tion of Future Punishment. By the late Rev. Abraham Scott. Third edition. With Preface by the Rev. W. Cooke, D.D. Sheffield: The General Printing Company. 1879. - The Sermons put the usual arguments on their subject concisely and popularly; and we say, with Dr. Cooke, we know of no work of the same class, and with the same brevity, equally adapted to convince the gainsayer, and to strengthen, stablish and settle the Christian in the faith of the Gospel.'-The Thoughts dwell particularly upon the consequences of disbelief in the eternity of future punishment. Both are useful little tractates. Daniel Quorm and his Religious Notions. First Series. By Mark Guy Pearse. Fifty-first Thousand. London: Wesleyan Conference Office. 1879.-Daniel Quorm needs no recommendation from us. The fifty thousand copies now in circulation prove its widespread popularity. This new and cheaper edition (the price is only eighteen pence) should place it in the hands of all Methodists. We are glad that Mr. Tresidder's capital illustrations are retained. Every one would be sorry to lose his perfect portraits of Dan'el himself, Widow Pascoe, Jim Tregoning, Granny and Frankey. Ben Owen: A Lancashire Story. By Mrs. Perrett. London: Elliot Stock. -A thoroughly good story for working men and boys, written in a fine spirit, and conveying high, pure moral lessons, not without a touch of humour intermingled with the true pathos. It is very original, and unlike the ordinary run of tale-books. OBITUARIES. ON September 4th, 1876, at Stanningley, in the Leeds Bramley Circuit, WILLIAM FIRTH passed away from the toils of earth to the triumph of heaven. He was born in the year 1813, at Bierley, in the Birstal Circuit; and, when quite a youth, thoughtfully gave his heart to God. This deliberate choice he ever tenaciously maintained. Of a quiet, retiring disposition, he was never demonstrative in his outward professions; but he cherished a strong attachment to the Church of his choice, and was prepared at all times to stand by his Christian friends. In the terrible strife of 1849, when the Stanningley Society was rent asunder, and reduced from nearly two hundred members to thirty-four, and the chapel was almost deserted, his firmness, courtesy and honour were seen to advantage. He was always a Christian gentleman. With the few who remained steadfast to Methodism he was a tower of strength, and amid calumny and persecution he quietly worked on and was graciously spared to see the return of bright and prosperous days. His principles upheld him, and he infused spirit into others who were occasionally downhearted and faint. He read and studied the Scriptures and was most intimate with Wesley's hymns. His attendance at the means of grace was exemplary for punctuality, regularity and devotion. As a Class Leader he greatly excelled. At the time of his death he had fifty members in his two Classes. Blessed testimony is borne to the instruction and help which he gave in these weekly meetings. They were indeed 'quiet resting-places,' where the souls of the saints were graciously refreshed. He never neglected to visit those of whom he had the charge, and consequently he had seldom to report backsliders. In the many and different offices which he held as Trustee, Treasurer of several funds, Society and Chapel Steward, Sunday-school Superintendent, etc., he was most efficient, and rendered signal service to Methodism. The present prosperity of the Church in Stanningley owes much to his piety and devoted labours. Nor should omit to mention that for thirty years his house was a home for the Ministers. we About a fortnight before his death, as he knelt in his accustomed place during the Sunday evening Prayer-meeting, he was seized with sudden illness. From that he never recovered, and in the course of a few days he became rapidly worse. He retained consciousness to the last, and gave joyous assurances of firm confidence in Christ his Saviour. When dying, and unable to speak, he moved his hand in token of blessed triumph. His funeral was attended by a large concourse of friends from the entire neighbourhood, and numbers from other denominations were also present. He was justly honoured and beloved by all who knew him, and his name will long be 'as ointment poured forth.' I. O. DIED at Sunderland, on November 21st, 1876, DOROTHY, the beloved wife of Alderman Robert BROWN, aged sixty-five. She was a daughter of Mr. Stephen Watson, formerly of Weardale, who sprang from a Methodist stock of Wesley's days. Coming to Sunderland in youth, he was long known there as one of the chief standard-bearers of Methodism in the generation now almost gone. Carefully trained by a godly father, Miss Watson became in very early life the subject of religious impressions; and was a sincere Christian when married at the age of twenty-one. For many years Mrs. Brown was an active and useful Class Leader, and her talents eminently fitted her for this department of labour. Rich in her acquaintance with Wesleyan hymnology, with a sweet voice for song and ready utterance, the Class-meeting seemed to be a sphere for which she was peculiarly adapted. But frequent illness and inability to endure fatigue rendered it necessary that she should deprive herself of the pleasure, and the Church of the benefit, of more active work. Not the less, however, did she continue to take a deep interest in the success of other labourers; while the beauty of her character, as a private Christian, and her gentle and genial disposition, were felt and enjoyed in the domestic and social circle. Here her tenacious memory was ready, at any moment, to furnish the dates and facts of European history, the genealogies of the reigning dynasties, or quotations from her favourite poets; varied by ancestral tales and personal adventure, which she was wont to relate with amusing and characteristic naïveté. Gifted beyond the average with conversational ability, she was never unprepared for an exchange of thought on the Scriptural records, or Christian experience, or evangelistic successes, or other more general topics; not excluding even politics and the miscellaneous movements of the busy world. Occasionally she grasped the poet's lyre, and sang, in strains that have kindled a response in many hearts, of the love of Jesus and His redeeming work. Numbered among the happy few who ever aspire after those higher enjoyments of religion which, in a piece entitled Beulah, she sought to delineate, it is hardly needful to add that she found in matured piety how truly the poet had read the operations of the Christian heart when he wrote: 'Now let me gain perfection's height, A tendency to disease of the lungs was hereditary in her parents' family, and, during the severe easterly winds which prevailed on the north-east coast during the spring of the year 1876, she caught cold, which called this tendency into action. During her long, distressing illness no murmur ever escaped her lips. 'It is the Lord; let Him do what seemeth Him good,' was the sentiment that pervaded all her references to it. Her unwavering confidence in her Redeemer and her unclouded hope of future blessedness gave serenity to her countenance and an unfading glow to her conversation. With no sorrowful feeling other than that of leaving loved ones on earth, she received from her medical attendant the announcement that all human aid was unavailing; and thenceforth her attitude was simply that of quiet waiting. This serene calm -as of a still summer eve-was the more impressive, as her natural temperament was sanguine and jubilant: it was not the dull quietude of physical languor nor of mental weariness, but the placid stillness of faith. Up to within a few days of her death she could give attention to connected thought; and hour after hour, night after night, she listened to the loving voices of those who knew no higher pleasure than, by interesting the mind, to alleviate the suffering of the body. The hymns of the Churches, the liturgy of the Church of England, the obituaries of the faithful, the early labours of Wesley's itinerants in England and America, the Lives of Thomas Aquinas, Baxter, Kitto and others, by turns, contributed to cheer her. But the time came when attention languished. Her weakness gradually increased, and therewith the inability to obtain relief from the bronchial irritation attendant upon her affliction. Then followed hours of intense anguish. Still, not a murmur escaped her. Her voice, through weakness, had for a few days been reduced to a whisper; but now, as if aroused to conflict, it suddenly regained its vigour. The distinctly enunciated words, 'Crossing the river,' told her conscious entrance upon the mortal struggle. Her family knelt weeping by her bed. The lines commencing Who in Jesus confide '—oft upon her lips in health-were evidently passing through her mind. Unheard, the thoughts glided until, reaching the concluding line, her pent emotions burst forth in firm and joyous acclaim-' Outfly all the arrows of death.' These were her last words. A brief slumber followed-another short struggle and then eternal rest. R. B. HAZELL, WATSON, AND VINEY, PRINTERS, LONDON AND AYLESBURY, WESLEYAN-METHODIST MAGAZINE. DECEMBER, 1879. MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN RANDERSON: BY THE REV. R. STAINTON ELLIS. THE REV. JOHN RANDERSON died at Watford on the 30th of December, 1878, One of the three Dissenting the third year of his ministry in that Circuit. Ministers who attended his funeral said to the present writer: ' Mr. Randerson had got a wonderful hold of this town: all denominations regarded him with affection, and his death is felt as a great public loss.' * This general regret was an impressive tribute to eminent godliness. Here was a Minister, distinguished by no very extraordinary talents or learning, followed to the grave with extraordinary lamentations in a town which had known him only a little more than two years! What are mere intellectual endowments or scholarly acquirements in comparison with religious attainments or practical usefulness! Surely, if monuments are erected for men of genius, much more should memorials be raised to men of piety, whose character is a thing of moral beauty, and whose labours are rich in blessing to mankind. Like most Ministers who have attained distinction, Mr. Randerson was the son of remarkably religious parents. When the Rev. John Burdsall gave him 'a note on trial,' for membership in the Wesleyan-Methodist Society, he said: 'You have sprung from a good root; no doubt many prayers have been offered for you, and they are now about to be accomplished.' At that time (1828), his father was the respected and zealous Leader of two Classes connected with Grosvenor Street Chapel, Manchester, where he and his godly wife faithfully served the cause of Christ to the end of their days. John, born in September, 1806, was solemnly dedicated to God in baptism. Brought up ' in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,' he was from early life conscientiously truthful and virtuous. At the London Road Sunday-school he rose, as he states, 'from the lowest class to the highest.' His teacher was one Samuel Joynson, who, though only a working cabinet-maker, could read the Bible in Hebrew, and gave lessons in that sacred language to John Randerson. When only eight years of age, our friend was the subject of deep religious impressions, which often constrained him to retire to search the Scriptures with earnest prayer. 'Indeed,' he says, 'I always wished to be While preparing this Memoir we are deeply moved by information of the premature death of this esteemed Minister, the Rev. F. W. Goadby, M. A., Pastor of Beech Grove Baptist Chapel. He was comparatively young, remarkably gifted, and greatly beloved by his large and influential congregation. |