The whole works of the Rev. W. Bates

(...)"
Amidst the ample acquisitions he was making to his mental store, theology was his favourite study. His progress in theological learning was hence unusually rapid, and at the same time in happy connexion with corresponding progress in personal religion.
He began to preach early, probably in the twenty-second year of his age, and soon became one of the most popular preachers of the day. Nor is it to be wondered at, since there was a happy and unusual combination of circumstances to render him so. His person was handsome and elegant—his countenance mild yet dignified, his voice peculiarly(...)".