look on the hollow tomb, but ye lift up your radiant heads with unutterable joy, for the day of your redemption is come. What is faith to us is to you unclouded vision. What is expectation to us is to you glorious possession. The prize, still in jeopardy with us in this world of conflict, is with you a blissful enjoyment, unchangeably and eternally secure. Could you be permitted to leave your shining thrones, and visit us once more in this doleful region, you would bid us wipe away every tear, and exchange our sorrows for earnest zeal and holy activity -to do life's work within life's day, and be always ready for the coming of our Lord. Actuated by your example, quickened by your unexpected removal, and encouraged by the reward you now inherit, we will try to hasten our speed and follow you in the way to endless light. lives long that lives well; and time mis-spent is not lived, but lost. Besides, God is better than his promise, if he takes from us a long lease, and gives us a freehold of a greater value." "He. The departure of our revered and beloved friend, Mr. Ridgway, is one of more than usual solemnity and deep affliction. It has come upon us as a sudden Connexional calamity. The sad news startled us like a peal of thunder, vibrating with electric power through the whole community. True it is that he had passed beyond the ordinary term of human life; but his firm step, his hale appearance, and sparkling vivacity, postponed our apprehensions. His long connection with us, his ubiquitous presence, and all-pervading influence in our public movements, made us feel that his life was almost an indispensable necessity; while the suddenness of the transition from all the energy and activity of life to the prostration and silence of death, inspired for a moment a bewildering scepticism that made us ask with a shudder, Can it be true? Is our friend really gone? Shall we hear his eloquent voice, and look on his rubicund countenance, no more? Shall we see him in his long-accustomed place on the platform, in the chair, or in the pulpit, no more? Shall we never more listen to his counsels, or reciprocate the greetings of his smile, or enjoy the hilarity diffused by his presence? No, never more on earth! The cold, dark sepulchre has received his manly frame, and his ransomed spirit is with the glorified in heaven. the change! There seems scarcely an amongst us, in all the vigour of health. hand full of important business, secular and spiritual, on the very day of his death. But a few hours before his exit he was on the bench of magistrates; later on, at a committee meeting on the business of the Church; and still later, presiding at a special gathering of the Bethesda society, to promote a revival of God's work, where he spoke with his usual energy, calling upon all to activity, earnestness, and prayer. How sudden and how affecting interval since he was moving We had a long letter from his But this was his last public act. He walked home with a firm step, spoke cheerfully to one of his servants of the happy meeting he had enjoyed, sat down in his chair, and died. We call this death; but was it not a translation? Scarcely had he left an assembly of saints on earth before he mingled with the general assembly and church of the first-born in heaven. Scarcely had the songs of Zion died on his ear before he was listening to the loftier anthems of the glorified in the temple above; and scarcely had his own voice, yet mellow and unfaltering even in age, ended in accents of praise, ere he took up a nobler song of triumph and exultation in the realms of the blessed. Happy spirit, what a transition-what a glorious exit! "Thy day without a cloud hath pass'd, As stars that shoot along the sky Shine brightest as they fall from high." Such a death seems best befitting such a life. His last day, like his other days, was one of business and religion. Every moment was filled up, and his work being done, his Master called him from a life of labour to an eternity of rest. He realized the motto sometimes displayed on anniversary days in our school-rooms, and which, no doubt, had often met his observant eye,— "Labour on earth, and rest in heaven." To him, a lingering affliction would have seemed unsuitable as it would have been undesirable. He therefore had, in the most literal sense, the fulfilment of a wish which a thousand times he had expressed in the solemn stanza of Wesley "Oh! that, without a lingering groan, I may the welcome word receive; He has left an Born to affluence, Our dear friend, "though dead, yet speaketh." impress on society which will not soon be effaced. endowed with superior mental powers, and favoured with constitutional vigour and almost uninterrupted health, he was fitted to exert a powerful influence on society, and "leave his foot-prints on the sands of time." Without assuming for him either infallibility of judgment or perfection of character, he was unquestionably a noble man, a sterling Christian, an invaluable member of society; and, taking him all in all, his life and labours reflect the highest honour on both the locality of his residence and the Community of his loving choice. As a manufacturer, he was eminent for artistic excellence, and as such earned the distinction of "Potter to her Majesty the Queen." What is of higher value, he was kind and considerate to his workmen, securing their esteem by his cordiality as well as by his integrity; and as evidence of this, received from them on retiring from business, after a long career as a manufacturer, a splendid copy of the Holy Scriptures, as the most appropriate expression of their admiration of his character, affection for his person, and high appreciation of his worth. As a citizen, Mr. Ridgway was loyal, patriotic, and devoted to the interest of his immediate neighbourhood and the country at large. He was an advocate and promoter of all practical measures for improving the social condition, and elevating the character of the people. Hence he was felt to be a power in society, and as such was raised to stations of civil dignity and public influence, being elected the first Mayor of Hanley, and invested also with the functions of magistrate of the borough, magistrate of the county of Stafford, and deputy-lieutenant of the same. Nor did he content himself with the empty honours of office, but faithfully and laboriously performed its various duties. Indeed, he did not think it beneath him to stoop to the humblest labours for the good of his neighbours. We well remember, when that terrible scourge, the Asiatic cholera, was carrying away multitudes of our fellow-men, Mr. Ridgway visited in person the miserable abodes of the poor, to get their dwellings cleansed and whitewashed, in order to prevent the spreading ravages of that pestilent disease. His purse was always open to the claims of poverty and destitution, and besides the numerous casual calls on his beneficence, he had a regular list of pensioners on his bounty. Each Christmas he dispensed considerable sums of money and many tons of fuel among the poor, to enable them to meet the exigencies and mitigate the rigours of winter. It is not possible to enumerate here the acts of either his private beneficence or his public liberality. He held himself as a steward under God, and alike responsible to him for his property, his talents, and his influence among men. A distinguished writer has observed: "To love the public, to study universal good, and to promote the interests of the whole world, so far as lies within our power, is the height of goodness, and makes that temper which we call divine." This was undoubtedly the prevailing disposition of our departed friend. Every public movement for advancing the general good had not only his hearty approval, but his cordial support. The extinction of slavery, the removal of restrictions on civil and religious freedom, the promotion of peace, sanitary improvements, the diffusion of knowledge and general education, were subjects which ever found in him an earnest advocate. Usually, indeed, he laboured as a leader in public measures, and when not a leader, he was an able and a zealous co-operator. As an evi dence of the potent influence he thus acquired, as well as the esteem in which he was held, the inhabitants of his own locality presented him, about four years ago, with a splendid silver salver, and a purse of £430, accompanied with an address testifying "their high sense of his personal virtues, and their grateful recognition of his public services during a long course of years." We need scarcely remark, that with characteristic generosity, Mr. Ridgway at once transferred the whole of this money to the purposes of education. As a friend, Mr. Ridgway was cordial, sincere, and steadfast; yet, as his attachments were based on principle, they never drew him into party feuds, or engendered alienations. He was indeed rather a lover of all good men, and preferred to elicit the good services of all in the cause of the general weal, than to select special favourites, or reserve his confidence and honours for a few. Hence, what some might deem inconsistency at times, was but his adherence to principle instead of persons, or the subordination of private attachments to public interests. His heart was not a narrow arcanum, difficult of access, and open only to a few, but an ample temple, welcoming the wise and the good of every name and grade-receiving and reciprocating every tribute of friendship and Christian love. Hence his house-especially since he was freed from the cares of business-was the home of kind and generous hospitality. He seemed, indeed, the happiest when the ministers and friends of Jesus were around him; and this enjoyment rose to it highest altitude at our last Conference, when each day the spacious rooms of his mansion were thronged with invited guests. We noticed, with peculiar pleasure, how gracefully his special attentions were bestowed on strangers, and on those who trod in the humbler walks of life. Mr. Ridgway was a genuine Christian. His first religious impressions were received when a boy, and within the domestic circle. His parents were revered members with us, and being brought up under a religious influence, he became a member of our society at the age of seventeen. It was in my father-in-law's parlour that he met for the first time in class, under Mr. Albutt; and in the same place, when still a ruddy youth, he put forth his first efforts as an assistant leader to Mr. Albutt. On that large class being divided, he was elected to the pastorate of one section, which he held without faltering for the period of forty-eight years. Impelled by the love of Christ and the love of souls, he became a local preacher at the age of 30, and for more than forty-four years performed the functions of that office. While Mr. Ridgway's doctrinal views were in harmony with the recognized sentiments of the Body, his attachment was cordial and fervent for the peculiar means and ordinances of Methodism. He, was indeed, a pattern in regular and conscientious attendance at his class-meeting, and anxiously vigilant in regard to the spiritual interests of his flock. He heartily enjoyed a lively prayer-meeting, was quite at home in our lovefeasts and fellowship-meetings, and seldom, if ever, left those salutary means without bearing his personal testimony to the goodness of God, and the value of experimental religion. His piety received a characteristic tincture from his physical temperament and mental constitution; and these again were subordinated and sanctified by his growth in religion, especially in the latter years of his life. His piety, like his nature, was cheerful, buoyant, and joyous. Though sometimes in grief, like other men, he was never seen in gloom or despondency. If sorrow found a temporary seat in his heart, hope still shone on his brow; and a word of encouragement was never wanting from him to the downcast and afflicted sons of men. As he advanced in years, he became increasingly spiritual, and a growing meekness was seen to shed a richer lustre on the characteristic blandness and courtesy of his demeanour. Mr. Ridgway loved his own denomination with the strength of principle, and the ardour of a passion. Our dear friend, Mr. Love, in writing to us immediately after Mr. Ridgway's lamented death, justly and appropriately remarks, "Never did a father cherish a stronger affection for his only son than our dear friend did for the Connexion." A thousand voices will echo this sentiment when they read it, nor could any one who knew him affirm otherwise, because his whole life made it evident. In his earliest days he imbibed the love of freedom from parental influence. His honoured father was one of the venerable founders of the Connexion. When but a rosy lad, he sat by his chair and heard from his lips, in conversation with faithful men, pathetic narratives of their early struggles and sufferings. His young heart became inspired with sentiments which never left him. Subsequent reading and reflection gave strength to his convictions, and the energies and influence of his life were directed to give them extension and How many monuments bear witness of his devotion to the cause he loved! That noble temple at Hanley, how much it owes to his enterprise and liberality, though aided and abetted, justice compels us to say, by other worthy men of like spirit. Our general rules, so clear in statement, so vigorous and sententious in style, how much did they derive from his presiding mind and ready pen! The "Apology for the Connexion," unanswerable in argument and irresistible in force, tells its own paternity. But time would fail to enumerate the effects of his labours. It was his element to work; activity was essential to his very being. It seemed as if he could never do enough, and what is marvellous, he never seemed fatigued by his efforts; or if he did, a success. |