been great towards me. When I look at the little improvement I have made, how little I have done, and how unprofitable I have been, I would abhor myself before the Lord. O Lord! have mercy upon me, and stir me up; and, if my health be restored, may I live more to Thy glory! The Lord take my heart, and make it new; take all my powers, and bring them into conformity to His righteous will!” The year 1842 was begun with this entry in her journal :-" Lord, help me to begin this year with Thee! Thou hast graciously spared me to see the seventieth new year." And again she wrote in 1843,— "Lord, help me to begin this year with Thee! I have been brought low by affliction, yet the Lord hath helped me. Glory be to His holy name! Lord, help me to live to Thee!" The fixed purpose of her mind is expressed in the following quotation, which she carefully transcribed : "O bleeding Lamb! Should worlds conspire to drive me thence, Moveless and firm this heart shall lie; Among the most prominent features of Mrs. Corderoy's character, as illustrated by her journal and general conversation, were-extreme jealousy of herself, fear of offending God, and grief if she imagined she had spoken in the least degree unguardedly. A spirit of humble gratitude reigned throughout. It was "nature all, and all delight,” to observe the Apostle's blessed precept, "In everything give thanks." Her earnest desire for entire consecration to Christ is indicated by the frequent occurrence of aspirations like these:-"Lord, make me Thine!" "Take my body, spirit, soul; Only Thou possess the whole." For the health, happiness, and union of her children and grandchildren, but, most of all, for their spiritual welfare and usefulness, —her anxiety was truly worthy of the Christian matron. "Never hinder your husbands," was her frequent exhortation to her daughters: "they are always better for engaging in the service of the Lord." To her sons she often mentioned the benefit their father derived from employment in the church. The deep solicitude she felt on behalf of her grandchildren might be shown by many extracts from her correspondence with them. A single specimen may suffice :"Above all, read the word of God. It is that will make you wise unto salvation. Take it for your guide and directory through life. O may the precepts be treasured up in your heart. Think on your ways, and turn your feet into the path of peace. Seek the Lord, and give Him your heart. Come to Joshua's determination, that you will serve the Lord. If you wish to be happy, you must seek the Lord. If you wish to prosper in the world, seek the Lord. The promise is, Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.' If you wish for support under trials, seek the Lord. If you want wisdom, seek the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do His commandments."" Some of her habits are worthy of particular mention. She read the Bible constantly,-not casually. She was often engaged in private prayer, not seldom mentioning all her children by name, and interceding for each. Her devout spirit effectually restrained evil speaking. Never would she dwell on faults, always gladly on excellencies. The law of kindness was on her lips. Pope's lines she often cited, and more than once transcribed,— "Teach me to feel another's woe, To hide the fault I see." Her love of Zion was coupled with affectionate respect for the Ministers of the Gospel, and for all good men. Called upon, a short time before her decease, for her subscription to the Fund for Disabled Ministers and Ministers' Widows, she said, "There is nothing to which I subscribe with greater cheerfulness. I love God's Ministers, and consider it both a duty and a privilege to contribute all I can to make them comfortable and happy, when they have worn themselves out in the service of the church." Captious hearing she avoided. Her journal contains references to several sermons under which, she says, she profited little; but the fault is always attributed to herself, never to the Preacher. "Who is going to preach, mother?" was a frequent question when her children were young. The answer very generally was,- -"A better Preacher, my boy, than you are a hearer." Her efforts to benefit others were untiring. And it merits notice that she was never idle. Yet habitual meekness was among the chief ornaments of this mother in Israel. This, with the absence of all selfish feeling, caused her to be beloved by young and old. Her presence among her children's children was the signal for joy; her departure, especially of late years, the occasion for some praise of her considerate and generous feeling. In a word, Mrs. Corderoy's life was uniform. The one great object of existence was kept before her mind. As her latter end drew near, her views of herself became even more and more humbling; her entire renunciation of all hope but in Jesus, more apparent. In a lengthened conversation with one of her Ministers, a short time before her last illness, she spoke of seasons of special delight and consolation which she had enjoyed in communion with God, and of brightening prospects of her inheritance with the saints in light; but, with characteristic humility, she cautiously avoided every expression which might tend to her own praise. The views she took of the holiness of God and the sinfulness of the human heart, produced the deepest self-abasement, but always led to prayer; in the spirit of which she appeared continually to live and walk. To what could such a life tend, but to peace at last, and to heaven beyond the grave? Accordingly, when she was laid aside by mortal sickness, and evidently near the great change, there was no fear. She prayed for the Divine presence, for Divine support, for clearer light, for brighter evidence; but no mental distress was permitted to afflict, no temptation of Satan to harass, her soul. "The Lord sustains you, dear mother," said one of her children on the morning of her death. "I can in some measure cast my care on Him," was the humble reply. Her lips moved in prayer,"The Lord support me!" One of her daughters was instantly by her side. She said, "I wish I could get some sleep;" when her child replied, "He giveth His beloved sleep." She answered, "He will not forsake me in old age, and when my strength faileth,"—and then, with a stronger voice, "The Lord Jehovah is my strength." At another period one of her daughters said, "We have confidence for you, dearest mother: we are sure of your happiness." Her reply, in faintest accents, was, "Happy, if with my latest breath,”— Afterwards one but she had not strength to complete the verse. said, "My precious mother, will you send any message to your boys?" She answered, "Tell them to live in the fear of God, and live in love." For a congregation of "Primitive Methodists," assembling in a little village where she had spent some weeks during the summer, she entertained a very kindly regard, cherishing with pleasure the remembrance of their simple piety. She had resolved to present them with a Bible for their new chapel; and it was brought home on the day of her death. One of her last acts was to take her purse, and with her own hand pay for the Bible. At her request Psalm ciii. was read to her. The reader said, on coming to the 17th verse, "You see, dear mother, the promises are to your children and dear grandchildren." Her reply was, "They must seek the Lord." She then began, "O for a heart to praise my God;" Her child caught up but could not go through even the first line. the strain, and finished the verse; but a smile was the only reward the sufferer had strength to bestow. Her last words were, a request for prayer. On Wednesday, September 22d, 1847, most calmly and happily, her spirit, eminently adorned with the graces of humility, meekness, and love, passed to its home in heaven. Had she lived two days longer, she would have been seventy-six years of age. Her death was improved in a funeral sermon preached in Lambeth chapel, on Sunday, the 3d of October; on which occasion the numerous attendance (much larger than could gain admittance into the chapel) abundantly testified the high esteem in which she was generally and justly held. Beloved by her family, esteemed by the church, she lived to a good old age, and died in the Lord. All glory be to God! "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints." WITH THE METHODIST CONFERENCE, AND THEIR ORDINA- EX-PRESIDENT OF THE CONFERENCE. PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OF THE CONFERENCE. MY DEAR BRETHREN,-Next to the day of your conversion to God, when you obtained the forgiveness of all your past sins, through faith in the sacrificial blood of Christ, and were renewed in the spirit of your minds by the power of the Holy Ghost, this is the most important period of your lives. The office to which you have this morning been separated is, beyond comparison, the most sacred and momentous that any human being can by possibility sustain. You have just been solemnly and officially set apart to the exercise of a ministry which the Son of God has instituted, and upon which the actual salvation of immortal and redeemed men is made to depend. Should you be faithful to your trust and calling, you are authorised to expect a reward, such as human language can never express: but should you fail in the fulfilment of your trust, you will not only fall short of that reward, but be consigned over to punishment which it is fearful to contemplate; for it will admit of no alleviation, and it will never end. In these circumstances I can easily conceive that your feelings are strongly excited, and that you are all but overwhelmed with the thought of your responsibilities, of your comparative unfitness for your work, of the difficulties which you will have to encounter, and of the state of final retribution upon which you must soon enter. I sympathise with you in these feelings, and would fain say something to you, that may serve to strengthen your pious resolutions, give a right direction to your studies and labours, and inspire you with the requisite encouragements. In order to the attainment of these objects, I know not that I can do better than direct your attention to the charge which was given to Joshua, when he was placed by God at the head of the Israelitish nation, on the occasion of the death of Moses, and was appointed to lead them to the conquest of Canaan. The charge to which I refer you will find in Joshua i. 8, 9 :— "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success (or, "do wisely"). "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." When this charge was given to Joshua, he was considerably advanced in life, and had long experience in the works and ways of God. He had seen the terrible plagues which were inflicted by the hand of God upon the Egyptians, as the righteous punishment of the wrongs which His people had suffered from them, and as a means of asserting His own supremacy. He had accompanied the chosen people through the divided waters of the Red Sea; he had witnessed the giving of the law amidst the thunderings and lightnings of Sinai; he had retained his fidelity and his confidence in God, when nearly all his brethren the spies brought an evil report upon the good land, and stimulated the tribes to revolt; he had seen the people miraculously supplied with food and water through the long space of forty years; and the men who came out of Egypt, with the exceptions of Caleb and himself, all dead. Moses, also, "the servant of the Lord," had closed his eventful career. Being warned that his end was near, he called the people together, repeated to them a considerable part of the law which he had given them in the name of God immediately after their deliverance from Egypt, and enforced upon them the duty of obedience with a power of eloquence which is scarcely surpassed by any other inspired writer. He ascended "the mountain of Nebo," whence he beheld in distant prospect the promised land, and then passed to the society of the blessed, and the vision of God, leaving to his own people, and to the universal church, throughout all time, an example of pious fidelity. Joshua was not only appointed to succeed Moses in the government of Israel, but to lead their armies to the possession of Canaan, and to divide the land among the tribes by lot. In both these respects his was a task of no common difficulty. He was to govern a stiff-necked, murmuring, and rebellious people; and to command armies which had been unused to war, and that against enemies of gigantic stature, who had chariots of iron, and whose cities were guarded by fortifications which appeared to be impregnable. In the government of his people Joshua is charged to pay a strict and undeviating regard to the "law" which had been given by the ministry of Moses, and which was embodied in the writings of that inspired man; and in the prosecution of his wars he is directed to assume a cheerful courage, assured of the constant presence of God, and therefore of His support, protection, and blessing. These directions I conceive to be strictly applicable to all persons who may be employed for God in any kind of difficult service, and especially in the service of the sanctuary, to which you are this day devoted. To the two subjects which are mentioned in the text let me, then, invite your attention. I. The first duty which is here recommended is that of a strict and constant regard for the written word of God. This book of 3 U VOL. VI.-FOURTHI SERIES. |