FOR SEPTEMBER, 1839.

BIOGRAPHY.

MEMOIR OF MR. JOHN GILL,

Of Birmingham:

BY MR. WILLIAM HOWELL.

MR. JOHN GILL was born January 26th, 1779, near Hartlebury, in the county of Worcester, and was the youngest of twelve children. His parents, who were members of the established Church, endeavoured by the employment of various methods, according to the light they possessed, to train their children in the fear of the Lord. Under their salutary discipline, Mr. Gill was mercifully preserved from those vices by which multitudes, not so highly favoured, are degraded and ruined. Very early in life his mind was deeply impressed with the importance of religion; and while listening to a sermon on the resolution of Joshua, "Choose you this day whom ye will serve; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord," he entered into covenant with God, resolving to become from that time a decided Christian. When sent to school, he evinced that diligence in the pursuit of any favourite science, which characterized him in after-life. Studious in his habits, he devoted the hours of recreation to reading; and had his mind been well disciplined, and his studies properly directed, at this important period, he might have risen to considerable eminence in the literary world. He was also early deprived by death of his father, which rendered it necessary that he should be put to business; and thus his means of mental improvement were greatly curtailed. At the age of fourteen he left home, and entered upon a new and dangerous situation; for, although the family to whose care he was now committed was respectable, and treated him with great kindness, yet the business employing a great number of young men, he was constantly surrounded by wicked shopmates, whose horrid oaths and profane conversation induced him to consider himself, to use his own words, "transported from heaven to hell, and doomed to dwell with devils in the shape of men." Under the powerful influence of such bad example, his mind was gradually drawn away from religious pursuits; and being very fond of music, he was frequently led by this means into the society of the gay and thoughtless. Yet during this period of his history, the Spirit of God frequently awakened remorse in his mind, and convinced him of the error and danger of his ways.

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In 1799 he commenced business for himself, and shortly after married. Having taken this important step, he saw the necessity of abandoning, at once, all his former sinful associates, and began to attend again the worship of God in the established Church. This practice he continued without any particular benefit for a few years; when, in the year 1804, he was deeply affected by the conviction that there was something in real religion to which he was an entire stranger. He began by reading and prayer to seek further information on the subject, which soon discovered to him his depravity and guilt in the sight of God, but at the same time left him in distressing doubt and perplexity respecting the doctrine of reprobation.

By the good providence of God, he was now brought to a Methodist chapel; and by the plain, simple, and faithful preaching to which he listened, by reading Mr. Fletcher's "Checks to Antinomianism," Mr. Wesley's" Predestination calmly considered," and the "Life of John Nelson," his mind was delivered from those painful perplexities, he became established in the doctrines of the Gospel, sought the Lord earnestly, and obtained the Spirit of adoption. He was admitted into the Methodist society by Mr. Edmondson, then travelling in the Dudley Circuit. His own language is, "My soul was now filled with love, peace, and joy. I felt

The sacred awe that dares not move,

And all the silent heaven of love."
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He soon removed to Stourport, where he had the happiness to become acquainted with Mr. Hill, who was his Leader. Here his growth in grace was rapid, and his enjoyment of the power of religion great this advancement was considerably promoted by the judicious counsel and affectionate faithfulness of his Leader, of whom he ever afterwards spoke in the highest terms of commendation.

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The consistency of his piety, the regularity of his attendance on all the means of grace, and his active zeal to promote the salvation of the souls of men, soon pointed him out as a proper person to become a Leader of others: to this very responsible office he was accordingly appointed in 1811. Feeling his accountability a stimulus to personal piety, he was instant in prayer for the bestowment of the gifts and grace necessary for his new situation. Knowing how much a class is influenced by a Leader's piety and zeal, he began to seek for deliverance from sin; the doctrine of entire sanctification occupied his thoughts, and filled his prayers. He read several books on the subject, and among others, the letters of Mrs. Hester Ann Rogers. The means of grace were specially blessed to him: his language was,—

"Sprinkle me ever with thy blood,

And cleanse and keep me clean;"

and, as the result, he was led into a higher walk with God, and into

enjoyments to which he had been a stranger heretofore; and his class, sharing the heavenly influence, was greatly prosperous.

In August, 1815, he removed to Birmingham; and, from his private memorandums, it appears this change of his residence was a source of great anxiety of mind. He says, with reference to his class, when called to meet them the last time before his departure, "I cannot express what I felt it was a melting, weeping, and yet refreshing, season. May the Lord grant we may meet again in heaven!" His new occupations brought with them trials to which he had, as yet, been a stranger; but he knew where his strength lay, and, securing the power of divine grace, his soul was kept in perfect peace. Of the first Sabbath he spent in Birmingham, he says, "I have enjoyed much of the presence of God in all the means of grace this day. I cannot recollect ever experiencing such refreshing seasons."

The private notices of Mr. Gill's experience only extend to the year 1817; but it is well known to his personal friends, that, although he had ceased to record with pen and ink the dealings of God with his soul, he walked, nevertheless, to the day of his death in the unclouded light of God's countenance.

From a boy he took great delight in viewing the heavenly bodies; and a few years only before his death, in consequence of reading Dick's "Christian Philosopher," he was led to study more accurately the science of astronomy, in which the wonderful works of the Deity are presented in such attractive and overwhelming magnificence. This is mentioned because these pursuits excited in his mind a very salutary influence. He "looked through nature up to nature's God,;" every new discovery, furnishing fresh displays of the wisdom, power, and goodness of the Creator, supplied him with an additional argument to the entire consecration of his soul and body to the service of God.

I cannot close the notice of this excellent man better than by quoting part of a letter which I recently received from his bereaved daughter. She says, My dear father was fond of seclusion. His Bible and Christian Biography formed his chief reading. He was a lover of young people, and his advice to them was always encouraging. He appeared for some time to have his mind impressed that his dissolution was at hand. In July last, he says, in a letter to a friend, This has been a year of great spiritual prosperity to my soul, and I feel a deep impression on my mind that it will be my last.' He told me that he often prayed that he might neither have a protracted illness, nor be taken away suddenly; and in both these respects his prayers were mercifully answered. On Sunday, November 6th, rising in his usual health, he appeared delighted once more to hear the sound of the church-going bell.' At the close of family worship, he said, 'This is probably the last Sabbath I shall spend on earth.' He attended divine worship in the morning, and met his class in the afternoon; at

which, in an unusually fervent manner, he urged his members to seek a present, free, and full salvation. In the evening he heard the Rev. J. Lomas preach, received the sacrament of the Lord's supper, and on retiring to rest, said, 'It has been a glorious Sabbath to my soul.' On Monday morning he was taken ill, and called in medical aid: when informed by Dr. Melson that the symptoms were of an alarming nature, he said, 'I am divested of all fear. If I had not the religion of the Gospel now, what would become of me? O, if I had ten thousand tongues, they should all be employed in praising that God who has done so much for me.

This all my hope and all my plea,

Jesus hath lived, hath died for me."

My husband and I being called to his bed-side, he exhorted us most earnestly to seek the Lord, and to live to him with full purpose of heart, saying, 'He has been the light of my path more than thirty years.' The Rev. William Naylor entering the room, You hear,' said he, a dying father giving his last advice to his dear children.' Mr. Naylor conversed and prayed with him. During the remaining part of the day his mind was kept in perfect peace. On Tuesday afternoon, he said to a friend, 'I shall soon be numbered with the clods of the valley. I have not served God for nought: I have a hope beyond the sky.' A few minutes before his death, he said to me, 'Do not distress yourself: living or dying, I am the Lord's.' Soon after he sweetly fell asleep in Jesus, having enjoyed the light of God's countenance more than thirty years." He died, November 8th, 1836.

DIVINITY.

THE TRANSLATION OF ELIJAH:

A SERMON,

Preached, July 29th, 1838, in Ebenezer Chapel, King-street, Bristol, before the Wesleyan-Methodist Conference, and published at their request:

BY THE REV. EDMUND GRINDROD.

"And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces."-2 Kings ii. 11, 12.

JAMES, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, has said, "Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are:" he was human, and therefore liable to those infirmities which are inseparable from our nature in this