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advancing as rapidly as the people are increasing. Oh, what inquiry this should create, what searchings of heart, what half-agonizing prayer, should prevail among us!

Our Home Mission, if vigorously carried out, is likely to be of great service to the Connexion and the cause of God. We wish it were possible to call forth all the energies of the Connexion. There is a mighty conflict before us. The great battle between truth and error, holiness and sin, Christianity and infidelity, spirituality and worldliness, must be fought by the Church. Let us take our stand or some well-chosen spot in the battlefield, and fight for God till we die. This is a holy strife. We feel assured the time is come that we must do more for our large cities and towns. The progress of the Connexion will, to a great extent, depend on this. We cannot give up our stations in Ireland and Canada; these ought and must be vigorously carried on. If, then, we are to extend our borders at home, our friends must increase, their missionary zeal must be roused, we must make a fresh dedication of all we have to God. Oh! what should we not be willing to give if God's glory may but be promoted, and poor wandering, sinstricken, perishing souls saved! Ourselves, our all should be given for this purpose. We want more feeling in the Church of God, an intense desire for the advancement of truth. Worldly interests, temporal ease should give way to the allimportant object, the glory of God. Something must be done to save the world. God has given us the honour of being instruments in doing it. The work must be done, and God's Church must do it. If we are not seeking to accomplish this we grieve the Holy Spirit, and our Churches will droop and languish. We are healthy and prosperous in proportion as we labour for God. Let, then, the opening of our first Home Mission Chapel call the tribes of our Israel together, and let it be seen that we are interested in the Mission work, that we may soon have to look out for other fields of labour. May the God of Missions bless us, and send us teeming showers of blessings, that the influence of our Connexion may be felt all over the land. B. TURNOCK.

Bolton.

BEQUEST OF NINETEEN GUINEAS TO MALIN-BRIDGE CHAPEL, SHEFFIELD (NORTH).-The late John Spears, Esq., of Woodville, left to the above place of

worship the sum of nineteen guineas; and on June 3rd, Mr. W. Parker, one of the executors, wrote a polite note to the Rev. J. Poxon, stating the fact, and informing Mr. Poxon that he was at once prepared to hand the sum to the trustees of the chapel. Gratitude is felt for the benefaction itself, and for the kind and prompt manner in which the wishes of the deceased are carried out.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR.

MR. EDITOR,-I have just read with great pleasure and profit your excellent sermon on the "Holy Spirit." Accept my sincere thanks for it, and allow,me to urge our friends to buy it, read it, and pray over it. If they do so, the best results, I am persuaded, will follow, both in their own experience and in the state of our Churches. Its publication is most opportune. A spirit is abroad in society subversive of belief in the direct agency of God amidst the affairs of our world. Everything is attributed to second causes, and the hand of the Great First Cause is neither seen nor acknowledged. This spirit has entered the Church, inducing reliance on the visible action of man, and distrust of the unseen influence of God. Your discourse is suited to check this spirit, and to encourage faith in Him who is invisible. A number of individuals, in various sections of the Church, discouraged by the slow progress of religion in our land, and the general neglect by the people of the things which make for their peace, are looking, till their eyes fail them, for their vain hope of the advent of Christ, to reign in person on the earth. This mental delusion is kept up and extended by the eloquent imaginings of such writers as Gilfillan, Croly, &c. Pity that talent so lofty should be employed to sustain a fancy so baseless. We need something to dispel this Jewish prejudice, this carnal notion, and to awaken spiritual views and expectations, to dissuade Christians from desiring the conversion of the world by miraculous interference, and to incite them to seek its evangelization by prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Your scriptural and comprehensive sermon is calculated to do this. As a community we are called upon, by express resolutions of Conference, to give ourselves to prayer for the baptism of the Holy Ghost. On this point we need "line upon line, precept upon precept," argument, encouragement, and stimulus without ceasing. You have, therefore, done wisely and

well. You have conferred a boon upon the Connexion, which claims our grateful acknowledgments, in preparing and publishing your views on the influence of the Holy Spirit at the present juncture. I trust all our preachers will endeavour

to circulate, and our people at large will peruse and ponder your discourse; for by so doing they will accelerate a revival of the work of God.-I remain, yours affectionately, P. J. WRIGHT.

Leeds, Aug. 11, 1852.

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

A BOOK FOR THE SEASIDE, with numerous Engravings. 12mo. Pp. 270. London: Religious Tract Society.

A most instructive and interesting volume for the invalid, or the exhausted merchant and mechanic, or, indeed, for any one who has retired from the busy city to seek repose and vigour by a temporary residence near the side of old ocean. As he reclines on a sunny bank, inhaling the refreshing breezes which fan his pale, care-worn cheek and emaciated frame, he may read with delight the descriptions here given of those animal, vegetable and physical wonders, many of which will daily come under his own immediate observation. The various objects are described by a competent hand; the style of the work is designedly popular and attractive, and imbued with the Christian spirit. Not less than fiftyeight well executed engravings are given to aid in illustrating the objects described. It is volume which on every account we can cordially recommend to our readers,

MONTHLY VOLUME. WONDERS OF ORGANIC LIFE. 18mo. Pp. 192. London: Religious Tract Society.

Another of the excellent monthly serials. The topics brought under notice are the following:-The Vital Principle -The Blood-The Purification of the Blood-Organic and Inorganic Matter Compared-Repose, or Sleep-Hybernation of Birds-Torpidity of Reptiles -Estivation, or Summer Sleep-Migra

tion.

MONTHLY SERIES. TYRE, ITS RISE, GLORY, AND DESOLATION. 18mo. Pp. 192. London: Religious Tract Society.

This is one of the little monthly volumes issued by the Tract Society. It comprises nine chapters, embracing the following topics-Phoenicia, and the Phoenicians generally-Tyre, its Rise and Early History-The Colonies and

Monuments of Phoenicia-The Trade carried on by this Ancient People-Their Language and its Derivatives-The Prophecies relating to them and their Country-Their History since the Age of Prophecy-Tyre in the Christian Era -Its Present Condition, with concluding Reflections. Prominence is given to matters which serve to evince the fulfilment of prophecy, and illustrate the meaning of the sacred records.

THE CHILDREN OF THE BIBLE. Pp. 76. London: Religions Tract Society.

A beautiful book for children. We have Ishmael and Isaac, Moses, Samuel, Abijah, the widow's son, the little captive maid, the child that was raised to life again at Shunam, Joash, Josiah, little children brought to Jesus, the ruler's daughter, Timothy and the child Jesus, all brought under notice in a style simple, interesting, and attractive. There are six superior coloured engravings, and thirteen small but lively engravings in wood, which serve to enrich and illustrate the work.

THE HEBREW CHRISTIAN MAGAZINE. London: Samuel Bagster and Sons, 15, Paternoster-row.

We have received the August number of this Magazine, which is devoted to topics intended chiefly to interest the Jewish people. The contents of the number before us are the following:Zickaron; or, the Post-Apostolical History of the Conversion of the Jewsthe Samaritans-Zion's Mourner; or, Rabbi Yehudah Hallevi, and his famous Elegy-the incarnation and atonement of the Messiah-the future prospects of Israel, and the second advent of the Redeemer-Africa: and the only way of truly benefiting her-Leaves from the history of the Jews in England-the Heroes of the Cross-Heroism at Home -Reviews.

MEMOIRS AND RECENT DEATHS

JOHN HARTLEY.

MR. JOHN HARTLEY was born at Huddersfield in April, 1800. He was one of a numerous family whose parents were poor. When about four years old, his mother sickened and died, and his grandmother by the mother's side, fearing the introduction of a stepmother, and, as she thought, consequent cruel treatment, took them all beneath her own roof, and under her own immediate protection. This was done at the request of the father, who promised to pay weekly a stipulated sum for their maintenance and clothing.

After a short time, however, he married again, and then discontinued his weekly payments. The grandmother, a poor widow, was thus left to struggle with her difficulties as she best could, without even sympathy from the father or relief from the parish.

It pleased God in a few years to remove the grandmother by the hand of death from this troublesome world. The children were then separated from each other, and it became the lot of our departed friend to be an inmate of the Huddersfield workhouse. Remaining there during the pleasure of the parish authorities, he was at length put out by them apprentice to a farmer.

His new master treated him not only with unkindness, but with the greatest severity and cruelty. Tormented by his daily brutality, and seeing no hope of being released from this Egyptian bondage, he one day made his escape, and travelled a distance of more than twenty miles, and took refuge in the house of an hospitable man at Haslingdon, in Lancashire. Here he was kindly treated by his master, and he had occasional opportunities of learning to read a little.

Some time afterwards he obtained the situation of waggoner, and made a little farther progress in learning to read by trying to decipher the directions written on the parcels committed to his charge.

His next removal was to Halifax, and having here procured employment as an ostler, he had more frequent opportunities of improving himself, especially on the Sabbath afternoons, when his Bible and the Life of Christ were his constant companions.

After remaining awhile in this situation, his friends and relatives advised him to learn the trade of a cooper. In this advice he acquiesced, and very soon

made such proficiency in his new calling as to give great satisfaction to his employer. In a few years afterwards, on the death of his master, he became proprietor of the concern.

Immediately after his arrival at Halifax, he was induced to attend the public worship of God; and as his mother, when alive, whose memory he had been taught to revere, was a member of our community at Huddersfield, he made choice of Salem Chapel as the temple of his worship.

Still thirsting for farther attainment in reading and in the knowledge of God's law, he offered himself, and was accepted, as a teacher in the Sabbath-school; and thus, by trying to teach children, he imperceptibly to others received instruction himself. He has often humourously alluded to this event of his life in his short but very acceptable speeches at Sabbath-school tea-meetings.

While a seat-holder at Salem, and a teacher in the Sunday-school, his regular attendance and his serious deportment attracted the notice of our friends, one of whom kindly invited him to meet in class. He accepted the invitation, and became a member of Society in the year 1822.

Being fully convinced and perfectly satisfied in his own mind as to the reality of the great change which God had wrought in his heart, our brother Hartley began to feel a deep interest in the spiritual welfare of others; and the leaders' meeting about this time judiciously appointed him to the important office of class-leader. This office he sustained through life to the entire satisfaction of those over whom he exercised spiritual superintendence. He warned, intreated, encouraged and admonished his members with all fidelity, and as one who must give account to the Lord.

The practice of weekly addressing his class, and his increasing anxiety for the salvation of sinners, led him to assist in holding cottage prayer-meetings, and in giving short but earnest addresses to the poor assembled on those occasions. In consequence of these exercises, he was recommended to be placed on the plan as a local preacher. Though his talent as a public speaker was not of a high order, yet his sincerity of heart and earnestness of manner rendered him not only acceptable but useful to many persons, especially in our country Societies.

His abilities as a preacher might not be highly appreciated by critical hearers; yet from the testimony of several witnesses there is good reason to know that he was made a blessing to the people; and no doubt eternity will reveal many gratifying instances of his instrumentality in the hands of God in saving sinners, reclaiming backsliders, and building up the saints in their holy faith.

About ten years ago, he added to his trade of a cooper that of timber-merchant, and progressed in increasing his business and stock; and afterwards, by obtaining a man of capital and integrity as partner in this business, his temporal prosperity rapidly increased.

For seven or eight years previous to his death he had been afflicted with what is called "an affection of the heart," which, as it increased upon him, rendered him less able to perform severe bodily exercise, or to bear strong mental excitement. Though he was rather corpulent, and looked extremely healthy, yet he could not for more than twelve months before his death bear to walk even short distances without resting to breathe and recover himself. After preaching on the Sabbath, he was sometimes for several days after seriously indisposed. And had it not been for the love he felt to the Church of Christ, and his desire to be instrumental of good in the hands of his Divine Master to his perishing fellow-creatures, he would long since have spared himself those exciting feelings he always experienced when exercising in the pulpit.

On the 7th of December last he preached in the pulpit of Salem Chapel from the following text, "And behold a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David, my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil." On this occasion, which proved to be his last, he was heard by many of our Salem hearers with both pleasure and profit; and some of the more intelligent of the congregation have since stated that they never listened to him with more satisfaction or greater profit.

After the sermon, he earnestly invited the congregation to be present at the love-feast in the afternoon, expecting to have the happiness of presiding at that service. But it pleased God, in his providential arrangements, to determine otherwise. On returning from the chapel he was seized with a violent pain at the heart, and it was not without great dif

ficulty that he reached his home. The physician was soon in attendance; but the severity of the attack seemed to baffle his eminent skill. The life of our departed friend was despaired of for several days, and his death almost hourly expected.

His affliction was of such a nature, and so severe, that his medical attendant prohibited the anxiously desired and frequently solicited interviews of his pious friends. One only, his assistant leader and local brother, was allowed that privilege on three occasions. The testimony of that individual is that, whenever our deceased brother Hartley was able to speak, he expressed himself as quite resigned to the will of his heavenly Father; and though he had at first a great difficulty in giving all up-his work in the Church, his family, and his increasing business, which so much depended on his management-yet he afterwards obtained a complete victory over his own will, and became not only entirely resigned to the will of God but had a strong desire to depart and to be with Christ, which he said was far better. He frequently blessed God in whispers too faint to be distinctly heard.

During this short affliction, some slight hope had been occasionally clung to by his friends and relatives that he would eventually rally, and be spared to his family a few years longer; nor was every vestige of this hope destroyed until Tuesday morning, the 23rd of December, when he unexpectedly changed countenance, and passed quietly away into the haven of everlasting repose.

We do not wish unduly to eulogize the dead; but as a Christian and a parent some tribute of respect is fairly due to his memory, and demands our esteem and admiration. He was charitable to the poor, an affectionate husband, and the indulgent parent of five children, who, with their mother, are left to lament their irretrievable loss. Truly do we conceive, as regards him, that we may all say, in the language of Balaam, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his."

His death was improved by our esteemed superintendent, the Rev. Law Stoney, in Salem and Hanover Chapels, from Numbers xxiii. v. 10, and Hebrews xi. 16. J. RAMSDEN.

SAMUEL BROWN.

SAMUEL BROWN was born at Crablane Head, Blackley, near Manchester, November 9th, 1799. Of his early history but little information can be ob

tained. It is probable, however, that no attention was paid to the cultivation of his mind, and, frequently exposed to the contaminating influence of wicked" associates, he grew up in depravity and vice.

From a child he had been the subject of religious impression; but his convictions were stifled, and his heart hardened, till about twenty-one years of age, when he was fully awakened to a sense of his danger as a sinner, and, with true contrition of soul, he bowed at the footstool of divine mercy. While earnestly seeking redemption through Christ, he was conducted to the Wesleyan Chapel in Blackley, and commenced a regular at tendance upon the public ordinances of the sanctuary. His religious impressions deepening, and his anxiety to obtain forgiveness being evidenced to the Church, he was invited to class, and, in 1822, he received his first ticket as a probationer for Church-fellowship. Shortly after this, divine light luminously shone upon his mind; he was enabled to recognize the all-sufficiency of the Atonement, and, believing with his heart unto righteousness, he received evidence of acceptance with God, and he had the testimony of the Holy Spirit that he was a child of God.

During a period of ten years' membership with the Wesleyan community, he closely identified himself with its interests, and evidenced the possession of genuine piety by his ardent desires for communion with the Lord and his people, the consistency of his conduct, and his zealous efforts to build up the Church.

In 1832 he commenced attendance upon the ministry of the Methodist New Connexion, at Crab-lane Head; and at length he voluntarily offered himself for admission into the Society as a member. Without satisfactory reasons for the preference and change, we cannot approve of any member of the Church removing from one class to another, or quitting the Society with which he first united for a new one. Such changes as we have sometimes witnessed, we think, indicated a want of that fixedness of purpose, decision of character, and strength of attachment which are so essential to the perfection of the Christian character, and to extensive usefulness in the Church; and, having come to the period when our brother ceases his connexion with the Wesleyan for communion with our own community, we jealously inquire, What were the principles which actuated him? For however useful he may have been as a member of

our Church, if there were not causes sufficiently enlightened and honest to justify the change, we cannot exempt him from a charge of inconsistency. As stated by himself, his reasons for identifying himself with the Methodist New Connexion were-because he had "a conscientious preference for its principles of Church government, because amongst its members there seemed a greater degree of unity and love, and because with them he believed he should feel more at home, and be rendered more useful." In coming to such a decision he must have carefully observed and compared the principles and operations of the two communities, and, without any reflection upon our elder brethren, his preference, no doubt, was the result of deliberate consideration and sincere conviction; and, under such circumstances, we commend his choice.

By his piety and zeal brother Brown soon commended himself to the esteem and confidence of his brethren, and, after three years' union with our Society, he was unanimously appointed the leader of a class. For special reasons, this class was, in a short time, merged into other classes, and our brother took the charge of another class, retaining it till his death. The responsibility essentially connected with such an office deeply affected his mind; but he endeavoured to save himself and the souls committed to his charge. By punctuality of attendance and fervour of spirit he became a pattern to his members, and by Scripture quotations, affectionate exhortations, encouraging appeals, and earnest prayers, he aimed to lead them on to perfection, and make them "meet for the inheritance of the saints in light;" and, says a correspondent, "the good resulting from his labours in this capacity it is impossible for me to describeeternity alone can unfold it."

Wishful to employ his talents to the best advantage, he also identified himself with the Sabbath-school, and suc. cessively moved in the respective capacities of teacher, superintendent, and general visitor. In 1846 he took a prominent part in the establishment of a Young Men's Mutual Improvement Society, at Crab-lane Head, and, till affliction incapacitated him for attending, he was one of the most active and useful members of the committee; and, besides his regular attendance upon the ordinances of the sanctuary, much of his time was spent in the visitation of the sick. To this sphere of operation he seemed peculiarly fitted; his sympathy,

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