Jones formed the church, and preached on the occasion. In the afternoon the Rev. T. Davies of Merthyr preached on the deacons' office, and the Rev. T. Price of Aberdare preached in Welsh. In the evening, the Rev. A. G. Fuller of Cardiff preached in English, and Rev. T. Evans of Merthyr in Welsh.

ASHDON, ESSEX.

The Rev. T. D. Worrall, having accepted the unanimous call of the church at Chowbent, the church at Ashdon is now without a pastor. Mr. Worrall's labours at Ashdon were greatly blessed, and the church regret his departure, but hope his services will prove an abundant blessing in the extensive field where he is now called to labour.

BRIDLINGTON, YORKSHIRE.

The Rev. G. H. Orchard having found considerable difficulty in his labours for some time past from an affection of chronic bronchitis, has been necessitated to decline the pastorate of this church, from increased illness accompanied by loss of voice.

LONDON BAPTIST BOArd.

At the Annual Meeting of the Board of Baptist Ministers residing in and about the cities of London and Westminster, held on the 16th of March, the following resolutions were passed unanimously.

1. That the cordial thanks of this Board be presented to our esteemed brother, the Rev. William Groser, for his services as secretary, and that he be earnestly requested to continue them during the ensuing year.

to the Rev. WILLIAM GROSER, by the Board of Baptist Ministers, as a testimony of their fraternal esteem for him, and an acknowledgment of his services as its secretary for the last nine years."

PAULTON, SOMERSET.

The Rev. Richard Bentley, who has been for the last three years the respected pastor of the baptist church, Paulton, feeling called in providence to remove to America, preached two very solemn and affectionate sermons on Lord's day, April 18th; and at a meeting of the church the following evening, it was resolved to present him with a purse as a token of the esteem and affection entertained for him by the church and congregation. His removal is felt to be a loss to the neighbourhood as well as the church, and many prayers for his success and welfare follow him.

RIDGMOUNT.

The Rev. J. H. Brooks of Ridgmount, near Woburn, Beds, contemplating a removal from that village, is open to invitation from other churches.

RECENT DEATHS.

MRS. SARAH EDMUNDS.

The subject of the following brief memoir was born January 1st, 1754, and was consequently in her ninety-ninth year, at the time of her decease. She was brought up under the training of parents of strictly moral but of high church principles, and was therefore with them a constant attendant upon the performance of divine worship at the esta

3. That Messrs. Green, Kingsford, Bowes, and Fishbourne, be a committee to confer with Mr. Groser as to the nature of the testimonial, and that Mr. Green be convener, and also convener of the Special Meeting of the Board.

In pursuance of these resolutions a Special Meeting of the Board was held on the 30th of March, the Rev. John Kingsford, the oldest member of the Board, in the chair, when a copy of Bagster's Hexapla, elegantly bound in morocco, and a handsome copy of Trommius's Greek Concordance on the Septuagint, in two volumes folio, were presented, the former having this inscription :

"This volume, in conjunction with A. Tromm: Concord: Græc: LXX, is presented

juvenile part of her life, she was impressed with serious thoughts for the safety of her soul, but these like the morning cloud or as the early dew quickly disappearing, proved only harbingers to the future showering of the Spirit's influences, which should remove every cloud of darkness from the soul, and unfold the glorious Sun of righteousness with all his healing virtue to the eye of faith. But with the progress of time her position became changed, having entered upon the married state she began to participate more fully the cares and trials of life, to which the early removal by death of the partner of her days, contributed not a little. The God of providence, however, was overruling circumstances for her good and his glory. About this period she was admitted into the friendship of one of the Lord's servants, under whose pious conversation she

of the late Enoch Crook. Having joined the people of God, and possessing talents for usefulness, our brother was early sanctioned and encouraged by the church to exercise his gifts in the villages. In 1839, Mr. Hebditch was elected a deacon, an office which he retained to the day of his death. Through bodily infirmities he was often wanting in energy and promptness, but these deficiencies he amply compensated by his prudence and stability. His value was especially seen when the church was without a pastor. Not only would he often supply the pulpit himself, which he always did with acceptance, but he would give the most judicious counsel when a minister was invited on probation. One instance in particular could be referred to, were it proper, when, acting as a careful pilot, he guided the tossed and endangered vessel most safely through the storm. But he was not permitted to continue long in this world. In the prime of life he was summoned to his Master's presence. For some months previous to his decease he often complained of indisposition, and for weeks before the solemn crisis, little hope was entertained of his recovery. But though the prospect of death was full before him, death had no terrors to him, and his mind was usually calm and peaceful, believing as he did that his salvation was in the hands of Christ in whom he confided and whom he supremely loved. As his end approached and appeared more near, he became anxious to leave this world of sin and sorrow and to enter into the joy of his Lord. Hence expressions of holy aspiration were often on his lips; and just before his departure he exclaimed, with peculiar emphasis, "Blessed Jesus!" So died, on the 24th of January, this servant of God, furnishing another testimony to the thousands already adduced, that every succeeding death, in the case of believers, robs the monster of his chains and his prison of its gloom. So true is it :

"Our dying friends are pioneers to smooth Our rugged path to death; to break those bars Of terror and abhorrence, nature throws Cross our obstructed way; and thus to make Welcome as safe our port from every storm." The death of Mr. Hebditch was improved by his pastor on Lord's day, February 1st, from Ps. xviii. 46, words selected by himself. The presence and deep attention of a large auditory showed the respect in which he was held.

MR. AND MRS. PERKINS.

Mr. W. Perkins was born at Colnbrook, in Buckinghamshire, in the year 1780. He had no early educational advantages, and when quite a youth entered into the service of a gentleman who introduced him to the metropolis. At the decease of this gentleman he

was introduced into a Roman Catholic family, and afterwards to a business house in St. Paul's Churchyard, the proprietor of which was a God-fearing man. At this time he was so entirely ignorant of religion that he did not know anything at all about Jesus Christ; and his wonder on the Monday morning would frequently be excited when listening to the conversation of his employer with a fellow shopman, as to the manner they had spent the previous day, the texts that had been given, and the subject of the discourse; frequently did he listen, and always wondered what pleasure there could be in religion, and what there could be attractive in this Jesus of whom they spake so highly; this much he learned, that if religion had its pleasures he was an entire stranger to them, and secretly he wished to be acquainted therewith. Walking according to the course of this world, it is no wonder his sabbaths were spent in recreative pursuits, and thus employed when, about 22 years of age, he was wandering over Clerkenwell Green, he inadvertently strolled into Clerkenwell church, where the Rev. H. Foster was preaching, having taken Jabez's prayer for his text, "Oh, that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me." This was to him as the beginning of days; his sabbaths were henceforth employed in attending to the sanctuary of God. He selected most principally the evangelical ministers of the establishment until, in the course of reading the word, he discovered the ordinance of believers' baptism, and baptism by immersion. It is not a little remarkable, that up to the present moment he had never heard of the baptists in any manner, although there was a baptist church in Colnbrook, and the gentlemen above referred to were both baptists. He mentioned his difficulties to Mr. Foster, of whom he was highly fond, but, of course, was unable to gain anything satisfactory; pursuing his inquiries, he was ultimately led to the baptist meeting in Church Street, Blackfriar's Road, and was baptized by the pastor, the late Rev. James Upton, in or about the year 1804. He became an active visitor of the sick in connexion with the society connected with that church, and also with another connected with the Hoxton Academy chapel; and in this work of faith he might truly be said to "labour in season and out of season." Here it was that he met with her to whom he was afterwards united, and with whom, for fortyfive years, he shared the vicissitudes of the present state. It might truly be said she was to him the sharer of his joys and the soother of his sorrows, as well as the cooperator in every work of faith and labour of love; frequently in her early days did she accompany him in his works of Christian benevolence; and when age and infirmities prevented active duties, as frequently did she

invite the poor to her own habitation, not only to relieve them from her purse, but also to assist them by her counsels; for after a life of Christian activity, her advice was judicious; and it is no perversion of the words in her case, that "when the eye saw her it blessed her, and when the ear heard her it gave heed to her." Thus sustained by divine grace, they walked happily together, taking active positions in the Bible and Bethel Union Societies, besides subscribing for many years to the various societies of our own denomination, while circumstances permitted. "If a man live many days, and rejoice in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many." This truth was painfully experienced by Mr. Perkins, who was unexpectedly attacked with paralysis after leaving the Lord's table on the first sabbath of the year 1838, thereby depriving him for a season of the use of his limbs, but ultimately causing him to be wrecked in every position, both of body and mind, so that for the last few years of his life he was perfectly unconscious of passing events. To dwell on the kindness and affectionate treatment manifested by Mrs. Perkins towards him in this unhappy state for the long period of fourteen years, would be unnecessary; it was witnessed by many Christian friends, many of whom were thereby led to admire the grace of God in her.

In the autumn of the year it became evident that his afflictions would be brought to close ere many weeks. It is not improbable, that the announcement of this fact by medical testimony might have been the first prelude to her own dissolution; yet still, she thought to have survived him, and that her own wish would be realized, that he would be the first to enter into rest, and she would shortly follow. God's ways, however, are not as our ways. Other circumstances painfully occurred which worked upon her system already weakened by disease, and in the course of ten days released her from all her troubles and cares. The Master came and called for her, conveying her to her heavenly inheritance on the 7th November, 1851, in her 72nd year.

MRS. JONES.

Died, January 24, 1852, at Hackney, Mrs. Mary Jones, late of Loughton, Essex, relict of Mr. Thomas Jones, formerly of Stony Street, Southwark, in the ninety-first year of her age.

The following account is taken from a memorandum supposed to be in her own handwriting, in which the commencement of her Christian life is stated to have been in the year 1782.

(afterwards Dr. Rippon) about making a She says she first spoke to Mr. Rippon public profession of religion on the 18th of October, 1782; on the 21st she went before the church, on the 27th was baptized, and

on the 3rd of November was admitted as a member of the church.

On one of these occasions Mr. Rippon preached from Ps. lxviii.: "Strengthen, O Lord, what thou hast wrought in us." She adds: "Thou, O Lord, hast wrought great things for me, whereof I am glad! O help me to praise thee for thy loving kindness and saving mercy to me an unworthy sinner. O gracious Saviour and kind Father, do thou be pleased to encourage this poor heart of mine in the work it is engaged in, to thy honour and my eternal felicity and joy." After hearing another sermon on the death of the wicked, she writes: "Lord, let me not die the death of the wicked. Lord, from this time make me to think more of death, judgment, and eternity, and to remember, though young, I am hastening to the grave, the place appointed for all flesh; and however long or short my stay on earth may be, may I be helped through thy Spirit's influence to improve my fleeting time, to make much of thyself, thy Spirit, and thy word; and then at last, clothed with thy righteousness, saved with an everlasting salvation, redeemed by the blood of Christ, freed from the sins of my nature, the sins of my practice, above all the sins of my deceitful heart, I shall sing with the redeemed above the song of Moses and the Lamb for ever and ever. Amen.

"And must this body die,

This mortal frame decay?"

Their remains were deposited in the Highgate Cemetery, Mr. C. Smith of Cumberland Street, where she had lately worshipped, officiating at the grave; and thus is produced another of the many instances of those who were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in death were not divided.

lemn tribunal, my soul, thou wilt be there to receive thy sentence, "Come ye blessed," or that awful sentence, "Depart ye cursed." Lord, help me to consider and try my ways, to know whether I have an interest in thy righteousness; and if I have I shall not be afraid of thee, O death1 Though at present subject to bondage through fear, has not my Lord and Master obtained the victory and disarmed the king of terrors, and promised