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Passing Thoughts on Religion. By the Author of " Amy Herbert," "Thoughts for the Holy Week,” &c. London: Longman, Green, Longman, & Roberts.

THIS work, in the diversity of its topics and the gravity and sombreness of its reflections, in its penetrating knowledge of human nature and its discriminating analysis of character, resembles "Owen Feltham's Thoughts;" but it differs from it in being more evangelical in sentiment and pious in feeling, and in bringing Gospel truth (not mere moral philosophy) to bear upon the heart. It is solid, judicious, and practical; more adapted, however, to probe the conscience and engender humility and contrition than to lead the soul

into the higher enjoyments of religion.

The Book for all Ages; or, Stories of the Green Pastures where all may feed. By the Author of "Have You?" London: J. F. Shaw.

BEAUTIFUL Sketches of character in various conditions of life, showing the value of religion, and how to get it; the sterling excellence of the Bible, and its adaptation to enlighten, console, and purify the soul, to lead to Christ, to virtue, and true happiness. Old and young, rich and poor, the sinner, the penitent, and the saint, will each find it attractive

and profitable. It is got up in a style worthy of its excellent matter.

The Lost Jewel. A Tale. By A.

L. O. E. London: J. F. Shaw. A TALE well told, full of startling and exciting incident; designed to show in the lost jewel the priceless value of the soul, the awful peril of its condition, and the consummate folly of bartering it for the gilded toys of pleasure, gaiety, and sensuality.

Light Beyond; Thoughts to Guide and

Cheer. By Rebecca M. Redford.
London: J. Snow.

THE theme is Heaven-its society, its joys, its security, its freedom from sorrow and pain, and its eternity, are set forth; and these delightful topics are followed by the solemn practical inquiry-are we preparing for that happy world? The aim of the pious author is evidently the spiritual good of the reader, and the matter of the book is calculated to give effect to the purpose.

History of the Old Covenant. From the German of J. H. Kurtz, D.D. Translated by James Martin, B.A. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark. London: Hamilton, Adams, and Co.

THIS very able work will be noticed in our next number.

I HEARD THE VOICE OF JESUS.

I HEARD the voice of Jesus say,

Come unto Me and rest;

Poetry.

Lay down, thou weary one, lay down
Thy head upon My breast.
I came to Jesus as I was,
Weary, and worn, and sad;
I found in Him a resting-place,
And He has made me glad.
I heard the voice of Jesus say,
Behold, I freely give
The living water-thirsty one
Stoop down, and drink and live.

I came to Jesus, and I drank
Of that life-giving stream;
My thirst was quench'd, my soul
reviv'd,

And now I live in Him.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
I am this dark world's light;
Look unto Me, thy morn shall rise,
And all thy day be bright.
I look'd to Jesus, and I found
In Him my star, my sun;
And in that light of life I'll walk,
Till travelling days are done.
BONAR.

THE METHODIST

NEW CONNEXION MAGAZINE.

APRIL, 1860.

Biography.

MEMOIR OF THE REV. CHARLES S. MOORE. By the early death of Mr. Moore our community has lost a minister of no small power and promise. The hand of friendship has gathered up the fragments of his brief history, and now adds them to that biographical theology which helps, from month to month, to nourish and strengthen the minds and hearts of our beloved people.

Guernsey was the place, and August the 28th, 1834, the time, of our departed brother's birth. The early morning of his life was clouded by suffering and sorrow. Until six years old, a visual affliction was the cause of much pain and apprehension; and about the time of its removal, his home was darkened by the death of his father, who, snatched away at the age of thirty-four, left a widow with six children, of whom the eldest was but ten years old. Mrs. Moore, however, knew Him who says " Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me." Rejoicing in his presence, and relying on his power, she began anew to feed the young hearts depending upon her with food divine, and to guide and guard her candidates for immortality. Feeling that her mission was to "look well to the ways of her household," she strove to form her children's character by religious instruction, and to shape their conduct by firm and faithful discipline, mixed with unwearied love. Yet, knowing that without God's Spirit and blessing such efforts would be vain, the anxious mother often gathered her children around the throne of grace, and interceded for the blessing of the widow's God upon her youthful charge. Moreover, having given her children, at seasonable times, to the church by baptism, she claimed for them its covenanted privileges and helps; and, by taking them to its ordinances and its Sabbath school, enabled the church to bring to bear upon them its most precious influences, and to preserve them within its sacred enclosures. Such efforts were not-as they could not be-in vain.

Charles (the subject of this sketch), though vivacious and resolute, was apt to learn; and happily, at the age of thirteen, he became wise unto salvation by faith in Christ Jesus. His conversion, which was not caused or characterized by anything extraordinary, revealed itself

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in a strong desire to be useful; and, in the language of Saul of Tarsus -the Paul of the gospel-he inquired of his Saviour, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" The Great Master, who has always work for his servants, of whatever age, soon appointed him to a field of labour. In the Sunday school he began to bestir himself for Christ and precious souls; and, from the first, he commended himself unto the scholars in his class, and secured their affectionate regards. This is not surprising, for, while his manners were pleasing, the matter of his lessons was carefully prepared beforehand; and so prepared as not to be dry and tedious, but well fitted to interest and abide with his class. In fact, he made teaching a delight, not a drudgery; a work, not a burlesque; a daily and nightly study, not a pastime nor a pretence.

Teacher! few duties are more honourable, nor, if worthily discharged, more onerous than yours. If you realize aright the responsibility of your calling, as a sower of good seed in the souls of the young, you will deem no preparatory toil too great, so as to be prepared with the best supply at your command; and, when you cast that seed into those souls, you will do it so prayerfully, earnestly, and carefully, that the Holy Spirit will delight to shed his grace upon it, to call forth its hidden life into visible and vigorous development. Yet so utterly neglectful are many teachers of this preparation work-and, as a result, so little of the precious seed of saving truth do they take with them to their work-field-that we cannot wonder if, after years of such treatment, it looks sterile and unpromising as ever. The wonder would be if it looked anything else. Our farmers do not so. If they did, their tillage-lands would be ruinously barren. Never dreaming to find seed awaiting them in the fields they wish to sow, they prepare, months beforehand, to take it with them there. Threshed and winnowed, it is stored in the granary; and is thus ready, in seed-time, for the soil then prepared to receive it. Go, teachers, and do likewise; or your efforts will amount only to trifling, and end only in nothing! The school, like the farm, must have good seed; and, before it has to be sown, it must be well housed in the teacher's mind, apart from chaff and tares, and in abundant quantity. Why, without a miracle, even God himself cannot produce a harvest if such seed be not secured and sown; this is indispensable. Oh, teacher! glorious is your privilege of profiting the world of youth. The spring time and the soft ground are yours. Take in your seed-basket, and cast into the soil the grain of pure, spiritual, saving truth. Sow in faith, and, as often as is meet, in tears as well. Your tears will help to moisten the soil and to water the seed. And in life's autumn, or afterwards-on earth or in heaventhe joy and recompense of harvest-home shall be yours.

For five years Mr. Moore made Sabbath-school teaching his study, labour, and joy. Then a wider sphere and higher duties demanded his attention, and engaged his powers. In September, 1852, he was accepted by the quarterly meeting as a local preacher on trial. Shortly after he preached his first sermon at St. Martin's village, Guernsey, taking for a text, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ." Thus, in the choice of a text, at any rate, he began well: would that all beginners were equally judicious! Desiring to appear great, almost before they are small, in theological acquirement, many

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begin their ministry so foolish in the choice of subjects, as to be utterly unworthy of the name:-a ministry not having one Bible-promise attaching to it, nor one covenanted blessing going out of it upon the people. Our brother was wiser than such brethren; and though unknown to universities, having a Methodist Church for his college, and for his tutor God, yet, as he began to preach, not himself, but Christ Jesus the Lord, the Holy Spirit was in the speaker, and put upon him the crowning honour of winning souls to Christ.

In a short time he went to live at Radstock, near Bath; and, as our Community had no interest there, Mr. Moore at once joined the Wesleyans. Continuing to exercise as a local preacher on trial, he was, at the close of the fourth quarter, received" on full plan." As yet he had not recognized, perhaps not received, a Divine call to devote himself entirely to the work of the ministry; hence he returned to Guernsey, early in the year 1854, to consummate a union for which he had prepared, and to give his life to worldly employment and the local ministry. But, while man purposes, God effects; "the heart of man deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps." Guided, as we think, by the Lord, Mr. Moore's best friends dissuaded him from his purpose, and urged him to devote himself fully to the study of the sublime doctrines of the gospel, and to become an ambassador for Christ. Not wishing to be precipitant, nor to oppose the will of God, he took some time to consider and pray over the matter, and to commune with his own heart about his future duty; which exercises issued in a clear and solemn conviction of his call to the ministry. Accordingly, he offered himself, through the Guernsey circuit, to our Connexion, and was cordially accepted.

His ministerial life commenced in September, 1854. The illness of the Rev. J. Flather occasioned the need of a supply at Shrewsbury. Mr. Moore was at once sent there. This appointment was a trying one. Being young in years and in Christian experience, and having had but limited privileges of acquiring ministerial resources, or of exercising his ministerial gifts, the work of the Salop circuit would tax to the utmost his abilities and acquirements. With courage and confidence, however, he met and mastered every difficulty; and with so much acceptance did he labour, that the circuit recommended him to the ensuing Conference, as a suitable candidate for ministerial probation. It is gratifying to find, by the following remarks, in a letter received from the Rev. J. Flather, that his personal estimate of Mr. Moore accords with that of the circuit in which they first met.

"I was startled (says Mr. F.) at the suddenness of the death of our lamented brother Moore. He came as supply for me, during my illness, in Shrewsbury, and I had free and constant intercourse with him. Few days passed in which I was not in his company. He was of a frank and confiding spirit, and always acted without reserve in my presence. His affectionate disposition, and willingness to oblige, made him a favourite with all my family. Whatever he could do to aid me was done with a promptitude and cordiality that endeared him to me. Any advice that I gave him was received with pleasure; and any service that I was able to render him was invariably reciprocated by him with fervent and abiding gratitude. His heart was in

the work of the ministry, and his desire was to excel as a minister. His temperament was lively, which made him very susceptible of external influences. When he came to Shrewsbury he was very young, and to a great extent unprepared for the responsible position in which he was placed; so that it would be unfair to criticize his labours in the pulpit, more than to say that he gave unquestionable evidence of mental power, which by culture and experience would ultimately have made him an effective minister. Alas! he is suddenly taken from the sphere of labour, and his spirit is now with the Lord."

By the Conference of 1855 Mr. Moore was received on probation, and appointed to Birmingham. During the year he diligently cultivated his mind by reading and study; and in the pulpit displayed qualities which promised, by patient and persevering culture, to make him a workman needing not to be ashamed. In the pastorate he was less successful than in the pulpit; though the precise cause and complexion of his failing may be ascribed more to inexperience, and that "special susceptibility to external influences" which characterized him, than to any inaptitude for the social duties of his office, or to any indisposition to discharge them. It was not that he neglected them altogether, but that his pastoral attentions were less general than they should have been; and so occasioning complaint that he heeded not the precept," Giving no offence in anything, that the ministry be not blamed." This matter his worthy superintendent, Mr. Turnock, took pains to adjust; and the following touching letter, sent by Mr. Turnock to the Rev. R. Henshaw, reveals a cordiality and Christian love, which nought but real excellence could have inspired :—

"I deeply regret to hear of the death of Mr. Moore, and most sincerely do I mourn for him. His year with me was the first of his ministry, and the work was comparatively new to him. I found him ever open to instruction and counsel; he always appeared willing to be directed in the great work he had undertaken, and often expressed himself as being grateful for friendly advice.

"He was kind and cordial with me in the circuit, and ever ready to unite in plans of usefulness: to this I never found an exception. He was most anxious about Revivals; and though not formed by nature to be a bold, startling, thundering preacher, yet he was, in heart and effort, a Revivalist; and had Divine Providence spared his life, had he vigorously pursued his studies, and had his piety been fanned into a holy flame, he would have been very successful in this work. Of his piety, you will know as much I. I have often found pleasure in listening to his experience. No doubt he often held communion with God. I did, indeed, wish that he might live to make full proof of his ministry; but, before his powers were fully expanded, he was removed to a world where they will unfold for ever. What a future is before him in the better land to which, no doubt, he is gone!

"Farewell! till we meet again, my sainted brother. Yes, we shall meet in heaven! My heart is full while I write these few lines. Glad should I have been to stand by his death-bed, for a last interview."

From Birmingham he was removed to the Thorne Circuit, and resided in Epworth--dear to Methodism, old and new, as the birthplace of Wesley and Kilham. In this wide circuit he had, in truth, to

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