such men as the Revs. John Woodrow, Isaac Lilly, Maximilian Wilson, Thomas Blanshard, James Blackett, John Simmons, Joseph Wilson, and others; and, as she approached her end, her countenance would brighten with holy joy, as she anticipated the happiness of meeting them again in the world of rest. Amongst the papers of Mrs. Cooper, there is this incident recorded by her-that the first sermon at Weston-Favell was preached by the Rev. James Blackett at an early hour on a Sunday morning, so as not to interfere with the service in the parish-church. Under this sermon the constable's wife became converted to God. He, not knowing what had happened, came to the place of meeting, armed with authority to disperse the congregation; but, arrested by the service, he either forgot, or was unwilling, to execute his orders, and sitting down, listened attentively to the discourse. It is to be hoped that in obeying God rather than man, this officer ultimately found mercy; but his return home, on this occasion, was followed by severe marks of his employer's displeasure. The recollection of this period of her life prompted Mrs. Cooper, at a subsequent period, to write in her diary: "I witnessed some terrible things, also many glorious manifestations of the Gospel at Billing and elsewhere, and am led to exclaim, "O the infinite cares, And temptations, and snares, O the blessings bestow'd By a bountiful God, After living eight years at Billing, and witnessing an entire change in the moral and spiritual aspect of the place, she returned, in 1814, to Northampton, taking up her abode with a Mrs. Flecknoe and her two daughters, an eminently pious family. They were all remarkable for their Christian devotedness and usefulness, and the last of them has but recently died in Christ, and entered upon the rest she had long toiled to find. In 1818, the subject of this Memoir entered into the marriage state with Mr. William Cooper, a holy man of God. This union was, in all respects, a happy one. They were true yoke-fellows in the bonds of the Gospel. Having been baptized with the same spirit of piety and fervent zeal, they were keepers of each other's faith and patience, and co-workers in the vineyard of the Lord. They were diligent in business, and spent much time ""Twixt the mount and multitude, Their home was, in every sense of the term, a Christian one. Family duties were not perfunctorily performed. Domestic worship was a means of grace. The children were trained up in the way they should go, and the soul of each in the household was regarded as entrusted to them, to be accounted for at the last day. Notwithstanding the increasing cares of her family and business, Mrs. Cooper relaxed not her exertions in the cause of God, esteeming it her highest honour, as it was her chief delight, to win sinners to Christ. Intense love for souls was one of her most prominent characteristics. She was in the habit of fixing her attention upon certain unsaved individuals, and setting apart times for special prayer on their behalf in her closet; nor did she rest until their conversion was effected. Prayer was not only her "vital breath, her native air;" but she wrestled earnestly with God for blessings for herself and others. Her prevalence indeed in prayer was remarkable; and it became a saying in her family circle, and amongst her kindred, that if Mrs. Cooper prayed for anything, she was sure to obtain it. Many times, when she was exercising this gift in public, some who had hitherto been careless about their spiritual interests, were suddenly arrested by the power of the Holy Spirit, and brought to the knowledge of saving truth. In this respect, especially, she was a true Wesleyan. One of the most striking traits in the character of John Wesley was power in prayer. Many well-known instances of this are recorded in his Life. The writer, about twenty-seven years since, had an interview with an old man, then nearly ninety-six years of age, who, in his younger days in Cornwall, had frequently acted as postillion to Mr. Wesley. On one occasion, when conducting him on one of his western journeys, Peter Martin was exposed, together with our Founder, to great danger from the tide in St. Ive's Bay. In answer to prayer, they were Providentially preserved and delivered. It is distinctly remembered, how the eye of the old man sparkled as he related this incident, and how his countenance was lighted up with unusual animation when, in reply to the question, "Peter, what did you think of Mr. Wesley ?' he said, "Think, Sir! I think that whatever he asked God for, he got." The writer has never forgotten this answer. Wonder at the success of the Founder of Methodism ceases in view of such a fact. Like Jacob, he had power with God, and therefore prevailed over man, and overcame, humanly speaking, almost insuperable difficulties. Hence the startling events of his life, the wonderful effects which accompanied his labours, and the monument to his memory seen in Methodism at home and abroad. If the mantle of Wesley, in this one respect alone, had fallen on all his nominal followers, the world could not long have withstood the influence of their holy and selfrenouncing efforts. Mrs. Cooper was equally eminent and successful as a class-leader, Bible and benevolent visiter, and tract-distributer. Possessing much firmness of character, undaunted courage, and an unshaken faith in God, she would enter the haunts of vice and misery, and strive, by loving, stirring admonitions and appeals to the ungodly and wretched, to save sinners. Not a few was she instrumental in reclaiming from the error of their ways, who have held fast their confidence, and died happy in Christ. This work was her delight; and as long as she had strength to perform it, she was a constant visiter of the poor and afflicted. The burden of her life was to do good, and she never went to the house of a certain friend without trying to render all her intercourse subservient to the salvation of its inmates. This was peculiarly the case when paying her last visit in 1860, and the fruit of that visit remains to this day. Her religion was unobtrusive and selfsacrificing. Her daily efforts to be useful were not rendered easy by her enjoyment of good health. She was naturally weak, and often a great sufferer; but she felt that she could not do too much for Him to whom her "more than all was due." In 1831 she was called to endure her severest domestic trial, in the death of her husband, of whom a brief sketch appeared in this Magazine of that year. Her deep piety and resignation to the Divine will, in the near prospect of this afflictive event, are best indicated by transcribing a few extracts from her diary. She writes, "I must raise my 'Ebenezer.' Hitherto has my God 'helped me.' O! what I have gone through the last month-in seeing my dear husband suffer, in the anxiety of business, and in the care of the family-with my weak body! None but an Almighty Arm could have supported me; and I have had many answers to prayer. What a stupendous stoop for Him, to listen to a worm! It sinks me into nothing." A little afterwards she says, “I can perceive my beloved husband is sinking fast. He has taken farewell of his place down stairs. This is the Lord's day, and what my feelings are I cannot describe. When I look at him, so dear to me, yet unable to converse, not being sensible long together, my heart is overwhelmed within me." Later in the day she writes, "We were enabled to pray and converse, and found the Lord very near to help and sustain." Again, "I must snatch a moment just to record, for my future encouragement, that my dear husband is indeed triumphing over death, hell, and the grave. We were enabled to speak of that solemn time fast approaching. What a day this has been to me! While praying, and reading John xvii., I could say, Not my will, but Thine, be done.' We talked about the event now at hand, as though he was going on a journey; and could not help acknowledging to each other, that it was the best Sabbath we had ever spent together." She further writes, "My husband is now rapidly sinking, but is rejoicing in the prospect of death. He very tenderly feels the parting with myself and the dear children, but can give us up to the care of God. He has now had his family into his room, and has taken his leave, giving each one suitable advice. Calling me to his bedside, he said, 'Let us now abandon ourselves to God.' I replied, 'You will be ready to meet me and the dear children, and welcome us to glory.' He exclaimed, 'Most gladly will I do so!'" Such sentiments speak for themselves. Whilst they are the effusions of a heart oppressed with grief under the heaviest of earth's trials, they indicate the blending of sweet resignation with an unshaken confidence in the wisdom and goodness of God. After the decease of her husband, Mrs. Cooper had many difficulties to contend with in business, and severe were her conflicts with the powers of darkness, who fiercely assailed her when bowed down under her great loss. This state of things continued for a considerable time; but the records of her journal prove that her submission was constant, and her faith unwavering. Often, when enduring much suffering and anguish of mind, she rose superior to her pain, and joyously recognized the hand of her Heavenly Father. Her refuge was in prayer; and in seasons of deep distress she was enabled to rest upon the promise, "Thy Maker is thine Husband; the Lord of Hosts is His name." Yet she was evidently ripening Always an ardent lover of the searcher of it, when in a great During the last eighteen years of her life she was a great sufferer from asthma and disease of the heart, which frequently prevented her from engaging in her accustomed works of piety and benevolence. This privation was a great trial to her; so much so, that she often said, "that it needed more religion to be laid aside, than to be actively employed for God." for the "saints' everlasting rest." Bible, she became a more diligent measure she was confined to her house. She rose early, until within a few months of her decease, and spent the first portion of the day in reading, meditation, and prayer. Notwithstanding her deep piety, the adversary of her soul was mysteriously allowed powerfully to assail her. Her spiritual conflicts were severe and protracted, continuing occasionally for days together; but deliverance came, for she was often upon her knees, at the feet of Jesus, pleading His unfailing promises. A friend, who felt it to be a privilege to sit with her on a Sabbath evening, remarks, that "Mrs. Cooper's steady growth in grace, and deep devotedness to the cause of God, were conspicuous and striking. Her frequent inquiry was, 'Have you heard of any souls being converted? Is the work of the Lord reviving?' And if answered affirmatively, she would exclaim, 'Bless the Lord!' and would then earnestly engage in prayer for the Church of Christ." Her last illness was short, but severe. It was only ten days before her death that her family became sensible of a material change. Her sufferings during this period were very acute, but her patience was exemplary. She often exclaimed, "Jesus, help me! Come and take me where there is rest for the weary. I long to be gone." And then she would inquire whether "she was thought impatient;" so fearful was she lest, by word or temper, she should fail to adorn her Christian profession, and grieve the Spirit of God. She was not often the subject of ecstatic joy, but she possessed her Saviour's legacy of His own "peace." Her general frame of mind was that of holy calmness; and her heart was "directed into the love of God, and into a patient waiting for Christ." At one period, indeed, of her last illness, her faith was severely assailed; but early one morning, after having dozed, she triumphantly exclaimed, “I have it now. Jesus has told me that He will 'come again, and receive me unto Himself;' 'that where He is, there I shall be also.'" Her countenance wore a heavenly expression as she gave utterance to the note of victory. It was the last attack of the enemy, and henceforth,— "Not a cloud did arise To darken the skies, Or hide for one moment her Lord from her eyes." The things of earth were now less noticed by her, and heavenly objects seemed more fully to engage her attention. Suddenly, on one occasion, as if thinking of Jesus,—and of whom or what can a dying Christian think, but of Him, who hath redeemed us to God by His blood ?-she exclaimed, "I'll praise my Maker while I've breath!' O, praise Him! praise Him!" When apparently unconscious of those around her bed, her eyes were uplifted and fixed, and her lips moved as if in converse. When asked what she was saying, her reply was, "I am talking to those whom you can neither see nor hear:" another illustration of a truth sometimes questioned, that the departing saint has perceptions of things beyond the range of human sense. His experience is more than faith. Certainly it was not in imagination only that Stephen, " being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God." Scepticism may ridicule this, and the perception of which we speak may not be subject to laws which the human mind can now trace; but there stands the fact, confirmed by the testimonies of many dying citizens of heaven, that they see the splendours of the house they are approaching, and recognise the spirits of their friends above, even before they join the ranks of the just made perfect. There can be no doubt that this was the case with the subject of this Memoir. The evening before she died, she was beckoning with her hands, as though she saw some whom she knew; and then suddenly exclaimed, in a tone full of joy, "Jesus is come! Jesus is in the room! 'In my Father's house are many mansions."" Upon one of her daughters saying, "O mother! there will be a sad |