OUR readers, for some time past, have been aware that the Rev. S. Noble, the beloved pastor of the Society of Cross-street, Hatton-garden, London, had suffered much from various infirmities attendant upon old age, and especially from the disease in the eyes called cataract, which, for the last four or five years had nearly deprived him of all vision. Several painful operations, to which he, with great fortitude, had submitted, in order that the cataract might be removed, proved unsuccessful, and only increased his sufferings without relieving his malady. Being thus shut out from the principal avenue through which he had, during so long and useful a life, derived his greatest pleasures, both of usefulness to others, and of mental recreation to himself, he was necessarily reduced to a deplorable condition of bodily health. In these trying states and distressing infirmities, his principal, yea, his only resource of comfort and consolation, was his resignation to the Lord's will-his confidence in the Lord's mercy-the consciousness of a well spent lifethe treasures of knowledge and of spiritual perceptions with which his enlightened mind was so richly stored, and the kind attention of friends who frequently visited him, and relieved the monotony and tedium of darkness and confinement by reading and conversation. It was not, however, till within a few weeks of his N. S. No. 166.-VOL. XIV.

death that his

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friends had any apprehension that his end was speedily approaching. When they observed that his strength and his breathing, on the slightest exertions, in walking even from one room to another, became exhausted, they then began to see that his end was drawing nigh. From suffering and exhaustion, caused chiefly by a most painful attack of the stone, he was confined to his bed for about a week, when he was heard once or twice by his kind attendants to say, "that if it pleased the Lord's will, he should like to go." He endured his trying infirmities and painful sufferings not only with surprising fortitude and patience, but with a cheerfulness which kindled up rays of heavenly peace in the dark chamber of suffering and sorrow.

His death occurred on the morning of Saturday, the 27th of August, 1853, and his remains were interred at the Highgate Cemetery, September the 7th. He was 74 years of age on the 4th of March last. His worthy executors, Messrs. Boyle, Ford, and Maxwell, members of his Society, had made every arrangement for the funeral to be conducted without pomp, but with a solemnity becoming the occasion. Many gentlemen from a considerable distance, besides numerous members of his own society, were in attendance at the residence of the departed. We observed in the procession, and at the grave, the Rev. T. C. Shaw, and the Rev. T. Chalklen, of London, the Rev. A. Clissold, M.A., the Rev. E. Madeley, of Birmingham, the Rev. E. D. Rendell, of Preston, the Rev. R Storry, of Dalton, and the Rev. D. G. Goyder, of Melbourne. The funeral services were conducted by the Rev. W. Bruce, now minister of the Society at Cross-street, and by the Rev. J. H. Smithson, of Manchester. Within the Cemetery and around the grave a great multitude were assembled, most of whom were evidently persons who had known and respected the deceased, and who were thus desirous of paying their full testimony of affection and regard to their departed friend and pastor.

Mr. Noble has left the residue of his property, after certain legacies and expenses have been paid, to the Society in Cross-street. It is supposed that the residue will amount to about £800. He has also left all his books (forming the most complete New Church Library in existence) and manuscripts, and likewise his silver gilt cup and paten, (value about £65.) which was presented to him by the Society, in March, 1829, to the same Society. He has also expressed a wish that the cup and paten might be converted into a communion-service, as in this form it would be of real use to the Church. We may here likewise state that his manuscripts consist chiefly of lectures and sermons, most of which, as he delivered them more than once, have been revised by

himself. There are, we believe, considerably more than a thousand of these lectures and sermons.

On the following Sunday, September 11th, a discourse, in memory of the departed, was preached, in the morning, by the Rev. W. Bruce. As this able discourse contains a memoir of Mr. Noble from his reception of the doctrines, at an early period of his life, to his death, recording most of the facts of his biography in relation to the New Church, and the advocacy and propagation of its Heavenly Doctrines by his able pen, and by his labours as a minister and as a missionary, we are quite certain that our readers will be much pleased to meet with it here.

"THE CHARIOT OF ISRAEL AND THE HORSEMEN THEREOF." A Discourse, occasioned by the Removal into Eternity of the Rev. SAMUEL NOBLE, Minister, during Thirty-three Years, of the New Jerusalem Church, Crossstreet, Hatton-garden, London, and Author of many Works in Elucidation and Defence of the Doctrines of the New Church. Delivered in the Morning of September the 11th, 1853, by the Rev. W. BRUCE, Minister of the said Church.

2 Kings, chap. xiii., v. 14.

"Now Elisha was fallen sick of the sickness whereof he died: and Joash, the King of Israel, came down unto him, and wept over his face, and said, O my father, my father! the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof."

We are this morning assembled to do honour to the memory of one who has reflected the highest honour on the Christian profession,-who adorned, by his life, the doctrine of God our Saviour; who for thirty years discharged, with distinguished ability and great singleness of mind, the duties of pastor to this congregation; who for half a century laboured zealously and disinterestedly in the cause of the whole Church; and who has left behind him a memorial that will endear his name to future generations. It is, therefore, not only as a Christian man, but as a Christian minister, and not only as a Christian man and minister, but as a Christian advocate, that we are to contemplate the departed; and in all these characters he is equally entitled to our love and admiration.

The passage of Scripture which has been chosen as a text suitable to the present occasion, has not been selected because it may serve to suggest or recall the image of our venerable friend, as a prophet and a father in Israel, in his last days, when sick of the sickness whereof he died. The suitableness of the text is to be found in its spiritual sensea sense which it contains in common with every part of the inspired

Word of God. In the spiritual sense of the Word, a chariot signifies doctrine, and a horseman one who teaches. The chariot of Israel signifies, therefore, the doctrine of the church, and the horsemen thereof signify those by whom the doctrine of the church is taught. In the supreme sense, the Lord himself is signified by the prophet; and in this sense it is, in reference to him, that the prophet is called the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof; for the Lord is the Truth itself, from which all the doctrine of the church is derived, and he is the great Teacher by whom it is communicated to the hearts and minds of men. It is in reference to the Lord as the Divine Truth and the Divine Teacher, that in Scripture he is said "to ride on his horses and his chariots of salvation." But the Lord also teaches the truths and doctrines of his Word by human instrumentality, and consequently by the labours of those whose office it more especially is to communicate the glad tidings of salvation to men. And whether we regard the departed as a member of the Lord's church, letting his light shine before men in his good works, as the pastor of his flock, leading them in the green pastures and beside the still waters of peaceful instruction, or as a Christian advocate pleading the cause of neglected and injured truth before the world, he appears to equal advantage as a teacher of the genuine doctrine of the Holy Word.

The exclamation of Joash when he came into the presence of Elisha, was first uttered by that prophet himself, as he beheld Elijah ascend into heaven in a chariot and horses of fire, when he cried, "My father, my father! the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof." Our text may therefore be understood in reference to the happy termination of the earthly labours and sufferings of our departed friend, whose translated spirit has entered into glory. It cannot but be profitable for us to dwell upon the labours and experience of such a man, as the means of reminding us of the gratitude we owe to the Lord for the important benefits he has bestowed on the church through his instrumentality, and of inciting us to a faithful performance of our duties in our station and calling; so that, when required to leave this transitory scene of existence, we may enter into the same everlasting inheritance. His experience and labours have some connection with his early history; and of this we shall therefore give a few particulars.

Samuel was the son of Edward Noble, a bookseller and an author. The father died when the son was five years old, leaving his widow to provide, chiefly by her own exertions, for two children of her own, besides two of her husband's by a former marriage.

According to the general testimony of men who have attained to

eminence, especially of those whose virtues have been equal to their talents, the foundation of their future greatness has been laid in their early years by the pious labours of their maternal parent. It is pleasing to be able, in the present instance, to add another to the list of eminent sons who have been grateful to devoted mothers. Mr. Noble has himself borne testimony to the worth of his widowed parent, as "having exhibited a pattern of prudence and good conduct worthy of all commendation, and as having fulfilled to her charge the duties both of father and mother in a most exemplary manner;" and he "attributes the ground of his reception of the heavenly doctrines of the New Church to the practically good principles inseminated by her in his childhood."

Young Noble received an education, limited, indeed, compared with his after scholarship, but liberal compared with his mother's slender means. It included the ordinary branches of a good English education, and a knowledge of Latin.

At the usual age he was apprenticed as an engraver to Mr. Rhodes, residing in Tottenham Court Road. Mr. Rhodes and his excellent wife loved and treated him as a son; and the offerings of his early muse evince, on his part, a perfectly filial affection towards them. The mutual attachment then formed continued to subsist between the parties to the end of life.

It was during his apprenticeship that the change took place in his religious sentiments which enables us to claim him as our own. It is usually found that the reception of the views of the New Church may be traced to some unsatisfied state of mind on the subject of religion. It is, therefore, of some importance to know something of the nature of Mr. Noble's religious principles and impressions about this time; which is desirable for another reason-that the history of such a man's mind is as interesting and useful as the history of his life. Fortunately, an incident has been recorded by Mr. Noble himself, which shows most distinctly the state and character of his youthful mind.

The demon of infidelity, let loose by the French Revolution, had gone forth like " death upon the pale horse, followed by the hell" of moral and civil desolation, literally as well as spiritually killing men with the sword, and with hunger, and with death. A champion of this infamous cause had appeared in the western hemisphere, and his "Age of Reason" was extensively read.

When about sixteen years of age, young Noble was present in a large company in which that work was produced, and portions of it read apparently to the enjoyment of most of the assembly. But the reading