sacrificed so much, Mr. Hyde continued restless and unhappy. He was horrified at the worst phases of the system, and at length he was told that he was getting into darkness because he had abandoned his active work as a teacher. Accordingly he was sent on a preaching mission to the Sandwich Islands, but, detained by a serious accident to his hand in San Francisco, he was thrown on his own resources, and, removed from the subtle influences of his enthusiastic associates, he calmly and searchingly re-investigated the bases of the faith he had embraced. The wrench from his old beliefs and hopes was not effected without a painful struggle, but at last he became thoroughly convinced that he had been the subject and advocate of a dangerous and deceptive heresy; to use his own words: "As a boy I embraced it; as a man I renounced it;" and once satisfied, he did not hesitate about what he ought to do. He followed his former friends to the Sandwich Islands, but he felt it his duty immediately to explain his position, and he gave a lecture at Honolulu, in which he stated the reasons why he could not fulfil the mission assigned to him. More than this, he felt that it was incumbent on him to endeavour to undo the effect of some of the false views he had been engaged in promoting. He wrote a book against the Mormon doctrines, which he published in America, and he lectured against the system in some of the great cities of the United States. He was only twentythree years of age when he separated himself from the Mormons, and when he returned to England, in the early part of 1858, his first work was to continue the crusade against the Mormon system which he had commenced in America. But, as will readily be believed by all his friends, this negative kind of work did not long satisfy Mr. Hyde's active aspirations, and though during the long and painful mental struggle which followed the heroic repudiation of his former opinions he had been unable to rest upon solid religious convictions, he never found consolation in negative philosophy. Sometimes he almost despaired of discovering the solution of the great problems that troubled him, but at length the hope dawned upon him that God would lead him to a right understanding of His truth, and as he himself said, "in this hope the works of the New Church met him."

He heard of Swedenborg for the first time in America, but he did not make his first practical acquaintance with the New Church views until after his return to England. He was, however, so much impressed by the first work of Swedenborg that he did read, that he determined to make a careful and elaborate examination of the doctrines, and the more he studied the more he was satisfied with the consistency of the philosophy, the practical character of the doctrinal. teachings, and, above all, he was affected by the doctrine of cor

respondences, which enabled him to turn once more with the confidence of faith to the Bible.

He was shortly afterwards introduced to Dr. Bayley, who, at once perceived and appreciated the mental power and earnestness of the young convert, and encouraged him to study for the New Church ministry. On the 24th of October 1858, Mr. Hyde was baptized by Dr. Bayley at Argyle Square Church, and from this time he deter mined to devote himself to the work of the ministry of the New Church. He immediately began a course of active usefulness in connection with the Argyle Square Society, and even at this early period his public addresses were as much admired for their insight into New Church truth as for their vigorous and eloquent delivery. In 1859 he was engaged as Leader of the Society at Brightlingsea, and in the course of two or three years he was recognized as one of the ablest and most successful preachers in the Church. At Brightlingsea his ministry was immediately successful, and when, after he had at the beginning of 1861 accepted a call for a wider sphere of usefulness in Derby, he found, on separating himself from his Essex friends, that their distress in losing him was so great that he said he feared, had he known how much they had loved him, he could never have consented to leave them. On the 29th September 1861 he was ordained at Derby, where he remained for five years, and in 1866 he accepted a cordial invitation from Manchester; from this time, and until his lamented death, he was the minister of the Peter Street Society. Although still a young man, he had already become one of the most popular and eloquent advocates, of New Church truth. His lectures on the Resurrection, on Swedenborg, on the Serpent that beguiled Eve, amongst others, which have happily been made permanent by publication, are conspicuous examples of his ability as an expounder and of his eloquence as a speaker. He was even then well known to the majority of New Church Societies, and the cordiality with which he had been received at Derby, if not more intense, was more extensively manifested when he was first received as minister of the Society by a crowded meeting in the Peter Street school-room, Manchester. It was on this occasion that, after speaking of the kindness of his friends, of their perfect confidence in his character and ability, and in referring to his own sense of responsibility, he said he was reminded of the time when Jesus said unto Philip, "Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?" and when "Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said unto Him, There is a lad here which hath five barley loaves and two small fishes; but what are they among so many?" And with unaffected humility, in addressing his new friends, he said he felt that he was literally a lad there amongst them, and wondered

what he could do to feed so many. But he added, that as his Master on that memorable occasion made use of the lad as an instrument, so he would strive to be likewise an instrument for distributing spiritual food and giving instruction to the multitude. Nor is it too much to say that, in looking back to that beginning of a career in which confidence and love between minister and congregation grew stronger year by year, no one who heard him then would fail to say that the young pastor had faithfully adhered to his promise to devote his life to the cause of the New Church and the spread of the knowledge of her doctrines.

The nine years that have passed since Mr. Hyde's appointment at Peter Street were the most active and important of his life, and his duties in connection with his own Society were only a small part of the work he did for the Church. Three times he was elected President of the Conference; no one ever fulfilled the duties of this onerous and honourable position with more tact or with greater industry and zeal, and there were few useful works initiated either in or out of Conference in which Mr. Hyde was not actually concerned. He wrote the "Child's Catechism," he was the compiler of the "Supplement to the Hymn Book," for which, as well as for the new School Hymn Book, he wrote a considerable number of hymns, and he was one of the most active members of the Committee for compiling the New Liturgy. In fact, either in or out of Conference, whenever a subject was brought forward which demanded judgment and forethought or readiness in action, Mr. Hyde's services were certain to be thought of, and assuredly they were never asked in vain. For the Manchester Tract Society he wrote a series of interesting and useful tracts, and though he had no great love for polemics he more than once had occasion to prove his remarkable powers as a theological controversialist. His brilliant success as a lecturer was not limited to any one class of subject. Frequently in his own Society, and occasionally in other towns, he delivered masterly addresses on secular subjects; one of the ablest and most eloquent of these was a reply to Professor Tyndall's famous Belfast address.

Perhaps to the majority of the members of the Church Mr. Hyde will be best remembered by the elaborate and logical lectures in defence of the doctrines to which reference has already been made, but to those who were accustomed to hear him regularly the lessons of his less ambitious sermons and lectures will be retained still more vividly, and suggest even sweeter recollections; and in the shorter courses of lectures delivered to his own congregation, he was also invariably and strikingly happy.

It is generally known that Mr. Hyde took part in political and

social movements both in Derby and Manchester. He considered it part of his duty indeed to make himself acquainted with the history of passing events, and, as far as possible, with contemporary literature. He was thus often enabled to illustrate the subject of his discourse by forcible references to events about which he knew the minds of his hearers must have been occupied during the week, and many instances might be offered of his pointing a powerful moral, or intensifying the lesson of an accident or other calamity by defining the laws of Divine permission, or by indicating the warnings of Providence on these occasions. Though it was seldom Mr. Hyde's custom to make direct reference to his own personal experience, no one could hear him preach without realizing that he spoke from the experience of his own heart, and whether he was tender or pathetic; in the calm discussion of an argument, or in his most touching appeals to the feelings, he was never unmindful of the dignity of his position as a teacher and a preacher. In exposition he was singularly clear, and he had the faculty of adapting himself to the comprehension of the simple without violating the essential conditions of intellectual instruction. He was unfailingly graphic and picturesque in description; in argument few were more persuasive, and even fewer were so incisive and so vigorous in logical discussion. A man of wonderfully quick perception, he was enabled to take a rapid survey of a new subject in a surprisingly short time; he sometimes said that he was a rapid and ready, rather than a profound thinker, but if ever after a hasty generalization further investigation convinced him that his first impressions were either inadequate or incorrect, he never hesitated, no matter how far he had committed himself by private or even public expression, to avow and correct his mistakes. This courageous candour was indeed one of his most striking characteristics as a public man, and his willingness to understand all sides of a question, and the absence of anything like overweening confidence in his own judgment must have been noticed by all who had more than slight acquaintance with him. And like many other highly-gifted and accomplished men, he was essentially modest. Without the vanity which leads some men to force the subject of their own deeds or utterances on the consideration of their friends, he was nevertheless always ready to receive suggestions, and more than willing to be told of the comparatively weak points, or what might seem such, in his speeches and sermons. There were few men more happy in addressing children, and whether in narrative or in exhortation, in counsel or instruction, he knew how to secure and sustain their attention.

Of his more important published works we need say little, as they are probably all known to the majority of our readers. One of the

ablest of them consisted mainly of articles written for this magazine; and for many years past Mr. Hyde regularly contributed essays, reviews, and other articles to the Intellectual Repository. He was no less fluent as a writer than as a speaker, but in both cases his rapidity was always subordinate to systematic preliminary thought and to orderly and effective preparation. From a boy he was devoted to literary pursuit, and in addition to his numerous religious books, &c., he had considerable experience as a writer of poetry and fiction. He was also the author of several successful papers on Education, and his essay on International Arbitration, read at a conference in the Manchester Town Hall, was pronounced by a high authority one of the most exhaustive considerations of the subject ever written.

It is much less easy to speak of Mr. Hyde's private than of his public virtues, nor would it be possible for his most intimate friends to define completely the charm that endeared him to them. It may be truly said, however, that those who knew him the best loved him the most, and that the honesty, frankness, and geniality so apparent in all the phases of his public capacity were even more apparent in the relations of his social and domestic life.

Mr. Hyde had enjoyed generally excellent health up to the spring of the present year, and when after a few weeks' illness, commencing last Easter, it was announced that fears were entertained that his sickness was "to death," at first it seemed impossible to realize that they were well founded, and even after it was known that the strong and vigorous man in the prime of his life, and in what seemed the noon of a career of active usefulness, was afflicted with a disease from which there was no hope of recovery, many of his friends could not resist the alluring hopes with which Mr. Hyde himself was occasionally flattered almost to the last. The recollection of his physical strength, of his intellectual vigour, and the force of his vitality, almost precluded the idea of his speedy passing away. But in spite of all that the most devoted loving care and tender attention could accomplish, the fatal disease made rapid strides, and within a month of his departure his eyesight almost entirely failed him. Even when his hopes were fading his courage and his trust sustained him. Yet within six weeks of the date of his death, at a time when many of his friends were altogether hopeless, he was so confident of his recovery that he ventured to predict his return to his duties in the following August. His hope of being able to preach in Manchester on the first Sunday in August was indeed so strong that he even selected his text and wrote down a few preliminary notes. The text is worth remembering, and few thoughts are more suggestive or may be more helpful to those who reflect on the passing away of this kindly and true-hearted man than