JOSEPH ROGERS, OF TATBANK, IN THE OLDBURY CIRCUIT. JOSEPH ROGERS was born at Oldbury, in the year 1822. His early life was spent in pursuing the vanities of the world. To such an extent did he go in a course of carnal pleasures, that he brought himself and family into serious difficulties. It appeared as though his whole life would be spent in treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath, and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. But God's thoughts are not as our thoughts, neither His ways as our ways; for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His thoughts higher than our thoughts, His ways than our ways. Christianity can meet the case of any and of all men; it is a sovereign remedy for the world. The church must employ the Gospel rightly, then it will prevail. Our brother attended special services, held at the Tabernacle, Oldbury, when strong convictions of the sinfulness of his character and life made him tremble; and at an outdoor service at Tatbank, his impressions were so strong, that he could resist no longer; he bowed to the cross, and owned Christ conqueror. Now all was changed; his heart, his life, his companions. During his career of sin, he altogether neglected mental culture; he could neither read nor write. His folly he now bitterly lamented, and laboured hard to remedy the defect, and was willing to learn even from a child. O! how great the change which grace makes! It turns from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to serve the living and true God. brother was a new creature in Christ Jesus. Old things were passed away, all things became new. He joined the church, was a useful member of society, and became a blessing to his family. The Bible was his directory and consolation; he gloried in the liberty wherewith Christ had made him free. Our As it requires submission to God, according to the Gospel, for man to get right, so is the same submission needed to keep right and to go on to perfection. For a time our brother walked worthy of the high vocation wherewith he was called. Some change took place in his worldly circumstances; then he declined in religious fervour, and neglected the social means of grace, and was in danger of drawing back to perdition. His leader remonstrated and exhorted him, but his heart seemed hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. The next day, he went to his employment, in the coal- "O, how shall I Thy goodness tell, I should be called a child of God; For two days he lingered in great bodily sufferings; but his mind was in peace with a pardoning God. He said, "Tell my leader, and the members, I die in peace with God." His last words were, "Christ is precious to my soul.' He departed this life, December 3rd, 1857, aged thirty-five years. H. WATTS. Oldbury, February 23rd, 1858. MARY BAINBRIDGE. ON November 29th, 1857, died at Scotswood, near Newcastle, Mary Bainbridge. Her maiden name was Bewick. Her mother being a pious woman, she was at an early age led into the paths of religion, in which she continued to delight until the day of her death. A considerable part of her youthful days was spent with a pious aunt at Newcastle. In the year 1821 she married, and soon became the mother of a small family, which she trained up in the ways of religion; and she had the satisfaction of seeing that her labour had not been in vain in the Lord; for the whole of her surviving children, numbering three, are members of the church with which she herself had for so many years stood identified. She had been a member of the Methodist New Connexion from its first establishment in the village, and ever cultivated a warm and growing attachment to its ministry and interests, and greatly rejoiced whenever it pleased the Lord to grant prosperity to the labours of his servants. She was of a feeble constitution, and had to encounter many trials and difficulties during her life's short day. The last three years of her life were spent entirely in her sick room; but what she lost by being deprived of the public means of the sanctuary, the Lord graciously and abundantly supplied to her at home; so much so that her common exclamation was, "Bless the Lord for His goodness; blessed Jesus, He is all sufficient; He does all things well; He precious to my soul." She said she knew her heavenly Father would not lay anything upon her more than she would be enabled to bear. I well remember calling one day along with a dear friend of hers to see her, and, on asking how she was getting on, she, with a child-like simplicity, and casting her eyes heavenwards, exclaimed, “I am just waiting for my heavenly Father to speak the word;" intimating that she was quite ready; willing to go, or willing to stay, just as the Lord, in His wisdom and goodness, saw best. Frequently, when her bodily sufferings were most severe, her spiritual consolations were most abundant; the Lord bountifully adapted His grace to the crisis. About six weeks prior to her dissolution, it became quite evident she could not survive long; the casket of her precious soul had become so enfeebled with the many storms and afflictions through life, that it appeared ready to sink under the pressure of her sufferings; but all was well. She had fought a good fight, she had kept the faith, her race was nearly run; but she had laid up her treasure in heaven; she had laid up a good foundation against the time She had borne the burden to come. and the heat of the day for many years; she had carried the cross, and despised the shame; she had suffered patiently and resignedly the will of the Lord, confidently believing that whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth; that those bright gems which will sparkle in the diadem of the blessed Redeemer's crown through eternity, must be polished by afflictions; and she had for many years been passing through the process. Sixty-one years she had battled with the lot of the poor and afflic ted of this world; but now the time was drawing nigh for her release. Her Lord was at hand, and that which she had waited patiently for, she realized; DIED, on Tuesday, March 16, 1858, aged forty-three years, Miss Akroyd, of Woodside, Halifax. She had long suffered from indisposition, but her death was at last sudden and unexpected. Her loss will be deeply felt. In her the poor have indeed lost a benefactor, and our circuit and the Connexion a liberal supporter and friend. J. N. [A wide circle of friends will deeply feel the loss of these departed ones. The pecuniary aid rendered by Mr. Styring for many years to our cause has been important and valuable; and the unostentatious benevolence, as well as the genuine piety of the amiable lady, whose unexpected demise we record, has long rendered her name precious to the poor and to the church of Christ. While we sympathize with bereaved friends, and drop a tear over departed worth, we would look forward to the joyful day when the friends of Jesus shall be reunited to be severed NO more.] : NOTICES OF BOOKS. The Good Soldier. A Memoir of Major-General Sir Henry Havelock his Military Career, Campaigns, Engagements, and Victories: his Domestic, Social, and Religious Character. Compiled from authentic sources, by the Rev. W. Owen. London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. THIS book has reached us at a period too late for us to read before this number goes to press, but, unwilling that it should stand over for another month, we introduce it to our readers by a quotation from the preface, from which our readers will be able to estimate the author's pur"The name of Havelock is pose:emblazoned on the bright scroll of fame, with men who have combined the graces of the Christian with the prowess of the military chief. This memoir of The Good Soldier,' intended at first as little more than a compilation, has acquired a greater importance and value from the liberal contributions afforded to the author in the progress of his work. It was undertaken before any similar publication had been announced. The battles in which Havelock was engaged are narrated, some of them by himself, and others by the eminent military writers, Kaye, Cunningham, and Thackwell; and the Persian campaign and shipwreck by the late Captain G. H. Hunt. The narrative is enriched by original letters, personal communications to the author by the friends of Havelock; and special acknowledgments are due to the Havelock Man, a noble specimen of the band he did so much to train for the service of his country, and the great Christian warfare. The book embraces the personal and family history, the religious character, and the military career of Havelock, and details the battles in which he was engaged in Burmah, Affghanistan, the Punjaub, Persia, and the victorious march from Allahabad to Lucknow. Its price puts it within the reach of the million, for whom it is written, and to whom it is respectfully dedicated. The portrait depicts Havelock as he appeared some eight years ago, and his autograph is traced from one of his letters in possession of the author." Spurgeon's Calvinism Examined and Refuted. By Silas Henn. London: J. B. Cooke, 21, Warwick-lane, Paternoster-row. MR. SPURGEON is often very unsparing in his denunciation of Arminianism, and he cannot complain if others, equally conscientious, examine his Calvinistic sentiments by the test of Holy Scripture. Assuredly, popularity affords no warrant for uncharitableness, and presents no guarantee for infallibility. Mr. Henn therefore avails himself of his right as a man and a Christian to scrutinize Mr. Spurgeon's sentiments and expose their fallacy. In doing this he quotes from Mr. Spurgeon's published sermons, and makes him responsible for no statements but such as he has openly maintained. These he examines by the word of God and finds them erroneous, alike repugnant to the paternal character of God, the freedom of man, the responsibility of his condition, and the most emphatic declarations as to the universality of the atonement and the fulness and freeness of Gospel blessings. The work, without any literary pretensions, effectually disposes of Mr. Spurgeon's bold and dogmatic assertions. Illustrative Teaching; or, Practical THIS little work contains many useful hints and practical suggestions. THE METHODIST NEW CONNEXION MAGAZINE. MAY, 1858. ESSAYS, &c., ON THEOLOGY AND GENERAL LITERATURE. THE ECLIPSE OF THE SUN, AND THE LESSONS IT "Give me the ways of wandering stars to know, Virgil. Never THE recent eclipse has been a very disappointing event. before, at one time, were there so many astronomical observers, or so many eyes turned towards the heavens, as on the day in which it occurred. The clouds, however, as if unfriendly to the pursuits of popular astronomy, acted during the greater part of the time as a veil, allowing, in most places, but an occasional glimpse of the phenomenon, and almost entirely preventing the occurrence of the beautiful appearances and striking contrasts so confidently anticipated. But although as a spectacle it has proved a disappointment, as an astronomical event it has duly taken place. The skill which can foretell when an eclipse will occur, to a minute of time, and where its shadow will fall, almost to an inch of locality, and for centuries in advance, is surely a marvellous triumph of human intellect.* But the calculations of astronomers have been duly honoured, showing the exactness, as well as the sublimity, of the science. A "failure" of the eclipse in this respect, would have been a far more serious thing than the absence of "Bailey's beads," or the corona, whether golden, or reddish, or peach-coloured, or rose-coloured, or pearl-white, as it is said, in different eclipses, to have appeared. The cause of an eclipse is simply the passing of a dark body between the observer and the sun. In an eclipse of the moon, the * "How many circumstances must be accurately ascertained before the calculation commences! The distance of the earth from the Sun, its precise place in the ecliptic, and all the variations of motion to which it is subject; the moon's distance, its precise situation in its orbit, and all the aberrations to which it is liable; the influence of the attraction of the earth and sun for it, both conjoint and separate, and the variation of the nodes; and to these must be added a knowledge of the precise effects of parallax, and refraction. And into the actual calculations, a number of distinct additional elements must enter." body of the earth, as she revolves in her orbit, comes directly between the moon and the sun, and so intercepts the sun's rays, that they cannot illuminate the moon. The shadow of the earth, at the moon's distance from it, is so broad, as to allow of the moon's being hidden by it an hour and fifty minutes, when a central passage through it takes place. Even in a total eclipse, however, the moon does not become invisible, owing to the refraction of the sun's rays in passing through the earth's atmosphere. The colour of the eclipsed moon is a tarnished copper, or a deep red. "The silver moon is all o'er blood, A settling crimson stains her beauteous face." It is at the time of full moon that lunar eclipses happen; because it is only then that the earth is between the sun and moon; and there is not an eclipse every full moon, because of the obliquity of the moon's orbit, in other words, because the moon's path is on a different plane from that of the earth. An eclipse of the sun is occasioned by the moon's passing between the earth and the sun, and thus obscuring to us the light of the latter body. A solar eclipse may be partial, only a part of the moon's body may be seen on the sun's disc, or total, when the moon's apparent breadth exceeds that of the sun, thus in appearance blotting out, where centrally visible, the entire body of the sun; or it may be annular,* when the sun's apparent diameter is greater than that of the moon, leaving, when the moon's dark body is central to the sun, a border of light round it, like a brilliant silver ring, if the sky is clear. When the moon, during an eclipse, is farther from the earth than her mean distance, or 240,000 miles, the point of her shadow will not reach the earth, but terminates a short distance from it; and thus her body, not being large enough to hide the whole body of the sun, leaves for a few moments the circle of light, from whence it is termed annular. The recent eclipse, having taken place when the moon was in the farthest part of its elliptical orbit, was of this description. The average number of eclipses of the sun and moon in a year is four, the least is two, and in no year can there be more than seven. If there are only two, they will be of the sun, which is eclipsed twice every year. "In about nineteen years (the moon's cycle) we have about sixty eclipses; twenty-one of the moon, and forty-one of the sun, and as, at the termination of every cycle, the sun, moon, and earth, return nearly to the same relative position from which they set out, the series of eclipses then recommences nearly in the same order." A total eclipse of the sun is a magnificent phenomenon. Mr. Hind, who observed at Engelholm, in Sweden, the one which took place July 28th, 1851, says, "The aspect of nature during the total eclipse was grand beyond description. The daylight that remained had a yellowish tinge, and the azure blue of the sky deepened to a purplishviolet hue, particularly towards the north. But notwithstanding these gradual changes, the observer could hardly be prepared for the wonderful spectacle that presented itself when he withdrew his eye from the telescope after the totality had come on, to gaze around him for a few seconds. The only indication of the sun's position was the lumi * From annulus, a ring. |