the throne? May we not thank God for deservedly esteemed during about fifty years'

RECENT DEATHS.

the offices of Leader, Local Preacher, and Stew-
ard. The regularity of his attendance upon the
means of grace, the marked reverence of his de-
portment in the house of God, and the manifest
joy with which he fed upon the word, were exem-
plary. Evil speaking was his abhorrence, and in
charity he abounded. While catholic in spirit,
he was yet intensely and intelligently attached to
Methodism. Through all the years of his mem-
bership his affection for it never wavered. No
child of Israel ever thought more lovingly of
Jerusalem, than he of the church of his choice.
He passed through many severe trials, and suf-
fered many painful bereavements, but always
bore them with patient and cheerful submission
to the will of God. He was remarkable for sim-
plicity and quiet strength of character, for fixed-
ness of purpose, and completeness and consist-
ency of Christian life. His end was peace.

S. C.

Nov. 29th.-At Killicomaine, in the Porta-
down Circuit, Elizabeth, the beloved wife of Mr.
Anthony Cowdy. Early converted to God, she
became remarkably decided in the service of
Christ, pressing "into the holiest of all, by the
blood of Jesus." During a religious course of
more than thirty years, she exhibited an un-
wavering attachment to Methodism and to its
Ministers. Gifted with wisdom, patience in
affliction, energy, and love in no ordinary degree,
-the loss of one so exemplary in the various
relations of life has deeply affected her family
and friends; but they rejoice in the assured
hope that she "sleeps in Jesus."
R. M.

Dec. 7th. At Ashford, Kent, the Rev. Wil-
liam Binning, in his sixty-seventh year; who
departed this life in the true faith of the Gospel
which he had so long, earnestly, and successfully
preached. Forty-one years he devoted to the
work of the ministry; the first nine of which
were spent in the West Indies. While there,
fevers and fatigue brought on weaknesses which
affected him the remainder of his life. His last
affliction was painful in the extreme; yet, while
he sighed, he murmured not. He longed to live,
"if his Lord and Master would permit," to
preach Christ a few years longer. When the
medical attendant intimated that a few more
days would close that suffering scene, Mr. Bin-
ning was asked if he felt saved of Christ; when
he replied, "I have no joy; but I have confi-
dence,....and I have peace." His heart was in
the work to the last he never thought he had
done enough for his Saviour. His labours were
prosecuted with untiring assiduity, till within
two months of his peaceful death.

D. J. W.

Dec. 13th. At Ripon, Mr. John Handley, aged forty-six. He had just concluded the devotional exercises of the Sunday-school in the afternoon of the day above-mentioned, when he was suddenly seized with alarming illness. Medical aid was obtained; but he expired in the course of a few minutes. He was a good man, and a

faithful labourer in the cause of Sunday-school instruction.

J. P. F.

Dec. 15th.-Near Richmond-Hill chapel, Leeds, Samuel Perkins, in the eightieth year of his age. He had been a remarkably consistent Methodist upwards of fifty-five years. He diligently employed his talent in the several spheres of usefulness that were open to him, till the close of his life. For many years he had the care of a class; and was very useful as a Prayer-Leader, a standing; a careful reader of his Bible, and of Visiter of the sick, and that in most perilous cases of cholera. He was a man of good underjudgment of that section of the church universal the Methodist publications that came in his way. This aided him in forming a correct and decided by which he was brought to the enjoyment of the salvation of God. He was a wakeful participant in all the successes and trials through which Methodism in Leeds has passed for the last halfcentury. The effect, visible in him, was a growth meeting held every morning at six o'clock, till in stability, and attachment to the cause he had espoused. He took a lively part in the prayersudden; but he was waiting for the call. nearly the last day of his life. His death was

G. T.

Dec. 19th.-At Lytham, the Rev. John Walsh,
in the sixty-fourth year of his age, and the forty-
fourth of his ministry. For nine years he la-
boured as a Missionary in Newfoundland, and
was made a great blessing. After his return to
England, he was much esteemed in his various
Circuits as an eminently Christian man, and a
Supernumerary, he took up his abode at Bir-
devoted and laborious Minister of the Lord Jesus.
mingham, whence, subsequently, he removed to
In 1851, compelled by indisposition to become a
Lytham. In his retirement, he met a class,
preached, and visited from house to house, as
much as his declining strength would allow. He
bore a long and painful affliction with exemplary
patience, and often spoke of Christ as "very
precious" to him. He was favoured with much
Divine consolation, and had a bright hope of a
glorious immortality. When unable to speak,
he waved his hand; and, when his dear wife
said, "Victory," he nodded assent, and soon
after fell asleep in Jesus.
R. M.

Jan. 3d, 1858.-Aged sixty-nine, Mr. James
Fildes, of Cheetham-Hill, Manchester. He was
converted to God when eleven years old, and
soon afterwards became a member of the Wes-
leyan-Methodist Society. For forty years he was
a useful Class-Leader, and during the same period
painful affliction, through which he maintained a
filled other important offices in the church with
fidelity and zeal. He was chastened by long and
calm and unshaken faith in Christ; and he
finished his course of devotion on earth with
knew the value of his faithful and judicious
earnest intercession on behalf of his family and
friends. His loss is deeply felt by many who
counsels.
S. W. C.

LONDON: PRINTED BY JAMES NICHOLS, HOXTON-SQUARE.

WESLEYAN-METHODIST MAGAZINE.

MARCH, 1858.

MEMOIR OF MR. WILLIAM SHREWSBURY, AND OF MARY, HIS WIFE:

BY THEIR SON, THE REV. WILLIAM J. SHREWSBURY.

DEAL, in Kent, was the birth-place of each of these venerable Christians, who have latterly departed to the kingdom of God. Mr. Shrewsbury was born November 1st, 1770; and Mary Hayward, whom he married, February 25th, 1773. His ancestors came from Dover, and hers from Canterbury; places of no inconsiderable note in English history. In process of time the families of the Shrewsburys and the Haywards became numerous, and nearly seventy of their descendants were living in Deal; but years have wrought such changes, that now scarcely six individuals of both branches together can be found in the place, or in its vicinity. Mrs. Shrewsbury survived all her brothers and sisters, so that when she died the generation to which she belonged became extinct: of her husband's immediate relatives, one brother only is living: and of their own large family of ten children, their first-born, the writer of this brief memoir, alone remains to this present. "For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away."

Of their earlier years little is known, save only the mournful fact that they were all vanity. Both individuals were sober, industrious, and outwardly moral; but worldly, foolish, and inclined to gaiety, levity, and mirth. Not long after marriage they began to attend the ministry of the Independents, and not in vain; for that was the first step which issued in their conversion and final salvation. The congregation was occasionally supplied by Dissenting students from Hoxton, among whom was one latterly well known as Dr. Leifchild, then a young man, whose discourses, full of unction, were not lost upon the writer, who with his parents was hearkening attentively to the word spoken by that servant of the Lord. About that time the husband and wife began to feel the solemn truths of the Gospel, and to inquire the way to the kingdom. Gracious feelings increased in the mind of the latter, till she became thoroughly awakened: the former was desirous of mercy, but not so tremblingly alive to a sense of his need of it. Mrs. Shrewsbury attended the prayer-meetings with great diligence, and always took her eldest son with her. The church was flourishing; many of its members adorned their profession by holy living; and under the pastoral care of the Rev. John Vincent, a most godly man, they had the joy of seeing not a few

VOL. IV. FIFTH SERIES.

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