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Month, 1866, when the expected summons came. He quietly lay down, took an affectionate leave of those around him, and his spirit departed in peace, to realise in all its fulness the glory he had so loved to anticipate, of "the inheritance with the saints in light."

There are many things in connection with which his memory is very dear to us. But we most love to dwell upon it, entwined, as it were, with the words of his last message to those with whom he had been wont to meet for the worship of God: "Tell them I die in the faith of Jesus. Tell them I die in the peace of Jesus-no fear-no doubts-no clouds. Tell them to give their whole hearts to Christ."

Jos. EDMONDSON.

I HAVE already observed how blessed a thing it is to be able even in all our comparatively trifling concerns to make God our counsellor; and if we need His counsel in these things, still more do we need it in making those changes which more evidently affect all our future life. How, indeed, can any who believe that their heavenly father hears and answers prayer, make choice of their occupation in life, form marriage connections, take a partner in business, remove their places of residence from one town or neighbourhood to another, allow themselves to be placed in any influential position in the world, or take any other important step in life without very earnest prayer for Divine guidance on the occasion? Many of these changes result from very trifling circumstances, so that, almost imperceptibly to ourselves, we are sometimes impelled towards a course of action over which we feel to have little or no control; therefore the importance of frequent prayer in regard to what appear our trifling concerns. Often, however, it is quite otherwise; often there is abundant time for calm and prayerful consideration; and he who neglects this does it in spite of our Saviour's example.-" Lectures on Prayer," by J. S. Sewell.

"IT IS I: BE NOT AFRAID."-MATT. XIV. 27.

OVER the lake the wild spray flew,

And chilled the sailors' hearts with fear, Till He who prayed apart, yet knew

And watched their anguish, drawing near,

Spake louder than the roaring deep
The words that made

Their hearts with sudden gladness leap,-
"Be not afraid."

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That beauteous world o'er Jordan's wave
Is reached through suffering here below;
The very blessings that we crave

Are chastened by our human wo;
But all with tenderest love is crowned,
With peace inlaid ;

O take and keep his words of cheer; "Be not afraid."

So, toiling here, or going hence,
In Christ, our anchor firm shall be,
From every danger our defence,
In every wo, our refuge, He:
Thus journeying to our home above,
Through light or shade,

We'll treasure up his words of love,
Nor be afraid.

L. S.

THE YEARLY MEETING OF FRIENDS.

THE Yearly Meeting of 1867 will not be looked back upon by future generations as a landmark in the history of our Society; it is not one in which any new ideas have been for the first time promulgated, to fill with alarm those who desire nothing further than to walk in the "beaten tracks," nor wherein any novel course of action has widened the departure from the habitual usages of the last hundred years. By this we do not mean that every resolution was adopted or document approved without any remonstrance from individual dissenters; had it been so, we should have been ready to believe that one of the chief characteristics of the Friends' Yearly Meeting was gone, never to return. The right, not only of individual conviction, but of expressing that conviction in opposition to the predominant sense of the church, we would describe, not even as one of the disadvantages of our freedom of church government; we would rather cherish it as one of our dearest privileges, as one of those bulwarks, to attempt to overthrow which would be to strike at the very root of Quakerism. We would even insist on the apparent paradox, that a Christian church can hardly be in a healthy condition, if there is not among its members a very wide variation in their conscientious views on some points. While we would acknowledge that the late Yearly Meeting has exhibited some advance in that tendency,grievous to many conscientious minds,-which distinguishes the legislation of the past ten years from that of the latter half of the eighteenth and the early

part of the present century, still we believe that the prevailing feeling which covered the meeting was one of re-uniting; of a conviction that we were all met for one common purpose, with one common end in view, and, in spite of differences of mental constitution, with the best interests of our religious body at heart. Very many will, we do not doubt, look back upon the Yearly Meeting of 1867 as a period of refreshment and strengthening in their religious course. The attendance was considered to be unusually large, possibly one of the largest on record.

The first business of importance, after calling over the names of the representatives, was, as usual, the reading of Epistles from Dublin Yearly Meeting, and all those in America except Philadelphia, an exception which continued to give rise to considerable feeling of regret. The epistle from Ireland was chiefly noticeable from its reference to an increased zeal, especially among its younger members, in the establishment of First-day Schools and Scripture Reading Meetings, and others for "religious instruction." This latter reference in particular occasioned the expression of some concern that the zeal might be according to knowledge, while others expressed unqualified satisfaction with the tenor of the epistle. An unusual number of our Irish Friends were present at the meeting. The American epistles referred, without exception, to the great change which is taking place in the position of the coloured race consequent on the abolition of slavery. The tone in which the subject was referred to seemed to us to indicate the rapid disappearance of that "prejudice of caste" which was the necessary result of a legal sanction of human bondage, and from which even Friends have been till lately far from clear. That from New England, the birth-place of abolition, was especially pronounced in claiming for their coloured

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