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enlargement in nearly all parts of the Connexion, to which our pages give evidence, must fill the minds of our friends with thankfulness and joy.

It is our wish that the Magazine should also be the record of the spiritual life and work of our churches. At present difficulties are in the way of accomplishing this; we hope, however, they are not insuperable, and that before long it will become the usage of our ministers to supply us with information of any gracious work of God going on in their Circuits as it is now to furnish accounts of debts liquidated, or new chapels and schools erected.

To the Giver of all good we present our adoring thanks for His blessing which, beyond our deserts, He has bestowed upon our labours during the past, and earnestly pray that in the future He may yet more abundantly prosper upon us the work of our hands.

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THE METHODIST

NEW CONNEXION MAGAZINE.

JANUARY, 1875.

MEMOIR OF MR. ALDERMAN JAMES JACKSON, J.P., OF MACCLESFIELD.

WORTH, in whatever sphere of life we find it, should be faithfully chronicled. Such records serve to exhibit the riches of Divine grace in the sanctification of human character, and incite the living to earnest emulation of the example of the pious dead. A good life is always a blessing to those among whom it has been lived. It gives a practical illustration of the beauty of holiness in all its acts; and when it ends its memorial should be sacredly preserved as a treasure of unspeakable preciousness. The memory of the just is blessed. It is one among many means by which the world is made better. The holy ones departed speak to the living on those questions that touch most nearly their well-being for both worlds; and we should act wisely to pay a more reverent and profound attention to the voices that are always speaking to us from heaven. There are always too few good men in the world; and the removal of one is a loss that cannot be estimated. As we stand by the graves of pious friends whose light has shone very brightly, we may well cry," Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men." Every good man's tomb utters a loud and imperative call to prayer that God may raise up others to fill the places left empty by the sainted workers taken away.

In the death of Mr. James Jackson the world has lost one of its best men. He was a man greatly beloved by all who knew him. His familiar form and features are linked to the memories of two generations of his townsmen. His kindly spirit and Christian work will be well remembered and gratefully spoken of for many years yet to come. His name is cherished with a tender and hallowed love in thousands of hearts, and many will be his crown and joy in heaven. And yet, considering his advanced age, the numerous offices he held for so many years, the patient and laborious service he rendered to the church and school with which he was connected, it is surprising how little material there is for a written life. There were

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no startling incidents in his life; nor did he ever originate bold and exciting measures to bring him into fame. He was not made to startle anybody; nor to make a great noise in the world. He was quiet and modest, simple and unpretending in all his habits; and these qualities prevented him making such records as would have thrown some light on important passages in his history. We regret this. For surely, without prying into things which do not concern us, and which are sometimes sought to gratify a morbid curiosity, it would have been a real service to us had we known something more than we do of the manner in which his life and work expanded into so much beauty-because into so much usefulness.

Mr. Jackson was born at Hedge Row, near Pott Shrigley, in April, 1795. His parents belonged to that class of society which has neither poverty nor riches. By religious profession they were members of the Established Church; but in her early life his mother was connected with a Wesleyan Church. They were a good average sort of Church people. In those days there were not as many sections in the Established Church as now; and when a man was called a good Churchman, he was in no danger of being considered a Rationalist on the one hand, or a Romanist on the other. To place a good Churchman fairly now, we have to define the ground on which he stands as High, Low, or Broad. Mr. Jackson spent his early years within the pale of the Established Church; and we suppose he went through the regular routine of induction to the privileges of that Church by baptism, confirmation, and the Eucharist. His father was able to send him to school; and as education went in those days, he got a moderately good course of instruction at a common school. In this respect he fared better than his younger brothers.

As a boy he was grave and thoughtful, and he took considerable pains to acquire such knowledge as would be of use to him. As a rule it is more painful than pleasant to see old heads on young shoulders. Precocious gravity and fatherliness are not generally agreeable qualities in young people. It is better that youth should have the semblance of youth. The bearing of forty or fifty years of age does not sit well on sixteen or twenty. But there may be special cases in which all ordinary rules and expectations fail. Circumstances may arise to mature the quality of a man long before he reaches the age at which in ordinary conditions such maturity is attained. That was the case with Mr. Jackson. He lost his mother before he was ten years of age, and his father before he was twenty. Upon him devolved the care of the younger members of his family while he He had to be a father to them, and to prowas a very young man. vide for their settlement in life. These duties he discharged with a thoughtful care that would have well-beseemed much more advanced

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