I was born on the 7th of October, 1838. My parents, who were godly people, sought the spiritual welfare of their children, training them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I heard the truth at home and in the house of God, which gave me in early days a reverence for God's Name, His Word, and His ways. Like Timothy, from a child I knew the Holy Scriptures. I was thus kept from the grosser acts of sin, feeling within me an abhorrence of many evils in which other youths delighted. As an instance of God's preserving care over my life, when about eleven years of age, I was sent on an errand which took me by the River Ravensbourne: walking incautiously along…