indeed, when she could not restrain her gushing tears. But ere the end came, she consoled her sorrowing parents and friends with surprising calmness, telling them not to weep for her, and saying, "I cannot weep now." "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." ALFRED LOCKYER. THE late REV. JOHN NEWELL was born at White Roding, in Essex, January 12th, 1841. At the age of fourteen his parents observed evidences of a work of grace in his heart; and at this time he drew up and signed a solemn declaration of his purpose to serve God. A few years later, during the term of his apprenticeship at Witham, his religious convictions were deepened under a sermon by the Rev. Edwin O. Coleman, then a Localpreacher in the Chelmsford Circuit; and it is believed that in the course of the ensuing week he realised the forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ, and received the assurance of the Divine favour. After his conversion he endeavoured to promote cottage prayer-meetings; and his growth in grace and diligent improvement of his gifts soon pointed him out as qualified for other and higher service. He became an acceptable and useful Local-preacher, and quickly won the esteem and confidence of the ministers and office-bearers of the Circuit. The Rev. William Swallow, who nominated him as a candidate for the ministry, speaks of him as being at this time a very modest, amiable, and pious youth. It is an interesting circumstance that at the District Meeting in London at which he was examined he stood by the side of Mr. Coleman, to whose preaching he attributed his conversion. For two years he enjoyed the advantages of the Richmond branch of the Theological Institution; and, being conscientiously diligent, he took a good position as a student, and gave proof, in his subsequent ministry, of the benefit which he had derived from the mental culture and discipline 1868 he was appointed to the Peter- The afternoon of the day before the fatal attack came on was spent in ministering to the poor; and the evening in business connected with a proposed new school-building. Before another day dawned he was seized with violent inflammation, and after a week's illness his enfeebled constitution succumbed to the disease. During his affliction he was calm, peaceful, and fearless. He said, at the first, "I am very happy;" and as the struggle with disease became more and more severe, and the issue increasingly doubtful, he never, even for a moment, lost his confidence in God. He wished to live, and as often as his energies rallied a little, and gave hope of recovery, he whispered, "I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord." But though he cherished this desire, with submission to the will of God, he was not afraid to die. Throughout his illness he expressed a firm trust in Christ as his Saviour; and, when unable to speak, testified by raising his hand that to him to die was "gain." Thus he passed away in his youthful prime. Genial and true as a friend, affectionate and faithful as a colleague, with no trace of jealousy in his nature, and without the shadow of self-assumption, he was respected by all who knew him. His piety was cheerful and unobtru sive; and if sometimes he was misunderstood by those who could not sympathise with his lively feelings, it is believed that in spirit, in word, and in conduct, he was thoroughly and conscientiously upright and godly. His ministry, while it was specially adapted to instruct and edify the more intelligent of his people, found much acceptance among his hearers generally, and approved itself to their consciences. A minister with whom he travelled says of him that he was a superior preacher; and that, had his life been spared, he would ultimately have ranked high. What elevation of character, what ripeness of piety, what ministerial success, might have been realised had he reached threescore instead of thirty years, cannot now be determined. At an age when too many are only beginning to live, his life's work was accomplished, and his Master called him to his reward. He died at Crowland on January 14th, 1871, in the thirty-first year of his age, and the seventh of his ministry. JOSEPH WHITAKER was born at Denholme, in the parish of Bradford, Yorkshire, on the 31st of October, 1851. When a very young child he was sent to a Sunday-school, in which, as the years passed on, he gradually rose, until he became a member of the select class. In his youth he was steady and orderly in his conduct, and so won the esteem of the officers of the Sundayschool that, before he was fifteen years of age, he was appointed to take charge of a class as a teacher. At the latter end of the year 1866 a revival of religion broke out in the neighbourhood of Denholme; and on the 16th of January, 1867, while listening to a sermon preached by the Rev. W. Pritchard in the Wesleyan chapel, he resolved to give his heart to God. The school which he had attended belonged to that body of Methodists that had recently separated from the parent Community; and to that Society he now united himself. But after about thirteen months he sought admission into the Wesleyan-Methodist Society, and was soon appointed as a teacher in the Sabbath-school. Diligently maintaining his personal piety, and being earnest in the cultivation of his mind, he gave promise of considerable useful ness. Towards the close of the year 1868, he became a Local-preacher, and from the first his exhortations and sermons were marked by considerable ability, and were well received by the people. In the following year he was appointed a class-leader, and in this office also was acceptable and useful. About the same time he was elected Secretary of the Young Men's Theological Class, and at length, in the year 1872, he was appointed President of that class. In every relation which he sustained Mr. Whitaker was faithful: his attention to duty was steady and persevering. He was regular in his attendance on the means of grace, and earnest in his efforts to do good, and to promote unity and love in the Church. He held fast the glorious truths of salvation, and experienced their power. His religion showed itself at home; and he was indeed an ornament to his profession. His last affliction was; long and severe. During ten weeks he was confined to his bed; but throughout this illness he was never heard to murmur or repine. He had no fear or misgiving as to the future, but was calm, resigned, and cheerful. Though his temporal prospects were blighted, yet his spiritual enjoyments were rich and abundant. He often requested his father and friends to read to him portions of Scripture; and, after listening to them, he frequently remarked that the promises were never before so cheering to him, and that he never saw such beauty in religion as he did then. He had, indeed, "a desire to depart, and to be with Christ;" and, as the end drew near, he calmly and confidently said, "I am going to Jesus." On February 3rd, 1873, his purified spirit entered the realms of light and joy. The respect felt for his character was evinced by the number of persons present at his funeral, and by the large congregation that assembled in the Wesleyan chapel, Denholme, when Mr. F. Butterfield preached on the occasion of his decease. MR. JOSHUA MURGATROYD was born in Huddersfield, on August 14th, 1812. Of his early life comparatively little is known. His mother's memory was ever affectionately cherished by him; and to her strict, yet kind and Christian, training, as well as her consistent example, he frequently attributed the good habits which ofttimes preserved him from falling into temptation in after life. His parents having removed to Ireland while he was still young, he there received the greater part of his education, which was thoroughly sound and practical. During this period the principles instilled into his mind by his mother were severely tested, through his being brought into daily contact with persons imbued with the bigotry and superstition of Roman Catholic teaching, of which he ever entertained an utter abhorrence. On the other hand, his admiration of the steadfastness and nobility of the Irish Protestants became stronger and stronger. When he was about sixteen years of age his parents returned to Yorkshire, where he was apprenticed to a firm of millwrights, for which trade he had a decided preference. Shortly afterwards his father and mother sailed for America, leaving him to rely on his own resources. In this hard school he was taught the self-reliance and determination which characterised him through life, and formed those habits of self-denial, close application, and perseverance, which were the chief causes of his future advancement. On the termination of his apprenticeship he went to Manchester, where, being a stranger, he was for some time exposed to the ill-will of his fellowworkmen. His diligence, however, soon attracted the notice of his employers, so that he quickly rose to positions of responsibility and influence. In the midst of his necessary attention to worldly affairs, his residence in Manchester was graciously overruled by God, so as to become the most eventful epoch in his religious Having been brought up history. within the communion of the Established Church, he was at the first a regular attendant on its services, but being unknown, and thus without any friendly recognition, he keenly felt his loneliness and need of Christian sympathy. At this critical period-critical, because of his exposure to the evil influences of the world without the counteracting power of godly companionships—the Spirit of God wrought mightily on his soul. Having frequently heard of the Methodists, and felt a desire to attend their services, he went on one Sabbath evening to the Oldham Street chapel, and listened to an earnest and faithful discourse by the late Rev. Robert Aitken. Assured that such services would contribute to supply the need of his soul, he resolved to cast in his lot with this portion of God's people; and, on the invitation of one of the class-leaders, availed himself of the means of Christian fellowship which Methodism provides. A few weeks after he thus avowed his convictions, and sought union with the people of God, he received, through faith in the Lord Jesus, the inward assurance that his sins were forgiven. The account of this blessed change will be best given in his own words; and it is worthy of notice that this is almost the only record he has left of his inner life; showing, as it does, the high import ance which he attached to this event: "On August 6th, 1834," he says, "the Lord manifested to me His forgiving love. I had sought His pardoning grace about six weeks; and, as soon as I was enabled wholly to trust alone in God's mercy to me through the atonement of Christ Jesus, I found my load of guilt removed; and about two hours afterwards, during the Sunday-evening service in Oldham Street chapel, I was filled with love to God and to all mankind. This I blessedly enjoyed for about six weeks, the while using means to draw others to seek the same mercy. I then experienced that sin in me struggled hard for the mastery, and the thought that I was deceiving myself much distressed me. But during this season of temptation I was led carefully to read the last chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, where the unseen spiritual foes opposed to the Christian are spoken of, and the armour is described that he ought to put on and use. This portion of Scripture was made, at that time, a great blessing to me. I was fully delivered, and enabled to rejoice in the mercy and love of God." These words give us some insight into the work wrought in him by Divine grace. They show that his conversion was real and thorough. He was led to see the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the danger in which he was involved through transgression, and the necessity of surrendering himself fully to Christ, and of relying on Him alone. In after years, when speaking of his conversion to God, he would exclaim, "The Law was my schoolmaster to bring me to Christ." His faith in the Lord Jesus was maintained in its simplicity, and with increasing strength, to the very end of life. But while the change of heart which Mr. Murgatroyd experienced was deep and lasting, it was not marked by rapturous joy. His temperament, while not destitute of vivid emotions, was yet undemonstrative. The Word of God was ever his defence when violently assailed by temptation; and, through his entire course, he was an assiduous student and lover of its truths and precepts. He made it a rule to read a portion of Holy Scripture every morning before entering upon the duties of the day, that he might fortify himself against the difficulties that might beset his path. His actions were regulated by an abiding sense of God's presence. All his duties were performed under the consciousness that the Judge's eye was upon him, and that for each he must one day render an account. His most prominent characteristic was his conscientiousness, as manifested in the strict performance of duty, with which he would allow nothing to interfere. Nor was he satisfied with a bare performance of duty; for he held that a Christian should endeavour to attain the highest rank in his profession or trade. He often stated that, in his own case, one of the greatest stimulants to advancement in his worldly vocation, was his determination that it should be seen that a man of business could be a Christian, and yet fulfil his duties in the world as well as, if not better than, those whose thoughts were fixed only on the things of earth. Sometimes he was urged to permit those under him to work on the Lord's day; but he adhered faithfully to the rule which he had laid down for himself, at the commencement of his business-life, that neither himself nor any over whom he had control, should, in any case, desecrate God's holy day. In many other respects his stern allegiance to duty involved great selfdenial; but he ever felt that the path of duty must be trod. And to him, as to a thousand others, the path of duty proved the path to success. His life in the Church was marked by a spirit of sincerity and reverence, of simplicity and fervour, which manifested itself in a continuous and earnest endeavour to do good to the souls of all men. Shortly after his conversion he engaged very actively in loving toil for Christ, and in the course of years sustained most of the offices in connection with Methodism, in his own Circuit, that a layman can fill. The position of class-leader he held at the time of his departure, having faithfully discharged its duties for a period of nearly thirty-eight years. His last illness, which was protracted and painful, was borne with Christian resignation and fortitude. Though his whole previous life had been one of ceaseless activity, the seclusion of the sick-room caused no repining. No murmur escaped his lips. He enjoyed a deep and settled peace, which was undisturbed by doubt or fear. His intense suffering did not permit him to engage in prolonged conversation; but on the few occasions on which he was able to speak, his words indicated implicit trust in Christ as his Saviour. His constant theme was the infinite love of God the Father in sending His Son, and of God the Son in giving Himself a ransom for him. On the day after that on which he learned from his medical advisers that human skill was no longer of any avail, he said that he was filled with joy, that he could scarcely refrain from shouting aloud, and that that day was the happiest of his life. A short time before his death, being asked whether Christ was still precious, he replied, "O, yes! my reliance is on Him; He is my allsufficient Saviour." Almost his last words were, "To depart, and to be with Christ, is far better." In God's great mercy his last moments on earth were calm and tranquil; and his spirit quietly passed away from the sufferings of earth to the mansions of eternal life. His work was done, and the Lord took him. M. RECENT DEATHS. DECEMBER 26TH, 1875.-At Great Steeping, Lincolnshire, Mrs. Mary Buttery. She was a daughter of Mr. George Willows, and was born at Great Carlton, Lincolnshire, on December 5th, 1789. Her mother was a godly woman, whose example and influence she remembered gratefully to her latest days. Her first powerful religious impressions were received during a spiritual awakening that took place at Carlton; but it was not until some time after this that she "passed from death unto life." The fearful end of a neighbour was the means of bringing her to decision; and from the time that she gave her heart to God she sought union with His people. She was thrice married,-in each ease to a member of the same branch of the Church as herself. Her first husband was Mr. Joseph Jacklin, who was taken from her some three years later, and their only child soon followed. Her second husband was Mr. James Weathers, of Donington Bridge, who died in 1839; and about a year and a half afterwards, she was again plunged into sorrow by the death of their only surviving child-a son who had but lately attained his majority. Yet she sorrowed not for these as one that had no hope: her assurance was strong and comforting that she should meet them again in heaven. In 1850 she was married to Mr. Francis Buttery, who survives to mourn her loss, after a happy union of more than five and twenty years. The character of Mrs. Buttery, as formed by the grace of God, presented many excellencies. She was steadfast. Having joined the Church when in her sixteenth year, she kept the bond of union unbroken through the whole course of life. She was a member of the Wesleyan-Methodist Society for seventy years. Nor was hers a mere formal and outward connection with |