to surrounding districts removed most of them, yet a deficiency remained. I therefore urged the minister and friends to get up a tea-meeting, and make another effort to sweep the encumbrance entirely away. They did their best, and brother M'Clure accompanied me to the meeting at the time above named. The attendance, though numerous, did not exactly equal expectations, and clear all off; yet I fully expect the balance will be made up before Conference, and Ballyclare chapel set entirely free. "Next Lord's day, February the 23rd, I devoted to Broomhedge and Lisburn. The day was extremely wet, which affected the congregations. I returned to Belfast the same evening. Went to Lisburn again the next day, to assist at the Missionary meeting, and walked home afterwards, where I arrived soon after twelve o'clock. The brethren are labouring zealously on this station, but do not see all that amount of success which is desirable. Oh that God may arise and help them; for with his blessing on their endeavours the result will be glorious. "Thursday following I visited Backnamullough. This place was opened a short time ago, and the prospects are encouraging. It is quite a Socinian country. They seldom hear of Jesus as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world; and but few of them have been led to believe on him to the saving of their souls. Here a small society has been formed, and the labours of our Missionaries have been blessed of God. The object of my visit was to attend a public meeting, which was held in a large schoolroom procured for the occasion. We had a numerous attendance and a most interesting service. From the feeling manifested on the occasion I fancy they will long for the time to come when they will be called together again for a similar purpose. After preaching I walked on to Dromore, and had some very profitable conversation with Mr. and Mrs. Baird. Returned home next day, where I heard that death had taken away our aged friend, Mrs. Neill. She had enjoyed uninterrupted health for many years; and calling upon them on the preceding Saturday, I found her as well as usual. A few days' sickness dissolved the earthly house of her tabernacle, and left her venerable partner and numerous children to deplore their loss. "The following sabbath, March 2, though severely afflicted, I preached twice in the town, and administered the sacrament of the Lord's supper. Thursday after, though still very unwell, I set out for Armagh. Our venerable brother Lyons met me there, and introduced me to an old friend, who has preserved an honourable connection with us for upwards of thirty years. We walked on to Ballymatrim, but such a painful journey I never remember to have had before. The keen frost air of the morning to which I had been exposed for several hours occasioned a return of those dreadful rheumatic pains by which I have often been almost distracted during the winter. My distress was unutterable. At one time it completely paralyzed the whole system. I could not walk, and had to sit down on a large cold stone, with my affectionate companion at my side. After a short rest I tried again, and reached Mr. Rolston's, where I met with all the kindness and attention that esteemed family could show. Towards evening, by the use of strong applications, I got a little easier, and was enabled to preach to a very attentive audience in aid of the mission. At the close of the service I also met the leaders and other friends for conversation and advice. "The ensuing Sunday and Monday were spent at Lurgan. The attendance on the sabbath and at the meeting was but small, and our prospects are far from encouraging. Reaching home on Tuesday I had to meet the annual committee, and prepare for a teameeting in aid of Belfast Trust. Here we have a fine estate, which would do honour to any Christian community, and the debt is but small. Yet notwithstanding that, for several years past the income has not met the expenditure; but to meet the case as far as possible, a number of friends came forward and gratuitously furnished trays for a teameeting. It was a delightful time. The attendance fully equalled expectations, and of course a little was cleared towards the object we met to serve. "Last sabbath I resolved to resume openair services in Belfast. The morning was remarkably fine, and our esteemed brethren, Rolston, Kirk, and Lee, accompanied me to Richie's Dock. We took our stand on a large log of timber, and commenced singing 'Oh for a heart to praise my God!' A very attentive company soon gathered round us, and the Lord gave me great liberty whilst expostulating with the ungodly from 'Why will ye die?' At the close of the service I distributed a quantity of tracts, which were eagerly received by those who had heard the word. Several accompanied us to the chapel, where, I trust, their good impressions would be strengthened and their pious resolutions fully confirmed. I announced for another open-air service at halfpast four, in a part of the town visited by our tract distributors, and where I occasionally preach. Some of the friends were afraid of our taking the open air, being apprehensive of some annoyance; but I feared no such thing, and resolved to make a trial. I took my stand on a little mound at the corner of a new street, where a large concourse of people soon gathered around us. Such a congregation I have not seen for a long time. Young and old crowded together on hearing us sing, and they listened very attentively whilst I endeavoured to lift up the Son of man, even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness." Tyler & Reed, Printers, 5, Boit-court, London. THE late John Winter was born at Ardsley, in the parish of Darfield, Yorkshire, February 25th, 1820. When in infancy his parents removed to Wellhouse Bar, near Penistone, where they resided for several years. They were anxious to improve his intellectual powers by as good an education as their circumstances would afford; they sent him as early as possible to the Sabbath-school connected with Netherfield Chapel, and also to the day-school taught by the Rev. Mr. Harrison, the resident minister at that time. And such was his capacity for learning, and such his quickness of apprehension, that he made rapid progress, and gained the respect and esteem of his teachers and friends; and to these, the scenes of his childhood, he often referred with much pleasure. In the year 1833 he removed with his parents again to Ardsley, where he became a scholar in the Sabbath-school for the space of about two years and a half; when, alas! he forsook the school, and gradually began to cast off parental restraint. Mixing with others more depraved than himself, he became enamoured with the amusements of the world. Bent on the attainment of happiness, and judging that it was to be found in the "things that are under the sun," he made a diligent search among the recreations which dazzle and captivate misguided youth. But as "the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing," so the reiterated application to earthly joys resulted in those painful disappointments which led him at a subsequent period, in one of our love-feasts, to declare, "I have sought for that happiness which the soul requires; I have tried the world on all sides, and exhausted every spring; I have sung the song of the drunkard, visited the dancing-room, and frequented various other places of sinful amusement; but all in vain. I never could free myself from the recollection that God's eye was upon me, and that ere long he will bring me into judgment; this spoiled all my pretended mirth, and deprived me of all my anticipated pleasure." Having formed an acquaintance with some irreligious young men, he joined their company, and following their example he suffered greatly in his morals, and being fond of reading, and having obtained the possession of some infidel books, he appeared for a time to be approaching fast towards infidelity; but from this dreadful state of mind he was mercifully preserved by the revival of early impressions, received probably in the Sabbath-school. He paused, he read, he thought, and thoroughly investigated the subject of religion; and, under the guidance of divine grace, his inquiries ended in a settled conviction that the Bible is not a cunningly devised fable, but a blessed reality, and the power of God to the salvation of all who believe it. The seed of divine truth now sprung up in his understanding, and he resolved to seek for the enjoyment of true religion. Having come to a full decision on the subject, on the 6th of March, 1842, he came to the chapel as an earnest seeker after salvation. Under the word his convictions increased; his conceptions of the evil of sin became more clear and striking; and at the prayer-meeting in the evening, while he read that solemn hymn, "Terrible thought! shall I alone, his burden of guilt became intolerable, and he trembled lest the awful language should be verified in his own experience. From the last verse he however derived some encouragement, and endeavoured to adopt it as the language of his soul: On his return home that evening, he, for the first time, bowed before God, and being humbled under a sense of his guilt he cried earnestly for mercy. The blessing he so earnestly sought he did not at that time receive. On the Wednesday evening following, he and some others attended a class-meeting. On being asked the state of his mind, he burst into tears, and exclaimed, " Ah! my case is a bad one; I am a great sinner." He was encouraged to look to Jesus as the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world. On the following evening at the prayer-meeting, as there were several seeking for mercy, a penitent form was introduced. Amongst those who came forward on the occasion was brother Winter. Special prayer was offered up in his behalf, in which he fervently engaged, and wrestled hard for the blessing of salvation. For some time the heavens seemed as brass, and he began to give way to unbelief, concluding that the blessing he sought either could not or was not in his case to be found. But while the enemy came in as a flood, the Spirit of the Lord lifted up a standard against him; for, as if by a mighty effort of his soul, he was led to cry loudly for mercy, and, at the same time, he was enabled to believe on Jesus as his only Saviour, and to cast himself on the great atonement; and that very moment did he |