A CONTRITE SPIRIT. SUNDAY, 19TH.-Read Proverbs viii., 103-6. I. Is anyone else, besides Enoch, spoken of as walking with 2. Find some passages which invite YOUNG people to love SUNDAY, 26TH-Read Eccles. xii. 1. Mention some persons who lived to a great age after the time of Abraham. 2. Give four reasons why a person should begin to serve God in his youth. M. A. P. J. OSBORNE KEEN. Connexional Department. MEMOIRS AND OBITUARIES. MR. HENRY TABB. THIS earnest disciple of Christ was born at Truro, September 18, 1818, at which place he lived until he was about twenty-five years of age. At that town he was a frequent attendant at the Bible Christian Chapel, but did not join the society. From Truro he removed to London, where he remained for a few years, following a wicked course of life. At the age of twenty-nine he became acquainted with the family of Mr. Thomas Gray, of Gravesend, and married Mary Ann Jane, his eldest daughter. Within about two years afterwards he entered the Trinity service as master painter, and thereby became engaged in many places around our coasts, keeping the lighthouses iu good repair. Mr. Gray being a devout and faithful servant of God, energetically sought to win Mr. Tabb to the Saviour. He was not successful in this endeavour until through the persuasion of Mr. Thomas Coad, of Malpas, he was induced to sign the Temperance Pledge. Shortly afterwards Mr. Tabb became a member of the United Methodist Free Church, and he continued in fellowship with that denomination for many years. Mrs. Tabb states that he has often said to her, "Your father's prayers for me have all been answered." About five years since Mr. Tabb was invited to assist the newlyestablished Bible Christian cause at Poplar. Finding his help to be of great service, and an opportunity being thus afforded to commune with the people to whom he became somewhat attached in early life he joined the infant society, and remained in connection therewith, rendering it hearty support to the end of his life. During his christian life he was called by his occupation to visit Cromer, Portland, Hallsands, Niton (Isle of Wight), St. Anthony, the Lizard, St. Mawes, Hunstanton, Scilly Islands, Lundy Islands, and many other places in England and Wales. In all those localities he sought out the people of God, and without regarding their denominational distinctions, earnestly joined them in their worship; often teaching in the Sunday Schools; and instructing the children and young people in singing, for which he was eminently qualified, and in which he took great pleasure. Through those changes he was privileged to enjoy the friendship of a large number of ministers of the Gospel, and of christian people of nearly all the evangelical bodies in the land. For about one year Mr. Tabb had been in failing health, and was taken very ill of spasmodic asthma on New Year's Day, 1881. He gradually sank under the effects of this complaint until April 1st, when he died in full assurance of everlasting life. During his last hours some of the young men who had been in his employ came to see him, and he talked to them with great seriousness respecting his own prospects and their duty, expressing earnest hope that they would all strive to meet him in heaven. To friends absent he wished a message to be sent to the effect that he was on the Rock, and that he hoped to meet them again above. When the end came he exclaimed, "Now, dear Lord I am ready," and appeared as one listening to a call. Slightly raising his head, he added the words, "I am coming, I am coming," and he departed to be with God. W. LUKE. MRS. JOSEPH STAPLES. MRS. JOSEPH STAPLES, whose maiden name was Morgan, was born at Knockholt, Kent, October 10th, 1814. Her parents were pious, both being members of the Wesleyan Society at the time of her birth. She was seriously inclined from a child, and in the Sunday School her impressions were deepened, which resulted in her conversion and full decision for Christ when between seventeen and eighteen years of age. She joined the Wesleyans in March, 1832, the year of the cholera, and the year of Dr. Adam Clarke's death. The sense of God's favour that she realized then it is believed she retained to the end. Her union with the Church was not quite uninterrupted, owing to family trials, into which we need not now enter. But immediately after her marriage she again united with the people of God. For twelve or thirteen years she was a consistent member of the Bible Christian church, and her attendance at the means of grace during this period was most exemplary, and her life blameless in the sight of men. The class and the prayer meetings had as great a charm for her as the preaching service, and thus waiting upon God she continually renewed her strength. With joy she drew water from the well of salvation. Having often found a temporary home in her and her husband's house, I can testify of her kindness to the ministers of Christ, and to her readiness to converse on spiritual matters. Her love to the missionary cause was deep and strong, and she manifested it by collecting in its behalf and herself contributing to its fund. For the greater part of her life she enjoyed fairly good health, but about eight months ago she became seriously unwell. Medical aid was sought, and though she sometimes appeared a little better she gradually became worse. She suffered much in her illness, but especially during the last month or two of her life.. But in patience she possessed her soul. She knew that she was in God's hands, and though she had no seasons of rapturous delight, her mind was stayed upon God, and her heart was kept in peace. On one of my visits she said very emphatically, "No affliction for the present is joyous but grievous, nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of rightousness unto them which are exercised thereby." Equally emphatic and satisfactory was her testimony to the preciousness of Christ, and that her only hope of salvation was in Him, and in the atonement which He has made for poor sinners by the shedding of His own precious blood-and what is there more to say? She had learnt that she was a sinner, but had learnt also that Christ was a great Saviour, and that she was a sinner saved by grace. The affliction increased, her strength failed, but the faithful Lord never forsook his child. And so in death, as in life, her face was Zionward. "Looking unto Jesus" expressed her attitude of soul, and she safely crossed over to the other side early on the morning of November 28th, and on the Saturday week following, her remains were committed to the grave in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life. Brief Notices of Books. Life and Truth. Bible Christian Book-room, 26, Paternoster Row. Price, paper covers, 4d.; cloth boards, 6d. A POEM written in blank verse which reads smoothly and well. It opens with a vivid description of the wreck of the "Princess Alice" in the Thames, and of the rescue of the author who was one of the passengers aboard the ill-fated pleasuresteamer. It seems that the terrible event was blessed to his conversion; and he vividly describes the feelings that came over him as he was being drawn down amid the mass of agonized humanity. "REMORSE. "Then, o'er my mind, the mem'ry of the past And, like a flood of scorpions-fiery-tongued- Yet craved for mercy, and at once found grace- I feel my sin; I know that Thou art just But Thou, whose pity saved the dying thief, Canst stoop and sprinkle now Thy blood on me.' He heard my prayer, and o'er me dawned such peace, All darkness fled; and, with a cry of rage, The demons rushed to clutch some other prey." The poem contains further on a full and clear statement of doctrine; and certain points of unbelief are skilfully combated. Here is a brief quotation bearing ou the subject of annihilation, and which may be accepted as a specimen of the way in which much other thought is tersely and forcibly put. "Stop! for a moment, try to realise The I myself, the thought will still arise Of its cessation; test this for thyself! Maynard's Reply to Mr. C. Bradlaugh's Lecture on Man: Whence and How? Science and Revelation Contrasted. Third Edition, Revised and Enlarged. London: Wade and Co., Ludgate Arcade. (Price 3d.) DR. SEXTON says of this Lecture: "I think Mr. Maynard's defence of Scripture against the pseudo science of modern infidelity is overwhelmingly conclusive. His attack upon the miserable sophistries of the leading sceptical advocate is crushing.' The Lecture can be obtained at the Bible Christian Book Room, through the preachers; as may, also, another Lecture of Mr. Maynard's, entitled, An Exposure of the Infidel Notions of Dr. Aveling on the Parentage of Man. Published at the Bible Christian Book Room, 26, Paternoster Row. (Price 2d.) THIS Lecture was delivered in Plymouth in the winter of 1879. Mr. Maynard does not allow the secularists who visit Plymouth to have all their own way; but meets them courageously on their own ground, and discomfits them. The Minister's Pocket Diary for the New Year (Hodder and Stoughton), appears in as complete a form as experience of what is required in such a pocket-book can suggest. The only thing we have to complain of is, that our own denomination is not included in the list given under the heading of "Ecclesiastical Information." Whilst a Connexion numbering thirty-one thousand five hundred members, and over three hundred ministers, is omitted, the Ecclesiastical List of this useful Pocket Diary cannot be said to be complete. Poets, Painters, and Players. By GEORGE WILSON M'CREE. National Temperance League, 337, Strand. THRILLING and well-written sketches of Englishmen of genius, who have been distinguished as artists, writers of poetry, or have appeared on the stage; and who, though following different avocations in art and letters, were one in this that their lives were blighted and cursed by habits of inebriety and concomitant vices and ills. |