January 12th, 1847, in the thirty-third year of his age.

8. RICHARD SMETHAM; who was a native of Leigh, in Lancashire. Characterized by the more amiable qualities of our nature, he loved to be happy himself, and to promote, as far as possible, the happiness of those who were around him. He was a man of great Christian simplicity and sincerity. As a Minister, he never compromised his character by a light and trifling deportment, but maintained the gravity becoming the sacred office. He was diligent and punctual in his attention to all his public duties, and in visiting the sick. His ministry was plain, but respectable, such as the poor could understand; whilst it edified those who had been favoured with superior advantages. Christ was his theme; and often, whilst exhibiting him as our Saviour and Mediator, his labours were crowned with abundant tokens for good. In the year 1840 he was obliged to retire from the more active duties of a Wesleyan Minister, and became a Supernumerary: he retired to his native town, where he rendered good service to the cause of God by his labours and example. His last illness was not painful: by a gradual decay of the constitution, "the weary wheels of life" at length stood still. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace." He died, February 20th, 1847, in the seventy-fourth year of his age, and the forty-first of his ministry.

9. ROBERT PILTER; who was born in Sunderland, January 4th, 1784. Under the first Methodist sermon which he heard, he was convinced of his guilt and danger, and soon after was enabled to rest by faith on the atonement, so as to obtain redemption through the blood of Christ, the forgiveness of sins. The grace which renewed also elevated him; and the moral change which he underwent, was not more extraordinary than the immediate transformation which seemed to be produced in his mental character. At the age of fifteen he be came an active, devoted Christian, and his zealous efforts to do good were honoured of God in the conversion of sinners. Whilst yet young he was called to the work of the Christian ministry; and his earnest, faithful, and affectionate manner of proclaiming the truth made his pulpit exercises highly acceptable, and extensively useful. His knowledge of the plan of salvation was clear and experimental, and his mode of teaching it occasionally impassioned and always impressive. He was strongly, and

through life, attached to the people of his choice, and invariably took a lively interest in everything that tended to promote their purity, stability, and prosperity. He was distinguished by an amiable and benevolent disposition, which rendered his behaviour frank, ingenuous, and affectionate. He enjoyed in a high degree the confidence and esteem of his brethren in the ministry, as well as of the societies committed to his care. In domestic life, he was eminently happy, and his friendships were sincere, warm, and lasting. Soon after his appointment to the Sheffield East Circuit, in 1844, his health failed. In the summer of 1846, he went to Lisieux, in Normandy, in the hope of recruiting his health for some time that hope was encouraged; but early in the present year his illness increased; and on the 27th February, 1847, he gently passed to that rest for which God had graciously prepared him, in the sixty-fourth year of his age, and the forty-fourth of his ministry.

10. MATTHEW LUMB; who was called into our ministry by Mr. Wesley, in the year 1783. After travelling five years in England and Scotland, he offered himself for the Missionary work, and was appointed to the Antigua District, where his ministry was greatly owned of God. In the prosecution of his duty as a Christian Minister, he, in common with many of his brethren, had to encounter great opposition, and was counted worthy, while stationed in the West Indies, to suffer bonds and imprisonment in the cause, and for the sake, of his divine Master. But none of those things moved him.

While exposed to persecution, with ministerial prudence and zeal he persevered in preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ to the enslaved and degraded Negroes. In 1793 he returned to England, and steadily pursued his work until 1826, when he became a Supernumerary. He was a man of plain manners, and unpretending. As a

Preacher he was zealous and faithful. For several years his mental faculties were impaired to such a degree as to render him incapable of taking any part in those services in which he had been

so long employed. He died in peace, March 2d, 1847, in the eighty-fifth year of his age.

11. THOMAS HALL, of the Thirsk Circuit. He was brought to the knowledge of the truth under the ministry of the Rev. J. S. Pipe, in the year 1806. No sooner was he converted to God himself, than he was led deeply to compas

sionate the lost and perishing souls of men that were living around him, and felt himself constrained to preach to them Jesus, and Him crucified. This he did in many of the surrounding villages as a Local Preacher. But at length feeling impelled to devote himself wholly to the work of the ministry, he became in 1811 a candidate for our itinerancy, was recommended to the Conference, and in the same year was taken into the work. His views of divine truth were clear, comprehensive, and striking; and being fully persuaded of the truth of those doctrines which characterize the Methodist ministry, he strongly and successfully insisted on them. He was warmly attached to the discipline and constitution of Methodism, and was ever zealous and firm in maintaining them.

His uniform piety rendered his ministry generally acceptable and useful; and his affability gave him a place in the esteem of those who knew him best. His last illness was short, being only of a few days' continuance. On Friday, March 19th, 1847, he retired to rest, and had scarcely laid his head upon the pillow before he began to gasp for breath, and in a few minutes ended his earthly course, falling asleep in Jesus, in the fifty-ninth year of his age, and the thirty-sixth of his ministry.

12. JONATHAN TURNER; who was born March 9th, 1791, at Trowey, in the parish of Eckington, in the Chesterfield Circuit. He was converted to God in the year 1809, and entered upon the work of the ministry in 1811: twice, however, in the course of his career he was compelled by a loss of health to become a Supernumerary. He was a good man, of respectable abilities, evangelical in his ministry, and, until severe and protracted indisposition prostrated his strength, he preached the Gospel with great power, and often with considerable success. In his last affliction, he endured severe pain with Christian patience, and was kept in perfect peace by a heartfelt reliance on the truths to which he had been wont to give prominence in his public labours. Amongst his last expressions, was, "I have been an unprofitable servant; but the Spirit testifies my acceptance through the blood of the Lamb." He died at Torquay, on the 22d of March, 1847, in the fifty-seventh year of his age, and the thirty-sixth of his ministry.

13. JAMES MITCHELL, 1st; who was a native of Scotland. He was removed to the neighbourhood of London in early life, where he was brought to the knowledge of the truth, and became

a member of the Wesleyan society. He was called into the work of the ministry in 1833, and laboured in Scotland, and in some parts of England, with much acceptance and usefulness. He possessed a vigorous and cultivated mind, and was industrious and persevering in the pursuit of knowledge. His sermons were marked by originality, fidelity, and clearness, and were delivered with energy and effect. He was strong and unwavering in his attachment to Wesleyan doctrines and discipline, and the great principles of evangelical Protestantism. After a

In

series of domestic afflictions and bereavements, his own health failed. 1843 he became a Supernumerary, and retired among his friends in the Knaresborough Circuit. Towards the close of life his sufferings were frequently severe; but he maintained his confidence in God, and his end was peace. He died at Acomb, in the York Circuit, March 29th, 1847, aged thirty-six years.

14. JOHN POOLE. He was born at Fullingham, in Lincolnshire, in 1769. His parents were members of the Established Church, and brought up their children in conformity with its principles. In his eighteenth year Methodism was introduced into his native village, and he, with his family, cordially embraced it. This was the period of his conversion to God. From that time he became zealous in the Redeemer's service. He heartily engaged with others in attempting to introduce Methodism into the villages around him; and in prosecuting this work he endured considerable persecution. In 1799 he entered the Methodist ministry, and continued in the active performance of its duties until the year 1836, when, from feebleness and other infirmities, he was compelled to retire from its public exer. cise. His preaching was plain, pointed, and evangelical. His last illness was short. On Sunday, April the 19th, he was seized with paralysis; and from the insensibility which it occasioned he never fully recovered. There were, however, intervals of consciousness, in which he appeared to be engaged in fervent prayer, and joined in the supplications which were offered on his behalf. He died at Leeds, April 20th, 1847, in the seventyeighth year of his age.

15. JOSEPH GOSTICK; who was born at Stanion, in Northamptonshire, March 13th, 1779, of pious Dissenting parents. When about twenty years of age, under the ministry of the Wesleyan Methodists at Stamford, he was led to seek salvation through faith in Christ. After

a short time, he became a Local Preacher, and laboured in that capacity with great diligence, though not without much fear. His doubts were graciously dispelled. At this juncture, a proposal was made to him to prepare for the ministry among the Congregational Dissenters, a member of that body having generously of fered to defray the expense of his education at one of their colleges. This offer he respectfully declined. He entered our ministry in 1807, and for forty years, in the various Circuits to which he was appointed, was uniformly regarded as an upright, earnest, and laborious servant of our Lord Jesus Christ. His pulpit ministrations were plain and practical, fervent and edifying; full of sound doctrine, and generally accompanied with much divine unction and power. His disposition was remarkably cheerful, kind, and conciliatory. He was frank, open-hearted, and scrupulously conscientious. In simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, he had his conversation in the world. His love of the brethren was ardent and unchangeable; and his fellowship with them constituted one source of high enjoyment. his last illness, his confidence in God and his submission to the divine will were conspicuous. He said, "I die in peace; I die in the Lord. I have known what it is to live in the Lord; and now I know what it is to die in the Lord. Give my love to all good people." He died at Oundle, June 12th, 1847, aged sixty-nine years.

During

16. SAMUEL WEBB; who was born at Hanham, near Bristol, in the year 1783. When very young he was several times led by his pious grandmother, who was one of the first-fruits of Mr. Wesley's ministry in that place, to hear that venerable and apostolic man. From early youth he feared the Lord, which preserved him from much evil; but it was not until he was in his twenty-second year that he fully gave himself to God. He then became a member of the Wesleyan society, and soon obtained the favour of God through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. After exercising his gifts as a Local Preacher about two years, he was called into our ministry at the Conference of 1808, in which he continued with an unsullied reputation till the Lord called him hence, June 25th, 1847. He was a man of great meekness and humility, exceedingly modest and unassuming in his manner, but uniformly firm in the maintenance of both the doctrines and discipline of Methodism. His

talents as a Preacher were highly respectable, and his ministry was both acceptable and useful. For some time previous to his death he was the subject of serious affliction, which laid him aside from all public labour; but he patiently submitted to the will of God, and, after suffering awhile, died in the Lord. Some of his last words were, "My hope is in the blood of Christ, and through that I believe I shall reach home."

17. JAMES HAUGHTON; who was born at Denton, near Manchester, and in early life was brought to a knowledge of the truth through the instrumentality of Wesleyan Methodism. He continued for a short period a member of our body; but circumstances of a domestic character transpiring, he was induced to join the Methodist New Connexion, and in that section of the church he entered the Christian ministry. Having leisure and opportunity afforded, he, with prayer and assiduity, commenced an investigation of the comparative excellencies and defects of the two communities, especially with regard to the question of Church government, and their conformity to, or disagreement from, scriptural principles and precedent. This examination resulted in an offer of himself to the Wesleyan Conference. He was accepted, and, for a period of nearly eight years, laboured among us in the word and doctrine with diligence and fidelity. His preaching was characterized by great plainness; it was strictly evangelical, and delivered with an earnestness which arrested the attention and influenced the heart. His last illness was painful and protracted; but being able to prove the stability of the Rock of Ages, he found refreshment and peace. Some of his last words were, "My confidence is unshaken! My prospect is without a cloud!" He died at Dumfries, July 21st, 1847, in the thirtyseventh year of his age.

II. In Ireland, four, viz.,—

1. DAVID WAUGH, at Banbridge, in the Tandragee Circuit. He was born near Armagh, in 1775, and became the subject of converting grace in the year 1797. Having, by his piety, zeal, and talents, given occasion to those who were over him in the Lord, to believe that God designed him to preach the Gospel, he entered the Wesleyan ministry in 1800, and continued to discharge the duties thereof with acceptance and usefulness until the Conference of 1839; when, having been seized with paralysis at the commencement of its sittings, he was compelled to become a SupernumeHe did not, however, when he

rary.

partially recovered, hesitate to employ his remaining strength for the glory of his divine Master, but continued to hold prayer-meetings, meet classes, visit the sick, and preach frequently, until fairly worn out in the work. He was a man of great uprightness, and of deep and uniform piety; in his friendships, he was sincere and sympathetic; as a Preacher, in labours he was constant and abundant; his sermons were short, plain, and practical, and, as a Superintendent, he was at once gentle, but firm, earnest, and yet cautious. On Sunday, the 21st of February, 1847, he was again smitten with paralysis; and on the following morning he finished his course, and entered into rest.

2. RICHARD PRICE, of Killashee, in the county of Longford, on the 1st of March, 1847, in the sixty-third year of his age. In the year 1808 he was called into the work of the ministry; and wherever he was appointed to preach, he was cordially received as an able Minister of the New Testament. While he was favoured with health, he performed the duties of his holy calling with fidelity and success; but sleeping in a damp bed, his constitution was so impaired, that, at the end of the ninth year of his itinerancy, he was under the painful necessity of becoming a Supernumerary. The remainder of his life was spent in his native place, striving, by every means in his power, to lead sinners to "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." He was a man of great simplicity and integrity, sound in judgment, and faithful in spirit,-diligent in labours, and patient under suffering. The close of his life was greatly honoured of God. A few weeks before his death he had such exalted views of the love of God in Christ Jesus, as caused him to exclaim, "I would oppose the love of Christ to all the infidelity in the world ;" and when just about to expire, one having remarked that his departure was at hand, he gathered all his remaining strength, and, lifting up his hands and eyes to heaven, devoutly thanked God, and died.

3. ANDREW HAMILTON; who was born in the city of Londonderry, in 1770. From childhood he attended on the ministry of the Wesleyan Methodists, and in early youth gave satisfactory evidence of a sound conversion by his holy life and conversation. Having had the advantage of a good education, and being of studious habits, he acquired a large store of valuable knowledge on various subjects; but the study in which

he chiefly delighted was the book of God. His piety, talents, and usefulness were such as to commend him to the notice of Mr. Wesley, on the occasion of his last visit to Londonderry in 1789; the result of which was, that he was sent soon after to a Circuit, being then about nineteen years of age; and in every sphere of labour to which he was appointed, from that time, he was well received and greatly beloved by the people. At a later period, he was, for eleven years, the Editor of the Irish Methodist Magazine; and discharged the duties of that, and other of the higher offices of the Connexion, with wisdom and integrity. In the year

1834, when no longer able to fulfil the active labours of the ministry, he became a Supernumerary, but continued with great faithfulness to preach, meet classes, and visit from house to house, until within the last few years of his life, when his voice became so weak that he could no longer engage in the services of the sanctuary; yet, to the last, in every practicable mode, he endeavoured to promote the honour of his Lord. His sermons were plain, evangelical, and practical; often sanctioned by a large measure of the unction of the Holy Ghost; and he had many seals to his ministry. His knowledge of our doctrines and discipline was comprehensive and accurate; he was a wise Superintendent, an affectionate and efficient colleague, ever studying to promote the improvement, respectability, and usefulness of his younger brethren. His conversational powers, which were of a high order, were sanctified to the best purposes; he united great sweetness of temper and Christian meekness with the utmost faithfulness in the administration of discipline, and in reproving sin. In the severe weather of last March he left Bandon to visit a dying sister in Dublin. The journey was too much for his feeble frame; and soon after his arrival in that city, he was confined to his room. suffered much, but possessed his soul in patience, and finished his course, happy in God, April 4th, 1847, in the seventyseventh year of his age, and the fiftyeighth of his ministry.

He

He was

4. FOSSEY TACKABERRY. born at Tomagaddy, in the county of Wexford, October 22d, 1796. From a child he knew the holy Scriptures, and, while yet young, joined the Methodist society. Early in the year 1815 he was deeply convinced of sin; and having, in bitterness of soul, anxiously sought, he obtained the knowledge of salvation

through faith in the blood of Christ. He was recommended to the Conference for the work of the ministry by the Rev. Robert Banks, and appointed to a Circuit in 1822. Mr. Tackaberry was an early riser, and a close and devout student. In the pulpit he was always earnest, often eloquent; and richly enjoying in his own soul the power of that religion which he urged upon his hearers, his ministry was fruitful in every place. In discharging the duties of the pastorate, he did not confine his attentions to the church of God, but, after the example of his divine Master, sought, in order that he might save, the lost. In visits of mercy to the sick, and poor, and perishing, he was constantly employed during the last three months of his life, and in one of them caught the fever of which he died. He did not speak much during his illness, but while consciousness remained, he uttered fervent expressions of praise and prayer. He frequently repeated, with peculiar emphasis, pausing at each clause, as if to realize its import, and impress it on those about him, "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." At one time he exclaimed, "Thank God, my lamp is trimmed!" He died in Sligo, June 3d, 1847, in the fifty-first year of his age, and the twenty-fifth of his ministry.

III. In our Foreign Missions, six have died, viz.,—

1. FRANCIS WILSON, of Vavau, in the Friendly Islands. He died March 4th, 1846, deeply regretted by his brethren in the ministry, and by the people of his charge, among whom he was permitted to see a gracious revival of the work of God before his departure. He is the second Missionary who has died of those who were sent out in the "Triton" he had the affliction to lose his estimable wife on board that vessel, on her voyage from New-Zealand to the Friendly Islands. From the year 1839, when he left the Theological Institution for his Mission, to the close of his life, his character was most exemplary. In labours he was abundant; in suffering he was patient. His growth in grace was not injured by affliction. His usefulness as a Minister of God's word was most apparent when he drew near to the close of life; but some of the most important and valuable results of his devoted labours are to be found in the character and usefulness of the young native Ministers whom he trained in the Native Institution at Vavau.

2. SAMUEL PALMER; who died May 15th, 1846, having been seized with apoplexy while, on horseback, conducting some of his brethren and their people from the perils of the late Kaffir war to his own more remote and secure abode in Southern Africa. This circumstance furnishes an example of the spirit and manner in which his whole work was conducted. He cared for others, and for the cause of Christ. His acquaintance with the character of the natives of Southern Africa, and his influence over them, were remarkable; and these excellencies, with his other qualifications and talents for the work of the Mission, including his constant self-denial, ardent piety, and zeal for the salvation of souls, render his death a cause of much regret to all who are interested in the success of the Missions. He entered the ministry in 1826, and proceeded to Africa as a Missionary in 1829.

3. JAMES EVANS; a Missionary of remarkable ability and zeal, and of great usefulness among the North American Indians. His success among the aborigines of Canada led to his appointment as General Superintendent of the recently-formed Missions in the Hudson's Bay Territory. To his mental vigour and indomitable perseverance, the Indians are indebted for many advantages: among these is a written and printed character, suited to their language, of which Mr. Evans was the inventor. Many were the afflictions and trials he had to endure: these issued in a failure of health, which rendered his return home desirable, but the results were not favourable. He died suddenly at Keelby, in Lincolnshire, on the 23d of November, 1846, at the house of a friend, after attending a Missionary meeting, at which his statements had excited great interest. He entered upon the Missionary work in 1834.

He

4. WILLIAM HENRY HANN; who died at Kingston, Jamaica, January 10th, 1847, aged thirty years. His ministry in Jamaica, which he commenced in 1840, had been greatly blessed. had enjoyed the confidence of his brethren, and the love of the people. Many were the seals of his ministry, especially among the young.

5. JAMES WALLACE. In November, 1845, he embarked as a Wesleyan Missionary for the island of Ceylon, which he reached in safety. In June, 1846, he was driven out to sea while on his way from Jaffna to Batticaloa, and for six days suffered great privations and dangers in a small craft in the Bay of