before my tutors and friends, and to make it the subject of serious and prayerful re-consideration. The result was, a determination to return; and I did return to preach my first sermon in the Lancasterian School, on the twenty-fifth of January, 1818. The text was, “O Lord, I beseech thee send now prosperity”—a prayer which, from that time to the present, the God of mercy has abundantly answered. In that school room we worshipped twice on the Sunday, and in the French church on the week evenings, for nearly two years. The congregations on the sabbath, and especially in the evening, were as large as the place could contain; many “times of refreshing” were granted to us from the presence of the Lord; and we often said, “This is none other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven!” We were now anxiously occupied in seeking for a suitable piece of ground on which to build our chapel; and after long delay, and many difficulties, the present site was purchased, and I laid the foundation stone, on the 16th of March, 1819. An address was delivered on the occasion, which was afterwards published; and the following inscription was engraved on a brass plate, which was laid on the top of the stone, in the centre of which were deposited several specimens of current coin: “This plate was deposited the sixteenth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, and in the fifty-ninth year of the reign of George the Third, in the foundation stone of a Protestant Dissenting Chapel, erected on a piece of freehold ground, in the City of Norwich, and in the parishes of St. Michael at Plea and St. Peter Hungate, by the congregation attending the ministry of the Rev. John Alexander.” The building was completed in about eight months; and the time drew near for us to enter it. The last sabbath which we spent in the Lancasterian school room, was on November the 28th, 1819. The last text, was the prayer which Moses addressed to God, in Exodus xxxiii, 15: “If thy presence go not with us carry us not up hence.” During our meetings there, we had enjoyed many tokens of the divine presence; the cloud of his glory had blessed and sanctified the place; and the preacher and the people unitedly felt, that it would be better to remain in that humble dwelling, God being with us, than to enter our new and beautiful chapel, unaccompanied with his presence. On the Wednesday following, December 1st, 1819, the chapel was opened for divine worship. The sermon in the morning was preached by Dr. Raffles, of Liverpool, and many of us remember how our hearts glowed with holy delight when he read his text, Exodus, xx, 24: “In all places where I record my name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.” On leaving the School Room, we offered up the prayer, “If thy presence go not with us, carry us not up hence;” on entering the chapel we received the gracious answer, “I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee;” an answer which has been verified from that