Peni Bible was his daily companion; and even then he had a good idea of what is the great end for which man ought to live. In the end, however, his conversion was sudden, remarkably so. This great saving change took place on Sunday, June the 4th, 1854. On the evening of that day he heard a sermon, by which, however, he was not particularly impressed; and at the close of the service the feeling most prevalent with him was self-reproach, because he had not listened to the discourse with close attention. A prayer-meeting followed, at which he remained. tents were urged to come forward to be prayed for; but not deeming himself penitent, he remained in his seat. A friend present went to him, and pressed him to yield and take his place among others who were anxious. He went forward, not so much by reason of the burden of sin, as in compliance with the persuasion of the man who spoke to him. When, however, he had kneeled down, an overwhelming sense of his guilt and danger came upon him, and in an agony of soul he cried for mercy, and cried not in vain. On that same night God spoke peace to his disquieted mind. He was now a new creature, and began a course of uniform and active obedience. He joined the church, and became an efficient teacher in the Sabbath-school. On the 28th of November, 1355, he made a promising and successful attempt to preach for the first time. He was well educated, and had thoroughly disciplined his mind; and it became apparent at once that in this department of labour he would become a workman needing not to be ashamed. His prospects in life were good, very good; and he passed through a severe mental struggle in deciding on the choice between a lucrative secular calling and the Christian ministry. But he decided for the latter; and, had he been spared, I doubt not but he would have taken an honourable position among us. Providence had, however, decided otherwise. His health, delicate at best, began gradually to decline. In the hope of recruiting it he spent several weeks on the Continent, but with very little advantage. During last winter he was very feeble, but continued to ride out. Early in the spring he repaired to Ilkley, a favourite resort for invalids. While there his health still declined, insomuch that his friends and a Chris tian minister, to whom he was much attached, were sent for. He sunk rapidly, and on the 11th of April, 1861, entered into rest. About his last moments there was something very striking. He could not speak, but was quite sensible. On some allusion being made to the closing scene and his confidence in God, though speech'ess, he pointed to printed card which was suspended in his room, and upon which, among others, were the following Scriptures: Is anything too hard for the Lord?" "If a man love me, my Father will love him; and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" This was one of his last acts before he closed his eyes upon all on earth. John Eli Whitley was a young man of beautiful consistency of conduct, and of high, very high, ministerial promise; but he has entered an early rest. "Even so, O Lord God, for so it seemeth good in thy sight." The writer of this improved the solemn event to one of the most deeply affected congregations which he ever addressed in his life. JOHN NELSON. MARY CLEMENTSON. OUR sister, after a lingering illness, in which she experienced the blessedness of religion, and witnessed that her peace was made, and her hopes of heaven were bright, departed this life July 10th, 1861, aged 42 years. For many years she lived without a saving interest in Christ. About six years since she was bereaved of a sweet child of four years—a bud plucked from earth to bloom in heaven. This led her to Christ and to join our society at Gateshead, of which she was a consistent and devoted member to the time of her departure to the church above. In her affliction she was supported and comforted by the promises of God. Her confidence in Christ was calm and steadfast while nearing the brink of eternity. Often she exclaimed, "Jesus is precious;" "He is my Saviour." She entered into rest exclaiming, "Though I pass through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.' "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord!" J. C. T. MARY DAVIS DIED, Sept. 18th, in the faith of Jesus, and in the lively hope of a blessed immortality. Our sister was led to worship with our friends in Peter-street about eight or nine years ago, and she became a member there. It does not appear that she then experienced a change of heart; and ultimately she withdrew. Upon the opening of our place in Chapman-street, she at once came forward, and united herself with the church, seeking to learn "all things whatsoever the Saviour had commanded." Her understanding was gradually opened to the truth as it is in Jesus; and, at last, she became conscious that "old things had passed away, and all things had become new;" that, by faith, she was resting upon the finished work of Christ, and that he was her Saviour. Our sister took a warm interest in the prosperity of God's cause; and it may now be said of her, "She hath done what she could." She loved the social means of grace; and though, from a retiring and diffident disposition, she did not often feel at liberty to speak herself, yet she loved to listen to others, and would say how refreshed and encouraged she had been from their experience. About two years ago she was painfully tried by the sudden removal of two of her children. Still, she was supported by strength above her own, and was enabled to say, "Thy will be done." During a long and trying illness, she found the Saviour all that she needed. About a month before her death, she was removed to the house of a relative, at three or four miles' distance; yet her heart was with her brethren and sisters in Christ. To one who went to see her, she said, "Dear, dear Chapman-street! shall I ever see it again?" Upon her deathbed, though enduring much physical suffering, her confidence was unshaken. "The Saviour," she said, "blessed be his name, is with me!" A little after she became insensible, and passed away. "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord." Manchester. RECENT DEATHS AT DURHAM. ELIZABETH CHRISSOP died at Durham, on Tuesday, Sept. 3rd, 1861. She was but in the morning of life; but that morning was dimmed by a long and tedious affliction. Yet the clouds were not all darkness; the light of grace and hope beamed through them, and her patience and consolation abounded. She sleeps in Jesus, and is blessed. ANTHONY BUNTON died on the same day at Durham. He was an old disciple, of consistent life, and, when in health, a zealous servant of Jesus Christ. Being questioned a few hours before his departure respecting the state of his mind, he said, "I feel that all is right." Happy the soul that can so speak with truth before it goes hence! T. S. Notices of Books. The Works of Thomas Goodwin, D.D., Vols. II. and III. Edinburgh: James Nichol. London: James Nisbet and Co. MESSRS. NICHOL and Co. have undertaken the onerous task of re-publishing the standard works of Puritan divines, especially those of which uniform editions have not been hitherto published, and which, therefore, are at once difficult and expensive to procure. They have begun with the famous works of Dr. Goodwin, reducing, by compact, though clear and legible, type, the massive folios of our author into three portable and elegant octavos. The first volume contains thirty-six discourses on the Ephesians, and has been already introduced to our readers. The second volume contains twenty-eight other discourses on the same epistle, and an elaborate exposition of James i. 1-5, under the title of "Patience and its perfect Work," under sudden and sore trials. This treatise was written by Dr. Goodwin as a solace and a means of religious discipline to his own mind, when a considerable part of his library had been destroyed by the Great Fire of London. It was published anonymously in a small volume (18mo.), aud is one of the rarest of Goodwin's works. The third volume contains his Exposition of the Book of Revelation, and two smaller treatises, one entitled "Certain Select Cases Resolved;" and the other, "The Vanity of Thoughts Discovered." On all the topics introduced by the author, we have a thorough and exhaustive exposition of the sacred text, pervaded by a theology pre-eminently experimental and practical; and, though we cannot assent to all his doctrinal views, we admire his vigorous intellect and massive display of evangelical truth. In the first volume we have a general preface, written with great power, by the Rev. Dr. Miller, of Birmingham. In the second volume we have a brief but graphic life of the author, by Dr. Halley; and another of special interest, written by the author's own son. Great praise is due to the spirited publishers for issuing this series of standard Nonconformist divines in a cheap and portable form, and at a cost which renders the works adapted to students of limited means. Christ the Light of the World: Biblical Studies in the First Ten Chapters of St. John's Gospel. By Rudolph Besser, D.D.; translated from the German by M. G. Huxtable. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark. London: Hamilton and Adams. THIS work is a perfect contrast to many of the volumes which have lately been imported from Germany. Not a few, even of the better class, are so vague and obscure in expression, and so overloaded with verbal criticism, as to require no small degree of patience to wade through them; nor are they altogether free from doubtful opinions. Hence, though valuable in the main, they require to be read with great discrimination. The work before us is, however, a happy exception. It is clear as daylight, and refreshing as a sparkling fountain. Truth lies on the surface, yet the work is not superficial; devotion pervades every paragraph-but it is enlightened, evangelical, and experimental. The work is of the Krummacher class, in which intelligence and piety minister to the exposition of truth, and the fostering of experimental religion. Words of Comfort for Parents Bereaved of Little Children. Edited by William Logan; with an Introduction by the Rev. William Anderson, LL.D. London: J. Nisbet and Co. THE sensitive mind of a bereaved parent requires a soothing voice and a gentle hand. Comfort itself must be administered with wisdom, tenderness, and the peculiar sympathy of one who can weep with those that weep. Mr. Logan has addressed himself to the humane and delicate office of a comforter with no ordi nary judgment and pathos; and in so doing, has produced a volume which is a gem of its kind. It does not consist of a series of dry, didactic essays on the duties of submission and faith; but of a series of brief sketches, consolatory epistles, extracts, poems, &c., illustrating every truth and applying every argument adapted to comfort and sustain the agonized soul of the bereaved parent to engender submission to the Divine will, and to sanctify the mournful event to the highest purposes of life. We most cordially recommend the volume to our readers. The Popular Preacher; or, Who and what is Spurgeon? By a Wesleyan Minister. London: William Walker and Son. A VERY generous, but candid and discriminating portraiture of Mr. Spurgeon. BOOKS RECEIVED. Tracts for the Thoughtful; or, Matters relating to the Religious Condition of the Age. 1. The Strife of Sects. London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. Family Treasury, October, 1861. London: Nelson and Sons. The Sunday at Home, October, 1861. Religious Tract Society: London. The Leisure Hour, October, 1861. London: The Religious Tract Society. THE METHODIST NEW CONNEXION MAGAZINE. DECEMBER, 1861. Essays, &c., on Theology and General Literature. THOUGHTS ON LIFE, DEATH, AND IMMORTALITY, SUGGESTED BY THE LATE CENSUS. BY THE REV. GEORGE GRUNDY. In how many instances everything depends on the showing of a column of figures! How eagerly the merchant's or manufacturer's eye runs over it, and how often is the eye brightened, or dimmed with tears at the result! It may either open the most splendid perspective of the future, or cast a dark shadow over the fairest prospects. Every day innumerable eyes are gazing on numerical columns, as into the book of fate, and, no doubt, far more emotion is excited by figures of arithmetic than by figures of speech. Even when they do not concern personal interests, calculations and statistics are of great importance in a scientific, a social, and a religious point of view; they embody information of the highest value, give a powerful stimulus and a right direction to intellect, revive the drooping energies of philanthropy, or direct the stream of its beneficent efforts into wider and more useful channels. These remarks have been suggested by the taking of the census, and the publication of the results, so far as yet ascertained. We do not propose to dwell on those particulars of the census returns with which the newspapers have made us familiar, such as the stationary numbers of the agricultural population, whilst the increase is found almost exclusively in large cities and the manufacturing districts. It is to some reflections of a different kind that we purpose to invite attention. The first is suggested by the numbers which appear in the census tables for the first time. The increase merely of the population in Great Britain is 2,306,491;* and allowing for those who have been removed by emigration or by death during the ten years, the new names introduced probably amount to at least eight or nine millions. Such a number is more easily mentioned than comprehended. London, are told, contains as large a population as about twenty of the largest cities and towns of the kingdom besides; it is like a nation of itself. Yet that portion of the people which appears for the first time we * Ireland is not included. S S in the census returns, would fill three cities like the metropolis, or a city of thrice its enormous dimensions. And in computing the number of births, we must not forget the multitudes who have been born and have died within the decade, and whose names, therefore, never enter the census at all. These numbers, which would constitute a respectable kingdom, have started into being within so short a period in our small island alone. What, then, must have been the multitudes emerging into being during the same period on the entire globe! Probably four or five hundred millions of human lives have commenced within the last ten years; four or five hundred millions of beings, with the faculties and responsibilities of humanity, have within that short time set out on their endless career! The census individualizes the population. No one is overlooked. Whether in the palace or the poor-house, every one counts. The occupant of the lowest lodging-house, and the infant of but a day old, as much as the most venerable, or powerful, or wealthy, enter into the enumeration. Thus is recognized the all-important fact that the individual cannot be lost in the mass. The ocean is made up of its drops, the globe of atoms. And if each individual is important, as forming a part of the aggregate, it is still more the case, seeing what a human being is. We cannot, indeed, descend so low in the scale of existence as to come to the utterly insignificant, since the humblest insect or the spire of grass, of which the scythe mows down millions in an hour, has within it a beautiful organization, and secrets of life which are the impress of a Divine intelligence and power. But who shall tell the full value of a human life? Not merely the glorious handwriting, but the very image of the Almighty is upon every individual of the race. Each one is "a perfect system of existence in himself." As each one has his own features, distinguishing him from all other human beings, so, while a man may have many relationships to others, he has yet his own untransferable individuality, his own susceptibilities and powers, his own character and accountableness-a spiritual and immortal nature which must be his, in undivided consciousness, for good or evil, for blessedness or woe, for ever! When we think what a sum of actions, experiences, and influences a human life is what a golden fruitage it may bear, or what a terrible blight it may become-it is surely a fact to excite serious reflection, that within the limits of our own island, and within so short a space of time, eight or nine millions of human beings should have stepped upon the stage of existence, and begun a career which, whether joyous or wretched, is to run on without pause into eternity itself! The same fact further suggests the vastness of the Divine plans. This thought receives illustration from the stupendous scale on which the universe is built. Astronomy assures us of the existence of worlds which in number and distance baffle calculation, and outstrip the wildest flights of imagination itself. Beyond the outskirts of our own solar system, it reveals to us, in the shining belt of the Milky Way, millions upon millions of suns, probably, each surrounded with a planetary group similar to our own. But beyond this, at distances which diminish the zone of the Milky Way to a handbreadth, other systems of astonishing grandeur, composed of millions of other suns, are spread out over mighty spaces; and, sunk still further into the mysterious |