and I was accordingly put down for them again, having for my colleagues Mr. Joseph Taylor, and Mr. (now Dr.) Alder.*-In October, 1831, we had dreadful riots in Bristol, by which much valuable property was destroyed, and many lives were lost. But there was not one Methodist in the city that was concerned in the riots or in the plunder. Just before we left Bristol, that city was visited with the Asiatic cholera. The week before our departure, about one hundred died in the workhouse, St. Peter's Hospital; and vast numbers, almost unknown and unnoticed, were smitten in others parts of the city. We left with sorrowful hearts.

When we reached Portsmouth on a visit to our children, I was taken very ill. It had been announced in London that Dr. Clarke would preach in the morning of Sunday, August 26th, 1832, and that I should preach in the evening. But on that day he died, and I was ill at Portsmouth. The one was taken, and the other left. How mysterious are the ways of Divine Providence!

We arrived in Rochester, our next station, on September the first. How I shall be able to discharge the duties of this Circuit, I cannot say. The Lord knoweth, and I repose entire confidence in Him. Our friends expressed pleasurable feelings on our return after the lapse of eight years. Blessed LORD GOD, make me holy, happy, and useful!

March 24th, 1833.-This day I am sixty-six years old. Shall I live to see another birth-day? God only knows, and His will be done!

March 25th. This day I heard of my sister Mary's death. Her

* This is quite in keeping with the Christian kindness of the Bristol Society. The writer of this note, when stationed in that city, was in the summer of 1823 laid aside from the ministry. He tendered his resignation, thinking it his duty to become a supernumerary. A meeting of the principal friends was convened by the Steward. They refused to accept his resignation, and unanimously requested the Conference to grant for one year an additional Preacher, whose expenses they engaged to defray. The Conference kindly complied; and during the year he was happily and even wonderfully restored. It is with great pleasure he records this instance of Christian sympathy and kindness, in honour of the worthies of that day, of whom he has many pleasing reminiscences.

+ The Bristol riots originated in the political mania of that day. The friends of Reform resolved to give a demonstration of their displeasure against Sir Charles Wetherell, the Recorder of Bristol, for the opposition he had made to the passing of the Reform Bill. On his approach to hold the Sessions for the city, he was met by a disorderly crowd, and assailed with hooting, hissing, and stones. The respectable part of the Reformers, who by newspaper paragraphs and speeches had excited strong feelings in the people against Sir Charles, never intended this outrageous demonstration. But they had raised a ghost they could not lay. The citizens were panic-struck and paralysed. Courage and self-possession forsook them; and, with scarcely an effort to hinder, they permitted a rabble of boys to set fire to house after house, till a great part of Queen-Square was in flames. The destruction of property was immense, supposed to be not much short of £200,000; and the numbers who died of drunkenness, perished in the burning houses, or were wounded and killed by the soldiers, were estimated at about five hundred.

mind was in a sweet frame, and when she was near death, she said, "I shall be saved at last." And her closing words were,

"O the pain, the bliss of dying!"

Blessed LORD GOD, prepare my soul to join "them who through faith and patience inherit the promises."

Sept. 2d., 1835.-This day we left Rochester, after a second residence of three years with that affectionate people. They kindly bore with my infirm state of health, and did all they could to make me comfortable. On the other hand, though feeble in body, I felt no decay in my mental powers; nor did I miss three appointments in all the three years I was with them.

For a

During this residence my wife had a dangerous illness. long time her case appeared hopeless; but the Lord was better to us than our fears. We once thought that she could not be removed. The Conference, however, sent us to Maidstone,-only seven miles from Rochester; and she bore the journey very well. Blessed be the name of the Lord for all His favours! May our few remaining days be devoted to Him, and to the service of His house, that we may dwell with Him in His heavenly temple for ever!

Feb. 27th, 1836.-I received the sad intelligence that my dear daughter Mary had departed this life. It came upon me like a clap of thunder, as I had received no previous account of her illness. But I endeavour to bow to the will of God, knowing by long experience that He doeth all things wisely and well. Here I leave the subject with a sorrowful heart, and with a weight of grief that I cannot bear without Divine aid. I shall soon go to my dear child, but she

cannot return to me.

August 26th. This day we left Maidstone on our way to Portsmouth, where we hope to pitch our tent. I now finish my course in the active ministry,-which, by the good Providence of God, has continued fifty years. Nearly all the preachers who were living when the venerable Wesley gave me my first appointment at Epworth, are now in the eternal world; and in a short time I must remove hence to be no more seen. I have filled nearly every office in Methodism, and have been generally favoured with the approbation of my brethren. But all is over; and I am now a disabled supernumerary. The hand of the Lord God is upon me; and His will be done!

Some good has crowned my ministry, but I cannot boast. I have endeavoured to preach the truth, and have kept up a prudent discipline in the church of God. Yet I have been spared the necessity of contending with the people in any place. But now my strength is so far gone that I cannot longer do the work. I sit down with a good conscience, and calmly wait the call of my Saviour to a better world. Many mercies have crowned my years, for which I give thanks; but many sins humble me in the dust before the Lord. I have not openly disgraced His cause, but have found it necessary to pray for pardon every day of my life; and my only hope of salvation is founded on CHRIST JESUS, "who loved me, and gave Himself for me."

I am a Methodist in principle. I love the doctrines, and admire. the salutary discipline, of that community; and both preachers and people are dear to me.-SAVE ME, O MY GOD, THROUGH JESUS CHRIST MY LORD!

Thus ends the autobiography.-The Rev. R. M. Macbrair, M.A., who was in the Portsmouth Circuit when Mr. Edmondson died, has furnished me with the following narrative :—

“Mr. Edmondson, having long been an example of the active graces of Christianity, was now called to exhibit passive graces, in submitting to the chastening hand of his heavenly Father. The servant was to be made, like his Master, 'perfect through sufferings.' Though he continued to study and write, and occasionally to preach, yet he was subject to severe attacks of spasmodic asthma. These increased in violence and frequency,' till, in 1840, he was obliged to relinquish all public engagements,-not knowing at what moment he might experience one of these distressing seizures. He continued, however, to meet a class at his own house. He did not trouble his friends with details of his illness, but in their company was cheerful as usual. His society was delightful and instructive; for his mind was richly stored with knowledge, and his memory full of entertaining anecdote, whilst a harmless wit gave grace and zest to his communications.

"He still carefully perused the Scriptures, making a point of reading six chapters every day, going regularly through the sacred volume. When asked if he read through every chapter and verse, proper names, genealogies, descriptions of the temple, &c., he replied that he did, and that he often found a sweet text in the midst of these less refreshing details.

"One day crossing the room, his foot was caught by a chair, and he was thrown down with some violence. By this fall he was crippled for the rest of his life. But he retained his cheerfulness; no murmur escaped his lips. Ere long he was again tried, and that to the uttermost. Whilst yet perfectly helpless as to locomotion, being unable to bear the least pressure upon his injured limb, his faithful and affectionate wife was suddenly taken ill, and died in a few days. It was a sorrowful aggravation of the case that her husband was unable to see her: he could not be carried up stairs, and she could not be brought down. This was the heaviest calamity of his life. My companion is taken from me, and I could not see her,' he exclaimed: pity me, O my friends; for the hand of God is upon me.' And he wept much. "The sorrow of this bereavement increased the violence of his disorder; which, with the entire want of exercise, soon brought him very low. And, though he so far recovered the use of his limb as to be able to cross the room with the help of two sticks, he had few hours of the day free from pain. In these intervals he delighted to converse with his friends, or have a book read to him. He seemed to try how well he could submit to the will of God.

"It was now the fifteenth year since he received the intimation

that seemed to grant him a reprieve from death; and he sometimes adverted to the circumstance. As he appeared to be rallying in health, a friend wished to persuade him that he should not necessarily die within fifteen years, for the time was not so limited. But all desire of life was gone, and he was evidently preparing for his final change. It was expected that he would die of his old disorder in the chest; but on the fourth day of July, 1842, whilst at dinner with his family, his whole frame was seized with paralysis. Finding himself sinking, he exclaimed, 'JESUS IS MY SALVATION,' and less distinctly said something about the city of rest.' When his son-inlaw arrived, he said to him, ‘Death is come at last,' and, as his voice failed, faintly added, 'God bless you!' He was restored to sensibility by bleeding, but soon sunk into a profound stupor. From this he revived so far as to be for some hours in a state of consciousness, and thus saw the dawn of his last day on earth in the possession of his mental faculties; though unable to speak or move any limb of his body. As I went to his bedside, he tried to smile; and, when I took his hand, he gently pressed mine in token of recognition. He evidently joined with us in prayer. A faint smile played over his countenance, as he looked at one and another of those who were round his bed; and it continued when he could see no more. Stupor again came over him; he breathed more and more faintly; his extremities became cold; and, during the night, he gradually sunk into the sleep of death. He died July the 7th, 1842, in the seventy-sixth year of his age."

Thus lived and died JONATHAN EDMONDSON;-a man greatly beloved by his brethren in the ministry, and especially by those who knew him best; a voluminous reader, a diligent student, a lucid expositor, a truly evangelical preacher, and a faithful pastor, whose ministry was acceptable and useful in every Circuit where he was stationed. He lived, as well as preached, the Gospel. "Dead flies," we know from Solomon, tend to corrupt even "the ointment of the apothecary." Such "dead flies" have too often been found in religious professors; but, I believe, none were ever found in him. His religion was untarnished and uniform. Happy in himself, he made those around him happy too. On the principles laid down in his "Essay on Self-Government," he himself acted. He was temperate in all things. His passions were under the government of reason, and both were under the government of God. He was an example of industry. Instead of whiling away time, he redeemed it. His various publications prove this; and, in addition to these, he has left several valuable manuscripts on theological subjects. These, added to his travelling, and his pulpit and pastoral duties, show that he was not an idler in the vineyard.

He was a man of liberal principles, and of noble independence of mind. Ultraism in everything, and especially in politics, he disliked. Extremes he renounced, as being hostile to the happiness of society; -the one, as conservative not only of that which is good, but also of that which is iniquitous; and the other, as reckless of change,

and tending to level those distinctions which the Providence of God ordains, and which are necessary to social happiness.

In company, he was cheerful without levity, and serious without gloom. He possessed much of the milk of human kindness, and readily sympathized in the joys and sorrows of his friends. He rejoiced with them that rejoiced, and wept with those who wept. What he was in company with his friends, such also he was in his epistolary correspondence. An extract or two will supply the proof.

TO HIS SISTER.

"Nov. 20th, 1827.

"How are you getting on in religion, my dear sister? It is time for us to be in good earnest. We shall soon have done with this world; but may we have a lot with all the sanctified in the world to come! I am more and more interested in the things of God, more and more dead to the world, and more and more earnest in my endeavours to save myself and them that hear me. But how can I save myself? Only by the use of means. Jesus is the Author of eternal salvation to all who believe. May the Lord increase our faith, and hope, and love!"

TO MR. SAMUEL WATTON, TAMWORTH.

"Bristol, August 20th, 1831.

"MY DEAR FRIEND,-More than thirty years have passed away since I became acquainted with Mrs. Joseph Sadler; and about thirty years since I became acquainted with Mrs. Watton. Those excellent women are now numbered with the dead, and we shall see them no more until we enter into the world of spirits.

"What a change at Melbourn, where we used to meet Mr. Beaumont, Mr. Joseph Sadler, and other valuable friends! I often look back on those days with a mixture of pleasure and pain; but they are gone, and our social meetings will return no more. I also frequently think of Tamworth, where William Hardy, yourself, Mr. Rawlins, and others, made my hours extremely agreeable; where many a Hebrew Root was examined, and many a book-bargain made. But we are now on the borders of the eternal world. May we have grace to serve God acceptably in our declining years, and may we meet in a better and happier world, where painful changes are unknown!

"You, my dear friend, are now called to suffer. I pray for you; and I hope all will work for your good. You and your dear children have suffered loss. But trust in God, and you shall yet praise Him: bow yourself under His hand, and He will lift you up.

"We all do fade as a leaf.' I feel the infirmities of age; and yet, considering the number of years I have been an Itinerant Preacher, I am a wonder to myself. It is forty-five years this month since I left my father's house; and in all those years, with the exception of the last, I have not been forty-five days out of my regular work."