scot, near Banbury, Oxfordshire. His father was a respectable yeoman, and appears to have brought up his children with careful regard to moral principle. He and his family regularly attended the services of the Established Church. Beyond this, however, with the exception of impressions made on his mind by the death of his mother, Mr. Gardner seems to have known nothing of experimental religion until after his marriage, in 1818. He had then removed to a farm near Horley, and was induced by his wife, though reluctantly, to attend the Methodist chapel in that village. Here Mrs. Gardner found God's converting grace, and she strove to bring her husband to decision for Christ. In 1820 they removed to Wroxton, and attended a small Independent chapel, where, under the preaching of the Word, Mr. Gardner was convinced of sin; but, according to his own account, failing to open his case to any Christian friend, he lost his good impressions. In 1822, under personal affliction which brought him near to death, he was led again to think upon his ways, and turn his feet to God's testimonies. During this illness, a small place of worship was fitted up upon Mr. Gardner's premises for the use of the Wesleyan-Methodists, and upon his recovery he gladly heard the Gospel preached in this humble sanctuary. The Lord opened his heart that he attended unto the things which were spoken. For some time he sought the Lord in genuine repentance; and one day, as he was employed in the fields, light broke in upon his troubled heart, and he enjoyed the favour of God. This saving change was manifested in all appropriate ways, and he carefully cherished the blessing he had received by prayerfully using the means of grace. Mr. Gardner joined the Methodist Society at Wroxton. Of that Society he was, by the grace of God, a consistent member for more than fifty years. During the greater portion of this time he was a Class Leader at Balscot, Drayton and Wroxton, taking especial charge of the chapel and Society matters at the last named village. He also for a period held the office of Circuit Steward. A small private Diary contains brief notes of his religious experience extending through several years. These show that, though very quiet and unassuming in his outward demeanour, there was a deep under-current of spiritual life. In general they consist of short records of his Sabbath days, written in homely phrase, but with the clear utterance of a sincere heart. The chapel at Wroxton is a very humble place, and has, ever since its opening, been served almost entirely by Local Preachers. His Diary abounds with testimonies to the blessings he received under their ministrations, whilst the village Class and Prayer meeting were always highly prized by him. He evidently felt much, but said little. He sometimes luxuriated in the sunshine of God's countenance, and was at all times anxious to enjoy a clear testimony from the Divine Spirit as to his adoption. He had bright views of Gospel truth, strong faith in Christ, and was evidently much disturbed in mind by anything like a drooping apprehension of spiritual things. There were in his experience dull seasons now and again. His Diary is not without variations, and there are humble confessions, not intended, of course, for public view, which show the tenderness of his conscience concerning unfaithfulness and loss of spiritual comfort. In the autumn of 1874 he removed to Grimsbury, having retired from business. Here his religious privileges were greatly increased, and he made diligent use of them. He was delighted to see the work of the Lord in prosperity. Much grace was poured out upon Grimsbury during the winter of 1874-5, and the heart of the now aged pilgrim was cheered by witnessing special efforts owned of God by additions to His Church. He was present at special services every evening of the last week of his life, and returned from them with a countenance beaming with delight. On the Saturday evening a Fellowship-meeting was held, at which he bore his last public testimony to the power of saving grace, and encouraged the young who had during this awakening given their hearts to Jesus by telling them that the same God who had kept him for more than fifty years would keep them also. He attended the Lord's house on the Sunday with much enjoyment, and heard a sermon by the present writer from 2 Sam. xiv. 14-words solemnly prophetic in Mr. Gardner's case. On Monday evening he was present at a Prayer-meeting for the last time, and his soul seemed to have got so far on its way to heaven that it could not return. He retired to rest apparently in his usual health, but at seven the next morning, after exchanging a few words with his wife, his head dropped on t e pillow, and in an instant the good man's spirit took its flight to heaven. He fell asleep in Jesus February 9th, 1875. His was a living testimony, not a dying one; but it assures us that his sudden death was sudden glory. LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM NICHOLS, 48, HOXTON SQUARE. E. H. WESLEYAN-METHODIST MAGAZINE. JUNE, 1877. THE MISSION-PREACHING OF JESUS: BY THE REV. NEHEMIAH CURNOCK. CONCLUDING PAPER. THERE is many a Young Men's Association beating about aimlessly amongst twice threshed bundles of straw which would forthwith spring into vigorous intellectual life, and be a distinct power and blessing in the Church, if it would only set itself to some practical work for the millions of young men who are going to hell as fast as their own folly and the indifference of their Christian companions can lead them. There is many a man who knows his Bible fairly well, and his Hymn-Book, or his Prayer-Book, or both, who makes but little headway in the religious life and knows next to nothing of the joy of the Lord, simply because he needs to translate his written Gospel into a living Gospel, by going out into the wilderness and taking upon his shoulders some dusty, bleeding lamb. May the good Lord thrust us all out into the wilderness! and then when we come home again bearing the lost with us, shall we not call in our neighbours and friends, and shall we not sing and shout aloud for joy as never before? O, the glorious spontaneity and naturalness of that Evangelical alliance! III. There is one dominant thought throughout these parables, whether as addressed to publicans and sinners or to Pharisees and scribes: the great truth that men belong to God. There is one chapter in the prophecy of Ezekiel to which our thoughts instinctively turn when we read these parables, the last verse of which exactly expresses this truth: And ye My flock, the flock of My pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God.' Only our Lord brought out more distinctly an aspect of that truth, which as yet had been but dimly seen that the lost sheep belong to God. Was the sheep less truly the shepherd's because it had strayed from the fold? Was the piece of money less the woman's lawful property because it had slipped out of her purse into some dark corner? Did the younger son cease to be his father's son when he went into the far country? It is true that in each of those cases the lost, whilst lost, could be of no VOL. I-SIXTH SERIES. 2 D use to its owner; no satisfaction to his father. But did the owners therefore lose either claim upon or interest in their own? Nay, did they not, on that very account, feel all the more tenderly? And would they not naturally expect, that all who professed friendship or even neighbourship with them, would share that interest? When the shepherd returned with his lost sheep, he called his friends and neighbours together and said unto them: 'Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.' Suppose some of his neighbours had refused to rejoice, would he not have doubted their friendship? Was it a seemly thing that these men, who called themselves sons of him whose highest title was 'Friend of God,' should murmur because the Lord, their Shepherd, was recovering His lost sheep; because the Father of all was receiving as from the dead His long lost sons? Were they greater or holier or nearer to God than the angels of heaven, who rejoice over one sinner that repenteth? Is it not a sad sight when Christian men look coldly on a good work which is moving the lowest of the people to repentance: criticizing it or shrinking from it, because it does not quite accord with their ideas as to how the work of God should be done? But there was yet another aspect of this truth that needed to be brought out and forced on the consciences of these men, as it needs to be forced on our consciences. The father in the parable, in reply to the murmurings of the elder brother, adds: This thy brother.' 'What, that dissipated wretch who has "devoured thy living with harlots," my brother!' 'Yes; the tie which binds me to thee also binds me to him, and thee to him. Despise, hate, disown him as thou wilt, thou canst never destroy thy relationship to him any more than thou canst destroy mine.' This is at once the charter and the inspiration of all work amongst the lost because they belong to God, they belong to us. Our Lord once for all, in presence of the lowest, most abandoned of the people, has said, 'This My son; this thy brother.' When we are tempted to doubt the possibility of our own salvation or of that of some outcast, let these words rescue and strengthen our faith-This My son.' And when our zeal is flagging or our pity is being quenched by the ingratitude or seemingly hopeless sinfulness of some whom God has sent us to seek, let these other words re-kindle our zeal and love-' This thy brother.' You are a Pharisee: that is to say, you are religiously cut off from many your neighbours. It may be by birth, early training and present. surroundings; or it may be by conviction, choice and personal effort. You may be nothing more than an empty husk, or even a whited sepulchre; or you may be of a perfectly sincere and earnest mind. Your whole religious life may hitherto have been a mere pompous intonation of the Pharisee's prayer, 'God, I thank Thee, that I am not as other men are.' Or you may be hungering after righteousness and eternal life, like the rich young Ruler, or Saul of Tarsus. In that case you belong to God. He is saying to you, ' Son, thou art ever with Me, and all that I have is thine.' Believest thou this? Is God to you Father? Is He more to you than business, reputation, place in |