has been already said will be amply sufficient to show, that if this deficiency really existed, it was occasioned more by want of consideration than want of feeling. In many ways his conduct plainly evinced that he was mindful of the divine command, "Take heed, and beware of covetousness."

Nor ought his strict conscientiousness in fulfilling the trusts on various occasions reposed in him, to be overlooked in this general estimate of his character. By his father's will he was appointed sole executor. There was a legacy of £100 to each of his sister's children, to be paid when they came of age; and though nothing was said of interest, yet because he believed that his father intended that this should be reckoned, when he gave the principal to each child, the interest due, for the whole time, was added to it. In another case he had to pay an individual the sum of £20, and payment was to be made half-yearly. She for whom the money was paid, died some time before the half-year expired, and the person who always received it felt painfully that he had no legal claim, although in circumstances which rendered the £10 an object of consideration: he was equally surprised and gratified by receiving the whole sum at the regular time. As executor of another will, there was a certain sum of money, in declining to pay which he would have been fully justified by law, and his Solicitor actually told him that he would be foolish if he paid it; yet, believing the money to be morally due, he resisted the temptation, though it promised him the gain of £700. And other instances might be given in proof of his strict integrity and high sense of honour; showing that the love of money was never permitted to warp his judgment from truth, or to turn aside his feet from the paths of equity.

He thus lived an honest man and a true Christian; possessing no brilliant talents, but usefully filling up the station in life in which Providence had placed him and as he lived the life of the righteous, so he was blessed in dying his death, and having his latter end like his, calm and peaceful. In the meetings of his class, and at the renewal of the quarterly tickets, as well as in the love-feasts which he attended, he uniformly expressed himself as being clear and settled in his religious experience, rejoicing in a sense of his acceptance with God through faith in Christ.

ner.

On Sunday, August 31st, 1845, in the morning, one of his classes was met for the usual renewal of the tickets of membership, on which occasion he expressed himself in a very pleasing and satisfactory manHe likewise attended the three public services in the chapel. Though very feeble, he was out on the following day, calling at several places in the town; but in the course of the night he became so ill, that about six o'clock on Tuesday morning I was sent for to visit him. He had strong confidence and settled peace. He said, “My trust is in the bleeding Lamb." He felt that he was on the Rock, and that all was well with him. During the next three days, he conversed freely with those of his friends who called to see him. He was slowly passing "through the valley of the shadow of death;" but he "feared no evil," for his God was with him. In company with

my colleague, I went to see him on Friday night; but his eyes were then closed on all earthly things, and we could only join with his children and friends who were about his dying bed, in commending to God the immortal spirit about to be absent from the body, and, as we confidently believed, present with the Lord. He died soon after one o'clock in the morning of Saturday, September 6th, 1845.

MEMOIR OF MRS. ELIZABETH WEECH,

OF NASSAU, NEW-PROVIDENCE, IN THE BAHAMAS :

BY THE REV. JOHN CORLETT.

MRS. WEECH (relict of George Weech, Esq.) was born in 1778, in what are now the United States of America. She removed to the Bahamas very early in life. In youth she was modest and circumspect, discharging every filial duty with affection and diligence. She was married early; and her behaviour as a wife and mother was not less excellent than it had been as a daughter. Her natural faculties were good, and had been cultivated and improved by a respectable education; while what appeared to be almost a native delicacy and refinement, rendered her character as pleasing as it was correct. In the instruction of her children, she had chiefly in view the promotion of their best interests, so far as she then understood them, and endeavoured, according to her light, to induce them to seek for better things than those which "perish in the using," and for an inheritance that should never pass away. From her childhood she was evidently under the influence of serious and religious impressions; but though her principles may be said to have been right as far as they went, and productive of extensive moral good, they were not clearly evangelical until a later period of life. Happily, she obeyed the truth which she had received; and when subsequently she saw herself required to believe "as the truth is in Jesus," she was not disobedient to what she felt to be the heavenly calling. She was herself diligent in the perusal of the word of God, as well as in attendance on the means of grace; and it was from the sacred Scriptures that she derived those instructions which she endeavoured to impart to her children. Her desire was, to "train them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." She lost her husband when the oldest child of nine was still comparatively young; but she experienced the beneficent care of Him who is "a Father of the fatherless, and a Judge of the widow." Through the trials to which this melancholy event exposed her, she was enabled to pass with the steady consistency which she had maintained throughout life: still, her state was rather that of one who was governed by the general influence of religion, than that of a possessor of the "faith" in Christ "which worketh by love." She had not experienced a divine and heavenly change. The power of evil had been rather counteracted, than removed; and though her heart had been loosened, it could not

be said to have been separated, from the world. In the little that she had, she was, however, faithful; and ere long it pleased her Lord and Master to intrust her with more. By a succession of providential incidents, several of her children were brought to attend a faithful evangelical ministry, and at least two of them to a "professed subjec tion to the Gospel of Christ." The way had evidently been prepared by the blessing of God on that careful instruction in the word of God which, from their earliest years, they had received. She listened attentively to their statements of what they heard, and especially of what they said they had experienced; and, happily, she allowed no prejudices to intercept the light of truth. She wished to be right altogether and when her children professed that they had discovered the way of the Lord more perfectly, she set herself to search the Scriptures most seriously, that she might ascertain whether these things were so. She soon perceived that she had too much gone about to establish her own righteousness, instead of submitting to the righteousness of God. She lost all confidence and complacency in herself, and saw that she was a sinner who must be saved by grace. She rejoiced that her children had found "the way of peace," and earnestly sought to enter upon it herself. On one occasion, as she was reading, with meditation and prayer, the hundred-and-third Psalm, she was enabled to behold God in Christ as a sin-pardoning God, and she felt that she could now say, in reference to herself, "He hath not dealt with us after our sins, neither rewarded us according to our iniquities. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us." Christ was of God made unto her wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. She was aware that there were some among her friends who considered that this was all enthusiasm, and for a short time she felt a temptation to conceal it, and to hide the righteousness of God in her heart. But it was only for a short time. Her feelings were too powerful for repression. She could not help exclaiming, "O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me!" From this time, till the day of her death, she went on her way rejoicing. She had settled peace, and her pleasure in the ordinances of God's house was higher and more pure than ever it had been before. The religious impressions of her youth had now been brought to decisive results, and she felt it to be both her duty and her privilege to identify herself with that section of the Christian church, whose doctrines and whose services had been made so useful to her. From my first appointment to this station, I have been intimately acquainted with Mrs. Weech, and always found her a steady and faithful member, not only of my own pastoral charge, but also, as I sincerely believed, of Christ's mystical body. She was courteous and gentle, showing all meekness to all men; but the Ministers of Christ she esteemed highly in love for their work's sake. The public ministry of the word she viewed as of divine appointment, and as being designed not only to be the chief instrument in the conversion of sinners, but likewise the means of the increasing purity,

excellence, and stability of the church itself.

Her attendance on it,

therefore, was regular and punctual, as long as health allowed; and when increasing infirmities caused it to be less frequent, it did not become at all less devout. And when she was wholly prevented, which in process of time was the case, from being present where God had recorded his name, and thus from drawing water from the wells of salvation, although she said, with the Psalmist, “My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God," yet she did not repine, as though she were shut out from the divine presence. She had access to God by prayer; and in searching "the oracles divine," she listened to the declarations of the will of God concerning her. In perfect keeping with her public religious character, was her private, domestic, and social devotion. She was especially mindful of the duty of Christian intercession. For her family, her relations and friends, the church of which she was a member, all that loved the Lord Jesus in sincerity, and the world at large, she most earnestly prayed, commending them to God according to their respective circumstances.

During the last year of her life, she suffered much from serious illness; but it was evident that affliction was greatly sanctified to the maturity and establishment of her piety; and this was the case to the time of her removal hence, so much so, indeed, that her life never seemed more desirable than when approaching its termination. Increasing piety was manifestly connected with increasing sympathy. She was patient and unrepining. There was nothing querulous about her. She was thankful for every attention she received, and entered, with deep feeling, into all the concerns, not only of her family, but also of the church.

When it became certain that the time of her departure was drawing nigh, the anxiety and grief of her nearest relations could not be concealed; and the adversary of souls sought to disturb her by apprehensions of physical anguish, and of the pain of dying; but she knew who was her refuge and strength, and was enabled to say, ،، Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord." The fear of death, even as a natural evil, was entirely removed ; and she fully experienced the blessedness of the promise given by the Lord Jesus to them "that keep his sayings," that they should not "see death." Two days before she died, she commemorated the dying love of Christ by receiving the sacrament of the Lord's supper with a goodly company of her children and grandchildren and family connexions, and was exceedingly blessed in the service. On many occasions during her affliction she spoke very feelingly of the cleansing efficacy of the blood of Christ, the sanctifying influences of the Holy Ghost, the power of faith, and hope, and love, the mystery of dying, and the glories of the inheritance of the saints in light. On the day of her departure, when she felt that life was ebbing, she requested that her children and grandchildren might be summoned to her chamber, and then addressed them in language which expressed not only the humble opinion which she entertained of herself, but the strength and

simplicity of her trust in the merits of her Saviour, and her conscious enjoyment of his great salvation. She then most affectionately, and with great emphasis, blessed them in the name of the Lord, and earnestly exhorted them to live in love, assuring them that if they did so, the God of peace and love would ever be with them. Having thus "shown forth the Lord's death," when brought so near her own, and blessed her household, when just about to cease to be a member of it, she said, "All is now finished! All is ready! Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!" There were a few struggles at the last; but they did not at all affect the tranquillity of her mind. Her latest prayer was, "Jesus, take my body, spirit, soul! Come, Lord Jesus; quickly come!" and then, more faintly, "Lord, receive my spirit!" Her weeping relations responded, "Amen, Amen!" and just as they did so, she "fell on sleep" in Christ.

She died, June 6th, 1845, aged sixty-seven.

MEMOIR OF MRS. ANN BENNETT,

OF SHEFFIELD:

BY MR. SAMUEL H. SMITH.

ANN BENNETT (whose maiden name was Simpson) was born at Heath, Derbyshire, March 14th, 1772. Her parents bore a respectable character, but were poor, which was chiefly owing to her father's delicate health. She had to leave home when she was only eleven years of age; but though she was always steady and industrious, of religion she thought little till she was married, and settled in life.

About two years before her death, Mrs. Bennett requested one of her relations to write down an account of her religious experience from her own lips the effort, however, was too much for her strength, and the record contains only a brief reference to the commencement of her Christian course. The paper was laid on one side, and so neglected, that when found after her decease, some of the earlier portion had been torn off, so that it begins quite abruptly. It is known that it was during a season of dangerous sickness, that she became convinced of her sinful condition, and her guilt before God; and we may therefore suppose that the lost page of the manuscript referred to this, and to her promises of amendment if it should please God to spare her life. Her own statement shall now be given. "But, alas! I delayed to fulfil my promises, and went on for many months in this condition. A person one day repeated to me a text of Scripture, to this effect: It is better not to vow a vow unto the Lord, than to vow and not perform it.' These words produced very deep and painful convictions in my mind; and I thought that if I did not now begin to serve God, this neglect would be a greater sin than any I had before committed. I had a neighbour, who told me once in the course of conversation, that her father had died happy, because he knew that God, for Christ's sake, had pardoned his sins. This was the first time