tion," and he conducted the service after the usual manner, only reading the sermon, instead of delivering it extempore or memoriter. The text was admirably appropriate: "It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing." A gracious effusion of Divine influence was vouchsafed; visible good was effected, and many were satisfied with the goodness of the house of the Lord. "He A short time after this, the circuit preacher met the society for tickets. Thomas was in the chapel, but kept his place in a corner. When the minister had spoken to all belonging to the class, the leader directed his attention to the brother in the corner. On coming forward, he was asked if he had a desire to join them in church-fellowship. To the delight of all present he said, "I am here for that purpose." He was at once accepted as a full member of the church. A week after he was constituted a class-leader, and in six weeks more he became a duly authorised local preacher. Henceforth, Brother Hireson's own compositions supplied the place of Mr. Burder's sermons. The gospel which he faithfully preached proved to many the power of God unto salvation. Though he was, temporally, a great loser by acting on his conscientious convictions, yet he was a gainer in turning many to righteousness, and so was entitled to the promise to "shine as the stars, for ever and ever." Though he calculated afterwards that, during the ensuing fifteen years, his net income was less than it would have been to the amount of two hundred pounds, yet, as his sphere of usefulness in the region of Methodism was superior to that connected with the Church, he has, doubtless, discovered in the better land to which he has gone, that his sacrifices for conscience' sake were among his largest profits. As a preacher he was modest and unassuming, but earnest, zealous, and indefatigable. His duties did not sit lightly on his shoulders. He did not labour or refrain from labour as mere inclination or convenience dictated. He was not only regular in fulfilling his stated appointments, but his "line reached" to other places also. He would frequently walk many miles to a village in which the Methodists had no society, that there, under the vast expanse of heaven, he might proclaim "the good tidings of great joy" intended for "every creature." About seven years ago he settled at Stratford, Essex. He here became the subject of a painful affection, which eventually terminated his exemplary life. For some years, however, after his seizure by the dire disease, he continued to labour in his secular employment, and also in calling sinners to repentance. During the last four months of his earthly existence his sufferings were excruciating; but no complaint escaped from his lips. He had that within which "checks the murmur and the sigh." In the most violent paroxysms he frequently exclaimed, Thy will be done! It is all in love!" The exceedingly great and precious promises were very refreshing to him. He would sometimes repeat one or more of them with evident delight. They were his staff 66 and his stay. He was much pleased when the writer said to him, during one of his visits, that there were nearly a thousand promises in God's Book, and that every one of them belonged to him. He smiled, and said that it was so. Brother J. R. Brown, who often visited him, remembers some peculiarly refreshing seasons. While engaged in conversation and prayer together, God sometimes so manifested his presence, and so filled the heart of his afflicted servant with holy joy, that his mouth was filled with the language of praise and triumph, though his pains were so violent that nature seemed as if it could bear no more. When his pains were unusually severe, his consolations were proportionately abundant. He was, therefore, willing to have the pains if he might but have the comforts too. About ten days before his death, he requested his family and the friends present to kneel down, and though his pains and his weakness were great, yet he would kneel also. He then poured out his soul in earnest prayer and thanksgiving. It was an affecting occasion. A few days after, his son John said to him, "You are going full sail into port." With a peaceful smile, he said, "Yes, it will soon be over." "You His son sat up with him during the last night. To all appearance his sight had entirely failed. Though he could scarcely speak, and life was ebbing apace, yet it was evident that he was holding communion with God. In the morning he called for his son by name, as though he wished to make some special communication; but it was too late. He could not speak, but firmly grasped his son's hand. John said, "You are very near your journey's end." He replied, “Yes.” will soon see the King in his beauty." He distinctly and feelingly said, "Yes!". "You will soon see him as he is." The third time he said, "Yes!" During his few remaining hours his hands were clasped as they were wont to be when he was engaged in prayer. At length he quietly breathed out his spirit to be received into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. "His God did not forsake him in his final hour; His final hour brought glory to his God." His death occurred on the 9th of August, 1856, he being in the 69th of his age. year On the Sunday after, his remains were taken to the schoolroom belonging to the Wesleyan Reformers, Stratford, when an affecting address was given by Brother Joseph Smith, of the Third London Circuit. On the 31st of August the writer preached on the occasion, at Stratford, to a large congregation; and also in London, on October 5th, in compliance with the request of the preachers' meeting. That meeting also resolved that the following record should be printed on the circuit plan, which was accordingly done : "The Preachers' Meeting desires to record its high sense of the Christian worth of our late Brother Thomas Hireson, who died at Stratford, August 9th. It rejoices in the recollection of the unblemished consistency, ardent piety, and long-continued usefulness of our departed brother. "It earnestly commends, as an example deserving of universal imitation, the unaffected humility, the uniform gentleness, the fervent attachment to Christ, and the yearning anxiety for the salvation of immortal souls, by which our late brother was eminently distinguished. The meeting feels that this brief but affectionate memorial is due to departed excellence. "His funeral sermon was preached by Mr. Barlow to a large congregation in Jubilee Street chapel, October 5th, from Our friend, Lazarus, sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep.'" Biblical Notes and Queries. "MY TWO WITNESSES." NOTE ON REV. xi. 4. MANY different opinions have been expressed by commentators as to the meaning of the peculiar expression "My two witnesses "-in the book of Revelation, its remarkable definiteness, and the importance of the work ascribed to the prophetical personages to whom it is applied having always attracted a large portion of attention from biblical expositors and inquirers. I have no intention to attempt to enumerate or even elucidate any of those opinions, but a few thoughts that have occurred to my own mind may not be unacceptable perhaps to the readers of the LOCAL PREACHERS' MAGAZINE. The explanation given by the revealing angel of the meaning of the phrase is found in Rev. xi. 4.-" These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth." It seems that, whatever meaning be attached to the phrase "My two witnesses," it must accord with the proper scriptural signification of the terms used by the angel. Our Lord, in the opening vision of St. John's prophecy, himself informed the apostle that "the seven candlesticks" which he then saw were "the seven churches." Now as the slightest approach to the interpretation of a symbol, found in the scriptures themselves, is of more value and authority than the most learned and elaborate arguments_built by human ingenuity and research, we are justified in regarding the two wit nesses, here designated candlesticks, as churches, whatever may be the difficulties which such an interpretation involves. The two cases have points of parallelism worthy of notice. In the first, seven churches were enumerated, and then John saw seven candlesticks. In the second, two witnesses are specified, and it is immediately said, "these are two candlesticks." In the first instance, the seven churches are localised-they are "of Asia," and answer in number to the symbols seen. In the second, the witnesses are specially marked and claimed by the Divine Revealer in some peculiar sense as His: they are "my two witnesses," and "the two candlesticks;" evidently implying some peculiarity of selection and office which does not attach to the seven Asiatic churches. This latter characteristic also furnishes the strong point of contrast. The symbol of the olive-tree, unlike that of the candlestick, is not explained in the book of Revelation; but it is frequently used in other parts of scripture as a symbol of Israel. Jeremiah says distinctly xi. 16, "The Lord called thy name, A green olive-tree, fair, and of goodly fruit." This text alone renders it probable that, whoever may be the other, Israel is one of those two olivetrees which our Lord here terms "my two witnesses." Isaiah (xvii. 6.) also uses the same symbol for Israel. But perhaps the most remarkable instance of its use is that by Paul, in Romans xi., where, under the similitude of a good olive-tree and a wild olive graffed in, he argues with the Christian Gentiles against the notion that God had cast away his ancient people. Here we have the symbol definitely affixed both to the Jewish nation and to the Gentile Christian church, adding to the probability that the two witnesses are intended to represent churches both Jewish and Christian. But if we admit the application of the preceding solutions, the term "witnesses" requires some attention before they can be finally adopted. Throughout the book of Revelation the people of God are spoken of as being killed and being rewarded for two things:-"the word of God, and the witness (or testimony) of Jesus." There is no room to dispute the application of both these terms to Christian witnesses and martyrs; and its propriety is manifest when we turn to the last words of Christ to his disciples as recorded in Acts i. 8,-" Ye shall be witnesses unto me unto the uttermost part of the earth." Comparing this with many other passages in which the disciples are called "witnesses" for Jesus and the resurrection (see Acts i. 22; John xv, 27; Acts ii. 32, &c.), the evidence is sufficiently complete that the Christian church must be one of the bodies which Christ designates "my two witnesses." But can Israel be the other? We have seen that the symbol of "olive-tree” applied to Israel is strictly appropriate and legitimate: Is there any instance in which the Jews are as clearly and definitely called God's witnesses ? In a remarkable prophecy of Isaiah, which evidently refers to the times of the present dispensation, and the condi tion of the Jews under it,-after being addressed, xliii. 8, as "the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears," the prophet in the name of the Lord appeals to them as "witnesses that he is God, that beside Him there is no Saviour, and that beside Him there is no God." See xliii. 10, 12.; xliv. 8. The whole passage is peculiarly striking, After calling upon the nations to bring forth their "witnesses (in behalf of the gods whom they serve) "that they may be justified," direct appeal is made to Israel by Jehovah himself:- "Ye are iny witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen. I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is وو : no Saviour. I have declared (or spoken) and have saved (delivered), and I have showed (or revealed), when there was no strange God among you; therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God."-xliii. 10,12. And then, after enumerating some of his gracious dealings, and upbraiding Israel for ingratitude and rebellion, the forty-fourthchapter opens with that magnificent promise of the out-pouring of the Spirit in the latter day :- "Yet now hear, O Jacob, my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen fear not, for I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring; "while to encourage the people through the long trial which it was foreseen their faith would undergo, Jehovah again reverts to his previous declaration of omnipotent selfexistence, and appeals to Israel's knowledge of him, that whatsoever he calls, and declares, and appoints, and predicts, shall be for, "Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time (since I appointed the ancient people-ver. 7), and have declared it? Ye are even my witnesses." And here, with inimitable condescension, he places before them the great truth to which he requires their testimony: 'Is there a God beside me? Yea, there is no God; I know not any." The whole passage is succeeded by an admirable citation of the entire process of making a god among the heathen, in illustration of the vanity of idols which "see not, nor know; " and which, therefore, "are their own witnesses." If this remarkable prophecy be allowed to possess any force at all in the argument on the identification of the two witnesses, it must tend in a great degree to settle the question. For if it be objected that the Jews cannot be witnesses for Jesus, because they have rejected him, it cannot be denied that they are pre-eminently witnesses for Jehovah among the nations and if any proof exist at all of the identity of the Godman, Christ Jesus our Lord, with the Jehovah-Angel who revealed himself to Abraham, Moses, and the prophets,—to the existence of this glorious Being, the JEHOVAHI-JESUS of the united Scriptures, : K K both Jews and Christians are joint as well as independent witnesses. The one witness of a Lord and Messiah to come; the other, of a Lord and Messiah both come and to come: the one of a JehovahSaviour above all the gods and idols of the earth; the other of a risen living Saviour, exalted a Prince at the right hand of the Father everlasting. It is rational to expect that, if this be the true explanation of the phrase "the two witnesses," to whom extraordinary endowments and gifts will be miraculously imparted in the latter days, the language of the prophecies relating to those times would be such as to apply, without violence to the text, both to Jewish and Christian witnesses for God. Accordingly we find that the souls which John saw under the altar (Rev. vi. 8) had been slain "for the word of God," as well as "for the testimony which they held;" both of which phrases are as accurately descriptive of Isaiah, a saint of Israel, as of Stephen the Christian proto-martyr. Passing over other instances, we find that in the description of the millennium the phraseology aptly enough includes both those who were slain for the "witness of Jesus," and those who were killed "for the word of دو God; -a distinction that may at first sight appear to show no difference, but, if applied to Jewish and Christian sufferers for God and Christ, is strikingly distinctive and appropriate. These considerations have led me to the conclusion that by "the two witnesses" the Spirit of God intended to designate tho two great religious bodies which exist in connection with the scriptures that God has given to man-the Jews, a witnessing church and nation, receiving the Old Testament; the Christians, also a witnessing church, gathered out of all nations, and receiving both Old and New Testaments as the word of God. In what peculiar manner these bodies shall be manifested at the period indicated in the prophecy, is, I think, far beyond the reach of human wisdom or foresight to discover, and therefore on this point I venture no opinion. ENOCH GREGOR LEA. Children and their Teachers. METHOD OF QUESTIONS. A TEACHER must know how to ask questions. For of all the stimulators to the acquisition of knowledge, of all the fertilisers of the brains of childhood, youth, or age, and of all the quickeners of thought and invention, those sentences that end with the point of interrogation are decidedly the best. Such points are soon felt, and never felt but to profit, when skilfully used. And in all that has been said of methods in teaching the subjects already recommended, it has been one special aim to keep this important usage before the minds of all who interest themselves in schools-whether they are teachers, examiners, visitors, and parents, or mere lookers on, desirous of the truest prosperity of our schools. Questions give the whole life and zest to a school exercise, and as a teacher can use them effectually, so will be his power to interest, to arouse, to instruct. But they cannot be used by an idle or a lazy man; nor by one who does not study to the very bottom of every topic he attempts to teach. And by them alone without a text bookaided by a black board for himself, and a slate and pencil, or pen, ink, and paper, for the scholar, almost any subject may be well taught, and be made to glow with interest.-Canadian Journal of Education. THE USELESS CLOCK. ONE day the pendulum of a Dutch clock in our Sunday School was tick-tack, tick-tack, tick-tacking very industriously, yet the hands remained motionless. The clock was useless and might as well have stopped entirely so far as concerned the object for which it was made, yet there it stood tick-tacking as vigorously as if it were doing its duty like a good clock. Thought I to myself-Here is a lesson for thee:-Beware lest thou shouldst be like it, tick-tack, ticktacking-seeming to be diligently serv |