WESLEYAN-METHODIST MAGAZINE.

MAY, 1876.

MEMOIR OF THE REV. WILLIAM J. HANDCOCK.

THE experience of many bears ample testimony to the faithfulness of Christ to the promise implied in His declaration,"According to your faith be it unto you." Through the continued exercise of strong faith, and entire devotion to God, they enjoy blessings which are withheld from others; and, even while pilgrims here, they breathe the atmosphere of heaven, become acquainted with things which are hidden from mortal eye, and have a foretaste of the "rest" prepared for "the people of God.” This was eminently the case with the subject of this Memoir. Of him it may be truly said that he was "not of the world, even as the Lord Jesus was "not of the world."

The REV. WILLIAM JOHN HANDCOCK was born in the island of Jersey in 1813. His parents, who were members of the WesleyanMethodist Society, were truly pious; and thus, like Samuel, he was from his birth dedicated to the Lord, and grew up under the influence of godly teaching and example. His father, for some time, held a respectable position in the army; but, upon leaving the service, he took charge of a school in the parish of St. Laurence, and William, then in his fifteenth year, became his assistant. Whilst still a boy, he displayed great aptitude for learning, and an eager thirst for knowledge. At the same time he manifested strict conscientiousness and steadiness of demeanour. Very early in life he determined to enter the school of Christ, and evinced this purpose by frequenting the social means of grace, in which he listened with marked attention to the experience of God's servants. But he had completed his nineteenth year before he felt that the Spirit of God enabled him to cry with confidence," Abba, Father." While seeking the Saviour he had repeatedly derived comfort from the promises of Scripture, and at length he was enabled to rest fully on the atonement, and realised the peace of God. Henceforth his faith and joy steadily increased. He at once joined the Wesleyan-Methodist Society, and sought out spheres of usefulness for himself. Two years after his conversion he began to labour as a Local-preacher. His first sermon, in French, was upon the text,-"For I am in a

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strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better." (Philippians i. 28.) This text was eminently characteristic, indicating the spirit which, throughout life, he cultivated and maintained.

In the year 1838 he was recommended by the Channel Islands District Meeting as a candidate for the ministry. At the ensuing Conference he was accepted, and appointed with five others to labour in the south of France. His first Circuit extended from the Alps to the Mediterranean, one hundred miles in one direction, and two hundred in another. In those times there were changes of residence every six weeks between the unmarried preachers; so that, during the two years he spent in that Circuit, he laboured alternately in the sunny plains of the south, and on the snow-clad slopes of the Alps. His experience during these years may be gathered from a few extracts from some of his letters. To one friend he wrote:-"I can bless God that I ever came here. I leave myself to His guidance, for I know that He will do all things well. My soul is stayed upon God, and kept in peace. I feel determined to spend and be spent for His glory. I am unworthy of being employed in so glorious a work as that to which He has called me; but, since He has thought proper so to do, I will take up my cross, and follow my Saviour:

'My life, my blood, I here present.'

I hope I shall always be willing to follow my Saviour whithersoever He may lead me." Again he wrote: "You ask me whether I feel at home. I must say that, whatever may be my feelings with respect to this country, the remembrance of my fatherland is sweet indeed; but, on the other hand, I wish to say with that pattern of selfdenial, John Wesley,

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'No foot of land do I possess,
No cottage in this wilderness,
A poor wayfaring man,

I lodge awhile in tents below,
Or gladly wander to and fro,
Till I my Canaan gain.'

I do not wish to feel at home till I am in the midst of those who having washed their robes...in the blood of the Lamb,' dwell in our Heavenly Father's kingdom." These extracts are from letters written by the young missionary in the first year of his ministry.

In the following year he wrote to another friend; "You wish to be more dead to the world. This is not all you should desire. You must wish to be entirely dead to the world. If you only seek to be more dead to the world, it is probable you will remain just as you are. You should set your eye on the mark-entir

deadness to the world, and walk on to it." To the same person, at another time, he wrote: "I am resolved to take the times as they come. I will choose the hope offered in the Gospel. I shall shortly lay my flesh in the grave, and my spirit will rise to the glories of immortality. I confess I am not one of those who are afraid of time flowing away too fast: on the contrary, I desire that time may be no more, and therefore I say, with pleasurable hope and with all my heart, Thy kingdom come.' Yes, flow on, ye phantoms of days, months, and years! Shadows of a moment, be swallowed up in eternity!" Thus, at the very opening of his career, Mr. Handcock sought to maintain spirituality of mind, and earnestly looked for "a better country, that is, a heavenly."

Upon entering on his third year as a probationer, he was made Superintendent of the work in the Upper Alps. This appointment shows the confidence reposed in him by his brethren, and their conviction of his devotedness to the cause of Christ. Those Alps, of which he says he was "almost afraid to think," were to be his home and his field of labour during two dreary winters. His labours here were of the most fatiguing and selfdenying character, demanding from him an amount of energy and endurance which proved too much for his constitution. It is believed that, while he was at his post in the Upper Alps, the foundation was laid of that disease which in future years caused him so much pain, and ultimately shortened his life.

What the young missionary had to endure may be learned from the following extracts from his letters :-"As it is impossible to get the people together on account of the press of work on them, I have visited the members of Society from field to field in the principal places, and have spoken to and prayed with them. This is a tiresome task, as the fields are on the slopes of the mountains in small patches, and my walking is all on the ascent or descent. The other morning, I was for an hour looking in this way for a single person, without being able to find him. The last time I went to Fontgillardes, including this work and the walking I had afterwards, I went the same day thirty miles." "Some time ago, in one of my journeys, I was overtaken by a tremendous thunderstorm. The lightning flashed, at one time, on the ground a yard or two before me. But the greatest danger was not from the lightning, but from the detached pieces of rock, which the heavy rain caused to roll down the mountain. The road, which is bad at any time, soon became much worse, for in a few minutes it was the bed of a torrent. After three hours' walking in the rain, I got to a house; but as there was no fire in it, I was obliged to walk two miles further, before I could dry my clothes. At last I got a fire, before

which I stood until they were nearly dry. I then went three miles farther, the rain still coming down. I dried my clothes again, took a little bread and milk, and went to bed, but was too tired and feverish to sleep." On another occasion he writes: "Outside, nothing is to be seen but the snowy livery of winter, with which the earth is already clothed. Inside, I have close to me a little wood fire. My room, or I should rather say my cellar, opens into a stable containing cows, sheep, fowls, etc. They are just striking up a most amusing chorus, and my little landlord is making his voice sound, with conscious importance, through the noble hall, which he inhabits in common with the aforesaid worthy companions. I am better off to-day than yesterday; for yesterday the sun, being warm, melted the snow on the roof of the house, and the water flowed into my humble dwelling through half a dozen holes." During the second year of his residence in the Upper Alps, he found the work telling seriously upon his constitution, and hence he wrote, "I can no longer remain here. My lungs are in such a state that I can neither read nor write for a single quarter of an hour without great pain, and I have been already two months in this condition."

After the Conference of 1842, Mr. Handcock married a lady who, in every respect, proved herself a fit companion and helpmate,one who could assist him in his arduous work, and make his path through life more pleasant. After his marriage, until the year 1848, he laboured in various Circuits in the south of France, much to the edification of the Churches and the satisfaction of his brethren. During that period he continued in the same spirit of humble devotion, willing to do and to suffer all the will of God. Writing to a bereaved family, he says, "We have been informed of the breach made in your family by death, and have taken a share in your sorrows. May all our griefs and trials conduce to the one great end of our sanctification, and thus, in order to reign eternally with Christ, may we daily die with Him!...It is in the heavenly world that our treasures are to be laid up. Even as to our children, it is only so far as we look upon them as forming prospectively a part of our heavenly treasure, that we look upon them in the proper light.......How the Gospel sweetly brightens up the future! So much so, that for the Christian the future is everything, the present comparatively nothing. The present only reveals the struggle, the suffering, the death. It is in the future world that we shall see perfectly revealed victory, salvation, and life."

In 1849 the state of his health was such as to induce him to retire from the ranks of the itinerant ministry. He went to Jersey, where he purposed to resume his early occupation of teaching.

After a year's rest, however, he felt himself moved to enter again upon the work of the Christian pastorate, and was appointed to the Jersey (St. Helier's) Circuit. The following eighteen years were spent in the various Circuits in the Channel Islands. During that time he appears to have aimed habitually at two things,entire consecration to God, and usefulness in his Master's work. His letters show the intensity of desire and strength of purpose with which he regarded these great objects of life. As a pastor, he endeared himself to his people by his gentlemanly deportment, combined with his earnest, loving, Christian spirit; and recollections of him will be long cherished by many affectionate hearts. His name is still a household word amongst the Wesleyan-Methodists in the Channel Islands.

While in these Islands Mr. Handcock did not confine his labours to pastoral work, but devoted a portion of his time to other important services. Recognising the advantages of a sound and Christian education, he directed his attention to the establishment of Day-schools. In this undertaking he was successful. The first Wesleyan Day-school in the Islands was opened through his efforts; and now two schools stand as monuments of his untiring industry, and of his solicitude for the welfare of the young. Nor was he indifferent to the claims of religious literature. During several years he successfully edited the French Methodist Magazine,-a periodical which has a large circulation, and exerts great influence in the Islands and France. He prepared, also, and published a short Compendium of the laws and usages of Methodism, for the use of the French Methodists, and a learned and original exposition of St. John's First Epistle. His greatest literary effort was the preparation, in conjunction with one of his ministerial brethren, of a new French Hymn-Book, for the use of the French congregations, which was completed just before his removal to England.

Towards the close of the year 1867, Mr. Handcock was compelled, by failing health, to seek a change of climate, and, for a time, complete repose. He came to Birmingham, where he resided until the Conference of 1868, when he was appointed Superintendent of the Uxbridge and Rickmansworth Circuit. When he entered upon that Circuit, the congregations soon discovered that they were privileged to have as their pastor one who could unfold to them" the deep things of God," and wherever he went he was listened to with fixed and earnest attention. During the brief period of his labours at Rickmansworth, he was often hindered in his work by a depressing weakness, which became more and more apparent; but as long as his strength permitted, he never shrank from his ministerial duties,