object of the meeting (which had been kept secret up to that point) became apparent, by Mr. E. Palmer being called upon to present to Mr. Robinson, on behalf of his class, a beautiful copy of "Dr. Kitto's Bible Illustrations," in eight vols., as an expression of their high appreciation of the indefatigable labour, the enlightened zeal, the high-toned piety, and the affectionate solicitude, which have uniformly characterised him in the discharge of his duties as their leader. Each volume bore the following inscription :-" This сору of Dr. Kitto's Bible Illustrations,' in eight volumes, is presented to G. L. Robinson, Esq., by the members of his Sunday morning and Wednesday evening classes, as an earnest expression of their personal affection for him as their leader, and particularly as an evidence of their appreciation of his sound Christian counsels, and the unwearied zeal he has uniformly evinced in the promotion of their spiritual interests. They unitedly pray that the great Head of the Church may spare his life, and make him still further a distinguished instrument of good to his Church and people, crowning his future days with abundant blessedness, causing his grace to dwell in him richly, that he may abound in every good word and work; and, having finished his earthly course, may he receive an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom, there to shine as the sun with many stars of rejoicing in his everlasting crown."

Mr. Robinson received this testimony of appreciation and love with considerable emotion, and responded to the many utterances of affectionate regard towards himself. Several members afterwards addressed the meeting in short and witty, telling strains. Altogether, it was a cheerful, happy, and, it is hoped, profitable meeting. If such meetings were much more frequent, many a head that hangs down would be raised-many a downcast heart would be cheered-many a weary, worn, and flagging spirit would be revived, and would live again in healthful Christian vigour and usefulness. JUSTICIA.

STAFFORD SECTION,

LONGTON CIRCUIT.

THE annual services on behalf of our Missions have just been held. On Sunday, February 19th, sermons were preached at Stafford, by the Rev. J.

On

K. Jackson (deputation), and at Stone and Enson, by Mr. R. C. Sherwin and the writer. On Monday, the 20th, the Stone meeting was held. Mr. Lawton, sen., presided, and addresses were delivered by Revs. J. K. Jackson, Lawrence (Independent), and others. The Stafford meeting was held on Tuesday, the 21st. Our old friend, Mr. Swanwick, took the chair, and we were favoured with the services of Rev. W. H. Cornish (Baptist), and Rev. J. C. Blake (Free Church of Scotland), in addition to those of the deputation. The attendance was almost double that of last year, and the meeting was one of the best that has been held at Stafford for years. Wednesday, the 22nd, another interesting meeting was held at Enson. Mr. Kinsey, Jun., presided, and Rev. J. K. Jackson and the writer advocated the Mission cause. Our Enson friends have done nobly. Last year they contributed nearly half as much more than the year previous, and this year they have almost doubled the amount contributed last year. I may just add that, although the Stafford section of the Longton Circuit raised upwards of £5 more for the Mission Fund in 1864 than in 1863, we hope that when the effort for this year is completed, 1865 will show a considerable advance on the sum raised in 1864. W. G. W.

Stafford, March 4, 1865.

HEATH STREET MISSION,

BIRMINGHAM.

THE anniversary services of this place were held on Sunday, February 26th, when sermons were preached in the morning and evening by the Rev. G. Grundy, of Dudley, and in the afternoon by the Rev. J. Wilson, of Oldbury. On Monday, a public teameeting was held. After tea, the chair was taken by Mr. Holmshaw, of Camp Hill. Addresses were then delivered by some of the ministers and friends, and the meeting was cheerful and animated in its character.

The trustees of this chapel (all working men) have had great difficulties to contend with, from the heavy debts upon the place. However, by a struggle, and with assistance from the missionary committee, these difficulties have been removed, and they are able to meet their present liabilities.

Still, however, there remains one great hindrance to the advancement of

this cause. It is that the chapel has not that comfort and neatness about it which is desirable in a place of worship; therefore the congregations are small, although the neighbourhood is thickly populated with poor people, and the means of religious accommodation small in proportion.

As we are about to make an effort that our chapel may be more comfortable and inviting, we appeal to all generous friends for assistance.

W. ASQUITH BAKER.

DEWSBURY MISSION

ANNIVERSARY.

ON Lord's day, February 12th, two able sermons were preached here on behalf of our missions, by the Rev. T. D. Crothers, of Halifax. On the following evening, a public meeting was held, the Rev. W. Wilshaw in the chair. The report was read by the Rev. J. Haslam, and telling addresses were delivered by the Revs. T. D. Crothers, T. Guttridge, T. Pearson (Wesleyan), G. McCallum (Independent), J. Harvey (Primitive Methodist), and W. Reynolds. The collections are in advance of last year, which is much to the honour of our Dewsbury friends, after the noble efforts they have made for their new chapel, and also having raised the handsome sum of more than £200 by the ladies' sewing meetings during the year, and their sales at Christmas.

The services held at Mirfield and Hanging Heaton, usually held during the same week as those at Dewsbury, were held in the month of October, when effective service was rendered by the Rev. C. Hibbert, the deputation. At both places we had good meetings, and the collections are in advance of the amount raised last year, while a vigorous effort has just been set on foot at Mirfield to augment the sum already raised.

MANCHESTER NORTH. ON Sunday, March 5th, the annual sermons in behalf of our missions were

preached in Salem Chapel, Manchester, in the chapels at Culcheth, Crab Lane, and Failsworth, and in the Temperance Hall, Miles-Platting.

The missionary meetings were well commenced at Failsworth, on Saturday, March 4th, Mr. J. Hadfield (of Copster Hill) presided, and gave an earnest and happy tone to the proceedings.

On Sunday, the 5th, a similar ex

cellent meeting was held at MilesPlatting. On Monday, we had the Salem meeting, our devoted friend, Mr. Turner, presiding. On the platform were the Revs. D. Sheldon and L. Stoney (deputation); the President of the United Methodist Free Churches; the Revs. J. Medicraft, J. Taylor, R. Henshaw, J. Shaw, and other gentlemen. The report showed an increase on last year's income, which again was an advance of £21 18s. 8d. on the preceding year. The committee had passed resolutions recommending to the general committee (in accordance with Conference resolution) that a grand district missionary meeting be held in the Free Trade Hall," in October last. As no action had been taken in the matter, it was probable that the local committee would make the requisite preparation for holding such a meeting towards the close of the present year. The meetings at Culcheth and Crab Lane were excellent in spirit, and consequently in financial result. Every place in the circuit has advanced on last year, and we have every reason to anticipate much greater progress during the year on which we are entering.

JOHN TALENT. Cheetham, Manchester, March 13, 1865.

MISSION SERVICES,

BRADFORD CIRCUIT.

THE anniversary sermons in aid of our Missions were preached at Bradford and Pudsey on Sunday, March 5th; at the former place by the Rev. T. Masterman, of Huddersfield, and the Rev. N. Stevens, Wesleyan minister, and at Pudsey by the Rev. Thomas Guttridge.

The annual meeting was held at Bradford on Monday, March 6th, under the able presidency of J. G. Heaps, Esq., of Leeds. The meeting, which was well attended (as were the services on Sunday), was ably addressed by the Revs. T. Masterman (deputation), H. J. Betts (Baptist), R. Smith (Primitive), W. Holmes, T. Guttridge, J. J. Kelley, and Messrs. Shane, Pollard, &c.

On Tuesday, March 7th, at the Pudsey meeting, our much-esteemed friend Mr. Councillor Pollard occupied the chair, and gave a most excellent tone to the meeting in his opening remarks, and referred in sympathetic terms to the death of the President of the Wesleyan Conference (announced

in the papers that day), and, from this impressive event, called upon the Church to work earnestly, and to work

now.

He was followed by the esteemed deputation, and the Revs. A. Hoskings (Wesleyan), J. Atkinson (Independent), T. Guttridge, W. James, Messrs. Shaw, Hepper, Pogson, and Boyes.

It is gratifying to be able to report that the missionary spirit in this circuit is steadily improving. Last year we raised more than £70, which was £14 in advance of the previous year, and £25 more than in 1862. This year we hope to do more than we did last, and thus far our efforts show a pleasing increase.

Much praise is due to the collectors through the entire circuit, and to several young friends at Bradford, who by a united effort, under the able superintendence of Mrs. Guttridge, presented to the funds £10 10s., as the halfproceeds of a Christmas Tree held in January last.

THOMAS E. HEPPER, Secretary.

BATLEY.

OUR appointed missionary deputation, the Rev. W. Mills, having been called home by the great Head of the Church, the Rev. T. Clifton, of Blyth, kindly responded to the invitation of our friends; and on Lord's day, March 5th, he preached two excellent sermons. On the Monday evening, a public meeting was held in the chapel, when Mr. John Brooke presided. The report was read by the Rev. J. Haslam, and able addresses were delivered by the Revs. J. Rea (Independent), C. Hibbert, H. Grayham (Wesleyan), T. Clifton, W. Reynolds, and Messrs. Taylor, A. Blakeley, and R. Heppleston. Collections were very good. friends here do nobly for the missions.

Our

On the same Sabbath, sermons were preached at Adwalton, by the Rev. T. Clifton, and the Rev. W. Reynolds. A public meeting was held on the Tuesday evening, when Mr. A. Webster occupied the chair. Addresses were delivered by the Revs. T. Clifton, W.

Wilshaw, W. Reynolds, and Mr. Turner. These services were well attended, and the collections in advance of last year. W.

CHAPEL BUILDING.

Hull, 16th March, 1865. REV. SIR,-Referring to my communication on the above subject, and to your remarks thereon, I wish by the present to correct my figures, and also to further explain the working of the system I propose.

Our Connexion numbered, at the time of the last Conference, in round numbers, 23,400, independently of home missions, and of course, colonial and foreign missions.

Now, if this 23,400 were to contribute each one penny per week, as I before proposed, it would raise the noble sum of £5,070.

Again, supposing we build five chapels annually, at a cost of £10,000,--Say 1 at a cost of £4,000

It will at once be seen that the subscription I propose would pay for half the cost of all the chapels we build.

Your remarks on my last communication would lead us to infer that a new chapel is wanted in every circuit; but this is not the case.

Allowing that we want new chapels in one-third of our circuits, say twentytwo, it follows that these could, on the scale I have given, be had in about five years.

Some might suppose that this would diminish individual exertion, but that is not the case, as the circuits benefited would still have the other half of the cost of their chapel to labour for. Don't you think some system of this kind might be adopted?

I am, Rev. Sir,
Yours sincerely and respectfully,
A SECRETARY OF TRUSTEES.

MR. JOSEPH MILLS, HANLEY. My brother Joseph intensely desired to live. Six children, a wife, and other

objects of family love, bound his heart strongly to the present life. His children greatly needed paternal over

sight, and he feared lest, if he were absent from earth, they might the more readily fall into temptation. His home, his circumstances, and his family and church relations were so happy that, when he knew that he must shortly die, he one day said to me, with great earnestness, "If I could have my own desire, if I really could have my own will, I certainly would live. But if the will of God be that I shall die, I am quite resigned, for I have no fear." Indeed, until the last few weeks of his life, he fully expected to live. For a period of more than five years insidious and all-conquering disease was pursuing its work of destruction in his body, which naturally was so strong as to give promise of longevity equal to that of his father, who lived to his eightieth year. The tenacity of life in him astonished his physician, and what surprised him and every one still more, was the moral courage which never quailed or despaired, or was in the slightest degree depressed. When every one saw death in his face, he was as confident of life as when his health was robust. It was astonishing to witness the invincible spirit with which he sustained the unequal conflict with that fatal power to which, in some form, every man must finally succumb. But the truth slowly dawned upon his mind. It was deemed best that he himself should discover it, for there was no reason whatever why he should be told that he was about to die. As the conviction gradually grew up in his mind, there was no discontent, no rebellious self-will, no undue clinging of heart to the world, notwithstanding his strong love to life. The tears streamed on his cheeks as he declared his perfect submission to the will of God, so soon as he learned the Divine will, from symptoms which even he could no longer misunderstand; and he expressed a wish to be buried by the side of his beloved friend, Mr. Poole, who, like himself, had, during many years, been a class-leader in our Upper Hanley church. Indeed, towards the last he desired to die, preferring to depart from a condition of great suffering "to be with Christ, which is far better."

Surely no man ever had less fear of death than he. When he visited me in Wolverhampton we conversed on the full assurance of hope. He then had paroxysms of coughing every morning, and his face had then lost the hues of health; but he was buoyant, active, and

energetic as he had been wont to be. The thought of dying makes most men uneasy; but it did not trouble him. He almost laughed at fear. And as he approached "the inevitable hour," I asked him if he felt, in any degree, the fear of death. As he replied, a smile covered his face, and he said, “Fear! I don't know what the fear of death is. Why should I fear?" And so he asked, during his visit to my family in Wolverhampton, "Why should I fear to die?" Such a defiant query might be the effect of ignorant and pharisaical presumption, as well as of Christian faith. But in him all fear was completely vanquished by simple faith in Christ. He had lived in the most strictly moral manner from his childhood. Impurity, intemperance, worldliness, and levity, are vices of which no one ever suspected him. Meanness and deception he held in abomination. All his instincts were honourable. A moral wrong awakened intense anger and sternness. In truth, he was occasionally too stern and severe. A little more suavity would have added beauty to his character, and would have made him an object of less fear and of greater love. His manners might have been gentler and more endearing; and yet he was truly affectionate, notwithstanding that he was not very demonstrative in his love. His whole life was blameless, but he was not a Pharisee. The element of self-righteousness was not in any degree in him-at all events, not since my residence in Hanley, during the last year of his life, which enabled me to study his Christian character. He had no self-trust, but rested only and altogether in Christ; and such was his confidence in him, that he would as soon have expected the laws of Nature to change as God to fail in the fulfilment of his word. He believed each promise in the Gospel to be absolute and immutable as any natural law; and as he humbly and penitently trusted in Jesus, he was as fearless of death and of entering the spirit world as an angel of heaven. To many his confidence seemed wonderful. Yet why should it have been so, when we are distinctly told that, "As God is true, all the promises of God in Christ are yea and Amen ?" (2 Cor. i. 18-20.) In my many visits to him I always found him perfectly happy in Christ. Whether better or worse in health, when he was confident of life, or in extreme pros

tration, when he had resigned himself up to death, his experience was the same. He was not a doubting Christian, but was always sure of heaven. Occasionally he gave utterance to the strongest expressions of selfrenunciation, and of the fullest assurance of faith in Christ; and quoted some of the most precious couplets and verses from our hymnbook, to express his faith, and hope, and joy in the Lord. Several times he said, as I conversed with him

"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 my heart it doth dance at the
sound of his name."

At such times he would clasp his hands with an air of great energy and devotion; his uplifted eyes were filled with tears; and the expressions in his countenance, of the mingled emotions of clinging faith, and ecstatic triumph of a soul that was conscious of being helpless in itself, were such as may be imagined, but cannot be described-at all events, not by me.

My last interview with him was on the 21st of June, 1864, about half an hour before he died. His countenance was indicative both of death and of heaven. He could not speak; he was only just able to look. We, all who were present, knelt before the mercyseat, and, with many tears, entreated his relief from mortal anguish, and his speedy admittance into heaven. Every word in that prayer seemed to be answered, first in relief to his suffering frame, and then in his release from a dying life into life eternal. Well may every one who beheld his protracted and distressing suffering, deprecate all that he endured; and well may all say, who witnessed his patience and peace, his invincible faith, and full assurance of hope to the end, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his."

It would scarcely become me to write a eulogy upon his character, nor is a church magazine intended to eulogize men, be they living or dead; but it will be a gratification to the members of my dear brother's class to state that, several years before his death, they presented him with a testimonial in writing, glazed and framed, of their high sense of the pastoral services he

WILLIAM WARR,

MOUNT PLEASANT.

WILLIAM, the son of James and Sarah Warr, was born at the Delph, near Brierley Hill, in the Stourbridge Circuit, in the year 1804. In the absence of facts, I know but little of the early life of our departed brother. At an early age his parents sent him to the Church of England school; but, like other young men, he grew up a stranger to vital godliness. His father, being a trustee and member of the choir at the Wesleyan Chapel, Mount Pleasant, induced his son to attend with the rest of the family. He continued to attend until the year 1834, when a gracious revival of God's work broke out, and our brother was brought under its loving influence. Our brother ascribes his conversion to Messrs. Hartshorn and Round, two devoted men of God, who led him to the foot of the cross. It was then that he became a new creature in Christ Jesus. No longer did he feel satisfied with the companions with whom he previously associated, his heart was renewed by Divine grace; the things he loved before had now lost their charms. united himself with the church, and continued a consistent member until the division took place about the year 1835, when his father and the rest of the family joined our connexion. His father became a trustee and zealous supporter of the cause of God, and continued so until the day of his death.

He

Our departed brother took an active part in the prayer-meetings and other means of grace, and manifested a spirit of kindness and love to those connected with the church. Our brother was not a noisy, boisterous Christian, but he was lamb-like and gentle, showing all gravity in his deportment, and passing the time of his sojourning here in fear.

In the year 1849 the church thought fit to elect him as a leader. His experience was plain and pointed, his advice sound and scriptural; he felt anxiously concerned for the eternal salvation of those committed to his care. When his class was almost deserted, his wife on his return home would say, "Well, William, how many have you had at class to-night ?" With