My ready tongue makes haste to sing The glories of my heavenly King." Some of his last words were, "I am going home." "Jesus is near.

'His chariot will not long delay;

I hear the rumbling wheels, and pray,
Triumphant Lord, appear."

JOSEPH BAILEY.

much

DIED at Rathmell, in the Settle Circuit, September 11th, 1863, SAMUEL LITTLEWOOD, Esq. He was born at Renshaw, Derbyshire, in 1793. When fourteen years of age, he was convinced of sin, and of the necessity of seeking salvation; joined the Wesleyan Society; and obtained mercy through believing in Christ. At the commencement of his Christian career he was opposed and persecuted by his parents; but he remained faithful, and was eventually instrumental in bringing them to a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. He had also the honour of introducing Methodism into his native village and elsewhere. Constrained to call sinners to repentance, he was early put on the Local-Preachers' Plan, by the Rev. John Farrar, sen.; and in this capacity he laboured fifty years. Balbrough, a village four miles distant from his residence, he encountered magisterial and clerical persecution, and continued two successive summers preaching in the open air; at length a prosperous cause was established. Forty years was he engaged in the responsible office of leader; and the members can testify the zeal, love, and fidelity he manifested. He could indeed say, "Now I live, if ye stand fast in the Lord."

At

As a Sunday-school superintendent he was diligent. He greatly loved the young; and nothing afforded him more pleasure than to "lend" them "a sacred clue to find the Crucified." The first Sabbath of 1863 he went to Settle to preach, but was taken ill in the pulpit, and gradually declined. His last sayings were full of faith and love, precluding all doubt of his final safety. To his sister he said, "All is well." On one's offering him some refreshment, he said, "I am so filled with the love and presence of God, that I have no desire for earthly things." A few minutes before he died, he lifted

up his hand in token of victory. Whatever had any-even the most distant tendency to violate the peace and harmony of the church gave this good man much concern. Zion's prosperity was his constant prayer. Nor

did he pray only for the spread and enlargement of the kingdom of God upon earth; but he nobly sustained the finances of the church, and thus gave practical evidence of his earnestness. In private life he was a cheerful and interesting companion. He knew nothing of gloomy piety; nothing of that asceticism which rather repels than attracts the unsaved. In him the cheerful and the serious, the pleasant and the devout, happily blended.

As long as he was able, he was an example of regularity in attending the house of God. Christ was precious to him in the ordinances of the sanctuary; and he was ever ready, with the Psalmist, to exclaim, "I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord.' THOMAS BURROWS.

DIED, at Congleton, in her sixtyeighth year, MISS CATHERINE BRADFORD. She was born at Old Withington, Cheshire; and was in very early life the subject of powerful religious impressions, and resorted to prayer as a refuge in her distress. It would seem as though the modest, prayerful child had foreshadowed the grave Christian woman she became. By the providence of God she was taken, when young, to reside with an uncle and aunt, at Moss-End; of whose family she ultimately became a member, and in whose sepulchre she now sleeps. them she was regularly taken to a small Wesleyan chapel, which her uncle had built, in order that the poor might have the Gospel preached unto them. There she heard words whereby she might be saved; and in after life she often spoke of the venerable men who spake to her the words of life.

By

After the death of her uncle, she removed with her aunt to Macclesfield, and took her seat in the chapel. She had not long to wait, before she was entreated by the late Mr. Brocklehurst to identify herself with the people of God. He was not contented with giving a formal invitation, but called at her residence, took her to the place where Miss Bell (afterwards Mrs. Barnard Slater) met her class. The step then taken was never retraced: the choice then made she always reviewed with praise to God. If "love, joy, peace, meekness, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith," are fruits of the Spirit, -she had these in rich abundance. Having been brought to love God, she loved His cause also; and, believing in the communion of saints, she sought fellowship with kindred spirits,-even

with them that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth.

It was in the year 1828 that she came to reside at Congleton, and became a member of Mr. Hadfield's class. The leader's testimony to her deep piety, unswerving attachment to Methodism, and Christian benevolence, is of the most encouraging character. A person of Miss Bradford's deep, steady, consistent piety, and unfaltering attachment to the cause, could not remain long unnoticed and unadmired by the pastors of the flock of Christ. Hence the important and responsible office of leader was pressed upon her. She took it with much fearfulness; but discharged the duties, so long as health permitted, with prayerful fidelity. How she ministered to the saints in their necessities, and relieved the poor, the fatherless, and the widow, in their distress,-yea, how she abounded in good works,-is only known to Him whose mind she coveted, whose example she set before her, and from whom alone she sought her commendation and reward.

The disease, by which it pleased her heavenly Father to bring to the dust the earthly house of her tabernacle, was slow and insidious. Long had she felt pain and weakness, which she regarded as a monitory voice to be ready. To her friends the prostrating attack was sudden, startling, unexpected; but to her it was not so. She knew whom she had believed, and could confidently say, "It is all right. My feet are on the rock. I shall soon 'range the sweet plains on the banks of the river."" She endured great pain, and had several sharp conflicts with the enemy; but she triumphed, through the blood of the Lamb. Amid all her sufferings there was exemplary patience; yea, an approximation to the spirit and temper of her Lord, who said, "O my Father! if this cup may not pass from me except I drink it, Thy will be done." The cup was bitter; but she drank it, and said, "My Father! my Father! come, take possession of Thine own. I shall soon

'Clap the glad wing, and tower away, And mingle with the blaze of day."

I love Christ. I love His cause, and I love His people. Lord, I would rather be a door-keeper in Thy house," &c. And then, in her last moments, she said, "I am calmly waiting my summons."

The chariot of her Lord, which had seemed to tarry, came at last. Jesus, in whose hands are "the keys of hades

JOSEPH, the second son of James and Ann MOSBY, was born at Garforth, near Leeds, on the 18th March, 1881. From his earliest childhood he enjoyed the privileges of a godly home, and the religious instructions of the Wesleyan Sabbath-school. At the age of twelve he identified himself with the Methodist Society, and afforded pleasing evidences that a work of grace had commenced in his heart. But the religious life thus early manifested subsequently declined. Having left home, he was removed from that parental oversight and discipline which had so richly contributed to his spiritual advantage. Being placed in a family where religion was not regarded as the one thing needful, unwatchfulness and worldly associations caused him to forfeit his religious enjoyment. During a remarkable revival of religion in the village where he resided, he was constrained again to seek the pearl of great price, and to consecrate himself afresh to the service of God. From the date of the second awakening of religious life, to the period of his death, his path was eminently that of the just, shining more and more unto the perfect day. His piety was deep and ardent, developing itself in the beauties of holiness, and in noble and disinterested exertions for the welfare of others.

In 1853 he began publicly to exhort sinners to repentance. After having passed successfully through the usual probation and examination, his name appeared on the Plan of the Leeds Fourti Circuit, as an accredited Local preacher. For some time his mind was perplexed by powerful temptation as to his quali fications for the work to which he had been designated. Amid his depression and anxiety he sought an interview with the Rev. Isaac Keeling, who was superintendent of the Circuit, and confessed that he had been strongly tempted to have his name taken off the Plan. Keeling replied, "Well, my brother, if it be a temptation you know what to do with it." This had the desired effect, it broke the spell by which the enemy had bound him, and caused him to devote all his energies to the Lord's work. Inspired with fervent zeal for Christ, and an impassioned love for souls, he

Mr.

endeavoured to bring all with whom he associated into the possession of that religion which had so blessed himself. His preaching was marked by simplicity, thoughtfulness, and faithfulness, and was attended frequently by great unction and power. Many were made the subjects of saving grace through his instrumentality, who are now useful and consistent members of the church.

Whilst attending the funeral of a younger brother (whose obituary appeared in a former number of the "Magazine"), he caught a severe cold, from which he never rallied.

During his painful affliction he was visited by the Rector and Curate of Garforth, the ministers of the Circuit, and many Christian friends, all of whom rejoiced at the manifest power of religion to sustain and tranquillize the soul amid the severest bodily suffering. The cup of affliction was taken into his hand with reverent gratitude and holy resignation. Death was contemplated with the peaceful joy inspired by an unfailing faith in the fidelity and power of God, and in the certain hope of a glorious immortality. One day his beloved wife remarked sadly, "I shall be unhappy when you are gone." He calmly replied, "Not if the Bible be true;" adding with deep emphasis, "The Lord has promised to take my place,-a Father to the fatherless and a Husband to the widow. On another occasion, when most of the family had gone to chapel, he said, "There are thousands of angels worshipping God in heaven, and there are thousands of good men worshipping Him on earth: I seem betwixt the two, but I shall soon be in heaven." Enraptured by these anticipations, he exclaimed, "I cannot doubt the goodness of God to me :

'My God, I am Thine, What a comfort Divine,

What a blessing, to know that my Jesus is mine!

In the heavenly Lamb Thrice happy I am, And heart it doth dance at the sound of

my

His name." 799 On the morning of the day on which he died, he requested a brother who was leaving for a distant town, to pray with him. On his rising to depart, he exclaimed, "I shall soon be at home, James: we must all meet in heaven." In a few hours the prediction was realized. His ransomed spirit passed away to participate in the blessedness of the heavenly rest. His last tremulous notes of triumph were, "It is all right-yes, -it is all right. Trial, affliction, bereave

ment, it is all right-the plan of salvation, the faith of the Gospel, the hope of heaven, the power of prayer, the reward of bliss for unprofitable service— Glory to the Lamb." T. M. ALBRIGHTON.

M. FRANCIS GUITON, a valued Local preacher in the Jersey French Circuit, but better known in England as the historian of Wesleyan Methodism in the Channel Islands, peacefully ended his long and useful career at St. Helier's, on the 4th of December, 1863, in his seventieth year.

He enjoyed the inestimable privilege of having a pious mother, who led him regularly, when quite a child, to the means of grace, and thus brought him early under religious influences. He became a member of the Methodist communion in the sixteenth year of his age, and soon afterwards found peace with God, through faith in the atonement.

Though quite a youth, he at once embraced opportunities for usefulness, first, as a Sunday-school teacher; not long after, as a Local preacher; and then, successively, through a long career, he sustained offices in the church as trustee, class-leader, Circuit-steward, and secretary of Missionary, Bible, and Benevolent associations in the island.

As a preacher he was very popular and useful. A vacancy having occurred in the ministerial staff of his native Circuit, in 1846, M. Guiton was for four years employed in supplying the want; which he did to the general satisfaction of the church. It may

truly be said, that he was a pious, talented, and energetic man, ever ready to employ himself in his Master's service, and never so happy as when thus employed.

Six years ago he was suddenly seized with a paralytic stroke, which for a time deprived him of consciousness, and brought him to the margin of the grave. Beyond all expectation, he so far rallied as to be able occasionally to attend the means of grace, which he highly enjoyed. Subsequent attacks, however, gradually weakened his body, impaired his faculties, and brought him nearer and nearer to his heavenly home. During his long illness, often accompanied with acute suffering, he was remarkable for patient and even cheerful resignation. He took great delight in listening to the holy Scripture, which was regularly read to him by his dear wife and daughters. He was always interested in hearing of the progress of the work of God. His faith

in the doctrines of Christianity was unshaken; and he often testified that the truths he had preached to others were now his comfort and stay. In death, as in life, he stood firmly on the Rock.

When quite near his end, he was reminded that Christ has promised to be with His own "even unto the end." He feebly, but distinctly, replied, “It is quite true;" and then, bidding adieu to his wife and children, calmly "fell asleep." M. GALLIENNE.

MISS GRACE PEARSE, late of St. Thomas, by Launceston, Cornwall, was born at Newport, 20th October, 1797. Favoured with pious parents, she experienced, when very young, the operations of the Holy Spirit, even before she distinctly apprehended their Divine source. Her tenderness of conscience was such that, whenever guilty of any childish indiscretion or fault, she could not rest until she had acknowledged it, and sought forgiveness from God and man. She very early exhibited a facility in learning portions of holy Scripture, and the hymns of Watts and Wesley, in which she continued to take increasing delight to the close of life. It was a laudable practice of her respected parents to collect their children and servants every Sabbath evening for the purpose of instructing them in their religious duties, and joining in singing suitable hymns. Occasionally the children of the family visited their pious maternal grandmother, who would take two or three of them at a time into an inner room, and, kneeling amongst them, pour out fervent prayers on behalf of the dear little ones. These interviews left impressions on Miss Pearse's mind which were never effaced. On leaving home for school, she found her religious principles put to the test; and, by indulging, to some extent, in what are termed innocent and fashionable

amusements, she sensibly lost ground. When about twenty years of age, a domestic affliction re-awakened her concern for salvation. At this juncture the Rev. Edward Millward was appointed to the Launceston Circuit; his devoted wife formed a class, which Miss Pearse joined, and became a member of the Methodist Society. Convinced that a thorough moral change must be wrought in her nature, she earnestly strove, by the diligent use of all appointed means, to realize it. One Sunday morning she went with a burdened spirit to the sanctuary; and, while prayerfully waiting upon God, was enabled sweetly to

trust in the atonement, and find rest to her soul. From that day to the end of her Christian course, she held fast her confidence in God.

She now consecrated herself to the Lord, and felt it incumbent on her to engage actively in His service. She became a teacher in the recently established Methodist Sunday-school, a visiter of the sick, and, subsequently, a collector for the Missionary Society.

In all these departments of Christian usefulness she took great delight, even after personal debility debarred her from active service; and she made testamentary arrangements by which their funds might be aided, with the special injunction on her beloved surviving sisters that they should "not forget her own poor." While health permitted, she was punctual in her attendance on all the means of grace; carefully observing her stated seasons for retirement. She was conscientiously benevolent, and when prevented from attending the house of God, if collections were to be made, would always send her contribution.

She was deeply concerned for the spiritual interests of her fellow-creatures. On hearing of the conversion of a dear relative, she said, "Let us kneel down and thank our heavenly Father. 0 it is better than thousands of gold and silver!"

For some years prior to her removal, her health gradually declined; her sight became imperfect; and, for about a year, she totally lost it. But she ever manifested entire resignation to the Divine will. When a friend remarked, "How sad it must be to be kept from the public means of grace," she cheerfully replied, "Although I can truly say with the Psalmist, How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts,' I yet feel that His presence is not confined to temples made with hands; and where He is, is heaven." She set great value on the visits of her ministers and pious friends; and they often acknowledged the pleasure and profit these interviews afforded. Prayer, praise, and spiritual conversation formed the element in which she expatiated.

Although the constitutional delicacy of her system rendered her very sensitive to physical suffering, and to what ever might tend to excite or agitate ber feelings, she combined great firmness of principle and decision of character with much gentleness of manner and lady-like deportment. Over her servants she watched as one that must give account. Some of these ascribe their first serious

impressions to her Christian instruction and vigilance. She thus pursued the even and useful tenor of her way, until it pleased Almighty God to release her by a process the most gentle. She was brought into the parlour as usual until the day she died. When, on the morning of December 9th, 1863, she was asked by a dear sister how she had passed the night, she replied, "I could not have had a better; for Jesus has been with me all night. But I shall not be with you to-morrow. I am going to join those who are gone before." She then sent her love to all her absent relatives, and added, "Tell Sister C. that the fear of death is entirely removed: I am going to glory." After conversing in an edifying way with one of her kind medical attendants in the afternoon, she had a season of undisturbed composure, during which she said nothing more: but very shortly, without the slightest indication of suffering, her released spirit winged its flight to the paradise of God.

MARIA, the beloved and honoured wife of Thomas FERNLEY, Esq., was born in Manchester, February 9th, 1799; she was baptized in Gravel-lane Chapel, by Dr. Coke; and she died at her residence, Lark Hill, Stockport, January 13th, 1864. Her religious advantages in childhood and youth were many, and these she diligently improved. Her father was Mr. Robert Barnes, not the least distinguished of a group of active and influential men in Manchester, whose names and example the Methodists of that city still love to recall, and the story of whose useful lives they delight to repeat to their children. He was for many years the leader of three classes, which numbered together about a hundred members. He sustained almost every office open to the laymen of the body; his house was always open to the ministry and friends of Methodism; and he was a most diligent, self-denying, and judicious visiter of the abodes of sickness and poverty. To his labours in this lastmentioned sphere of usefulness, in association with Mr. Marsden, (afterwards the Rev. George Marsden,) Mr. Lomas, Mr. Wood, and one or two others, is to be ascribed the origin of one of our wellknown and very successful benevolent societies. After a Sunday afternoon spent in house visitation, during which they had given away to the poor all the funds they had available for the purpose, these devoted young men attended the service in the Oldham-street Chapel, de

pressed in spirits in remembrance of many cases of suffering which they had visited without having the means to relieve. The preacher for that evening was Dr. Clarke. Meeting each other in the chapel-yard before the service began, they there agreed to seek an interview, after the service, with the kind-hearted Doctor, and to ask his advice in reference to their future proceedings. In the course of this interview some one suggested whether it would not be practicable to form a society to collect money for the suffering poor, and to distribute it through approved agents, systematically, and on settled principles. This suggestion was favourably entertained, and resulted in the institution of the Strangers' Friend Society, first in Manchester, and afterwards in London, Bristol, and elsewhere.

In

From a very early age Miss Barnes was the delighted companion of her father in his attendance at public worship, his several class-meetings, the weekly prayer-meeting, and in his frequent visits among the sick and poor. Durfng his protracted last illness she was his constant attendant, and was the willing agent of his beneficence. At the age of fourteen, (September, 1813,) she received her first Society-ticket. 1832 she was married to Mr. Fernley, and removed to Stockport, where for many years she served the church as an efficient class-leader, and consecrated her influence and energies to works of usefulness. In 1858 her health began to fail, and she was compelled to withdraw into comparative seclusion. she retained her office of class-leader so long as she had strength to discharge its duties, meeting her class in her own house when no longer able to attend the chapel. Her attentions to the godly poor were continued without interruption, and to several of them she left small weekly pensions for life. In her daily drives, which she was able to take till within a few weeks of her death, Mrs. Fernley always carried an assortment of religious tracts to distribute to passengers on the road, or to leave at cottages by the wayside.

Yet

Her sufferings at the last were extremely severe. But retaining clearness and collectedness of mind, she found much comfort in repeating portions of Scripture, verses of hymns, and other religious poetry. Those plaintive lines of Charles Wesley,

"In age and feebleness extreme," &c. seemed to be in her constant recollection; as also the verse, (Hymn 217,)—