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on Sundays, as places of resort, would be a salutary measure, and public opinion is evidently growing strong in favour of it. On the day before the discussion on Mr. Smith's Bill a meeting took place in Hanover Square Rooms in furtherance of its object, presided over by the Archbishop of York, and addressed by the Duke of Argyle, E. Baines, Esq., M.P., and other distinguished men. An address has also been received by the Prime Minister, signed by 69 mayors, 148 justices of the peace, and 31 chairmen of benches of magistrates, praying him to secure the aid of the Government in passing this Bill into a law.

The foreign events of the month are entitled to a longer notice than we can here give. Looking first to America, we behold an alarming crisis in its government. President Johnson has been impeached, and was summoned to appear before the House on the 13th March to answer three charges: first, that he had violated the Tenure of Office Act in removing Mr. Stanton from the War Office; second, that he had issued orders to the army through General Emery, instead of General Grant; and third, that he had denounced the legislative action of Congress as illegal. Public opinion as to the success or failure of the impeachment has not been very decided. It is expected that the trial will be protracted, yet that there

is the greater chance of his being acquitted in consequence of the want of a man proper in all respects to succeed him in the Presidency. It has been said that Mr. Johnson received from Mr. Lincoln one of the greatest political heritages that ever descended to a mortal, but that he has squandered it all, simply by not knowing how to be a sovereign.

The Abyssinian Expedition continues to tax the public patience by the lack of definite information, as it has already begun to tax private purses by its enormous pecuniary costs. One of the last despatches from Zoula, the landing-place of the expedition, dated March 6, merely stated that Sir R. Napier was about to make a dash on Magdala. We have been told by one of our sages that "secrecy and celerity are the qualities which mark great actions."

In Japan a revolution has occurred. The Tycoon, strictly speaking, the military commander, but who has exercised the civil power of the empire as representative of the Mikado, or Supreme Emperor, has been defeated by the Daimios, assistant rulers of the emperor. Eighteen of these Daimios, forming an independent conclave, became jealous of the Tycoon, and they espoused the cause of Chioshiu, one of the princes, as against the Tycoon. The latter was the ally of England, but we wisely refused to take part in the quarrel in which he has been defeated.

Marriage.

OLDERSHAW-KNIGHT.-Feb. 26, at the Baptist chapel, Castle Donington, by the Rev. Edward Hall Jackson, Mr. Oldershaw, of Wakefield, oldest son of the late

Mr. Oldershaw, of Castle Donington, to Mary Ann, second daughter of Mr. Knight, also of Castle Donington.

Recent Deaths.

MRS. ELLIOTT, CASTLE DONINGTON. THE story of a simple life made useful and beautiful by religion may be a help to us to truly live and love. Our glorified sister was the third daughter of the Rev. John Derry, she was born in 1823, just before her parents removed to Barton, where her honoured father was the Baptist pastor for thirty years. Her child-life was a changeling between thoughtful moods and careless hours, and as it unfolded was not without marks of aversion from God. But very early in youth the voice of eternal

love summoned her to follow Jesus; by what instrumentality that voice reached her soul is not now known; obediently she turned, and Jesus took her into the shelter of His almighty power for evermore. Probably her father baptized his darling daughter in her sixteenth year; and certainly the waters closed over, and buried with Christ, one who had truly died to the world, and from them arose a child of the spiritual resurrection who walked in newness of life. Her gentle nature was a flower that had been severed from its

earthly stalk, and bloomed with a purity and fragrance which it had never possessed before. Religion with her was no mere negation, but something intensely positive and practical; hence from conversion she laboured for the Oriya Mission; through summer heats and winter snows she walked uncounted miles to obtain subscribers to it, and with what large success the aggregate of her collections would show. God bless those friends who have so often encouraged her anxious zeal. Once when a professor harshly refused her with an unworthy reflection on the Mission, she became a missionary to him; the brimming tears stood in her eyes while she conquered him with this powerful entreaty-"If you are resolved not to help us, do not hurt your own soul by attempting to discredit the humblest effort to give life to a dying world." She was not conscious then that the eyes of her future husband were upon her, or that in that moment his love had become irrevocably hers. With space at command we might catalogue the many works which have followed our dear sister into her rest, but here we can only say, her sympathies were very wide, that we know of no work which women may do in the church which she has not touched with diligent hands and prayed for with a loving heart.

In 1847 she was married by her father to Mr. Elliott, now of Castle Donington, with quite an ovation of love and esteem from the friends of their youth, both old and young, the children of the Sabbathschool sang their simple hymns with happy voices for love of the bride and bridegroom who had taught many of them the praises of the Lord; nearly twenty years after her husband writes to a friend-" Never did any man take home a better helpmeet, and never for one small moment have I regretted my choice; her prayers at the family altar have often been a great help to me." But how shall we touch her sorrows? In presence of her griefs we are awed and subdued, for fierce were the fires in which God purified his gold in her. Child after child she kissed and buried. Her daughter Sarah was a clever, interesting, affectionate child, and of Christ's flock before she was ten years of age; this dear little one was carried into the kingdom and the glory after a few days of languid illness, and the childless parents found their house left unto them desolate. After a speechless interval the sorrowing father attempted to comfort the afflicted mother, but he found her already resting on the Shepherd's love who had signed their lamb and led it to His fold. Gone was the last of her children, but not before the all-pitying Christ had enabled her to

say, "Let the Lord do that which is good in His sight." For years she struggled with bodily pain and weakness. Her disease was atrophy, which wasted her to a shadow. She dwelt as it were on that border-land which limits our brief lives from the vast forever. At length, with the advent of 1867, came her long last illness, which she bore with beautiful submission. Her only child, born after the death of Sarah, she completely surrendered to God, in sweet firm assurance that earlier or later it would join her in the kingdom of the blessed. Slowly dying for months, the love she felt for Christ, and her unutterable sense of His love to her, filled her soul with divinest peace. We sometimes clung desperately to a broken hope of her recovery, and tried to hold it towards her; she never touched it, for this human life had lost all semblance of a charm"And she kept ever singing, "There is no joy so sweet As musing upon Him we love, And sitting at His feet.'

The

Her affection for her pastor, and all her Christian friends during that illness, is a fragrant memory with them now. spirit that dwelt in her fragile form looked through eyes radiant with heavenly love, and spoke the sweetest words of cheer to husband, child, and friend, through lips that never murmured. At last, on the 3rd of June, God charged his angels to claim their sister spirit, and she left the slight, almost etherealized form in which she had so long and patiently languished. It was carried to a grave, made by our house of prayer that had been so dear to her, followed by a long procession of sisters in Christ who wept her as one truly beloved, and laid by the sleeping dust of her children. With a voice choking with emotion her pastor uttered the sublime promises of victory over death, and with many natural tears, but with bright spiritual hope, the little that remained of her here was sown. On the following Sabbath a large congregation assembled to hear a sermon touching her religion, which was preached by her minister from-" My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever."

Farewell, O our sister, till the morning; with sorrow, but not without hope, we say our affectionate farewells!

EDWARD HALL JACKSON.

Castle Donington.

MR. JOHN GIBSON.

IN the progress of human life the memories of departed years linger around the Christian soul, recall its endeared friend

ships, minister to its higher culture, and quicken its advance to a closer walk with God. If the scene of earthly travel has been one of comparative retirement, the electric power of thought becomes more vivid and intense, and the stricken heart longs for some enduring memento of the loved ones who have passed into the many mansioned home. The following memorial sketches are designed to furnish a small contribution to this refined and chastened emotion.

In our Church Register, under date Feb. 12, 1833, occurs this affecting entry, in the handwriting of the late Rev. R. Ingham, "Died, William Gibson, of Greenwood Lee, who had recently been ordained a deacon, aged forty-six years. Lord, help us to improve these repeated and affecting visitations!"

John Gibson, of Greenwood Lee, the subject of this notice, was the second son of the good man whose premature demise was thus deplored by his esteemed pastor and friends. In childhood's early years he became a fatherless boy, and entitled to those select and precious promises which are the special inheritance of the widow and the orphan. He possessed an active and vigorous mind, prompt in its volitions, ingenious in its bent, and practical in its aims. In the secular department of his life he was skilful, assiduous and economic. He had a natural enthusiasm for work, and was a living embodiment of the fourth The commandment of the decalogue. moral worth, Christian experience, and useful labours of our lamented friend bore indications of a steady advancing growth. The crisis of his spiritual being came to pass when resident at Low Moor, near Bradford.

An eminent living writer on Biblical and Ecclesiastical History observes, "There is hardly one famous passage in the New Testament that has not borne fruit in the conversion of some great saint, or in the turn it has given to some great event."

The same remark will apply to the rise and progress of spiritual life in the ordinary human soul. The glowing and impassioned declaration of Paul found in Gal. vi. 14, "But God forbid," &c., came with divine unction and power to the heart of our dear brother some fifteen years ago; and with his natural quickness of mental resolve he passed the turning point of his inner life, and cheerfully accepted its new duties and responsibilities. Shortly afterwards, in the providence of God, he returned to the place of his birth, and in the sanctuary where his sainted father worshipped the high and lofty One, enjoyed the communion of saints, and obtained a meetness for heaven: there he resolved to dwell, to

praise, and to adore. It was my happiness to administer the initiatory rite of the church of Christ to our departed friend on June 16th, 1855.

The Sunday school was now the beloved and chosen scene of his labours. His natural gifts, his superior education, his social position, his moral influence, specially fitted him for usefulness in this department of the Master's employ. As teacher and as superintendent his chief aim was to do good and to glorify God. His addresses to the school were both instructive and pleasing. We are greatly indebted to his active and zealous efforts for the new and commodious school-room we now possess. The last affliction of our friend was painful and protracted. For some time anterior to his dissolution it was feared by many of his friends that his powers of physical endurance were not commensurate with the energetic and restless operations of his mind. Incessant demands being made upon the brain force, sleep forsook him, appetite failed, strength decayed, and a fatal malady struck its fibres into his enfeebled constitution. Our hopes and fears alternate rose during its changeful course. The beloved sufferer was in the midst of his days. A bright star had risen in the horizon of his social life, giving promise of a rose-tinted morn, and a bright summer day. New joys and aspirations thrilled his heart. The church and the school sorely needed his presence and services. Prayer was made without ceasing unto God for him." When asked about his recovery our brother replied, "I feel a desire to live if it be the Lord's will that I may do more work for Christ." But medical skill, Christian intercession, and self-sacrificing love, could not arrest the process of physical decadence, and all hope of his convalescence vanished when the Arbiter of human life and destiny permitted a stroke of paralysis to seize and prostrate the body. The agile limb was now motionless, the sparkling eye was dimmed, the familiar voice was silent, but merciful heaven allowed consciousness to remain. The quiet interviews, Bible readings, and fervent devotions of friends, were now precious seasons to the voiceless saint, and to them he intimated by well known signs that all was well. On the day before his death I knelt at his bedside and repeated several portions of God's word; rising from my knees, he pressed my hand, made an effort to speak, but could only fix on me an anxious gaze, and look a parting adieu. Next morning his attendant observed him to raise his eyes upwards; she quietly said, "Are you looking for some one ?" The dying Christian imperfectly articulated the 66 name which is above

66

every name." Did he not realise the devout wish expressed in one of his favourite hymns

"And may the music of Thy name

Refresh my soul in death."

The soul of our brother ascended to God on November 12, 1867, after thirtyeight years of mortal travail. His premature removal was greatly deplored by a large circle of friends, and the current feeling excited by the providential event, it is hoped, was chastened and sanctified by a discourse founded on Matt. xxv. 21, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant," &c. C. S., H.

SARAH SUTCLIFFE,

RELICT of the late Thomas Sutcliffe, Stoneshey-gate, Heptonstall Slack, departed this life, January 25th, 1868, in her sixty-fifth year. Born on the southern slopes, and amid the bracing atmosphere of Pendle Forest, she inherited a hale and vigorous constitution, which ultimately ripened into a tall and comely figure. The full years of maidenhood having run their course, her nuptials were celebrated on the basis of sincere and mutual attachment. The admired and stately bride now quitted her sylvan home, crossed the Lancashire border, and found a permanent settlement in the hill country of the West Riding.

The rural virtues, the generous disposition, and the open hand, were now transferred to a new sphere. The child of the forest became the honoured and trusted wife, the devoted and affectionate mother. Her cup of earthly blessing was now full; but in her lone and quiet meditations she discovered a profound spiritual need which no material comforts could supply. Punctual and regular in her attendance on public worship the truth as it is in Jesus distilled as the early dew upon her genial and sensitive heart. She found peace and joy in believing. Her love to the dying Saviour was pure in its nature and practical in its results. Having received the word gladly, our beloved sister was baptized, June 19th, 1832, and continued to "adorn the doctrine of God her Saviour in all things."

Mrs. Sutcliffe was a woman of high principle, of tender sympathies, and of social generosities. One of that select order of human kind who by inheritance, culture, and grace, obtain a more excellent nature than the majority of their race. The emotional element was the commanding quality in her moral constitution. She could weep with the tearful and the bereaved, she could rejoice with the blithesome and the prosperous. To a feeling heart, Divine Providence superadded am

ple means and opportunities for its generous outflow. She was truly a successor of the holy women of the olden time, "whose adorning was the hidden man of the heart, a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." Like Dorcas, of apostolic fame,*"this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did." And it came to pass, when she was sick and died, that all "the saints and widows" thought of the "coats and garments"which she had made, and given them, and the voice of weeping was heard in many a fatherless home which had been cheered by her visits or her gifts. She "remembered the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive." "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Verily she has her reward.

Our lamented sister was deeply interested in all that concerned the peace and prosperity of the church of Christ. The money she cast into the Lord's treasury is known to Him alone. One of her last solicitudes had respect to the debt which still remains on our new school-room. She ardently desired its entire liquidation.

Mrs. Sutcliffe survived her late husband, of revered memory, about three years. Her end was sudden and unexpected, but her lamp was trimmed and her light burning. Within a few days of her decease she was heard to say, "I know not that I have a single tie which binds me to this world."

Again she said, "I feel weary of the ailments and pains of this mortal body, and hope I shall soon be at rest."

Having made a number of personal bequests to her dear grand-children, she added, "It behoves me to set my house in order. I may soon be gone." Thus did our heavenly Father prepare the noblehearted saint for the apoplectic stroke which, from sin and from pain, hath set her eternally free. In less than thirty hours the robust and well-built frame sunk under the violence of the attack, and the immortal tenant passed into the infinite realms.

She was indeed a good woman, and a succourer of many, amongst whom were the successive pastors of the church of Christ at Heptonstall Slack. She esteemed them highly in love for their work's sake.

She leaves a beloved and only son to mourn her loss, to emulate her virtues, and to follow her to heaven. C. S., H.

SMEDLEY.-March 9, at Leake, after a long illness, Ann, the beloved wife of Mr. Owen Smedley. Her end was peace.

Acts ix. 36-40.

Missionary Observer.

LETTER FROM DR. PHILLIPS,

OF BALASORE, ORISSA, TO THE AMERICAN 66 CHRISTIAN FREEMAN."

Travelling-Pilgrims - Converts—Hindooism Crumbling-Day Dreams— Preaching in Oriya-" Good Times" at Patua.

Balasore, India, Oct. 16, 1867.

Poor

THIS morning, just as the crows began to call and the day to break, we reached brother Miller's house, from Jellasore. The distance is only twenty-eight miles, but with such roads as we get here at the close of the rains, this seems an immense way. Mrs. Phillips was eleven hours making the trip in a palankeen, but Don, Bob, and Elsie did it up for me in a little more than half that time-thus affording me three hours for rest in the night at a little bungalow. But woe betide those swarms of musquitoes! The giants, they supped on me as if travellers were rare along that road. I was glad when my time was up, and I could take the saddle again. There are numbers of pilgrims all along the road at this season. Through the night I rode between double lines of them, as they lay asleep on the hard roads in the bazaars. creatures! they get enough of hardship and exposure before their return home from Pooree. With some of them the journey occupies months; and hundreds of them never return. This is a tolerably healthy season for pilgrims, but during the rains and the hot weather the mortality in their ranks becomes truly fearful. It is a sad sight, I assure you, to see helpless men and women drop by the roadside to die, and be devoured by the beasts and birds of prey. I have seen this not only miles away from a human habitation, but right in a crowded bazaar, where the pilgrim sank down crying in vain for help to the dwellers on either side, and the multitude jostling by. Paganism knows no such thing as pity. Its heart is stone, and its hands do no deeds of mercy. This is the broad fact, illustrations of which I shall frequently have occasion to send you.

The past fortnight has been spent at Santipore and Jellasore. The Santipore church was organized in June last, with

eighteen members, and now numbers twenty-seven. The Sabbath we were there five young men were baptized. Since May last twenty-three persons have been baptized at Jellasore, nearly all of them members of the Girls' Orphanage, and all but two under sixteen years of age. Thus, you see, the kingdom increases; and yet we seem to be making next to no impression upon the mass of heathendom. I say seem to be making no impression, for that the Gospel-leaven is silently and surely working in Hindoo society there can be no doubt. In my strolling the other morning I noticed a banyan tree growing out of a seam in the wall of an old building. Some bird had carried the tiny seed, or a gust of wind had blown it there. Within a minute crevice in the solid masonry it found a bed, and, sprouting, struck its root through the mere film of soil to the hard base below. As the tree grew the brick and mortar had to yield, and now the roots have perforated the structure, and made long, wide, deep fissures across the whole roof, which must soon fall in with the crumbling walls. Just so is the power of the gospel at work here. There is many a cleft in Hindooism today. Bible-force has been at work here for well nigh three quarters of a century, and you may depend upon it these strongholds of idolatry are tottering to their very foundations. This massive temple of Paganism is doomed. Already the pillars shake and the arches bow. A mightier than Sampson has laid His hand upon it,

This is the oldest station in the mission. Thirty years ago Dr. Noyes and father began work here. It is a beautiful place, only seven miles from the Bay, and eight from the grand old hills. Looking out from brother Miller's chamber window, to the west, one is so quickly transported to familiar New England scenery. It is easy sitting here to muse on the days gone by, to come no more, when with beloved class-mates I was a school-boy in that land far across the sea. May our Father's blessing follow each of that scattered band, and bring them each to the Great Teacher's feet! But the day dream can't be long here, for there is a clatter outside that

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