And bathed the feet of Carmel; and the lake He Who gives no account to man one day went down Groaned with its weight, and Prince and Priest conspired Still Jordan pours its streams, and Abana The Mid-land Sea, with all its white-winged sails, A WORKMAN'S WELCOME TO THE NEW YEAR. New Year! New Year! let not thy fresh-fledged wing Spare those I love: spare me to them, that I -Ah, Saviour! they are Thine, and in Thy tender heart New Year! New Year! what is it,-peace or war? Or the sweet psalm, Peace and goodwill on earth' ? -Spirit Divine! breathe o'er my heart Thy lasting peace, New Year New Year! the Old is at an end, Or shall each sunbeam gild and crown a deed W. NICHOLS. SELECT LITERARY NOTICES. The Priesthood of Christ. The Sixth Fernley Lecture. By the Rev. H. W. Williams, D.D., Author of An Exposi tion of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans,' ete. Wesleyan Conference Office. 1876. -This Lecture fully meets the expectations founded on the reputation of Dr. Williams as a Commentator, and especially as an expositor of the Epistle to the Hebrews. It is a clear, concise, accurate and scholarly presentation of the grand verity with which it deals, and is throughout animated by the genuine spirit of Methodism. The learned Lecturer utterly explodes sacrilegious pretensions of a merely human the priesthood. The reader will, of course, miss the vigour and fervour of its delivery at the Conference; but he has the counteradvantage of the valuable Notes, consisting mainly of illustrative citations from other writers. The Railway Pioneers; or, The Story of the Stephensons, Father and Son. By H. C. Knight. 1876. Dick's Troubles; and how he met Them. By Ruth Elliott. Wesleyan Conference Office, and Wesleyan Sunday-School Union. 1876. We have in the first of these books the main facts of the often told, but still fascinating story of the difficulties and triumphs of the Stephensons. It is written in a lively, interesting style, and will be appreciated by all intelligent boys. Dick's Troubles is a capital book for little boys, and is sure to be very popular with them. Dick is by no means a model book-boy, but is just like a flesh and blood child, and his troubles are precisely such as real children meet with every day. The moral is excellent; but so simply and pleasantly interwoven with the tale that there are no dry parts which little folks would be tempted to skip. Both these books are admirably suitable for New Year's presents. Life in London Alleys: with ReminScences of Mary McCarthy and her Work. By the Rev. James Ÿeames. F. 79 E. Longley and Co.-These thrilling records of toils and triumphs in some of the dark places of the earth are full of interest, and will be especially encouraging to workers among the poor. It is not for the sake of creating a sensation, either painful or pleasant, that these alternately harrowing and ludicrous details of strange lives are given to the public; but to bring glory to God, Whose sovereign grace hath animated senseless stones;' and to show out of what unlikely material pillars have been hewn for the temple of God. Sermons, by the late Rev. William Bunting. With a Biographical Sketch. London: Hamilton, Adams and Co.These Sermons will be appreciated not only by those who were personally acquainted with Mr. Bunting, but by all devout and intelligent readers. Mr. Bunting's ministry was comparatively short, and his labours were in the main confined within the limits of a single county; but his gifts and graces were of a high order. These thoughtful, earnest discourses are of a kind that not only gratify the car and rivet the attention, but also rouse the conscience and stir the heart. No one can read them without being impressed with the author's powerful conviction of the verities of eternity, and his intensely tender realisation of the redeeming love of Jesus. These are the strong points of the book. We strongly recommend it. The Gift of God: a Series of Addresses. By Theodore Monod. London: Morgan and Scott. 1876.-We are glad to see Addresses, which have been the means of rich blessing to so many, published in such a compact form. To the anxious inquirer, the new convert, the seeker after holiness, and the mature believer, we heartily recommend the book. No candid reader can fail to gain from its perusal a more grateful and practical appreciation of the unspeakable gift. Pastor Monod's forceful, homely illustrations are peculiarly happy; but we regret that he gives way to what is becoming almost an affectation with some of the best writers on the subject of holiness-a disposition to ignore theology. 'I do not know much about theology,' he says; 'not that I wish to disparage it at all;......but the consequence of my ignorance is that many puzzling questions are spared me.' Almost in the next breath he enters into a clear and masterly disquisition on one of the most knotty points in theology. It ill becomes a teacher of the deep things of God' to disclaim all connection with the science of the things of God, especially when he shows himself so thoroughly at home in that most noble of the sciences. The Mother's Friend. 1876. London: Hodder and Stoughton.-The 'Mother's Friend' still justifies its name. Its wellput advice, hints and suggestions on the multifarious duties and difficulties peculiar to a mother's life, will be welcomed in many homes. OBITUARIES. JULY 23rd, 1875.-At Blunham, in Bedfordshire, MR. SAMUEL BLAKE, formerly of Exeter, having been a Local Preacher sixty-four years. He was born in the year 1793, of Methodist parents, and in early life was led by the Holy Spirit to embrace Christ and devote himself to His service. For a time he contemplated entering the ministry, and his studies were directed to that end. He acquired considerable theological knowledge; and his pleasing address and general information rendered him always an acceptable speaker and preacher. Peculiar circumstances diverted him from his original purpose; and the providence of God placed him in a situation in business which, for forty or fifty years, kept him constantly travelling. Nearly every Lord's day, he was in some pulpit, earnestly proclaiming the truth as it is in Jesus;' while on the week days he held forth the Word of Life, both by precept and example, to men immersed in the cares of the world. By many of these he is still remembered for his strict temperance; he was for forty-five years total abstainer. The last seventeen years of his life were spent in retirement from business; but he still delighted to engage in his Master's work. His last sermon was preached at Tempsford in the spring of 1874. He resided during the last eleven years in the small agricultural village of Blunham. His death was almost sudden, but calm and happy; expressions of gratitude to God and of unshaken confidence in Him being often upon his lips. On the last evening of his life he requested that the one hundred and third Psalm might be read to him, and reiterated its glorious ascriptions of praise to God. In the full possession of all his faculties to the very last, he gently fell asleep in Jesus. His mortal remains were, at is request, laid to rest with his own people' in the little burial ground attached to the Tempsford chapel, being followed by friends who a respected and loved him, and amongst them by the rector of his own parish and that of the neighbouring parish of Tempsford. A. E. MR. JOHN RUSKBY, of Toynton St. Peters, in the Spilsby Circuit, was born in the year 1797, and died November 25th, 1875. He was little concerned about his soul till one day, when about eighteen years of age, a labourer who was at work with him invited him to hear the Rev. Moses Dunn. Under that sermon he was awakened, and at once joined the Methodist Society. Six months, however, elapsed before he found the pearl of great price; but, when found, he held it fast. The Sunday-school at Toynton had then been established some three or four years, and he immediately connected himself with it, and continued to labour in it for sixty years. Of the Day-school at Toynton he was founder and patron, contributing largely to its support. His house was open to the servants of the Lord. He liberally supported the institutions of Methodism, together with the British and Foreign Bible Society. In the doctrine of a special Providence he was a firm believer. Several years ago one of our Ministers finished his course in the Spilsby Circuit, and his widow's straitened circumstances were known only to the widow's God. Three times in one night Mr. Ruskby dreamt that he was to take her some pecuniary relief, which he did without delay; thus causing the widow's heart to sing for joy,' and to resolve no more to doubt the promises of God. As years advanced his Christian experience was observed to be increasingly clear and heavenly. Bible was his constant companion. Often did he repeat the latest verse of Charles Wesley : The 'In age and feebleness extreme,' etc. T. H. LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM NICHOLS, 46, HOXTON SQUARE, |