were obtained by depending for the enforcement of discipline upon the inculcation of the doctrines and precepts of the Bible on the hearts and consciences of the young, accompanied with earnest prayer for the sauctifying influences of the Holy Spirit. He mentioned some touching cases in which, by persevering with unwavering faith in the use of these means, the hearts even of the most depraved and hardened had been softened and converted to God.

LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY.-The services in connexion with the anniversary of this noble Society commenced on Wednesday, May 13th, when the usual annual sermons were preached.

The Meeting of the Society was held the following morning in Exeter-Hall, when there was a large attendance. The proceedings were unusually interesting, and it has been generally admitted that the Society has not for years had a more successful gathering. MR. W. E. BAXTER, M.P., in presiding, felicitously sketched the progress of public opinion with regard to the importance of Christian Missions. The time was when men of literature and science ridiculed the efforts of a few "fanatical religionists," as they were termed, to spread Christianity throughout the whole earth; and long and weary were those years before the seed sown in toil and suffering began to give promise of a harvest. But now all was changed. Politicians and literary men alike acknowledged that a great work was going on; and it was for the Christians of this country to meet that spirit of inquiry which they themselves had raised. He heartily congratulated the Meeting on the changed aspect of the affairs of the Society since last year. Thanks to the liberality of the churches at home, and thanks to the cordial co-operation of the great majority of the Missionaries abroad, the financial prospect of the Society was much more cheerful, and he hoped that its friends would take care that, in the face of the tremendous responsibility which they had incurred, no part of the great Mission-field shonld be allowed to suffer. The REV. DR. MULLENS presented the Annual Report, which was an eloquent paper upon the progress of Missions in the various stations occupied by the Society's agents. The receipts for general parposes during the year were £82,569, and for special objects, £15,049, making a total of £97,618. Other sources of income raised the entire sum to £111,306. The expenditure was £110,244, leaving a balance in favour of the Society of £1,062.

The REV. WILLIAM MUIRHEAD, who had spent twenty-one years in Shanghai, in addressing the Meeting, said that, regarding their work as a whole, not less than twelve hundred had been received into the credible profession of faith in Christ in and about Shanghai. Some had come from the schools, where they were imbued with the pride and prejudice, the atheism and scepticism of Confucian philosophy; yet even they had learned to submit themselves in humility, penitence, and faith at the foot of the cross. Others came from a lower class, who were accustomed to bow themselves at the idol's shrine, and to seek for peace and prosperity in the temples of their country's gods; but they had now cast these aside, and they had solemnly pledged themselves to be the Lord's. In conclusion, he pleaded most earnestly on behalf of China, "In view of China being what it is; in view of its openings, the accessibility to Missionary enterprise; in view of your being the followers and servants of Jesus Christ; in view of the grandeur of the object contemplated, and the success already realized, will you not still more come up to the help of the Lord?' We ask for men who will give themselves wholly and devotedly to the work, travelling far and wide, preaching the Gospel, and seeking to make the millions around them ac quainted with its blessed sound. We ask means, too, in order to uphold these in the field; and we desire a warm spirit of sympathy, and interest, and prayer to be awakened in their behalf. Fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, in the common bond of redemption, what will you do for China? Young men aiming at the ministry, young Missionaries aspiring to still higher, nobler, grander work, I beseech you even now to ponder well your future work and services, and seek at the throne of grace what God would have you do, and where God would have you go."

LONDON CITY MISSION.-The Annual Meeting of the friends and supporters of this Society was held in Exeter- Hall on Thursday, May 7th, and was numerously attended. The EARL OF CAVAN presided.

The REV. J. GARWOOD, the secretary, read the Report. It stated that during the year the Society had had financial and other difficulties to encounter, but on the whole it had made more progress than might have been anticipated. ceipts of the year were £36,464. 17s. 4d., which was an increase over those of the previous year of £1,504. ls. Gd., the increase being mainly in the amount

The re

derived from legacies; but, on the other hand, the receipts from legacies in the previous year or two had been exceptionally small. At the previous anniversary the Committee had the painful duty of reporting that their expenditure had exceeded their receipts by more than £2,000, and they had therefore been compelled to reduce the number of Missionaries, but had resolved not to reduce them below 350 without making a special effort to increase the receipts. They were now thankful to report that after the expenditure of the past year had been met, there remained over £763, and that the number of Missionaries had been increased to 355, with the promise on the part of the Committee to appoint Missionaries to six other districts, making the number of Missionaries 361. This increase in the number of workers they regarded as small and humiliating compared with the increase of the population; but, on the other hand, the Committee could not but feel it to be a cause of thankfulness. The past year had witnessed a far more than ordinary degree of suffering on the part of the classes visited by the Missionaries, some branches of trade having been almost at a stand, and large numbers of families of the working-classes had been more or less in a state of distress. During the year, through the instrumentality of the Society, 1,335 drunkards had been reclaimed, 676 families had been induced to commence family-prayer, 1,440 persons had become communicants, 9,202 children had been sent to schools, 6,882 visits had been paid to adults who had subsequently died, 37,111 in-door meetings and Bible-classes had been held, and 16,251 meetings in factories, workhouses, and penitentiaries; the number of domiciliary visits had been nearly 2,000,000; and 9,799 copies of the Scriptures and 2,794,833 religious tracts had been distributed.

LONDON BIBLE AND HOME MISSION. -L. N. R., the author of "The Missing Link," and the secretary and director of the mission, has furnished to her constituents and supporters a review of 1867, the tenth year of noble service. She opens with a reference to the poverty and distress which have been so widely prevalent. It has been "a year of continued mercy and responsibility." Moreover, "intercourse with the Bible-women has of late been unusually depressing their faces reflect the poverty they see with so little power to relieve it." And yet, when they tell us this, in the same breath they recall their words. They know well how their visits

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are welcomed by their poor friends, and how the mothers' meetings are valued, really and simply for their Bible-teachings; and, though it is often their lot to pass in and out from morning to night amid scenes of woe, they always witness that theirs is a loving and blessed ministry, of "bending down" (as the vicar of Islington, in a recent pastoral address to the female superintendents, expressed it) "to the poor and lowly, to the bungry and thirsty in soul, the fruitful branches of that tree of life whose leaves are for the healing of the nations."" Donations to special districts during the year, together with goodly gifts to the general working funds, were £10,884. 135. 11d. The superintendents have received in payment from the poor: for Bibles, £982. 48. 2d.; for clothing, beds, and soup, £5,477. 78. 1d.-total, £6,459. 118. 3d., which, added to the donations already mentioned, makes the entire income for the year £17,344. 5s. 2d. The total expenditure was £17,920 17s. 10d., including salaries of Bible-women, pioneers, and women in training, besides rent and fire in mission-rooms, and aid to poor mothers, nearly £7,100. Further, there has been 'returned to the poor' (out of small sums from time to time paid in by them, of which the greater part would have been spent on drink) no less than £5,809 128 3d. Another item is "help to Bible-women and distressed cases," £611. 10s. 9d. We give these figures because they indicate facts most impressive. The Gospel, or rather let us say Christ and His great salvation-these are what are ever foremost and uppermost. The poor families among whom the Bible-women labour purchase Bibles, and "the longer the Book takes to purchase in small sums, the better it answers the purpose of the Bible-woman, whose many calls for each small sum afford her opportunities for domestic infla ence, and for pointing out the treasures that the Book contains.”—British Messenger.

SERVICES IN THEATRES, &c.-The following buildings were opened by the Committee during the past course of services (1867-1868): Surrey theatre, Blackfriars-road, with an attendance vary. ing from 2,000 to 2,500; Pavilion theatre, Whitechapel, 1,500 to 2,000; Standard theatre, Shoreditch (two Sundays only), 1,700 to 1,800; Sadler's-Wells theatre, Clerkenwell, 1,300 to 1,500; City of London theatre, Norton-Folgate, 500 to 800; Cambridge music-hall, Shoreditch, 400 to 500; Marylebone musichall, High-street, Marylebone, 400 to 500. During the past series, the Committee are

was punctually attended to morning and evening, to which all the servants were summoned by the ringing of a bell. The sanctity of the Lord's day was held inviolable, and the sanctuary was attended as regularly by the family as if they had lived in a private house.

Mr. Churchill was a man of deep piety. He was not demonstrative. He made no loud and boastful professions. But he had the calm enjoyment of settled peace; and he held constant communion with God. His principles were true and firm, and his consistency was uniform. He was considered by all who knew him to be a most estimable man, for he had a pleasant temper, and a gentle and genial spirit.

Mr. Churchill was an intelligent Methodist. He studied our economy; carefully read the successive Minutes of the Conference, and made himself acquainted with the reasonableness of the provisions and regulations contained therein. He was a man of much practical sagacity. When the resources of the Gloucester Circuit were crippled by a mischievous agitation, he originated a scheme which saved the Circuit stewards the necessity of giving up their second minister. For many years he filled the principal offices in Methodism to which a layman can be elected; yet when the proper time came to retire from those offices he always did so with a good grace, and afterwards rendered all the aid that he could to his successors.

Mr. Churchill was exemplary in his domestic relationships. Never was there a kinder husband, or a more loving father. Though not indifferent to the claims or the charms of society, yet his delight was to be at his own fireside, enjoying the society of his own family circle.

His decease was sudden. On Thursday, February 12th, 1863, he was seized with illness, and from that time made no communication to those around him, which indeed was not necessary to assure them of his religious state and prospects. Having glorified God in his life, to be from the body" with him was to be "present with the Lord."

absent

At his funeral a great number of his fellow-citizens expressed the regret experi enced at his removal. The shops were generally closed. Hundreds of persons lined the streets through which the funeral cortege passed; and the mayor and corporation attended; thus showing that no ordinary man was that day being taken to his last resting-place.

DIED at Netherton Colliery, near Morpeth, ANN LEE, the beloved wife of

Mr. William Lee, aged sixty-six. Having served the Lord for forty-eight years, during the whole of which period she was enabled by the grace of God to "walk worthy of the vocation wherewith she was called." She was born at Darlington, January 26th, 1802. Her mother, who was a pious member of the Wesleyan-Methodist Society, not only sought herself to train her for Christ, but sent her to the Wesleyan Sabbath-school, where her early religious impressions were fostered. She belonged to the select class conducted by Mrs. Vasey, mother of the Rev. Thomas Vasey; and under her teaching and admonitions she received those deep convictions which ultimately led to her conversion.

At the age of twelve years, she experienced a severe trial in the death of her Christian mother. What she beheld in her of the sustaining grace of God, and how she was enabled to triumph in the prospect of eternity, greatly deepened, by God's blessing, these convictions. She felt that if she would be prepared to meet the last enemy, as her dear mother had done, she must be born again of the Spirit; that no mere form of religion, no attendance upon the means of grace, however regular, would suffice to give her peace in a dying hour.

But it was not until she was seventeen years of age that she became fully decided to serve the Lord. At this time she resided in Hull, and ofttimes she has been heard to say that, while there sitting under the preaching of the Word, in one of the large chapels, "her soul seemed to melt like wax before the fire." At this crisis a pious fellow-servaut persuaded her to go to a class-meeting. It was at this means of grace that she realized such a view of the worthlessness of all human morality, apart from a Divine change, that her mouth was stopped " before God, and she resolved to look to Christ alone for salvation. She was soon enabled to trust savingly in Him; and then she knew, by happy experience, that God, for the sake of the Lord Jesus, had pardoned her sins, and received her as His child. Conscious that she was made "a new creature," she now "rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Her love to God and to His people at this time was intense.

She highly valued the class-meeting; and after she was married, and became a mother, she frequently took two or three of her children with her, hoping they might learn to value this means of grace. To the end of her life, she cherished an

ardent attachment for the person who first persuaded her in this way to unite herself with the people of God. From the commencement of her membership in the Wesleyan-Methodist Society to the termination of her earthly pilgrimage, a period of nearly fifty years, she continued without intermission to receive quarterly ticket. Under all circumstances, whether in days of sunshine or of storm, she closely adhered to that religious community, her fellowship with which had, ander God, been made so great a blessing to her soul.

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To her husband, whose joys and sorrows she was permitted to share for forty-two years, she was a helpmate indeed; and with much maternal wisdom she trained ap a large family for Christ and heaven. Each child, at its birth, was, by her and her husband, solemnly dedicated to the triane God. As a mother, she so conducted herself towards her children as to command their respect and obedience. She was greatly rewarded in finding that she did not labour in vain; for it was her privilege to see the whole of her family united to that branch of the Church to which she was so strongly attached. One of her sons became a Local preacher in the county of Durham; another in Australia, and a third an itinerant minister in America. Others who died early left behind them the assurance that they had gone before, to await and greet her in the heavenly rest.

As a wife, her constant study was to promote the comfort of her husband, and to render him all the help and encouragement she could in his important work as a Local preacher. While struggling with the difficulties of providing for a young and numerous faraily, her unwavering faith would bear him up, as well as bring consolation to her own soul. She fully believed that He who clothes the lilies, and feeds the inferior creation, would not cease to care and provide for His children. She often recalled the words of Jesus, "Ye are of more value than many sparrows." It was her settled conviction, that if they sought "first the kingdom of God and His righteousness," all needful things would be "added;" that God, having given the greater blessing, would doubtless bestow the less.

Meanwhile her own spiritual life was becoming stronger and yet stronger. From the day of her espousal to the Saviour her motto was "onward," and she experienced a growing conformity to His image.

She was one among the band of faith

ful ones who, hoping almost against hope, persevered until, by the Divine blessing, the erection of a chapel at Haswell, in the Durham Circuit, was accomplished. She reflected upon this work with great pleasure, and thanked God for having permitted her to be connected with it. She also shared largely in the efforts by which a chapel was procured for Netherton Colliery.

She was always liberal, to the extent of her ability, to the cause of God. Her house for many years was a preachers' home; and they who were entertained by her had not only the pleasure of witnessing her generous hospitality, but of listening to her ripe experience and valaable counsel. One minister has remarked that," she was truly one of the excellent of the earth; her piety was deep-toned and practical, evidencing itself in all the conduct of life."

During the last few months of her earthly career, she did not enjoy her usual physical health, and this she regarded as an intimation from her Saviour that she should be in readiness for His call. Το those who witnessed her walk and conversation at this time, it was manifest that she was growing fast in meetness for "the inheritance of the saints in light."

Writing to her son who was a minister in America, after much motherly advice, she quoted the well-known words:"Tis Jesus, the first and the last,

Whose Spirit shall guide us safe home;
We'll praise Him for all that is past,
And trust Him for all that's to come."

In reading over the letter to her husband before sending it to the post, when she came to these lines she burst into tears, and exclaimed, "O the matchless love of Jesus! It melts my heart into tenderness."

On the evening of December 31st, 1867, she appeared in rather better health than usual. When her husband and daughter left her to go to the watch-night service, she would not allow them to take the key of the house; but said, "Nay, I will do as I have hitherto done-wait your return." She received them very cheerfully at the conclusion of the service, and responded to their affectionate greeting, by wishing them both, but her husband emphatically, "A happy new year." After some conversation and family prayer, Mrs. Lee with her youngest daughter retired to rest. Twice during that NewYear's morn Mr. Lee went into her room, and found her, as he supposed, sleeping comfortably.

He returned to his own room until