the same time (the winter of 1846-47), the Missionary Committee in Manchester determined to attempt the introduction of the doctrines into the populous town of Ashton, where he was now settled. In this effort Mr. Moorhouse warmly seconded the views of the committee. He opened his house for the entertainment of the preachers, and otherwise aided the effort. At the close of the lectures, which were given by the ministers resident in the neighbour. hood, he joined the late Mr. Dearden in renting a large and very eligible room for regular religious worship. Here the small society now existing at Ashton had its beginning. After many vicissitudes, it has at length become located in a beautiful new temple, the erection of which engaged the last efforts in the church of our departed friend. Towards the building of this temple he was a liberal contributor. He furnished the very eligible site at a reduced ground rent, besides a liberal contribution in money.

Mr. Moorhouse was naturally of a generous and benevolent disposition. He had passed through much varied experience of a worldly kind. At one time he suffered the privations of poverty; and when he subsequently rose to worldly competency, he did not forget his former experience. A knowledge of the wants and sufferings of others always excited his compassion and sympathy, and led him to stretch out his hand for their relief. His strong feeling towards the working classes was his chief motive for allying himself actively with the Anti-Corn-Law League, to the funds of which he was for many years a liberal subscriber.

As he approached the end of life he manifested a renewed interest in all that connected him with the church. He visited with manifest interest the localities of the several rooms where the meetings of the early receivers had been held at Stockport, and lingered about the temple he had so largely assisted to raise at Ashton. Of the cause here he has been from the beginning the chief supporter; and now he has entered a higher sphere, increased diligence will be required on the part of the little flock to provide for its continued support! May his mantle rest upon them. Mr. Moorhouse has left a widow and a numerous family to lament his departure. R. S. D.

On December 27th, 1860, Mr. Frank Walker, aged 52 years. This departed friend had for nearly thirty years been a member of the society in Peter-street, Manchester. His father, Mr. P. Walker, was an intimate friend of the late Rev. R. Hindmarsh, and during the whole of his ministry, and for some years afterwards, under the ministry of the late Rev. D. Howarth, attended the Temple in Salford. Our departed friend, who has left a beloved wife and three children, and also an affectionate sister, to lament his departure, was characterised by firmness of principle and integrity of Christian conduct. He had the genius of an inventor, especially in mechanics, and his speculations in this department of science caused him much anxiety and expense. Amongst other things he invented an apparatus to be attached to locomotives, which would prevent collision on railways. It is not often that inventors experience themselves the pecuniary effect of their inventions, and it was so with our departed friend. During the last few months of his life, he was confined through illness and suffering to his home, and at Southport, where he spent many weeks in the hope of recovery. But an all-wise Providence knows best when, for our eternal good, the thread of life is to be snapped asunder, and when our states are best fitted for the eternal kingdom. friend bore his sufferings during his illness with Christian patience and resignation to the Lord's divine Will, and gently passed away into the realms of peace.

Our

At 52, Holywell-street, Oxford, in the 52nd year of her age, Jane, the beloved wife of Mr. Robert Thomas, who departed into the spiritual world on the 29th of December, 1860. She was a firm and consistent member of the New Church, to which she had for many years been sincerely attached, and the doctrines of which, in the mercy of the Lord Jesus, supported her in a cheerful and devoted spirit during a long and most painful illness, and gave her a living trust and hope for the future, at her release from her sufferings and her natural life.

Departed this life, January 4th, 1861, Mr. John Earp, of Melbourne, Derbyshire, in his 70th year.

Few men, if any, occupied more prominent and useful positions in the town and neighbourhood of Melbourne; and the public benefits which have been the result of the well-directed labour of a long life, deserve something more than a passing notice. The illness and death of our friend are matters of local interest. Acknowledged by all who knew him to have passed a life of distinction and usefulness, his condition excited anxious inquiry and sympathy; and as the news of his death passed from lip to lip, it was felt that a public benefactor had gone from amongst us.

In early youth, Mr. Earp commenced that career of usefulness which continued unbroken through the whole of his life here-a career which death has not terminated, but, on the contrary, has ushered him into a more extended sphere for the performance of nobler uses. One of his first efforts to benefit others was in connection with the Sunday-schools movement, and he was one of the founders of the first successful Sunday-schools in Melbourne, and long and ardently he laboured therein. When the first flush of youthful enthusiasm had subsided, it was succeeded by the calm, resolute labour of manhood; and for many years he was known as one of the most persevering and successful of the early Sunday-school teachers of the neighbourhood. Younger energies are now prosecuting the work which he and others began; but of all those who have been engaged in this work of self-denial, probably few, if any, excelled Mr. Earp in the resolute determination, patience, and perseverance which are essential to success. Believing as he did that real success was only to be attained by hard work,—believing that the battle against ignorance, sloth, superstition, and will, -was only to be won step by step, his life was an exemplification of what force of will and resolute labour can do against the opponents of human progress.

Commencing business with little else than his own energies to rely on, he gradually rose in the social scale. Increasing wealth brought him into increased spheres of usefulness; and so highly esteemed was he for his business capacity, that he was appointed to fill, and he filled for many years, important posts relating to public business; and it is not too much to say, that, owing to his forethought and clear-sighted pru

dence, the town of Melbourne has been saved much fruitless labour and expense. As time rolled on, he rose from being the valued and trusted servant to be the counsellor; and many and varied were the calls made upon his time and talents in this capacity. With matters of trust property, and the administration of wills, he had largely to do; and at the time when death severs the ties of earth, many have left the world comforted with the thought that their little store would be rightly and prudently used for the benefit of their surviving families, under the management of Mr. Earp. Just and conscientious in his own business affairs, he brought the same principles to bear in his administration of the affairs of others. He was a thorough advocate of the principles of just and equitable liberty, both civil and religious, and spared no pains for the accomplishment of these ends. In mat ters of religious opinion, he claimed as an inalienable birthright the freedom to think and act for himself. Holding the opinion strongly as he did that the Allwise Maker of man had blessed His creatures with the Revelation of His Divine Will, and had likewise gifted man with the power to understand and obey that Revelation, he was always the steadfast opponent of any body of men, or any system of religious philosophy, which sought to fetter man's reasoning powers, to curb his desire for increasing light, to bind his progressive spirit in the fetters of an effete dogmatic creedism, or to prevent him from soaring higher, and approaching nearer to the presence of that divine Being who is alike the Giver of Reason and the infinite Source of Truth. Against such he stood in firm, uncompromising opposition; and no pecuniary advantage, no desire for the good opinion of others, was sufficient to induce him to swerve from his conscientious stand-point. Believing that the more the creature knows of the character of the Creator, His revelation, and laws, the better it will be for the world, he ever opposed the attempt to stifle the inquiring mind. zans of sects might deem him to be an enthusiast, and a believer of idle tales; yet no scornful epithet, no sneering animadversion, which religious fanaticism in its blind prejudice could and did utter, had power sufficient to arouse a wavering or a distrustful thought of

The parti

that system of theology and philosophy which his reason and the Bible proclaimed to be true.

For more than thirty years had he been a receiver of the doctrines of the New Church; and for more than twenty years he was the chief business member of the society at Melbourne,-at one time combining in himself the offices of treasurer and secretary of the society, and superintendent of the Sundayschool. Continually, from his earliest reception of the doctrines to the hour of his departure, he bore testimony to their Scriptural truth, beauty, and clearness; more especially was this the case as he neared the border realm which conjoins this world and the next. In language calm and emphatic (not soon to be forgotten by those who heard it), he attested their truth, bore witness to the consolation they had afforded him in his declining years; and his whole conversation and demeanour during his last illness was an emphatic denial of that false statement so often made, both ignorantly and otherwise, that the New Church doctrines fail when the hour of death approaches. With a calm and untroubled countenance, with the smile of peace upon his brow, he waited the advent of the messenger of mercy. No gloomy forebodings of an uncertain and unknown future disturbed his rest; no darkening cloud across his mental vision passed; and for several days before earthly consciousness had passed away, glimpses of beauty which lie within the realms of spirit-life were seen, and sounds were heard, yet not of earthly origin. To the last his mind lost none of that clearness and vigour of thought which so marked his character; and as each successive stroke of disease weakened his earthly frame, his mental powers grew stronger and more comprehensive. His sense of the value of the doctrines and his estimation of Swedenborg, were exemplified in a conversation with one of his relatives a few days previous to his removal, when he remarked

"They have been my solace and comfort for many years. No matter which volume I took up,-no matter at what page I opened it, I always found something useful and beautiful." And continued he "Look around, all the world through,-search the records of history,

past and present, and where could a person better fitted than Swedenborg have been found by the Lord to convey the knowledge of these doctrines to man-doctrines drawn from and founded upon the Word?-a man so learned, so wondrously gifted, yet withal so humble and simply good in his life and character."

At early morn the white-robed Angel of Life drew nigh to loosen the cord that bound him below, and, as the solemn company watched and wept, over his pallid face with loving touch swept her white hand, and on his immortal brow sealed the blest sign of peace and rest. To those whom he has left behind, who feel yet cannot mourn his absence, the recollection of the past comes as a sweet and soothing memory.

As a mark of respect for the character of and services rendered by Mr. Earp, a number of the chief townspeople preceded his earthly remains to the place of interment; and on that occasion the Baptist minister bore testimony to the many excellences of our friend's character, of his love of religious liberty, of his labour for the removal of social and public evils, of that charity which ever sought to give to others the same freedom of thought and action claimed by himself. Caring not for eulogy, seeking no praise or thanks for services rendered, he closed his career below. To quote his own words-"I may and have been the instrument of doing some good in the town; yet to Him who gave me the ability and the will so to do be all the praise!"

She

Miss Mary Allen, of Hammersmith, daughter of the late Dr. Allen, of High Beach, Essex, departed this life, aged 43 years, January 9th, 1861. She had been suffering for months, but was confined to bed only one day. She was a member of the Argyle-square society, and a true New Church Christian. occupied a most responsible position in a capacity in which she could soothe the most serious ailments of her fellowcreatures. Her happy and intelligent mind was of inestimable value to the circle in which she ministered, and she departed encircled by the esteem and love of all who had the privilege of her acquaintance. J. B.