Part 3
would not exchange this food from heaven for the richest dinner on the earth." However long might be the journey he had to take, he never altered his practice. And on the Sunday, incessantly occupied as he was, singing, praying, exhorting, in addition to his bodily exertions, for he would be jumping and dancing almost every moment when not otherwise engaged, he never seemed to want food, and I never saw him appear either dull or fatigued. To him the promise seemed literally fulfilled - "Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint!" After rather a long journey one Sabbath to his appointments, when he was got an old man, a good friend on his return said to him, " Poor old man, come, are you?" Billy leaped on the floor, and said, "Don't call me an old man, for I am like a boy. I could go the same journey again, for I'm not one bit weary." At another time, after a very hard day's work he said to a friend, "How strong I am! I am as strong as a lion. I could run up to St Austell (a distance of twenty miles or so), I am so strong." After he started one Sabbath morning to take hii appointments at Mevagissey, he was then living at Tywardreath Highway, he felt very unwell, but to the suggestion, of the enemy as he supposed, that he had better return, he said, "No, I won't. The dear Lord can help me, and I shall go." The pain soon ceased, and if there was any remaining weakness, when he descended from the pulpit, after the morning service, he shouted and jumped it all away. Mr Wesley's sure remedy for cold and hoarseness, was, we believe, more preaching. A happy meeting seemed to be all that Billy Bray required for either body or soul. On the occasion referred to above, he said, "This is the way to make old people young again. If you will get into the Lord's mill, He will grind you down, and make you come out like new ones." Then, instead of going to dinner, he went to visit the sick, it being his meat and drink to do his heavenly Father's will. There was, too, a beautiful harmony about Billy's Christian character and consistency. He who will not rob God will not defraud his fellow-men; respect for the fourth commandment is a guarantee that the eighth and every other will be scrupulously observed. I am told it is the habit with dishonest miners when they have a good take to hide away, when they have the opportunity, some of the ore, so that they may not appear to have been getting too high wages the next setting-day, and the hidden treasure is reserved and brought out when they are working in a place where the ore is less plentiful and a larger proportion belongs to the tributer. Against this practice Billy set his face like a flint. "These men could not enjoy religion," he said, "and act the rogue too. What peace of mind could they have when they came to die." Against all deception, fraud, and oppression, he faith fully witnessed, whoever might be the offender, or whatever his rank and position. He sometimes brought upon
himself much opposition and reproach for the time, though he carefully watched his temper, that he might not rebuke his brother in a wrong spirit, and for a suitable opportunity, that it might neither be in vain, nor wound the offender unnecessarily. Some of these parties were high sounding professors; but he well knew if a goad conscience be not maintained, of faith itself people will soon make shipwreck.
A friend of the author's, naturally of a rather gloomy turn, had much peace and joy during a long illness that ended in death. Speaking to his widow as to the cause of this, which seemed in one of his temperament somewhat remarkable, she said that her husband gratefully noticed the fact, and next to the hope of salvation which he had through Jesus Christ, he thought that it was because he had never once knowingly cheated any one of a lump of coal, his business being that of a coal-merchant. The world lacks this practical Christianity. CHAPTER VIII. TRIALS AND CONFLICTS. "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial: for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him." - James 1:12. The devil knows where I live," was a common saying of Billy's, in answer to remarks that he knew but little or nothing of trial and temptation. He was tempted, so he said, to do many bad things, to swear, to tell lies, &c., and sometimes to end his life by throwing himself down the shaft of a mine. But he told the tempter, "old smitty-face" to do this himself, and see how he would like it, and not, as too many do, meet Satan more than half-way, go to him, and say, "Hae na ye some dainty temptation for me to-day now, Daddie Satan? I'm sair wracked for a coaxing temptation;" but Satan he always resisted, "steadfast in the faith." Nor was he in the habit of seeking sympathy from others; but took joyfully everything as it came along from the hand of a loving Father. And more than all, perhaps, he thought it not strange concerning the fiery trials which were permitted to come upon him, as though some strange thing had happened unto him. If temptation were a strange thing, it would be still more strange that Jesus himself suffered being tempted, that He might be able to succour them that are tempted. It is marvellous that this power to succour Jesus acquired in the actual conflicts of life. Mr Gilbert says he has heard that in coming home from the mine on one occasion, soon after his conversion, Billy was thinking of several recent
accidents, which had proved fatal to some of his acquaintances. On getting near a shaft where one or two people had been killed, Billy's mind became possessed with the thought (he was not altogether free from the superstitions which still linger among people of his class) that they would appear to him from the invisible world. His fears were greatly excited, and though, like many other troubles, quite imaginary, they were none the less terrible to endure. But he passed the place in safety, and of course saw nothing. On coming near another " shaft," he thought of one or two people who had been killed there, and he trembled with the thought that he should see them. But he kept on his way, struggling with his emotions as best he could. In passing this second shaft, he had to cross a bridge. Just as he was about to step on it, it came into his mind that the devil himself would meet him on the bridge. This thought thoroughly aroused him, and he exclaimed, "The devil! who is he! what can he do? The devil is a fallen angel! he was turned out of heaven by God! - he is held now in chains! I am Billy Bray! God is my heavenly Father! Why should I fear the devil?" Then strong in the consciousness that God was his defence, he said, as if addressing a visible foe, "Come on, then, thou devil; I fear thee not! Come on, Lucifer, and all demons! Come on, old ones and young ones, black ones and blue ones, fiery and red-hot ones; come on, devil, and all your ugly hosts!" Then, feeling himself delivered from the fears that had distressed and darkened his mind, he began to sing - "Jesus, the name high over all In hell, or earth, or sky: Angels and men before it fall, And devils fear and fly; " when he was discovered by some of his neighbours leaping and dancing, and praising the Lord who had again given him the victory! Not many readers will be able, we suppose, to sympathise with this experience of Billy; but he had trials of another kind which come home very closely to the understandings and hearts of many. The Lord was his Shepherd, and so he never came to want. The promise is, "Bread shall be given, and water is sure;'' but the Lord's people are often brought into great straits. Many an honest Christian man has found it hard work at times to provide for the daily wants of himself and family. Satan is busy in plying the temptation then that the Lord has forgotten him, and is utterly regardless of his wants. Scanty fare, an empty cupboard, an illfurnished table, thread-bare clothing, are these the evidences and proofs of God's favour? And then many careless, godless people have more than heart can wish. God thus I tries the faith of His children, and He delights to honour it. Billy Bray was often thus tried, but God worked out his deliverance. He could wait, or work, or suffer, even die, but he could not sin, nor doubt his best
Friend. He came home one pay-day from the mine without any money. It was a great trial to him, but he bore it meekly. His wife reproached him with being the cause of their poverty and trials, but he said to her, "The Lord will provide," and just then a person, who had heard of his circumstances, came into the house with a basket of provisions containing all that he and his needed. He might well sing, as we are told be did:- "Not fearing or doubting, With Christ on my side, I hope to die shouting, The Lord will provide." When he took some of the money that he had so hardly earned, to pay for something wanted for the chapels which he did so much to build, his wife declared, "We shall be brought to the Union if you go on in this way." "Never mind, my dear Joey, the Lord will provide;" and so He did always, often marvellously. Here is one incident from his own lips. At one time I had been at work the whole of the month, but had no wages to take up when pay-day came; and as we had no bread in the house, Joey advised me to go up and ask the captain to lend me a few shillings, which I did, and he let me have ten shillings On my way home I called to see a family, and found they were worse off than myself; for though we had no bread, we had bacon and potatoes, but they had neither. So I gave them five shillings, and went towards home. Then I called on another family, and found them, if possible, in greater distress than the former. I thought I could not give them less than I had given the others; so I gave them the other five shillings, and went home. And Joey said - "Well, William, have you seen the captain?" "Yes." "Did you ask him for any money?" "Yes; he let me have ten shillings." "Where is it? ' "I have given it away." "I never saw the fellow to you in my life. You are enough to try any one." "The Lord isn't going to stay in my debt very long" and I then weal out. For two or three days after this, Joey was mighty down; but about the middle of the week, when I came home from the mine, Joey was looking mighty smiling, so I thought there. was something up. Presently Joey said - "Mrs So-and-so has been here to-day." "Oh!" "And she gave me a sovereign." "There, I told you the Lord wasn't going to stay in my debt very long; there 's
the ten shillings, and ten shillings interest." Coming home one Sunday evening from his appointment through a dirty road, Billy stuck in the mud, and in extricating one foot, he tore off the sole of his shoe. Holding it up, now almost useless, he said, " Here, Father, thou knowest that I have worn out these shoes in Thy cause, and I have no money to buy new ones; help me." The Lord heard him in this time of need, and sent speedy relief. A friend the next week said he wanted Billy to accompany him to Truro; and on their arrival he took him first to a shoe shop, and bought for him a pair of shoes, and then to other shops to get some needed articles of clothing. Billy was very poor when he was converted (a working man who is a drunkard must be very poor); a low-priced fustian jacket was his best, and he said that was better than he deserved; but false shame did not stop him from going out on the Sunday to warn his fellow-men to flee from the wrath to come. At the request of a servant girl, an unknown Quaker friend gave him a coat and waistcoat, "which suited me," he said, "as if they were made for me; and they served me for years." This reminds me of one of his facetious remarks on a similar occasion. A good friend said to him, " The Lord has told me to give you a coat and waistcoat, but I do not know whether they will fit you." "If the Lord told you to give them to me, they will fit me all right, for He knows my size exactly." It is right to state it was Billy's opinion that almost all the garments which he had given to him fitted him so well because he and fashion had once quarrelled, and the breach had never been made up. Billy's deep poverty was shared by many of his fellow Christians, preachers and others, and his kind Quaker friends showed also no little kindness to them When the Bible Christian missionaries went out first, their salary was very small, and sometimes they had to get meat and clothes where they could. The love of Christ constrained them, and many of them cheerfully endured hardness for His sake. Billy relates this circumstance: - "One of our preachers was called to preach to a very wicked people, and the Lord made him a great blessing to them. He has told me that, after he has done preaching at night, he has had no place to lodge and nothing to eat. He said that he had slept out in a cold, frosty night, and when he awoke in the morning he found it very hard work to get any heat in himself. The devil tempted him that his case was a bad one, for he had neither food nor lodgings, and his clothes were very poor. He had no friends; and all the people that were pious met in other societies. A member of another society said to him one day, "You are fine fellows for beating the bushes, but we get the birds." The missionary then said to him, "The Day of Judgment is coming, and then every bird-cage door will be thrown open, and every bird will fly to its own cage; and then those will look foolish enough who have got only empty cages in their hand." This good man
suffered hunger and thirst and poverty to do the Lord's will; and the devil was very busy in showing lam that the Lord was a hard Master, and so tried to put him out of the way. But he could not, for the dear brother was like St Paul, and could say, "None of these things move me." When his clothes got poor, the devil would say, "See how the Lord is serving you, for your clothes is just done, and what wilt thou do then." But he trusted in the Lord, and the Lord opened the heart of a Quaker friend, who asked him one day, "Is that all the clothes thou have got?" And he said "Yes." Then the friend said, "Come to my house, and I will give thee some clothes." The Lord also opened the heart of another friend, who sent him some money. Then the missionary said, "Now, devil, I will chase thee all over this mission on penny loaves and water!" So you see that this man loved souls; and he was made a great blessing in the neighbourhood, which had been a wretched one. And the dear Lord will reward the friends who helped him, for He has said, "As as you have done it to one of the least of these my little ones, you have done it to me.' " It was Billy's belief that the Lord opened the hearts of his friends to help him whenever he needed it, and shut them up when help was no longer required. Billy had other trials in his family besides those of which we have spoken. He had two sisters, and one of them, who was out of her mind, was very trying. She was sometimes so cross, that she exercised Billy's faith and patience more than a little. But he had one unfailing resort in trouble. "I cried to the Lord, and He heard me, for He made me so happy that I could not hold it in; I had a joy unspeakable and full of glory; I had good measure, pressed down, and running over. Now what was that trial compared with the blessing I received? I was so happy that I felt none of these things could move me. I could say, "I long to be with Christ now. My dear Lord, let me die, and take me to heaven." I felt so much of the Divine glory that I longed to be there. I cannot tell what I felt." Did he not know what the Saviour meant when He said, "In the world you will have tribulation; so be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world." And we must mention one other kind of trial. During his wife's long illness, which ended in death, he had many blessed seasons while praying with her, and promises from the dear Lord. At one time the words were so deeply impressed on his mind, "She is mine for ever," that tears came into his eyes. At another time he was greatly comforted by the conviction, inwrought into his heart by the power of the Holy Ghost, that he himself, his wife and family, should be saved. Therefore he said, "I had no reason to doubt of my wife's going to heaven; nevertheless the devil often tempted me that, because I was not home with her when she died, it was not well with her. But the devil could not make me believe it. Since the dear Lord has settled the matter, the old king of the blacks does not tempt me that she is not in heaven. When the dear Lord
speaks to His children's hearts, He speaks the truth; He is a God of truth, and all who love Him are children of the truth." Thus in all these things was Billy more than a conqueror through Him that loved him. We may give two or three incidents, as they show not only the eccentricity, but also the force of his genius. He thus repelled the tempter, when he said to him, " I'll have you down to hell after all." " Hast thee got a little ' lew ' place for me in hell where I could sing thee a song.? Thee cus'n't burn me devil. There's no grease in me;" or, "What an ould fool thee are now; I have been battling with thee for twenty-eight years, and I have always beat thee, and I always shall." But the devil said again, "Well, I'll have thee down to hell after all." But Billy said to him, " I'd as soon go to hell with thee as not. For I'd bring Jesus Christ with me, and shout and sing, and praise the Lord, for that's a sound thee hasn't heard for two seven years, and I know thee wost-en like that." If the temptation was that he was a fool to go and preach, as he would never get any thing for it, the answer was, "Not so big a fool as thee art, for once thee was in a good situation, and did not know how to keep it." His own graphic account of of how he " beat the devil" when his crop of potatoes failed, is so good, that we gratefully insert it here: - "Friends, last week I was a-diggin' up my 'taturs. It was a wisht poor yield, sure 'nough; there was hardly a sound one in the whole lot. An' while I was a-diggin' the devil come to me, and he says, "Billy, do you think your Father do love you?" "I should reckon He do," I says. "Well, I don't," says the ould tempter in a minute. If I'd thought about it I shouldn't ha' listened to 'en, for his 'pinions ben't worth the leastest bit o' notice. "I don't," says he, "and I tell 'ee what for: if your Father loved you, Billy Bray, He'd give you a pretty yield o' 'taturs; so much as ever you do want, and ever so many of 'em, and every one of 'em as big as your fist. For it ben't no trouble to your Father to do anything; and He could just as easy give you plenty as not, an' if He loved you, He would, too." Of course, I wasn't goin' to let he talk of my Father like that, so I turned round upon 'en. "Pray, sir, who may you happen to be, coming to me a'talking like this here? If I ben't mistaken, I know you, sir, and my Father too. And to think o' yhou comin' a'saying He don't love me! Why, I've got your written character home to my house; and it do say, Sir, that you be a liar from the beginnin'! An' Im sorry to add, that I used to have a personal relationship with you some years since, and I served you faithful as any poor wretch could; and all you gave me was rags to my back, andna wretched home, and an aching head, an' to 'taturs, and the fear o' hellfire to end up with. And here's my dear Father in heaven. I have been a poor servant of His, off and on, for thirty years. An' He's given me a clean heart, an' a soul full of joy, an' a lovely suit o' white as'll never wear out; and He says that e'll make a king o me before He've done, an' that
He'll take me home to his palace to reign with Him for ever and ever. An' now you come up here a'talking like that." Bless 'e, my dear friends, he went off in a minute, like as if he;d been shot – I do wish he had – and he never had manners to say Good Morning. Godliness is profitable for all things, having the promise of the life which now is, as well as that which is to come; but all true Christians love God for what He is, and not for profit or reward; and they love holiness, not only because it is happiness, but because it is His image who is to them the fairest among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely. It is a miserable, shallow philosophy to suppose that the Lord rewards those who are poor in spirit, and pure in heart, and patient under suffering, with mere earthly good, or that their trust, and love, and devotion, and service, can be alienated by any sorrows and evils He permits to come upon them. In resisting temptation, Billy knew the special value of the shield of faith, without which any Christian's armour is incomplete. On one occasion, in his capacity as captain-dresser, he engaged to dress a quantity of ore, and had to employ a number of young people. But the general opinion was that the lot was all but worthless, and for a time it was a great trial to Billy as there would be nothing for him, and worse still, nothing for those under him. "Why, the people will say, there's that ould Billy Bray, an ould Bryanite, an ould rogue, he has cheated the boys and maidens of their wages. A pretty Christian he!" But Billy wrestled and laboured in prayer, until he got the assurance that the Lord was on his way. (Dan. 10:9.) "I will bring you through," the Lord said to him one day while he was praying; to which gracious word he at once answered, "I believe it, Lord, I know Thee wost; praise the Lord, amen, glory. I don't care now what the devil says. If You tell me that Thou wilt bring me through, I believe Thou wilt." And his foot once placed upon the rock, he was not to be moved. The struggle was again and again renewed, but to all suggestions, from whatever quarter they came, his answer was, "I don't care whether the stuff is worth any thing or not. The Lord hath told me He will bring me through, and I believe Him." And did the Lord disappoint His servant? or leave him at last in trouble to sink.? " No, no! On the sampling day the stuff was found to be more valuable than any person expected, enabling Billy to pay the boys and girls their wages, his own, and then have £5 left for himself. His own experience taught him the only method, and his occupation as a miner the particular illustration, by which he could inspire his fellow Christians with steadfastness and courage in the midst of trials. "The best way to serve the devil," he would say, " is to win'en up at the capstan. Throw the rope round 'en," he continued, "and turn away until you get 'en up close to the axle, and when he cries "strick', you must'en let go at all, but hold 'en fast. If you get 'en up
tight to the axle, and keep 'en there, he'll never be able to harm 'e: all he will be able to do, will be to grizzle at 'e." It was evident that Billy had got the arch-foe tight at the capstan. Who can read this account of Billy's temptations without being reminded of Jehovah's declaration to the serpent, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed;" and the remainder of that storm of wrath which the devil poured on the head of our blessed Redeemer, he has reserved for His followers, but with the same result in many cases, thank God, as in the case of Jesus himself. Impotent is Satan's fury if we take the whole armour of God. Billy knew, too, how to fight the devil and his agents with their own weapons. Returning late from a revival meeting, on a dark night, in a lonely road, certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, tried to frighten him by making all sorts of unearthly sounds; but he went singing on his way. At last one of them said, in the most terrible tones," But I'm the devil up here in the hedge, Billy Bray." " Bless the Lord! bless the Lord! " said Billy, "I did not know thee wost so far away as that." To use Billy's own expression, "What could the devil do with such as he? " At a friend's house in Truro, the mistress read the account of the temptation of our Lord at family prayer. Billy listened quietly till the verse was read in which Satan promises the Saviour all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, if He would only fall down and worship him, when he started to his feet exclaiming, "The ould vagabond! the ould vagabond! he give away all the kingdoms of the world when he never had an old tatur skin to call his own! the ould vagabond!" CHAPTER IX. DRINKING AND SMOKING. "What! Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which ye have of God, and you are not your own? For you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." - I Cor. 6:20. ANY life of Billy Bray would be considered by all who knew him as incomplete that did not refer to his strong detestation of the pernicious habits of taking intoxicating drinks, and of smoking. He bore a life long and emphatic testimony against these evils. He had been much debased by drunkenness, and a perfect slave to the pipe. "When I heard" he says, " that Mr Teare was coming to Hicks
Mill to lecture on Teetotalism, I thought I would go to hear him, but that I would not sign the pledge; for a little drop, if a man does not take too much, will do him good. As I listened to what Mr Teare had to say, the darkness was removed from my mind, and I thought I would sign the pledge; and before Mr Teare had finished speaking I shouted out to friend Tregaskis, "Thomas, put down my name!" and from that hour he was not only a staunch teetotaler, but also one of the most earnest and successful advocates of the great and holy cause of temperance. That so many people have been saved from sin and shame by the safeguard of teetotalism ought to be a sufficient reason for all good people to support it. Billy used to say, so Mr Ashworth tells us, " "If Satan ever catches me, it will be with the ale-pot. Men set lime-sticks to catch birds, and Satan sets wine-bottles and alepots to catch fools, but I will not touch a drop, then I shall never get drunk.' "At one temperance meeting, speaking of moderation, he said, "Ye might as well hang an old woman's apron in the gap of a potato field to prevent the old sow with young pigs from going in, as expect a drunkard to be cured with moderation. Satan knows that, so he sets the little pot to catch him again." He also fully endorsed the opinion which he had heard expressed, that publichouses were hell-houses. He knew one house where nineteen men got drunk, and while in a state of intoxication fell into shafts, and were killed. "Hellhouses," he would say, "indeed they are! - for they are places where people are prepared for hell, and they help people on their way." But with his love of antithesis, and his habitual cheerfulness, even hell-houses reminded him of chapels, where people are converted and prepared for heaven, and therefore might properly be called "heaven-houses." But the evils of drinking are so generally admitted, that we need not insist on the importance of Temperance, or attempt to describe the benefits that come, with autumn ripeness and bountifulness, on all people who embrace and advocate its principles. But the case is different with the growing evil of smoking, and Billy's views thereon we cannot lightly pass over without being unfaithful to his memory. He says - "I had been a smoker as well as a drunkard, and I used to love my tobacco as much as I loved my meat, and I would rather go down into the mine without my dinner than without my pipe. In the days of old the Lord spoke by the mouth of His servants the prophets; now He speaks to us by the Spirit of His Son. I had not only the feeling part of religion, but I could hear the small still voice within speaking to me. When I took the pipe to smoke, it would be applied within, "It is an idol, a lust, worship the Lord with clean lips.' So I felt it was not right to smoke. The Lord also sent a woman to convince me. I was one day in a house, and I took out my pipe to light it at the fire, and Mary Hawke -
for that was the woman's name - said, "Do you not feel it is wrong to smoke?" I said I felt something inside telling me it is an idol, a lust; and she said that was the Lord. Then I said, "Now I must give it up, for the Lord is telling me of it inside, and the woman outside; so the tobacco must go, love it as I may." There and then I took the tobacco out of my pocket, and threw it into the fire, and put the pipe under my foot, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. And I have not smoked since. I found it hard to break off old habits; but I cried to the Lord for help, and He gave me strength, for He has said, "Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver you." The day after I gave up smoking I had the toothache so bad I did not know what to do. I thought this was owing to giving up the pipe, but I said I would never smoke again if I lost every tooth in my head. I said, "Lord, You have told us, "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light," and when I said that all the pain left me. Sometimes the thought of the pipe would come back to me very strong; but the Lord strengthened me against the habit; and, bless His name, I have not smoked since." Mr Maynard says that, after Billy had given up smoking, he thought he would chew a little; but he conquered this dirty habit too. " On one occasion," he says, "when at a prayer-meeting at Hicks Mill, I heard the Lord say to me, "Worship me with clean lips." So when we got up from our knees, I took the quid (and when speaking of it he would suit the action to the word) out of my mouth, and whipp'd en under the form. But when we got on our knees again, I put another quid into my mouth. Then the Lord said to me again, "Worship me with clean lips." So I took the quid out of my mouth, and whipp'd en under the form again, and said, "Yes, Lord, I will." From that time I gave up chewing as well as smoking, and have been a free man." Smoking and chewing are expensive and wasteful habits, and this view of the matter is worthy of consideration by working-men who find it difficult to live honestly in the world, and especially by Christian working-men who find it still more difficult to give even a small amount of money to the cause which they have espoused. More than twenty years after Billy had abandoned smoking, he said, "God has just given me enough money to pay my way through life, and nothing for the pipe. If I had spent only sixpence a week or. the pipe I should have been at this time about thirty pounds in debt." A thought surely worthy of the attention of those who indulge in any useless habit at the expense of others and to their own injury. ("After fifty years of most extensive and varied practice in my profession, I have come to the decision that smoking is a main cause of ruining our young men, pauperising the working-men, and rendering comparatively useless the best efforts of ministers of religion." - John Higginbottom, Esq., M.R.C.S. "The first cigar that a young man puts into his mouth is often his first step in a
career of vice." - John Angell James. "Smoking," a clergyman says, "is Satan's seed-basket, with which he beguiles unwary souls." Mr Scott, the Chamberlain of the City of London, remarks, "The apprentices of the City who break their contracts come to my Court; and my first inquiry invariably is. Does the boy drink? and as invariably the answer is, "No." Does he smoke? and in nearly every instance the reply is, "Yes." "Seventeen out of twenty cases of criminal offences in Manchester and Salford gaols," says Mr Thomas) It was especially a gratification to Billy if he could persuade young men to imitate his example. He would tell them that the pipe was no help to them in the way to heaven, but an enemy to body and mind and pocket. When the good Spirit suggests to the mind of a good man to read a chapter in the Bible, the evil spirit which is after the flesh will say, "I will have a pull at the pipe first;" and by the time he has lit his pipe and smoked, something comes along for him to do, and he does not read at all for that time. When it comes into his mind to pray, it is said, "I will have a pipe first," and by the time the pipe is done, something comes in his way that calls him off; and there is no praying for that time. The pipe has robbed the Christian of hundreds of chapters and prayers, besides proving injurious in point of health and wealth. But people say, "It is their right, and they will not give it up." But Billy would say they must give up every idol for the Lord's sake, who gave His last drop of blood for them. Once while he was speaking warmly on this subject, a gentleman said he was speaking what was not right. Billy said, "Drink and smoke, is that right? It must be drink and smoke, or not drink and smoke." The gentleman said no more, and an old man said, "Billy Bray is right, for I smoked forty years, and it did me no good, and I have given it up now." But Billy had to confess afterwards that the same old man says Billy is wrong; for he had turned to his idol again, and was a worse smoker than ever. Some who abandoned the habit soon took it up again, and exposed themselves to Billy's sarcasm, that a little pipe could beat them. He told a person who said that he was tempted, to go and tell the Lord about it. The man said, "I do not know whether it is the devil who is tempting me or not, for it is continually coming into my mind to give up the pipe." Billy answered, "I do not think that that is the devil." I told him to stop, and not throw away his pipe till we had prayed, and cast lots, and if it came to his lot to throw the pipe away he should. We knelt down, and asked the Lord to show us by the lot what we ought to do; and as it came for him to give up his pipe, he threw it away for the time. After a day or two he said to me, he thought there was some good in the pipe after all. Then I said to him, "Thee hast cut the head of the beerquart off, but only
chopped the tail of the tobacco-pipe off; thee wilt have it again soon." And he did, but after a while he gave it up finally." Billy was particularly hard upon preachers through whose example many, he believed, of the Lord's people were induced to depart from the right way. He considered no favour should be extended to them. He was hardly at liberty to be charitable in the matter, for it was the Lord's work, and soon all would have to answer for their conduct in the judgment; some for continuing to smoke, and others for giving it up, and he felt confident as to what the decision of the Great Judge would be. " If the preachers smoke, I may smoke too," was the argument he felt he could not answer, except by bringing a charge against the preachers, which he was most unwilling to do. "Defile not yourselves with idols," and "Mortify the deeds of the body," were, in Billy's view, such definite commands, that for Christians to smoke seemed to him to be the most glaring inconsistency. Bill and a preacher of a similar character were holding a missionary meeting at F----. Billy opened the meeting with prayer, and the preacher and others fervently responded to many of his petitions. Observing this, he began to be more minute and pointed in his requests. " O Lord, help the people to give up their idols." The preacher said, "Amen." "May Thy children be saved from the love of the world's fashions." "Amen," again said the preacher. "Help Thy people to give up their ribbons and feathers." "Amen," was still the response of the preacher; and again "Amen" when he added, "And their cups and drinks." And their pipes and tobacco," but to this there was no "Amen" from the preacher. Billy at once said, "Where's your Amen, Br. B? Why don't you say "Amen" to the pipes as well as the cups! Ah! you won't say "Amen" to the pipes!" He then proceeded with his prayer. And what would be irreverent in most people, did not appear so in him. But the preacher afterwards remonstrated with Billy on his impropriety in administering this personal rebuke in public. He justified himself by saying, "You were hearty and loud enough with your "Amens" for others to give up their idols; but you are not willing to part with your own. Bless the Lord! I have given up all for my Saviour." At one time the same preacher was preaching when Billy Bray was present; warming with his subject, he exclaimed, "If my arms were long enough and strong enough, and God would give me permission, I would take you all and fly right away to heaven with you!" "And I," said Billy Bray, "would be back again in half an hour for another turn." Persons sometimes are laughed out of idle habits, when serious remonstrance and Scriptural appeals are in vain. Billy frequently said, that if God intended man or woman to take snuff, the nose would have been turned upside down;
and that an architect who built a house without a chimney, so that all the smoke came out of the front door, was in his opinion a very poor architect. And if the Lord intended men to smoke. He certainly would have made a little chimney at the back of the head for the smoke to pass through; but as He has not, I don't think He intended for man to smoke; for surely the Lard could not be a worse architect than man."
CHAPTER X. REBUKE AND EXHORTATION. "If you forbear to deliver those who are drawn to death, and those who are ready to be slain; if you say, Behold, we knew it not; does not He who ponders the heart consider it? and He who keeps your soul, does not He know it? and shall not He render to every man according to his works?" - Prov. 24:11,12. "Billy," writes a friend, "was so completely absorbed with a desire to do good - so fired with zeal for the honour of his Divine Master - so full of pity towards his fellow-men - so saved from the fear of man which brings a snare - and so impressed with an habitual sense of God's presence and favour, that, without regard to position, or rank, or character, or circumstances, he was ever ready to testify of the reality and blessedness of religion, or to administer such reproof, or counsel, or warning as he deemed necessary. At one time he might be seen in the midst of a group of pleasure seekers, seeking to impress them with the idea, that real and lasting pleasure was to be had only in religion; at another time he might be found in the midst of an angry, quarrelsome party, striving to conciliate by kind entreaties and loving arguments, or perhaps on his knees, asking God to be merciful, and soften the hearts of the angry ones, calling them by name; and anon you might have seen him accosting strangers, whom he met on the roads or in the streets, or hailing certain people with whose characters and peculiar tendencies he appeared quite familiar, and abruptly, some fastidious people might say, even rudely, but always cheerfully and lovingly, saying something about Christ and His salvation."
His wonderful tact and address in speaking to friends and strangers personally, whether it came by nature or grace, or in part from one and in part from the other, was certainly one of the most marked features of his character. And yet he did not belong to that class of men who have been called "religious chatterers" He had such an insight into people, he had such a sense of times and seasons, he had such a power of putting the truth in an available form, that men could take it without hesitation, and digest it, as it were. He seemed to be one of those unordained men that are ordained of God from their birth to be teachers in this way. His heart seemed to take such hold of people, as led him to think about them, and pray for them, and brood over them with the tenderest, purest affection and sympathy. But his talents were multiplied by the wise and benevolent use he made of them; and to people who say, "I have not the power he had; and if I had I should not know how to use it," it may be said, as has been said in a similar case, "But it does not follow you ought not to learn; for learning is essential." The church needs the power to preach to individuals, and to preach, as did her Divine Lord, her best sermons, too, on such occasions. "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in a fault, you who are spiritual should restore him in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest you be tempted as well." We may best learn what this means by an example. Billy says, "At the time I was building Bethel Chapel, I knew a very good man, who had a very wicked woman for his wife. She persecuted him in various ways, sometimes by throwing water in his face. One day she provoked him so much that he swore. He at once keenly felt that he had grievously sinned. Very earnestly did he ask the Lord to have mercy on him, Satan busily telling him all the while that it was no use to pray, for no one would believe in him again. When I was working about the chapel the Lord spoke to me and said, "Go up and restore your brother.' So I threw down the shovel I was working with, and away I went to his house. When I got there his wife began to curse him, and to tell me what her husband had said. When she had done I told her what the Lord said to the Jews when the woman was taken in adultery, "He who is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.' I asked the husband to walk out with me. I then said, "Is not the devil telling you it is no use to pray, and that nobody will believe in you any more?" "Yes," he said. Then I told him that the dear Lord had sent me to him, and that He was on his side, and that I was on his side, and while I was talking to him the dear Lord sent another brother to encourage him. And on the following Sunday the darkness was all dispersed; he regained the blessing he had lost, lived and died trusting in the Saviour, while his wife, continuing to harden her heart, and make the path of her husband rough and difficult, was soon removed by death, to answer, at the judgment seat of Christ, for all she had done."
"In meekness instructing those who oppose; if God perhaps will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and who they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will." Billy had learnt the meaning of this Scripture also. When he was out one Sunday calling recruits for the evening service, he met with a man who used to say that though Jesus was a good man, He had not all power, and that there was no such being as the devil; there was, he said, no other devil than the wickedness that was in man. He was a scholar, and thought to be a very wise man. One day when he was arguing that there was no devil, and that all a man had to mind was his own wicked heart, I asked him what wickedness it was that went into the swine and drove them over the cliff? He asked me how it was that the Lord let the swine be driven over the cliff? And I said to him, for two reasons, it seems to me. First, to show the power of God; and then to show the envy of the devil, who would rather go into the swine than no where. Then he said, "You nearly always beat me." But since we used to argue like that the Lord has made him a new creature, one of the many whom Billy turned to righteousness. "When a man's ways please the Lord, He will make even his enemies to be at peace with him." Mr Wooldridge says, "An old gentleman once took offence at Billy's faithful reproofs and lively manner in giving prominence to divine things in everyday life, and at last he became set in his hatred to one who strove to acknowledge God in all his ways. But when affliction overtook him, and death and judgment and eternity appeared close at hand, he found that his lamp gave neither light nor warmth. The happy Christian man, the once dreaded enemy, in the same sense as Elijah was the enemy of Ahab, was now sent for, to do for the unhappy man what David did for Saul, play upon his harp, so that the evil spirit of melancholy might depart from him. On Billy's entering the sick chamber, looking around on the costly furniture, he spoke aloud, and yet as if he were speaking to himself, "Did Jesus Christ ever occupy such a fine place as this? or spend money to gratify fleshly desire and worldly taste?" Then, in a strain of tenderness and pity, he began to commiserate Jesus on His deep poverty while sojourning here below till the bystanders were annoyed, and the old gentleman flushed with indignation and wrath. But when Billy had, as he thought, probed the wound enough, he applied the healing balm. And while he was praying, a sweet peace stole over the sufferer's mind and greatly comforted his troubled heart. Billy was now asked to stay with the sick man until he died, which was not till two or three weeks afterwards. Billy had some of the sorest conflicts he ever experienced during that time, but in every instance he came off victorious through the blood of the Lamb, was more than a conqueror through Him who loved him. The old gentleman, too, again and
again lost his hold of God, but Billy as often rendered the help which the poor man who lay so long at Bethesda's pool so much needed. He kept him whom he had under his care in contact, as it were, with the truth, and the Spirit, and the Saviour, till his mind underwent a complete transformation. At last he could no longer doubt that the day of eternal brightness and joy had dawned, for the day-star had arisen in his heart, the light of the city that has no need of the sun shone all around, and without a cloud he passed away to his home in the skies. Billy left the house early one summer's morn, with the last practical proof of the old gentleman's gratitude in his pocket, when he met an absent son from a distance on his way to see his father. To his inquiry how he was, Billy joyfully answered, "Never so well in all his life, for he is just gone off with the beautiful shining ones!" Shall we be forgiven if we say here that a little boy once said to his mother that he reckoned there would be a pretty row in heaven when his father and Billy Bray got there; and at another time that he thought Billy Bray would never get to heaven, because he would kick the angels so much while they were carrying him up that they wouldn't carry him any further, but let him fall. While the child's fears may excite a smile, we know that Billy's happy spirit, once released from the burden of the flesh, did, as it were, with one bound, enter into the joy of his Lord. In January 1867, Billy went to Plymouth and Devon port to hold some meetings for the Primitive Methodists, for he was no bigot, and was willing to serve all to the best of his ability, because he loved all those who loved the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. They had blessed meetings, rather noisy too. A man reproved Billy in the street for making so much noise. "He spoke very sharp, and said he did not mind who heard him. He was not ashamed to do his Master's work out in the street, and I am sure we who love the Lord ought not to be ashamed to praise Him in the chapel. I told the man that I did not fear him, nor his black-faced master; and if I had hearkened to such as he I should have lost my best friend long ago. My best friend is the dear Lord; He has made me glad, and no one can make me sad; He makes me shout, and there is no one who can make me doubt; it is He who makes me dance and leap, and there is no one that can keep down my feet. I sometimes feel so much of the power of God that, I believe, if they were to cut off my feet I should heave up the stumps. Billy was emphatically a happy Christian; he rejoiced in the Lord always. His friend Mr Haslam asked him once what was the secret of his constant happiness, comparing Billy's experience with his own. He was not always, he said, on the Mount; his prospects were sometimes clouded; his fears rather than his faith prevailed at times; so he wanted to know how it was that Billy got on so much better than he did. Billy answered that we must become fools for Christ's sake; that Christians, like Mr Haslam, who had so much book-
larnin', at a disadvantage compared to some others who have so much to unlearn, "for some of us, you know" Billy naively added, "are fools to begin with." On most occasions, Billy's wit sparkled and flashed without effort apparently on his part; but he knew how to hold it in reserve when people sought merely to gratify their curiosity, or wished him to display his powers for their amusement. Some such got more than they bargained for. Thus, to a lady who once " interviewed" him for this purpose, he was very silent and reserved. She, hoping to draw him out, said, "You know we must be willing to be fools for Christ's sake." "Must we, ma'am?" was his ready answer; "then there is a pair of us!" Reproached one day by a depraved, dissolute man, as being one of those idle fellows who go about living upon others, and doing nothing whatever, he said, "My Father can keep me a gentleman always if He pleases, without my doing any work at all; but your father" - pointing to his shabby tattered garments - "cannot even keep you in decent clothes with all your hard work." " Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like to him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit;" i.e., "If fools talk nonsense, do not talk nonsense with them; if fools boast a victory over wisdom, then let wisdom expose their folly." When some person, on one occasion, asked Billy how the world was getting on now, he answered, "I don't know, for 1 haven't been there for twelve years."
CHAPTER XI. FULLY RIPE FOR THE GARNER. "You shall come to your grave in a full age, like a shock of corn comes in in his season." - Job v. 26. HAVING nearly filled the space allotted me, I notice in reading what I have written that the subjects so run into one another, that my purpose to keep them separate and distinct has not been fully accomplished; and that I have dealt with the flowers and fruits, rather than with the roots and the principles of the Christian life. There are also some points which in my plan had separate chapters assigned to them which have hardly been noticed; and Billy's evangelistic labours was one, in which he succeeded in first winning the ear and then the heart, and thus introducing the gospel into many places; his view of the sin and danger of worldly conformity was another, under which head his opposition to holding bazaars to raise money for religious purposes, to choir singing in the public worship of God's house, when the singers are unconverted, and to preachers and members, especially the former, allowing their beards to grow long, according to the prevailing fashion, might very properly have been discussed. Some will regard this last-named particular as an indication of essential narrowness of mind. But he was ready to make excuses for those people who, he believed, allowed their beards to grow long for the sake of their health, but he could not tolerate them for one moment if he believed that people so for
pride, or love of show and fashion. Perhaps It was a struggle in all cases for him to overcome his prejudices against long beards! Let the reader call it a weakness in him, or what he will, it was with him a matter of conscience, and where one is to be found who is scrupulous to a fault in little matters, a hundred may be found who pay no heed to conscience whatever. In the company of many long-bearded men he once said, "If I thought you did it for the sake of Christ I should not care, but I am afraid they are too plenty to be good." One of them said, "They came by nature, I suppose." "True," said Billy, "and do you suppose that heaven ever designed everything should remain in its natural state? Do you prune your fruit-trees, or allow them to grow wild, just as they please? It is only a foolish man who would use such an argument." It might be thought, too, that a man who had so given himself up to the public, must have neglected in some measure, his own family and friends; but he fully believed in the ancient covenant of Jehovah that he would be the God of the righteous, and to their seed after them; "and gladly obeyed the command of the Saviour: "Go home to your friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for you, and had compassion on you." Wife, children, brother, mother, uncle, and other relatives, believed because of his word, and had the great reward of faith in the blessing of a joyful experience, already form ing quite a large group in the kingdom of eternal glory. Billy always enforced the principle that the best should be given to the Lord, and not the blind, the lame, or the sick. At one time at a Missionary meeting he seemed quite vexed because there was some thing said in the report about money received for rags and bones. And when he rose to address the meeting, he said, "I don't think it is right, supporting the Lord's cause with old rags and bones. The Lord deserves the best, and ought to have the best." However, He is very condescending, for when a person has a little chick that is likely to die, puts it into a stocking, and lays it by the fire, saying, "If that chick lives, I will give it to the Missionaries," it is not long before it says, "Swee, swee," let me out, I am better. I knew a woman down at St Just some years ago who had two geese, and though she might have a good flock to begin, she could never rear above two or three. At last she promised the Lord if He would increase her flock she would give every tenth goose to the Missionaries. Now I reckon," he continued, " you will say that that woman was a good heart; but I don't think so, for if she gave every fifth goose to the Missionaries she would have then more than she had before. However, the Lord took her at her word, and the next year she had eleven, and they all lived till they grew up nearly as big as old ones, and then the Lord tried her faith, one of her geese died. And what do you think the devil said? "That 's the Missionary goose!" That's as the devil would serve the Missionaries; he would give old, dead, stinking geese to them to eat,
but what do they want of an old, dead, stinking goose.'' But she knew "un," and she said, "No, devil, I have ten left now, and the Missionaries shall have one of them." And the next year she had eleven again. They were out swimming about the pond, with their great long necks and their beautiful white feathers, they are the most respectable looking geese I ever saw." As already stated, Billy was a most earnest and successful Missionary advocate, though some of his arguments and illustrations at times were not altogether unobjectionable. I well remember on one occasion his strongly urging the people, both the converted and unconverted, to contribute, those who were converted, out of gratitude, and those who were not, because it might give them greater confidence if they should ever seek mercy and forgiveness at the Lord's hands. An old Independent minister, who had kindly lent his chapel for the meeting, sitting by my side, said to me at once, I suppose you would not like to vouch for the soundness of his theology, and before I had time to answer, Billy was in the midst of an illustration of his meaning that set us all in a roar of laughter. He knew a young man once who had been very wicked, and when convinced of his great sinfulness by the Spirit of God, he despaired for a long time of finding mercy. Billy among others tried to comfort him; but to all they said he only answered, "As I have never done anything for the Lord, I have not, I really have not got the cheek to ask Him to bestow on me so great a blessing as the forgiveness of my sins." But the thought, later, that he had once given five shillings to help on the Lord's cause, at a time when help was much needed, greatly encouraged him. Billy said his gift "did not make the Lord a bit more willing to save him, but it made him more willing to be saved;" and therefore he believed "the devil kept the thought out of the young man's mind as long as he could." It is more important to speak of his deep piety, his abiding sense of the Divine favour, the secret of his great usefulness, the source of his constant and perpetual joy. The "much fruit," which is so pleasing to God, cannot come except the roots have struck deep into the soil. Religion is not shallow in its nature. "The water that I shall give you," said the Saviour, "shall be in you a well of water springing up into everlasting life." To be "sanctified wholly," to use an apostolic phrase, Billy very early in his religious history felt to be both his duty and privilege. "I remember being," he says, "at Hicks Mill Chapel one Sunday morning at class-meeting when a stranger led the class. The leader asked one of our members whether he could say that the Lord had cleansed him from all sin, and he could not. "That," I said in my mind, "is sanctification: I will have that blessing by the help of the Lord;" and I went on my knees at once, and cried to the Lord to sanctify me wholly, body, spirit, soul. And the Lord said to
me, "You are clean through the word I have spoken unto you." And I said, "Lord, I believe it." When the leader came to me I told him, "Four months ago I was a great sinner against God. Since that time I have been justified freely by His grace, and while I have been here this morning, the Lord has sanctified me wholly." When I had done telling what the Lord had done for me, the leader said, "If you can believe it, it is so." Then I said, "I can believe it." When I had told him so, what joy filled my heart I cannot find words to tell. After meeting was over, I had to go over a railroad, and all around me seemed so full of glory that it dazzled my sight. I had a joy unspeakable, and full of glory." From one expression in this narrative some may dissent. It seems injudicious, to say the least, to tell a believer that he is sanctified if he believes he is, or to tell a penitent that he is saved if he only believes he is. There is a more excellent way. But henceforth Billy lived not to himself, but to Him who died for him and rose again. He set the Lord always before him. His path was like the shining light, his own favourite figure, that shines more and more to the perfect day. Justified, sanctified, sealed, were successive steps in his Christian experience, more clear to him, perhaps, than to others. His faith did not become feeble, but waxed stronger and stronger; his love to his Saviour grew in intensity till it became the absorbing passion of his soul; and his hope brightened into heavenly radiance and splendour. The freshness, the gladsomeness, the delicacy and fragrance of the richest Christian experience seemed always to be his He soon reached, if we may borrow Bunyan's figure, the Delectable Mountains, just in the way to the Celestial City, which have a pleasant prospect on every side. Happily, too, he carefully avoided traversing the country of Conceit which lies near on the left hand, or sleeping in the place where Little-Faith lost most of his spending money. Doubts and fears, gloomy thoughts that rise, he knew but little about, because be lived further up, thus escaping the thick fogs and mists which dull the hopes and becloud the prospects of ordinary Christians. He was, so one of his friends tells us, like a roe or young hart upon the mountains of Bether; on Zion he saw the glory of God between the cherubim; on Hermon the dew of God's blessing continually rested on him; on Carmel and Sharon he gathered flowers of every hue and of richest fragrance, while on Tabor all that was earthly and sorrowful in his experience was transfigured into the heavenly. One of the most blessed results of his deep piety was his unfeigned humility. His estimate of himself in comparison with other Christians was that he was a coarse spar among beautiful specimens. He would say, "Most gentlemen have a grotto" - in Billy's sense a collection of mine specimens and other curiosities so arranged as to make things beautiful in themselves still more beautiful - in the centre of which a coarse ould spar would be generally placed. So the Lord has His grotto - the Church, in which He places His own people as so many
beautiful specimens, of different sizes, colours, and degrees of beauty, but all so arranged as to exhibit all the graces of the Spirit, and consequently constituting a very grand and beautiful sight: Billy being only the coarse ould spar among the rest to show their beauties to greater advantage, but with a heart bounding with gratitude and a tongue vibrating with praise because he was counted worthy of a place among the people of God. At public meetings the idea would sometimes come out in a somewhat different fashion. The several speakers, and their brilliant, eloquent, and powerful speeches, reminded him of the precious stones with which the foundations of the heavenly Jerusalem were garnished, but the greatest wonder was that God, after having hewn these out of different quarries, and made them polished stones in His glorious temple, should pick up an ould Cornish spar to set off their great and manifold excellences with still greater effect. And then casting a look upward, a still greater wonder was it that Jehovah, from His glorious high throne, should stoop to fetch up such an ould spar from His footstool to increase the splendour and magnificence of His palace; and then He would anticipate the time when he, a young Prince, a son of the King of kings, should, in company with the seraphs, traverse the golden streets, and make the heavenly arches ring with his loud praises. Before he had finished, the misers, laden with gold and sinking under its weight like a hippopotamus in a bed of mud, might be told that they could not be admitted except the keenest of angels were first appointed to watch them continually, for fear they should tear up the golden pavement to hug it to their bosoms in the vain hope of filling that mighty void which God alone can fill. His practical and sound advice to them would be, "Use all your earthly possessions to make lifting steps to reach the highest place possible in the New Jerusalem, my happy home above." Billy's idea above reminds us of a beautiful passage in the Sermons of the Rev. John Ker, but even by the side of his graceful eloquence, Billy's rude picture is not without its charms. Mr Ker says, " There is a different colour of beauty in different precious stones. One man may be burnishing to the sparkle of the diamond, while another is deepening to the glow of the ruby. For this reason there are such different temperaments in Christian character, and varying circumstances in Christian life, that the foundation of the wall of the city may be garnished with all manner of precious stones...... It is very beautiful to see how the God, who has bound His world into a grand harmony by its very diversity, has arranged for this same end in His Church by giving the members their different faculties of work, - how the pure light that comes from the sun breaks into its separate hues when it touches the palace-house of Christ with its varied cornices and turrets, till every colour lies in tranquil beauty beside