have done with thee. Thou art a cheat; thou art a cheat; thou art a cheat! Thou hast promised what thou never couldst give. O for Christ! O for Christ! Jesus, and all in him are mine: He is all to me." Thus he continued exulting in the Lord, until he was quite exhausted. After he had recovered his strength a little, he said to Mrs. Pape, "O my dear Mary, I want to tell you what a glorious deliverance the Lord hath wrought out for me. O praise the Lord, it is done now: the Lord hath enabled me to give all up! I now can give up the world; I can give thee and my dear lad up also. Not that I do not love you. No; I love you as dearly as my own life; but my Lord calls, and I must leave you. Praised be his name, I am quite ready; I am waiting the Lord's time. Should death come to-night, all would be well. I have no fear; for perfect love casteth out all fear. O what a struggle I have had! what a conflict! The enemy has thrown his fiery darts at me. It has been as though all the powers of darkness had been combined against me; but the Lord hath brought me off a conqueror! O yes, I see my way quite clear to the throne, through the blood of the Lamb!"

After this he said but little, save that his mind had been kept in peace, and that his thoughts had been occupied in meditation on those words of St. Paul, "Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body," &c. "Yes," added he, "he shall fashion it like unto his glorious body. It is sown in weakness; it shall be raised with power! It is sown in dishonour, but it shall be raised in glory!"

The day before his death, he said to a friend, who had called on him, "O John, whatever you do, give your heart to God; and do it without delay. There is no time for delay. What is this world? What will it do for you, when you come to lie on a death-bed? They talk of death-bed repentance; but what must I have done, had my religion been to seek, under all this weight of affliction? My soul must have remained unsaved, and have gone out of the world unprepared." To another friend, he said, "I have built on a Rock, and that Rock is Christ." And to Mr. Stevenson, (one of the Preachers,) who had asked him if he found Jesus near, he replied :

"I find him lifting up my head;

He brings salvation near;

His presence makes me free indeed,

And he will soon appear."

On the morning of his death, at his desire, the sacrament of the Lord's supper was administered to him, after receiving which he could converse but little. Towards evening he took but little notice of any thing, being apparently engaged in praising God. But, about four o'clock, he burst into a remarkably sweet strain of song, though neither the words nor the tune were known, and so continued for some time; and then, as if his thoughts had entirely taken their flight

from earth, he talked of nothing but chariots and angels, shining garments, and crowns, and music; shouting hallelujah, until his exulting spirit took its triumphant flight to paradise, December 28th, 1837. Reader, may thy last end, and mine, be like his!

MEMOIR OF MRS. HARRIOT WICE,
Of Wakefield:

BY THE REV. W. H. CLARKSON.

MRS. HARRIOT WICE, the eldest daughter of Mr. Jonathan Haigh, timber-merchant, of Wakefield, was born February 18th, 1801. When about fifteen years of age, she was introduced to a very pious family of the Wesleyan Connexion, whose conversation often turned upon the value and importance of vital Christianity. In familiar intercourse with this family, she was often much interested by the excellent and judicious remarks they made on the sermons they had heard. This event proved the commencement of a new era in her life and conduct. She had been accustomed regularly to attend the established Church with her father every Lord's-day morning; and though she still continued to do so up to the time of her marriage, yet she also commenced a regular attendance at the Methodist chapel on Sunday and Wednesday evenings. She likewise began to meet in class with the late Mr. Hargate, and to attend other Christian ordinances connected with the Wesleyan society. Her parents, being strongly attached to the established Church, at first much opposed her association with the Methodists; but when they witnessed the great change which divine grace had produced in her whole temper and deportment, their prejudice yielded to the force of conviction, and they allowed her, without interruption or inconvenience, to pursue the sacred course into which she had been led, she believed, by the providence and grace of God. Soon after her union with the Wesleyan society, she found a divine change to pass upon her mind. She obtained the forgiveness of all her sins, through faith in the blood of Christ, and felt the love of God shed abroad in her heart by the Holy Ghost given unto her. She then became an active and efficient member of the Christian church; faithfully and diligently sustaining the two offices of Teacher in the Sunday-school, and Tract Distributor; and in these departments of labour she was made the happy and honoured instrument of bringing many to sit under the ministry of the word; some of whom became truly converted to God, and by his grace have continued to glorify Him to the present time.

Her epistolary correspondence, in the year 1824, will enable us to form some judgment of the state of her religious experience. July 6th, on a visit from home, she thus writes to a friend :-" In the family I am visiting we have the form of godliness; but I feel nothing

''

less than the love of God can satisfy the wants of my immortal soul. I have plenty of time for reading and other devotional exercises. You know they are congenial to our new nature. O may I more than ever delight in those heavenly enjoyments, and keep in mind that heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people!"

July 29th, she again writes:-"After all I have seen and enjoyed, I am constrained to say, All is vanity;' and 'it is' only religion that can give sweetest pleasure while we live.' I would rather be a door-keeper in the house of God, than a dweller in the tents of sin and folly; and an hour in his courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I trust the Lord will restore me to my wonted privileges, and that I shall soon worship with you under the shechinah of his love. O may I more than ever improve those privileges of meeting in the Bethels of the Most High! I have had many enjoyments this week; and, bless the Lord, I have freedom of access at a throne of grace, and that peace which the world cannot give nor take away." “August 12th.-There is nothing I regret leaving home for so much as the loss of the means of grace, which are as wells of salvation to my soul; for, as the body cannot live without temporal food, no more can a soul live to God without spiritual food. I am conscious I need not want when our heavenly Father says, Ask, and receive, that your joy may be full.' O may I always be willing to come to that fountain which flows from Emmanuel's side, the streams whereof make glad the city of God! We have it without money and without price; but I sensibly feel the loss of my own closet, and those delightful means of grace, which are more to me than meat and drink. Never did I see the evil of dress so much as at this place. I am thankful that, by the grace of God, I was called in the early period of my life to set my affections on things above, and to seek the adorning of the robes of righteousness of our crucified Redeemer. I have retired to meet you at the throne of grace at the appointed hour, and have felt nearness of access; and, being assisted by the divine Spirit, I have held high converse with the Father of all our mercies."

6

"September 12th.-I have placed my confidence in my heavenly Father, who has said, 'Acknowledge me in all thy ways, and I will direct thy steps;' and that all things work together for good to them that love God.' This is all I want, being willing to be any thing or nothing, that I may be devoted to him, and glorify his name below, and find my way to heaven."

In October, 1824, she was appointed to take Mr. Walton's female juvenile class, and continued their Leader until her union with Mr. Wice, which took place in June, 1825. Several of those committed to her care, and looking up to her for spiritual guidance, were led by her judicious counsel and holy example to persevere in the Christian course, and are still steady and consistent members of the society.

After her marriage she resided in the country, and was made a

great blessing to the small circle of religious society in which she moved. She was also made very useful in her benevolent services to the poor, and more especially in her visits to the sick. Her exemplary character as a Christian, manifested by her general deportment, gained her the esteem and affection of all who became acquainted with her. In all her proceedings she had an eye to the glory of God. Indeed, the sincerity of her piety, while she lived in the country, was strongly evinced in selecting her husband for her Class-Leader, as he was best acquainted with her manner of life.

In the course of time she was blessed with four children; and great was her solicitude that they should be brought up "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." She daily made mention of them in her supplications at the throne of grace, and often instilled into their tender minds the great and important truths of vital Christianity, listening with maternal interest to their infantine inquiries, and answering them according to the wisdom she had received from the Lord. She strenuously exerted herself, that their hearts might be renewed by the power of divine grace, and that their intellectual capacities might be stored with useful knowledge.

In April, 1834, she suffered a great loss in the death of her beloved father, who was suddenly taken into eternity by an apoplectic fit; but although nature exquisitely felt under this powerful stroke, yet grace, reigning through righteousness," sustained her sorrowing spirit, and enabled her with Christian resignation to say, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!"

As she proceeded in the way of righteousness, and her judgment became more matured, her soul also became greatly expanded, and she thirsted more intensely for entire holiness, and the enjoyment of the fulness of God; and many with whom, at different times, she associated for religious exercises, could bear testimony that the Lord was with her as a "refiner's fire and purifier of silver," diffusing the sanctifying influences of his Holy Spirit through her heart, and leaving there the impression of his own moral image.

But these divine attainments were not permitted by the great Head of the church to be exemplified in a long life of piety and usefulness; but rather to precede a protracted course of severe bodily suffering, which was to issue in the departure of her sanctified spirit into the heavenly state, soon after she had numbered half the years allotted by divine Providence to the period of human life.

In the spring of the year 1835 there appeared slight indications of the disease of which she died, which shortly after assumed so serious an aspect as to excite great uneasiness in the minds of her friends, and induce them to seek medical advice. At this crisis, she was led to a person of reputed skill, who pronounced her disorder to be a cancer, but who was positive that he could easily eradicate it. After suffering

the most excruciating torture under his practice for nearly two years, she became much worse; and it was thought advisable to consult Dr. Hey, of Leeds, who confirmed the doubts her friends had long entertained, and affirmed her disorder to be an incurable cancer; yet he thought that, by judicious treatment, her life might be prolonged for a few months. From that time the disease began to affect her whole system, until, at length, nature sunk beneath its ravages.

And here, perhaps, I may be allowed to bear my testimony to the excellence of the character of our departed friend. From the time that I was first introduced to her at her own house, (where the Preachers were always kindly and hospitably entertained while she and her partner resided at Silcoates,) I have ever held her in high estimation as a pious and devoted Christian of superior intellectual attainments; and deeply sympathized with her in that affliction, which, even then, had made serious inroads upon her constitution. And, truly, there was nothing in her case which affected me more than the painful consideration of a direful disease gradually undermining and effectually destroying the constitution of one in the meridian of life, and in the midst of a rising family, who needed her continual guidance and help. I often visited her during her last sickness, in which she endured great bodily pain: but she always expressed her strong confidence in the Lord; and said, that, though the affliction was painful, yet she had no doubt as to the final issue being happy and glorious. It was no small trial to her, that, towards the close of life, her sufferings were so heavy, that she could not sustain the lively presence of her children, whom she had been accustomed, with ineffable delight, always to have around her. But still she was enabled patiently to endure, and knew how to commit them into the hands of her heavenly Father. I also greatly admired her love for Christian ordinances. How often, notwithstanding the sickliness of her bodily frame, and the unpropitiousness of the weather, have I seen her sitting in her accustomed seat in West-Parade chapel, although she had to come from a distance in the country; while some who resided much nearer, and who possessed good health, were absent! Indeed, so far as I can learn, from the very commencement of her pious career, (I wish it could be said of all professors of Christianity,) she would not allow any weather, or any business which was not imperative, to prevent her from attending the means of grace.

I may also here add the testimony of one of her most intimate friends, and her Class-Leader during the last few months she lived in Wakefield, in reference to the excellence of her character. "I have long," says Mrs. Harrison, "known Mrs. Wice as a pious, decided Christian, but have witnessed this to be more exemplified during the last twelve months. As her very distressing complaint increased,