THE CHRISTIAN AMBASSADOR A QUARTERLY REVIEW, AND JOURNAL OF THEOLOGICAL LITERATURE. EDITED BY THE REV. C. C. M'KECHNIE. VOL. XII. London: PUBLISHED BY G. LAMB, CONFERENCE OFFICES, SUTTON STREET, COMMERCIAL ROAD, EAST; AND MAY BE HAD OF THE PRIMITIVE METHODIST PREACHERS. PRINTED BY F. H. HURD, OFFICE OF THE PRIMITIVE METHODIST," 122, MILE END ROAD, E. THE CHRISTIAN AMBASSADOR. ART. I.-PHILIP PUGH. Memoirs of the Life, Literary and Itinerant Labours of the Rev. Philip Pugh. By Rev. J. PRITCHARD. London: G. Lamb. PHILIP PUGH, the subject of this biography, was born in Shrewsbury, July 21st, 1817. It appears that his father was greatly perplexed about the name that should be given to the child; but while thinking on the subject, he remembered this passage of Scripture: "Then Philip went down to Samaria and preached Christ unto them;" and hence he observed, "Who knows but he may become a preacher of the gospel of Christ ?" The child, therefore, was called Philip, and his subsequent history fulfilled the presentiment of his father. The boy Philip is described by his brother as bold-spirited, and rather inclined to be wild; and yet it seems there was no precocity of genius apparent in him, for another contemporary designates him a dull scholar. It was the custom in those days to send children, when seven or eight years of age, to work in the factory. Thus their education was neglected, and in only a few instances was a mere smattering of the three R's acquired. Imagine a child of tender years penned in a factory from six to six, with nothing in his ears but the whir of machinery, or the harsh commands of an overbearing master! and can we wonder if, when at liberty, he indulges in boisterous play, and shows no relish for books? At the age of thirteen we find young Philip in the Primitive Methodist Sunday-school. On a memorable Sabbath morning Mr. John Drayton, the superintendent, gave an address to the scholars, under which the lad was deeply impressed with the necessity of seeking salvation, and forthwith joined Mr. Drayton's class. The writer, on one occasion, heard Mr. Pugh speak in Shrewsbury Chapel, when he reverted to this period in these words: "It was in the chapel that preceded this that I received some of my best instructions preparatory to the position I now occupy. We had a theoVOL. XII.-NEW SERIES. B |