they came in contact with some young men who were playing at football in a field. They remonstrated with them on the sin of breaking the Sabbath, and took the ball from them. One of the party told his father of the loss they had sustained, and the lecture they had received. The father having some influence over the person owning the building where the school was held, succeeded in his endeavour to turn them adrift. Nothing daunted, they took another place in the same village, and were even more successful than in the former one. This was the commencement of Wesleyan Methodism in Waddington, a neat little chapel was shortly after built, and the society continues to the present time.

In the year 1802, our late brother married Martha Bateson, a steady and respectable young woman, who resided in the same neighbourhood. Soon after their marriage, they removed to Bashall_Eaves, about four miles from Waddington, still they continued to attend Bradford Chapel, a distance of five miles, in all weathers, frequently carrying_each a child in the arms. At that time there was no chapel in Bashall Eaves and only one member. In the year 1806, he was put on the plan as a Local preacher in the Wesleyan Body, and preached his first sermon in the old Parish school at Bashall Eaves; he laboured earnestly and faithfully, and took an active part in procuring funds for, and superintending the erection of a neat little chapel, built in 1816, which is still occupied by the Wesleyan Methodists in the Clitheroe Circuit. At this time Clitheroe, Bradford, Bashall Eaves, were in the Skipton Circuit, and our departed brother was often the representative of these places to the quarter-day at Skipton, a distance of nineteen miles, where he also frequently preached, He was always a willing labourer in the Lord's vineyard, and thought but little of travelling twenty miles, and preaching twice on the Lord's-day. His house was a home for the preachers. He entertained Sammy Hick, the village blacksmith, and others of the venerable dead, whose praise are in all the churches. He frequently preached at Slaidburn, a distance of ten miles from his home, and his labours there have been greatly blessed. At that time there was no chapel in this place. They preached in a house. On one occasion he invited the church-singers to come and sing for him, (there being no service at the church in the afternoon), they kindly consented to go, and were so pleased that they went again in the evening; and the Lord found a way to the heart of the leading singer, Mr. J. Fletcher, who joined the Society. By the united exertions of Isabella Spencer, J. Fletcher, and others, a neat little chapel was built there.

Our deceased brother was much attached to this place, and frequently visited it, returning home through those rugged mountains at twelve or one o'clock in the morning. On one of these occasions, he preached from the text, "God so loved the world, &c.," when one of the most notorious drunkards, a cockfighter, &c., of the village, was pricked to the heart; and was led to cry out, "God be merciful to me, a sinner." His name was John Wilkinson. This man found peace with God, and continued to adorn the doctrine of Christ his Saviour to the end of his life. There are many other instances equally striking of the success of his preaching which cannot be brought into so short a compass as the present sketch.

When the Wesleyan Methodist Association was formed in Clitheroe, in the year 1835, he was among its earliest friends, and was warmly attached to its principles to the last. He laboured earnestly for the estab lishment of his new home, and attended many meetings which had for their object, an explanation of the cause of separation from the Conference Methodists, and the full explanation of the principles of the Association. He was the second Local preacher on the first plan of the Association in Clitheroe, and as God gave him health, he was punctual in attending all his preaching appointments; indeed his attention to them was proverbial

among his friends. When asked by one of his young friends how it was that he never missed an appointment, he related a circumstance which transpired towards the commencement of his ministry. "He was appointed to preach at one of the country places in the Circuit, on the Sunday afternoon. His mind became deeply impressed with the responsibility of the office he was called upon to fulfil, and his inability to meet its duties aright. With this impression, "Jonah like, he turned aside into a stone quarry, and there he spent the afternoon in prayer; but such was the anguish of his mind while there, under a consciousness of neglected duty, he made a vow to the Lord, that if he would continue his sparing mercy towards him, he would in future attend his appointments while health and strength would permit." On this account he could not be persuaded by his wife or family to neglect an appointment, however distant the place or unfavourable the day.

He was much attached to his younger brethren in the ministry, and took every opportunity to encourage them in the good work, and to be sure to keep close to the Bible and the Saviour. He was a diligent attendant upon all the means of grace, and was not backward in taking part in the same. He took every opportunity to say something for the Lord. His favourite public means of grace was the love-feast, at which he always spoke under an overwhelming sense of the goodness of God, often moving him to tears, accompanied by a hallowing influence, which diffused itself over the whole assembly. In all the means of grace he especially enjoyed the devotional part, he frequently said he could sing his life away, for it was like heaven on earth begun. He was always in season for good things, especially favourable to open-air preaching in the summer season, and to cottage preaching in the winter. He was diligent in visiting the sick and afflicted, no matter what was the nature of the disease, where duty called he would obey.

During the time when cholera made such fearful ravages in Clitheroe, in the year 1849, he attended the funeral of several parties, and performed the funeral rites, when other ministers objected on account of the infectious nature of the disease. When remonstrated with by his family on the danger of infection, he replied, "My trust is in God, with whom are the issues of life and death; nothing shall harm you, if you be followers of that which is good."

In the fall of the year 1854, he was taken suddenly ill, while on a visit to Wood End (formerly on the plan), a place about eleven miles from his home; and so severe was the attack, that for a time his life was despaired of. Medical aid was called, and in a short time favourable symptoms appeared, and the following day he was removed home in a carriage. This affliction so shattered his constitution that he never recovered his wonted health and strength. From this time he was not able to take many appointments upon the plan, but as long as he was able, he continued to attend the means of grace.

In February last, he was obliged to give up his business; and that anvil, which for so many years had reverberated to the stroke of his hammer, was no longer heard in the neighbourhood. From this period to the time of his death, he was confined to his house. He had a presentiment that he would die suddenly, and often mentioned this to his family and friends, but said, I am ready for the change. A few nights before his death, he had a beautiful dream of heaven, and was deeply impressed that the time of his departure was at hand.

Several of his local brethren in the ministry visited him during his affliction. One says, "the last time I visited him during his affliction, I found him as I expected, like a shock of corn ready for the garner of the Lord. We held sweet counsel together, and had a blessed time in prayer.

K

We shook hands, and who can express the feelings experienced by the last grasp of a dying friend. With all his remaining strength he said, " Fare well; go on; I'll meet thee there." Another of his fellow-labourers says, "I visited brother Boothman during his sickness, and in speaking to him on the consolation which he derived from his long and faithful services, and from the reflection of his having been useful in winning souls to Christ, his only reply was, 'all glory to Christ, all glory to Christ.""

For two or three days previous to his death, he appeared and expressed himself a little better in health. On the 4th June, he shaved himself, and was conversing with a friend at his own door near eight o'clock in the evening. Soon after he retired to rest as usual, and fell asleep. About four o'clock in the morning, he conversed with his wife about one of the family, and soon afterwards fell asleep again, to wake no more in this life. About eight o'clock, his daughter took up the breakfast to his room, his wife tried to wake him, but found, to their deep sorrow, that the spirit had fled to the realms of the blest, in the seventy-fifth year of his age, and the sixtieth of his membership with the "Church of Christ,' fifty years of which he was an accredited Local preacher and Class-leader in the Wesleyan Methodist and Wesleyan Methodist Association Societies, and twenty years a consistent member of the Temperance Society. And now his work is done; he has entered into rest. "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord, from henceforth; for they rest from their labour, and their works do follow them."

His remains were interred in the village churchyard, Waddington, on the 10th of June, 1856.

His death was improved to a crowded congregation in Moor-lane Chapel, Clitheroe, on Sunday evening, November 16, by the Rev. S. S. Barton, from Glasgow, from Rev. xiv. 13.

WM. BARTLE.

BIOGRAPHY OF MR. GEORGE FROST, OF SOUTH-MOLTON.

MR. GEORGE FROST, the subject of this memoir, was born at SouthMolton, in the county of Devon, November 22, 1782, but not being blessed with a religious training he spent his youthful days in sin and folly. He was thoughtless and careless about his precious soul; he loved the gaieties and sinful pleasures of the present world; "the god of this world had blinded his mind, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of the blessed God, which is the image of Christ, should shine into him." In this deplorable state he continued until his twenty-fifth year, when at Callington, he was induced to attend the ministry of the Wesleyan Methodists, and after some time he was convinced of his fallen and undone condition, through sin, and was led to seek the mercy and forgiveness of Almighty God, through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. That mercy, it is believed, he obtained through faith in Christ, and having found advantage in the society of God's people, he joined himself to the Methodist body. This took place in the year 1811; he continued a member with that denomination until the year 1836. That was a memorable period in the history of Methodism. In the year 1835, the Conference passed a law which deprived the people of all their liberty of any importance in reference to Church Government, and gave to the travelling preachers the sole power to legislate and rule in the Wesleyan body. Brother Frost protested against this as an infringement on the crown rights of the Lord Jesus, and as robbing the Church of one of her greatest privileges, namely, that of self-government; he thought that the members of the Church, either individually or in their represen tative character, should have a voice in the framing of all laws affecting

the liberty of its members. And because this right was denied him in the Old body, he left it to find a home in the bosom of a Church whose laws are liberal, and whose principles are in accordance with the teaching of the New Testament. Our late brother remained aloof from any church for some considerable time after leaving the Conference body, but when the Association was formed in Bodmin, he joined himself to that people, and continued a member of our Church until his death.

On the 26th of August, 1842, his name was entered on our church book for the first time, and while health permitted, he was very useful among us. He held several important offices in the Church, namely, prayer-leader, society steward, chapel steward, &c., &c. As a man of business, he was to be depended on for being regular and punctual; with regard to his moral character, he was irreproachable. In the Chureh he was an admirer of decorum; his motto was "let all things be done decently and in order." He loved the ordinances of God's house, and was always found, when able, both at the public and private means of grace. He regarded with great affection and veneration the ministers of the Gospel, and "esteemed them very highly in love for their work's sake." He was a liberal supporter both of our Circuit and Connexional funds. He took a deep interest in our cause in Bodmin, and would be often inquiring how we were getting on, and was always pleased when any progress could be reported,-in short, he was a true friend of the Wesleyan Association, and the cause of Christ generally. He was no bigot, but loved all who loved the Lord Jesus in sincerity; "but the time drew nigh when Israel must die."

Our dear brother, for some considerable period before his death, was the subject of very great bodily weakness and suffering, but he was enabled to trust in Jesus. He said to the writer, some little time before his decease, "My hope is in the Lord Jesus, I have nothing else to trust in."

The day on which he died, he appeared just as he had been for some time. It was but a few hours before he expired that he said to his daughter, that his trust was in Christ, and there was no other foundation for the sinner to trust in but the atoning blood of Christ: with him it was "Jesus, the first and the last." Little did his daughter think, when he spoke these words to her, that he would so soon pass away; but, alas! the silver cord was quickly loosed, and the golden bowl was broken, and the spirit returned to God who gave it. Our gracious God was pleased to deal very gently with our dear brother in his expiring moments. He died in his daughter's arms, almost without a groan, on the 17th of November 1856, after having sojourned in this lower world for near seventy-one years, and after having served God for the long space of forty-five years.

One gentle sigh his fetters broke,
We scarce could say he's gone,
Before his ransom'd spirit took
Her mansion near the throne.

Faith strives, but all its efforts fail
To trace her in her flight,
No eye can pierce within the veil
Which hides that world of light.

Thus much, and this is all we know,

They are completely blessed,

Have done with sin, and care, and woe,

And with their Saviour rest.

On Sunday, December 21st, the death of our esteemed friend was improved in Bodmin Chapel, to a deeply interested congregation, by the

Rev. J. W. Gilchrist, from the following words of our Divine Redeemer, "Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions, if it were not so I would have told you; I go to prepare a place for you. John xiv. 1, 2.

Bodmin, December 22, 1856.

J. HAYDON.

CONGREGATIONAL SINGING.

SIR,-Will you permit me to call the attention of your readers to the subject of Congregational Singing, which, considering the important part it is intended to sustain in our public services, seems entitled to a little more cultivation and study, than are usually bestowed upon it.

Is it not a matter calling for inquiry, and at the same time for regret, that after the lapse of more than eighteen centuries, from the time when the Christian Church introduced the singing of hymns into its service, we are now found performing this duty in so imperfect a manner, as yet to be dependent upon choirs and instruments. They are at best but necessary evils, and I believe the day is not far distant when they will be abolished, and when the voices of whole congregations will be heard in such simple solemn, devotional strains, as are alone suited to give expression to our hymns of praise and prayer. Where the necessity for this reform is acknowledged, and the desire to effect it is felt, the object can be attained without doubt, and by very simple means. What has already been accomplished throughout this country by such teachers as the Rev. J. J. Waite, and those who are following the simple, straightforward method of his teaching, is sufficient evidence of this. The more immediate object of these remarks, however, has reference rather to the character of the music that is suited to the purposes of public worship, than to the manner of its_performance.

Before we can have universal congregational singing in all its simplicity, solemnity, and grandeur, we must undo the mischief that has been perpetrated by the depraved and vitiated taste of modern times. Swarms of modern amateur composers have crammed our Methodist tune-books in every direction, with all sorts of heterogeneous stuff, and have also brought upon metrical psalmody the contempt of persons of good taste. They have aimed at producing such music as would strike, dazzle, and amuse, hence the nonsensical, capering melodies we frequently hear, bearing such names as Ebenezer, Knaresborough, Lonsdale, Mount Zion, Musicians, and all the tunes of such composers as Leach, Stanley, Fawcett, &c. Tunes of a lax, vulgar, secular character, abounding in repetitions, solo passages and ornaments, turns and jerks.* All such compositions are most unfit for the purposes of sacred worship; they are completely at variance with the proper expression of a spirit of devotion, and moreover extremely offensive to every person of a cultivated taste. Notwithstanding the hundreds, almost thousands (for they seem inexhaustible) of these tunes, which have appeared from time to time, they have none of them obtained a permanence. They burst upon us by fits and starts, and after a brief but noisy existence they die away; our choirs soon sicken of them, only, however, to perpetuate the mischief, by introducing more of the same class. Under these circumstances is it a matter of surprise, that all the members of our congregations are not found joining in the singing, and of those who do engage in it-how few can understand the harmony? The males are compelled to sing the treble, or each extemporise his own bass, the result of which most probably is, that no two in a whole congregation sing alike. We are con* Our readers will judge for themselves as to the justice of these allegations.-Ed.