Mr. Birch was the last surviving son of the Rev. Thomas Birch, of Thoresby, Lincolnshire. When at Magdalen College, Oxford, the Lord was pleased to convince him of sin, and he became greatly alarmed concerning his eternal state. The thoughts of eternity would intrude when pursuing his studies so as to unfit him for his ordinary duties, and the only books from which he found comfort and spiritual instruction at that time (from the best information we can get) were "Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress" and Luther's "Commentary on the 51st Psalm." But the Lord having effectually begun the great work of calling a sinner out of darkness into his marvelous light, he fell yet into deeper soul trouble, and his downcast countenance manifested so legibly his…