for poor sinners; He never yet cast one away, nor ever will. Say to Him 66 Oh, be not as a wayfaring man, who only tarries for a night, but come in, blessed Lord and Master, and take up Thine abode in my heart! Live and reign here, and let me know no will but Thine." And, reader, you never need feel embarrassed in His presence; for He knows all about your weakness and poverty, and is Himself touched with the feeling of your infirmities, having passed through all before you, that He might be a suitable Saviour for such a sinner; and may you and I have more of His royal visits. KEEPING THE SABBATH. LESS than twenty years ago, at one of the most beautiful towns on the Connecticut river, a new bridge was needed. The parties who contracted to do the work, with ten or twelve men, wrought upon it seven days in the week, during a whole winter, to the great annoyance of the people of the village. They would frequently be going from the hotel to their work just as the people were assembling for the afternoon service. Their excuse for all this was that the framework of the bridge must be completed while the ice remained firm; and they claimed that no more men could be employed. But to other people there was no apparent reason why they might not have increased their force, and it seemed an entirely inexcusable desecration of holy time. On one of these Sabbaths thus employed, a tailor in the village continued his work all day in his shop, that he might finish two overcoats, ready to be delivered on Monday. About midnight the village was startled by the cry of fire, and his shop was found to be in flames, and his goods, overcoats and all, were consumed, together with two other stores and a dwelling in the same block. The family had a narrow escape from perishing in the flames. Still the men at the bridge seemed to prosper; and before the spring came, the last timber was put in its place, and all the shores were removed from the ice. They left it, thinking all was safe, to go and complete another before covering this. Scarcely had they gone, when a sudden storm, such as was never known there before, arose, and lifted the whole structure from its foundations into the river above the piers. It went down the stream a total wreck, and the state of the river would not allow it to be replaced for months; in the meantime all travel between two villages being confined to row-boats. The Rev. Wm. Warren, in his "Twelve Years with the Children," relates the incident of his being rowed far up the stream in order to reach the opposite landing, on account of the current. It was at this place, and because this bridge was carried away, and the writer went to see him across. I will not say that its destruction was a direct judgment from Heaven upon these men because of their Sabbath desecration. The gale might have come if they had rested the seventh day. But one thing is true. They took the Lord's time for their own work, and He demolished it in a remarkable way. NEARLY A PREACHER. AN official of one of the railroads centering in Detroit was lately beset by an old man for a railroad pass to Grand Rapids. The stranger entered the office with a big cane in his hand and a "woodsy" air. He looked as if he had entered town after an all-night's wrestle with a bad dirty road, and he had no sooner stood his cane up in the corner than he briskly inquired: "Are you the free-pass man?" The official hesitated a little, and the stranger amended his query by asking: "Would you give a preacher a pass to Grand Rapids?" "Are you a preacher?" "Kinder." "You give me your word that you are a preacher, do you?" "N-ot exactly," stammered the stranger. ordained. "I don't say I'm regularly "We can give passes to clergymen occasionally, but we must know that they are active dispensers of the Gospel." "That hits me," cheerfully responded the old man, rubbing his hands. "I calculate I dispense more Gospel than any other one man in Antrim County!" "But you just admitted that you weren't a preacher," said the official. "Not a regular, 'squire. I'm what you might call an assistant to regular preachers. I'm a sexton of a church, I can lead a prayer-meeting, and I've started all the hymns that have been sung in Antrim County for five years past." The official smiled faintly, and the stranger was encouraged to go on: "I'm nearly a preacher. Folks send for me when they are dying. I keep order at camp-meetings, and if anybody's to be dragged out of the schoolhouse for snapping beans during prayer-meeting, I'm the man who does the dragging." "That's hardly being a regular preacher," replied the official. "No, of course; but it's mighty close on to it. It's so near that I hate to walk to Grand Rapids. I'm on call, judge. If our preacher should suddenly give out, I'd be the only man within fifteen miles who could stand behind his pulpit and take his place. They all know it, and I'm respected accordingly. More'n half the people call me 'parson' or 'deacon,' and fellers who have got into a jaw about Daniel in the lion's den, or Moses in the bulrushes, have walked five miles to have me set 'em right." The official made out a trip pass, and as the stranger returned thanks and picked up his cane, he added: "I won't take up any more room than I can possibly help, and I'll leave my satchel if you think the cars will be loaded too heavy. You have lent this pass to the poor, and it's treasure laid up in heaven for you, where I hope some day to meet you and tell you how good it felt to roll along in your cars, after jogging for eighty-five miles on foot." Obituaries. REV. CLEMENT DUKES, M.A. THE Rev. Clement Dukes, M.A., was born at Wapping, March 26th, 1809. In his tenth year, while residing at Old Ford, he was sent to the Merchant Taylor's School, which, as it was five miles from his home, and he had to walk that distance, necessitated early rising, for he had to be in class at seven o'clock. He made good proficiency in his studies, but as his father designed him for the medical profession, he was sent to a boarding school, where a more general education was given. At this time he attended the ministry of Rev. Mr. Ford, at Stepney Meeting, and afterwards that of the amiable and accomplished Dr. Fletcher, for whom Mr. Dukes ever entertained the most profound respect and affection. Here he became a Sunday School teacher, throwing himself into the work with his natural energy and decision. He had an eminently pious mother, who watched the growing character of her children with sleepless interest; and by her gentle and unobtrusive manner controlled and directed the quick, impulsive mind of her boy, for whom she was secretly cherishing the longing desire that he might be "a good minister of Jesus Christ." Her prayers were answered; for he deliberately chose that office in preference to all others that presented themselves. In 1828 he went to Glasgow, having obtained one of Dr. Williams' Scholarships; and his previous scholastic training having been of the highest order, he speedily distinguished himself, and obtained several University prizes. He graduated B.A. in 1831, and the next year took his M.A. degree. At the close of his University course, as his family had come to reside at Highbury, and worshipped at Union Chapel, Islington, he was introduced to Thomas Wilson, Esq., the well-known treasurer of Highbury College, by whom he was sent into Staffordshire, to the Rev. Mr. Newland, that he might engage for a time in theological studies, and see something of pastoral life. In 1834 he was sent by Mr. Wilson to commence a new course in the town of March, in Cambridgeshire, which was begun and for some time carried on in the theatre of that place, until a new chapel was built. In 1838 he received an invitation from a small church that met in Phillip Street, Kingsland Road, where he was ordained to the pastorate. For nine years he continued here, until the congregation so increased that in 1847 a new place was erected in Middleton Road, Dalston, which was the scene of Mr. Duke's ministry up to the time of his retirement from the pastorate, at Christmas, 1874. In this sphere of labour his activity was great; and the noble schools and class-rooms which his people built testified to his zeal and their liberality. At the commencement of this year, Mr. Dukes was called to part with his youngest born, a bereavement which he felt most keenly. It seemed the signal of his own departure, for in three short months the tomb that had been opened to receive his son was re-opened for the reception of the father, who sank to rest June 17th, aged sixty-seven. Of the success of his ministry at Dalston there are abundant witnesses among the living who can testify to its usefulness to their souls; while many more have already greeted him in the Father's house above. He was naturally impetuous and warm, not accustomed to weigh his words with great nicety; and sometimes, after cooler reflection, had to regret the impulsiveness with which he had spoken. He was strong in his dislikes as in his affections. According to the ability which God had given him, The still unstartled sleep REV. JOSEPH FLETCHER. FIVE years of preparation for the Christian ministry, and thirty-five years of active devotion to his calling, sum up the public career of Joseph Fletcher, the eminent son of an eminent father, Dr. Joseph Fletcher, of Stepney. He was born at Blackburn on the 7th January, 1816, where his honoured father spent the first twenty years of his ministerial life, and educated at Ham, near Rich mond, Surrey, under the tutelage of his maternal uncle, Joseph France, M.A., also an Independent minister. He was intended for a mercantile career, but residing with his parents (and such parents) and devoting himself with determined enthusiasm to Sunday-school work at Stepney Old Meeting, his religious convictions deepened, his views expanded, and he was gradually determined, with full parental sanction, to abandon a promising secular business and devote himself to the ministry of the gospel. In this service he lived and laboured with delight and success for forty years. He entered Coward College in 1833, and left in 1838; accepted his ministerial charge at Hanley, Staffordshire, in 1839, and succeeded the Rev. Daniel Gunn at Christchurch, Hants, in 1849. Here his labours were most abundant, till early in the year 1873, when he was struck down with paralysis. He passed away gently on the 2nd June last, at Heather Dean, Bournemouth, where he had resided since his resignation of the pastorate in December, 1873. We have not space to enlarge on the many high qualifications, more especially as a preacher and a writer, of our lamented friend. In point of intellect Mr. Joseph Fletcher had few superiors in the denomination to which he belonged. In culture and power he was admirably adapted for his ministry during a series of four decades, as truly wonderful as any in all history-the period in which his lot was cast, with so many "new heresies arising, and so many old corruptions" calling for reformation. For ten years he was one of the most influential ministers in the north of England, and for twenty-five years he was recognised as one of the ablest in the south of England. The sudden dispensation which befel him in the zenith of his usefulness was brought on by over-work. The physical prostration for three years was not attended by much suffering. In these busy times seclusion for three years would almost suffice to obliterate a popu those who heard it, or by those who have read it. The Rev. J. W. Walker, B.A., Mr. Fletcher's successor, delivered the oration at the grave. A funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. H. H. Carlisle, LL.D., of Southampton, on the Sunday evening of June 18th in the chapel of the late pastor to a large congregation, who will long entertain pleasing and grateful recollections of the life and labours of one who had been to them a true friend, an able preacher, and a faithful pastor. Notices of Books. The British Quarterly Review. No. CXXVII. July 1, 1876. (London: Hodder and Stoughton.) The British Quarterly for July opens with an able article on the "Illyrian Emperors and their Lands," the interest of which is greatly enhanced by being read in connection with another on "The Independence and Integrity of the Ottoman Empire." An article on" The Unseen Universe" shows how little we really know regarding things that are seen, and how much light is reflected on them by the revelations of the New Testament. To an article which deals with "Drunkenness and Proposed Remedies," we beg to call the special attention of the reader. This giant and growing evil, at once emphatically the crime and the curse of England, must be dealt effectually with before long, but much preliminary discussion is required, in order to the formation of a sound and intelligent public opinion. The brief notices of "Contemporary Literature," strikes us as being very able and judicious. The Exodus and the Wanderings in the Wilderness. By the Rev. Dr. EDERSHEIM. (London: The Religious Tract Society.) Dr. Edersheim gives careful notices of the history and customs of Egypt, such as throw light on the Bible narrative. He seeks to clear up obscurities and difficulties, points out the analogies, prefigurations, symbolic representations, and lessons which may be accepted, and endeavours so to present his description that the reader may, "as it were, see before him the route followed by Israel, the scenery, and all other accessories." A Chronological and Geographical Introduction to the Life of Christ. By CH. ED. CASPARI. From the original German work. (Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark.) 74 This volume is designed to present a clear and well-ordered account of the various incidents in the life of Christ which are recorded by the four Evangelists, and to meet certain difficulties which are made the most of by those who profess to find mutual contradiction in the Gospels, by showing that sundry statements of the writers may be reconciled with the facts of history, and with what is known of particular places. By close research and minute analysis, the author makes it evident that there is a real and essential agreement in the testimony of the four separate witnesses. Many things in the book are drawn from sources hitherto |