his holy day. He soon threw off all parental restraint, indulged in sinful amusements, and lived an ungodly life. In the year 1812, he entered the married state; and when leaving the paternal roof, his pious father, still anxious for his soul's salvation, gave him suitable advice and direction respecting his future conduct. Of these he made light, foolishly imagining that, as he was now his own master, he was quite capable of managing his own affairs without the interference of his father. In the year 1815, when the old place of worship was taken down, and the present chapel, called Mount Zion Chapel, was rebuilding, he often resorted in the evenings to watch the progress of the building. This led him to reflect on his former life, and contrast it with his present conduct. He remembered the days of his youth when he was regularly taken to the house of God, but which was now forsaken and abandoned by him. He reflected on the tears which had been shed, the entreaties urged, and the example shown by his godly parent. He called to mind also the religious instructions he had received from his Sabbath school teachers, Jonathan Ramsden, Timothy Earnshaw, and John Chambers, men through whose chaste conversation and holy lives numbers have been profited. These reflections arrested his ungodly career, and gave rise to new and peculiar emotions. His impressions were deepened by a remarkable dream, which alarmed his mind and made him resolve to reform his life. He obtained suitable clothing, took a sitting in the new chapel, and regularly attended the services of the sanctuary. The word came with power to his mind, and he resolved to give his heart to God. The friends of the place seeing his deep and tearful attention in the house of God, and his reformed deportment in life, invited him to enjoy Church fellowship with God's people. He accepted the invitation with much timidity; but feeling the burthen of his guilt so intolerable, he longed for its removal. While in the class meeting he heard the expressions of holy confidence in God, assurances of pardon, and a full knowledge of his acceptance, poor Bates was overwhelmed with a deep sense of his wretchedness and misery. He wept, he prayed, he longed for the salvation of God. "At length," he observes, "I found that I wanted to do something to merit the favour of heaven; but when I came as a lost sinner, and gave up my fancied merits, then I received all, and rejoiced in the pardoning mercy of God, through Jesus Christ." I relished the means of grace as my daily food; and the singing, the praying, and the preaching were more than ever delicious to my taste. These superior enjoyments were no doubt intended to fortify me for the trials which were to follow. The trials to which he alludes related to his pecuniary circumstances, the death of his father, the very long and severe affliction of his wife, and her subsequent death. All these calamities coming upon him, one after another, reduced him to the most abject state of poverty. The rich refreshing seasons he had previously enjoyed were to him as the food brought by the ravens to Elijah. "I was," he continues, “so reduced in my circumstances, that I applied to the parish officers for relief, but was refused. How that day passed I cannot describe: "As billows on billows roll.' man "Before I retired to rest at night, I knelt down to pray, but my heart was so full, I was at a loss for words. At length utterance was given me, and I burst out, Lord, I am oppressed, undertake thou for me.' When I was just preparing to retire to bed, a stepped into the house, put eighteenpence into my hands, and went away. This money, I afterwards ascertained, had been raised by subscription, at a class meeting, and a Wesleyan leader brought it. This was timely relief, and my heart was grateful for it." In the year 1819, he felt wishful to marry again; and looking out for a suitable companion, he united himself the following year to Mary Mitchell, who had been a regular and consistent member of the Church for thirteen or fourteen years. In the same year he was chosen Society-steward, and served the office for six years. In 1827, his leader dying, he was appointed his successor, and the class prospered so much that it was ultimately divided. Thus, Jacob like, he who had been so low, feeble, and timid, became two bands. In the year 1833, he was called to endure adversity again, from his increasing family, the high price of provisions, and occasional want of employment. During these privations, Mrs. Akroyd, mother of the late Jonathan Akroyd, Esq., sent for him, and after conversing with him on temporal and spiritual matters, presented him with four sovereigns, which he received with tears of gratitude. She was to him a friend in need, and therefore a friend indeed, and she remained so to him as long as she lived. In the year 1841, he was strongly tempted to withdraw from the Church, on account of the expulsion of Messrs. Barker and Trotter, who were expelled for heresy; but after pondering the matter over in his mind, and praying for Divine direction, he was preserved to the Church. He often thanked God afterwards that his heart was not drawn away with the many hundreds who fell into Socinianism and infidelity. We now pass on to his last long, and tedious affliction. Mr. Ridley, the superintendent of the circuit, states: "When I first visited the house of our departed brother, I found him confined to his bed, reduced to great weakness, and apparently near the gates of death, but confident, happy, and praising God. To all my inquiries respecting the state of his mind, his confidence in God, and his hope of immortality, his replies were most prompt, pleasing, and striking. When I engaged in prayer with him, a rich unction from the Holy One was realized, his responses were fervent, and we all felt it good to be there. September 3rd, he told me that during his affliction which had been so protracted, he had often realized the special manifestations of the Divine presence, and that now he felt an ecstacy of joy. Many passages of Scripture were sweetly and powerfully applied to his mind; such as "O Lord, I will praise thee," and "Behold, God is my salvation." "These," said he, 66 are precious, they bear me up above all fear, fill me with joy, and make me to feel as though I was just entering heaven." I said, "Well, I hope your confidence is in God and in the atonement of his Son." He replied, with peculiar emphasis, "O yes, where else can I place it? nowhere else but Christ." 66 A few days after this interview with our beloved superintendent, a friend from Mount Zion wrote him to the following effect: "Dear Sir,-Brother Bates has gradually sunk under his affliction since you last saw him, but remained steadfast in the faith of his Saviour. On Tuesday night, after the class meeting was over, not weary with Christian fellowship, he requested us to remain longer, and continue singing and praying. "The following verse was most powerfally applied to his mind:- "Thou Shepherd of Israel and mine, "And though he was so prostrated, he collected all his strength to give out the hymn, and even pitched the tune himself. After this precious meeting on earth he said very few words more, till he joined the meeting above. His last words were, 'Come Jesus,' and then expired, on the 14th September, 1848, in the sixty-first year of his age." It scarcely need be added, that as his position in life made him comparatively little known in the world, yet his peaceful and modest deportment abroad, and his consistent Christian profession at home and in the Church, procured him several friends, but no enemies. enjoyed the happy art of not giving offence. He His death was improved by the Rev. T. W. Ridley, to a crowded and deeply affected audience, from Job i. 12. Halifax. J. R. MRS. MARY ABBOTT, OF NOTTINGHAM, A CHURCH MEMBER FOR SEVENTY-TWO YEARS. MARY ABBOTT was born at Derby, February 6th, 1762; her maiden name was Strong. Her parents were pious, and attended the ministry of the Established Church; and when Mary was young, they removed to Nottingham. She joined the Methodist society in the sixteenth year of her age, and there can be little doubt, was at the time of her death the oldest Methodist in this town or neighbourhood, having been a member no less than seventy-two years. The account she gave of her conversion, was taken down in writing from her lips by Miss Catherine Higginbottom, and is in the following words: "I was very early under serious impressions, but was more fully awakened to a sense of my sinful state under a sermon preached by Mr. Glascot. I was going down Greyhound yard, at seven o'clock one Sabbath morning, when I was attracted by the sound of some people singing at the Malt cross. I joined them and remained during the service. Mr. Glascot was preaching, and took for his text, Did not our hearts burn within us, while he talked with us by the way?' It was not until he began to apply the subject that any impression was made upon my mind, but I left the place deeply convinced that I was under the displeasure of God, and determined not to rest Such is the simple account given by our deceased sister, of her conversion to God. She was one (of which there are now very few surviving) of those who were eye-witnesses of the early days of Methodism. She several times heard the venerable Wesley in the old Tabernacle, as the first Methodist chapel in Nottingham was called, and remembered well hearing him preach his first sermon in Hockley chapel, from those words, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Her first ticket contained this scripture motto, "Study to be quiet, and to mind your own business," a passage she was often in the habit of repeating, and stated, that it had a happy influence upon her throughout her whole life. It is worthy of notice, that she knew the worth of religion, and was anxious that others should possess it, hence she was a regular supporter of the cause of God, and in her greatest difficulties, laid by her mite, to contribute to her class and other institutions amongst us, and when reminded that the church did not expect it of her, replied, that it was the Lord's money. She never submitted to receive assistance from others until stern necessity compelled her; and Our deceased sister was a regular attendant on the means of grace, both public and private, until age and attending infirmities compelled her to relinquish one by one those sacred duties. Her piety was not a matter of heartless sentiment, but of deep and ardent feeling, regulated by those principles which resulted from an extensive acquaintance with the word of God, which she made her study and the subject of her conversation. When about to repeat a passage of Scripture, she would often preface it with, "The Lord says;" and a very favourite expression of hers was, "God is love, and that my soul knoweth right well." Indeed, her religion seemed so interwoven with the whole current of her thoughts, feelings, and interests, that every thing was subjected to its influence, and valued as it had reference thereto; thus furnishing a beautiful illustration of the apostle's language, "Unto the pure all things are pure." In her latter days, she had many friends, who were blessed by her gratitude and profited by her wise and Christian conversation. The sage truths, pertinent remarks, and sound experience embodied therein, will long live in their recollection and refresh their spirits. Of death she would talk as freely and cheerfully as though it were a pleasant journey; with her it was divested of all gloom and terror. had indeed a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. Her She decease was the result of a progressive decay of nature. Her vivacity left her, which caused her to be more retired in her habits; then her sight and memory failed her, which was followed by a stroke, which induced a general debility. During her last affliction, she was not able to say much, and what little she did say, could with difficulty be understood. At one time, the blessedness of the world of spirits seemed to burst upon her ravished view, and she shouted aloud, "Glory, glory, glory!" She often laboured under such a degree of stupor, that when questioned concerning food, or the like bodily matters, her attention could not be aroused; yet when the words, "Jesus is precious," were repeated in her hearing, she would at once articulate, as well as she was able, "Yes, he is precious; he is precious." On the day of her death, & friend went to visit her, and finding her unable to speak, said, "Sister, you will soon now be in the world of spirits;" she answered with a delightful smile upon her countenance. He requested her, if all was right between God and her soul, to lift up her hand; when she feebly raised it from her couch as her last earthly token, and then sank into a state of apparent unconsciousness. About the middle of the day, the weary wheels of life stood still, and her ransomed spirit took its flight to the throne of God. Thus lived and thus died Mary Abbott, on the 8th of February, 1850, aged eighty-eight years and two days. Thus far this narrative has been written by several beloved friends, two of whom, Messrs. Crisp and Sutton, have known Mary Abbott very many years. A few words may be added. As far as the memories of the living extend, Mary Abbott was a consistent church member. If either truth or slander ever opened their lips against her, their echoes have long since died away with the generations of the past. Her religious life appears to have been as uniform as it was long. She lived to witness many successions of flourishing and promising youth which have passed away. She was in the church, among a crowd of young persons, like a perennial flower of some former summer, still lovely in old age, with the moral beauties of sincere and humble piety. It was in no small degree honourable to her that some two years since, when she had but half-a-crown a week to support her, and when she was of an age that is proverbially avaricious, she firmly T declined to accept an additional shilling per week from one of our beloved friends, alleging that others were in greater need than herself. This world presents but few more venerable sights than that of an aged person who, like her, has maintained a life of piety, in which there has been no break, no deviation, and no change, from comparative childhood to the age of fourscore and eight years. When we see a young person turn to the Lord we rejoice with trembling, but Mary Abbott walked with God for nearly three quarters of a century. She lived among us bent with age, but with elastic spirit and upright heart, as a member of the last generation but one; whom busy death, while pursuing his terrible vocation, seemed for a while to have forgotten. How extremely few who were Methodists in 1777, when she was converted, and have continued faithful, still survive as relics of early Methodism! Those few will soon join their contemporaries in the high and holy place. Mary Abbott's funeral sermon was preached in our Nottingham chapel, on Lord's day, February 17th, by the Rev. John Nelson, from "An old disciple." The chapel is regularly full, but on that occasion it was crowded. OUR dear brother, John Jones, died in the Lord, on the 11th of February. He was an exemplary member of our community for about twenty years. It was through the example and persuasion of his devoted partner that he was led to unite with our society, who died happy in Christ about two years ago. Ruth Jones was a woman of great industry, strong christian principle, great simplicity, and most ardently attached to our ministers. I have often been delighted to hear her speak of their zeal, usefulness, and humility. What a contrast to those who magnify the faults and failings of the servants of Christ, and that before their children and servants! Every man has some infirmity as long as he is in the body, but to expose this is the best plan of Satan to sow deep in our children's hearts the first seeds of infidelity. Brother Jones enjoyed good health until a few days before his death. When I heard of his illness I visited him, and found him depending on Jesus for mercy and eternal life. On the following Saturday, I was called upon to administer to him the I memorials of the dying Saviour. was much pleased with the peace and rapture of his soul. Satan seemed to have no place in him. He said to me, "that he was on the Rock, that Christ was precious, and that he had no fear of death." I referred to his pain and bodily sufferings; he was hardly able to articulate, but with difficulty replied, "O what are all my sufferings here, If, Lord, thou count me meet With that enraptured host to appear, And worship at thy feet?'" I was so filled with faith and joy, my mind was led to reflect on the expressive lines of the poet: "The chamber where the good man meets with death, Is privileged far beyond the common walks of life, Quite on the verge of heaven." RECENT DEATHS. ESTHER HALL, of Blackley, died on the 19th of February, in the sixtyseventh year of her age. She had been for twenty-four years a member of our community, and, I believe, in all things adorned the doctrine of God her Saviour. For the last fifteen years of her life she was heavily afflicted, but her mind, being stayed upon God, was kept in perfect peace. Her latter end was emphatically peace. "She passed through death triumphant home to heaven." J. H. ON the 29th of March, Miss Sarah Johnson, daugher of the late Mr. Samuel Johnson, of Broughton, Manchester, departed this life in the twenty-seventh year of her age. Her sickness was of long duration, and at times of a severe character. Like the patriarch, she was made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights were appointed to her. Still it was good for her to be afflicted, for she found the Saviour's presence to cheer her as she journeyed on in the dark valley. During the first part of her illness she was somewhat reserved in speaking of her spiritual state, but subsequently her heart was enlarged, and her tongue unloosed, to expatiate on the goodness of God, her confidence in the Saviour, and the blessed hope she had of dwelling with him for ever in heaven. This hope sustained her in her extremest sufferings, until the conflict ended, she calmly fell asleep in Jesus, and passed away to that better country, where the inhabitants never say, "I am sick." Manchester. J. H. CONNEXIONAL DEPARTMENT. THE LEEDS CONFERENCE OF 1850. (Communicated by a Member of Conference.) The period of holding our annual Conference is in general one of deep interest and powerful excitement. In some degree these feelings are participated in not only by ministers and representatives, but by our societies and congregations in general. Changes are anticipated by the removal of ministers, and subjects are to be determined which affect the interests of the entire community. The religious services of Conference, and the greetings of ministers, representatives, and friends are of a most pleasing character, and give a fresh impulse to brotherly love, Connexional attachment, and holy zeal. At no previous Conference, perhaps, have these feelings been more powerfully excited than at the Conference of the present year. Indeed, every thing associated with this Conference has conspired to produce such emotions. If we consider the fact that Leeds was the place where the first Conference of our community was convened-that "Ebenezer chapel' was the very sanctuary where Kilham and his noble-minded coadjutors enunciated the distinctive principles of our |