and remove which he frequently visited Brighton. It was in one of these visits that Mr. Hindes formed an intimacy with the Rev. T. Gough, at that time pastor of the first baptist church in that town; and it is worthy of remark, that they continued to love, correspond with, and counsel each other, without the slightest intermission, till death put a period to Mr. Gough's labours. How much, under God, depended upon this circumstance remains to be seen.

At the time Mr. Hindes became acquainted with Mr. Gough, which was in 1813, he had long been powerfully exercised about devoting himself to the work of the ministry. Mr. Gough, perceiving that his new friend possessed ministerial qualifications, encouraged him to become a member of a Christian church, and afterwards to make it the grand business of his life to proclaim "the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory." Mr. Hindes was accordingly baptized at Brighton, and received into membership with the church of which Mr. Gough was pastor, in October, 1813, and was forthwith requested to preach the gospel wherever Providence might open a door. A few days after this event, Mr. Hindes erected the standard of the cross at Patcham, a village near Brighton, and was subsequently much engaged nearer home, both as an occasional supply and as a village preacher. Having dissolved partnership with his brother, Mr. Hindes removed to Olney, and in February, 1816, he received his first invitation to supply the church at Sharnbrook, in Bedfordshire. In the course of time his visits to Sharnbrook became more frequent, and in September, 1818, he was publicly recognized as pastor of the church. The ordination service was conducted principally by the pastors of neighbouring churches. There was one stranger present, however, and on him devolved the task of delivering the

charge. That stranger was Mr. Gough. Most of these brethren have long since entered into rest. May the reader be prepared to follow them!

Mr. Hindes engaged in the duties of his new station with characteristic energy, and was not permitted to labour in vain. "The hand of the Lord was with him," and many were added to the church. But tribulation was still the portion of the Lord's servant. A few days before his ordination he was visited with a painful trial in the death of his eldest son. When this dear youth was ill, he often requested that his young friends might be brought into his chamber that he might talk to them about their souls; and before his departure he divided his little savings between the missionary and bible societies, and the sabbath-school at Sharnbrook. He died very happy, aged thirteen. Shortly after the death of his son an interesting daughter returned from school in a state of ill health, and almost before she had completed her eleventh year she followed her brother to the tomb. Youthful reader! you too must die, and you may die very soon. Are you ready?

Soon after the solemn events abovementioned, and whilst his affectionate heart was still oppressed with sorrow, Mr. Hindes was also exercised with many trials in consequence of the great change which occurred in the lace trade. When lace began to lose its value he had a heavy stock by him, which he could not dispose of without great sacrifice; and as many tradesmen who owed him large sums of money found it impossible either to maintain their standing in society or to satisfy their creditors, he lost considerable property. But the most painful stroke was yet to come. The "insatiate archer," death, not satisfied with former victims, shot his poisoned arrow at Mrs. Hindes, and in December

Lord taught his servant that the way to heaven was both strait and thorny. It ought, however, to be stated, for the encouragement of others, that he was no stranger to that "strong consolation" which has been so mercifully provided for those who are strongly tried. The Lord was with him in trouble, and he was enabled to kiss the rod.

How various, and yet how wise, are the Lord's dealings with his ministers! Some are permitted to spend a long and useful life on the same spot and in connexion with the same people, ever happy in the consciousness of loving and being loved; whilst others, with a frequency that often excites the surprise of their more favoured brethren, are removed from place to place, and made to feel that, in more respects than one, they have "no continuing city" on earth. The latter was the case with the subject of this memoir. After he had spent some years of comfort and usefulness at Sharnbrook his mind became so much discourged in consequence of the little success which attended his ministry as to induce him to determine to seek another and more congenial sphere of labour. He therefore left Sharnbrook in 1831, and removed to Tittleshall, a home missionary station, in Norfolk. On his removal from Tittleshall, which was in the following year, the friends presented him with a handsome bible, in folio, "as a token of their affectionate esteem and an expression of sincere gratitude for his faithful services." From Tittleshall Mr. Hindes remove to Blunham, in Bedfordshire, at which place he continued to labour, amidst many discouragements, till 1842. But even here he was not left without some cheering tokens of divine approval. An event also occurred at Blunham which very much augmented his personal happiness. In 1837, he was united in marriage to

widow of Mr. J. Knight, only son of the Rev. J. Knight, who for more than thirty years sustained the pastoral office in connexion with the baptist church at Little Staughton. As Mrs. Hindes is still living, delicacy forbids us to say more than that she was in all respects worthy of such a husband, and that, in the estimation of all but herself, she was well qualified for her new and important station. May the remnant of her days be sanctified and cheered by the smiles of the widow's God.

As has just been stated, Mr. Hindes remained at Blunham till 1842. His next station was Mildenhall, in Suffolk, from which he removed to Martham, in Norfolk, in October 1843; and although he was now considerably advanced in life, his personal appearance was such as to induce the hope that he would be permitted to spend some years of activity and usefulness in connexion with the church of Christ. But such was not the will of God. The days of his servant were numbered; and, unknown to all but his own infinite mind, "the time of his departure was at hand."

Mr. Hindes was permitted to spend his last earthly sabbath in his pulpit, and amongst his friends. After attending the prayer-meeting on the following Wednesday evening he complained of feeling rather poorly, but did not deem it necessary to have recourse to medicine. On Friday he rode several miles on horse-back, and on retiring to rest in the evening seemed to be as well as usual. He awoke at the usual hour on Saturday morning, and conversed very cheerfully with Mrs. Hindes. In a little time, however, he complained of feeling ill, and requested Mrs. Hindes to fetch him some hot water. He took a little once or twice and seemed somewhat relieved. But the end was come. In the course of a minute or two he asked for more water. The glass was put to

his lips, and, after taking one little sip of its contents, his head fell back upon his pillow and he was gone! This solemn event occurred on the morning of April the 4th, 1846. The deceased was sixty-four years of age. Most of the neighbouring ministers were present at the funeral, which took place on the following Thursday at Martham. Mr. Peacock of London preached from Matt. xxiv. 44, and Mr. Vennimore of Ingham delivered an appropriate address at the grave. On the following Lord's day evening a funeral sermon was also preached for him at Sharnbrook by Mr. Williams, the present pastor, from Neh. vii. 20, "He was a faithful man, and feared God above many." Perhaps no man ever lived in these last times to whom this striking passage was more strictly applicable.

The subject of this brief memoir was well known and highly esteemed both in town and country. In all the relationships of life he exhibited such firmness of purpose, unbending integrity, and tenderness of affection, as to secure the love and confidence of all who were connected with him. The tears of his sorrowing relatives show how much he was loved as a husband and father; and the writer can assert with confidence, that, as a friend, he was all that could be desired.

As a Christian, the attainments of Mr. Hindes were of no common order. He had suffered much, prayed much, and thought much, and, as a necessary consequence, he had a very rich experience of the preciousness of religion. And he was as consistent as he was experimental. The purity of his life was in admirable keeping with the depth of his religious feeling. Having been favoured, at a comparatively early period, to feel the power of the gospel, he made it his daily study to adorn it by an inward and outward conformity to the image of Christ. And He, for the honour of

VOL. X.-FOURTH SERIES.

whose cause he was so deeply and prayerfully anxious, testified his approval by enabling him to show to all that "he who doeth these things shall never fall.”

As a minister of the glorious gospel, Mr. Hindes exhibited many and, in some respects, rare excellences. It was not his privilege to receive that early training which is now so generally enjoyed by the ministers of the cross; but regarding the advice of the apostle to "give attention to reading and study" as being as applicable to him as to Timothy, he endeavoured so to improve and discipline his mind as to become an acceptable expositor of the word and will of God. And when it is stated that, during the earlier part of his ministry, Mr. Hindes was perplexed and harassed with the concerns of a business in which he lost nearly the whole of his large property, and that after he relinquished business his affectionate spirit and high moral character induced the conveners of public meetings to solicit his presence and assistance with a frequency which many of his brethren would have considered an annoyance, surprise will be felt, not that he possessed so little, but that he accumulated so much of sterling mental wealth. He had a vast fund of general information, and was favoured with a singular talent for making it subserve the glorious purposes of redeeming mercy. His pulpit exercises were characterized by much simplicity, faithfulness, affection, and fervour, and his views of divine truth being moderately Calvinistic, he often appealed to the hearts and consciences of the impenitent with a power and pathos which even the most hardened were scarcely able to resist. The writer of this brief tribute to the memory of a departed friend feels persuaded, that although there was a singularity in his manner which rendered it necessary for him to be heard more than once before the atten

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occupy. There must be limits of time to them as well as to other agencies: their work is to sow the seed of the kingdom and for a time to watch and nourish its growth, but when it has fairly taken hold of the land, and produced seed for others to sow again in their time, they must then proceed to other countries or localities, and in the same manner cultivate their neglected wastes. Were they always to confine their exertions to the same field, we could have but little hope of the extensive spread of the gospel by their means. Now it is not for us to say what is that period which it is proper for a missionary society to devote to any field of labour which it may occupy. That must greatly depend upon circumstances. Providence alone can determine that. Nor do we mean to intimate that the Baptist Missionary Society has reached that limit of time (although it has long laboured here) when it ought to withdraw its efforts from this country, or that it has any intention of doing so at present. There are here vast tracts and countries which have not yet even heard of its operations,-millions of precious souls whom the gospel, either by voice or book, has never reached; and we say that these must not be left in ignorance they must be visited and taught. But we do think, and are constrained to say, that the churches in this land which have been planted by the society's la bours, have not made that progress in Christian character,-have not attained to that standing in the kingdom of Christ, which the time and labour spent upon them might lead us to expect. Instead of showing signs of manhood and vigorous strength,-instead of being able to stand alone, and become independent missionary bodies, going forth by their own agency, and at their own cost, to make inroads upon Satan's dominions, and possess the land around them, as several churches at least by

this time ought to be doing,-it is lamentable to say that, with one or two exceptions, they are still in a condition altogether infantile: indeed, so far are they from independent action and existence, that they have hardly begun to think that independence will ever be an element of their existence, or that it is expected of them to seek its realisation. They have hitherto been supported by extraneous aid-the aid of a distant missionary society-and they have no idea but that they must continue to lean for support upon the society, if their existence is to be maintained. This state of things, without doubt, is much to be deplored; and the more so as far as it springs from false principles of duty. It is one which is most injurious to the churches themselves, and discouraging in respect to the progress of the gospel around us. It is one, consequently, which demands our most serious attention and immediate correction.

Is it wide of the truth, then, to conclude, that the intention of Providence in our late heavy bereavements is to awaken in us attention to this subjectto teach us that we are henceforward to look less for foreign aid,-to produce within us the conviction that we ought to draw more upon our own local resources, trusting to the great Head of the church to make them efficient,— that we, as individual Christians and as churches, are to assume a more missionary character, and that it is expected of us who have been called to the fellowship of the Son of God in India, to devote our talents, and property, and lives to his service in this land? We confess that we think that God's providence, as well as his word, impresses these lessons upon us.

This conclusion is much strengthened by the tone of feeling which is beginning to prevail among our Christian friends and brethren in England. It is of no use to conceal from ourselves the