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tachment to her Saviour. Some people talk religion: she lived it. She was never much subject to religious excitement; she was not afflicted with spasms of piety. She walked along the narrow path, instead of travelling it by bounds, and then halting for breathing times. Peace and progress marked her life, and peacefully she died. I found her always to possess two things characteristic of genuine religion-confidence and composure; two blessed things, inseparable as any cause and effect can be. No ecstasy was exhibited in her last hour-no unwonted tide of rapture flowing through her soul. It was the happy child falling asleep in the Parent's arms. It is not given to all men to have overflowings of glory in the "valley of the shadow of Death;" and that is an unhealthy state of soul which is manifested by sore disappointment when there is no blissful shoutings in life's last and most solemn moment. The Master cried, in bitterness of soul, when he died, and sometimes his most holy disciples depart in like manner. It more becomes us to know the manner of the life than the death. How, then, lived our late sister? A calm, quiet, unobtrusive Christian life, and departed like ripe fruit loosening from the autumnal bough, which, with a gentle touch, often by a passing wind, falls off. From maidenhood to death she was a consistent member of the Church below; and, like a tree that has first taken root in some earthen vessel, and experienced a preparatory growth, the great Husbandman has transplanted her into his Paradise above

"Where time may not breathe on her fadeless bloom."

J. C. WILLIAMS.

MR. HENRY HOLLOWAY. OUR excellent brother, Mr. Henry Holloway, of Five Ways, Dudley Circuit, died in the Lord on Monday, the 13th of January.

He was an intelligent man, an agreeable friend, an exemplary Christian, a useful member of society, a devoted leader, an effective office-bearer, and always alive to the interests of the circuit and to the welfare of the entire Connexion.

In social life he sustained a very honourable position, and was much respected by all who knew him. Business

called him frequently from home, and it was whilst on a distant journey that he became acquainted with the Pearl of great price. One day the Spirit operated powerfully upon his mind, and, under its gracious influence, he retired to some solitary spot, in the open air, and there gave himself unto the Lord. A sense of pardon was realized whilst upon his knees, that filled him with joy and peace, and was often mentioned afterwards with feelings of devout gratitude, and to the praise and glory of God.

The estimation in which he was held by the friends in this circuit was strikingly manifested at the last quarterly meeting, when he was nominated as the delegate to the ensuing Conference. In less than one fortnight after that his happy spirit was called to join the Church above, in the 54th year of his age.

The sympathies of this large circuit gather warmly around his sorrowing widow and fatherless children, in whose experience, we trust, the faithful promises of a covenant-keeping God will be fully realized, until all his gracious purposes are accomplished, in bringing the whole family together in fellowship before the throne. M. Y.

Dudley, Feb., 1862.

MR. WILLIAM HUGHES, OF BISTRE, FLINTSHIRE, ENTERED into rest on Wednesday, February 26th, 1862, in the 67th year of his age. Our departed brother became identified with our community about fifty years ago, and has maintained an honourable position as a local preacher for nearly forty-five years. Thirty-five years of the most active period of his religious life were spent in Liverpool. For a long while his life has been one of suffering, especially during the winter months; but there was no impatient murmuring. He was mercifully sustained, and his end was peace. J. CANDELET. Hawarden.

A fuller account of Mr. Hughes may be expected.

THOMAS WILD

DIED at Longton, on Tuesday, 28th of January, 1862, aged sixty-nine years. Brother Wild was for some years identified with our church at Chester; but for the last ten years he was a member

with us at Shrewsbury. About four or five months ago his health declined, and he went to reside with a relative at Longton, where death terminated his sufferings. He was an ardent lover of the means of grace, and a man of fervent prayer. He was, during his residence in Shrewsbury, the life and soul of the Sunday morning seven o'clock prayer-meeting. His soul has

"Escaped to the mansions of light,
And lodged in the Eden of love."
W. PACEY.

JAMES HOWARD, ESQ., DIED on the 4th ult., at his residence, Park-hill, in the 72nd year of his age. He was pre-eminently a man of peace;

meek, humble, and unassuming; kind, hospitable, and benevolent; a faithful husband, a respectable citizen, a lover of good men. He received Jesus Christ as his Saviour, looked to him as his example, and sat at his feet as the great Teacher. He lived the life of the Christian, and died in the faith of the Gospel. His death was sudden,

but safe; for on the day of his death he testified he was safe and happy, and had a bright prospect of eternal blessedness.

In his death we have lost a liberal supporter, and the Connexion a true friend. Lord, sanctify this bereaveT. W. R.

ment!

Staleybridge.

ADDRESS OF CONDOLENCE TO

To the Queen's Most Excellent
Majesty.

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR MAJESTY,—

We, your Majesty's loyal and dutiful subjects, representing the Methodist New Connexion Church, of which we are the appointed Executive, desire, in the name of our religious community, to offer to your Majesty the expression of our sincere condolence on the irreparable loss sustained by your Majesty in the death of his late Royal Highness the Prince Consort-a Prince who, by his rare talents and exalted virtues, had become dear to all hearts, and whose death the whole nation mourns with deep and heartfelt

sorrow.

While we bow with submission to the mandate that has summoned from your Majesty's side a Consort tenderly beloved; from your children a father judicious, watchful, and exemplary; and from our nation a Prince wise, noble, and generous, we gratefully recognize the hand of Divine Providence in bestowing on our country one so eminently fitted to perform the duties connected with the sphere he wisely chose and nobly occupied, to advance the arts of civilization, and to promote the progress and general well-being of the people over whom your Majesty reigns. This full conviction of the

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN. nation's loss deepens the memory of the nation's privilege.

In profound Christian sympathy with your Majesty's sorrow, we earnestly pray for your Majesty the daily bestowment of that heavenly grace, which alone can assuage the anguish of a bereaved and bleeding heart, and enable you to say, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

May your Majesty long continue to reign over a loyal and an attached people; and when the all-wise Disposer of events shall summon your Majesty from an earthly crown, may it be to inherit that "crown of glory that fadeth not away!"

Signed on behalf of the Executive Committee,

HENRY ONLY CROFTS, President of the Conference.

Whitehall, March 12, 1862. Sir, I have had the honour to lay before the Queen the loyal and dutiful address of the Methodist New Connexion Conference, on the occasion of the death of his Royal Highness the Prince Consort; and I have to inform you that Her Majesty was pleased to receive the address very graciously. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, G. GREY. The Rev. H. Only Crofts, D.D., 15, Grove-terrace, Leeds.

THE METHODIST

NEW CONNEXION MAGAZINE.

MAY, 18 6 2.

Essays, &c., on Theology and General Literature.

MAN CREATED IMMORTAL: HIS MORTALITY THE FRUIT OF SIX. A Lecture delivered at a Meeting of the Young Men's Christian Association, Longton, Feb. 26th, 1862.

BY THE REV. THOMAS ALLIN.

LOOKING at the varied forms under which vice is presented before us, and at the equally varied physical ills that accompany and follow it -ills from which the heart instinctively revolts, and which break up the deepest fountains of its griefs-the questions irresistibly force themselves on the observant mind-Whence had these evils their origin? Were they inherent in man's nature as it came out of his Creator's hand? or did they necessarily arise out of the powers with which he was endowed, and the circumstances in which he was placed? or are they alien from his original constitution and circumstances, and from the declared purposes of God concerning him? On these questions but little light is cast by the facts which natural philosophy has accumulated, or by the abstractions of metaphysics; for though these, when considered in connection with Revelation, do aid in filling up its outline and elucidating some of its statements, yet, apart from that connection, they leave us to wander amidst the darkness of ignorance, or in the labyrinths of uncertainty and doubt.

As confused or erroneous views of these interesting subjects are entertained by many professing Christians, among whom may be classed many of our young men, I have selected, as the subject of this evening's lecture, "Man created immortal: his mortality the fruit of sin." In bringing this subject before you, I shall endeavour to collect the scattered rays supplied on the one hand by Divine Revelation, and on the other by the constitution and powers of man ; and although, in doing this, I may not be able to adduce any facts or reasonings bearing the stamp of absolute originality, yet I hope to present the subject before you with a clearness, a comprehensiveness, and a harmony, by which, in some minds at least, doubts may be removed, error rectified, and the faith of the Christian confirmed.

"God," the wisest of men has stated, "made all things for him

self." A statement this to which St. Paul has given increased amplitude and force in that sublime declaration—“Of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen." And ever ought it to be distinctly borne in mind, that the noblest end which a Being of absolute perfection can propose is, by the manifestation to His intelligent offspring of the infinite glories of his character-especially the overflowings of his wise and holy love— to lead them to seek their highest happiness in the knowledge and love of Him, in the consciousness of his approving smile, and under the protection of his almighty arm. In the manifestation of the hidden glories of his mind, he called into existence beings purely spiritual; angelic natures, of whom it is recorded, "He maketh his angels spirits, his ministers a flame of fire;" and that, "when the foundations of the earth were laid, these morning stars sang together, these sons of God shouted for joy." But the overflowings of love, and the resources of creative intelligence and power, remaining unexhausted, a material universe was called into existence. Matter was formed, organized, modified, and caused to assume an almost infinite variety of magnitude and form. "The numerous worlds that throng the firmament, and ask more room in space," were placed in the vast expanse. And while, in the heavens above, suns were caused to shine, and planets to reflect their borrowed beams, on the earth beneath, the grass in its verdure, the flowers in their beauty, and the trees in their majestic forms, were made to spring forth. Insect, reptile, and beastly tribes-the fowls of the heaven and the fishes of the sea were called into being, to live under widely different forms, in widely different abodes-exercising varied powers, and enjoying an equally varied, but admirably proportioned, happiness. Thus were gradually unfolded-before the previously created angelic hosts, and during successive epochs which the human mind fails in its attempts to grasp the vast resources of "the manifold wisdom of God."

But wondrous as were the progressive developments of creative power and skill thus witnessed, the crowning point, or top-stone to the edifice, was still wanting. There yet existed no inhabitant of earth capable of understanding and admiring the infinite wisdom and power displayed, or of appreciating and rendering thanks for the immense bounty dispensed, or enabled, by a knowledge of the character and will of the Creator, and a voluntary submission to his authority, to render due homage for the whole. Man was therefore created. And still more fully to unfold the resources of creative power and wisdom, in him were combined the essentially different natures of matter and spirit. His body, in common with the bodies of the animals around him, was a material organization; but to that body was added a superior nature-an immaterial and immortal soul. The communication of this nature is not only clearly, but strongly marked by the sacred historian, in the account given by him of the creation of man. In the creation of every inferior order of beings, God is represented as simply speaking, and it is done. "Let the waters, or the earth, bring forth the moving creature having life," is the command given. As the fiat of the Omnipotent, it is the word of power; and creatures possessing animal life, with its wondrous senses, appetites, instincts, and capabilities, spontaneously present themselves. Not according

to the dreams of a "philosophy falsely so called," which would almost, or entirely, exclude God from his creation, by giving to Nature the power of producing a higher out of a lower order of beings-commencing with the mere germ, and rising by small and slow gradations up to man himself; but, as Revelation testifies, and geology demonstrates, each order of beings is created perfect in all its parts, and continues to retain its distinctive characteristics through all the future stages of its existence. But is man to be formed? The Divine procedure is not to speak and cause it to be done; but, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness," is the peculiar, the extraordinary counsel taken, and the resolution adopted. Is existence to be given to the parent of the human family? It is not said, "Let the waters, or the earth, bring forth this moving creature having life;" but when the beauteous material organism is perfected, and the body in its completeness is formed-strongly, though symbolically, to mark the communication of a distinct and a superior nature-God himself breathes into man's nostrils the breath of life, and he thus becomes "a living soul." A nature is given distinct from, and superior to, though connected with, the material organization; and man is elevated high above the brute creation, and made but a little lower than the angels, by the bestowal of a soul, bearing, in its spirituality, its intellectual and moral powers, and its immortality, the image of its Divine Creator.

Such, my young friends, is the account given in that book which you receive as a Divine, and, therefore, truthful record of the origin and constitution of man; and, therefore, of your constitution. Wisely, then, may you leave atheistic and anti-Christian philosophers to weary themselves in labouring to trace their genealogy downwards, blindly groping their way through the monkey or the ass, to the frog or the snail; while they vainly attempt to satisfy themselves with the ignominious hope that death will reduce them, in their entire persons, to the same level. But you, directed by the clearer light of Divine Revelation and a sounder philosophy, and cherishing higher and holier aspirations, find your origin in a human father-the immediate and perfect work of the Creator of the universe; endowed by him with the noblest powers by which humanity is distinguished and adorned; and fitted to enjoy, throughout eternity, a glory and a bliss transcending all that the understanding can conceive or the heart desire.

A spiritual nature, immediately derived, as we have seen, from God himself, was doubtless morally pure; and the body, though formed out of the dust, yet the immediate and special work of the Divine hand-formed particularly to reflect the glory of its mighty Maker, and to stand the finishing point and principal embellishment of the material world--no part of it weakened by disease or decay, no feature distorted by irritable temper or impetuous passion-it doubtless combined the perfections of beauty and majesty; and in man was seen the most perfect image of the Creator the lower world presented to the view.

The work thus perfect was designed to be immortal. This fact was clearly involved in the penalty annexed to original transgression. The threatening, "In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely

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