Jesus, Jesus ;" and shortly after, about two a. m., on Friday morning, the 13th of March, in the 70th year of his age, he fell asleep. His death was improved, by the request of his class-mates, on the Sunday evening, May 3, by the Rev. C. Bootman, in our St. Peter's chapel, to a large audience. C. B. NOTICES OF BOOKS. Prize Essay on Ragged Schools. By George James Hall, M.A. London Ragged School Union, 1, Exeter Hall. Mr. CornwalLIS, in his "Essay on Juvenile Delinquency," has observed,—“ A great destiny is before us; we may fulfil or we may neglect it; fulfilling it, England may be a blessing among the nations, the promoter of peace, civilization, and happiness; failing in her duty, her wealth will only render her downfall the more rapid, and ours will add one more to the pages of history from which a moral may be pointed by the philosophers of future times. 'Prosperity,' may the annalist then write, had rendered the great luxurious and proud, while the masses were left uninstructed, vicious, and in penury. The people cared not for a government which did not protect them, and when enemies invaded, they looked on indifferent. Thus the great realm of England was split and dismembered.' Probably he would add, and a healthier civilization has arisen on its ruins.' The warning, however, seems to be taken, and the threatened ruin of our nation is likely to be averted. Never, at any former period in our history, was there so much anxiety manifested for the condition of our poor; never was philanthropy so actively and energetically engaged in the amelioration of their social and spiritual condition. The lowest depths of social misery are being fathomed, and every possible instrumentality and agency employed to relieve the destitute, to aid the helpless, to raise the fallen, and to save the lost and forsaken of our race. Christian benevolence seeks. Among the philanthropic activities of the day, Ragged Schools have now a distinguished place. Originating in the humble efforts of an obscure Christian, they are now commanding the patronage of the nobility, and engaging the active zeal of the most intelligent Christians in the religious world. A prize essay on Ragged Schools having been proposed by the Union, the Rev. George James Hill was the successful competitor. The book is written with intelligence and power. It takes a comprehensive survey of their character and utility, offers many valuable suggestions on the best modes of operation, and eloquently urges their special claims on Christian zeal and benevolence. Persons and Places.-" The Right Man in the Right Place." A Lecture, by the Rev. John Stokoe, delivered before the Young Men's Christian Association, in the Town Hall, Longton. London: J. B. Cooke, 21, Warwick-lane, Paternoster-row. WE have read this lecture with much satisfaction and pleasure. It indicates a mind naturally vigorous, and well cultivated by reading, study, and observation. The leading idea of the lecture is clearly wrought out, and forcibly applied. There is an earnestness in the spirit, and a vivacity in the style which keep attention constantly awake, and the author's views and principles are so aptly illustrated and enforced by a variety of facts, incidents, examples, and epigrammatic citations, that the reader finds an abiding freshness in each page. We are glad to observe that the lecturer did not overlook the immortality of his hearers; but, as was fitting in a minister of Christ, urged upon them to seek a qualification for the future as well as the present life. We do not remember to have read a lecture of the same compass more adapted to stimulate the mind to activity, and promote the development of its powers, in a useful, honourable, happy existence. young men we would say, Buy it, read it, and act out its principles. To our The Festival Edition. G. F. Handel's Sacred Oratorio, Messiah. Edited by John Bishop, of Cheltenham. London: Robert Cocks & Co. Nor being skilled in the science of music ourselves, we can only commend this book on the authority of others. Smart, Czerny, Braham, and others competent to decide on its merits, speak of this arrangement in terms of unqualified eulogy, as combining the highest degree of excellence. The vocal score is complete, with organ or pianoforte accompaniment. The type is remarkably clear, and the price, only one shilling and fourpence, places it within the reach of all. Healthful Musings for Evening Hours. By E. Dingle. London: Partridge & Co. Jesus revealing the Heart of God. By the Rev. John Pulsford. 2nd edition. Edinburgh Thomas Jack. London: J. Nisbet & Co. THIS little book is full of the pith and marrow of the Gospel. A clear, faithful, and earnest exposition of the plan of salvation, combined with solemn and urgent entreaties to personal reception of Christ as our life. Heart Music for Working People. Selected and arranged by Erskine Clarke, M.A. London: Partridge & Co. THIS is an admirable selection, comprising some of the best pieces of modern poetry in the English language. APOSTOLIC TEMPERANCE. A REPLY TO THE REVEREND JOHN (Communicated.) MR. EDITOR,-I have during my reading-life-not a short one-perused scores of books deeply interesting and greatly instructive. But I. think, I have seldom, if ever, read any book with more avidity, and that has more impressed and instructed me than the one indicated by the heading of this article, and to which I now call your attention and that of your readers. I assure you that when I took it up at breakfast the other day, I fully intended, after just passing through a few pages, in order that I might form some opinion of its general character, to lay it aside for closer perusal at some future and more convenient period, having, as I supposed, fixed upon another engagement to which to devote the day. But, as I read, I became so completely arrested and absorbed, that my pre-engagement was soon almost obliterated from my mind, and I actually kept the book before my eyes, with scarcely a moment's intermission, till I reached its close, which occupied a space of some eight hours. Nor do I at all regret the exercise; I am amply repaid. The author not only writes in an evangelical, pious strain on the important subject discussed, but furnishes indubitable proof of an ardent, honest endeavour to benefit his fellow-men. Nor is this all. In my opinion, he also furnishes an able Scriptural exposition, which may serve to set at rest much that has been urged in opposition to the views he entertains on the Temperance question, and which have been, as he shows, most illogically assailed by Dr. Cumming. For instance, the doctor, besides taking for granted that all ancient wines were alcoholic, and, of course, fermented and intoxicating a strange historical blunder-and arguing on this assumed premiss, in other respects, in divers places, his reasonings are flippant and false, not even reaching the position of plausible, as Mr. Gale renders obvious to the plainest understanding. Sometimes, and on some subjects, even great men have great foibles, and compromise even their manhood, mental, moral, and physical, when they come to deal with early and long cherished prepossessions, and inveterate darling indulgences-yes, their understanding becomes darkened, and they grope and stumble in noon-day light. The doctor is a striking example. My object in this brief notice of Mr. Gale's work is not so much to analyze its several parts, and develop and scrutinize its arguments, as to induce your readers to peruse it for ⚫ themselves, and form their own opinion of its merits. And surely its subject is of vast importance, and prefers strong claims on the sympathy of Christian men, and ought, especially in times like those in which we live, to be mastered and understood by all those who profess to love the religion of the Son of God, and long to see it progressing from strength to strength. Let all such, then, and particularly those who "minister in holy things," labour, in all honesty of purpose, to know "the mind and spirit of the Lord," that, by their holy, self-denying example, and their teaching, they may be eminently lights to a benighted world, and, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, instrumental in turning many to righteousness, to shine hereafter as stars in the kingdom of God for ever and ever. Our own community, in its Conference, so far back as 1834, in reference to Temperance associations and their movements, earnestly recommends all classes of persons among us to support those eminently useful institutions." Since then, scientific research, together with searching thought and observation, both secular and Christian, have thrown much additional light on the sad mischiefs resulting to society and the Church of God from inebriating practices. Therefore, I infer I may fairly be permitted, and with augmented emphasis, to reiterate the earnest and creditable recommendation put forth by our body at a time when far less was known of the evils deplored than is known now. Is not, Mr. Editor, the heaviest curse that rests upon our country and the Church of Christ, the drinking curse? I augur, sir, that the salvation of the world, in its fulness of glory, must commence with, and be conducted to its blessed consummation from the Church of God, in its ministers, its office-bearers, and members. Our author earnestly appeals to the Church, and claims for his appeal the resistless authority of the Scriptures of truth. And must he appeal in vain? Surely not. Read his book, and read it with devout candour, without pre-judgment, and, as far as possible, with a mind divested of all untoward influences whatever-read it with a fixed, earnest, upright desire to know, to love, and to practise the truth. He is ardent, zealous, uncompromising, with an acumen that does credit to an understanding cultivated in no ordinary degree. Of course, if so disposed, you may find expressions, and perhaps sentences, and it may be sentiments, at which you may cavil; but, after all, if your aim is fairly to inform your judgment, and to find the truth, that you may the better promote your own best interests, and those of your fellowcreatures, and the glory of God, I cannot but think you will be constrained to confess that Mr. Gale has in this work proved himself to be an intelligent, painstaking, learned, pious, and logical writer, whose state ments and argumentation are in the main worthy of your most serious and respectful consideration. For myself, I frankly confess that he has relieved my mind on some points connected with his theme, that have for years, after much thought and reading, no little perplexed it; though all the while I was quite convinced that he, and those entertaining his views, had more in detail and massiveness of argument, for their opinions, than those had whose views were in an opposite direction. I will say too, with equal frankness, that if you, Mr. Editor, or any of your readers, can, to your and their satisfaction, answer his arguments, I cannot to mine. I again say, read the book; and if you cannot altogether approve, it will, or I am greatly mistaken, convey some instruction to your mind; and if you can approve, as I think you must, then with me you will feel disposed to THE recommend its perusal to others, in BOOKS RECEIVED. Christ in the Wilderness; or, Practical Views of our Lord's Temptution. By Luke H. Wiseman. London: Mason. Why Weepest thou?__ A Manual for Bereaved Parents. By J. Macfarlane, D.D. London: Nisbet & Co. The Right Choice. By the Rev. W. Marsh, D.D. London: Nisbet & Co. Blossoms of Hope. By the Widow of a Clergyman. London: Nisbet & Co. Several Tracts by the Rev. S. Martin. London: Nisbet & Co. Balls and Theatres. By the Hon. and Rev. M. Villiers. London: Nisbet & Co. POETRY. ROSEBUD.* A ROSEBUD was drench'd with the silvery rain, Shedding hyaline globules of glittering pearls It wept for the beams of the gladdening sun, While odorous gems, with a crystalline crown, The sun kindly smiled in its sorrowful face, As it blushingly parted its coralline lips, Breathing sweets to the orb of the day. The balmy breeze played with its crimson-hued leaves, And amid the bright flow'rs all blooming around, It glistened transcendently bright. Oh, how oft do we mourn for prosperity's sun, While adversity's rain falls around, And forget it is by a kind Providence sent To make virtues more richly abound. Though dark be the cloud, and severe be the storm, And the light will shine forth with a sunnier smile, "Hours of Sun and Shade," by Percy Vernon Gordon De Montgomery. indicative of high poetic merit. A work THE METHODIST NEW CONNEXION MAGAZINE. AUGUST, 1857. BIOGRAPHY. MEMOIR OF THE LATE WILLIAM WILLIAMSON, ESQ., OF RIPON. IT is a profitable exercise to contemplate those instances of moral worth which are supplied in the church of God-not that we may unduly laud and magnify man, frail in his best estate, nor pronounce unmerited eulogies upon the departed, to gratify the vanity of surviving friends but that we may be led to a just appreciation of that grace which made them what they were; and, with adoring gratitude, to render praise to the God of grace. With such an end in view, it is both a privilege and a duty to ponder the lives of good men; and to this end we would consider the life and death of the late Mr. Williamson. He was born on the 13th of April, 1788. Of his early life we know comparatively little. He kept no diary, nor made any memoranda from which information may be obtained; but we have a few facts supplied by other means which throw some light on his early career. His father was a man who feared the Lord with all his heart, and with assiduous care endeavoured to promote the spiritual well-being of his children. His own mother died on the 28th of February, 1790, at which time Mr. Williamson was not quite two years of age. Referring to this subject in the memoir of his father, he says, "It is to be esteemed as the dispensation of a kind Providence, that some of my father's youthful acquaintances were seriously disposed; especially a most worthy and excellent woman, who afterwards became his wife. My mother was a member of the Methodist society in this place (Ripon) at the period of my father's acquaintance with her; and although, from being very young at the time of her death, I have not the slightest recollection of her, I am well assured that she was a most amiable character; and, as a Christian, adorned her profession." In 1794 his father was married to Ann Mawson. In her, our departed friend and his little orphan sister found one of the tenderest and most indulgent mothers. Sometimes discord arises in families from the distinctions which a stepmother makes between her own children and those towards whom she sustains a less tender and direct relationship, but this was not the case in the present instance. In the memoir of his second wife, Mr. R. Williamson, sen., says, "One trait in her character was the great affection she had for the memory of her C C |