REMARKABLE DAYS. extreme weakness, astonished all present, in singing, "I'll praise my Maker while I've breath; Praise shall employ my nobler powers: Having got him into his chair, they observed him change for death. But he, regardless of his dying body, said, with a weak voice, "Lord, thou givest strength to those that can speak, and to those who cannot. Speak, Lord, to all our hearts, and let them know that thou loosest tongues." He then sung, "To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Here his voice failed. After gasping for breath, he said, "Now we have done all." He was then laid in the bed, from which he rose no more. After resting a little, he called to those who were with him to "pray and praise." They kneeled down, and the room seemed to be filled with the divine presence. A little after, he said, "Let me be buried in nothing but what is woollen, and let my corpse be carried into the chapel." Then, as if he had done with all below, he again begged they would pray and praise. Several friends that were in the house being called up, they all kneeled down again to prayer, at which time his fervour of spirit was manifest to every one present. But, in particular parts of the prayer, his whole soul seemed to be engaged in a manner which evidently showed how ardently he longed for the full accomplishment of their united desires. And when one of the Preachers was praying in a very expressive manner, that if God were about to take away their father to his eternal rest, he would be pleased to continue and increase his blessing upon the doctrine and discipline which he had long made his servant the means of propagating and establishing in the world, such a degree of fervour accompanied his loud Amen, as was every way expressive of his soul's being engaged in the answer of the petitions. On rising from their knees, he took hold of all their hands, and, with the utmost placidness, saluted them, and said, "Farewell, farewell!" A little after, a person coming in, he strove to speak, but could not. Finding they could not understand him, he paused a little, and then, with all the remaining strength he had, cried out, "The best of all is, God is with us;" and soon after, lifting up his dying arm in token of victory, and raising his feeble voice with a holy triumph not to be expressed, he again repeated the heart-reviving words, "The best of all is, God is with us." Being told that his brother's widow was come, he said, "He giveth his servants. rest." He thanked her, as she 95 pressed his hand, and affectionately endeavoured to kiss her. On his lips being wetted, he said, "We thank thee, O Lord, for these and all thy mercies. Bless the Church and King; and grant us truth and peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord, for ever and ever!" At another time he said, "He causeth his servants to lie down in peace." Then, pausing a little, he cried, "The clouds drop fatness!" and soon after, "The Lord is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge!" He then called those present to prayer; and, though he was greatly exhausted, he appeared still more fervent in spirit. These exertions were, however, too much for his feeble frame; and most of the night following, though he often attempted to repeat the Psalm before-mentioned, he could only utter, "I'll praise-I'll praise." A On Wednesday morning, the closing seene drew near. Mr. Bradford, his faithful friend, prayed with him; and the last words he was heard to articulate were, "Farewell!" few minutes before ten, while several of his friends were kneeling around his bed, without a lingering groan, this man of God, this beloved Pastor of thousands, entered into the joy of his Lord. He was in the eighty-eighth year of his age, and had been sixty-five years in the ministry. His death was an admirable close to so laborious and useful a life. At the desire of many of his friends his corpse was placed in the New Chapel, and remained there the day before his interment. His face during that time had a heavenly smile upon it, and a beauty which was admired by all that saw it. in March the 9th was the day appointed for his interment. The Preachers then London requested that Dr. Whitehead should deliver the funeral discourse; and the executors afterwards approved of the appointment. The intention was to carry the corpse into the chapel, and place it in a raised situation before the pulpit during the service. But the crowds which came to see the body while it lay in the coffin, both in the private house, and especially in the chapel, the day before his funeral, were so great, that his friends were apprehensive of a tumult, if they should adopt the plan first intended. It was, therefore, resolved, the evening before, to bury him between five and six in the morning. Though the time of notice to his friends was short, and the design itself was spoken of with great caution, yet a considerable number of persons attended at that early hour. The late Rev. Mr. Richardson, who now lies with him in the same vault, read the funeral service in a manner that made it peculiarly affecting. When he came to that part of it, "Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God to take unto himself the soul of our dear Brother," &c., he substituted, with the most 96 TABULAR RECORD OF MORTALITY. tender emphasis, the epithet Father, instead of Brother, which had so powerful an effect on the congregation, that from silent tears they seemed universally to burst out into loud weeping. INSCRIPTION ON HIS COFFIN. JOHANNES WESLEY, A.M. The discourse, by Dr. Whitehead, was delivered in the chapel, at the hour appointed in the forenoon, to an astonishing multitude of people; among whom were many Ministers of the Gospel, both of the Establishment and Dissenters. The audience was still and solemn as night; and all seemed to carry away with them enlarged views of Mr. Wesley's character, and serious impressions of the importance of religion.-Watson's Life of Wesley. TABULAR RECORD OF MORTALITY. "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord." THE CHRISTIAN MISCELLANY, AND FAMILY VISITER. APRIL, 1848. THE SABBATH-DAY. MANY years since, when I was quite a youth, I resided for some months with a gentleman to whom I was partly given in charge by a widowed mother; and who, therefore, claimed to exercise some authority over me. He was a person of very agreeable temper, and was reputed to be a remarkably clever man of business. He was just beginning the world on his own account, and had the prospect, so far as outward appearances indicated, of brilliant success. One Sabbath-morning he asked me to assist him in a matter of business which, he said, would not admit of delay. I pleaded the sacredness of the day, and the danger of displeasing God, and advised him to postpone the matter until Monday. This he said he either could or would not do, and repeated his demand upon my assistance, putting it now, however, in the form of a command rather than of a request. I saw it was a moment of peril,that my eternal destiny might probably turn upon the issue of the trial; and silently lifting up my heart to God, I replied in great fear and trembling, but with firmness and explicitness, "I cannot do what I know will be displeasing to God." Never shall I forget the fearful outbreak of scorn and enmity to which this refusal gave occasion. The habitually good-tempered man seemed, for a time, transposed into a very fiend, and uttered words not to be repeated, both against me and my God. He declared that such narrow notions were unsuited to the present constitution of society, and pronounced me incurably infatuated and lost to all hope of worldly advancement. My course in life was at that time undecided; but I had just tasted the Saviour's love, and was willing to risk all for His Name's sake. I repeated my refusal, and here for the time the affair ended. Years passed over; and God, who had brought me to choose Him in my youth, had not forsaken me. I was now one of the Ministers of a large and beloved flock in the town of Sheffield; the father of a precious little family; and had daily cause to bless God for that gracious providence which had watched over both me and mine. One morning a message was sent up to the study, that a person wished to see me below. On coming down I beheld a pale-faced, hunger-stricken looking man, with clothes that had once been respectable, and an address which was out of keeping with his present appearance, and betokened better days. Judge of my surprise when, in the squalid, destitute-looking being before me, I recognised the active, energetic, and sprightly gentleman, who, on the occasion above referred to, had lectured me on the worldly folly of keeping VOL. III. 98 WESLEYAN-METHODIST SOCIETY QUARTERLY TICKET. holy the Sabbath-day. Unhappy man! though born and bred like myself in Scotland, where he had been taught better things, he had continued to desecrate the Sabbath; preferring his own carnal wisdom to the revealed will of God. But who ever hardened himself against God and prospered? A blight had come upon him. He was now reduced to absolute beggary; and the youth whom many years before he had endeavoured to frighten out of his allegiance to the Lord of the Sabbath, by the terror of worldly ruin, was able both to feed and to clothe him, and tenderly but faithfully to remind him of what he had said against the law of God; and to testify, after years of trial, that godliness was indeed "profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is," as well as of that which is to come.' "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." Bristol. JOHN MACLEAN. 66 WESLEYAN-METHODIST SOCIETY QUARTERLY TICKET, FOR MARCH, 1848. (Continued from page 70.) 2. FEEBLE in themselves and unsupported by human aid, “God gave them" wherewith to meet every exigence in their various trials and dangers. Most amply had they from him "help in time of need." His gracious eye was upon them, when all hearts in Jerusalem trembled at the murderous shout of the victorious army; when the walls were being thrown down, and the temple, the gates, and the palaces were in flames; when the naked wailing. captives were driven forth from the land of their fathers, before their enemies' swords; when, worn down and dejected, they entered within the proud walls of Babylon, were torn in tender age from their parents and guardians, and placed as slaves in the hands of "Ashpenar, the master of the eunuchs." Now especially "God cared for them," and "numbered " and preserved those "hairs of their head," which the fierceness of the "burning fiery furnace" afterwards could not "singe." O it was His presence, the presence of "the Lord God omnipotent," who kept alive and unhurt praying Daniel that long night in the den of ravenous “ lions," and that shielded his believing brethren when they "walked unburnt in the midst of the fire." The Son of God was there, their eye of faith was fixed on Him, and He commanded the fire not to burn them. They felt His infinite power supporting them; walked the bottom of the "fiery furnace" as the "way of pleasantness;" breathed the curling terrific flame as the air of the balmy breeze; and shouted the praises of Jehovah amidst the roar of the element. In every fiery trial that we have yet to pass, so may our God uphold and support us. 66 3. But our attention must be more particularly fixed on that expression of the divine goodness which is here named:-"God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom." He gave them all sorts of mental acquirements; enriched them abundantly with stores of useful and ornamental knowledge. This was what they wanted to give them the honour of distinction in that relation in which they now stood to the magicians and wise men of the court, as well as to qualify them for the elevated stations in society which they were destined to fill. By this eminence of mind and learning they acquired great power and influence; for "in all matters of WESLEYAN-METHODIST SOCIETY QUARTERLY TICKET. 99 wisdom and understanding that the King inquired of them, he found them. ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm." This teaches us that the improvement of the mind, and the acquisition of general knowledge, is not to be neglected; especially not by the young. It is acceptable in God's sight, and will help them to adorn their religious profession, and spread the exalted principles of "their most holy faith;" as well as otherwise help them to promote their own legitimate interests. In this way it is that we may expect godliness to become, in its full sense, "profitable;" having the promise of the life that now is, as well as that which is to come. Many persons not wanting in religious sincerity, but wanting a little more "knowledge and skill" in their respective callings in life, have, in various ways, brought themselves and the church of God into disrepute; exemplifying in their own persons a sad contrast to "these four children." Let him that readeth understand; and blame not others for the faults which belong only to himself. 4. It is said that "God gave" this knowledge and learning to the Hebrew children; but let us inquire how? Knowledge, and learning, and wisdom, are doubtless, in every way, God's good gifts; but they are not His gifts in the same sense as comeliness of person, and privileges of birth. God favoured them in the calibre of their mental capacity, in the opportunities for acquiring knowledge, and particularly assisted them to attain and retain those parts of wisdom and learning, to which they directed their proper attention. This acquirement was not the direct intimation from heaven, requisite to the "understanding of visions," or the spirit of inspiration necessary to foretell distant events, (departments of knowledge in which Daniel was so highly favoured,) but rather the distinct and orderly, the comprehensive and accurate conception of those various objects of thought, and subjects of inquiry, open to the attention and investigation of all men. Although the language of the text does warrant our concluding that, in different ways, God greatly favoured the acquisition of "knowledge and learning," it does not warrant our concluding that their vast and rich mental stores were laid up for them by the hand of God, without their own personal effort. Now this effort to attain knowledge, by divine assistance, is the duty of all God's people. Every believer, old and young, rich and poor, in every stage of his pilgrimage, should bear in mind the divine injunction, "Add to your faith, knowledge." The thoughtful and sincere Christian, seeking true mental. improvement, seeking that "knowledge good for the soul," good for personal holiness and real usefulness in life, and anxious not to be misled or retarded in the pursuit of it, may conceive himself, with the Bible in his hand, placed in the midst of various concentric circles; circles of books and means of knowledge within each other. The most important class of books and means is the first or nearest circle; the next in importance is the second; those worthy to occupy the next place form the third; and so on, in regular succession, till we reach that circle in which is deposited the fruit of that "tree of knowledge," which God has forbidden to man. And now, while the anxious inquirer makes that Book, which the God of light has put into his hands, the first object of his attentive study "all the days of his life," let him attend to the means for attainment of the various knowledge taught by men in the order of the circles around him. If time and opportunity will admit of it, let him attend to everything "fit for man to know;" but if not, let him not voluntarily remain ignorant of the hidden "treasures of wisdom and knowledge" contained in one or more of the nearest circles, to pay an unreasonable and disproportionate attention to a class of subjects and means of knowledge in the sphere of the lowest quality. Let him not neglect rich mines of "gold, silver, |