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becometh the Gospel of Christ. He was distinguished for a quiet and inoffensive demeanour. He was eminently a man of peace. If he was wanting in ardour and energy, in freedom and communicativeness, he was not wanting in the important quality of steady perseverance. His course was marked by no unseemly fluctua tions. The services which he rendered in the class-meeting, in the Sabbathschool, and in the choir, have been rightly appreciated by the Church, and will be long and gratefully remembered. Our brother had death in full view for a very long time. But tedious and painful as was his fatal illness, he possessed his soul in patience. Calmly and bravely-to the praise of Divine grace, it may be said triumphantlydid he contemplate the slow but evident approaches of the last enemy. With an inspired apostle he could, and did exclaim, "I have fought a good fight; I have finished my course; I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."

LUKE FARRAR.

LUKE FARRAR died at Elland, March 22nd, 1866. In his youth he became a scholar, and, after a time, a teacher in the Sunday-school. He afterwards forsook the school, and breaking away from all wholesome restraints, lived for many years only to fulfil the desires of the fleh and of the mind. But God did not leave him to eat the

fruit of his own ways. About two years since, he was led to renew his attendance on the ministrations of religion, and from the hearing of faith there resulted to him the blessed sense of guilt, and then the still more blessed sense of pardon. His relation of his religious experience was always extremely simple, and was often blessed to quicken the hearts of his classmates, by whom he was much esteemed. When his health failed, and his poor earnings ceased, he was reduced to straits, but he never lost his confidence in God. And God, who has said, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee," honoured his trust, and was with him to the end. In the valley of the shadow of death, grace taught him to rejoice and be exceednig

glad. Like Paul, he was willing to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better."

JOHN EASTWOOD.

OUR departed brother finished his course on Monday, May 21st, aged sixty-five years. With the circumstances of his conversion, and the leading incidents and characteristics of his active career, I am too imperfectly acquainted to furnish a just account of them. I knew him only in the closing scenes of his life, when compassed with infirmity, and weighed down with sorrow. He accounted his lengthened connection with the Church of Christ among the greatest blessings of his life, and when no longer able to promote its interests by personal exertion, he prized the pleasure of showing hospitalities to its ministers, and of otherwise proving himself a fellow-helper to the truth. Much as he suffered, he never seemed to be without the comforting persuasion that all things work together for good to them that love God. He loved to read the sacred Scriptures, and found abundant consolation in musing on their great and precious promises. His views of the atoning work of the Redeemer were clear and decided, and inspired him with habitual confidence and peace. The last few days of his life were days of distressing pain, but they were not days of religious desertion and darkness. God was the strength of his heart. He could say,

"I find him lifting up my head,

He brings salvation near," Would that all readers of this short record, who may have to suffer like our departed brother, may be taught to "reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."

T. D. CROTHERS.

MR. JOHN REYNOLDS. ON the 24th July, Mr. John Reynolds, of Oldbury, left this "vale of tears" for the "realms of the blessed,” in the eighty-sixth year of his age. For a great number of years he had been a member of the Church of Christ, first with the Wesleyans, and then with our Connexion. He had been very useful in the Sabbath-school, and in various

other ways, and, as long as he possessed the ability, was liberal in supporting the cause of God. His experience was sound and scriptural, and his life corresponded with his profession. For some considerable time he was the subject of affliction; but that religion, which had been his joy in health, was his consolation in affliction. His Saviour was precious, and all was well. He was patient and resigned, and died in great peace. He is now, we doubt not, "with Christ, which is far better." Oldbury, Aug. 15th, 1866.

L. S.

MARK WIGHTMAN DICKINS. WE have briefly to announce in our obituary the sudden death of our old and esteemed Christian friend and brother, Mark Wightman Dickins, of

Dudley, who died on June 6th, in the fifty-third year of a life devoted to the cause of truth and Christianity. Our space this present month will not permit of the usual memoir, but we purpose in our next number to furnish our readers with such facts as may reach us in relation to the life, Christian experience, and the sudden death of one of the most upright and consistent members of our society.

MR. T. GRIFFITHS. DIED, May 29th, 1866, aged forty-one years, our much beloved and valued friend, Thomas Griffiths, leaving his widow, the churches of the circuit, and a large circle of friends in this and the Chester and Hawarden Circuits, to mourn his departure.

Connexional Department.

THE YEAR ON WHICH WE HAVE NOW ENTERED.

We have now entered upon another year, our ministers ere this will have become settled in their new spheres of labour, our friends in general will have returned from their summer recreations, and the time for zealous religious activity and earnest effort has fully come. It is, doubtless, the desire of all that this should be a year of spiritual progress. We have of late made material advancement to a considerable extent,-very large sums of money have been generously given and expended in the erection of chapels and schools,-our Connexional funds are liberally sustained, and our Mission Fund exhibits year by year a very encouraging increase. In our number of members we indeed have a falling off, but we have a small increase of probationers, and our foreign and Australian missions afford us much ground for gratitude and encouragement. Yet, after all, unless we make spiritual as well as

material progress, and increase at home as well as abroad, we cannot feel satisfied. The conversion of souls is, undoubtedly, the great end of the existence of a Christian church. There is nothing comparable to this; there can be no substitute for this; unless this be realized the church would die out; and, unless this be realized to some considerable extent, the church can make no satisfactory progress. The whole structure of our organization is for the accomplishment of this great purpose - the conversion of souls; and we may justly estimate our success as a religious denomination by this standard. We feel that this truth involves grave responsibilities, and the responsibilities are special and personal, as well as general and Connexional. They pertain to me as editor, and I would solemnly accept my share; they pertain to every minister, every local preacher, every leader, every Sabbathschool teacher, and every private

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member in all our churches. No one can claim exemption-no one should even desire exemption if he could claim it; no one should think he can buy himself off with a gift, or by any other substitute for personal service. Personal holiness, personal prayer, personal labour, and personal liberality are all necessary, and all required-and required in that sense that they cannot be disowned without disowning our solemn obligations to God, nor can they be neglected without actual guilt. It would, indeed, be serious if this neglect involved no more than a violation of fidelity to our social compact as members of the same Denomination; but it involves the danger of eternal ruin to souls bought by the Redeemer's precious blood; and it is an affront to the majesty of God. Here are grave considerations for professing Christians, for all the members of the church, whether official or nonofficial. It behoveth us to take care lest we be found among the unfaithful stewards who bury their Lord's talent in the earth, and lest the blood of souls be found at last in the skirts of our garments.

But, though a gracious fear should move us, love to Christ and our fellow-men is a higher motive, a nobler constraining power, and one that renders duty a source of happiness to ourselves, and a more fragrant sacrifice to God. As Bishop Leighton says, "The great principle of fidelity and diligence in this great work is love; and the great spring of love to souls is love to Him that bought them." And a still higher authority hath said, "The love of Christ constraineth us." The grand pre-requisite for ourselves is, then, a larger measure of this Divine love-love to Christ rooted and fixed within as a principle, subordinating all inferior influences, and love glowing

with all the fervour of a holy passion.

This love will send forth each to his duty, leave none to languish in indolence, but stimulate all to activity. It will quicken our ingenuity to invent plans of usefulness, it will kindle life in our prayers, put vigour into our efforts, and prompt to liberal measures to sustain every holy enterprise according to our ability. O for a larger measure of this love! O for the descent of the Holy Spirit in Pentecostal fulness and power! for the bestowment of this one gift comprehends all others: it is the great need of the Church in the present age.

These thoughts suggest the duty of prayer-prayer secret, social, and public; prayer by ministers, by people, and by both combined; prayer special, for that great gift we so much lack just now-the gift of the Holy Spirit. A praying church, a church one in sympathy, purpose, and holy yearning, wrestling with God for the promised gift of the Spirit, what a spectacle! How pleasing to God, how full of promise, how intimately near the coming glory! Just the attitude of the Church when the morning of Pentecost came when the place of assembling was shaken as by a mighty rushing wind, when cloven tongues as of fire sat on each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and spake with divers tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. What love and zeal then glowed in their hearts! what radiance beamed in their countenances! what power and might clothed their words as they testified of Christ! The world was no match for the Church in those days of purity and power. Armed with omnipotence, idolatry trembled at her foot-tread, heathendom quailed in her presence: hell's kingdom was shaken to its centre.

Opposition availed nothing then. Persecution spread the truth while it scattered the disciples; the blood of martyrs became the seed of the Church, and her career was from conquering to conquer. Oh, had the Church retained the priceless gift of Pentecost untarnished and undiminished, long ere this her triumphs would have been universal, and the jubilant anthem of millenial blessedness would have been sung by a regenerated world!

our

Well, dear brethren, the promise is still to us and to our children; it is ours in all its unspent fulness, and God is waiting to bestow it. He is even now calling upon the Church to prove his fidelity-calling upon her by her present dearth of spiritual influence, by her present ample means and appliances, and by the judgments that are shaking the nations abroad and sweeping away citizens at home; calling upon us now as he did upon his ancient Church-"Prove me now herewith, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it." Come, beloved brethren, come to the help of the Lord! Come, ye ministers of our God, lead the way! Let the priests of the Lord sound the trumpet in Zion and muster his hosts to battle. Fix in each society, in each circuit, a day for solemn humiliation and prayer. Let us unitedly cast ourselves before the footstool of mercy, and plead with God in earnest, believing, and importunate prayer for pardon, salvation, and spiritual power. And, conjointly with this, let all our forces for spiritual aggression be re-organized and put into vigorous activity. Read attentively, dear brethren, the admirable essay on "The PrayerMeeting," by Mr. Crothers, in the

present number of our Magazine. Let us not lose another week, but begin at once, and, depend upon it, earnest prayer and zealous labour combined, will bring spiritual health and prosperity. "O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy." "Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; and establish thou the work of our hands upon us, yea, the work of our hands establish thou it."

PRESENTATION OF 200 DOLLARS

TO

THE REV. J. H. ROBINSON. THE ministers and lay representatives of the Canadian Conference presented to the Rev. J. H. Robinson, on his retiring from the office of General Superintendent, an expression of their affeetionate regard, in the tangible shape of a purse containing 200 dollars, accompanied with the following address:--

"MY DEAR BROTHER,-The ministers and laymen of our beloved body have long felt a great weight of obligation resting upon them in relation to you, in view of the invaluable services which, for a period of fifteen years, with cheerful and unwearied industry, you have rendered the Connexion. You found us, at the commeucenient of that time, comparatively few and feeble; and we all feel that our present respectable appearance and powerful interest in the country are largely attributable to your wisdom in our councils, your ability in our pulpits and on our platforms, and your admirable tact in matters of finance and

general administration.

"We are convinced that you have performed an amount of labour that has overtaxed your physical and mental powers, and induced premature decay. We cannot look upon you now, and think of what you were fifteen years ago, without feeling that our Connexional growth and the increase of

its vigour have been realized at the loss of vital energy to you.

"Our Connexional ship has more than once seemed in jeopardy from financial breakers, but your courageous heart and steady hand have brought her thus far through the peril; and, still favoured by your wise counsels. we trust to sail safely along the sea of Connexional progress.

"It has been thought that the close of your official relation to us as General Superintendent would be a fitting occasion in which to express our admiration of your character and usefulness, and our heartfelt gratitude for your precious services. Accept, therefore, this purse as an expression of our regard for you, our appreciation of your services, and our prayer for your continuance amongst us, and the happiness of yourself and your esteemed family.

"We know you will not appreciate this for its mere intrinsic value, but as an embodiment of that sentiment of respect and love that lives and burns in every heart towards you."

MR. ROBINSON'S REPLY. "The few remarks which the occasion permitted me to make on the presentation of the address by the Conference on my retirement from the superintendency of this mission, were delivered just at the close of Conference, late at night-when every one wished to retire, and when my own mind was wearied with the multifarious business which I had to attend to during Conference. I could, then, not give expression to my feelings as I would have wished to do, and the less so as I had no previous knowledge of the contents of the address, and, in fact, scarcely knew whether such an address was to be presented at all. I desire, therefore, that the members of Conference and the whole Connexion should regard this as my formal reply to the address, now that I have seen it in print and have had time to weigh its beautiful sentiments more carefully than I could do on its presentation.

"Permit me, then, first of all, to thank the brother who wrote it for the spirit it breathes, and for the kindly, Christian tone of the address-setting forth, as it does, in brief but beautiful language, what I believe is the general,

I think the universal sentiment of the Connexion on the subject. This is the first recommendation of the address to

me, that I believe it is sincere-that it expresses the general feeling of the Connexion. If it had been the expression of any portion of the Conference who might be considered my special friends, I should have appreciated it in that case; but when I know that I have so many friends in the Conference that it were almost an injustice to regard any one as a special friend-when I have good reason to believe that if the whole membership of the Connexion were asked to sign that address, there would hardly be one name wanting-I esteem that address as the most precious thing that was ever put into my hands during the whole course of my life. I have met with so much kindness everywhere, so much affectionate deference from my brethren in the ministry, such a welcome in every house and place I have visited, such access to the attention, respect, and co-operation of the whole Connexion, lay and clerical, for now these fifteen years of my official connection with this work-that it were an injustice to this address, and to those who wrote and presented it, along with its pecuniary accompaniment, to regard it in any other light than as a genuine expression of Connexional feeling-not of a party or class in the Connexion, but of the whole Connexion, on an occasion of the deepest interest and importance to

me.

"Fifteen years of a man's life are a serious item of its whole duration; and when those fifteen years are the best years he has to give or can give any work or enterprise, it is natural to suppose that he will oftentimes ask himself to what adequate results the whole is tending. No man with any worthy purpose of life before him, no man that is free to use his powers for the best ends he knows of or can estimate, will ever think of spending fifteen of the best years of his life without asking himself whether he is in his right place and doing his right work. I have often asked myself this question, and the answer is the fifteen years I have served in my office.

"I was free to return to England at the end of the first five years, but when the period came I felt that my work was just begun-I felt that I had but just gained enough experience and knowledge to enable me to work at all. I then saw what the mission wanted, had formed acquaintance with

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