven must be blotted out before I 
 will forgive him. ISTo, never, never can I forgive the 
 wretch. God forgive me, but wretch lie is. Look at 
 my two babes, and look at their dying mother, and 
 shall I forgive him since he has been my murderer V 
 
 "I asked her," says our friend, "how she could 
 expect God to forgive her, if she would not forgive 
 him. But while we were praying together in came 
 the poor mother, and if an angel could weep he would 
 have wept over that scene. I could not stand to see 
 them and to hear them crying, ' Oh my daughter ! ' 
 1 Oh my mother ! ' As I went out the mother asked 
 me to come again. I went, and her poor daughter 
 lay dying. She said, ' This is through being un- 
 equally married. Oh mother, that I had hearkened 
 to you. But mother, will you take my children and 
 teach them to love Jesus?' l Yes, my child, I will.' 
 i You will be a mother to them, won't you ? ' ' Yes, 
 my child. ' The dying mother kissed her babes and 
 said, 'Lord bless them,' and died. But she refused 
 to allow her husband to come near her to the last. 
 Oh, be warned, dear reader, if this should be appli- 
 cable to you. Be not unequally yoked together with 
 unbelievers." 
 
 The writer is thankful to say, that while this little 
 book has been in preparation, the above sad story 
 was read to a young woman who was in danger of 
 thus making shipwreck of her faith and of a good 
 conscience, and at the conclusion she said, "I'll give 
 him up." 
 
 Soon after his marriage, Weaver and his wife left 
 
 D 
 
34 POVERTY AT HOME. 
 
 Openshaw, and went to New Mills, in Derbyshire, to 
 work with his brother George. Here they joined the 
 Primitive Methodists, bis brother being, as we have 
 said, a local preacher amongst them, and many a 
 bappy meeting they had with, the people of that place. 
 The work turned out unprontably, and Richard and 
 his wife were greatly tried; but they were growing in 
 grace, and learning to put their trust in God for all 
 tbeir need. It seemed, be says, as if their heavenly 
 Father was preparing tbem for some rough storm ; 
 for tbey were feeding on the bidden manna, and 
 drinking of tbe river whose streams make glad the 
 people of God. 
 
 One Saturday nigbt tbey bad neitber food nor 
 money, and knew not bow tbey were to get their 
 Sunday's dinner. But He that feeds the birds of the 
 air, tbey tbougbt, will feed us, and He wbo said, 
 " No good thing will He withhold from them that 
 walk uprightly," will not suffer us to want long for 
 food. Having locked the door, and read a portion 
 of God's Word and prayed, they were just retiring 
 for the night, when they heard a rap at the door, and 
 there stood a dear sister in Christ, She said to Mrs. 
 Weaver: " Sarah, I cannot go to bed without coming 
 to ask you if you are in want of anything?" 
 
 Tbe wife, weeping for surprise and thankfulness, 
 could not answer, and Richard said, " Poverty is no 
 sin, Mrs. Taylor. We have no food, nor money to 
 buy any." 
 
 "Well," said their friend, "here is a loaf of bread 
 and a shilling, and you can come to our house to- 
 morrow for your dinners." 
 
PERSECUTION IX THE COAL-PIT. 35 
 
 They thanked God for so speedy an answer to their 
 cry, and lay down in peace. But before long, another 
 knock came to the door, and Richard got out of bed 
 and asked through the window who was there. 
 
 " Come down," said a voice, " I want you." 
 
 When he had opened the door, a man's hand was 
 put inside, and, with these words, "The Lord will 
 provide," five shillings were dropped into his hand. 
 
 Their hearts were greatly comforted by such mani- 
 fest interpositions of God on their behalf, and they 
 were able with much assurance to receive the promise, 
 "Therefore I say unto you, whatsoever things ye 
 desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, 
 and ye shall have them." 
 
 It was at this time he began to speak publicly. 
 His first sermon was preached at a village in Derby- 
 shire, from this text, "I am the Way." He had 
 found Jesus to be the way of salvation to his own 
 soul, and he directed others to God by Him. 
 
 Not being able to get sufficient work at New Mills, 
 Richard and his brother George removed to Hyde, 
 near Manchester. Here he found among his fellow- 
 workmen one God-fearing soul, with whom he went 
 to worship in a little room at Haughton-green, where 
 he spent many happy seasons of communion with 
 saints. Though often tried by poverty, he ever found 
 the Lord faithful to his word of promise. But one 
 of his greatest trials was the persecution to which 
 he was subjected by his companions, and often the 
 struggle between flesh and spirit was sharp and long. 
 While working in the coal-pit one day, he heard 
 the lad who was attending upon his wagon cry out, 
 
36 AN ADVERSARY. 
 
 "Richard, come here." He went, and found that 
 another collier was trying to take away his tub (a 
 small wagon which the colliers use in turns, and to 
 have lost which would have been so much out of his 
 day's earnings). "I thought," says Richard, "that 
 Grod did not tell me to stand and see a man rob me. 
 1 When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his 
 goods are in peace ; but when a stronger than he 
 shall come upon him and overcome him, he taketh 
 from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and 
 divideth his spoils.' ' Shall the prey be taken from 
 Ihe mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? But 
 thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty 
 shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible 
 shall be delivered ; for I will contend with him that 
 contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children ; 
 .... and all flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy 
 Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of 
 Jacob.' So I told the man that God did not tell me 
 to let him rob me. But he cursed, and swore that 
 he would push the tub over me. "Nay," said 
 Weaver, " the Lord will not allow thee." He was in 
 a great rage, and said he would have it, and Richard 
 said he should not. So the man got hold of the tub, and 
 said, "Now I will push it over thee, thou Methody 
 devil." Richard stood before it, and he began to push. 
 Then said Weaver, ' ' Now Lord, now devil, which is 
 the strongest ?" So both pushed, Weaver singing — 
 
 "Jesus, the name high, over all, 
 In hell, or earth, or sky; 
 Angels and men before it fall, 
 And devils fear and fly." 
 
 
coals of nrcE on ins head. 87 
 
 "And the Lord and I being stronger than lie and tho 
 devil, he lidd to get out of the way, and let me have 
 my own," says Weaver; a so I gave the tub to my 
 boy." Then the collier said, "I've a good mind to 
 smack thee in the face." "If that will do thee any 
 good," Weaver replied, "thou canst do it." And 
 as he turned his cheek, the other struck him. 
 Eichard turned the other cheek, and ho struck him 
 again, and again, five times. The sixth time, the 
 collier turned from him with a curse. But AVeaver 
 prayed, "Lord, forgive him, for Thou knowost I do 
 Lord, save him." 
 
 This happened on Saturday night; and when he 
 had done work, and went home, his wife asked him 
 what was the matter with his face. As he told her, 
 he saw that she feared lest he had struck again. But 
 the Lord had preserved him, for he was at this time 
 seeking to bring others to Christ, and was keeping; 
 guard over his own heart. 
 
 He had a good day on the Sunday; some of the 1 
 scholars in Iris class found peace in Jesus. When 
 Monday came, the devil tempted him as he went to 
 his work to regret not having thrashed the man who 
 interfered with him on Saturday, and told him that 
 the other men would laugh at him, and call him a 
 fool. But he cried, "Get thee behind me, Satan," 
 and went on his way, strong in the grace that is in 
 Christ Jesus. When he arrived at the coal-pit, tho 
 first person he saw was the man about whom he had 
 just been thinking. Eichard bid him "Good morn- 
 ing!" but got no reply. The man went down first 
 and Weaver followed; but what was his surprise 
 
38 THE ENEMY CHANGED INTO A FRIEND. 
 
 when lie reached the bottom to find his antagonist 
 sitting down and waiting for him. As soon as he got 
 to him, the poor fellow burst into weeping, saying, 
 "Bichard, will you forgive me for striking you?'' 
 "I have forgiven thee," said Weaver; " ask God to 
 forgive thee. The Lord bless thee." Bichard gave 
 him his hand, and they each went to their work. 
 But after a while, our friend heard some one coming 
 .along the road towards him, and sobbing as he came. 
 It was this poor man ; he could not rest till he felt he 
 was forgiven. He said he had had no rest since 
 Saturday. He had sent his wife to Bichard' s house 
 on the Sunday, intending to come and ask forgiveness, 
 but he was out. " Bichard, do you forgive me?" 
 he said. " Yes," replied Weaver ; " the Lord bless 
 thee. Let us kneel down and ask God to forgive 
 thee." They got down on their knees, and the Lord 
 was with them in the coal-pit ; He wounded and He 
 healed, and the man who came weeping went back 
 rejoicing, saying, "I am happy now in Jesus. 
 Glory to God and the Lamb for ever." Weaver 
 writes, " How that poor man prayed, and I had every 
 reason to believe that he was saved." May the Lord 
 give grace to his servant always thus to heap coals of 
 fire on an enemy's head, like the almighty Man Christ 
 Jesus, who 
 
 " Trod all his foes beneath his feet, 
 By being trodden down." 
 
 Though often assailed by temptations to doubt and 
 fear, God still preserved his child. Sometimes he 
 would cry out, "I shall never reach my journey's 
 
A DOUBLE CURE. 39 
 
 end;" but while Satan thus perplexed and buffeted 
 him, the Spirit was ever near to strengthen him with 
 such a word as this, " My Father who gave them me 
 is greater than all, and none is able to pluck them out 
 of my Father's hand." 
 
 About this time he had a severe illness in which 
 his life was almost despaired of; but God had work 
 for him to do, and raised him up to do it. On his 
 recovery, he endeavoured more earnestly than ever to 
 win souls. With other colliers who had obtained the 
 like precious faith, he held meetings from house to 
 house every night, after leaving work in the coal-pit. 
 Richard was the only one of them who could read, 
 though very imperfectly, and he was generally the 
 preacher. Their humble efforts were richly blessed, 
 and the Lord prospered the work. They were not, 
 he says, fishermen from the sea ; but colliers from 
 the coal-pit, with black faces, but hearts made clean 
 through the blood of the Lamb. 
 
 One time he was sent for to visit a sick woman, 
 whose case the doctor had pronounced hopeless. A 
 brother went with him, and they talked to her, and 
 sang that sweet hyinn, 
 
 " I'll praise my Maker while I've breath, 
 And when my voice is lost in death, 
 
 Praise shall employ my nobler powers ; 
 My days of praise shall ne'er be past, 
 While life, and thought, and being last, 
 
 Or immortality endures." 
 
 While they were praying God answered, and healed 
 the woman both body and soul, for she cried out, 
 "The Lord hath made me whole. " She was cured 
 
40 USHER AND HAMBLETOX. 
 
 that hour, and still lives to bear witness to the Lord's 
 faithfulness to the promise of his Son, that "What- 
 soever two of you shall agree to ask in my name, it 
 shall he done for you of my Father who is in heaven." 
 Two labourers for Christ, whose names have since 
 become better known, Edward Usher and John 
 Hambleton, came to sell Bibles at Hyde-market 
 every Saturday night. Richard, who lived now at 
 Haughton-green, about a mile from Hyde, had to go 
 there to buy food for the week, and as he heard 
 these two brothers speaking of Jesus, he stood to 
 listen. When they had done he thought they looked 
 tired, so he asked if they should sing. They very 
 heartily consented, and Weaver and his companions 
 sang — 
 
 " Saw ye my Saviour ? 
 Saw ye my Saviour and God ? 
 
 He died on Calvary, 
 
 To atone for you and me, 
 And to purchase our pardon with blood." 
 
 After this, they joined them every Saturday night, 
 and the power of God rested on the people, and many 
 were reconciled to God. Usher and Hambleton an- 
 nounced that an open-air meeting would be held 
 on the Good Friday following, at which Mr. Reginald 
 RadclifFe, of Liverpool, would preach. Five or six 
 thousand people assembled, amongst whom was 
 Richard Weaver, looking out for this lawyer from 
 Liverpool, as they called Mr. Radeliffe. But they 
 were disappointed, as he had been unable to attend. 
 One of the brethren in the wagon from which they 
 spoke espied Weaver and beckoned him up. He 
 
BIDDEN DESTRUCTION. 41 
 
 expected they wanted liim to help them to sing, but 
 they gave out that the collier would speak to them. 
 He had never spoken before so many ; but, looking 
 up to God for help, he told them what Christ had 
 done for the wretched Richard Weaver, and said that 
 He who had saved him could and would save them 
 if they would listen to Iris voice. There was a blessed 
 meeting, and ground was broken up which has since 
 yielded a rich harvest of saved souls. 
 
 Usher and Hanibleton were called to labour in 
 another town, and Richard was asked to take their 
 place at the Bible-stall on Saturday night. So after 
 he had done work ho went, though it was no little 
 trial to endure the scoffs and sneers of his fellow- 
 workmen as they passed to the public-house. But he 
 determined not to be ashamed of Jesus and his gospel, 
 which had been the power of God to his salvation. 
 Amongst others was an infidel colher, who came to 
 laugh at him. But God's word, "He that being 
 often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be 
 destroyed, and that without remedy," received a 
 terrible illustration in this man. On Monday, when 
 he went to his work, he said he had heard Weaver 
 say that before next Saturday night some one there 
 would be dead, and if not in Christ would bo damned. 
 He said he would take notice, and if there was no one 
 dead, he would go and tell Weaver that he was a 
 liar. The man to whom he spoke said it might be 
 himself ; but he replied, ' i No danger : I shall live to 
 be an old man." He died that day. 
 
 Shortly after this, Weaver met Mr. Radcliffo at a 
 large public prayer-meeting at Hyde. After prayer, 
 
42 CALLED TO PREACH THE GOSPEL. 
 
 the whole assembly, at Mr. Radcliffe's suggestion, 
 went through, the town singing hymns, and speaking 
 to the people about Jesus. They then returned to 
 the room, which was filled to overflowing, and many 
 professed to find the Saviour. 
 
 Mr. Radcliffe took Weaver to sup with him at the 
 house of Mr. Street, the gentleman who had asked 
 him to occupy the place of the Bible-sellers in the 
 market-place on Saturday night, and who now asked 
 Mr. Radcliffe if he would give Weaver a week's 
 lodging if he came to Liverpool. " Oh yes, a month," 
 replied Mr. Radcliffe, "if he will come." No more 
 was said, and Richard went home. The following 
 Saturday night found him at his post at the Bible- 
 stall. A young man came from Mr. Radcliffe to fetch 
 him to go to Chester Races. Weaver demurred. A 
 variety of objections arose in his mind ; but they were 
 all met, and his employer consented to let him go at 
 once. Still he felt uncertain whether the Lord had 
 called him to leave his occupation and go out to 
 preach. He therefore took his Bible, and determined 
 that if on opening it his eye fell on any passage which 
 indicated that he was to go, he would go ; but if 
 otherwise, he would remain. He opened the book, 
 and his eye caught that verse, "I have been young 
 and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous 
 forsaken, noje his seed begging bread." He said, 
 " That is enough, Lord ; I will go." 
 
FIRST MISSIONARY TOUR. 43 
 
 IV. 
 
 The way having been thus made plain, Weaver 
 obtained his employer's consent for a month's absence 
 from his work. This was in April, 1856, and since 
 that time he has been engaged, not in digging out 
 blocks of coal from the bowels of the earth, but in 
 digging sinners of the blackest dye from the pit of 
 infamy and sin. Vv^hen he arrived at Liverpool he 
 went to Mr. RadclifTe's house, where a number of 
 brethren were gathered together for prayer ; and on 
 the following morning he started on his first mis- 
 sionary tour, his commission being to visit the villages 
 round Chester, distributing tracts, and dissuading the 
 people from attending the races at that place. 
 
 He met at the outset with some very discouraging 
 circumstances arising from causes which need not be 
 particularized. He had been for two days without 
 food, when going through the village of Gruilden 
 Sutton he began to sing, 
 
 " Come ye that fear the Lord, 
 Unto me ; 
 I've something good to say 
 About the narrow way, 
 For Christ the other day 
 Saved my soul." 
 
 This drew a farmer's wife to her door, who asked 
 him if he loved the Lord ; and on her finding that he 
 was one of the " little flock," she invited him into 
 her house, gave him to eat, and sent him on his way 
 rejoicing in the faithfulness of his Lord. 
 
 Together with a number of other labourers in the 
 
44 STORY OF AST T7]STOKTU]S T ATE . 
 
 gospel lie went to the races at Chester, where they 
 held meetings every night near the course, at which 
 tliej received much persecution from beneath and 
 much blessing from above. 
 
 Weaver then returned to Liverpool, being provided 
 for at Mr. Radcliffe's house. While preaching in the 
 open air his word was blessed to a poor prostitute, 
 who was then and there brought to the feet of Jesus 
 and made happy in his love. We will tell the story 
 in his own language as he himself told it to a number 
 of poor fallen ones gathered at a midnight meeting 
 in Euston-room, London. In the course of a quiet 
 and affectionate address, which brought tears and 
 sobs from most of them, he said : 
 
 " Though your name may be blasted, you may 
 get a character in the Bible ; though your eyes be 
 blacked by brutish men, God loves you; though 
 society scouts you, the blood of the Lamb was shed 
 for you ; though you have no character, you may 
 have a spotless name through Jesus Christ. I was 
 once preaching out-of-doors at Liverpool, when a 
 young girl came up to me and said, ' Can Christ save 
 me? 9 ' Yes,' I said, 'for by the grace of God Christ 
 tasted death for every man.' 'Ah, you don't know 
 me,' she said. 'But, my dear sister, Christ knows 
 
 you.' ' Oh, I am one of those forlorn creatures ' 
 
 she began to say. ' I don't care what ye are,' said I, 
 ' He is able to save unto the uttermost all them that 
 come unto God by Him.' 'Can He save me here? 
 Can He save me now?'' 'Yes : now is the accepted 
 time ; to-day is the day of salvation. Only try Him.' 
 1 Then,' she said, 'if I perish, I'll perish here, crying 
 
rEESENT SALVATION. 45 
 
 to Him to liavc mercy upon me.' She was standing 
 by the parapet of the bridge, and she dropped upon 
 her knees, and cried, ' Lord, if Thou canst save poor 
 prostitutes, save me here and save me now. Lord, I 
 believe that for the sake of Jesus Thou canst save me 
 now.' She wrestled in prayer awhile, and just now 
 she got up on her feet and heaved her hands to 
 heaven, and said with streaming eyes, 
 
 Cl • My God is reconciled, 
 
 His pardoning voice I hear ; 
 He owns me for his child, 
 
 I can no longer fear ; 
 With confidence I now draw nigh, 
 And Father, Abba Father, cry.' " 
 
 She was taken to Mr. RadclifTe's house, and after- 
 wards was removed to the care of some friends at 
 Warrington. She is now a Christian wife and mother, 
 and is still holding on her way rejoicing in a sin- 
 pardoning God." 
 
 While Weaver was speaking at the same place a 
 few evenings later, a young man, who had run away 
 from home, and was on his way to take ship for 
 America, was arrested by the preacher's cry, "Be 
 sure thy sin will find thee out." He stayed, and at 
 the close came forward and acknowledged his sin, 
 and professed to have found mercy through faith in 
 the atoning blood. Weaver went with him to the 
 railway- station, and he returned to his home, at a 
 little village near Birmingham. 
 
 After this, Richard went for a short visit to Open- 
 shaw, near Manchester, where his wife's parents 
 lived, and whither she had removed from Hyde, it 
 
46 EXECUTION OF WILLIAM PALMER. 
 
 having been by this time arranged that her husband 
 should not return to the coal-pit. 
 
 A week before the execution of the notorious 
 "William Palmer, in 1857, Weaver went to Stafford 
 accompanied by a fellow-labourer. God wrought 
 a good work by them at Stafford ; they preached in 
 the streets and souls were saved. The Eoman 
 Catholics said, "The devil has come to preach in the 
 market-place." A man and his wife were induced by 
 this remark to go and hear. They believed the things 
 which were spoken, and made profession of Christ as 
 their Saviour. 
 
 They were joined at Stafford by Mr. Radcliffe and 
 other brethren. On the night of the execution thou- 
 sands were pacing the streets all night, and two 
 chapels were opened, where God owned the word 
 preached, and souls cried for mercy. 
 
 In the Memoir of the Rev. D. Sandeman, by the 
 Rev. A. A. Bonar, is a letter written by Mr. Eadcliffe 
 to the author, part of which is as follows : — 
 
 "Richard Weaver (who is now beside me) heard 
 David Sandeman solemnly preaching among the 
 immense crowd just before the last bell began to toll, 
 and well remembers him then saying, 'I stop preach- 
 ing, but that bell cries to every one of you, Prepare 
 to meet thy God ! ' The labourers had reason to hope 
 that not a few souls were blessed, and an infidel 
 among the number." 
 
 On his way to Stafford Richard passed through the 
 village of Smallthorn, near Burslem, where he used 
 to live. A report had appeared in a newspaper that 
 Richard Weaver had died through the effects of some 
 
ARGUMENT WITH A SCEPTIC. 47 
 
 foolhardy wager. His acquaintances had concluded 
 that he was the person, as the circumstances were 
 quite consistent with what they knew of his character. 
 When he knocked at the door of one of his Mends, 
 the woman threw up her hands, exclaiming, " Hey, 
 Richard, is it you? We heard you were dead." 
 "It's quite true," replied he; "I was dead in tres- 
 passes and sins, but I've been brought to life by the 
 blood of Christ." 
 
 From Stafford they went to Rochdale, and on many 
 Saturdays they sold four and five pounds' worth of 
 Bibles in a night. Better still, the meetings they held 
 in and around Rochdale were greatly blessed. Souls 
 were converted every night, amongst whom were some 
 of the vilest characters. As might be expected, Satan 
 was not content with this assault upon his kingdom, 
 and to use Weaver's expression, " The Evil One 
 roared at us bad there." A sceptic came one night 
 while they were selling Bibles in the market-place. 
 Weaver, in recommending his goods, said, " This is 
 the best book in the world — the book of truth." So 
 the sceptic in the crowd cried out, "It's the worst 
 book in the world. There isn't a word of truth in it." 
 Weaver called him to come up to the stand and prove 
 that it was the worst book, and the people would have 
 him go. When asked if he believed the Bible, he 
 said there was no truth in it from Genesis to Revela- 
 tion ; and he was not going to believe a He. Weaver 
 told him that he did believe the Bible, and he would 
 prove to the people that he did. " Do you believe," 
 he said, "that this is true or a lie — 'It is appointed 
 unto men once to die'?" "Yes, anybody knows 
 
48 THE INFIDEL DEFEATED. 
 
 that," admitted the scoffer. "But the Bible says 
 that ; and you said there was nothing true in it, and 
 yet you acknowledge this to be true." "Yes, any- 
 body knows that," repeated the other. "Well, if 
 there's one truth in it, there's two. Is this good or 
 bad ? — c Thou shalt loye thy neighbour as thyself.' 
 Is that good or bad?" " Oh, it says other things 
 besides that," said the sceptic. " That's not it. It 
 says that. Is that good or bad?" " Oh, you're 
 bringing all the good out of it," said the unbeliever. 
 "There, friends," appealed Weaver to those around, 
 "he says there is good in it, and just now he said 
 there was none." The defeated infidel jumped down 
 and ran off, and the people hooted him. 
 
 A poor man who had kept a shilling out of his 
 wages, which he was going to spend in drink, was 
 stopped on his way by hearing this conversation, and 
 instead of going to the public-house, he bought a 
 Bible and said he would examine it for himself. He 
 read it that night, and the following night went to 
 hear the preaching, and found the Saviour. 
 
 Weaver then went to sell Bibles at Bacup. He 
 gave out in the market-place that the mad collier was 
 going to preach in the Primitive Methodist chapel. 
 A great revival was the result. All sorts of people 
 came to hear, and there was a great ingathering of 
 precious souls. He afterwards, with his companion, 
 sold Bibles and preached the gospel at Knutsford 
 Eaces, where, as elsewhere, they were greatly per- 
 secuted and greatly blessed. 
 
 Weaver there parted from his companion and went to 
 Hanley, and to Stoke Eaces, where he laboured with 
 
PERSECUTION AT WOLVERHAMPTON. 49 
 
 Mr. Kayo, Independent minister, preaching and dis- 
 tributing tracts. Many months afterwards a stranger 
 accosted him at another town in Staffordshire, and 
 a iked him if he remembered preaching at Stoke 
 Races. " Yes," said Weaver. " The Lord bless you," 
 said the oilier, grasping his hand, "you were tho 
 means, in God's hands, of my finding Christ there." 
 
 Wolverhampton was the next place he visited, 
 where the opposition he met with exceeded anything 
 lie had before experienced. He was pelted with sticks 
 and stones and clods, to the peril of his life. Not- 
 withstanding this he preached on the race-course on 
 Sunday, and some of the Lord's people in the town 
 stood by him. The Roman Catholics attacked them ; 
 one gentleman was struck with a clod on the mouth 
 while on his knees praying. They got Weaver 
 down, dragged him by his heels up the street, a 
 policeman walking past and taking no notice. When 
 they loosed him a man struck a blow which, had 
 not its force been broken by his hat, would probably 
 have killed him ; he felt the effects of it for a long 
 time after : indeed it is a question whether he has 
 ever perfectly recovered from it. However, as 
 soon as he was able to regain Ids feet he went on 
 preaching to the mob the gospel of peace. Tho 
 power of God went with his word, and they were 
 obliged to cease their abuse. 
 
 After a few days' rest at home he returned to Liver- 
 pool at Mr. Radcliffe's request, where he preached on 
 Sunday nights in Brunswick Hall, and held cottage- 
 meetings from street to street during tho week. 
 This was in March, 1857, and on one occasion the 
 
 E 
 
50 ARRESTED FOR SINGING IN THE STREETS. 
 
 snow was on the ground while he preached in the 
 street, and his friends held a prayer-meeting within. 
 Many souls were saved during- this time. At one of 
 these meetings a sailor fell down stricken under a 
 sense of sin. For some time he lay on his back 
 senseless, and when he came to himself rose up 
 rejoicing that he had found the Saviour. He clapped 
 his hands and sang, 
 
 " ' Tho blood of Jesus cleanses me, 
 The moment I believe.' 
 
 Lord, I do believe. Thou hast written pardon on my 
 heart," 
 
 One night as Weaver was returning to his lodging, 
 singing through the street, a policeman caught hold 
 of him and asked him if he would not stop singing. 
 "Nay," said he, "I shan't stop." The policeman 
 said he would make him, and caught him by the 
 collar. He sprang his rattle, another policeman 
 came to his help, and they took our friend to the 
 lock-up. 
 
 As they went a fellow- Christian shouted after him, 
 "Never mind, brother, look up." "Weaver said, 
 "Loose me, and take hold of that noisy chap." 
 They accordingly took both of them to the station. 
 When they arrived there they had hard work to 
 keep the people out, for as they went along two or 
 three hundred had followed them, many of whom 
 were the prisoners' friends. No sooner were they 
 inside than Weaver fell on his knees and prayed. 
 The inspector asked the policeman, "What have you 
 brought these men here for?" " They were making 
 
SCENE AT THE STATION-HOUSE. b\ 
 
 a noiso in the street," was the reply. " What wore 
 they doing ? " " Singing, 
 
 'The Lion of Judah shall break every chain, 
 And give us the victor}' again and again. "' 
 
 "Dear me," exclaimed the inspector, "you had no 
 business to bring them here. We shall have no 
 quietness all night if we can't get them out." 
 
 All this time Weaver continued praying, and his 
 companion shouting, " Glory ! " by his side, while tlio 
 people were holding a prayer-meeting in the street. 
 When the above dialogue was concluded he got up 
 and preached to the police-officers, telling them that 
 if they did not repent they would all bo lost. "Dear 
 me," said the inspector, "I never heard such a man 
 The next time you come here you will have to be sent 
 to Eainhill" (lunatic asylum). Weaver went -on 
 talking to him, and he said, "Bless the man, go 
 out." " I sha'n't go out," said the prisoner ; "I was 
 publicly put in, and I shall be publicly put out." 
 
 Just then a gentleman came in and asked if they 
 had got a missionary there. "Yes, sir," was the 
 reply. < ' Will you take bail for him ? " " Bail, eh ! 
 he's been at liberty to go this hour and a half, and 
 we shall be very glad to get rid of him. ' ' Accordingly, 
 at the suggestion of his friend, Weaver withdrew, 
 and went home singing as before, 
 
 " With Christ in my heart and a staff in my hand, 
 I travel in haste through an enemy's land ; 
 The road may be rough, but it cannot be long, 
 So I march along singing the conqueror's song, 
 For the Lion of Judah shall break every chain, 
 And give us the victory again and again." 
 
52 THE DANGER OF DELAY. 
 
 A few nights after this, the policeman who had 
 taken him into custody met him and asked him to 
 forgive him. " Don't ask my pardon, ask God's 
 pardon," said Weaver. " I forgive thee freely, ask 
 God to forgive thee." "Oh," said the poor fellow, 
 with tears, "I'd give every hair of my head to know 
 what you do — to know my sins forgiven." "You 
 needn't give anything," was the reply. "God gave 
 Christ for you, and He will forgive every one that 
 
 •comes to Him by Jesus." The man believed the love 
 of God, and was made happy then and there. "While 
 they were speaking a crowd had gathered, and an 
 Irishwoman began to abuse Weaver, and call him a 
 
 . heretic. But the policeman told her if she did not go 
 along quietly he should take her into custody, and 
 after that he always defended Weaver when he came 
 
 an his way. 
 
 * On the following Sunday night, in Brunswick Hall, 
 ho observed a young woman weeping, and after he 
 had done preaching went up to her and asked her 
 if she had a desire to give her heart to God. " Yes," 
 she said, " but not to-night." "You may never have 
 another opportunity." "Well, not to-night," said 
 she. He yearned over her, and as she left the hall 
 he followed her down the steps into the street, telling 
 her she had not a moment to call her own, and warn- 
 ing her of her danger. But she kept on saying "Not 
 to-night. Not to-night." She went home, and the 
 next morning at the breakfast table said to her 
 mother, "I was hearing the converted collier preach 
 last night — I wish I had given God my heart." She 
 went on telling her mother what had been said to 
 
TERRIBLE EXAMPLES. 63 
 
 her, and wished she had stopped and decided for God 
 then. "Well," said the mother, "you can go and 
 hear him next Sunday." " Oh, mother, I might not 
 live till next Sunday. lie told me I had not a moment 
 to call my own. Oh, if I died now, where should I 
 go?" The mother began to take her breakfast, and 
 persuaded her daughter to do the same. The poor 
 young woman took the cup into her hand, saying, as 
 she did so, " Oh mother, if I die now I'm damned,' 1 
 and fell dead with the words in her mouth. 
 
 Another terrible instance of the danger of delay" 
 occurred at the same time. A working-man in 
 Liverpool came to the meetings at Brunswick Hall,. 
 and a Christian man pressed him to decide for the 
 Lord. He said, "I'll come again." On the Satur- 
 day following, his master, who was a believer, said, 
 11 Now I hope you'll decide to be on the Lord's side." 
 "Not to-day," said he; "I'm going to Brunswick 
 Hall to-morrow night, and I shall decide then." lie 
 received his money and went away. When he got 
 home he opened the door, and with his hand yet on 
 the latch he fell forward into his own house, dead. 
 
 Dear reader, are you yet unsaved? I cannot, I 
 dare not, pass on without a word to you. Is your 
 heart too full of other things to have any room for 
 Christ? Ah remember, Bethlehem was too full for 
 Jesus to be born except among the beasts ; but in a 
 very little while Bethlehem was full of woe. They 
 had no room to receive God's Holy Child, and hardly 
 had his parents fled away with him by night, before 
 a cry was heard in every family which owned a child 
 from two years old and under, in Bethlehem and all 
 
54 VISIT TO THE ^RAYING MOTHER* 
 
 its|. coasts. "Was there no Divine retribution here ? 
 Hainan was hanged upon the gallows he had prepared 
 for Mordecai. When the Devil slew the Lord o 
 glory he signed his own death-warrant. "His 
 mischief shall return upon his own head, and his 
 violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate." 
 Righteous recompense is a fundamental principle of 
 tho government of God. "Because I have called? 
 and ye refused ; I have stretched out my hand, and 
 no man regarded ; but ye have set at nought all my 
 counsel, and would none of my reproof; I also will 
 laugh at your calamity ; I will mock when your fear 
 cometh." 
 
 During his sojourn at Hyde, nine or ten months after 
 hi$ marriage, and before he left the coal-pit to become 
 a missionary, Weaver had taken his wife to visit his 
 father and mother. When the coach drew up they 
 found the dear old woman waiting at the stile to 
 meet them. It was the first time they had met since 
 he left home, and as soon as she saw him she fell on 
 his neck and kissed him, saying, "This my son was 
 dead and is alive again ; he was lost and is found." 
 Before retiring to rest Richard read a chapter and 
 prayed, and while he was praying, his father said, 
 " Oh clear, it's time for ma to think about my 80111." 
 Ho asked his wife what he must do, and she directed 
 him to the Saviour who had been her friend and 
 helper through her long and weary pilgrimage. The 
 
THE DYES T G PUBLICAN. 
 
 word of life entered into the old man's heart and 
 made him a new creature in Christ Jesus. Since that 
 time his altered life and character have borne witness 
 to the reality of his conversion. 
 
 After preaching at Liverpool, Richard with hifi 
 wife again visited his parents at Asterley. They 
 found the faithful mother waiting to receive them as 
 before. As they got off the coach the} r heard her cry, 
 "Oh, my son! oh, my son!" and they learned that 
 she was mourning over her son Thomas, who had 
 just before been lolled in the coal-pit, and of whose 
 sad end they were not aware, the letter conveying the 
 intelligence not having come to hand. 
 
 Eichard preached in his native village the following 
 Sunday evening, and many were delivered from the 
 power of darkness and made light in the Lord. Two 
 of those then converted are now preachers of the 
 gospel, and there are many other living witnesses to 
 the Lord's blessing at that time. 
 
 After his return from Asterley, Weaver laboured 
 at Chester for some time, and preached in the sur- 
 rounding villages with Mr. Radcliffe, and wherever 
 they went the Lord was present to heal. 
 
 While at one of these villages, a message came 
 requesting Weaver to visit a dying man, a publican. 
 When he arrived at the house the servant-girl accom- 
 panied him to the door of the sick-room and there 
 left him, and he stood unobserved on the threshold 
 for a few minutes contemplating the sorrowful scene. 
 In bed lay an emaciated man, yet young, but appa- 
 rently in the last stage of consumption. On the right 
 side of the bed stood his wife and daughter and little 
 
56 AT EVENTIDE LIGHT. 
 
 son; two sisters on the left; while his grey-headed 
 father, upwards of eighty years of age, sat trembling 
 at the foot. They were all bitterly weeping. " Oh 
 wife," said the dying man, "can't you tell me what 
 I must do to be saved?" "No, my dear husband," 
 she sobbed forth, " I can't tell thee." " Oh children, 
 look at your poor dying father," and he asked them, 
 and then his sisters, the same sad eager question. 
 Then turning to his father, " Oh father, look at your 
 dying son. Can't you tell me how to be saved?" 
 "Nay, my poor lad," said the father, "I wish I 
 could. I don't know myself." 
 
 The man of God then stepped up to the bedside, 
 with his Bible in his hand. The sufferer looked up 
 horjefully and said, " Oh sir, can you tell me how I 
 may be saved?" "Yes," was the answer; "I've 
 got a promise for you." And the dull eyes seemed 
 to brighten, and the heavy cloud of gloom was lifted 
 from the countenance of the sick man, as he asked, 
 " Oh, is there a promise for poor G — ?" " If I bring 
 a promise for you now, won't you believe it ?" " Oh 
 yes, I will indeed believe it," was the prompt reply, 
 and he began to tell how wicked he had been — a 
 fighter and everything that was bad. His visitor 
 told him something of his own story, and the sick 
 man said, " Have you been as bad as that ?" " Yes, 
 and I found pardon through the blood of Jesus. 
 And now I'll read to you." He opened his Bible at 
 the tenth of Romans, and read that "Christ is the 
 end of the law, for righteousness, to every one that 
 believeth." The sick man readily admitted that the 
 end of the law of England is the rope. His friend 
 
CHRIST THE E^D OF THE LAW. 57 
 
 had recently seen Palmer hanged, and with the vivid- 
 ness of an eyewitness explained that the law had doner 
 with the murderer when he had hung by the neck till 
 he was dead. The law could say nothing more; it 
 was satisfied when the life had been exacted. And 
 in like manner, he said, the end of the law of God 
 was Christ hanging on the cross of Calvary. lie had 
 been hanged there and died, the sinless One for sinful 
 men, and so had been made of God the end of the 
 law, for righteousness, to every one that believes in 
 Him. He proceeded with the chapter : " For Moses 
 describeth the righteousness which is of the law, that 
 the man who doeth these things shall live by them. 
 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on 
 this wise, ' Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend 
 into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from 
 above); or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that 
 is, to bring up Christ again from the dead). But 
 what saith it ? The word is nigh thee, even in thy 
 mouth and in thy heart ; that is, the word of faith 
 which we preach : That if thou shalt confess with thy 
 mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart 
 that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be 
 saved." 
 
 When he had got thus far the poor dying sinner 
 raised himself up and said eagerly, " Does it say that 
 in my Bible ?" Weaver replied "Yes," and opened 
 his own Bible and read it there. He said to his 
 daughter, " Thee read for me, and then I'll believe 
 it." But her tears bedimmed her sight, and her 
 voice was broken by her weeping, so that she could 
 not read. She sobbed out, "It must be there father. 
 
58 VICTORY THROUGH THE BLOOD. 
 
 or he wouldn't say so." Then the little son said he 
 would read it, and when the child had read it, " Thank 
 God," said the now happy father, " There's a promise 
 for poor G — ." 
 
 Weaver then knelt down and prayed, and when he 
 arose the first words he heard were "It's done nie 
 more good than all the medicine. The blood of Jesus 
 Christ his Son cleanses me from all sin. Glory be to 
 God," he shouted, "it's done me more good than 
 all the medicine !" And as if to prove the truth of 
 his words he jumped from his bed, which he had not 
 left for several weeks before, and caught his wife 
 round the neck, crying, "Praise the Lord! Praise 
 the Lord!" 
 
 He told the dear friend who had brought him such 
 a precious promise that he had been told he had 
 been baptized and confirmed, and had had the prayers 
 of the church, and was a good sort of a man, kind to 
 the poor, and so on. "But," said he, " that; wouldn't 
 do for me. The devil wanted to have poor G — , but 
 bless God there's the word that God so loved the 
 world, that He gave his only-begotten Son, that who- 
 soever believeth in Him should not perish, but have 
 everlasting life." He was restored so far as to be 
 able to go in a cab and tell a friend what the Lord 
 had done for his soul, and in a little while he died, 
 shouting, "Victory, victory! Glory to God ! Poor 
 G — 's got the victory ! Victory, victory, victory, 
 through the blood of Christ." 
 
 About this time Weaver was on his way from 
 Manchester to Liverpool. At Warrington an old 
 gentleman farmer entered the same carnage. As the 
 
A KING S SON. 59 
 
 train moved along towards Garston the old gentle- 
 man talked to his companion about the surrounding 
 country, and the following conversation ensued. " Do 
 you see that house over the river?" "Yes." " Well, 
 all this land, and that," pointing to it, " belongs to 
 the gentleman who lives there, and I can remember 
 when he had hardly sixpence in the world." "Nay, 
 friend," said the collier, "this land belongs to my 
 father." " Your father ? " " Yes ; I'm a king's son. 
 My father is a king." The old gentleman looked 
 incredulously at his fellow-traveller, and inquired, 
 "Where do you come from, then?" "From the 
 City of Destruction." "Let's see," he said, "the 
 City of Destruction ; that's not in this country, is it r 
 Isn't it over the water?" "Yes, it's over the water." 
 "Let's see," the old gentleman went on; "ours is a 
 queen, not a king." " Yes," he replied, "it's a queen 
 here, not a king. My father is a king." ' ' Dear me ! " 
 exclaimed the gentleman. "All this land for miles," 
 continued our royal friend, ' ' all the way from War- 
 rington to Liverpool, belongs to my father." "Nay," 
 said his doubting companion ; < ' then he must have 
 leased it. Hasn't he?" "Yes, they have leased it 
 of my father." "Dear me!" he said, "I never 
 heard tell of such a thing as that." " All Cheshire," 
 continued the king's son, "belongs to my father." 
 "Nay, I'm sure that's a lie," said the other, 
 indignantly; "I've got a farm in Cheshire, and I'm 
 going to Liverpool now to settle about my will. The 
 farm has been in our family for generations." "I 
 don't care: it belongs to my father." "I'm sure it 
 don't," said the farmer, getting vexed. "Yes it 
 
60 CHRIST POUND IN A RAILWAY CARRIAGE. 
 
 does, and all the money you've got in your pocket 
 belongs to my father." Nay, that's a downright 
 lie," returned the gentleman in an excited tone, for 
 he was becoming thoroughly angry. Then, in a 
 milder key, as if it had just struck him that perhaps 
 his strange acquaintance had escaped from Rainhill,* 
 "Tell me what your father's name is." "Well, he's 
 called by different names, but I call Him, ' God is 
 Love,'" Richard replied. " Oh, I beg your pardon, 
 sir," said the old gentleman, "I didn't think about 
 that." 
 
 The Christian now told his companion of the love 
 of God in sending his dear Son into the world to save 
 sinners, and the old man began to weep. The preacher 
 went on to speak to him about his immortal soul, and 
 said how sad it was for him to have lived all those 
 years without Christ; until the other exclaimed, "I 
 wish I was saved." They knelt down in the carriage, 
 and the Christian prayed, and the old man prayed, 
 and before they arrived at their journey's end he 
 declared his belief that God for Christ's sake had 
 forgiven him his sins. They had to ride on an 
 omnibus from Garston to Liverpool, and the soul so 
 newly born could not restrain the expression of its joy. 
 The old man, now a babe in Christ, began to bless 
 find praise God, telling the other passengers that he 
 had found the Saviour in the railway carriage, till 
 they thought him mad. Arrived at Liverpool, he 
 took his now dearly-valued friend to some dining- 
 rooms, paid for his dinner, and went away as happy 
 as a king. 
 
 * Lunatic Asylum. 
 
"TJ1E LOItD WILL rEOVIDE." 61 
 
 On another occasion, Weaver found himself at the 
 railway station without the means of paying his fare. 
 But he believed that he was the Lord's servant, and 
 that lie would provide him with what ho needed, for 
 he had told him his necessity, and prayed that money 
 might he sent to enable him to go home. He had a 
 few tracts in his pocket, which lie distributed among 
 the persons in the station. He gave one to a young 
 man, who read it attentively and then came and asked 
 Weaver where he came from. " From the City of 
 Destruction," he replied. " So do I," said the other. 
 "Where arc you going?" "I'm bound for glory," 
 answered Weaver. " So am I." They shook hands, 
 for they found that they were brothers. " But where 
 do you pitch your tent to-night ?" continued his new 
 acquaintance. ' ' At Manchester, ' ' answered Weaver. 
 " I'm going that way, too. I'll pay for your ticket." 
 He paid for his ticket and gave him half-a-crown 
 besides. When the train started no one else entered 
 the same compartment, and Weaver said, " Now 
 we'll have a prayer-meeting," and in his prayer he 
 gave the Lord thanks for helping him out of his 
 difficulty. In conversation afterwards he told his 
 friend how he had been situated, and before they 
 parted he gave him a half-sovereign more. 
 
 This was a manifest answer to prayer ; and yet 
 such statements are often received incredulously, as 
 though the heavenly Father did not really exercise 
 such a care over his children. Yet if we would but 
 mark the circumstances of our daily life, if wo did 
 but watch unto prayer, we should discern numberless 
 proofs, as real, if not as manifest, that even tho 
 
62 THE SWEARING KAWIES. 
 
 hairs of our head are all numbered. A child learns 
 to love its mother, not so much because on a few 
 occasions she may have saved its life, as on account 
 of her ceaseless tenderness and watchful care. And 
 he that is wise and will observe God's little acts oi 
 love from day to day, even he shall understand the 
 lovingkindness of the Lord. 
 
 Another circumstance of interest which occurred 
 while Weaver was travelling may be mentioned here. 
 On one occasion a lot of navvies, and a respectably 
 dressed woman, occupied the same carriage as him- 
 self. The navvies, in their conversation, soon began 
 to take God's name in vain. " Oh stop," said 
 Weaver, to one of them; "you mustn't call my 
 father." " I didn't call your father, sir; I don't 
 know your father," said the navvy. "No," replied 
 Weaver, "if you did you would love Him and not 
 speak of Him like that." "What's your father's 
 name ?" inquired the man. "You need not ask Him 
 to damn you," answered Weaver, "for He'll damn 
 you without asking if you don't repent. But if you 
 turn to Him He will save you. My father's name 
 is ' God is Love.' " As he went on talking about the 
 love of God one of them took his hand and said, " Oh 
 sir, those were the last words my mother spoke to 
 me, i God is Love.' " No more swearing was heard 
 during the rest of the journey, and when they sepa- 
 rated the men thanked him and assured him they 
 would remember what he had said to them. 
 
 As Weaver and the woman left the train together, 
 she asked him, "Is your name Mr. Weaver?" "My 
 name is Michard Weaver," he replied. "The Lord 
 
A IHlUNKAILD's H01TG. G3 
 
 bless thee," .she said. " I don't know you," said he, 
 M I never saw you before," replied the woman ; " but 
 I guessed who you were by yoiu* talk to those men. 
 The Lord bless thee. Didn't you preach about six- 
 teen months ago, at such a place ?" " Yes." " Tiio 
 Lord bless thee. Sixteen months ago I had no bed 
 but a bed of straw ; my four children had nothing to 
 eat ; I had no husband to call a husband ; but tho 
 Lord bless thee. My husband had been put in prison, 
 and he came out more like a devil than a man ; the 
 children ran away from him when they saw him ; 
 but the Lord bless thee. As he came along the street 
 he saw it placarded upon the wall that Richard 
 Weaver, the converted collier, was to preach on 
 Sunday evening. lie stopped as he saw the name, 
 and said to himself, ' Richard Weaver ! that must 
 be the man I used to work with in the coal-pit. I'll 
 go and hear him. 3 The Lord bless thee. He went, 
 and your text was, ' The Master is come and calleth 
 for thee !' When the anxious ones were asked to 
 come up to the penitent form he was the first that 
 came. I was sitting up with the babe in my arms ; 
 I dared not go to bed for fear he should come and 
 pull me out by the hair of my head, as he had often 
 done before ; but the Lord bless thee. He came in 
 when there was just an inch of candle in the socket, 
 and said, ( Where are the children ?' * Gone to bed/ 
 I answered. ' Bring them down.' I had no cradle, 
 so I had to lay the babe on the hearthstone, while 
 I went upstairs. Now, I thought, I shall have to be 
 turned out, and take shelter under a hedge, or a cart, 
 or some such place. I knelt down by the bed of 
 
64 A IIAPPY HOMB. 
 
 straw, and asked the Lord to protect me and ray 
 children. Then I took them down stairs, and to my 
 astonishment my husband took up the eldest in his 
 arms, and kissed her, and said, < My dear lass, the 
 Lord have sent thee a father home to-night. ' Then 
 he took the second and said the same. And then the 
 third, and said, l My dear boy, the Lord have sent thee 
 a father home to-night.' He caught up the babe and 
 said, i My dear babe, the Lord have sent thee a father 
 homo to-night.' Then he put his arm round my neck, 
 and kissed me, and said, ' My dear lass, the Lord 
 have sent thee a husband home to-night. The Lord 
 bless thee.' Oh Mr. "Weaver, what a word! * My 
 dear wife.' I had.na heard such words for fourteen 
 years. He prayed and the Lord gave him peace, and 
 He restored my soul, for in my trouble I had not been 
 living closely to Him. Oh, Mr. Weaver, the Lord 
 bless thee." When he got up next morning, Richard 
 found the man with his four children there with open 
 arms to welcome him, and to thank him for the 
 blessing they had received through his word. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Mr. Eadcliffe now proposed to Weaver to visit 
 London, but he objected. It was then arranged that 
 he should go to Prescot, to assist a fellow-labourer 
 who had recently gone to that place as town mis- 
 sionary. 
 
 Arrived at Prescot, he found the brother whom he 
 had come to help, in a house holding a prayer-meeting. 
 
GOOD FOR EVIL. 66 
 
 Weaver proposed that they should go out of doors 
 and he would preach. A crowd collected, and the word 
 was clothed with power. He remained at Prescot 
 three weeks, preaching frequently, and more than 
 four hundred, amongst whom were somo of the 
 worst men in the town, professed to find peace in 
 believing. 
 
 Leaving Prescot, ho went to Liverpool Paces, 
 where the following incident occurred. A fellow- 
 Christian was talking to a wicked man, and Weaver, 
 seeing that the latter was going to strike his brother, 
 and fearing lest he should strike again, joined them, 
 and spoke kindly to the man, who said he would strike 
 him if he didn't take himself off. " Well, do it," 
 said Richard. He struck him, and the other cheek 
 was presented, but the man would not strike a second 
 time. Weaver knelt down and prayed for him, and 
 when he rose the other wanted to give him half-a- 
 crown, which he refused. But the man stood by him. 
 after that, and protected him from others who would 
 have molested him. Some months afterwards he was 
 in Liverpool again, and a stranger came up, asking 
 if he were not the man who preached at Liverpool 
 Paces, and if he remembered a man striking him 
 there. " I'm the man," he said, "that struck ycu, 
 and I have often wanted to see you to ask your 
 forgiveness." The prayer offered up on the race- 
 course at Liverpool had never been forgotten, till it 
 led to the conversion of his soul. 
 
 Our next notice of Weaver is at Prescot fair, where 
 he established himself in the midst of the travelling 
 theatres, boxing saloons, swinging boats, and other 
 
 F 
 
66 r-EESCOT PAIR. 
 
 of the follies usual at such places. With, others like- 
 minded with himself, he struck up the hymn, 
 
 " Come ye that love the Lord, 
 And let your joys he known, 
 Join in a song with sweet accord, 
 And thus surround the throne." 
 
 The showmen's bells were ringing, drums beating, 
 cymbals clapping, rattles rattling, against them, and 
 for an hour and a half the contest went on, during 
 which a band of music came to the rescue, to drown 
 the singers' voices. But all in vain. The singing was 
 heard above the noise at a village a mile off. They 
 sang it down, and ever since, that tune is known there 
 as " The Prescot Fair Tune." The boxing-men raved 
 at them, and the showmen cursed, but they could get 
 no one to go into their places, and the principal show 
 went out of the town next morning, the proprietor 
 leaving something in pawn to pay his way, and 
 declaring that whereas he had ta^en ten pounds the 
 year before, he had not now taken as many shillings, 
 all through that preacher. His little child said, 
 " Father, where are we going? to Newton Paces ?" 
 "I don't know where to go," replied the father. 
 " It's no use of us going to Newton Paces," said the 
 child, " for the preacher is going there, and we shall 
 take nothing." 
 
 At night a gentleman had the town-hall opened for 
 preaching ; crowds came in from the streets, and 
 many professed to have obtained the pardon of their 
 sins. Weaver afterwards preached in a field, and 
 forty-four persons declared themselves to have found 
 
TIIE CLOWN AND TnE PREACIIEIt. 67 
 
 peace at that time. It was a most affecting scene. 
 Some were mourning under a newly- awakened 
 consciousness of sin ; others rejoicing in the glorious 
 hope of which they had just become partakers, through 
 faith in the blood-shedding of the Son of God. Here 
 and there relatives and friends were hanging on each 
 other's necks, weeping for sorrow or for joy; some 
 crying, " Lord save me !" and others giving glory to 
 God for having saved them. 
 
 At a subsequent fair, Weaver again took his stand 
 amongst the shows, and a clown on one of them 
 challenged him to come on the stage and hold a dis- 
 cussion with him. He went, and soon found that 
 the clown was a Roman Catholic. Our friend had 
 the best of the argument, and the merry-andrew was 
 confounded before the people. He could say nothing. 
 At last he broke away from the discussion by asking, 
 * i If I wanted a loaf of bread would you give me one ? " 
 " Yes," answered the preacher, " I would." "Well," 
 he said, " I do want one." " Then come along with 
 me, and I'll give you one." The clown seemed back- 
 ward at starting, but Weaver took hold of his arm 
 and led him down the steps and up the street, a host 
 of people following them to the shop of a baker, who 
 was in a fright lest his windows should be broken by 
 the crush. The missionary bought a sixpenny loaf 
 and said, "Now, before I give it thee, I must pray 
 with thee." And so the preacher and the man with 
 painted face and clown's attire knelt together in the 
 open shop, and the Lord's servant prayed his Father 
 to save the soul of his fellow. The clown wanted to 
 pay for the loaf, but Weaver woidd not let him. He 
 
68 hiding from: the wbath of god. 
 
 returned to his show, but was ashamed to appear 
 outside for the rest of the day. On the following 
 morning he came and begged Richard to forgive 
 him, saying he wished he could get a living in some 
 other way. He grasped his hand, with tears in his 
 eyes, when "Weaver said, " The Lord bless thee. 
 You have done nothing against me." 
 
 Shall not the bread then cast upon the waters be 
 found after many days ? 
 
 Previously to the circumstance last mentioned, 
 Weaver had accepted an invitation to settle in 
 Prescot as town missionary, the brother before- 
 named having relinquished the appointment. 
 
 One of his first converts after this, was a collier, 
 who spent his time much as he himself had done in his 
 ungodly days, in drinking, cockfighting, &c. Hearing 
 the sound of preaching at a distance he was attracted 
 to the spot, where he stood and listened. The terrors 
 of the law, which were strenuously propounded, laid 
 hold of the man's soul, and he ran home, and went to 
 bed, covering his head with the bed-clothes, to hide 
 himself from the wrath of God. While he lay there 
 shivering with terror, his wife came and asked him in 
 astonishment what was the matter, but he told her if 
 she did not let him alone he would knock her brains 
 out. The next night he went again. After preaching, 
 Weaver retired from the street to an adjoining school- 
 room, inviting inquirers to follow him. Those who 
 were anxious to obtain peace with God were then 
 asked to come forward, and this cockfighting collier 
 was among the first who accepted the invitation. He 
 said the devil " heaved him up to come there," but 
 
WILLIAM HALL. 09 
 
 he found peace, and then he knew that not the evil 
 spirit but the Spirit of God had led him thither. Ho 
 is still walking in the way of holiness. Three other 
 colliers, married men, were brought in about tho 
 6ame time, and leaving their evil habits they set 
 themselves to learn to read. 
 
 There was a watchmaker at Prescot whose brother 
 had been converted under Weaver, and who said ho 
 believed that if his brother woidd hear him he would 
 be converted too. He went, and as the preacher 
 thundered out the law, he felt as if he should bo 
 damned in the place. Thus made willing to be 
 saved on God's own terms, he was brought into the 
 glorious liberty of the children of God before he left. 
 He was the eldest son at home, and the main sup- 
 port of his widowed mother. The change soon 
 became apparent ; he was now as attentive to her as 
 before he had been unkind, and this may possibly 
 have conduced to her own conversion under "Weaver 
 subsequently. She died happily some time after, in 
 her son's arms, and it was very unwillingly that he 
 left her grave. This young man is a zealous and 
 faithful labourer in the gospel. He visited Woolwich 
 and Barnet in 1860, by invitation, as a lay preacher. 
 
 There were two twin brothers, labouring men, one 
 of whom had paid as much as £50 in small sums, 
 from time to time, in fines for being drunk. They 
 were awful characters, and when they could find no 
 one else to fight with they exercised their quarrelsome 
 propensities upon each other. They came together 
 one night to a small chapel where our friend was 
 preaching, and both, at least as regards outward 
 
70 god's college. 
 
 deportment, became changed characters. They are 
 still members of the Temperance Society, and attend 
 the house of God regularly. 
 
 At Prescot, Weaver fulfilled his duties as a town 
 missionary with a devotedness and perseverance 
 which would have been impossible had not th^ hand 
 of the Lord been strong upon him. The Spirit lifted 
 him up and took him here and there, to sick and 
 dying beds, to the haunts of vice and misery, to the 
 homes of patient poverty. Now He showed him the 
 peace and even ecstasy with which a saint can die ; 
 and then appalled him by the terror and soul agony 
 with which spirits condemned already shrunk and 
 shivered as they hung suspended by the breaking 
 thread of life over the bottomless and burning pit. 
 Here he gathered much of that marvellous fund of 
 thrilling anecdote, which imparts such power to his 
 preaching. God had given him, by birth, unusual 
 faculties of minute observation and powers of vivid 
 and graphic description, together with a sensitive 
 nature and an affectionate heart, and while the devil 
 drove him, during his early years, through the slough 
 of sin, the Only Wise was turning the counsel of the 
 Crafty One against himself, and preparing the victim 
 of that hellish education to be a chosen vessel to his 
 glory. And now again, where the Old Serpent vainly 
 coiled around the dying bodies of believers already 
 crucified and raised with Christ, or fastened on the 
 anguished ones whose quickened senses prematurely 
 heard the howlings of the damned, and saw and felt the 
 fire whose flames leaped up to clutch them to its ever- 
 lasting burning — the God of love was wakening the 
 
" UNDAUNTED DICK. ,, 71 
 
 ear of his child to hear as one taught, and giving Inm 
 the tongue of the learned that he should know how to 
 speak a word in season to the weary. He gave him 
 living visions of heaven and hell, in the declaration of 
 which he might fitly and freely exercise the powers 
 wherewith He had endowed him from his mother's 
 womb. For the more we hear of the saintly woman 
 who plodded so patiently through her weary life, the 
 more are we convinced that our friend inherited from 
 her the powers which she so undauntedly endeavoured 
 to train for God. 
 
 And fully at Prescot did he justify the cognomen 
 he had earned in his ungodly days, " Undaunted 
 Dick;" for what he was as a fighting man, fearing 
 nothing, so is he still as a soldier of the cross. For 
 instance : On one occasion he went into the house of 
 a Roinan Catholic at Prescot, an Irishman, who de- 
 clared he would cut his throat. "Then," said 
 Richard, "you shall murder me on my knees." The 
 man stood over him with an open razor while he 
 prayed; but before the prayer was over his mind was 
 changed, and he said, " Sure I wouldn't hurt him for 
 the world ; he says nothing but the truth." 
 
 With a collier named Berry, who had been con- 
 verted under Mr. RadclifTe, Weaver went into ale- 
 houses and prayed in the kitchen in the midst of 
 those who were drinking there, sometimes receiving 
 thanks and kindness, sometimes abuse and threaten- 
 ing^ ; but gaining the respect of all. Many of those 
 whom he visited in sickness found a present Saviour 
 through his instrumentality, and others still live to 
 thank God for his sojourn there. 
 
(2 SATURDAY NIGHT. TESTIMONIAL. 
 
 An aged woman, who was in a desponding ancj 
 distracted condition of mind, says nothing did her so 
 much good as his happy face and loving prayers, and 
 she has since that time continued a rejoicing believer. 
 A man whose constantly-expressed Antinomian 
 principles made him an offence to his friends, used 
 to listen to the preaching, until at length his views 
 were greatly modified by the conviction that God, in 
 his sovereignty, condescends to use human instru- 
 mentalities, and that this blunt but genial collier- 
 missionary was verily sent of Him to declare a full 
 and free salvation to every one who is willing to be 
 saved. 
 
 As soon as the fruits of his labours began to ap- 
 pear, Richard invited the converts to his house every 
 Saturday night — a meeting of which it would be 
 difficult to overrate the importance, and doubly 
 valuable at that time, when they were subject to 
 greater temptation than at any other hour in the 
 week. There was a public-house next door, and 
 often the people would leave their drink, and go 
 away to escape the sound of the praying. 
 
 Before he had been there a year, the working and 
 poor people of Prescot gave Weaver a silver watch, 
 with the following inscription : " Purchased by sub- 
 scription, and presented to Mr. E. "Weaver, as a token 
 of the high esteem in which he is held as the Prescot 
 Town Missionary, March 22, 1858. " 
 
 The following passage from one of Weaver's ad- 
 dresses, on the love of God, contains two anecdotes 
 of occurrences during the period of which we are 
 writing. 
 
THE WIFE-BE AXEB. 13 
 
 11 News came one morning that a man had almost 
 killed his wife. The poor woman had been to a 
 meeting the night before and got her sins pardoned ; 
 she had gone home and gone to bed, and left the door 
 open for him. You know there's nothing to steal in a 
 drunkard's house. Well : he went home about three 
 o'clock in the morning, and dragged his poor wife 
 down stairs by the hair of her head. I went to the 
 house, and there I found the poor woman sitting 
 down and holding her sides. She could hardly 
 breathe. Three or four of her ribs were broken by 
 his kicks. He had blinded her on one eve before, 
 and now he had locked up the other. ' Oh, Richard/ 
 she says, ' I can't see thee, but I know thy voice. 
 Oh, Richard, if the Lord would only take me home ! ' 
 'My dear sister,' I whispered to her, ' you must 
 say, " Not my will, but Thine be done." She showed 
 me her poor legs, black and blue. I says, ' Where's 
 thy husband now?' i Don't go near him,' she an- 
 swered, ' he swears he'll kill anybody who meddles 
 with him.' I went into the bit of a place behind: 
 there he was with a carving-knife in his hand cutting 
 a bit of bread, shaking just like drunkards do. ' Well, 
 my lad,' I said, ' what hast thou been doing ? Look 
 at thy poor wife.' 'Thee go to hell,' says he. 
 1 Oh no, I shall never go there ; Jesus has saved me 
 from hell, and can savo thee too. Why, thou hadst 
 a praying mother' (I knew he had) ; ' dostna remem- 
 ber what she used to teach thee?' 'Ah, Richard/ 
 said he, l 'twas different times with us then. When 
 I lost my mother I lost my best friend.' 'Oh no, 
 thee didn't; thou'st got thee best friend. Jesus i& 
 
74 THE BAGS OF GOLD. 
 
 thee best friend, and He'll save thee yet if thou' It 
 come to Him.' ' Oh no, He won't save me.' ' Ah, 
 hut I'm sure He will. * If I thought He would, I'd 
 go on my knees now, and I'd never get up again till 
 He had.' ' Now, then, we'll try Him ; now thee 
 kneel there and I'll kneel here.' So we knelt down, 
 and I prayed and he prayed, and I believed and he 
 believed; and so by-and-by, he jumps up crying, 
 ' Glory be to God, my sins are pardoned ! ' He 
 clasps his poor wife in his arms, and begs her to 
 forgive him. And now, when I'm at home, I see 
 them of a Sunday morning going arm in arm to the 
 house of God.* 
 
 " If I had a voice that could sound over London, 
 I'd cry, ' The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all 
 sin ! ' Beggar and prince must come to the blood ; 
 young and old must come to the blood. I was called 
 once to see a poor old lady on her dying bed. Gold 
 was her god, and she kept it under her pillow. Well, 
 in my prayer, I shook her over hell, and as I was 
 taking her a walk through the flames, I heard some- 
 thing go smack on the floor, then another, and another, 
 and another; this was four bags of gold. Her 
 daughter picked them up, and brought them to her ; 
 but she cried, ' Take them away, I don't want them. 
 I want Jesus now!' and she was saved just as she 
 was dropping into hell. 
 
 " Tell me now, isn't He willing to save the greatest 
 
 * This man is still a tee-totaller, and outwardly reformed, 
 but it cannot be affirmed on present evidence that he has 
 passed from darkness to light, and is a new creature in Christ 
 Jesus. 
 
AI^MIGUTY LOVE. 75 
 
 sinner out of hell ? Oh, that's the way to kill the 
 devil in a man. Show him love. My fellow- workmen 
 have torn the clothes off my back, and I've gone down 
 on my knees and prayed for them ; and a day or two 
 after, one and another have said, ' Richard, will you 
 forgive me?' The Lord tried what drowning the 
 world would do once, but 'twas no good. He gave 
 the Law, and tried if blackness and darkness and 
 tempest would recover man, but 'twas no use ; and so 
 the dear Son of God says, < My Father, I'll go and 
 take the Gospel, and see what love will do..' And 
 I'm here to-night to tell you of Almighty Love." 
 
 Weaver was one day called to visit a widow's son 
 dying in decline. He asked if there were any mercy 
 for him, and the missionary told him how Jesus had 
 died for sin that sinful men might live through Him. 
 Afterwards, while he prayed, the sick man burst into 
 a cry to God for mercy, and before they separated he 
 had foimd righteousness and peace. He was happy 
 beyond expression. In a few weeks, early one 
 Monday morning, the dying one sent for him again. 
 His feet were dipped in the brim of Jordan, but he 
 was happy in the Lord. His mother and sisters and 
 brothers stood around him, and he asked them one 
 by one, " Mother, sister, brother, will you meet me 
 in heaven?" His eldest brother was a sceptic, and 
 long held out, while the departing Christian pressed 
 him, all 'the while praising and blessing God, with 
 " Jonathan, will you meet me in heaven?" The 
 brother yielded at last, saying, " Yes, I will." May 
 the Lord ever keep him mindful of that solemn 
 promise. Then the joyful believer lifted up hi* 
 
76 TERRIBLE INSTANCES 
 
 hands and prayed, " Come, Lord Jesus/ ' and fell 
 asleep in Him. 
 
 In December, 1857, a woman stopped Weaver in 
 the street, and began to sneer at him. He spoke 
 to her of the love of Christ, but she laughed in his 
 face, asking, "Who is Christ?" She still scoffed 
 and mocked, when he said that Christ was the 
 Saviour of the world. Then he turned to the law 
 and told her, " The wages of sin is death. The 
 soul that sinneth it shall die." When he had given 
 her several such passages as these he paused, and she 
 still mocked. All at once, and before he could con- 
 sider his words, he was impelled to say, "Mrs. , 
 
 this is December, 1857, and if I am a man of God, 
 before this month is out, I believe you will be dead 
 and damned if you don't repent of your sins and turn 
 to the Lord." Her reply was too blasphemous to be 
 repeated here. The preacher said, " The Lord save 
 you," and went his way. As he walked he pondered 
 on what he had said, wondering at his words, and 
 asking the Lord to forgive him if he had spoken 
 unadvisedly. A fortnight after, being ill, he was 
 going, accompanied by a friend, to see the doctor, 
 and on the way they passed this woman's house. The 
 blinds were down, and Weaver stood still to ask his 
 friend, "Is somebody dead here ?" He said, "Haven't 
 
 you heard that Mrs. is dead ?" "Is that true ?" 
 
 asked Weaver, greatly shocked. "Yes, she died on 
 Saturday last." On inquiring the circumstances of 
 her death, he learnt that she had been taken with 
 some sudden seizure and carried to bed. The doctor 
 was sent for, but could give no assistance, not being 
 
OF SUDDEN DESTItrCTIOX. 77 
 
 ablo to discover the cause of her suffering. One of 
 her family asked her if some one should ho sent for 
 to pray with her, hut she turned her head, and look- 
 ing at her friend, replied by a frightfj.il imprecation, 
 and ordered her to be out of the road ; and thus sho 
 died, her mouth filled with curses and blasphemy. 
 
 In the same place a publican stood outside tho 
 crowd cursing tho preacher and reviling tho Word of 
 God. Some time before, in a fit of delirium tremens, 
 he had sprung from his bed in the night and fled from 
 the devils which ho imagined were haunting him, 
 rim through the town in his undress to a coal-pit, 
 and slid down the rope to the bottom, where the 
 astonished colliers found him in tho morning. As ho 
 stood listening to the preacher, these words fell upon 
 his ear, " May-be some one here, before twelve 
 o'clock to-morrow will be dead and damned, if they 
 don't repent now.'' The publican went away cursing 
 and reviling as before. The next day his landlord 
 called about a quarter to twelve, to give him notice 
 to quit the house. He jumped up in a rage, and 
 told the landlord to go to hell. He immediately fell 
 down the cellar steps, broke his neck, and was taken 
 up dead. 
 
 I will not dwell upon the remarkable way in which 
 the Almighty Arbiter of life and death thus set his 
 seal to the words which He had put into his servant's 
 mouth ; but if an unconverted sinner is reading this, 
 let me entreat you to consider, that though your exit 
 from this world may not be so terribly and manifestly 
 under the judgment of God as these, yet your ever- 
 lasting portion will be with such. Oh, brother, oh, 
 
78 THE ROMAS - CATHOLICS. 
 
 sister, for whom the Lord of glory died, listen to the 
 voice of mercy pleading with you now so lovingly, 
 " Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die ?" and assuring 
 you, not in wrath or cruelty, but for your soul's sake, 
 that " he that being often reproved hardeneth his 
 neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without 
 remedy. " May God make the record of these fearful 
 instances of his vengeance to be a beacon not vainly 
 warning from the road to hell, which shall be read 
 and obeyed by many souls. 
 
 At first the Roman Catholics, especially the young 
 people, thronged to hear him, but the priests pro- 
 hibited their doing so, and some of them were un- 
 mercifully beaten by their parents for listening to 
 him. On one occasion, as he was going to visit a 
 sick person, he was met by a party of them re- 
 turning from mass, who began to mob him. He 
 did not know the names of any who assaulted him ; 
 but a woman told a friend that if anybody said 
 she was in it, she would murder them. The Com- 
 mittee of the Town Mission hearing this, prosecuted 
 the woman, and she was summarily convicted ; 
 Weaver very unwillingly appearing against her. 
 
 During his sojourn at Prescot, he visited many of 
 the surrounding villages. On one of these occasions 
 he preached at a little place called Haydock, where 
 thirty-two professed to find peace the same night. 
 There was a man who went to chapel under the 
 impressions produced by his brother having been 
 killed in the coal-pit, and he told his wife that 
 was the last time he would go. He was a great 
 rabbit-man, dog-fancier, pigeon-flier, &c, and before 
 
PHILIP WEDGWOOD. 79 
 
 lie went on the Sunday morning some of his com- 
 panions called for liim to go out with them. He 
 asked them to wait awhile, he should not be long. 
 He would not go with his wife the direct road, but 
 went across the fields and got in at the back-way, 
 being ashamed to be seen going to chapel. He did 
 not know who was to preach. The text was, " Go, 
 and the Lord be with thee." Conviction laid hold of 
 him while he sat under the word, and he wept. When 
 he returned home the men had gone, and in the 
 afternoon he went to his father-in-law's house, to be 
 out of the way, and to avoid going to chapel again 
 at night. But when the time came he cried out, "It's 
 no use; I must go to chapel." The text again fell 
 upon him as a message from God : " My Spirit shall 
 not always strive with man." His brother and the 
 wife of the brother who had been killed were 
 brought to the Lord that night, but he still resisted, 
 though he was so wrought upon that he knew not 
 what to do with himself. The next morning when he 
 got down into the coal-pit, he said "he durstnawork 
 till he had prayed," and he prayed there. But he 
 could not remain. He was terrified lest something 
 should fall upon him and kill him. He went home 
 and sat in the house the rest of the day, weeping and 
 sighing, "Oh dear, what must I do?" He said to 
 his wife, "Hey, Nelly, what have I been doing?" 
 for he thought the preacher had meant him all the 
 time. Tuesday passed in the same way, and his wife 
 and neighbours thought he had gone mad. He could 
 not work, and did nothing but cry and moan and 
 weep. He asked where that man lived that preached, 
 
80 "i've got it!" 
 
 for lie must go and see him. On the "Wednesday he 
 went to the coal-pit, but soon returned. When he 
 came home he asked his child to fetch down the 
 Bible and the hymn-book ; for he had had praying 
 parents, and as he turned over the leaves he observed 
 to his wife how his good old father had marked his 
 favourite places in the books, and how they had 
 neglected them. He cried to the Lord to have mercy 
 upon him, and just then he opened at the hymn 
 beginning, 
 
 " My God ! I know, I feel, Thee mine, 
 And will not quit my claim, 
 Till all I have is lost in thine, 
 And all renewed I am. 
 
 " I hold Thee with a trembling hand, 
 
 But will not let Thee go, 
 Till steadfastly by faith I stand, 
 And all thy goodness know." 
 
 When he had got thus far he cried out, " Nelly, I"ve 
 got it ! Nelly, I've got it ! I've got Jesus ! I've got 
 it ! " and off he went upstairs shouting and praising 
 God. There he fell on his knees and prayed so loud 
 and long that the people came in to see what was the 
 matter, and found the wife and children standing at 
 the bottom of the stairs crying to think the husband 
 and father had gone out of his mind. He ran off to 
 the house of a local preacher and class-leader, and 
 said, "Mr. F., I'm come to ask you to pray with me. 
 I've found Christ!" They prayed together, and he 
 returned home, but was soon away again to tell his 
 brother, who had been saved on Sunday night, and 
 they praised God together, gathered their Christian 
 
THE rOISONED WOMAN. 81 
 
 neighbours, and had a joyous meeting. Weaver says 
 he is one of the choicest men he knows, and if he had 
 had no other fruit of his labours, he would be infi- 
 nitely rewarded in this one soul. lie is a man of 
 earnest and believing prayer. On ono occasion ho 
 was sent of the Lord to a house tenanted by a family 
 of four persons, to tell them that God would save 
 them that day. He talked and prayed with them, 
 and did not leave them till they all professed faith in 
 the name of Jesus. 
 
 "Weaver at this time preached at a village near 
 Prescot, when a young married woman came to the 
 penitent form, but woidd not give up her favourite 
 sin — drink. Some time after she was confined, and 
 in six or eight weeks, on the occasion of one of these 
 demoralizing fairs, she left her infant child with a 
 neighbour, and went to Prescot. On her husband's 
 return from his work, not finding her at home, he 
 went in search of her, and found her lying in a field. 
 Next morning he upbraided her with her misconduct, 
 and said it was no use, he could not live with her 
 unless she altered. She said, " Oh, I will soon alter," 
 and after her husband had left she went to the pantry, 
 and took a bottle of some mixture, of which the prin- 
 cipal ingredient was vitriol, and drank a teacupful. 
 That was on the Sabbath, and Weaver happened to 
 be again preaching there. While he was in the 
 pulpit a young woman came to the door of the 
 chapel and cried out, "Richard Weaver, here's a 
 woman dying. She wants you. Come and see her. 
 Oh, do come, Mr. Weaver." He left the pulpit and 
 went with another Christian man to the house of the 
 
 G 
 
82 EXTENSION OF LABOUR.' 
 
 wretched woman. Her face was black, and her 
 friends were standing horror-stricken around her. 
 As soon as she saw Weaver she clutched at his coat, 
 saying, " Oh, do save me." But her day of grace 
 had passed. She died almost immediately in that 
 fearful condition. 
 
 You who read it, has God's Spirit striven with you, 
 and have you put Him away, preferring some cherished 
 sin to the sinner's Friend ? No matter whether it be 
 a degrading vice like drunkenness, or something which 
 men do not regard as sin at all, if it keeps your heart 
 from Christ, if you love it better than God's beloved 
 Son, it will be a millstone round your neck to drag 
 you down, down, down to hell ; will be an eternal 
 agony wrapped round your undying soul in the black- 
 ness of darkness for ever. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Early in 1859, Mr. EadclifTe, having received an 
 invitation to Scotland, asked Weaver to supply some 
 engagements for him in Cheshire. Richard accord- 
 ingly made his head-quarters at a farm-house, where 
 he preached. He laboured also in the villages round, 
 and God was with him ; many precious and immortal 
 souls were saved. He was invited to a village called 
 Dunham-o'-the-hill, of which a minister told him, if 
 there was any place like the cities of the plain, that 
 was it. He was sure Weaver would do no good 
 there. However, the Lord had many souls in that 
 place whom He had ordained to eternal life> and 
 
CRUSHED IN A COAL-PIT. 83 
 
 a mighty work was wrought in the name of the holy 
 Child Jesus. The people flocked together and filled 
 the chapel, so that they were obliged to adjourn to 
 the open-air. The windows of heaven were opened, 
 and a blessing was poured down. They had an 
 excellent time, and many were added to the Lord. 
 
 "Weaver then returned to Prescot, and thence went 
 to "Willenhall, where he preached every night for a 
 fortnight, and God owned the word so that more than 
 five hundred persons gave in their names as having 
 found peace in believing. Amongst them was an, 
 infidel, who, with his wife, stood up and confessed 
 Christ in the midst of the congregation. Many who 
 had been living in adultery were married, dog-fanciers 
 and pigeon-fliers sold their pets, and some of the 
 most degraded characters were reclaimed, and came 
 and sat at the feet of Jesus. 
 
 He next visited Darlaston, where God crowned his 
 labours with like success. Seven hundred professed 
 to find the Saviour. The place was crowded to excess 
 every night, and in the meeting for inquirers after 
 the preaching, scenes occurred such as Ezra describes : 
 " Many wept with a loud voice, and many shouted 
 aloud for joy, so that the people could not discern 
 the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of 
 the weeping." The text on one occasion was, " This 
 year thou shalt die." A young man, a collier, was 
 awakened and found Christ that night. On the 
 following Friday Richard received a message to visit 
 a man who had been brought home from the coal-pit 
 with both legs broken and his back crushed. When 
 the dying man saw him he said, " I know what your 
 
84 THE AOTE-CIIAMBER OF JEHOVAH. 
 
 text was : ' This year thou shalt die.' That was for 
 me." He took his visitor's hand, and praised God. 
 " I thought," he said, "to have gone and told them 
 what Christ had done for my soul. I cannot do that, 
 but I know I am saved through the blood of the 
 Lamb." While Weaver was speaking to him, one 
 of his fellow- workmen entered the room, who took 
 his friend by the hand. "Thou laugh' dst at me," 
 
 aid the dying collier, " when I began to pray ; but 
 vrhat should I have done now if I had not given my 
 heart to Christ ? May the blood of Jesus cleanse thee 
 from all sin." He prayed earnestly and affection- 
 ately for his comrade, who professed to find peace 
 with God before he left. Weaver says it was like 
 being in the ante-chamber of Jehovah. He shortly 
 afterwards departed to be with Christ, repeating 
 " Glory ! hallelujah !" till utterance failed him, and 
 he fell asleep in Jesus. Hundreds congregated at 
 his funeral, to whom Weaver preached, while the 
 rain poured down in torrents. 
 
 Another collier who was killed near the same time 
 by a quantity of mineral falling on him, being asked 
 "How is it with thee?" when he lay in the little 
 cabin on the top of the pit, said, " Tell Mr. Weaver 
 all is well. 'The blood of Jesus Christ his Son 
 cleanseth me from all sin.' " 
 
 There was another, who had the name of being the 
 wickedest man in the coal-pit in which he worked. 
 He was convinced of sin under the word, and, like 
 AVeaver before him, tried to drown conviction in the 
 bowl. He went to a public-house, but was unable to 
 
 finish the drink he had ordered. He went to Weaver's 
 
THE HUNTED IIA11E. 85 
 
 lodgings, and told him lie could not go home until ho 
 knew what he must do to be saved. His friends set the 
 good news before him of a finished salvation through 
 the death and righteousness of Jesus. But the troubled 
 spirit found no rest. At last the convicted sinner 
 said, "Leave off talking; do kneel down and pray 
 for me. I've had enough talking." He dropped on 
 his knees, and prayed himself so earnestly, that the 
 Eighteous Judge could do no other than avenge him 
 of his adversary then. The heavenly Father arose and 
 gave to his importunate child of spiritual blessings 
 as many as he needed. Jesus brought him into the 
 banqueting house, and his banner over him was love. 
 He served his generation a little while, and fell asleep 
 more than conqueror through Him that loved him. 
 
 Richard was standing one day on a bridge over a 
 brook, when he heard a hunter's horn, and soon 
 perceived the hounds in full cry approaching him- 
 But before they reached the spot, a hare ran up the- 
 field near him and down the side of the stream, spring- 
 ing repeatedly into the water, and then back upon 
 the bank, to destroy the scent. The hounds were at 
 fault, and when the foremost huntsman came up he- 
 asked Weaver if he had seen the hare. On his 
 replying that he had, the hunter inquired, " Which 
 way did she take?" "You must find that out,'* 
 said the preacher; adding, "lama hunter for souls. 
 Death on the Pale Horse, with all the dogs of hell, 
 is upon your track ; and, unless you fly to the foun- 
 tain opened for sin and for uncleanness, you will lose 
 your soul in hell." "Oh!" said the hunter, and 
 rode away. God grant that that warning may prove 
 
86 A DREAM OF DEATH ON THE PALE HORSE. 
 
 in the great day to have been a word in season 
 to him. 
 
 Not ]ong after this, one of those drunken, gam- 
 bling, sporting men, to so many of "whom Eichard 
 has been as a polished shaft in the hand of the Lord, 
 having heard him vividly describe the unsaved 
 sinner as a hunted hare, sprang up in bed, and 
 screamed in terror, "Lord save me! Lord save 
 me ! " His wife, who had a few days before been 
 converted, and who lay awake at his side, anxiously 
 inquired the cause of his alarm. " Oh," he said, 
 "I thought Death on the Pale Horse was after 
 me." He lay down, but hardly had he dropped 
 asleep before the same frightful dream returned, and 
 again he shrieked an agonized prayer for life. Once 
 more he composed himself to sleep, but only to be 
 terrified by the return of the same vision. For God 
 had mercy upon him, and was shaking his soul 
 from the deadly sleep, that she might take to the 
 waters of Siloah that go softly, and baffle the hell- 
 hounds that sought her life. And not in vain did the 
 loving One thus deal with that sinful man. For 
 though God speaketh once, yea twice, and man per- 
 ceiveth it not, yet He will be heard ; and in a dream 
 — in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth 
 upon men, in slumberings upon the bed, then He 
 openeth the ears of men and sealeth their instruction; 
 that he may withdraw man from his work, and hide 
 pride from man. And so this terrified blasphemer, 
 Like a frightened hare, fled for his life from the pur- 
 suers, crying, "If I don't begin to pray I shall be in 
 hell before morning." He and his wife got up and 
 
THE DELIVERANCE. 87 
 
 wrestled with God in the silence and darkness of the 
 night, until the shadows fled away, and day dawned 
 upon the sinner's soul. 
 
 "Wonderful in counsel and mighty in working is 
 the Lord our Redeemer. Man's senses are so 
 occupied with other things, that he cannot, will not, 
 listen to the Spirit's voice. Therefore, the Father of 
 spirits wraps those senses in a robe of sleep, that his 
 doctrine may drop as the rain, and distil as the dew, 
 uj)on the soul which He has made. It was so in 
 Eliphaz' day, and it is so still: " Now a thing was 
 brought to me by stealth, and mine ear received a 
 little thereof. In thoughts from the visions of the 
 night, when deep sleep falleth on men, fear came 
 upon me and trembling which made all my bones to 
 shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; the 
 hah 1 of my flesh stood up." But love is at the bottom 
 of it all. If man is chastened also with pain upon 
 his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong 
 pain, yet, blessed be God, there is with Him a 
 Messenger, an Interpreter, one among a thousand, to 
 show unto man his uprightness ; and when he 
 listens to the Interpreter of his dreams and visions, 
 then He is gracious unto him, and saith, " Deliver 
 him from going down to the pit •, I have found a 
 ransom." 
 
 After leaving Darlaston, "Weaver laboiu-ed at Bilston, 
 and upwards of six hundred persons received his word 
 and professed to have found the Saviour. At Tipton 
 also, Moseley Hole, and Dudley Port, his work was 
 crowned with the like blessing. 
 
 Those who have listened to Weaver's preaching 
 
88 THIEF. ADUI/TEBER. 
 
 will remember the vivid manner in which he indi- 
 vidualizes sinners of various classes. A quotation 
 will illustrate what we mean ; it is introduced here to 
 explain the anecdote which follows it. 
 
 " There's a thief somewhere here to-night, that's 
 come to pick pockets. I can't point thee out, but 
 God knows thee ; there thou art, and thy name is 
 Thief. Thou hast been in gaol, and unless thou 
 repent, thou wilt lie for ever in the dark damned cell 
 of everlasting death. But, glory to God, my Jesus is 
 a thief- Saviour, and his blood can wash thee; and if 
 thou wilt commit thyself to Him, his Holy Spirit will 
 cleanse thee, and make thee an honest man here, and 
 an heir of his eternal glory. And then thou shalt not 
 want to steal ; for as sure as God gives thee life in thy 
 soul, He'll give thee a jacket to thy back. 
 
 " Oh adulterer, thou art before me here ; and the 
 woman that is not thy wife sits beside thee. And thy 
 children — what shall we call them? we won't call them 
 — but there they are. Thou art so hard of heart that 
 thou wilt blight that woman's soul, and blast her life 
 on earth, and drag her down with thee to hell at last. 
 Oh adulterer, thou shalt be hurled out of a world of 
 mercy into the burning gulf. But Christ loves thee 
 yet, and He will save thee and thine if you come to 
 Him, and will give thee and them a new name and 
 an eternal inheritance in the glory-land. 
 
 "And there's a girl yonder who remembers how her 
 mother laid her hand upon her head, and warned her 
 against the dangers of which this world is full, and 
 told her that the love of Jesus was the only thing to 
 keep her pure. Ah, my poor sister, you can feel that 
 
HAELOT. — PHARISEE. 89 
 
 mother's dying breath upon your face, as she kissed 
 you the last time, and begged her darling Mary, or 
 Elizabeth, or Anne, or Martha, to decide for God, 
 and be washed clean for evermore in the blood of tho 
 Lamb. But you didn't do it, and your'e here to-night, 
 and you're a prostitute. May God save you. There's 
 plenty of people at the present time that spurn the 
 poor street-walker, and ladies will draw their dress 
 around them as they pass. My God ! they're some 
 mother's children; and they've been held to her loving 
 breast, and dandled on a father's knee ; and God 
 loves them, and Jesus died for them; and may-be 
 some of them will be borne in Jesu's arms, . 
 
 1 In heaven above, where all is love,' 
 
 while you are shrieking in the blue flames of hell, 
 and howling in the pit of dark damnation. May 
 God save you ! 
 
 1 * Though all the devils in hell got upon a damned 
 man's shoulders, he would never sink to the bottom 
 of that infinite abyss. But I tell you man — I 
 tell you woman — here to-night, that my Lord can 
 save you. My Jesus drank the cup of God's WTath, 
 bled upon the cross, and went down into the dark 
 grave, that you might be forgiven your iniquities, 
 and love Him and live with Him in his joy for ever. 
 May Heaven help you to receive Him into your hearts 
 to-night!" 
 
 After an appeal of this kind at Birmingham, a 
 gentleman called, in a very perturbed condition, at 
 the house where our friend was entertained. Being 
 told that Mr. Weaver was at home, he said, "Tell 
 
90 "the bleeding lamb/ 7 
 
 "him that here is the Adulterer. He can't go home. 
 He wants to speak to him." When he came into the 
 room he fell flat on the floor. He was greatly terrified, 
 and tore his hair, crying, "Lord, do forgive me." 
 After lying there some time he got up and said he 
 was a married man and a member of a Christian 
 church, but had been living in the sin which the 
 Holy Spirit of God had thus brought home with 
 agony to his conscience, and fanned into a ^ce } un- 
 quenchable save by the blood of Christ. His heart 
 was sprinkled from an evil conscience then, Grod in 
 mercy saving him thus from the undying worm and 
 the fire that never shall be quenched. 
 
 Having fulfilled his ministry at Birmingham, where 
 many were added to the Lord, Weaver returned to 
 Darlaston, and preached during the wake, by day in 
 the open-air, and at night in the chapel. On his way 
 home one night he came to a public-house, outside 
 which was a band of musicians sitting round a table 
 on which their drink was set. He asked them if they 
 could play "The Bleeding Lamb," and one of them 
 said yes. He would give them a shilling, Richard 
 said, if they would play it ; but they admitted that 
 they did not know it. Then he told them he would 
 sing it for them, and began, 
 
 " In evil long I took delight, 
 
 Unawed by shame or fear, 
 Till a new object met my sight, 
 
 And stopped my wild career. 
 Oh the Lamb, the bleeding Lamb, 
 
 The Lamb upon Calvary, 
 The Lamb that was slain, that liveth again, 
 
 To intercede for me." 
 
THIED VISIT TO THE PRAYING MOTIIER 91 
 
 After singing this hymn he prayed with them, and 
 they offered to play a long metre tune, which they 
 did while he sang a hymn to it. He then spoke to 
 them, and one of them took liim by the hand, saying, 
 "The Lord bless thee. Thou art right and wo are 
 wrong. " 
 
 As he passed by another public-house he heard the 
 sound of music and dancing inside. He walked in 
 and knelt down amongst them and prayed. The 
 fiddle and banjo stopped, the dancers all quitted the 
 room, and when he arose he was left alone with the 
 fiddler, who said, "I'll never come here again, Mr. 
 Weaver." One of the bad men in the house threat- 
 ened to shoot him, but the landlady took his part, and 
 the next night as he passed he found the house closed 
 at an early hour. Shortly after, a man who had been 
 there drinking on the night of the dancing, was 
 brought to Christ. 
 
 Yin. 
 
 Bichapjd and his wife, in the summer of 1859, paid 
 a third visit to his mother. She was not, as on the 
 previous occasions, at the stile to meet them, but was 
 a confirmed invalid, a prisoner to be set at liberty only 
 by the voice of her Lord, saying, " Come up hither." 
 She was, however, to endure for some months longer 
 before the hour of deliverance came. Her desire to 
 hear her son once more was so strong, that she 
 induced his wife (for whom she entertained a warm, 
 affection) to help her out of bed, and seated by the 
 window, wrapped in blankets, she listened while ho 
 
92 THE UNRULY SCHOLAR. 
 
 preached in the chapel, which was very near the 
 cottage. 
 
 A scene occurred at this time which Weaver related 
 thus, when speaking at St. Martin's Hall, from the 
 words of Simeon, "Lord, now lettest Thou thy Servant 
 depart in peace according to thy word, for mine eyes 
 have seen thy salvation.' ' 
 
 ' ' I remember, in the Sabbath-school of a village 
 chapel, a little boy who was taught by an aged man, 
 with furrowed cheeks and silvery hair. He used to 
 put his hand upon the young scholar's head, and pray 
 that God might bless him. One day the little boy 
 was very noisy and rude in school, and when the 
 teacher asked him to be quiet the only reply he got 
 was a kick on the leg from the lad, who told him to 
 go to hell. The tears rushed to the old man's eyes ; 
 he dropped upon his knees, and said, i Lord bless the 
 lad. Before I depart may I see thy salvation in the 
 saving of this lad's soul. The Lord bless thee, lad ! ' 
 For some fifteen years after this the old man had 
 never met the boy. He had gone constantly to the 
 chapel, and he had gone there many a time when 
 there had been no one but God and himself, and they 
 had had a good meeting, nevertheless. One day he 
 received information that a certain young man 
 was going to preach. He knew the name and said, 
 'I will go and hear him.' "When he went into the 
 chapel, the young man was preaching, in his way. 
 The old man knelt down, and after the other had 
 done speaking, he held up his feeble hands, and 
 raising his dim eyes to * heaven, said, ' Lord, now 
 lettest Thou thy servant depart in peace according to 
 
THE DYING TEACHER. 93 
 
 thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.' 
 The young man preached all that week in the same 
 village; the blessing of God was largely poured out 
 upon the people, and the numbers were brought to a 
 knowledge of the truth, through the blood of the 
 Lamb. At the end of the week he was called to 
 attend the dying bed of a very old man. When he 
 went into his room the aged wife was at his bedside 
 weeping, as much as to say, ' Lord, let me depart 
 with him.' As soon as the young preacher approached 
 the dying man's bed, the latter caught hold of his 
 hand, saying, ' Oh, my dear young friend, you forget 
 me, don't you?' * Oh no, I don't forget you,' was 
 the reply. 'Do you remember me in that school,' 
 continued he, ' putting my hand upon your head, and 
 asking God to bless you ? ' 'Oh yes,' said the young 
 man. 'Thank God, then,' said the other; 'for now 
 my prayer is answered, I can now die happy in the 
 Lord.' Then he asked them to sing his favourite 
 hymn — 'All is well.' His speech seemed gone, but 
 his daughter, who was anxious that he should leave 
 behind him a triumphant testimony to the truth, 
 asked him, ' Now, if you can speak, father, tell me 
 all is well ; and if not, hold up your hands.' The old 
 man raised himself up, and, with a dying effort, cried 
 out, ' Victory ! victory ! through the blood of the 
 Lamb ! ' and almost immediately afterwards departed. 
 Thank God, that young man is here, and his name is 
 Eichard Weaver. Let God be praised for what 
 Christ can do." 
 
 A few months later (December, 1859) finding that 
 she was nearing the brink of the river, the praying 
 
94 FAREWELL MOTHER. 
 
 mother sent to lier son, desiring once more to see 
 him. He found her as he described her in his address 
 at Edinburgh, "foot to foot with the last enemy.' ' 
 Not a murmur escaped her lips. She magnified the 
 goodness of her faithful God ; and when Richard 
 began to speak of the long years in which she suffered 
 the unkindness of her husband and the ingratitude 
 of her children, and of her unchanged affection 
 through it all, she stopped him by saying the Lord 
 had never suffered her to be tempted beyond what 
 she was able to bear ; but had made her more than 
 conquerer through Him that loved her; and now, 
 though she had encountered many a rough storm, 
 yet God had brought her to her end in peace. The 
 Saviour was more precious to her now than ever, and 
 she exhorted her son to be faithful to the grace given 
 him, and make Christ his confidence as long as he 
 lived. He prayed with her, and as he knelt she laid 
 her hands on his head, saying, "Lord, bless my 
 child. When he was a child he knelt at my knee 
 in the room below, by the old rocking-chair, and 
 Thou hast sent him now to kneel at my bedside 
 and cheer me through the dark valley. i Bless the 
 Lord, my soul, and all that is within me bless his 
 holy name.' ' Thou hast done nie.good and not evil 
 all the days of my life.' 'I am now ready to be 
 offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.' " 
 He bade her "Good-bye," and she blessed him in 
 the name of the Lord, crying after him as he left the 
 room, "Farewell! The next time we meet it will 
 not be in this old chamber l but in the land, where 
 parting is no more ! " 
 
"in sure and certain norE." 95 
 
 Richard th.cn returned home to Prescot, and after- 
 wards went to Sapcott, in Leicestershire, where 
 many souls were saved ; amongst them a bricklayer 
 and his wife ; the latter has since died triumphantly 
 in the Lord 
 
 After a brief sojurn at home, he preached in the 
 Town Hall at Frodsham, in Cheshire, where his 
 work was also blessed of God. "While there in the 
 beginning 1 of 1860, ho received intelligence of tho 
 death of his mother. A letter, written two days 
 earlier, informing him of her serious illness, had not 
 reached him in consequence of his being from home. 
 He immediately started for Asterly, and arrived on 
 the day of the funeral. When some one, before her 
 death, asked her if she did think it unkind that 
 Richard had not come to see her, she said, "No, 
 he is about the Master's business. The Lord bless 
 him." 
 
 Reflections, sweet and sad, crowded into his mind 
 as he passed through the churchyard, where his 
 mother had so often led him when a child. He asked 
 the sexton for whom the bell was tolling, and was 
 told it was for an old woman from Asterly. He 
 asked her name, and the sexton replied that it was 
 Mary Weaver. " That's my mother," said he. As 
 the churchyard was two miles from the house, and the 
 funeral was expected soon, he waited for it, and on 
 its arrival followed it unobserved into the church. 
 When the coffin had been lowered into the grave, and 
 the earth fell upon it as the clergyman said the words, 
 11 Ashes to ashes and dust to dust," her son stepped 
 Up to the grave and said, "Tel : my mother, that 
 
96 LOST AND FOUND. 
 
 pointed me to Christ, lies beneath that coffin-lid." 
 Sweet is the rest after her so long and toilsome life. 
 She sowed and her son reaps, and they shall rejoice 
 together at the day of the manifestation of the sons 
 of God. 
 
 After this Richard went to Liverpool, and preached 
 on several successive evenings, to crowded congrega- 
 tions in Brunswick Hall, and the slain of the Lord were 
 many. On his way to the hall, on a Sunday evening, 
 he was addressed by one of the poor ruined ones who 
 throng the streets of Liverpool, as of most other 
 large towns. She accosted him, and he invited her 
 to accompany him : " I am going to a dancing-room, 
 will you be my partner?'' The girl consented, and 
 he gave her his arm. The hall was crowded when 
 they arrived. She followed him nearly to the top, 
 but seeing him ascend the platform, she found a seat 
 in the body of the room. The Lord sent the word 
 home to her heart, and she was made a happy 
 believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 IX 
 
 In January, 1860, Mr. Eadcliffe came to London 
 with Mr. Brownlow North, where he remained the 
 greater part of the year. In March he was invited 
 to attend a tea-meeting, to which a number of 
 chimney-sweeps were to be gathered, in Euston-room. 
 Having other engagements, Mr. RadciirTe recom- 
 mended that Weaver should be invited in his stead. 
 Accordingly, Weaver came, and all his past experi- 
 
SWEEPS' TEA-FARTY AT KTTSTON-BOOM. 97 
 
 cnces were out-Heroded by tlie behaviour of the 
 sooty guests. During the repast they shouted, and 
 hooted, and bellowed, in a style which astonished even 
 him. After tea they could not for some time bo 
 quieted, and Weaver said to a gentleman at his side, 
 "I could get them quiet." " Ah, you don't know 
 the London sweeps," replied the gentleman. After 
 ineffectual attempts had been made to address them, 
 Weaver got up, and said, "Now lads, silence ! while 
 I sing you a song. Now Jim, thee keep Jack quiet." 
 This style of address appeared to take with them, and 
 they, with few exceptions, composed themselves for 
 the singing, one of the exceptional cases being 
 well shaken by his next neighbour, who told him, 
 "Now, if thee don't be quiet, I'll turn thee out." 
 "That's it," they said; "let us have a song." 
 Accordingly, Richard sang, 
 
 " Glory be to God on high." 
 
 They soon caught the chorus, and joined in with it r 
 and when it was over they kicked and stamped their 
 approbation. 
 
 Another attempt was made to speak to them, but 
 they were as obstreperous as before, and Weaver 
 rose again, with, " Now lads, silence! and I'll sing 
 again." "That's him," said they, "he'll sing for 
 us." So he sang, 
 
 " On the other side of Jordan." 
 and 
 
 " There'll be no more sorrow there." 
 
 They listened after this, to two or three brethren 
 who spoke to them, and many wept when Weaver 
 
 ii 
 
98 LEICESTERSHIRE. 
 
 told them the touching stories of which his addresses 
 are always full. Afterwards, the friends who had 
 convened the meeting conversed freely with their 
 guests. The results were most cheering. Many 
 remained to inquire the -way of salvation, and some 
 date their conversion from that night. 
 
 He then again visited Leicestershire, where he had 
 a narrow escape of his life. A friend was driving 
 him in a dog cart, the wheels of which came into 
 collision with another vehicle, and they were thrown 
 out ; but, providentially, not seriously injured. His 
 word was blessed at Hinckley to a large number of 
 men and women. One of his converts was a butcher, 
 a big, boisterous man, who was a terror to his family 
 and neighbours; but he was brought under deep 
 conviction of sin, and, at length, found peace in 
 believing. 
 
 Weaver's next sphere of labour was Sheffield. 
 The gentleman who was instrumental in taking him 
 there has kindly written the following account of his 
 visit, and of the circumstances which led to it : — 
 
 "I believe that Weaver's first introduction to a 
 London auditory was at that sweep's meeting. I 
 attended it to hear him, at dear RadclifFe's request. 
 A dear friend of mine, expressing much interest for 
 Lhe spiritual welfare of his native town, had asked me 
 ;vhat he could do, that a few drops of the blessing 
 vhich was visiting other places might fall there. I 
 urged him to try and get up union prayer-meetings. 
 These he told me had been tried, *but were a failure. 
 I then suggested theatre services, offering to find the 
 men if he would secure the theatre. In a few days, 
 
vVEn's HYHK8. 99 
 
 to my surprise (as my friend is a great invalid), I 
 received a note from him, stating that ho had taken 
 the theatre for a month, and calling upon me to fulfil 
 my engagement as to the men. I spoke to Mr. 
 RadclifTe, and he suggested that I should hear Mr. 
 Carter at the Marylebono Theatre, and obtain his 
 services. He also told me that his dear brother, 
 Richard Weaver (whose labours I had become ac- 
 quainted with when in Chester with Mr. RadclifTe 
 a year or two previously), was for the first time in 
 London, and going to address a meeting of sweeps 
 at Mr. Carter's Room in the Euston Road. Should 
 I not be successful with Mr. Carter, I could possibly 
 prevail with Weaver. Mr. Carter was not able to 
 go the first Sunday (though he kindly took the 
 second and third), and I therefore attended the 
 sweeps' meeting. 
 
 1 1 My first introduction to Weaver was with his now 
 well-known face wrapped round with a white pocket- 
 handkerchief (because of the draught in the doorway 
 in which he stood for want of room). He was then 
 singing the hymn, 
 
 " ' On the other side of Jordan/ 
 and never shall I forget the effect produced on the 
 meeting. I felt he was the man for the roughest of 
 the roughs of Sheffield ; and I have heard thousands 
 of them singing that hynin while quietly waiting for 
 admission at the theatre and circus there. A few 
 copies were printed at first, and when the fact was 
 known, a most fearful rush was made for them on 
 the stage; and various sums up to sixpence were 
 offered for the card on which they were printed. 
 
100 A PEEP AT THE QTTEEN". 
 
 "I had some difficulty in getting his consent to 
 go to Sheffield, but the talismanic name of his friend 
 RadclifTe decided him. He was to meet me on a 
 certain day at Charing Gross, to receive cash for the 
 journey, and some instruction as to his locale. I was 
 at the spot appointed, but no "Weaver. It happened 
 to be the day when the Queen held a levee, to re- 
 ceive the Volunteer Officers. Some person had told 
 him this, and he went to get a peep at the Queen, 
 To find him in such a crowd was a difficult task, but 
 I succeeded. I asked him what he would have 
 done had I not seen him. ' Oh, it would not 
 have troubled me,' said he ; 1 1 knew it was God's 
 work, and He would find the means. It would not 
 have been the first time I had been in such circum- 
 stances. I had been preaching once in a school-room 
 in the north, and the next morning I was going to 
 
 to give an address. "When I asked the 
 
 fare at the station, I found it was a pound. I had 
 but twopence, but I spread it before the Lord ; and 
 I said, ' l Lord, Thou knowest I have but twopence, 
 and I need a pound." I had just finished my short 
 prayer, when a person touched me on the shoulder, 
 and said, "I think you are Mister Weaver." "I 
 don't know," says I, " about Mister; I am Richard 
 Weaver." "I heard you last night. Where are 
 you going? " I told him. "I am going there too. 
 Which class are you going in?" I said I did not 
 know; — no more I did! " Never mind," said he, 
 "I am going second; I'll pay for you, it's only a 
 pound." I went with him, saying nothing then. 
 When we came to the end of our journey he said. 
 
SHEFFIELD THEATRE. 10 1 
 
 u Mr "Weaver, I am not a ricli man, and I know you 
 are a poor man, but if two half-crowns are of any 
 use to you in your Master's work, you are kindly 
 welcome." I could not help then telling him what 
 a Father mine was. It was just like Him. I asked 
 Him for a pound and He gave me live-and-twenty 
 shillings.' 
 
 ' ' Mr. Eadcliffe met mo at Sheffield, and wo had 
 a preliminary meeting, at wlueh much prayer was 
 offered. Many persons remained to be spoken to ; 
 and I trust that meeting was not without result. 
 The first Sunday evening the theatre was crowded 
 (holding about 3000), and hundreds went away. It 
 was a great success, as far as the class for which the 
 services were intended was concerned. Hundreds 
 of men who professedly never attended any placo of 
 worship, were present. I need not detail the effects 
 now ; you have since witnessed them again and again 
 in London. Many remained to be conversed and 
 prayed with, and we have had, after some months, most 
 cheering accounts of souls converted to God. Two or 
 three gentlemen of different denominations took part 
 in the services, by reading the Scriptures, giving out 
 hymns, and praying. The theatre was given up, 
 and the circus taken, as it held more. The lessee of 
 the theatre, I am bound to say, behaved in a very 
 kind manner, not only charging moderately, but ex- 
 pressing a desire to contribute towards the good 
 work; and, when that was refused, insisting upon 
 paying those parties connected with the theatre 
 who had rendered essential service. The services 
 were continued for nine Sundays, and were conducted 
 
102 BESULTS AT SHEFFIELD. 
 
 by laymen of different denominations, Episcopal, 
 Independent, Baptist, Wesley an, and Brethren, of 
 various ranks in life, from a collier to a physician." 
 
 The following statement, written twelve months 
 afterwards, gives the results of this visit : — 
 
 " Mrs. T , at whose house Mr. Weaver stayed 
 
 when in Sheffield, appears to know a good deal about 
 the results of your Christian liberality in the preach- 
 ing at the theatre. She says that there are ten con- 
 nected with the chapel she attends, who date their 
 conversion from those services. One man at a recent 
 love-feast, spoke of his having first received his 
 spiritual good at the theatre. She has, a while 
 ago, been at Parkgate, and there she found a num- 
 ber of the workmen who say they will have reason 
 to bless God throughout eternity for the good they 
 
 received at those services. Mrs. T recollects 
 
 these men being amongst the penitents at the theatre, 
 and is sure that great good was done at that time." 
 
 Our friend returned from Sheffield to London in 
 June (1860). When the weather permitted he 
 preached in Cumberland-market, as advertised, ad- 
 journing to the Euston-room, whither inquirers were 
 invited ; and where, from eight o'clock to ten, or 
 later, he and other brethren addressed or spoke in- 
 dividually to seeking souls. When unable to go out 
 of doors, he preached in Euston-room to crowded 
 audiences of the poorest men and women we had 
 ever seen gathered together to hear of Jesus and con- 
 sider eternal things. It was at once evident that a 
 preacher of an unusual order had come amongst us. 
 A man of rough speech, using hard words ; not 
 
weaver's antecedents. 103 
 
 toning down the everlasting realities of life and 
 death, heaven and hell, to please the ear ; but de- 
 scribing the terrors of hell and the torments of the 
 damned, with an imagery gathered from the dense 
 darkness of the coal-pit, the flames of the fire-damp, 
 and the suffocating vapour of the choke-damp. He 
 had seen men killed at his side, had often marvel- 
 lously escaped himself, and knew that in the great 
 majority of cases accidents by which individuals or 
 multitudes were suddenly destroyed were the effect 
 of negligence, indifference, or carelessness. Moreover, 
 he had, as we have said, stood by hundreds of dying- 
 beds and heard the death-howl of the lost as they 
 sank into the everlasting burning, and it could not 
 be but that out of a college such as this should issue 
 a prophet after the pattern of Elijah or John, a man 
 of the desert, clad in a rough garment, feeding on 
 wilderness fare, and crying, "The God that answer eth 
 by fire, let Him be God." 
 
 Thus did Weaver preach. Sometimes with more- 
 apparent liberty and power, but always with yearning 
 earnestness exhorting the unsaved to flee from the 
 wrath to come. God in his mercy has put words of 
 terror into the mouths of some of his servants in 
 these days. Prophets have prophesied smooth things 
 and the people have loved to have it so, while thou- 
 sands have perished every day, whose epitaph God 
 writes, " Damned ! damned ! " 
 
 1 Notwithstanding wide dissimilarity in many re- 
 spects, there is one feature of resemblance in the 
 preaching of Mr. Brownlow North and Richard 
 Weaver. One of the r grand truths of revelation is 
 
104 REVIVAL PREACHING. 
 
 tliat there is a hell to be shunned and a heaven to be 
 gained. The Bible declares hell and heaven to be 
 the respective termini of the broad and narrow ways. 
 These men do not shrink to declare in this particular 
 the whole counsel of God. And this is true also of 
 Mr. RadclifTe, and more or less of faithful preachers 
 at all times. Hell and damnation are words well 
 nigh blotted out of our vocabulary, because the 
 things they signify have been almost driven from our 
 thoughts; but has God abolished them? Is "the 
 clamnatioii of hell," the inevitable doom of "Scribes 
 and Pharisees, hypocrites"? Then, watchman, "if 
 thou givest not warning, nor speakest to warn the 
 wicked from his wicked way, the same wicked man 
 shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require 
 
 .at thine hand." . ~ _ 
 
 . Weaver knows the terror of the Lord lest the 
 blood of murdered souls should stain his skirts. 
 
 ; fi Will you," he says, " cry 'Fire ! Fire ! FIRE !' to the 
 sleeping inmates of a burning house, and shall not I shout 
 'Hell-fire! Hell-fire! HELL-FIRE!' to my brothers and 
 my sisters who sleep upon the brink of everlasting woe ? 
 If you had stood by the death-beds I have stood by, and 
 heard the dying shrieks of lost souls going down to the 
 fiery lake of hell, you'd say, ' Richard, talk about it ; they 
 want to be warned.' Some people say, ' Tell me about the 
 joys of heaven, about "There is a land of pure delight," 
 as much as you've a mind to ; but this talk about hell un- 
 nerves me.' If you can't bear to hear about it, how will 
 you bear to feel it? How many of you mothers are 
 suckling your children for hell ? One says, 'lam not.' 
 Yes, you are, if you're not a child of God by faith in Jesus 
 Christ. There was a young man condemned at Chester, 
 
A FEARFUL DEATH. 105 
 
 and when the judge put on his black cap and sentenced 
 him to be hanged by the neck till he was dead, his mother, 
 who stood near, wrung her hands, and cried, ' Oh, my son ! 
 Oh, my son !' But the son turned upon her with ' Mother, 
 you're the cause.' O mothers, think of that before it be 
 too late. 
 
 " One night, after I had gone to rest, I was awaked 
 by a knocking at the door of my house. An old man was 
 there, who said, ' Oh, Mr. Weaver, come and pray for my 
 poor child.' I went, and oh, that fearful sight. There 
 was the mother on her knees, crying, < O God, save my 
 poor child. O Lord, have mercy upon her.' The young 
 husband says, ' O Richard, pray for my dear wife.' Oh, 
 my poor wife ; my poor wife.' And there lay the dying 
 wife and mother, with the death-sweat upon her brow and 
 horror in her voice, shouting, ' Oh, I'm damned. I'm 
 sinking into hell. O William! my dear husband! oh, 
 train my child for heaven ; I am dying, and hell is my 
 doom. Take him to my grave, and tell him his mother is 
 damned. O my babe, your mother is being damned.' 
 And while her poor husband groaned, * Oh that my wife 
 had never been born ! ' she tore her hair, and screamed, 
 1 Can't you save me ? Oh, husband, save me.' And so 
 she died, with those awful words, ' I'm damned.' " 
 
 But these dark pictures have a bright reverse, and 
 the man of God, who rightly divides the word of 
 truth, is not forgetful to declare that days of heaven 
 upon the earth are the portion of God's true people, 
 and to set forth the fulness of joy in the presence of 
 God, and pleasures for evermore at his right hand. 
 And so with Eichard Weaver. If he has been taught 
 of God to utter terrible things, he has also been 
 instructed in the "more excellent way" of love ; 
 and you will hear him tell of other scenes with a 
 pathos and tenderness _of voice and manner which 
 
106 THE COLLIERS LITTLE DAUGHTER. 
 
 show what affectionateness of heart and what deli- 
 cacy of mind may be developed by the grace of God 
 in one who has been employed in the roughest labour 
 and addicted to the coarsest vice. Few could 
 restrain their tears while they heard him tell the 
 following story, singing the portions of the hymn 
 where they occur : — 
 
 "I knew a collier in Staffordshire who had one dear 
 little girl, the last of four or five. This child was the 
 light of his eyes ; and as he came from the pit at night she 
 used to meet him at the door of his cot to welcome him 
 home. One day when he came in to dinner he missed his 
 little darling, and going into the house with his heavy 
 coal-pit clogs, his wife called him upstairs. The stillness 
 of the place and her quiet voice made his heart sick, and a 
 foreboding of evil came upon him. His wife told him they 
 were going to lose their little lamb — she had had a convul- 
 sive fit, and the doctor said she couldn't live. As the tears 
 made furrows down his black face, and as he leaned over 
 his dying darling, she said, ' Daddy, sing, 
 
 " Here is no rest — is no rest.' " . 
 ' No, my child, I can't sing ; I'm choking ; I can't sing.' 
 ' Oh do, daddy, sing " Here is no rest." The poor fellow 
 tried to sing, 
 
 'Here o'er the earth as a stranger I roam, 
 
 Here is no rest — is no rest.' 
 But his voice could make no way against his trouble. Then 
 he tried again, for he wanted to please his sweet little girl. 
 ' Here are afflictions and trials severe, 
 
 Here is no rest — is no rest ; 
 Here I must part with the friends I hold dear, 
 
 Yet I am blest — I am hlest." 
 
 Again his voice was choked with weeping ; but the little 
 one whispered, ' Come, daddy, sing, " Sweet is the promise."' 
 and the poor father goes on again — 
 
"NO BLACK EONXJiTS THERE.' ' 107 
 
 c Sweet is the promise I read in thy word, 
 Blessed are they who have died in the Lord ; 
 They have been called to receive their reward. 
 There, there is rest — there is rest.' 
 
 "That's it, 'daddy,' cried the child, 'that's it;' and with 
 her arms round the collier's neck she died happy in the 
 Lord.": 
 
 On another occasion, preaching in a ragged-school- 
 room, where a number of poor women were amongst 
 the congregation, he said : 
 
 " There'll be no grave diggers in the land of glory — no 
 funerals in heaven. My dear women, there'll be no black 
 bonnets there, nor no ragged-schools. No thirsting, growl- 
 ing, shining, swearing, lying, thieving, there. You poor 
 people, that have to make bricks without straw, there'll be 
 an end to your straw-gathering just now. ' We're going to 
 Canaan's happy shore.' Take heed, you aren't bound 
 thither, you will have the devil for your task-master in hell ; 
 he'll grind you down for ever. But come with us, and we 
 will do you good. [May Jesus help you to come into his 
 chariot of love to-night." 
 
 Those poor women showed how they appreciated 
 the naturalness and grace with which the preacher 
 walked roimd an imaginary bed, when appealing to 
 mothers who had little ones before the throne : 
 
 " Didn't you walk round their little cot at night, to see 
 they w T ere sweetly asleep, shading the candle with your 
 hand, that they mightn't wake ? You are fain to kiss 
 their gravestone now they are gone to heaven. ' Oh,' you 
 think, ' if I could lay hold on his little hand !' < If I could 
 but kiss her dear lips, as I kissed them before she died!' Ah, 
 mothers, there'll be a grand-meeting day for you that love 
 the Lord. Your little one'll come and say, ' Mother, it's me, 
 dressed all in white. I was poverty-stricken and parish- 
 
108 THE LOST SHEEP. 
 
 buried, but I wasn't God-left or Christ-neglected ! ' Dear 
 poor men and women, be you never so poor, Jesus .is rich 
 enough ; and if you believe in Him you shall never want 
 any good thing." 
 
 Nor is Weaver's preaching made up of anecdote, 
 whether joyful or terrible ; nor yet of appeals to 
 natural feeling. Few men have greater power of 
 vividly picturing the scenes which he describes. And 
 the narratives of the Old Testament, and the parables 
 and miracles of the New, are frequently presented so 
 livingly to the mind's eye, that hearers listen with 
 breathless attention to a story with which they have 
 been familiar all their life. To illustrate this, though 
 very imperfectly, may be quoted a fragmentary 
 sketch of the parable of the lost sheep : 
 
 " Now, this woman that lost her piece of silver, wasn't 
 it just natural that she should think more of that one than 
 of the other nine she had got safe in her purse ? And 
 wasn't it just natural that the man should care more about 
 his one lost sheep than about the ninety-nine that hadn't 
 strayed away ? Here's a farmer owns a hundred sheep. 
 Well, at night he counts 'em, and he makes one short. He 
 goes over them again ; perhaps he's reckoned wrong. No ; 
 it's only ninety-nine again. He goes in to his wife, who is 
 sitting by the kitchen fire, waiting till he comes to supper 
 — i Why lass, there's one gone. Poor thing, he must have 
 got over the wall.' (Ah ! the devil's always ready to help 
 a poor sheep of Christ's over the wall.) He starts in search 
 of him. By-and^by he sees the footmarks — ah, thither he 
 is ! But now he has to mind where he treads ; he has to 
 make a spring now and then over some boggy place, and 
 the land is all sopping wet. But he sees the track of the 
 wanderer, and now he hears, 'Ba-a,' and the great soft 
 eyes of the creature stare up at him from a quagmire, as if 
 
100 
 
 to say, ' Oh, master, help me out.' lie takes him up, and 
 puts him over his shoulders, and the black mud drips down 
 his jacket ; but he doesn't mind that. At last he comes to 
 the brook that skirts his orchard, and there he washes all 
 the filth away : and the poor thing trots into the fold with 
 such a happy bleat, as if to say, ' Thank you, sir/ Now, 
 that's how Jesus fetches back his wanderer. Only He 
 doesn't put him across his shoulders ; lie puts him in his 
 bosom, and then He takes and washes him in the fountain 
 opened for sin and for uncleanness, the fountain filled with 
 his own precious blood. That's what he did for me eight 
 years ago. 
 
 1 Oh ! happy day, 
 When Jesus washed my sins away.' 
 
 And that's what He is ready to do for you. Hallelujah ! 
 He can save to-night." 
 
 1 But above and beyond all, the one great central 
 fact in all his preaching is, the blood of Christ the 
 atonement for all sin ; and immediate salvation as the 
 result of simple faith in Jesus as the sinner's Substi- 
 tute. There may have been sometimes much of 
 anecdote, and description, and appeal ; but it all 
 revolved round tins centre, and was all made to bear 
 on the certainty of instant salvation to the sinner who 
 trusts in the blood of the Lamb. For example, in 
 the following passage there is an appeal to human 
 affection which none could hear unmoved ; but to the 
 heart so touched by the description of its own poverty 
 or sorrow is presented the Balm of Gilead and the 
 Good Physician. 
 
 " I went the other day into a gipsy's tent ; there was a 
 poor woman there. I saw hanging up a little bag made of 
 beads. I said, 'I'll give you five shillings for that' (I didn't 
 want it, but I thought she wanted the money). * No/ she 
 
110 VIRTUE IN HIS GARMENT. 
 
 said, with tears in her eyes ; < I can't sell that ; my little 
 girl made it, who is gone to heaven, I hope.' Oh, the 
 mother's love ! Oh men, oh women, oh all you lads and 
 girls, who've got loved ones gone to glory, won't you follow 
 them ? May heaven help you to decide to night ! If you 
 could put your ear on the shore of eternity, you would hear 
 no cry or groan. Poor men, all your poverty will he here ; 
 there will he none in heaven. You that can hardly "buy a 
 rag for your wife ; you mothers, that put your children to 
 bed, and wash their clothes, and dry them while they sleep 
 — only take Jesus for your portion, i who, though He was 
 rich, for your sakes became poor, that you through his 
 poverty might he rich.' 
 
 " I imagine I see a little hoy tripping up the street of a 
 certain town, singing 'Hosanna to the Son of David!' A 
 poor afflicted woman stands on her door-step and hears the 
 child. ' What is that you say ? ' she asks, as he is passing 
 by her house. * Oh,' says he, ' haven't you heard about 
 Jesus of Nazareth ? He's cured blind Bartimeus that used 
 to sit at the wayside begging ; and He has raised a young 
 man to life that was being carried to his grave ; and 
 healed ten lepers all at once ; and the people that have sick 
 relations bring them and lay them at his feet, and He 
 cures them all. And those who have no friends to bring 
 them, if they can only just touch Him, are made perfectly 
 whole.' * Oh,' cries the poor woman, ' if that's true, He 
 can cure my bloody issue that I've been tormented with 
 these twelve years. When will He be here, my little man F 
 * Why,' says the child, i He'll be here directly. He's 
 coming this way. There ! don't you hear the noise of the 
 multitude ? Look ! here they come. Hosanna ! hosanna ! 
 to the Son of David ! ' and away goes the little boy to tell 
 his mother that the Prophet she has taught him to look 
 for is come at last. l Well, I'll go," says the poor thing, 
 timidly. ' I'll get behind Him. May-be He won't pity 
 me ; but that dear little lad said as many as touched Him 
 were made whole : I'll go and try, however.' I imagine I 
 
efficacy nr nis llood. Ill 
 
 see the poor weak creature, who has spent all her living on 
 physicians that only made her worse, drawing her tattered 
 shawl around her and wriggling her way through the 
 crowd. They push her aside, hut she says, ' I'll try again.' 
 She winds to the right, then to the left ; now nearer, and 
 the next minute farther off than ever. But still she pe 
 Veres, although she seems to have so little chance of getting 
 through the throng, which is thickest round the Man she 
 wants. Well done, poor woman ! Try again ; it's for 
 your life, you know. That bloody issue will be your death 
 if you don't get it cured ; and a touch of his clothes will do 
 it. I imagine I hear one rudely asking the fainting crea- 
 ture, ' Where are you pushing to ? You've got a bloody 
 issue ; you've no business here.' ' Ah/ she answers, ' I see 
 there a Man whose like I never saw before. Let me but 
 touch his garment, and I shall be as well as any of you.' 
 And now another step or two, and she can hear his gentle 
 voice speaking kindly to Jairus, as He walks home with 
 him to heal his little daughter lying at the point of 
 death. The woman stretches out her hand, but she isn't 
 near enough. Another step — yes, now she touches — it is 
 but the hem of his garment ; but it is all she needs. Glory 
 to Jesus ! her issue of blood is dried, and immediately she 
 feels in her body that she is healed. Glory to Jesus ! she 
 touched, and was made perfectly whole. And if there 
 was virtue in his garment, isn't there efficacy in his blood? 
 May God help you to come to Christ to-night." 
 
 It has been said that Weaver speaks a great deal 
 about himself. Few men have so much to tell. 
 Paul was continually repeating the story of his 
 conversion; anil in his Epistles he constantly illus- 
 trates his subject by reference to his own outward 
 and inward history ; whereas, the other evangelists 
 and apostles never do so. The reason doubtless is, 
 that Paul had had a very remarkable experience, 
 
112 ST. martin's hall. 
 
 which tlie others had not ; and if he had abstained 
 from alluding to himself he would have missed one 
 great object for which that experience had been given, 
 and failed to use one of his most effectual weapons in 
 his dealings with sinners and with saints. Yet Paul 
 preached not himself, but Christ Jesus the Lord; 
 and if Weaver speaks of his own experience, it is 
 because in him Jesus Christ shewed forth all long- 
 sufTering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter 
 believe on Him to life everlasting. 
 
 Dtjking the month of June (1860) Weaver continued 
 his labours at various places in London with great 
 success, and souls were converted (at least so far as 
 man could judge) on every occasion. 
 ) In the beginning of July he went into Leicester- 
 shire; and at Sapcott, Hinckley, and other places, his 
 word was owned of God, and some very unlikely 
 persons were brought to the knowledge of the truth, 
 jp On his return to London, St. Martin's Hall was 
 taken by the publishers of The Revival for two succes- 
 sive weeks, half the expenses of the second week 
 being guaranteed by a gentleman who had himself 
 been recently converted under Mr. Radcliffe, and 
 who had seen the good effected during the first 
 week's services. Every night, Sunday and week-day, 
 working-men and women, and not a few of the classes 
 above and below them, crowded the Hall. Thou- 
 sands of the poor and neglected, who had been 
 

 BARNET. 113 
 
 accustomed to attend no place of worship, and had 
 
 seldom or never heard the sound of a preached 
 gospel, thronged to hear the good news of a finished 
 salvation from the lips of the converted collier. 
 
 On the first evening, while he was preaching, a 
 person made his way to the platform, desiring to say 
 a word. Cries of " Order " came from many parts of 
 the hall, but the preacher begged that the gentleman 
 might be allowed to speak. lie did so. He said ho 
 had heard Mr. Weaver preach in the Borough two 
 nights before, and when the appeal came for the 
 anxious ones to hold up their hands, he had shrunk 
 from doing so. But he came to St. Martin's Hall 
 that night to hold up his hand for Christ. lie was 
 obliged to leave then, but could not go without 
 making this declaration. "There," said Weaver, 
 "I told you to let him speak. I thought he had 
 something good to say." 
 
 During the week following these preachings at St. 
 Martin's Hall, tliree meetings for young converts and 
 inquirers were held in one of the smaller rooms, 
 which were attended by many who had found 
 peace with God, and many who had been awakened 
 to seek it during the previous fortnight in the Hall 
 above. The last of these meetings was held on 
 Saturday night (August 25, 1860), and early on the 
 following morning the Hall was burned down, 
 together with an extensive coach-factory adjoining, 
 in which the fire originated. 
 
 During his sojurn in London Weaver preached 
 
 at Barnet ; on one occasion addressing the orphans 
 
 of the Crimean soldiers, and other children, under 
 
 i 
 
114 VISIT TO SCOTLAND. 
 
 the care of tlie estimable clergyman of that place 
 (Rev. W. Pennefather). Indeed, his remarkably 
 happy way of interesting children developes some 
 very lovable features in his character, and some of 
 the elements conducing to his success. 
 
 After the close of the services at St. Martin's Hall 
 he preached at various chapels in London, and also 
 at "Woolwich, where the blessing of God still attended 
 his labours. And if now, at any of the meetings 
 where the young converts are found, you go amongst 
 the inquirers and those who remain to direct them to 
 Jesus, you will, in all probability, find some to tell 
 you that they date their conversion from a certain 
 evening, when Richard Weaver preached at some 
 school-room, or chapel, or hall, or theatre. 
 
 At the end of August, Weaver was strongly pressed 
 to take part in some open-air gatherings in Scotland, 
 meetings of a similar kind having already been 
 greatly blessed at Huntly, Aberdeen, and Perth, 
 invitations to which he had not accepted on account 
 of the work in and around London. He joined Mr. 
 Radcliffe, at Perth, on August 30, and the same 
 evening gave an address at the City Hall. The 
 results of his visit to Perth are thus stated by the 
 Rev, John Milne, in a letter dated May 17, 1861: 
 
 " The Revival had begun and made some progress 
 before Mr. Weaver reached us ; but we all felt that 
 he helped us not a little. I felt my heart drawn to 
 him at once, as a man of special gift and grace, and 
 whom God had peculiarly trained for an important 
 service. This impression was deepened and con- 
 firmed by all our subsequent intercourse in public 
 
PERTH. 115 
 
 and private. Ho began his work at Perth, as else- 
 where, by singing one of his hynins, ' Christ for me.' 
 This was a novelty in Scotland, and startled not a few ; 
 but I know that God blessed it at once to some. One 
 young man, belonging to my own flock, who had 
 been for several days in a state of dejnorable distress, 
 crying, 'I am found wanting, wanting/ found all Ik 
 needed while that hymn was being sung, and became, 
 from that moment, one of our happiest and most 
 devoted converts ; his face ever bright, and his hand 
 ever ready for every good work. He told my wife, 
 some considerable time after, ' Jesus is ever with me ; 
 I cannot eat my meat without Him.' 
 
 1 4 It was a memorable time ; the spirit was present 
 in great power, and no one seemed to let down the 
 net without some blessing. But Mr. Padcliffe and 
 Mr. Weaver were greatly used, though perhaps in 
 different ways. Many ascribe their awakening, or 
 settlement in the truth, to the addresses or personal 
 dealing of Mr. "Weaver, and we all long for a second 
 visit and another refreshment. He has left a most 
 f avourable and abiding impression in Perth, and he 
 has very many well-wishers there." 
 
 On leaving Perth, the people sent, through Mrs. 
 Radcliffe, a present of nearly twenty pounds to Mrs. 
 Weaver, with a very kind note, containing many 
 
 expressions of love and regard to her husband. " It 
 a," says Mrs. Eadcliffe, " a very affecting scene at 
 
 our taking leave of the kind people of Perth." 
 
 On September 3, they left Perth for Glasgoir. 
 
 They stopped two hours at Crieff, the largest village 
 
 in Scotland, where an open-air meeting had been pre- 
 
-116 GLASGOW. 
 
 arranged, at which Weaver spoke at length. Mr. 
 Radcliffe invited the anxious to the other side of the 
 field, while the ministers present continued the meet- 
 ing. To their surprise hundreds followed them, 
 though they had not seemed much affected during the 
 preaching. One old woman, who had been seeking 
 peace for years, jumped up, and kissed Weaver 
 before them all, and a minister subsequently told Mr. 
 Radcliffe that whole families lay awake all night, too 
 overjoyed to sleep. They arrived at Braco, another 
 village, at four o'clock, and left at five. The villagers 
 assembled, Bible in hand, and Mr. Radclirfe and 
 Weaver addressed , them. At dusk they reached 
 Stirling, and, after tea, had a meeting in the Corn 
 Exchange. From twenty to thirty came to the meet- 
 ing for inquirers on the following morning. The 
 same afternoon they arrived at Glasgow^ 
 
 On the two following days (Sep. 5, 6) great open 
 air gatherings were held on the Green, ^at Glasgow, 
 of which Mr. Gordon Forlong says : 
 
 " Three or four cases of loud wailing 'were heard, 
 and one or two which might be called prostration ; 
 but the cases in general were all very calm; deep 
 earnestness, but few outward manifestations. The 
 addresses delivered by Eichard Weaver attracted 
 much, attention, and his hymns took a strong hold of 
 the people. A minister and some others who told me 
 they did not quite approve of the hymns or the tunes 
 said that they caught themselves joining in them, and 
 giving the chorus. I believe Weaver's visit to Glas- 
 gow has been blessed. An adjoining theatre was 
 opened for inquirers' and I can testify that souls in a 
 
WLLLIAM CARTER. 117 
 
 right state frequented it, and numbers of ministers 
 and others laboured all day in the pit of this theatre, 
 and on the platform and in adjoining- rooms, and in 
 the gallery, with anxious souls." 
 
 " Amongst the stricken ones," says Mrs. Radcliffe, 
 " was a girl who rose up saying, ' May I pray?' She 
 knelt down, with a companion on each side, and said, 
 1 Lord, forgive me for striking the minister that 
 Sunday.' (Beferring to a row at the Wynds, where 
 the Roman Catholics had assaulted Mr. M'Coll, the 
 minister of the Wynds and Bridegate churches). 
 1 Forgive my companion on my right and my com- 
 panion on my left.' On this, the girl on her rig] it 
 fell down stricken, and remained long unconscious, 
 except when Jesus was named, at which she moved 
 her lips as though in token of assent. In an hour 
 she began to sing slowly and sweetly, 
 
 Happy day, happy day, 
 "When Jesus washed my sins away. ' 
 
 A light, like sunshine, overspread her face, and con- 
 tinued there, reminding me that ' it is sown in 
 corruption, it is raised in incorruption j it is sown 
 in dishonour, it is raised in glory.' " 
 r Meantime, Weaver had been advertised in London 
 to preach on four successive Sunday evenings at 
 Victoria Theatre. He came from Scotland to fulfil 
 his engagement on the first occasion, and returned 
 next day. This, of course could not be continued. 
 His health gave way under his incessant labour, and 
 on the three following Sunday evenings William 
 Carter supplied his place. Doubtless this was the 
 Lord's ordering. Mr. Carter was greatly blessed, and 
 
118 EDINBURGH. 
 
 was thus made better known as one of God's chosen 
 vessels than might otherwise have been the case. 
 
 Open-air gatherings were held at Paisley, Greenock, 
 and Saltcoats, in September, which were greatly 
 blessed. Messrs. Eadcliffe and Weaver went thence 
 to Irvine, and to Kilmarnock, where there was a great 
 work amongst the colliers and miners. On the 30th 
 they preached in the Music Hall, at Chester. Mr. 
 KadclifTe then returned to Edinburgh, while Weaver 
 rested at home for a week, being in very feeble 
 health. The friends who had taken Victoria Theatre 
 and announced Weaver to preach there, desiring to 
 redeem their pledge to the public, engaged it for two 
 further Sunday evenings, and, on October 7 and 14, 
 Weaver was at his post and the Lord was with him. 
 He seemed quite worn out, and great fears were 
 entertained of his breaking down altogether. But 
 the power of Christ rested on him ; great blessing 
 attended his preaching ; numbers were convinced of 
 sin, and numbers more brought into the glorious 
 liberty of the children of God. 
 
 On the Monday morning following the last of these 
 services, Weaver left London for Edinburgh. He 
 arrived on Tuesday morning, and preached at the 
 Assembly Hall, and afterwards at John Knox's 
 church, the same night. There were many inquirers 
 in both places. " The Spirit of God wounded," he 
 writes, ' ' and the blood of Christ healed. ' ' The follow- 
 ing morning he accompanied Mr. and Mrs. HadclifFe 
 and a few Christian ladies to the Carlton Jail. 
 Weaver spoke in the centre division to about eighty 
 female prisoners. Mrs. BadclifFe says, "The women Vi 
 
TWO VISITS TO THE CARLTON JAIL. 119 
 
 ward was a long white- washed passage. The chap- 
 lain clapped his hands twice, and my poor degraded 
 sisters crept out, each carrying a three-legged seat, 
 which she placed at her cell-door and sat upon. 
 Weaver spoke with much love and tenderness, 
 entreating them to look to Jesus at once. The good 
 chaplain (as well as the Governor) showed us every 
 kindness, and both were united in wishing blessing 
 to come to the place. The chaplain asked all the 
 women who would like the visitors to come to their 
 cells, to ring their bells. We then retired, and as wo 
 stood in that quiet, hopeless, empty passage, bell 
 after bell rang, and a small black flag stood out 
 above the door, bearing the number of the cell, to 
 direct us where to go. I was much struck by the 
 air of contentment and joy on the countenance of the 
 inmate of one cell which I entered. She told me, 
 with a smiling face, that she had been led to Jesus 
 by the chaplain during her imprisonment. Another 
 poor girl asked Weaver to go and tell her mother in 
 the High-street that she had found Jesus that day." 
 Weaver says there were thirty or forty under convic- 
 tion ; as he went into their cells he found them on 
 their knees crying to God to save them, and he 
 believed that many found peace in believing. 
 
 From the prison they went to an extensive gutta- 
 percha factory, where he preached to the work-people 
 during their dinner hour. The next day they went 
 again to the Jail to speak to the men. The prisoners 
 were gathered in the Chapel and did not look so 
 desolate as the women had done the day before on 
 their stools outside the doors of their cells. One man 
 
120 MIDNIGHT MEETINGS. \ 
 
 said that while Mr. Radcliffe was speaking his bur- 
 den fell off and he found rest in Jesus. Mr. Eadcliffe 
 paid the fines of one or two who were in for disorderly 
 conduct, and one of them was found in the Canon- 
 gate the same night, telling other men of what God 
 had done for his soul. 
 
 Weaver was announced to preach one day at the 
 foot of the Canongate. A platform was erected, and 
 at nine o'clock five thousand people had collected, and 
 in the afternoon, at five, the crowd was estimated at 
 from fifteen to twenty thousand. On the following 
 evening he preached at Richmond-place Chapel. 
 Every seat was occupied long before the time, and 
 when the preacher had got in, the noise outside was 
 so great that he was obliged to go and preach out- 
 side first, walking on the shoulders of the congrega- 
 tion, and returning in the same manner. The next 
 day, in consequence of the throng being so great, 
 the men and women were divided ; Mr. Eadcliffe 
 preaching to the women in the Tabernacle, and 
 Weaver to the men in Rev. Moody Stuart's Chapel. 
 
 A midnight tea-meeting for cabmen and their wives 
 was held in Eichmond-place Chapel, from which 
 great good resulted ; and shortly after, a similar 
 meeting for fallen women, followed by a breakfast 
 and noon-day meeting for the same a few days later. 
 To this meeting seven hundred were invited; four 
 hundred came. On the left of the pulpit were those 
 who had given in their names as willing to be 
 reclaimed after the midnight meeting. A lady, who 
 was present, says, •' Never will those who were 
 permitted to remain in the succeding hours, to 
 
DE. guthrie's testimony. 121 
 
 watch how the Lord Jesus wounded deeper or began 
 to heal the hearts He was Linding to Himself for 
 ever, forget their privilege." 
 
 On the 21st, a farewell meeting was held in the 
 Music Hall, the most notable feature of which waa 
 the testimony of the justly-esteemed Dr. Guthrie to 
 the labours of the two evangelists who were now 
 about to leave them. In the course of a deeply 
 interesting address he said : — 
 
 "Just before leaving my house to-day, I talked 
 with a very worthy old woman, who was there sewing 
 and stitching. Said I, ' Have you heard Mr. 
 "Weaver?' The answer was, 'Yes.' ' And what do 
 you think of him ? ' 'Well,' was the answer, ' he 
 says some things that the genteel folks do not like ; 
 but he just suits lis.' There is very much in that. 
 
 Those people who are really persons 
 
 of accomplished taste, of high education, and of ex- 
 quisite sensibility, ought to bear with such as are able 
 to speak directly to others in a language they can 
 understand. Mr. W T eaver is a man of that sort. He 
 knows the devils with which the very lowest classes 
 have to fight, the temptations they have to overcome, 
 and the trials they have to endure. It is thus he has 
 been enabled to do good, and much good has been 
 done by him." 
 
 On November 22, the party all left Edinburgh 
 together, and were followed to the railway-station by 
 a multitude, who testified their love and sorrow in 
 many touching ways. They tried to sing, 
 
 " I have a Father in the promised land," 
 
122 MACCLESFIELD, CONGLETON, LEEK. 
 
 but their voices where broken with weeping, and they 
 were obliged to give it up. 
 
 In the beginning of December Weaver returned to 
 London with Mr. Eadcliffe. The first Sunday- 
 evening they preached at Exeter Hall, but afterwards 
 at the Surrey, City of London, and other theatres. 
 "Weaver preached on week-evenings at various chapels 
 in and around London, and his labours were, as 
 previously, greatly blessed in the conversion of souls. 
 
 After a few weeks, however, he was obliged, by 
 failing health, to return home and rest. The quiet 
 thus obtained was graciously made a time of refresh- 
 ing to his spirit, as well as of restoration to health, 
 and towards the end of January (1861), he was able 
 to accept an invitation to Macclesfield, where he 
 laboured with great success. In February, he went 
 to Dublin, but was recalled after a few days by the 
 death of his infant child. He then resumed his work 
 at Macclesfield, visiting also the neighbouring towns 
 of Rochdale, Congleton, Leek, and other smaller 
 places. He does not exaggerate when he says, respect- 
 ing Macclesfield, that "God moved the whole town, ,, 
 and this was equally the case at Congleton and Leek. 
 Thousands of persons gave in their names as pro- 
 fessing to have found Christ, and though it may be 
 doubted that all these really received the washing of 
 regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, yet 
 there is the evidence of a godty walk and conver- 
 sation, that very many have indeed passed from 
 death to life, and are new creatures in Christ Jesus. 
 Several experience meetings were held, and it was 
 impossible to listen to the language of some, who 
 
SIIIEON AXD AXXA. 123 
 
 until a few weeks previously had been sunk in 
 drunkenness and all its accompanying* vice, without 
 being convinced that at least the seed sown had been 
 brought out of God's own garner.* 
 
 It is not to be expected that the results of a 
 preached gospel shall at this day be otherwise than 
 the Great Sower himself foretold. Now, as then, some 
 seed falls by the wayside, some in stony places, and 
 other among thorns. But if we ourselves are in the 
 light, as God is in the light, we shall see fruit where 
 others see none. While blind pharisees quote Scripture 
 to prove where Messiah is, and where He is not born, 
 and do not know Him when He comes : to the man 
 Who waits for the consolation of Israel the Lord's 
 Christ shall be revealed, and widows indeed, who 
 serve God with fasting and prayers night and day, 
 shall instant]y and with thanks discern Him in the 
 temple where He dwells. 
 
 There is that in the experience of some souls which 
 answers to the carrying away of Christ into Egypt 
 from the sword of Herod. He is lost sight of; and 
 shepherds may persuade themselves that the angels' 
 song they heard was but a dream, and wise men 
 think that the star they followed was, after all, a 
 meteor of the earth, and the child they worshipped 
 a false Messiah ; but as surely as Jesus is born in 
 Bethlehem, he shall re-appear at Nazareth ; and 
 though his very ambassador, after crying, " Behold 
 
 * Reports of the experience meetings above referred to, as 
 well as more detailed accounts of Richard Weaver's labours in 
 London and elsewhere, both past and future, will be found in 
 The Revival. 
 
121 MRS. "WEAVER. 
 
 tlie Lamb of God! " may send and ask, "Art thou 
 lie that should come, or do Ave look for another ?" 
 yet his works shall in due time draw forth the con- 
 fession, "Truly this was the Son of God." 
 
 The reader will remember that at the time of his 
 conversion Weaver lived at Biddulph, in Stafford- 
 shire, a few miles from Congieton. His first visit to 
 Biddulph after his conversion was at this time. He 
 spent the last week in March amongst his old com- 
 panions, a living witness to them of what the grace 
 of God could do. He began his labours there on 
 the sabbath. The chapel, which was crowded in 
 the morning, at night was crammed long before the 
 appointed time, and some thousands of people filled 
 the road outside, so that a wagon was procured, and 
 he preached in the field opposite. At the close a 
 number of anxious ones assembled in the chapel, 
 and one of the first who came forward seeking Sal- 
 vation was the widow of his brother Thomas, who 
 was killed in the coal-pit. She, and many others, 
 found peace that night. In the afternoon there was 
 an experience meeting, at which the last who 
 spoke was Mrs. Weaver, whose sweet words, spoken 
 with much feeling, are added here to give some idea 
 of the kind of wife the Lord God provided for his 
 servant. " I feel," she said, " thankful to stand up 
 and bear my testimony. I am nothing, but Christ is 
 all in all. Glory be to God for ever, He has kept me 
 fifteen years, and He can keep me to the end. A 
 dear companion who set out with me is now in 
 heaven. She said when dying, ' There's light in the 
 valley.' Ay, friends, it's good to have light in the 
 
 
THE SAND-PIT AT BIDDULPII. 125 
 
 valley when Ave come to die. Let us hold fast living 
 grace and lie will give us dying grace. Let us lire 
 a day at a time. I've been glad to hear these dear 
 young ones tell what the Lord has done for tliem. 
 May God ever keep them. And keep my dear hus- 
 band. I will bear him up when he is far away from 
 me." 
 
 A few weeks after this, Mrs. Weaver was seriously 
 and it is feared permanently injured by being thrown 
 out of a vehicle in which she was riding with her 
 husband and some other friends. 
 
 On Good Friday Richard preached to two or three 
 thousand people in the sand-pit, in which nine years 
 before he had wrestled with God, until the Sun of 
 Righteousness dawned upon his soul ; and the same 
 evening in another sand-pit he addressed a similar 
 assembly. 
 
 This was a week of deep interest, as numbers of 
 those who had known him in the days of his ungod- 
 liness thronged to hear him, and many of his old 
 companions and others were converted to God. On 
 the evening of his first Sunday at Biddulph he spoke 
 to a group of colliers with whom he had been accus- 
 tomed to work, and one of them replied, consenting 
 to what he said. This poor man told his wife the 
 following morning to get ready to go to chapel with 
 him at night ; but before the day was over he was 
 killed in the pit and brought homo dead. On that 
 day week a man, who had been a backslider, fell 
 dead as he was going to the meeting at Withington, 
 where he had heard Weaver preach three times the 
 day before. These events greatly solemnized the 
 
126 FAREWELL. 
 
 people, and a work of awakening and conversion was 
 very general through the whole neighbourhood. 
 
 In April, Richard returned to Dublin, in which city, 
 as everywhere else, the common people heard him 
 gladly. Night after night the Metropolitan Hall 
 was crowded with persons of all ranks in life and all 
 varieties of creed ; and at each of the meetings for 
 inquirers, held after the preaching, there were a num- 
 ber under deep conviction, many of whom found 
 peace before they left. Amongst those whom we 
 believe to have been savingly converted were many 
 Homanists, who found in Jesus the Son of God a 
 Great High Priest, and in God the Father a Con- 
 fessor, whom they joyfully received in the stead of 
 the shadowy deformities with which the " mother of 
 harlots and abominations of the earth " had before 
 deceived them. 
 
 Some years have passed since the foregoing pages 
 were written. Up to the present time Richard Weaver 
 has pursued the even tenor of his way through evil 
 report and good report, undismayed by opposition, 
 and kept by the power of God. To his grace we 
 commend him, asking of the Christian reader this 
 kindness — to pray for him. 
 
 London : Mobgaw & Chase, 38, Ludgat© Hill. 
 
PUBLICATIONS OF 
 
 MORGAN AND CHASK, 
 
 38, LUDGATE HILL, LONDON. 
 May also be ordered of any Bookseller. 
 
 THE LIFE OE EIOHARD WEAVER. Cheap Edition, 
 
 Royal 32mo, price id.; 3 copies sent free for Is. 
 Wherever this remarkable man has preached, whether in London, Edinburgh, 
 Manchester, Birmingham, or elsewhere, thousands have listened to his addresses, 
 and many have " believed through his word." 
 
 Upwards of 100,000 copies of the M Life " have been sold. 
 
 RICHARD WEAVER'S ADDRESSES. New Series, 
 
 Delivered in London. Price Id. each. 
 
 "The Rest of Heaven." 
 
 "The Precious Blood of Christ." 
 
 " Not Ashamed of the Gospel!" 
 
 "This is my Friend." 
 "Our Light Affliction." 
 " Jesus only !" 
 
 The above in a packet, price 6d., post free. 
 
 RICHARD WEAVER'S HYMN BOOK. Paper Covers, 
 
 Id. ; cloth, 2d. ; cloth, gilt edges, 4td. ; very neatly bound in leather, with 
 elastic band (new style), Is. 6d. 
 
 Nearly half a million of this Hymn Book have been circulated. 
 
 RICHARD WEAVER'S TUNE BOOK. Containing Times 
 
 to the Hymns in " Richard Weaver's Hymn Book." 6d. ; cloth, Is. 
 
 RICHARD WEAVER'S ENLARGED HYMN BOOK. Con- 
 
 taining 190 Hymns. Paper covers, 2d. ; cloth, id. ; cl )th gilt, 6d. 
 This Hymn Book has been prepared to meet the wishes of th >se who desired 
 a larger selection than was to be found in " Richard Weaver's HrM Book." 
 The present book contains double the number of hymns. 
 
 RICHARD WEAVER'S ENLARGED TUNE BOOK. Con- 
 
 taining the Tunes to the above Hymn Book. In paper covers, Is. 6d. ; 
 cloth neat, 2s. 6d. 
 
 "COME TO THE SAVIOUR." A Series of Addresses 
 
 delivered in London. By Richard Weaver. Price id. ; 3 copies sent 
 post free for Is. 
 
 The Love of God. 
 
 The Promised Inheritance. 
 
 The Value of the Soul. 
 
 The Great Day of his Wrath. 
 
 The Fountain for sin. 
 
 Address at Experience Meeting. 
 
 VOICE FROM THE COAL-PIT. Seven Addresses 
 
 to the Working Classes. By Richard Wbwer. With a brief Biogra- 
 phical Notice. Price id. ; 3 copies sent free for Is. 
 
 The Ransomed of the Lord. 
 The Master's Call. 
 The Prodigal's Return. 
 
 The Swelling of Jordan. 
 Th- Life- Look. Ready. 
 
 The Strivings of the Spirit. 
 
PUBLICATIONS OP 
 MORGAN AND CHASE, 38, LUDGATE HILL, LONDON, 
 
 TO YOU IS THE WOED OP SALVATION SENT. Seven 
 
 Addresses to the Working Men and Women of England, delivered in St. 
 Martin's Hall, London, by Richabd Weaves. With a Biographical 
 Sketch. Price 4<d. ; 3 copies sent post free for Is. 
 
 The Love of God. 
 
 God's Love-gift to the World. 
 
 The Joy of Angels. 
 
 The Saint's Rejoicing. 
 
 Glorying in the Gospel. 
 
 The Danger of the Unconverted. 
 
 " The Lord be with thee ! 
 
 EIOHAED WEAVEE'S LEAFLETS. Thirty-two sorts. 
 
 Suited either for giving as tracts, or for enclosing in Letters. 4td. per 100, 
 Is. 6d. per 1000, at the office of the Publishers. Post-free from the 
 Publishers, or by order of any Bookseller, 3s. 2d. per 1000. 
 
 1 What would make you Happy ? 
 
 2 A Letter to a " Tryer." 
 
 3 Poor Women. 
 
 4 The Train that runs to Eternity. 
 
 5 To-day. 
 
 6 The Strivings of the Spirit. ' 
 
 7 The Backslider's Dream. 
 
 8 The Disease of Sin. 
 
 9 The End of the Law. 
 
 10 " The Lord bless thee." 
 
 11 While there is life there is hope. 
 
 12 Prescot Fair. 
 
 13 The King's Son. 
 
 14 Death on the Pale Horse. 
 
 15 Sudden Destruction. 
 
 16 " I've got it." [clean. 
 
 17 His blood can make the foulest 
 
 18 The Widow's Son. 
 
 19 The Fountain opened for Sin. 
 
 20 Richard's Conversion. 
 
 21 The Love of God. 
 
 22 The Hartley Colliers. 
 
 23 The Victory that overcomeththe 
 
 world. 
 
 24 The Swelling of Jordan. 
 
 25 Our Heavenly Home. 
 
 26 The Collier's Little Daughter. 
 
 27 The Wife-Beater. 
 
 28 The Master's Call. 
 
 29 The Open Door of Home. 
 
 30 The Life Look. 
 
 31 The Centre of Attraction. 
 
 32 Calvary. 
 
 EIOHAED WEAVEE'S LEAFLETS. New Series, 
 
 32 additional sorts. 4id. per 100. 2s. 6d. per 1000, at the office of the 
 Publishers. Post-free from the Publishers, or by order of any Book 
 seller, 3*. 2d. per 1000. 
 
 33 The Brazen Serpent. 
 
 34 The Drunkard and his Child. 
 
 35 A Home above 
 
 36 To Die is Gain. 
 
 37 The Lord will Provide. 
 
 38 Victory. 
 
 39 It will soon be too late. 
 
 40 Christ has done it all. 
 
 41 The Value of the Soul. 
 
 42 The Father's Love. 
 
 43 The Proof of Love. 
 
 44 Who shall be able to Stand ? 
 
 45 Why will ye Die ! 
 
 46 Just in time. 
 
 47 Hope for the Drunkard. 
 
 48 The Day of Judgment. 
 
 49 In Season and out of Season, 
 
 50 Nothing to do. 
 
 51 The Law and the Gospel. 
 
 52 High and Low. 
 
 53 Have Faith in God. 
 
 54 Death. 
 
 55 God's Jewels. 
 
 56 Shut in and Shut out. 
 
 57 " They shall be Mine." 
 
 58 Not Ashamed of Jesus. 
 
 59 The Giant Kiiler. 
 
 60 Only Christ can Satisfy. 
 
 61 Our Foe and our Saviour. 
 
 62 " Whosoever." 
 
 63 God's Bargain. 
 
 64 The Shipwreck. 
 
 300 OP EIOHAED WEAVEE'S LEAFLETS. Assorted 
 
 from both series. In a neat packet, Is.