walk with God, he put the cause of Peace, to which we believe he would have liked largely to devote his life's energy. The total abstinence cause, too, had his sympathy and help. As a minister, a friend, a colleague, and a lover of his fellows, we mourn his loss."

In the beginning of the year 1891 a bright prospect of marriage opened before him, but this was most unexpectedly clouded by a very severe attack of mental depression to which there had been occasional tendency for some years, without, however, the least apprehension of its ever assuming a more serious form.

How earnestly he struggled against it is known only to God, and in some degree to those nearest and dearest to him in life. That he should have been overcome in this struggle is one of those awful mysteries in the presence of which human judgment is put to silence. Although under deep depression, he said he would go to meeting on the morning of Third month 22nd; and added, “I feel that I shall be able to kneel down, and ask for a blessing, and speak from the words, 'The Lord hath need of him;'" and this he did, and that evening, before retiring to rest for the last time, read several religious poems aloud, and joined in the family

reading. In this, as in all other trials of our faith, we can trust both ourselves, and those dearest to us, unreservedly in the hands of the Father, who "knoweth our frame," and who alone can see the whole history and significance of any human action. Though "God hid His face, He held him by the hand;" and we unhesitatingly believe that our beloved one is now among the number of those who have "washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb," who "rest from their labours and their works do follow them.".

"With silence only as their benediction

God's angels come

Where, in the shadow of a great affliction,

The soul sits dumb.

"Yet would I say what thy own heart approveth,Our Father's will,

Calling to Him the dear one whom He loveth,
Is mercy still.

"Not upon thee or thine the solemn angel

Hath evil wrought;

His funeral anthem is a glad Evangel,

The good die not!

"God calls our loved ones, but we lose not wholly What He hath given;

They live on earth, in thought and deed, as truly As in His heaven."

ANN BROWN, Luton. 83 24 12 mo. 1890

Widow of Henry C. Brown.

BENJAMINA BROWN,

73 24 4 mo. 1891

Stoke Newington. An Elder.

An Elder in good esteem was this dear

Friend in the large Quarterly Meeting of London

and Middlesex; well-known also to Friends generally and others, through his long connection with the London office of the Peace Society.

He was born in Third Month, 1834, at Chard, in Somerset, of parents who belonged to the Independents. Their circumstances were such as to necessitate his early employment, and he went to work in a lace factory, where his father also was engaged, when only twelve years old. A few years later found him in a solicitor's office at Ilminster, and a diary kept at this time shows that he had here opportunities for selfimprovement of which he took advantage to form an acquaintance with the leading works in English literature; and his own efforts at composition, and some connection formed with a local newspaper, looked as if his attention might become directed to literary pursuits. He however relinquished any such views in favour of learning a trade, and apprenticed himself for three years to a watch and clock maker at Fareham, near Southampton. On going to this place he attended, as had been his practice, the Independent place of worship, and became one of their Sabbath school teachers, showing an interest in the true welfare of its scholars.

He became acquainted with the principles

of Friends through meeting with a copy of "Barclay's Apology" in a library to which he had access; and after several years of thoughtful consideration, felt himself so thoroughly in accord with their views as to withdraw from the Congregational mode of worship, and in his then isolated position to seek, in the stillness of his own room, for spiritual communion with the Father of spirits, through Jesus Christ his Saviour. Subsequently an aged Friend joined him, and then other members of the household where he resided, and they held meetings regularly twice on First-days for some time, till his removal to Clevedon. Here he met regularly with the small company of Friends for two years before making application for membership. The Friends who visited him on this account reported "that he evinced much solid acquaintance with our principles; having yielded to the convictions of spiritual life in early youth, he was favoured to increase in strength; doubts and hard things had been removed, and it was a sense of duty prompted him thus to profess his belief in the principles of the Gospel as held by Friends." Under these circumstances it is almost needless to add that his desires were willingly met by recording him a member in the

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