ready, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. On the following Sabbath he was interred in the presence of a crowd of spectators whom affection and esteem gathered around his remains, and in a few Sabbaths following his death was improved in that sanctuary where, not long before, he had received the blessing of salvation, and by that minister whom God had honoured as the instrument of his conversion. "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, from henceforth, yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them." WILLIAM COOKE. MR. BROUGHTON, OF MADELEY WOOD, DAWLEY GREEN CIRCUIT. The subject of this account was born at Derby, January 8th, 1796. It does not appear, from the information which has been furnished, that anything of an extraordinary nature occurred in connection with the early part of his history. He always possessed a serious turn of mind; and, as a consequence of this, his conduct was uniformly characterised by steadiness and morality. He was never known to run into any excesses of vice, nor to tolerate in himself any criminal indulgencies. He was also invariably kind to his parents; ever anxious to obey their commands, to avoid that which would give them pain, and to minister to their comfort. Still, however, he was a stranger to experimental and vital religion. He surrendered not himself to its obligations, and participated not in its hallowed and sublime enjoyments. When about the age of twenty five, he entered into the marriage state with her who is now his bereaved widow,-a step which we are not aware he had ever any reason to regret. His conversion to God occurred about thirteen years ago, while the Rev. Robert Henshaw was travelling in the Dawley Green Circuit. A few years previously to the time just mentioned, circumstances rendered it necessary for our departed friend to remove from his native town into this neighbourhood; and thus was he providentially brought into contact with the ministry of him "by whom he believed." In the manner of his conversion there was nothing remarkable. Through the preaching of Mr. Henshaw, those good desires and impressions of which he had previously been the subject, were strengthened, and he was brought to a decision on the all-important subject of soul-saving religion. He gave his heart fully to God, became a member of the church, and was resolved to avail himself of those privileges which can only be realized to their full extent, in connection with the "fellowship of the saints." The results flowing from the adoption of this course fully verified his anticipations. His soul was happy in the Lord-he rejoiced in the possession of a conscious interest in the blessed Saviour, and experienced the gospel to be the wisdom of God, and the power of God to his salvation. From this time his life was one of devotedness to God. The reality of the change which had occurred was evinced by the holiness and consistency of his conduct. He rejoiced in the law of God after the inward man, and had his fruit unto holiness. The means of grace were to him sources of great spiritual profit, and delightful enjoyment. He loved the gates of Zion, and preferred Jerusalem above his chief joy. He could say, "How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts! A day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." The reading of the Scriptures, private prayer, and self-examination, were also exercises in which he was wont to engage, and from which he derived much spiritual benefit. The leading traits in the character of Mr. B. were seriousness, humility, candour of disposition, and a steady and uniform attention to the calls and claims of duty. We cannot undertake to say the character of our late brother was faultless, but we regard it as exhibiting various excellencies, which we would do well to imitate. Previously to the commencement of the affliction which terminated in his dissolution, Brother B. had generally enjoyed what might be considered good health. His body was far from robust, and his constitution we should have considered far from strong; still he was generally favoured with exemption from disease. But about eight months ago, he was attacked with a complaint in the chest, which in the first instance assumed the form of indigestion. He gradually grew worse Medical aid was called into requisition, and suitable remedies were applied, but without success. The disease appeared to acquire additional strength each succeeding week, until at length it terminated in rapid consumption. During the progress of the disorder, Mr. B. was the subject of great pain,sometimes he was in agony. But the grace of God supported him, and he was enabled in patience and resignation to possess his soul. The friends who visited him during his affliction, all bear testimony to his happy state of mind. withstanding the severity of his sufferings, he was never heard to utter a murmuring Not word. The writer had several opportunities of conversing with him respecting his religious experience, and his prospects with regard to another world, and he will long remember the emotions which occupied his mind during those interviews. The experience of brother B. was of the most satisfactory kind. He rested on the atoning blood, and the Redeemer was unspeakably dear and precious to him. He feared not the approach of death, nor the silence of the grave, having obtained the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. To his weeping partner, a short time before his death, he remarked, "she must not grieve the Lord would provide for her. She might have trials, but God would cause them to work together for her good." The last words he audibly uttered were, "I am going to Jesus! I am going to Jesus! I am going to Jesus!" He exchanged mortality for life, February 16th, 1845, aged forty-nine years. L. SAXTON. MARIA BILLINGHAM. DIED, at Lye Waste, in the Stourbridge Circuit, March 1st, 1845, in the thirtyeighth year of her age, MARIA BILLINGHAM, a worthy and consistent member of our Society. She was born in the year 1807, at Waste Bank, in the parish of Old Swinford. Her parents were always regarded as strictly honest, and were what people generally term, consistent; they were noticed for their morality and strict attention to a place of worship on the Sabbath-day. Maria was naturally of a meek disposition. She was strictly moral in her deportment, paying a rigid attention to the observance of the Sabbath. She was a regular attender at the Independent Chapel for some time, and afterwards she began, with the same consistency and regularity, to attend the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel; but it would seem that all this time she was destitute of a change of heart, and fancied her meekness and morality would gain her a place at the right hand of God; and thus she continued until the year 1835, in which year a blessed revival of religion took place at Lye Waste, and many found the Lord, and were made new creatures in Christ Jesus; many of whom remain to adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour, and others who held fast the beginning of their confidence, have left the world, and are now chanting their hosannas before the throne of their blessed Redeemer. At that period, our late sister became alarmed as to her condition, and was led by the Spirit of God to examine herself as it regarded her prospects for a future state; she was soon convinced that her meekness and morality, though in themselves amiable, yet so far from being meritorous, were only as filthy rags: thus she found herself in a condemned, lost state, without an interest in the death of Christ: in this frame of mind she was led to pray, and to pray earnestly for the salvation of her soul. A prayer-meeting being announced, at which our late sister attended, at that meeting the power of God was present to heal. Several entered into the liberty of God's children, were made happy in his love, were enabled to rejoice in the hope of a better inheritance; and our late sister B. formed one of the number. She instantly became a member of Mr. Pardoe's Tuesday evening class. The testimony he bears of her is: "She was always regular in her attendance; she always manifested a spirit of love and affection to her class-mates, to the ministers and friends, and indeed to all; she willingly and cheerfully supported the cause of God as far as she could; she loved the house of God and all the means of grace connected with it, and gave evidence of the same by her regular attendance thereon; and as a neighbour, a wife, a mother, and professor of religion, she gave proof to all that a divine change had taken place in her heart." She was the subject of great affliction the greater part of her life; bereavement, also, was what she frequently had to pass through; being called, by the providence of God, in the space of sixteen years, to bury ten children; but in all this it may be said, she sinned not, nor charged God foolishly, but could say, "it is the Lord, his will be done, and praise him for the same." At her class she often spoke of the brevity of human life, and said, she believed her time was very short. The last time she met in class she said, for her to live was Christ, and to die would be gain. She had an assurance with the apostle that if the earthly house of her tabernacle were dissolved, she had a building of God, &c. At the close of January last, she was taken ill; her affliction arose from a violent cold. Mr. Pardoe, her leader, going to visit her, found her with her husband and children supplicating the throne of grace, a practice this in which she always delighted. Three or four times in the day she was in the habit of thus engaging with God for the blessings she required both for herself, and family, and the church. At this time, when asked by Mr. Pardoe what was the state of her mind, she replied, "Happy!" adding, the Lord was her portion, and her will was resigned to his will. After some little conversation he commended her to God and left her. The second time, says her leader, that I visited her, she said she was happy, and had been so during my ab T sence; and said, the Lord was doing all things well; and she verily believed that her affliction was of short duration-but that all was right. The next time, Mr. P. visited her, she said, "I am living for heaven, and shall soon be there." Another time talking to her about the love of Christ, and telling her the pure in heart were to see God; and then before parting we, as usual, kneeled down; and while I was praying that she might be made sensible of her acceptance with God, she cried out," It is done! It is done! 'He does this moment save With full salvation bless; Redemption through thy blood I have, And spotless love and peace.' Another time, says Mr. P., asking her the state of her mind, she said,— The Lord from my eyes.' On the 13th of February last, her last child died. The Sabbath following, her brother John going to see her, and seeing the corpse of the boy laid in the room, he began to repeat the words of the poet,"Happy soul, thy days are ended, All thy mourning days are o'er, "and hearing him say so, she exclaimed, "I shall soon be in glory with him!" The next time, says Mr. P., that I visited her, I found her rejoicing in the hope she had of the glory which awaited her; and another time when I entered the room, she said, "I have had a happy morning. I have been like the two disciples who were travelling to Emmaus. My heart," she said, "has burned within me, and I have been constrained to cry, 'Lord, enlarge the vessel!'" She then, as in an ecstacy, cried, "Glory! Glory! I have glory in my soul!" She then cried again, "Glory! Glory! Glory!" Another time, when her leader visited her, she exultingly said, "I have held fast that which I have attained," and added, "No condemnation now I dread, Jesus and all in him is mine,'" &c. And then further said, "My God is reconciled, His pardoning voice I hear, I can no longer fear;"" and added, "Tell my sisters, meaning her class-mates, (this being the day on which the class met), tell them I love them; that I am going to heaven, and that if they would meet me, they must be faithful unto death;" and then, as if on the very threshhold of unsullied bliss, she in a rapture cried, Victory! victory! victory through the blood of the Lamb!" 66 The last time, says Mr. Pardoe, I visited her, being only an hour before her death, she was still on the mount. Her soul being literally swallowed up in God, she exclaimed,- -"Glorious prize! Glorious prize!"-when seeing her sister standing by, she said, "Can you see Jesus?" "No:" was the reply, "no, my love, I cannot see him." "Oh!" said she, "there he is, and a host of angels with him;" and then she shouted, "Glory! Glory! Glory! I am coming! I am coming!"-and died. Her death was improved by the writer of this account, March 16th, in our Chapel at Lye Waste, to a crowded and deeply affected congregation; and thus, looking at her life, and considering her death, yes, the triumphant manner of her departure, may we not say with the poet, CONNEXIONAL INTELLIGENCE. MISSIONARY SERVICES. NORTH SHIELDS CIRCUIT.-Lord's-day, December 8th, Missionary Sermons were preached in Salem Chapel, North Shields, by Revs. W. Cooke, in the morning; C. Hibbert in the afternoon, and L. Stoney in the evening. The same day Mr. Cooke preached at South Shields in the afternoon, and Mr. Hibbert in the evening. Monday, the 9th, a Missionary meeting was held in Salem Chapel, and was addressed by the Revs. W. Cooke, J. Nelson, J. Henderson, (Independent), and A. Lynn; much was said about the holy cause of God which was truly interesting. Tuesday, the 10th, we had a most lively and powerful meeting at South Shields; our kind friend Mr. Foreman occupied the chair. Speeches full of love to God, and zeal for his glory, were delivered by Messrs. Cooke, Nelson, Lawson, (Secession), Lynn, Hibbert, and W. Carr. Lord's day, March 30th, Sermons were preached in Milburn Place Chapel, morning and evening, by the Rev. L. Stoney, who also preached at Jarrow in the afternoon and Mr. John Stokoe at night. The same evening Mr. Raeburn preached at Whitley' Monday, the 31st, we had a lively, interesting meeting at Whitley, addressed by Messrs. Lynn, Hibbert, and W. G. Tate. Tuesday, April 1st, we held our annual Missionary meeting in Milburn Place Chapel; the Rev. A. Jack, (Independent), presided, in a truly kind and interesting manner Most stirring information was communicated respecting the condition of an ungodly world, and the obligations of the church of Christ, by the Revs. J. G. Duncan, (Scotch Church), J. Henderson, W. Cooke, H. W. Mules, Lynn, Hibbert, and Mr. W. G. Tate. Wednesday, the 2nd, we had a lively and well attended meeting at Jarrow; Mr. Foreman occupied the chair. Messrs. Cooke, Mules, Lynn, and Hibbert, very powerfully pleaded the cause of a blood-bought world. Monday evening, the 7th, the Rev. L. Stoney preached a sermon at Blyth. Tuesday, the 8th, we held a public meeting there; our kind friend Joseph Hodgson, Esq. very pleasantly occupied the chair. The meeting was very much interested with addresses from the Revs. Messrs. Johnson and M'Murray, two young Presbyterian Ministers from Ireland. The descriptions they gave of the craft and cruelty of the Romish priesthood and the blind confidence of their deluded adherents, were truly appalling. L. Stoney and the Ministers of the Circuit also addressed the meeting, who were listened to until the close of the meeting with the most profound attention. We hope the next year the Missionary Committee will arrange for a deputation to visit the northern circuits; one efficient man would be enough. We have found that neither our attendance nor collections have been so good as formerly, and we think that the absence of a deputation has, in a great measure, produced this change for the worse. "When shall the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ? Hasten thy coming, blessed Jesus, and bow the whole world to thy sway!" A. LYNN. LONDON CIRCUIT.-Our Missionary services were held on Lord's-day, the 23rd of February, when we availed ourselves of the opportunity of securing the valuable services of the Rev. W. Ford, whom important Connexional business had brought to town. Sermons were preached in Great Dover Road and Macclesfield Street Chapels, by the Revs. W. Ford and T. Mills, and in Watney Street Chapel by the Rev. J. Bakewell. Public meetings were held in the three Chapels on three successive evenings, at which our esteemed friend Mr. Barford presided. Addresses were delivered by the Revs. W. Ford, J. Bakewell, R. Eckett, and T. Mills; and by Messrs. Leach, Martin, Taylor, Brookes, Cuthbertson, Webber, and Barton. The extreme severity of the weather caused two or three of the nine services to be but thinly attended, but at the others the congregations were very good, and the aggregate amount of the public collections was several pounds more than those of last year, while travelling expenses were wholly avoided. In our Watney Street Chapel we have recently introduced gas lights. Our excellent friend Mr. Smith has kindly built us a new vestry at his own cost; and another esteemed member, Mrs. Brittain, has kindly given a valuable clock for our use in the Chapel. The whole cost of painting and repairing our Brunswick Chapel, Great Dover Road, is now, through the generous aid of our excellent friend, Mr. Etches, of Derby, entirely paid. In January, 1844, our friends at Brunswick Chapel formed themselves into a "Finance Society," in order to meet some pecuniary difficulties in which the church was involved. With a few exceptions the whole church united together in this effort, and by weekly contributions raised about £40 in the course of the year, over and above the usual contributions. On Lord's-day, April 6th, we had an organ, of excellent tone, newly opened in our Brunswick Chapel. Sermons were preached on the occasion by the Revs. J. Bakewell ad T. Mills, and collections were made towards paying for the instrument-upon which so trifling a debt now remains, consisting of not more than one or two pounds, that we intend entirely to pay it off. We have recently held special services to promote a revival of the work of God amongst us, and we are not without hope that God will, in mercy, pour out his Holy Spirit upon us, that we may abound in the spirit of holiness and zeal for his glory, and that unregenerate men may be savingly converted to him. T. MILLS. STOURBRIDGE CIRCUIT.-We have just brought to a close our Missionary anniversaries for this Circuit at all the places, save one. We have held meetings at Stourbridge, Lye Waste, Mount Pleasant, Cradly Forge, Hales Owen, Stamber Mill, Clent, and Wordsly. At the first three places we were favoured with the assistance of the Revs. S. Woodhouse and J. Hillock, whose services by the people were gratefully received; and though our congregations on these occasions were not as numerous as we could have desired, yet we are thankful to say, that the collections, in every instance, have exceeded those of the past year. The only place at which we have not as yet held a meeting (where we have a room or Chapel) is Brittle Lane; and I am happy to inform you, that there the collectors with cards and boxes are doing all they can against the time of their meeting, which will be in a week or two; and from what they now have, we are anticipating a considerable increase, at that place, over the past year. SAMUEL JONES. HUDDERSFIELD CIRCUIT.-On Sabbath-day, April 13th, the Rev. P. J. Wright, from Halifax, preached in the forenoon in High Street Chapel, Huddersfield, in behalf of our Missions, and the Rev. T. W. Ridley, from Leeds, in the evening. On the same day, sermons were preached at several of the Chapels in the country, as follows: at Lindley, in the afternoon, by the Rev. J. Livingstone, from Brighouse, and in the evening by the Rev. P. J. Wright; at Berry Brow, in the afternoon by the Rev. T. W. Ridley, and in the evening by the Rev. S. Hulme; at Wood Royd, in the afternoon and evening, by the Rev. W. Hughes; and at Wellhouse, in the afternoon, by the Rev. S. Hulme. The annual public meetings were held in the following order: Huddersfield, on Monday evening, the 14th. The chair was occupied by W. Willans, Esq., of the Independent denomination, and a large and respectable audience was addressed by the Revs. P. J. Wright, T. W. Ridley, S. Atterby, (Primitive Methodist), S. Hulme, W. Hughes, and W. Chapman.-Berry Brow, on Tuesday evening, the 15th. Mr. B. Taylor, of Huddersfield, ably presided; and a deeply attentive audience was addressed by the Revs. P. J. Wright, T. W. Ridley, J. Taylor, S. Hulme, and W. Hughes.— Lindley, on Wednesday evening, the 16th. The Rev. S. Hulme presided with his accustomed urbanity, and the Revs. P. J. Wright, W. Chapman, W. Hughes, and Mr. J. Bradbury, addressed a numerous and delighted congregation.-Wellhouse, on Thursday evening, the 17th. The Revs. S. Hulme and W. Chapman, and Messrs. J. Bradbury and T. Hirstwood, addressed the congregation which was unusually large and attentive. The attendance at all the services in connection with this anniversary, has afforded high satisfaction to the Ministers and friends, and the collections show a gratifying increase compared with those of last year. Let every Christian pray, "Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." It may be proper to observe, that at all the other country places in the Circuit, sermons have been preached and meetings have been held during the year; and while the Ministers and friends pleaded the cause of the spiritually destitute inhabitants of Ireland and Canada, the congregations were deeply impressed and affected, and cheerfully contributed towards the support of our Missionary Society. W. HUGHES. TEA MEETING AT PORTWOOD, STOCKPORT CIRCUIT. ON Good Friday last, a public tea meeting was held in the school-room connected with our Chapel in Portwood, Stockport Circuit, the object of which was to devise means for liquidating a portion of the heavy debt on the premises, and thus to place the trust in manageable circumstances. A report was read by our highly esteemed friend Mr. Fleming, one of the most active of the Trustees, giving an unreserved statement of the circumstances of the concern. It appeared from the report, that the Chapel was erected in the year 1835, and the school in 1837; and that the total amount raised in subscriptions, and opening services, with the proceeds of a ladies' bazaar, was the very handsome sum of £1000. Notwithstanding this liberal effort on the part of friends |