At the command of the Spirit, I desire to tell you of a manifest and merciful deliverance from a great peril, which was granted unto me last night. Thursday, November 6th, I had been to a place called Enfield, about nine miles from my home, to a very lonely and unfrequented part of the country, to give to a lady, one of my music pupils, a lesson on the pianoforte.

The lesson over at about seven o'clock, I started on my long journey to walk home through a very dark and lonely road known as Nag's Head Lane, leading into Ponder's End; through Edmonton, Tottenham, Hamford Hill, Clapton, to my home at Hackney.

Going rapidly along through the very darkest part of Nag's Head Lane, two rough-looking men suddenly came out of the darkness, when the first one ( who had the appearance of a Gypsy), accosted me in a rough tone of voice, staring right into my face, he said:

"Guv'nor, have you got a light?" (Though neither he nor his companion had a pipe with them.)

I replied, "No, I have not, or I would give you one at once."

Instantly at my right hand there appeared a holy angel of the living God, like a flaming fire; so bright that I can but compare his appearance to that of the sun at noonday. The sight startled me, and so dazzled my eyes that I could not have continued to look at him.

Instantly, the men, without another word, took a hasty and immediate departure; while the words flashed into my mind, "His angels are ministering spirits unto the heirs of salvation." "Who maketh his angel spirits, his ministers a flame of fire."

Then only, did I realize my own danger, and the everlasting mercy of my God and Father in Christ.

—Autumn Leaves, February, 1891.
London, England, November, 1890.
70 Retreat Place, Hackney.