was sent to renew the invitation formerly given. Invitations also were sent to him from Wigan and Preston. After many anxious and painful struggles of mind between the conflicting claims of the churches in these places, he accepted the call from Ogden, and entered on his duties there as pastor the last Lord's day in June, 1798. He removed his residence from Bolton in the following August, and entered on his dwelling in Ogden in the thirtieth year of his age. His public settlement, however, over the church did not take place till the 16th of April, 1800. Religion revived among the people. Their numbers increased. Peace and love prevailed. The suspicions which had been excited by enemies in the minds of ministerial brethren concerning the orthodoxy of Mr. Hargreaves died away. He lived down the falsehoods of his slanderers, and all things within and around wore an encouraging aspect. At this time he met once a month with other ministers in the neighbourhood, to discuss in their own houses topics for mutual edification and improvement. On one occasion the question of self-defence was examined. He stood alone in his opinion that under no circumstances could a man be justified in injuring another, and from that period became the unflinching advocate of the great truth that all war is inconsistent with the gospel of Christ and antagonist to every law of the New Testament.

God has declared in his word, that before honour goeth humility, and a haughty spirit before a fall. The first part of this truth received a striking confirmation in this period of the history of Mr. Hargreaves. At an association held at Hebden Bridge in 1804, the Rev. Mr. Langdon of Leeds preached on the importance of an educated ministry. Mr. Hargreaves was requested to offer the closing prayer. The sermon had made a deep impression on his mind. He saw his own deficiencies in a strong light. His heart was full, and, unrestrained by the presence of his brethren, he poured that fulness out before God, lamenting his ignorance, but offering thanks that he, at least, had been made to know it. He then, in the most fervent and impressive manner, prayed that young ministers might be saved from the misery, mortification, and shame, consequent on ignorance in a public teacher. Every point in the sermon was turned into prayer. The audience was powerfully affected. His brethren were melted and overwhelmed. He was immediately afterwards appointed to write the next circular letter, and from that moment he was raised to a position in the denomination from which he never descended, and obtained an influence which he never lost. In the proceedings of that day originated "The Northern Education Society," and the establishment of the baptist college at Bradford in Yorkshire.

UNDER this phrase, "others which have no hope," as under a funeral pall,

Mrs. Gray was the second daughter of the late Mr. Samuel Bligh of Waltham Abbey, at which

lie the whole heathen world. For having lost, with the traditionary knowledge of place she was born, March 24, 1809. Mr. Bligh had previously (March 3, 1799) joined the church at

known. To have commanded the sup pression of grief over death's inroads would have been vain: to seek to soften its extremity and correct its expressions was worthy of an apostle of the Lamb.

The customs which obtained in different heathen nations of expressing grief for the dead are generally known, nor need be particularized now. They were strictly prohibited to the Jews under Moses,* and I need not say that they are alien from the spirit of that glorious gospel which has poured the light of comparative day upon the doctrines of life and immortality.

It is, however, in reference to departed believers only that the apostle offers consolation. He that mourns the death of an unbelieving relative or friend, must be left to the silence of his own anguish. To touch this wound is to irritate it. He that would with the gentlest breathing soothe such sorrow, but inflames it.

Nor is it every degree of sorrow for departed saints that is forbidden. Love will resent in grief the absence of its object. The love of the Christians of the first age toward each other is well

Keppel Street, then under the pastoral care of the Rev. John Martin. Some time after his removal to Waltham Abbey, which was in 1801, he was called by the church there to the work of the ministry, and in 1810 became the pastor of the baptist church at Potters Bar (Vide Memoir of Mr. Bligh in Baptist Magazine for February, 1830). Mr. Samuel Bligh was the second son of Mr. David Bligh, who was for more than half a century a member of the church at Little Prescot Street, and during part of that time under the pastoral care of the venerable Abraham Booth. In 1814 he became a deacon, and continued so until his death (see sketch of his character in a funeral sermon by Mr. Griffin, in Baptist Magazine for December, 1826). Mr. David Bligh was son of the late Mr. Michall Bligh, first pastor of the bap tist church, Seveonaks, Kent.

Mrs. Gray was baptized in June, 1830, with her

I will endeavour to suggest some elements of character which should mingle with your grief, that in its measure it may not be excessive, nor in its nature unchristian. I will mention only four, gratitude, resignation, joy, and hope. And if, under the circumstances, room can be found for these, it is obvious that the sorrow of the believer differs widely from that of the heathen, and that it lies within the compass both of possibility and privilege to glorify God the Father, even in our tribulations.

The first attribute of character which I would inculcate is gratitude.

The departure of our beloved friend we mourn as our loss, but that mourning ought to be tempered with gratitude on account of the gift supposed in it. For what is our life here but a succession of rapidly flying years, each one of which is studded with divine mercies, those mercies composing at length a rich diadem, and sitting as a crown of beauty upon each passing year? And when time sounds forth the knell of departure to it, which shall we do? Shall we kneel down before that garland of mercies, and only weep that they are gone? Or shall we rear an Ebenezer and on it recount those mercies, and beneath brother, Mr. John Bligh, at Ilford, by the late Rev. J. Smith. In 1833 she removed her communion from the church meeting in Weigh House Chapel, and to which she united herself after her baptism, to the church at Prescot Street. She was married to Dr. J. T. Gray in 1834, when she removed her communion to the church at Cambridge. On her removal two years subsequently to Brixton, she joined Dr. Steane's church. In January, 1843, she removed to South Crescent, and on Feb. 3, 1844, united with the church meeting in Keppel Street, of which church she continued to be a member until the nobler communion of "the just made perfect" received her to its fellowship, on Lord's day, December 6, 1846.

*«Ye shall not make any cuttings in your fisch

for the dead," Levit. xix. 28.

the inscription of them add, "Hitherto the Lord hath helped me?"

Do not, dear friends, in the poignancy of present sorrow, forget that she whose loss you mourn once came to you as a gift, a precious gift. Even the severity of your grief shows how high a value you set on it. And will you be like Jonah, whose grief degenerated into anger on the removal of his gourd? He felt his loss, but forgot that it was the withdrawment of a gift. Had he remembered this, his grief would have been chastened by gratitude, and sin would have been prevented. The complaint, "the Lord hath taken away," leaves no room for the sequel, "blessed be the name of the Lord," unless the acknowledgment, "the Lord hath given," take the lead. And then there is harmony, and beauty, and propriety, and religion; and grief becomes placid and holy when gratitude smiles through its tears.

I may remind you, Christian friends, the sunny years of whose childhood were made more joyous by her presence, that she was a gift to you; and you who were associated with her in friendship's sweet circle, and ye members of this church, whose religious fellowships have been gladdened, and you, my brother, whose domestic sanctuary death has invaded, and who most of all must feel that the loss is irreparable, I say to each, that the loss is but the cessation of gift; and the greatness of your sorrow shall be regarded as an exponent of the greatness of your former benefit, and thus the measure of your gratitude shall bear exact proportion to the measure of your grief, and prove a sure antidote against its hurtful tendencies.

Yet further to brace your spirit under sorrow, we inculcate resignation, the spirit so eminently conspicuous in our Saviour, and which lent so rich a lustre to his mind, even when his bodily aspect was, through grief, "so marred more than any man's.”

In order to strengthen a habit of mind so alien to man's proud nature, it is necessary to direct the attention to the high prerogative of divine sovereignty. There is something mandatory in this view of the Supreme. It quells the mind beginning to rise in murmurs. We venture to offer the expostulation of our feeble reason, and the Eternal rebukes us, saying, "Be still, and know that I am God." His supremacy is absolute, nor is there aught visible or invisible which is not comprehended in its decisions. "He doeth as pleaseth him among the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand," &c. It is the part of piety to recognize this divine prerogative. To do so when at his bidding the sun pours his cheerful rays into our dwelling, and when by His secret influence all our enemies lay aside their offensive weapons is easy; but to do so when he demands our choicest delights and mingles gall with our daily mercies, requires his Spirit's aid.

To help us, we should reflect on that superior, nay infinite wisdom, which guides the arm of his supremacy. Even when we do cordially acquiesce, it is sometimes because we mistake his end, and never because we entirely fathom his design! Even when acquiescence arises into admiration, and admiration expresses itself in praise, our utterances are but the lispings of babes. "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither," saith God, "are your ways my ways; for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." There is a profound of wisdom in all his dealings with us. The glorious lamp of divine truth is designed principally to teach us the wisdom proper to man, not that which is proper to God. The notices which it supplies to us of the divine wisdom are like those which the heavenly orbs convey of the ampli