Having had many opportunities of discussing the subject of regeneration and the new birth, and as God, in His boundless mercy, had granted unto me the presence of His Holy Spirit to witness with my spirit that He was indeed in earnest with me, and thus I was brought to feel the weight of this question, “and now, why tarryist Thou, arise and be baptised.” I stated my convictions unto the church worshipping at Lowestoft, opposite the Vicarage (now a school,) and was baptised in June of that year by William Garwood, “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,” as an answer of an obedient and quickened conscience towards my Lord and my God. I did not very much enjoy the preaching of Mr. Denniss, our rector. He was rather a domineering steward, contending that the Church of England, the church of his fathers, was the only true church; that it honours the bible, and was one of the oldest branches of Christ’s Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, while dissenters and their creeds and ordinance, were erroneous and misleading and would in the end prove destructive to body and soul. I came into collision with that gentlemen more than once, for in those days I read the bible in search of truth, and sometimes I felt I had aid and enlightenment given me from on high, and I concluded that there were those apart from the Church enjoying unspeakable happiness. This eventful year rolled on with its multitude of joys and sorrows, hastening us on through all life’s varied stages, continually seeking after happiness, our being’s end and aim, and labouring, working with our hands, the most important method of obtaining the bread which sustains the body, as well as being directed to that which endureth unto eternal life, which shall be inherited and enjoyed by everyone of God’s dear children. I used to think that the entire little band who resided at that remote corner of the vine-yard, at least all who were come to years of maturity, were amongst that happy number, we read good books, prayed that the Lord would be our director, and felt that we were journeying to the place which the Lord had prepared for those that love and serve his name. I had often heard Mr. Adams express himself, that Mr. Breame Skepper was to him a guide, a counsellor, and friend, but now he was taken away no more to counsel, and to comfort, and direct. These are some of the mysterious dispensations of a wise and loving Father, and although we are not now permitted to know the whys and the wherefores, yet we shall know hereafter, enough is for the present revealed, that we may trust in the Lord, and stay ourselves upon his gracious assurances, and surely “All things work together for good to them that love God.” I ought to have observed that one of the first acts performed by Mr. Denniss was to build a gallery at the west end of the Church, for the accommodation of the working men; in this he was assisted by others, as the subjoined inscription witnesseth—