esembled the
paradise, of my earlier days.

12. Mr. J. Potts, like Mr. J. Mawson, without following me into the
extremes of doubt, retained his friendship for me through all my
wanderings, and never neglected any opportunity he had of showing me
kindness. And others, whom I cannot take the liberty to name, evinced
the same unfailing constancy of esteem and love. And the unbroken
connexion that remained between my enduring friends and their amiable
families and myself, added to the attractions Christ-ward, and made it
easier for my soul to return at last to its home of peace and rest.

13. Between thirteen and fourteen years ago, while living in London, I
became acquainted with Mr. W. White. He had been reared a Quaker, but,
like most hard thinkers, had had experience of doubt, and was, in
consequence, after his faith was re-established, able to strengthen his
doubting brethren. He contributed to my conversion, first by his
enlightened conversation, and then by a long, kind, Christian letter on
the Bible, by which he helped me over a number of difficulties which
stood in the way of my faith.

14. But perhaps none of the parties I have named, had a more powerful
and beneficial effect on my mind than one whom I have not yet mentioned.
If I had been asked thirteen years ago, whether I supposed there was any
minister in the Methodist New Connexion who regarded me with
affectionate solicitude, and who was wishful for an opportunity to speak
to me words of love and tenderness, I should have answered, "No." If any
one had told me that there really was one of my old associates, with
whom I had formerly had warm controversy, not only on matters
theological, but on matters personal, who had been watching my career
for years, with the deepest interest, and who for months and years had
been earnestly praying for me every day, he would have seemed to me as
one amusing himself with fables. Yet such was really the case.

With no one had I come in closer contact perhaps, or in more frequent
and violent collision, than with the Rev. W. Cooke, now Dr. Cooke. He
had taken the lead in the proceedings against me in the Ashton
Conference, on account of my article on _Toleration, Human Creeds, &c._,
proceedings which had a most unhappy effect on my mind, and which led,
at length, to my separation from the Church, and to my alienation from
Christ. He had taken an active part in the violent controversies which
followed my expulsion from the