be well." "Wherefore should a living man complain-a man for the punish ment of his sins."

On Sunday evening, December 12, a decided change took place. She requested her husband, who for several days had been laid aside by illness, to pray with her, by which she was greatly refreshed. During the night she was often engaged in repeating hymns and passages of Scripture. She was greatly comforted by the hymns which comBegone unbelief, my Saviour is near;" ." 66 Jesus, refuge of my soul;" "Rock of ages cleft for me;" and the 23rd and 91st Psalms. Once she said, "I must sing."

mence,

66

In this state of mind she continued till Tuesday morning, when she became much worse, and but little hope was entertained. When her husband entered the room, she said: "My dear, I think I shall die." As soon as he could suppress the feelings produced by this expression, he said: "Tell me what is the state of your mind? Can you now rest upon that sweet promise: I will never leave thee nor forsake thee?" " She replied, "Yes." To her medical attendant she said, "Do you think I shall die?" and receiving no answer, she said to her husband, "He thinks I am in danger; but he will tell you." Her husband then read to her Isaiah xliii. 1-3, by which she seemed greatly supported. He then asked her again to tell him the state of her mind. She said: "I rest entirely on Jesus Christ." He then said: "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee." She continued the quotation with great emphasis: "Because he trusted in thee." When informed of her danger, she calmly replied: "I must refer it all to him who cannot err, nor be unkind." Observing her husband weeping, she said: "Do not distress yourself. I shall be delivered out of this world of sin and suffering. Are you willing to give me up?" He replied: "That is a hard question; but I wish to leave you in the hands of our heavenly Father. Let us look to him in this trying hour."

She then requested him to pray with her. Afterwards she said: "A good hope through grace." He said: "Have you that hope?" She replied, "Yes; but I expect I shall yet have severe sufferings." He replied: "Well, my dear, do not fear them;" and then quoted the lines of Watts:

"For death and hell can do no more"

As he could not proceed for tears and emotion, she finished the lines with the greatest complacency:

"Than what my Father please."

She then appeared to be engaged in fervent prayer, and was heard to say, “My dear husband"-" Father"- -"Mother' -"Brothers"-" Sisters," -as if commending them to God. A Christian friend afterwards observing her in prayer, said: "You know the value of the Saviour now. Is he not precious?" "Yes," she replied; "very precious." She then expressed her solicitude for the comfort of her weeping husband; and spoke of the happiness that her union with him had afforded. Her friend said, "The Lord will sustain you." She replied, "I know he will." These were her last words; her happy spirit departed to enter "the inheritance of the saints in

upon

light."

Her mortal remains were interred in the family vault at Wingham on the following Saturday. The funeral services were conducted by the Revs. H. J. Bevis, of Ramsgate, and H. J. Rook, of Faversham. On the following Sabbath her death was improved at Wingham by the Rev. H. J. Rook, from Heb. xii. 23; and at Sandwich, by the Rev. H. J. Bevis, from Col. i. 12, 13. Both chapels were crowded. The tears shed on that occasion testified the affection with which she was regarded. May the impressions then produced never be forgotten.

Thus terminated the earthly career of this servant of Christ, in her twentyninth year, and only sixteen months after her marriage. Her afflicted and bereaved partner and friends are cheered by the remembrance of her deep-toned piety; by the conviction that, for some time past, she had been ripening for glory, and by the blessed hope which she has left behind. What a lesson to all of the uncertainty of life, and of the of power religion to support in death! May her early removal lead those who knew and loved her, to ponder the words of Solomon, Eccles. ix. 10: "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might: for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest." Reader! should you be called by death, suddenly and unexpectedly, would you be found as little surprised and as well prepared?

Sandwich, June 5, 1848.

A CHAPTER FOR YOUNG HUSBANDS. WALKING the other day with a valued friend, who had been confined a week or two by sickness to his room, he remarked that a husband might learn a good lesson by being confined occasionally to his house, by having in this way an opportunity of witnessing the cares and neverending toils of his wife, whose burden, and duties, and patient endurance he might never have otherwise understood. There is a great deal in this thought. Men, especially young men, are called by their business during the day mostly away from home, returning only at the hours for meals; and as they then see nearly the same routine of duty, they begin to think it is their own lot to perform all the drudgery, and to be exercised with all the weight of care and responsibility. But such a man has got a very wrong view of the case; he needs an opportunity for more extended observation, and it is perhaps for this very reason that a kind Providence arrests him by sickness, that he may learn in pain what he would fail to observe in health. We have seen recently a good many things said in the papers to wives, especially to young wives, exposing their faults, perhaps magnifying them, and expounding to them, in none of the kindest terms, their duty and the offices pertaining to a woman's sphere. Now, we believe that wives, as a whole, are really better than they are generally admitted to be. We doubt if there can be found a large number of wives who are disagreeable and negligent, without some palpable coldness or short-coming on the part of their husbands. So far as we have had an opportunity for observation, they are far more devoted and faithful than those who style themselves their lords, and who, by the customs of society, have other and generally more pleasant and varied duties to perform. We protest, then, against these lectures so often and so obtrusively addressed to the ladies, and insist upon it that they must-most of them-have been written by some fusty bachelor who knew no better, or by some inconsiderate husbands who deserve to have been old bachelors to the end of their lives. But is there nothing to be said on the other side? Are husbands so generally the perfect, amiable, injured beings they are so often represented? Men sometimes

declare that their wives' extravagance have picked their pockets-that their never-ceasing tongues have robbed them of their peace, and their general disagreeableness has driven them to the tavern and gaming-table; but this is generally the wicked excuse for a most wicked life on their own part. The fact is, men often lose their interest in their homes by their own neglect to make their homes interesting and pleasant. It should never be forgotten that the wife has her rights as sacred after marriage as before; and a good husband's devotion to the wife after marriage will concede to her quite as much attention as his gallantry did while a lover. If it is otherwise, he most generally is at fault.

Take a few examples. Before marriage a young man would feel some delicacy about accepting an invitation to spend an evening in company where his lady love had not been invited. After marriage is he always as particular? During the days of courtship his gallantry would demand that he should make himself agreeable to her; after marriage it often happens that he thinks more of being agreeable to himself. How often it happens that married men, after having been away from home the live-long day, during which the wife has toiled at her duties, go at evening again to some place of amusement, and leave her to toil on alone, uncheered and unhappy! How often it happens that her kindest offices pass unobserved and unrewarded even by a smile, and her best efforts are condemned by the fault-finding husband! How often it happens, even when the evening is spent at home, that it is employed in silent reading, or some other way that does not recognize the wife's right to share in the enjoyments even of the fire

side!

Look, ye husbands, a moment, and remember what your wife was when you took her, not from compulsion, but from your own choice-a choice based, probably, on what you then considered her superiority to all others. She was young -perhaps the idol of a happy home; she was gay and blithe as the lark, and the brothers and sisters at her father's fireside cherished her as an object of endearment. Yet she left all to join her destiny with yours; to make your home happy, and to do all that woman's love

could prompt and woman's ingenuity devise, to meet your wishes and lighten the burdens which might press upon you in your pilgrimage. She, of course, had her expectations too. She could not entertain feelings which promised so much without forming some idea of reciprocation on your part, and she did expect you would after marriage perform those kind offices of which you were so lavish in the days of betrothment. She became your wife! left her own home for yours-burst asunder, as it were, the bands of love which had bound her to her father's fireside, and sought no other boon than your affections; left, it may be, the ease and delicacy of a home of indulgence-and now, what must be her feelings if she gradually awakes to the consciousness that you love her less than before; that your evenings are spent abroad; that you only come home at all to satisfy the demands of your hunger, and to find a resting-place for your head when weary, or a nurse for your sick chamber when diseased?

Why did she leave the bright hearth of her youthful days? Why did you ask her to give up the enjoyment of a happy home? Was it simply to darn your stockings, mend your clothes, take care of your children, and watch over your sick bed? Was it simply to conduce to your own comfort? Or was there some understanding that she was to be made happy in her connection with the man she dared to love?

Nor is it a sufficient answer that you reply that you give her a home; that you feed and clothe her. You do this for your help; you would do it for an indifferent housekeeper. She is your wife, and unless you attend to her wants, and in some way answer the reasonable expectations you raised by your attentions before marriage, you need not wonder if she be dejected, and her heart sunk into insensibility; but if this be so, think well who is the cause of it. We repeat it, very few women make indifferent wives, whose feelings have not met with some outward shock by the indifference or thoughtlessness of their husbands. It is our candid opinion that, in a large majority of the instances of domestic misery, the man is the aggressor.

OBEDIENCE OF WIVES. WHY should wives be obedient?

1. Because God commands them to be. -He says, "Wives, submit yourselves

unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord; for the husband is head of the wife, even as Christ is of the church," Eph. v. 22, 23. I Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as is fit in the Lord," Col. iii. 18. "Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands," 1 Peter iii. 1. Nothing in the Bible is plainer than this. It is as plainly said that wives should obey their husbands, as it is we should not steal. Therefore, it is no more right for them to disobey their husbands than it is to steal; provided, always, that their husbands do not wish them to do anything contrary to the law of God.

2. Because it is essential to good order in their families.-Whenever two or more persons are associated in doing anything, one must have the lead in the management of the business, if they would do it to the best advantage. They may be equals in every other respect; but one must be leader in that business. When many are associated they may divide the business, so that one will be leader in one part of it, and another in another part; and these leaders may be equal in dignity and importance; but leader or leaders there must always be. Fourierites, or Socialists, have sought to do without a leader; but somehow or other, either one will become the leader and head of the whole community, or several will become leaders in the several departments of its business. So in the family. There must be a leader or head in it; and God says it should be the husband and father. Wives, who acknowledge God as the head and ruler of the world, should, therefore, obey him by acknowledging their husbands as heads and

rulers of their families.

3. Because it is the way for them to be happy.-Obedience to rightful authority is always pleasant to one who has a right disposition. Obedience to God is always pleasant to the right-feeling Christian, because he loves him, and therefore loves to please him; and obedience to her husband is always pleasant to a good wife, because she loves him, and therefore loves to please him.

4. Because it is the way to make children obedient. It would be impossible to train up children to cheerful and constant obedience without the example of obedience set by their mother, or by her who in the care of them occupies a mother's place. This is doubtless a principal reason, if not the principal one, why God commands them to be obedient.

A family of disobedient children would be an evil and unhappy one; and a world of disobedient people would be a bad and wretched one; and if children are brought up without obedience, they will be apt to become disobedient men and women; and not only disobedient to human authority, but to God also; and so go to make a wretched world. This is the natural course of things, if wives are disobedient-1st, disobedient wives; 2nd, disobedient children; 3rd, disobedient men and women; 4th, disobedient and ruined immortals.

Reader, I appeal to your own observation and common sense. Is not this the natural and common course of things if wives are disobedient? If there are some exceptions, should not the common result influence our opinion and practice? Is not this, then, a weighty reason for the obedience of wives; the reason that it is the way to make children obedient?

"A word to the wise is sufficient;" and, therefore, to wise wives I need not say more; and "though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar, yet will not his foolishness depart from him ;" and, therefore, to foolish wives it would be useless to say more.

A HINT TO DEACONS.

SIR, Will you allow me, through the medium of the CHRISTIAN WITNESS, to press upon deacons the duty and importance of promptly collecting and paying in their ministers' salaries?

I know some deacons, who always have it announced at the quarter, that "the time has again arrived for paying the subscriptions ;" and who express a hope, that they will be paid in promptly;" but who, nevertheless, do not go round to collect them for a month, or two months, and sometimes even longer, after the announcement. The consequence of this is, that their minister's salary is always a quarter, and frequently a half year behind. Now, many of our ministers in small towns and villages must, under the most favourable circumstances, find it difficult to provide for themselves and families; and certainly it is too bad that that difficulty should be increased through the negligence of their deacons. Such negligence is the occasion of many evils. It often places ministers in most anxious circumstances, which weigh down their spirits, depress their minds, injure their health, and impede their usefulness. It is calculated, moreover, to render subscribers careless as to whether they pay or not; and poor persons, who lay by a trifle weekly for the purs

pose, when they find the collector does not come, are tempted to spend it; and the consequence is, that when at length he does call, their subscriptions are not forthcoming. It is to be wished that some deacons were placed for a time in their minister's circumstances; for after that, instead of increasing his difficulties and anxieties, they would labour hard to make him as comfortable as possible.

I am aware there are some deacons who, in consequence of their business, find it difficult to give that attention to their official duties which they ought. With respect to such, I would beg to suggest, whether it is not their duty to follow one of two courses-viz., either to resign their office, or else to adopt some plan for assisting themselves in it. For the benefit of those who possess neither time nor facilities for inventing a plan, I may mention the following:-Let separate persons be appointed for each of the sides of the chapel, and the middle, and for each of the galleries, whose duty it shall be to collect the subscriptions, and pay them in promptly at the end of the quarter to the deacons. In connection with each of these, let a young lady be appointed, who shall receive from the collectors at the end of each week or quarter, as the case may be, a list of those who have not paid when called upon; then let the ladies call upon these defaulters for their subscriptions, and I have no doubt but it will be generally found, that those subscribers who do not mind allowing gentlemen to call two or three times, will not trouble a lady to call more than once. This plan has been adopted with great success in some places; and I mention it here for the benefit of those who have not heard of it.

But whether this or any other plan be adopted or not, I would earnestly exhort deacons to be faithful to their office in every respect; and among others, in promptly collecting and paying in the salaries of their ministers. P.

SPIRITUAL INDEX.

SIR,-At the suggestion of our late pastor I have kept an account of the attendance at the early prayer-meeting of the sabbath in this place, in connection with the Independent church. We, in common with others, have deplored the low state of vital godliness in our days, and, from time to time, have discussed the question, What are the best means of promoting a revival? This has now given place to another, Why are not the means of God's appointment more blessed? It struck me that the book of attendance at the early prayer-meeting would throw some light upon the subject; and, on a careful

I then took the first three weeks in my book as an average of the former year, and think (as it was not known that the attendance was marked) it would give the result of 1844; it was nine, and the admissions were nine. Is it so, that God" will be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them?" And are we to take this as an index of success? Then an awful responsibility rests on the church of Christ, and woe be to them when they know their Lord's will and do it not!

I am, Sir,

Your obedient servant, OBSERVER.

Te, May 8, 1848.

AN EFFICIENT MINISTRY.

To the Editor of the Christian Witness. SIR,-Mr. George Wilson, in your Number for the present month, enters upon a most important subject. Let him lay aside all his fears of being censured for its introduction to the notice of your readers. Though he is a "layman," he has presented an inquiry which every Christian, especially of our own denomination, must consider with painful interest. While he rejoices, as we all do, at the zeal and liberality of our denomination, as shown in the proposal to raise £50,000 for building Independent chapels in London, he yet asks," Why is it that in so many of the chapels already built the cause can hardly be sustained?" This is his main inquiry; and then he proceeds to say, "That such is the case we all know, and mourn over it. Is not the cause too often to be traced to the want of a suitable ministry?" "What is to be done to obtain such a ministry?" Where does the fault lie? With our pastors?-our churches?-our colleges? the hearers at large?-or with all these? What means can we employ, on which we may expect God's blessing, to obtain a suitable ministry?"

I have been several years in the ministry, and my observations concur with Mr. W.'s, that the generality of our congregations are weakly rather than thriving. I am most decided in the opinion that the general rule, having comparatively few exceptions, is, that good preaching will bring good congregations, and will, under God, prove the most effectual of all means to secure true prosperity in our churches. I cast

no reflections on my many amiable and excellent brethren who have small congregations, (my own is small); but I venture the assertion, which will be believed by great numbers, that the great want of all denominations throughout England is-good preaching.

How is this want to be supplied? Here it is agreed on all hands that it is only the Spirit of God who can work efficiently. But this is not the inquiry. We are asking what instrumentality this blessed Agent is most likely to honour for this purpose. Now, whilst all classes in our denomination are to some extent blameable for this evil, none among us have the remedy so completely within their power as the committees and tutors of our colleges. These honoured men have a great responsibility, and great need of our prayers. It is to them we look for the training of the young ministry, and according to the pursuits and habits which they inculcate is the young minister made or marred for life.

Let us look at the case for a moment. Pastors select the very choicest members of their churches, and recommend them to the colleges. These pious and promising young men enter, and remain for four or five years; being for that long period, as to all points of educational discipline, under the command of the committees and tutors of the respective institutions.

Thus we see in each college a number of our young brethren set apart from the business of the world, and brought under the entire direction of their superiors in age and learning forsay five years. What is the object of this but the preparation of these brethren for the allimportant work of the Christian ministry? It is clear that in this long parenthesis of time, taken out of the very best period of their lives, they cannot fail to receive much influence that shall follow them, for good or for evil, through life. It is not too much to expect that during this period, under the teaching and control of the tutors, their piety, their knowledge, their mental discipline, their tact in the communication of instruction to others, should all very greatly improve. We are not to expect perfection from them by the time they leave college; but we do expect they shall be young men of promise in the sublime art of saving souls by preaching Jesus. We expect this, and who will say we expect too much?

Now, so far as I know of our young ministry, and of the candidates for this honourable office in the church of the living God, there is much that calls for our most humble gratitude to our God for the grace bestowed on our brethren. But is all done that is desirable and practicable? Do we see congregations collected, kept, increased? Are sinners converted, and saints edified? Are understandings enlightened, consciences aroused, hearts melted?-are they?

We deny not that there are some most cheering scenes among our churches; but what is the general truth, de facto, upon this subject? Let every one answer according to his own observations. Should any consider that all is among us just as it ought to be, and that there are either no evils existing, or none that are capable of a remedy, let such persons disregard my remarks. But if, as is probably the case, some of your readers sympathize with Mr. W., it will be with them an interesting inquiry, Can this great evil be remedied, and how?

Many can ask this very serious question, but who can give it a satisfactory answer? All I