The Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine

the satisfaction of seeing his children walk in the truth.

By holy living he was prepared for peaceful dying. There was no violent change to be wrought at the last his death was in harmony with his life. His last illness was marked by perfect resignation to the Divine will, and although circumstances connected with the selling of his farm and the old home by his landlord were calculated to cast a gloom over his immediate future, yet he calmly accepted this event, as being overruled by an allwise Providence. To one of his daughtersin-law he remarked a few days before his death: 'I don't know what the Lord is going to do with me; they are turning me out of my old home, but there is a mansion ready for me. Í have been looking round and think my work is done.' His illness was attended with extreme weak

ness.

On the evening of his decease he expressed himself to his friends in terms of perfect confidence and resignation, saying: *It's all right; I am in the Lord's hands.'

He rose from his chair and walked towards the stairs, which with assistance he ascended and retired to rest. His son, who was in the room at the time, hearing him breathe hardly, went to him, raised him and held him in his arms, and at once, without a struggle, he entered into life.

His remains were followed by the members of his Classes, the Sabbath scholars and by friends from all the neighbouring places; the shops in the village were closed, and the inhabitants mourned the loss of one who for many years had been the friend of all. We still see our signs': spiritual awakenings, Scriptural conversions, moral transformations, holy lives and peaceful deaths.

THOMAS BRIGHOUSE.

JAMES TYLER WINTER died, November 11th, 1876, at Lowestoft, in the thirtyfourth year of his age. He was the subject of Divine influence from his youth; but it was not until about two years before his death that, through the influence and importunity of some Christian friends, he sought earnestly the salvation of his soul, and joined our Church. From his conversion he was, in his sphere, ' a burning and a shining light,' endeavouring to glorify Christ his Lord and Master in every possible way. He was always ready to speak a word for Him at every suitable opportunity, and even in the transaction of worldly business would try to turn it to some spiritual account. As a Sunday-school teacher he was prompt, cheerful and faithful; and having, when a sailor, kept a log-book, in which he recorded anything worthy of notice, he

greatly interested the scholars both in his class and his addresses. He was especially earnest in impressing upon them the importance of taking the Cross as their starting-point in steering over the ocean of life.' His cheerfulness and affection made him a great favourite with the young, many of whom wept when they heard of his death. In all the relations of life he was faithful and exemplary, whether as a son, a husband, a parent or a friend. He had recently commenced business for himself with the most promising prospects, when he was suddenly stricken down with inflammation; and after giving to his friends the highest satisfaction as to the safety of his soul and the brightness of his prospects, his triumphant spirit passed away to the mansions of glory.

WILLIAM THOMPSON, ESQ., of Keal, in the Spilsby Circuit, departed this life, May 8th, 1877, aged seventy-five. Nearly half a century ago he passed from death unto life,' and was ever after a blameless and spiritually-minded member of the WesleyanMethodist section of Christ's Church. For many years his hospitable abode has been the home of all who have occupied the pulpit in our chapel at Keal; and each September the members of the Quarterly Meeting of the Circuit found a hearty welcome there. His was indeed the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit.' Grace made him gentle, unassuming, guileless, prudent, upright, a lover of peace. He was most exemplary, until his strength failed, in his attendance upon all the means of grace, especially the Classmeeting and week-evening service. His undying love to the cause of God appears in his bequests of two hundred pounds each to several of our Connexional Funds. Under the extreme physical debility which he experienced during the last few months of his life, his mind was calm and unclouded. Disclaiming any merit of his own, humbly yet confidently relying upon the precious Atonement for acceptance and eternal life, he was manifestly made meet to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light.'

THOMAS LAKE, Esq., died at Little Steeping, in the Spilsby Circuit, June 21st, 1877, aged seventy-four. He was for many years a member of the Methodist Society, and for some years a Circuit-steward. His mansion has long been a Minister's home. Often detained from the house of God by infirmity and pain, his humble trust was in his Saviour. He was very suddenly summoned away to be 'for ever with the Lord.' T. HARDY.

HAZELL, WATSON, and viNEY, PRINTERS, LONDON AND AYLESBURY,

WESLEYAN-METHODIST MAGAZINE.

AUGUST, 1879.

MEMORIAL SKETCH OF MRS. ANNA MARIA ROWLEY,

DAUGHTER OF DR. ADAM CLARKE :

BY EDITH ROWLEY.

ANNA MARIA ELIZA CLARKE, the second daughter and fifth child of Dr. Adam Clarke, was born at Liverpool, October 21st, 1793. Very scant must be the records of earliest years in a life so protracted as hers. Her letters, the living transcripts of her mind and heart, were mostly destroyed on the death of her correspondents; and, excepting in letters, she left no vestige in writing of her mental or spiritual experiences-no vestige save one, which occurs in the memoir of a child, Anna Earnshaw, written by herself: 'To the perusal, when a very young child, of Janeway's Tokens for Children, the writer of these pages refers those religious impressions which led ultimately to faith in the Great Atonement.'

A few pictures, slightly sketched in family conversation, are all the other memorials of her early years. One is strikingly suggestive of the privations of the early Methodist Preacher's life. It is that of a child of ten years seated in a nursery with piles of household linen and children's garments before and around her, darning, patching, folding, hour after hour; keeping a watchful eye on the little ones, whose sports she may not join, herself being their responsible care-taker and guardian, while the mother lies ill in bed.

Another picture is of the same child about a year later, now the nurse of a lovely dying sister, nearly as big as herself; carrying her about to ease the pain,' passing week after week in the sick-room, till the nervous system was so affected that she says, 'For a long time after the child was dead, I heard her cough distinctly.'

Another and a brighter picture dates on a few years. It was elicited by a remark of one of her own children on the erudition displayed in a portion of Dr. Clarke's Commentary. I verified all those references for him,' said the mother, quite simply.

It seems a contrast: the patient little house-mother; the tender, childish fosterer; and the learned, gifted girl; but the character was homogeneous. It is the noblest natures that are possessed of the profoundest motherliness.

In default of letters written by her, information as to the first half of her life must be gathered from letters written to her. The special charm of her rare gift of correspondence is thereby lost, but knowledge of herself is not; for the double reason that her own character was purely transparent, and that among all the other members of the home of her youth there reigned

not only fervent affection, but a frank sympathy and genial confidence, which make it possible to recover the very thoughts and feelings of the lost letters, from those written in reply:

'MY DEAR ANNA MARIA,

· Harpur Street, Bloomsbury, London,

'July 4th, 1812.

'I received your letter last evening, and am sorry to find by it that you are poorly; yet, circumstances considered, I do not much wonder at it: your feelings have been too much wrought upon to consist with perfect soundness. You have acted nobly, my dear girl. You must guard against depression of mind, because it will have too much and lasting influence upon your health. Be aware of this: rouse yourself and all will be well. On Tuesday, you know, is your monthly meeting for working for the poor distressed women. Take courage, my Anna Maria, and continue to trust in God and pray to Him as you now do. In simplicity of heart commit your ways unto Him, and He will direct all your steps. I have long, long trusted in Him, and never yet found His word or His help to fail me; and having sought direction from Him on all occasions and in all cases, both great and small, He has not suffered me greatly to err; and though He has not told me in particular cases what He would do, yet having committed the case to Him, and my whole heart having said, Lord, do that which is best in this matter (either for myself, or for those He has given me), and overrule every circumstance so as to produce a good event, I always saw a blessed termination to all affairs thus entrusted to Him; so that now in general I can trust and fear not, that all shall be well with me and mine; using the prudence and proper means which He has put in my power, and knowing that He does not disdain to interfere in the concerns of His creatures, but, on the contrary, invites them to come with confidence and make known their wants to Him. Be much at the Throne of Grace, my dear child, and you shall always find that wisdom communicated which is profitable to direct, and that grace which shall be at all times sufficient for you. Your affectionate mother,

'M. CLARKE.'

With a charm of intellectual beauty she lives again in the following letter: 'St. Austell, June 12th, 1815.

'MY DEAR FRIEND,

'Your letter dated May 4th came safely to hand. I received it with much pleasure, and perused it with still more satisfaction. I perceive that you are not only able to think, but to express your thoughts with distinctness on paper. I have shown your letter to several particular friends, to let them know that Dr. Clarke has a daughter who is able to investigate abstract principles and to enter into abstruse speculations in a way that would confer on her father no disgrace.

'As to your difficulty, I scarcely know what to say; your father is far more competent than I am to examine its parts and give you a solution. I am inclined to think that the different degrees of glory of which St. Paul speaks rather refer to the different degrees of moral excellence which individuals possess, than to the scale of intellect in which they stand.

'Whether the intellectual endowments of individuals are the same in all, as inherent powers of the soul, and their apparent difference arises from the distinct organization of the body; or whether their powers are radically different with which the organization of the body has little or no connection, I take not upon me to determine.......I should admit with Dr. C—, that the man who possesses the greatest mind is capable of doing, suffering, and enjoying most. But if these capabilities are rewardable, their possessors must be remunerated for capacities which were primarily communicated by the sovereign power of God. And those whose capacities were less must be debarred from those highest attainments of felicity, merely because they did not possess those powers which

« Previous Continue »

Books