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and the Revelation, and subsequently some of the prophets, as Daniel for instance, comparing it with the latter book of the New Testament, and it was delightful to see how wonderfully the light seemed to break forth. Thus we continued having various discussions on this subject and others until I took my journey, for which he was very sorry, and expressed his regret that his occupation prevented him accompanying me; but he frequently found means while I was away to communicate either by word or letter with my companions, the schoolmaster and the young man Joseph, whom I have mentioned before, entreating them to persuade me to hasten my return. At length when I came back he immediately came to me with a rejoicing heart, as the cheerfulness of his countenance indicated, and he told me he had, blessed be God, passed under a surprising change since I had been gone; that in his loneliness, and feeling deeply my absence, he had pursued the course I advised, viz. to read the scriptures with diligence and earnest prayer for illumination, believing the promise of the Saviour, that whatever we should ask the Father in his name, He would do it. He said he clearly saw now the whole plan of redemption, how that God could maintain his character for justice and holiness, and yet pardon the sinner however great, on account of the infinite sacritice that he himself had provided; and he also said that he hoped that he had experienced something of that change which our Lord assured Nicodemus was indispensable for every one that would enter the kingdom of heaven; that is, if the hating of the things which he once loved, and a desire to give himself and all he had to him who had ransomed him with such a price was an evidence. And indeed his conduct bears striking testimony to the sincerity of his profession: for being engaged as a superintendent in a large factory in the neighbourhood, where there are about a hundred young men employed, all belonging to the different denominations of the so-called Christian churches in these parts, and they are confined to the premises during the working days of the week, that is from Monday morning till Saturday night, this opportunity my young friend avails himself of to labour for their conversion, and the evenings he espepecially devotes to reading the scriptures and tracts to them, and teaching such of them as are disposed to learn to read. This, as may well be supposed, has brought on him a host of persecutions from without, which he bears with the patience of an old and tried Christian, saying everything that is kind in return to his enemies. He also related to me a portion of his history which will show whence his bitterest revilings proceed. He told me that very early in life he became anxiously concerned about religion, and tried many things and inquired into many systems

without at all satisfying himself that he was right on the subject. At length, he said, he was struck with the austerity and apparent self-denial of a monkish life, and believing that the truth must be with them he entered one of their convents in which there was a school in which he learnt the French and Italian languages perfectly, and also received the rudiments of a good education. But on the subject that now more particularly weighed down his spirits, he could obtain no satisfaction, but was answered evasively, whenever he sought information or was told that it was sinful and even blasphemous to entertain scruples respecting the teaching of the church. Thus he continued for the space of two years when he was led to make another change, which was to enter a college of the Jesuits, and he became a candidate for their order. This was done, he said, in consequence of their great reputation for learning, which he fondly hoped and believed would certainly comprehend the object of his search; but he was destined again to be deceived, and to learn that the wisdom of God is not always to be found with the wise of this world. In short, he said that if he was disappointed before he had much more cause to be so now. Many of his former associates, though ignorant of the way of life, he believed to be sincere; but this his new fraternity, he observed, except when in public or in the presence of strangers, threw away every appearance of religion, and derided every thing sacred; and as to his own concern about his eternal safety, that became an object of much derision. Here, he said, he saw for the first time the works of Voltaire which were put into his hands with recommendation to read them, and which worked as was desired they should; for they left him a complete infidel, or rather an atheist, with every restraint removed to the indulgence of a corrupt and depraved nature, and he lived as he listed, and he even did worse, for he endeavoured to the uttermost of his power to make other disciples to this great apostle of the devil. This was his condition when he first came to me satiated as he says with sin, and tormented with fears at what might be the consequences. Now, he says, whenever he meets with any of the inmates of the convents, they reproach him for what they call his changes of religion, and tauntingly ask him when he intends to become a Turk; but he tells them with mildness that the reproach and shame is to them; that when he was ignorant of the truth, and ruining both his soul and body in the service of Satan, they reproved him not, but rather gave him countenance; now when he was endeavouring to serve the Lord according to his revealed will, they manifested their hatred, showing themselves to be the enemies of the Lord, and if they called the Master himself Beelzebub his servants certainly had no right to expect

WOLSTON.

better treatment. I am thankful to say that | ministers of Southampton until a new chapel the school is prospering with a small addition is built, and the cause shall be considered to the last number mentioned, but I am self-supporting. Mr. Yarnold purposes soon unable to spend much of my time in it in to enter on another journey of collecting for consequence of the pilgrims arriving at this this infant cause. season more than commonly. The Austrian steamers come every other Saturday bringing large numbers both of Jews and Christians; and by way of assistance, and that no opportunity may be lost of supplying them all with the scriptures, or a portion of them, I have engaged a poor man, a native of Nazareth, who has renounced the errors of popery, and, until I assisted him, was in very great distress; and even now, when visiting the khanns where the people put up, he is often exposed to insult. The other day he said he met in the street with a singular encounter with a Meronite bishop, who was attracted by the contents of his basket, and went up and took out an Arabic bible and read a little; he then returned it and fell down upon his knees and kissed the ground and prayed, because, as the man said, he had seen a bible. But I said if he was so pleased, how was it he did not buy one? He said he was not pleased with the bible but the contrary, and his prayer was to be forgiven for having touched one. This will give some idea of the gross hypocrisy practised upon the poor deluded people of this country by their spiritual heads, for this fanatical exhibition was performed with the view of infusing a terror into the poor fellow's mind at being employed in selling the word of God.

HOME.

SHIRLEY, NEAR SOUTHAMPTON.

On Tuesday, February 3rd, a meeting was held in the school-rooms belonging to the baptist chapel at Wolston, at which nearly two hundred [friends took tea. The most numerous congregation ever seen in the place then assembled in the chapel, having come from towns and villages varying from two to twenty miles', distance, to show their attachment to and affection for the honoured pastor, the Rev. G. Jones, and to present him with a substantial expression of their esteem; he having for more than forty-five years laboured in this and the surrounding villages, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ with untiring ing zeal and fidelity. By the blessing of God upon his efforts a flourishing Sundayschool was formed at Wolston on the first sabbath in January, 1806. In this school his beloved but now deceased partner, Mrs. Jones, laboured with undiminished ardour up to the last sabbath of her earthly existence, a period of forty-five years. During this period a neat and substantial chapel has been erected with vestries and school-rooms attached; and a quarter of an acre of land at a few yards' distance from the chapel has been purchased, fitted up, and fenced in for a cemetery, the cost of all which, amounting to more than eight hundred pounds, is paid. In 1814 a church composed of six members was formed, which has since increased to about one hundred.

On the evening referred to, the Rev. H. Angus of Rugby introduced the business by expressing the great pleasure he felt in meeting with so many highly respectable friends to do honour to one who richly deserved it. He then called upon one of the deacons of the church to present the testimonial, who in the most appropriate manner alluded to the very cordial attachment which had long and which did still exist between the beloved pastor and the people of his charge; remind

This preaching station continues full of promise. The congregations are always good, and often larger than can be conveniently accommodated in the present place of meeting. Seven persons from Henel have lately been baptized at Southampton, and these, together with others from different Christian communions, were, on Tuesday evening, January 27th, publicly formed into a church of Christ, containing seventeen members. The interesting service was coming menced by singing and prayer. Then the Rev. T. Morris explained the nature of a Christian church, and gave to the candidates for communion the right hand of fellowship. The Rev. W. Yarnold addressed them on the special claims they owed to Christ and to each other in their newly avowed relationship; and the Rev. A. McLaren urged on them, in a very solemn and impressive manner, the duties they owed to the neighbourhood in which they lived.

The pastorate of this church and congregation is reserved in the hands of the baptist

them of the event which must in the course of things soon dissolve those endearing ties; and handed to Mr. Jones a beautiful purse containing forty sovereigns, as a small token of the personal attachment and affection of his friends. The venerable pastor said in reply, that his feelings were entirely overcome, not only by the unexpected and noble present then made, but also by the handsome and affectionate manner in which it had been presented. He then, in giving a short account of his career and labours, alluded to the violent and disgraceful persecutions attending the introduction of the gospel

into Wolston more than fifty years ago. His statements were listened to with the deepest interest. Suitable addresses were then delivered by the Rev. Messrs. Harrison of Stretton, Nash of Warwick, Lewis of Lutterworth, Delf, Rosevear, and Lewit of Coventry.

from the baptist church Regent Street, Lambeth, and is expected to commence his stated labours there on the first Lord's day in April,

COTTENHAM, CAMBRIDGESHIRE. The Rev. M. W. Flanders has accepted a perfectly unanimous invitation to become the pastor of the first baptist church, Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, and enters upon the duties of his office with encouraging prospects of

success.

BIRKENHEAD.

The Rev. John Metcalfe, late of the Weseyan connexion, having received and accepted

the unanimous invitation of the baptist church and congregation, Birkenhead, was on December 30th publicly recognized as the pastor of the church. The order of the services was as follows:-Rev. Thomas Dawson of Liverpool gave an interesting address on the character and constitution of a Chris

tian church; the Rev. Joseph Harvey of Bury, Lancashire, delivered the address to the church on unity and brotherly love and co-operation; Rev. Hugh Stowell Brown of Liverpool delivered the charge to the newly appointed pastor of the church, pointing out the duties and responsibilities of the ministry. The service was felt to be deeply solemn and interesting, the friends on retiring saying it was good to be there. On new-year's day, Mr. Metcalfe baptized four persons on their profession of Christ crucified; one a sailor whose attention had been directed to the subject of baptism while at sea; after an examination by the ministers he put on Christ by baptism; the four were added to the church. A public meeting was held on Friday evening, February 6th, to take into consideration the erection of a new chapel, when it was resolved to open a fund forthwith to carry into effect the object; and we look forward to the erection of a baptist chapel in this place to accommodate from six to seven hundred persons.

RICKMANSWORTH.

We are requested to announce that the Rev. A. Weinberg, pastor of the baptist church at Rickmansworth, is recovering from his serious illness, from rupturing a blood vessel; and his congregation anticipates the pleasure of soon seeing him again discharging his pastoral and ministerial duties.

REGENT STREET, LAMBETH. The Rev. T. C. Keen, Jun. of Cambridge, has accepted an invitation to the pastorate

RECENT DEATHS.

REV. JOHN ALLISON.

Died on January 17th, 1852, aged sixtyfive, the Rev. John Allison, baptist minister, Chapel Fold, near Dewsbury. His end was peaceful and tranquil, for "he knew whom he had believed, and was persuaded that he was able to keep that which he had committed unto him against that day." On the morning of his death he said he should soon be with sweet and happy spirits whom he had known on earth-with Steadman and Fuller, have gone before, "having washed their robes and Carey and Ward, and many others who and made them white in the blood of the

Lamb."

REV. T. THOMAS.

Died, January 21st, 1852, the Rev. Thomas Thomas, Nantgwyn, in the eighty-second year of his age. He retired from the field like a sheaf of corn fully ripe, after a successful pastorate of upwards of half a century in the same place. Divine Providence highly favoured him in his life and death. His worldly circumstances were excellent, and his death triumphant.

MISS ELIZABETH HICKSON.

The subject of this notice, whose protracted course was closed on the 8th of January in the present year, will be remembered by many of the ministerial readers of this Magazine who have visited the city of Lincoln, as one whose hospitable house was open for their reception, and whose liberal hand was ready to aid any Christian enterprise presented to her notice.

The life of the deceased lady was not marked by great variety of incident, but there were features of character displayed by her, which may render a brief account both interesting and profitable to the reader.

The

It was not until her seventy-second year, that Miss Hickson publicly put on Christ in baptism, and united herself with the avowed followers of the Redeemer; though there is sufficient reason for believing that from comparatively early life she had been numbered amongst the secret disciples of Jesus. natural timidity and reserve, which had so long deterred her from a public profession, were however at length overcome by the constraining power of the love of Christ, and in April, 1834, the aged disciple openly obeyed her Lord's command. The sincerity of the profession thus made was attested by the life;

others, and probably not even by herself, without longer premonition than was afforded.

for though Miss Hickson was not accustomed ture for the coming of her Lord. Her deto say much with respect to her spiritual ex-parture however was scarcely looked for by perience, the life presented abundant evidence of the reality of her Christian discipleship. For a period of about forty years before her decease, Miss Hickson had suffered from total deprivation of sight. This trying affliction was however borne by her with exemplary patience and cheerfulness; and though this might partly be traced to natural disposition, to the tender and unremitting attention of affectionate relatives, and to the many alleviations of the trial by which her lot was marked, there is no doubt that these dispositions were much strengthened, as assuredly they were sanctified, by grace reigning within her.

Blessed by divine Providence with ample resources, she gladly responded to the injunction, "to do good and to communicate forget not," and whilst she was a liberal contributor to many benevolent and religious societies, her acts of private charity were numerous and unostentatious, and caused many a sorrowing heart to leap for joy. To the very close of her extended life, Miss Hickson was a diligent and punctual attendant on the public means of grace; in fact she was ordinarily present at all the services of the church of which she was a member, and took a lively interest in its prosperity: and though the ability thus to attend the public means with but little interruption should justly be regarded as a signal privilege granted to her, the habit of filling up with regularity her accustomed place in the sanctuary may with no less propriety be marked as a signal excellency, and may well be instanced as one respect in which her example is worthy of imitation. Her aged form, bending beneath the weight of well nigh ninety years, was seen in the house of God on the last night of the old year, when, towards the moment of transition from one period of time to another, the congregation assembled to improve the solemn season. Again on the evening of the new year's day she was present at a teameeting of the members and friends, and though the meeting was long, she continued to its termination.

Her love to the people of God was as manifest as her love to the house of God, and afforded additional evidence of her Christian discipleship, because she loved them for their Master's sake. And although there was naturally a preference for retirement rather than society, she yet found much enjoyment in Christian intercourse, and especially in welcoming the ministers of Christ to her abode. Her house was indeed, as already intimated, the home for ministers visiting the city.

For some years before her decease, Miss Hickson had been accustomed to calculate n the extreme probability of her speedy emoval, and was standing in a waiting pos

As already stated, Miss Hickson was at chapel on the evening of new years' day, and it proved to be the last occasion of her meeting with the Lord's people on earth. The following evening she retired to rest at an hour somewhat earlier than her custom, in consequence of indisposition, and never rose again. That indisposition increased in intensity, until it terminated fatally on the morning of the 8th of January.

The last prayer which the aged saint was heard to utter was one which accorded well with the humility of her Christian character, "God be merciful to me a sinner;" a prayer which she had long before presented with acceptance, and which she still felt to be as appropriate to her case as at the beginning of her Christian life. Little was said by her during her illness, that illness being of such a nature as to deprive her for some time before death of the power of utterance; and during the early stage of the disease so little apprehension was entertained that the sickness was unto death, that no special effort was made with the view of eliciting her state of mind in the prospect of an exchange of worlds. Her dying testimony, however, was not needed to give satisfaction to relatives and friends as to her safety in Christ; this fact had long before been established by the testimony of her life. The event of her decease was improved by her pastor from the words, "The darkness is past, and the true light now shineth," and a large congregation assembled on the occasion to evince the respect and esteem in which the venerable deceased lady was held, both in the church of which she had been a member and in the city in which she had resided upwards of sixty years. W. GOODMAN.

MR. JOHN BROWN.

The baptist church in Newbury has during the last few months been repeatedly subjected to the incursions of the "last enemy." The latter half of 1851 was saddened by the premature removal of three of their number, under circumstances of a very solemn and painful character. The first of these was Mrs. Mary Anne Hill, a lady distinguished by the most amiable temper and disposition as well as by an eminently consistent and faultless life.

She died in her first confinement, after great and prolonged suffering. The next was a poor man of the name of Daniel Hobrough, a name worthy of record if only on account of this one fact, that in the course of about thirty years he walked no fewer than 11,000 or 12,000 miles on the Lord's day for the purpose of teaching in a village Sunday-school. His death resulted

from a melancholy accident, having been knocked down in the street by a man in pursuit of some horses that were running away, and received injuries from which he never recovered, but which, after several weeks of excruciating pain, occasioned his removal to the invisible state. The third was John Wakefield, who had been a member of the church upwards of thirty years, during which long period he was not only enabled to maintain an exemplary character,| but succeeded in conciliating the esteem of the most thoughtless, as well as in gaining the warmest affections of his brethren of every name. It was frequently remarked of him after his decease that John Wakefield was a man of whom it was permitted to no one to speak ill. He was killed through the fright of a spirited horse which he was driving. The vehicle in which he was riding being brought into violent collision with a cart that happened to be passing at the time, he came to the ground with terrific force, and was too much injured ever again to speak, or to manifest the slightest indications of consciousness. After a few hours his gentle and renovated spirit took her flight to the regions of ceaseless rest and peace.

Thus closed 1851. We hoped the storm had by this time spent itself, and that the heavens were again about to smile. How little could we anticipate that the heaviest stroke had yet to fall! Yet so it was. And now we have to mourn over as great a loss as we were capable of receiving in the person of any one of our friends; a loss the full extent of which none of us has yet had time to estimate, and which only the rich mercy of our divine Father can ever completely repair.

Mr. Brown was born in very humble circumstances. His parents were members of the Wesleyan body, and were both truly pious persons he was ever in the habit of speaking of his father in terms of the greatest affection and veneration. The early years of our friend were passed in arduous toil for bread. We cannot better depict his environment at that time than by stating a fact to which he often adverted, namely, that he attained his twenty-seventh year before he became acquainted with the English alphabet. This will be the more surprising to those who knew him in after life, and were aware of the facility with which he used his pen, the ability with which he conducted a large business, and the correctness with which he managed his multifarious accounts. In all these respects it would be difficult to select a better model than Mr. Brown. He was entirely self-taught; and what was denied by circumstances to his youth he, in a great measure, compensated by the diligence and energy of mature life; thus on the one hand furnishing encouragement to those who deem

selves oppressed by fortune, and on the

other reflecting reproach on such as throw their advantages away. It was with feelings of what might not inappropriately be termed honest pride that he was accustomed, when passing the place, to point out the spot where he received his first sixpence, and would observe with characteristic naïveté, "And I have never been without a sixpence since; but," he would add, "that has often been the only one I could boast of."

The whole of his youth was spent in contempt of the claims of religion. Nevertheless, such was his conviction of its truth and of his own obligations in reference to it, as well as of the intense criminality of his neglect, that he lived the greater part of thirty years under the most solemn daily impression that if he died in the state in which he was then daring to live he must inevitably go to hell. circumstance he always referred to in after life as at once a proof of his own awful depravity, and of the surprising goodness and mercy of God, in not only continuing to spare him, but also and more especially in afterwards bringing him to a knowledge of the truth and revealing his Son in him.

This

Mr. Brown was considerably over thirty when this great change passed upon him. The circumstances which led to it are worthy of notice. Having finished the erection of the house in which he afterwards lived and died, and being about to remove into it, his father succeeded by a little artifice in exacting from him a promise that, instead of the usual "housewarming," he would call together a few friends, hold a prayer-meeting, and thus signalize the commencement of his residence there by seeking the blessing of Almighty God upon the future inmates of that dwelling. It was with some reluctance that our friend brought his mind to this arrangement; but having pledged his word he could not back out, and therefore invited Mr. Welsh, who was then the pastor of the baptist church in Newbury, and a few other friends to meet at his new house for prayer. They did so; and angels had to rejoice in consequence. The greater part of that night was spent by Mr. and Mrs. Brown in earnest conversation about the state and salvation of their souls. They too learned to pray, and were found amongst those who inquire the way to Zion, with their faces thitherward. They sought till they found divine life and peace; nor ever afterwards ceased to rejoice in the possession. The revolution which had thus taken place in our brother's thinking, feelings, and character was complete. From that time to the hour of his death he never once doubted the reality of his conversion or the certainty of his acceptance in the Beloved. That "full assurance of faith,” which unhappily falls to the lot of but few in these times, was uniformly and uninterruptedly his; and only those who knew him intimately

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