may at last lay hold on eternal life! Let us hold fast whereunto we have attained: and let us press forward to spirituality of mind, purity of heart, which will enable us to die daily to all below, and rise continually to those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. May his blessing be with thee and thine; and may he bring you safely home to dedicate with us our renewed health and accumulated mercies to his glory who hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light. Amen." Mr. Makinson's usual method of preparation for the pulpit was this:-A subject of discourse, or a text, would be suggested to his mind, sometimes during the preaching of others, sometimes in wakeful moments of the night, and more frequently still in his daily afterdinner reading of the scriptures. His first business was to work out the subject from "the Book" itself by the invaluable aid of his favourite "Baxter's Comprehensive Bible," and by the examination, in which he was never wearied, of all parallel passages to the text, the context, and its equivalents. Then followed critical and exegetical helps, in later life often those of Hengstenberg and Olshausen. The subject was now before him, and he seldom consulted anything further than his own well-furnished and ready mind. His powers of illustra∙tion were very great, and his knowledge extended over a wide field of literature and science, for the most part untrodden by preachers. His sermons were always, by means of a singularly vigorous and abstractive mind, carefully thought out, and this precluded the necessity of their being written out. In all cases, however, the leading divisions, subdivisions, and thoughts, were committed to notes, and in many of his MSS. the thoughts transcribed at length. But to whatever length this preparation had extended, he was never shackled by it; on the contrary, many of the most brilliant thoughts and effective passages were extemporized for the occasion, and circumstances struck out something startling which came home to the conscience of the careless, or something consoling to the wounded heart of the suffering saint. The application, instead of being put, like the moral of the fable, at the end of the discourse, was by him interwoven with the very substance of the sermon, and made time after time as the subject was being handled. With such means and appliances, it is by no means surprising that he was a well-received preacher. What is however, infinitely better, God made him the means of bringing sinners from the error of their ways, and of conveying solace to tempted and tried believers. His manner in the pulpit was at once both solemn and affecting. Solemn in the early part of the service, and yet his whole soul seemed to enter feelingly into the warm gushing prayer, and the affectionate invitation to Christ; his delivery was easy and free from affectation or mannerism; his language of good Saxon words, simple and easily understood, without sacrificing elegance, or giving way to vulgarity. As a specimen of Mr. Makinson's method in using Scripture language, we give the following Sabbath-morning's reflections, followed by a prayer, most likely written as a guide to himself when about to lead the devotions of a congregation: "How still is all around! The gentle flutterings of the morning breeze scarcely disturb the leaves of the aspen and the birch, which shade my dwelling. All nature seems hushed into the calmness of the day of rest. Even yon lark, soaring towards the skies, seems, in subdued notes, to carol the praises of his great Creator. And hath the sparrow found a house, and the swallow a nest, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God! Blessed, then, O Lord, are they that dwell in thy house, they will be still praising thee. "With joyful steps will I repair towards thy holy temple. I will go with the multitude that keep holy day. Surely God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods. Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock: thon that dwellest between the cherubim shine forth. Thou crownest the year with thy goodness, and thy paths drop fatness. Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, let it bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up. "Ŏ spirit of wisdom! blessed is the man that heareth thee, watching daily at thy gate, waiting at the posts of thy doors. Come ye, my brethren, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths. And while we are in thine house, O Lord, enable us diligently to hearken unto thee, that we may eat that which is good, and that our souls may delight themselves in fatness. May we hear that our souls may live! Let the Spirit of Truth, who originally dictated to holy men the word of life, apply it with power to our hearts. O that the word of Christ may dwell in us richly in all wisdom; so shall the word, as fire among the stubble, burn up the dross of our base desires. O thou who coverest thyself with light as with a garment, shine into our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Let the Redeemer, in all his pristine glory, walk this day in the midst of the golden candlesticks. Bow thy heavens, O Lord, and come down; touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. Command iniquity to depart from Jacob; send thy Son to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison doors to them that are bound. And let the ransomed of the Lord return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; let them obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." We have referred to Mr. Makinson's labours in the extensive neighbourhood of which Manchester is the centre, and his diary records the following touching circumstance as happening when on a preaching visit to Cadishead, a small village about twelve miles from Manchester: "I went on the 30th December (1832) to see my (Wesleyan) friends at Cadishead. Preached afternoon and evening. On returning home on the following morning, I learned that my father expired whilst I was in the pulpit on the previous evening." The writer of this memoir well remembers that evening. Mr. Makinson took for his text, Jer. xii. 5,-" If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?" The description of the swelling of Jordan, the flood of death, was vivid, and powerfully affecting the earnestness and solemnity of the preacher are now in memory after the lapse of some five-and-twenty years. The occurrence that was then taking place has invested the scene-a dying father unconsciously portrayed by his own son-with a solemn weight never to be shaken off. The diary thus continues: "On the following Thursday we deposited his coffin on that of my mother, in Great Bridgewater Street Chapel Yard. Living long be neath his Christian privilege, my father had latterly sought and obtained a renewed sense of the Divine favour, and we had good hope in his death. And now what remains for me? Surrounded by my family, my wife and seven little ones, in good health, having given to me all things richly to enjoy, I trust I feel increasing determination to give myself and all I have to God. O that I and all mine may dwell in the house of the Lord for ever! Amen." When Mr. Makinson joined the church, he became a member of the class met by Mr. John Shore, who was long a distinguished ornament of the Methodist New Connexion Church in Manchester, a burning and shining light for fifty long years. A characteristic notice of this good man may be found in the obituary of the Methodist New Connexion Magazine for May, 1826, in which faithful testimony is given to his liberality, his consistency, and his usefulness. Mr. Makinson afterwards published a separate life, which was widely circulated, and recalled vividly to the reader's mind those qualities of head and heart for which Mr. Shore was remarkable. The class which had been met by its venerablé leader since the formation of the New Connexion, was now committed to Mr. Makinson's care, and met at his own house, or at the vestry, till his death. As a leader, he was distinguished for the calm and yet fervid devotion he always manifested himself, and for the eagerness with which he exhorted his members to follow after that spirituality of mind which is life and peace. Many (shall I not say most?) of these have now passed away from earth, and with him are celebrating their experience in the heavenly world. Who can doubt but that one of the employments there will consist in praising God for all the deliverances, providential and gracious, which were met with on earth? To the Canaan above belongs also that declaration made in reference to the Canaan below: "And," having arrived at the promised land, "thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no."Deut. viii. 2. How near to their leader's heart lay the spiritual welfare of the class, the following passage from his diary shows: "Wednesday, 16th December, 1840. We this morning received an account of the death of Mrs. M. She died on Monday last, at Skipton, after a severe illness, the result, it would appear, of severe domestic afflictions upon a weak constitution. She had lost, last midsummer, two fine little boys, and had latterly been called to Bradford, where for seven weeks she watched the sick couch of her son Charles with a most anxious and intense solicitude. On the partial recovery of this son, her husband brought her to Skipton, where at first some symptoms of returning convalescence cheered her friends, but she finally drooped and sunk under total exhaustion. In her collected moments she afforded indubitable proofs of a saving interest in Christ. During her last hours she dwelt with great satisfaction on the declaration of Jesus, 'In my Father's house are many mansions,' adding, I am going to Jesus. I can rest my soul on my Lord and Saviour. Thus, during the year, I have been bereft of two out of my little class of six members. My worthy friend, Mr. Samuel Johnson, died on the 5th of February last. O how nobly, during the lapse of a protracted indisposition, did the Christian hope support him! I trust I am following. The celestial canopy seems almost studded with my valued friends. Their voices still salute mine ear, and the remembrance of the grace which their experience exhibited, rises, grateful as incense, to my spiritual perception. Thank God for the grace which enabled them to live for Jesus, and to die in his love!" Surely it is no small advantage derived from being identified with a Methodist community which is here presented. We have not only the general advantages of church fellowship, but those also resulting from our more individualized class-meetings, where experienceChristian experience-is concentrated; where it comes with greater power and sweetness to each waiting heart. The relation also between à consistent leader and his pious members, is one of a touching and ennobling character. On the one hand, there is the confidence in which the soul's wants, troubles, and hopes, are freely expressed, for the sake of counsel and advice; and on the other, the interest and concern, which must, in any well-regulated mind, attend the consciousness of such a reposed trust. These form the two elements which. constitute the affectionate regard in which numberless leaders are held by those, their members, who have been accustomed, perhaps for years, to look up to them for spiritual direction. And, transporting thought! our various classes, like so many boats' crews, pulling the same stroke, and piloted by the same Divine Saviour, shall meet in the same peaceful and eternal heaven. Well do we often sing, and with the words rises the vivid picture in our minds : "There all the ship's company meet, That sailed with the Saviour beneath; What a poean, what a song of triumph, as each tempest-tossed sonl arrives safely and for ever at his father's home! Of that small class of six members in 1840, only two now remain; all the rest "have fallen on sleep." And, reverting to times when every Tuesday evening the room was prepared for the worship of God, it was no uninteresting sight to see three husbands and three wives occupying, week by week, their well-accustomed places in that dining-room. The hymn of praise, to the tune of Manchester or Abridge, the solemn and yet winged prayer, the expressed hopes and fears, with suitable counsel, the signal at which two or three children entered to share the later portions of the meeting, the closing hymn and joint prayers, all these, by some considered as things of the past, are, like all imperishable good, still present, still effective. In one mind, at least, they have never been forgotten; they never will be. On the opening of Salem Chapel, the class began to meet in the vestry of that place of worship. The closing scenes of Mr. Makinson's leadership may here briefly be alluded to. On the 17th February, 1852, as he had partially recovered from his indisposition, he had expected to be able again to meet his class, to which he was deeply and devotedly attached. The members assembled as usual. There was no leader. The mournful news of his death the day before was brought, and they sadly came up to his house, to stand by his lifeless remains, and hear the solemn utterance of the grave, "Be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh." In July, 1815, the subject of our memoir was united in marriage to Miss Walker, one every way worthy of him; but the union was soon dissolved by death, which took away also his infant son. A touching and beautiful memoir may be found in the Methodist New Connexion Magazine for 1819, which makes us regret that our periodical was not more frequently enriched by papers on other subjects from his elegant, but not prolific pen. introduced : The memoir is thus "In the lives of eminent persons, a strongly-marked contrast will be found to exist. The enterprising, the bold, the daring, and the prosperous, in the splendour of their actions, and the popularity of their pursuits, furnish copious materials for the pages of the historian, or the details of the biographer; while the studious, the retired, the contemplative, and the pious, shrinking from the public gaze, and seeking enjoyment in scenes of privacy and retirement, communing with their own hearts, or talking with God, afford but a scanty supply by which to bring them into notice, or emblazon their names on the records of posterity. This latter remark applies with peculiar propriety to the possessors of religion. Followers of the meek and lowly Jesus, living a hidden, a spiritual life, secluded from the world, and seeking their enjoyment in the favour of God, little can be said of their actions, and still less of their feelings and enjoyments." (To be concluded in our next.) ESSAYS, &c., ON THEOLOGY AND GENERAL LITERATURE. THE QUALIFICATIONS NECESSARY FOR EFFICIENT SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHING. A LECTURE DELIVERED BEFORE THE TEACHERS OF SALEM CHAPEL AND WOODSIDE SABBATH SCHOOLS, HALIFAX. MY DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS,-As Sunday schools are established chiefly for the inculcation of moral and religious truth, we regard I. PIETY IN THE TEACHERS AS LYING AT THE VERY FOUNDATION OF USEFULNESS.-If a teacher be not pious himself, he cannot rightly inculcate piety upon others. If ignorant of religion himself, Le cannot properly instruct others in its truths. We must feel our |