the word of God, and attend the means of grace, in which he took considerable delight, and which he ever after highly valued and esteemed. His situation being unsuitable, he resolved to change his residence, and soon removed to Sydenham, near London; but here he was surrounded with ungodly men, and as there was no Methodist Society in the place, he felt himself alone, without a friend to strengthen and encourage him. This was an occasion of the deepest sorrow to his soul, and led him earnestly to pray, that God would open up a way by which he might be again united with his people; resolving never more to leave them if indulged in this request. In a few weeks, to his inexpressible delight, he received a letter from a friend at Sittingbourne, informing him, that he could have employment in that town. This he regarded as an answer to his prayers, and joyfully availed himself of what he thought a providential opportunity of escaping from a place in which he found so little happiness. Hitherto he had received no, satisfactory, evidence of his acceptance with God; but shortly after his arrival at Sittingbourne, while listening to a sermon from the late Mr. Reason, a local preacher of that place, he was enabled to cast himself as a guilty sinner upon the blood of Christ, and thus obtained a sense of God's forgiving love. His soul was now at ease, the Spirit of adoption witnessed to his spirit that he was "born again."

During the following nine years of his residence at Sittingbourne he continued to be a useful and respected member of the Methodist Society; evidencing the sincerity of his profession, and the soundness of his conversion by uniform devotedness to God, and the manifestation of a jealous concern for His glory. At length, in 1806, he was induced to leave the circle of Christian friends, with whom he had been so long united, and having obtained employment in the Royal Dock Yard, at Chatham, he identified himself with the Methodist Society in Brompton; this connexion was continued for the space of thirty years; during which protracted period, it is not too much to say that, he was honoured and beloved by all who were competent to judge of moral worth and Christian excellence. His love of Methodism was ardent and sincere; he loved its doctrines, means of grace, discipline, and ministers; and never would have thought of separating from its communion, had not the Conference of 1835 made such changes in the constitution of the Connexion as he knew to be repugnant to its hitherto established principles. In the following year he united with many others who had seceded from the Conference body in this place, and remained a faithful and consistent member of the Wesleyan Methodist Association till he died. In taking this step, he did not act precipitately, but after calm deliberation, and earnest prayer to God, resolved to follow the convictions of his own mind; and he never, for a moment, regretted the course which he had taken. The interests of the Association had his best wishes and his warmest support; but he never suffered himself to be carried away by prejudice or party spirit, but always conducted himself toward his old friends with as much courtesy and affection as when united with them in the same bonds of Christian fellowship. This, however, was not always reciprocated; yet he often said, I love them as much as if they belonged to the same Society;'

and he prayed for them, and spoke of their excellencies with as much delight as when he was united with them.

The period of his probationary state was now fast passing away; our esteemed brother began to feel the infirmities of age coming upon him. "The strong men began to bow themselves, and the grinders to cease because they were few, and those that looked out of the windows began to be darkened." But these indications of approaching dissolution were regarded by him only as so many additional reasons for increasing diligence, that when the Saviour should come, he might be found of him without spot and blameless. He coveted nothing but a perfect meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light, and was assiduous in seeking it, as long as his strength permitted, in all the public and social means of grace.

At the close of the last year, our departed brother was visited with an affliction, which both himself and his friends expected would terminate in death. The first time I went to see him, which was shortly after the attack, he said, 'I think I am going home,' and he appeared quite willing to depart, believing that an entrance would be administered unto him abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of his Saviour, Jesus Christ. His mind was evidently filled with devout gratitude to God for the grace by which he had been preserved for near half a century in the way of life. In every subsequent visit which I made to him, during this affliction, I found him in the same happy and submissive frame of mind, anxious for nothing, but that the work of righteousness might be fully perfected in him; so that he might glorify God, whether by life or by death. However, it pleased God, for a short season, to postpone his expectation of a removal to another world; for, to the surprise of all who knew him, on the 30th of January, 1842, he was so far recovered as to be enabled to attend the public ordinances of religion; and we had the great pleasure of seeing him once more in the house of God. But his days were numbered; that was the last Sabbath he was permitted to spend on earth. Arrangements had been made for holding a Temperance meeting, in the chapel, on the following Friday evening, and, as he was able to walk about, he felt a great desire to be present on the occasion; but, before he left his home, he engaged to leave the meeting at about eight o'clock, at which time he left his seat; but when he reached the top of the stairs, he was taken in a fit (as is supposed), and was precipitated to the bottom. Medical assistance was immediately procured, and he was taken home in a state of insensibility. At ten o'clock I went into his room, and found him breathing with considerable difficulty. All hope of his recovery had fled, and we all knelt down and solemnly commended his departing spirit into the hands of Him in whom he had believed. He lingered for about three hours longer, when his "freed spirit" quitted the frail tenement in which it had been so long held, for those regions of ineffable felicity, where death is unknown, and "the inhabitants never say, I am sick." He died February 5th, 1842, aged seventy-two years.

In closing this imperfect sketch I think it proper to remark, that, As a man, our departed brother West was remarkable for a quiet and peaceable disposition. Strife and confusion was an element in which he could not live; he felt the importance of the Apostle's exhortation,

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"Follow peace with all men; and hence he not only left off contention before it was meddled with, but was always glad when he could prevent. it in others, or reconcile such as were at variance with each other. As a husband, he was attentive and affectionate, manifesting the liveliest interest in the comfort of the sharer of his sorrows and his joys. As a parent, he was kind, and sometimes indulgent, even to excess; he felt the vast responsibility which the parental relationship involves, and strove, by every means, to lead his children to the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world. As a Christian, he was distintinguished by the deeply humbling views he always entertained in reference to himself. A sense of his own unworthiness, and the extreme sinfulness of his nature, so deeply affected his mind, that he uniformly regarded himself as the chief of sinners: hence he was never carried away with pride or vanity, but always avoided ostentation, and frequently adopted the language of the poet, as expressive of the feelings of his own mind:

"Keep me little and unknown,

Prized and loved by God alone."

He had unshaken confidence in Christ. He was emphatically a man of faith, his only trust was in the blood of Christ; he felt that this was a sufficient ground of confidence for guilty man, and on this he placed all his hope for mercy and eternal life. He also possessed increasing love to God. This he cultivated at all times, and under all circumstances, until it became the great master principle in his soul. It might be truly said of him, he loved God with all his heart. That perfect love, which casteth out all tormenting fear, preserved his mind in perfect peace, and was productive of the happiest fruits. To this we trace his earnest love of prayer-his strong attachment to the house of God-the members of the church of Christ-and that benevolence and sympathy which led him to the throne of grace, to plead for an ungodly world; in these particulars he needed only to be known to be admired. Lastly, He was patient in affliction, and triumphed over death. In seasons of affliction (and he was sometimes called to suffer greatly) he endeavoured to imitate the examples of suffering patience, recorded in the word of God; he knew that all the dispensations of divine providence, however painful, are intended to promote the ultimate good of those who are exercised thereby; and he "endured as seeing Him who is invisible." It was in those seasons that he experienced the choicest consolations of divine grace; he often said—

"Labour is rest, and pain is sweet,
If thou, my God, art here."

Beneath and around him were the everlasting arms, supporting and sustaining him while in the furnace of affliction, and administering that comfort which his circumstances required. Nor was he at all alarmed at the approach of death,—to him death had no sting, he had perfect victory over his last enemy; he lived in daily expectation of a removal to another world, and was enabled to contemplate its realities without dismay. So that, notwithstanding the unexpectedness of his

decease, our confidence in his security remained unshaken. And although it would have been a source of comfort to his relations to have received from his dying lips assurances of peace and triumph, they have yielded his body to the dust, in sure and certain hope of a joyful resurrection to eternal life.

A funeral sermon was preached, by the writer of this sketch, on the 20th of February, to a large and attentive congregation, from the words of our Saviour, "Watch ye, therefore, lest coming suddenly, he find you sleeping.'

A SERMON ON THE NAME JESUS.

"And thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins."-Matt. i. 21.

WHEN God brings his first Begotten into the world, the Holy Ghost prepares him a body, the angels bring him down a name, they sing his birth, and adore his person. They had no such need of him, nor interest in him, as we have; and yet they gladly "Minister to the heirs of salvation," and to the Author of it too. Here is one of them, who very seasonably rescues poor Joseph from his perplexity, scatters his doubts and fears, and makes his uneasy suspicions give way to the joyful expectation of the most wonderful birth, and the most excellent person, that was ever in the world. Where he suspected sin, he found a Saviour from all sin: for, "While he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, fear not, Joseph, thou son of David, to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived of her, is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS, for he shall save his people from their sins."

I. We shall make some remarks upon the name Jesus.

1. It seems to be a personal name, and not a name merely of office, as are the names Christ, Messiah, Mediator.

It was a name well known, and frequently used among the Jews. The book of Ecclesiasticus is called the wisdom of Jesus, the son of Syrac, and that Syrac was the son of another Jesus; and we read of one Jesus, who was called Justus, who was of the circumcision, and of Jesus the son of Josedec, high priest, who accompanied

* We much regret that, we cannot until next month give the remainder of the sermon commenced in our last number. Before we inserted the part already given, we had the Author's full assurance that we should have the remainder in sufficient time for this month's Magazine; but when it was time for us to go press, we received a letter, stating, that unforeseen and uncontrollable circumstances had occurred by which to his great grief he was unable to supply the remainder of the sermon for this month's publication. Under these circumstances we have abridged an excellent discourse, suited to the present season, by one of the most eminent divines of the last century. It will be new to nearly all our readers, and we hope highly acceptable.

Zerubbabel their prince, in restoring the people and religion of the Jews, after the captivity; and of another Jesus, who was deposed from the pontificate by Herod, to make way for Simon. We find this best of names upon one of the worst of men in the apostles' days; as it is now worn by one of the worst societies in ours. In the apostles' days, there was a sorcerer so called, in the isle of Paphos. They found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-Jesus, or the son of Jesus." And in our days, we see this name prostituted to denominate the vilest society of men upon earth; who call themselves the Society of Jesus, and who confound the doctrine, debauch the worship, and destroy the worshippers of Jesus! and have no more relation to the name, than as it was formerly worn by Bar-Jesus, the sorcerer and false prophet, whose practices they very much follow.

2. Jesus is the same name with Joshua; it is the Greek name for Joshua in the Hebrew, and is of the same signification.

There were two of that name under the Old Testament, that were both of them illustrious types of Christ. Joshua, who was Israel's captain, at their first settlement in Canaan, and Joshua that was Israel's high-priest, at their second settlement after the captivity. St. Stephen calls the first Jesus. Speaking of Joshua's carrying the people of Israel and the tabernacle into Canaan, he says, which (tabernacle) our fathers that came after (Moses was dead) brought in with Jesus, into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers. And when the apostle Paul argues, that these possessions were not all that God intended for them, nor the rest referred to in David's exhortation, the apostle says, "For if Jesus (i. e. Joshua) had given them rest, then would he not afterwards have spoken of another day." Jesus brings believers into "the rest that remains for the people of God."

Joshua's first name was Hoshea (a Saviour,) or if it be supposed imperative, "Lord save." Moses to confirm the faith of the Jews upon the borders of Jordan, prefixed the first syllable of the name Jehova, and made it Jehoshua, and put it into a conjugation, that imports "the Lord shall save." "And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun, Jehoshea." The Messiah, who was to bear the name of Joshua, or Jesus, has the whole of God's name in him; God says, "My name is in him." His name is "Jehovah, our righteous," and " Immanuel, God with us."

Of this change of Joshua's name, it is observed, by some learned men, the Jews have taken little or no notice: and although they have never done with remarking upon the changes made in the names of Abraham and Sarah, they take little or no notice of the change made here, merely as it is thought, because it does unavoidedly point to the person of Jesus; of whom this Jehoshua carries so plain a type, both in his name, and in his remarkable actions.

This name Jehoshua, which signifies, "the Lord shall save;" was in process of time contracted to Joshua, or Jeshua, which, omitting the last letter, becomes Jeshu, and by adding the Greek termination, the word is formed from which the name Jesus is derived.

Joshua, in his character and actions, was an eminent type of