and Mechanics' Institutions received his cordial support; and the cause of universal Peace was dear to his heart. In a recent and able notice of him I read, "As mere specimens of his habitual selfdenial for the public good, we may mention that a gentleman calling upon him after he had retired from the ministry and was in his 75th year, found him going out one dark and wet evening to lecture at a place in Bethnal-green; and in the year when the Peace Congress was held at Paris, no persuasions of his family could induce him to stay at home, but he endured the long and fatiguing journey to cheer on the friends of that sacred cause.' And to all this activity he was evidently constrained by the strength of Christian principle. All who knew Dr. Smith must have been struck with his deep conscientiousness in every thing relating to truth and duty. Truth, every particle of truth, was more precious in his eyes than the dust of diamonds. It made him scrupulous in the selection of his epithets, nice in his distinctions, minute and patient in his inquiries, earnest in his inculcation on his pupils of the importance of exact knowledge, unsparing in his efforts to obtain the latest information on every branch of science, and ready to learn even from an enemy. Who ever suspected his gentle nature of entering the field of controversy, except from loyalty to truth? And, having triumphed, he ascribed his success to no skill or prowess of his, but to the awful and invincible power of Truth. And duty, all duty, was, in his eyes, clothed with sanctity. The call of duty was for him a voice from the skies; and he obeyed it with equal cheerfulness, whether it called him to the sick chamber, the humble prayer-meeting, the bustling platform, the ameliorative or patriotic society, or to the scientific assembly. Eternal rectitude, in all its human applications, he held to be the most sacred thing in the universe. Hence, partial legislation, political corruption, oppression, fraud, injustice, disingenuousness, these were things which made even his meek and quiet spirit flame with righteous indignation! What distinctions might not such a man have attained could he have bowed his conscience to the Church Establishment of this country! But if his sense of duty made such conformity impossible, his love of duty rendered him quite insensible to any consequent loss. With him, the love of right was a passion. Such unbending fidelity is not often seen in conjunction with marked kindness. But benevolence was one of Dr. Smith's characteristics. Politeness has been defined "benevolence in little things." In social life Dr. Smith was courtesy embodied. His natural activity made him independent of giving trouble; and his kindness rendered him scrupulous of occasioning it. Highly susceptible of social pleasures, he was prompt to do all in his power to serve, and honour, and gratify those around him. Suffering of every kind awakened his sympathy; and there was no practicable sacrifice, consistent with his higher obligations, which he was not prepared to make to lighten the burdens of others. His hand was open as the day. No man more slow than he to suspect ill of another; no one more ready to put a charitable interpretation on doubtful conduct; an amiableness, it must be admitted, which laid him open occasionally to imposition. In controversy he united the fidelity of a Luther with the gentleness of a Melancthon. Having unavoidably inflicted a wound, no one more ready than he to pour in the oil and the wine. I can hardly conceive that he ever lost a friend. And why did he take so energetic a part in the march of social reformation and general improvement-often tearing himself away from darling occupations in order to render his aid-but because he believed that he saw, in the distance, the goal towards which struggling humanity required to be conducted? But that which formed the master-key of Dr. Smith's character was his living piety. Piety did not merely adhere to him; it pervaded and surrounded him. It was not a thing of times and places; it was the element in which he lived; and few persons could be long with him without feeling that they were breathing it. This it was which gave to his studies and movements the sanctity of devotion. "God's universe (as he beautifully said in his address at the laying the foundation-stone of New College) rises up around us—the unfathomable past, the immeasurable present, the awful future, all wrapped in the infinity of His presence. To his devout spirit the earth was a temple; and he bowed in adoration before the present God. His scientific investigations partook of the nature of worship. I speak on testimony on which I can rely, when I say that his ministrations in this sanctuary never attained a greater elevation than when he was ex patiating on the glorious attributes of the Divine Nature. The subject was congenial; and seemed to raise him to a mount of transfiguration from which he was loth to descend. Such was his filial confidence in God, that he was a stranger to all anxiety about earthly things and forebodings of the future. In an em phatic sense, he "walked with God;" and every part of his renewed nature was set free for the exercise, and strengthened by it. It consecrated all his learning. It kept him loyal to evangelical truth amidst many temptations to stray. It led him to insist on heavenly-mindedness as a prime qualification of a Christian minister. It invested his example with the power of a charm. It expressed itself in hourly ejaculations to God. Not only were his public intercessions rich, varied, and fervent; not only were his domestic prayers, especially (as I am informed) on the morning of the Lord's day, marked by peculiar pathos and closeness of communion with God: his habit of private devotion overflowed into his ordinary conduct. In this manner he might be heard, unknown to himself, sometimes calling down blessings on his beloved friends, severally and by name; and, at others, pouring out his soul in direct adoration of the Triune God. He moved from duty to duty in the spirit of prayer. This was the golden chain by which he linked his various acts together; and the whole to the throne of God. And this devotional spirit it was which gave to his character unusual symmetry and completeness; reminding us of the Divine Model which he copied; and shedding a halo and a beauty on his earthly course. But the time arrived when such excellence must be translated. He had finished his course, and had kept the faith. He had regarded his life and powers as a sacred trust. With conscientious fidelity he had aimed to discharge it. At length, he had turned from the past to the more fixed anticipation of the future. And in the contemplation of that future he seems to have risen superior even to the mention of death. Many of you will remember his wasted but almost ethereal appearance on Wednesday, January 8th, the day on which he received the "Testimonial" of our veneration and affection. He had come to London the week before. During that visit he was expressing to some members of his family the extreme difficulty he felt in replying to his numerous correspondents. And to show that he could scarcely guide the pen without the help of his left hand, he traced some marks on a paper lying near. On subsequent examination, these marks proved to be portions of 1 John iii. 2-“To be like him; to see him as he is." On Sunday, the 5th, he had joined here in the communion of the Lord's Supper with the attached people of his former charge. After the service, on returning to the vestry, he addressed the Rev. Mr. Davies and the deacons, and said, "My dear brethren, this is the last public service I shall enjoy on earth. Though I have not been able to attend the public celebration of the Lord's Supper since I met you in this place, I have observed it in my own house every Lord's day." Turning to the senior deacon, and taking his hand affectionately, he said, "I bless God for your long and valued friendship." "And (to the next in order) for yours, my dear friend." Then addressing Mr. Davies, he said, "I congratulate you, my dear sir, on your encouragements, and on the great success given to your ministry. I doubt not that you will still prosper; and that here the cause of the Redeemer will still flourish." During that short visit he spoke to some affectionate relatives on the design he had at one time formed of renewing his acquaintance with the Greek poets. But adverting to his perusal of the Persæ of Eschylus, and the picture of the woes produced by the invasion of Xerxes, he added, "How soon was I fatigued with the comparatively feeble and puerile narrative, and eagerly turned to the Hebrew Scriptures; comparing with the Greek poet the majestic descriptions of Jeremiah in his Lamentations. So unspeakably pathetic, powerful and satisfying is the Inspired word." He deeply felt the kindness of his friends relative to the presentation of the Testimonial, and the prospect of it almost overpowered him. After the scene was over, however, although his deafness had prevented him from hearing anything, he made no inquiry respecting what had been said, nor any specific reference to the meeting, except to express the pleasure of having recognised the countenances of so many old friends. Before going to rest, he pointed out the 1st chap. of the 2nd Epist. to Timothy for reading: and, in the course of the prayer which he then offered, he thanked God, with marked emphasis, for "the signal mercies, the unmerited favours of that day; treated preparation for another and a more momentous day; and, after praying en But, on returning to Guildford, the powers of life rapidly declined. "Thanks for your encouragement (he said, when a hope was expressed that he might yet revive), if so, well; if God order otherwise, I shall bless him in either, in every case. During the last six days, the only method of communication left to his sorrowing family was by writing, and offering to his eye a few words of Scripture, for which he expressed hearty thanks. " Looking intensely with his mild eyes in the faces of all who surrounded his dying bed, he made a last effort to bless them. "The Lord bless you all (said he), and He undoubtedly will." To a medical friend, he articulated with great difficulty, "Farewell; I am greatly obliged; the eternal God be thy Refuge!" And, turning to his son, "The Lord be your portion for ever!" thus (though he still lingered a short time), like his Divine Master, he may be said to have ascended in the act of blessing. And What a rush of reflections and emotions seeks utterance at the contemplation of a scene such as this! Let us be careful to indulge only in such as are suitable to the occasion. There are those present, indeed, who are entitled to the deep sympathy of this assembly. "Jesus wept." And there is a sense, Christian mourners, in which even now he mingles his tears with yours. Let his sympathy assuage your sorrow, and his Gospel blend it with hope. Your husband, your father, is "not dead, but sleepeth." And the day will come when your Lord will say, I that I go awake him out of sleep. Believest thou this?" Then your union is only for a time suspended. 66 may But even in this hour of your sorrow you will join with us in admitting that one of our first sentiments should be, that of gratitude to the God of all grace, that we have had such a man as the venerable departed amongst us. In the phraseology of the day, I may affirm, that Dr. Smith had a mission, and fulfilled it. And is that nothing? He was a man of the age; and faithfully did he serve it. In many respects, he was in advance of the age; and served it by pioneering its way, and beckoning it onwards. At various points, he touched every great question of the century, so that his history, fully written, would be the history of the age. His life was spent pre-eminently in unfolding his ideal of Truth and Duty, and in carrying out their universal application, with the true earnestness of Christian devotion. And, by God's grace, he "kept the faith," and discharged his mission. MRS. WIGNER. "I spoke unto the people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died."-EZEKIEL, THIS was a melancholy close to a day of ministerial labour ! It occurs, however, now and then, still, to ministers who have not Ezekiel's prophetic inspiration to sustain or soothe them; but, in their case, it is not aggravated by an interdict against weeping. "Jesus wept" at the grave of one He loved; and therefore He does not say to any one of his widowed ministers," Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke; yet, neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down! Forbear to cry! Make no mourning for the dead." The writer of this obituary note, although never bereaved by such "a stroke," has yet often gone into the pulpit to preach to the people in the morning, fearing that his wife would die in the evening-and feeling that he could not have preached at all had an interdict been put on his tears. He can sympathise, therefore, deeply, although not fully, with bereaved brethren. Accordingly, when he read in the BANNER, whilst from home, a brief notice of the heavy loss sustained by his friend, the Rev. John Wigner, of Lynn, in Norfolk, and then, having gone into that county, and heard the lamentation of those who knew Mrs. Wigner, he resolved to illustrate and confirm, in the WITNESS, the truth of what was said in the BANNER. He This resolution will not seem forward or strange to any one, when he states the fact that he was intimate with Mrs. Wigner all through her short life. He began to love her when she was a motherless child. He watched over her as a lamb of his flock, until he had the pleasure of welcoming her into its fold. He then travelled in her company through the Alpine scenery of Switzerland, and all along the course of the Rhine, where he had the opportunity of both observing and guiding her keen sense and kindling emotions, as the alternations of the sublime and beautiful burst upon her eye. heard her think aloud in the Cathedral of Popery, and in the Hotel of Fashion, and in the Museums of Art and Science. He had thus ample opportunities of forming a deliberate judgment of both her mind and heart. It was, therefore, with no ordinary pleasure or feeble hope that he married her, eventually, to Mr. Wigner. She was, however, young; and, as the transition from her father's house to that of a Dissenting minister was not small, he felt that she would have much to learn; and for that, in his own mind, he allowed her time. But, to his agreeable surprise, and far more to her credit, she not only adapted herself at once to the varied duties and responsibilities of her new station, but also adorned them all; and thus endeared herself to all classes of the large flock over which the Holy Ghost had made her husband overseer." Now, although her delicate health and a succession of severe illnesses had no doubt much influence upon her spirit, they also revealed "what spirit" she was of. She never flinched from the duties of her juvenile and maternal Bible-classes, when it was possible for her to move. She also worked, when unable to quit her bed, for the local charities and claims of the chapel; and, when able to be about, she was always "doing good," by both precept and example. Accordingly, she was signally useful in winning souls into the fellowship of the Church, and signally successful in preventing or healing private misunderstandings. In a word, although she was so young, (for she was only thirty when she died,) she was emphatically "a mother in Israel." It is not for the sake of complimenting her, that the writer mentions these facts. In doing so, he has even a wider purpose than to show his sympathy with the family and the Church. His chief object is, therefore, to suggest to such of her sex as may be looking forward to a similar sphere of life, the more than possibility of being as happy and useful as he knew her to be. And there is need for this hint, because there is much unnecessary fear on this subject, especially amongst those who are best fitted to be the wives of ministers. Mrs. Wigner's death-bed, as might be expected, verified, to the letter, the oracle, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints!" She felt the final parting with her devoted husband and dear boys; but she bowed meekly to her Saviour's summons. Her loss was intensely felt in Lynn. Two hundred persons, in deep mourning, followed her coffin to the train which conveyed it to London; and, having seen the train depart, they retired to pray together in the schoolroom. The Rev. Mr. Elven, of Bury St. Edmunds, preached her funeral sermon at Lynn. The funeral itself went from her father's house (George Ovenden, Esq.,) to Abney Park Cemetery. Maberly Cottage. R. P. Essays, Extracts, and Correspondence. CHURCH ORDER: A WORD THE subject of this paper, which is one of great moment, is founded on the following communication: To the Editor of the Christian Witness. SIR, I have been long expecting your promised views on the nature of the relation which obtains between individual members and the collective fellowship to which they belong. I am satisfied the matter requires to be looked at, that serious errors prevail, which you have the means of contributing to correct. I therefore trust, at your earliest convenience, you will let us have your promised statements, and oblige yours, and, I doubt not, many others, A PASTOR. Pressure of engagements alone has hitherto prevented our fulfilment of our promise. We shall, however, now proceed to state our views. The compact that obtains between an individual Christian and a particular church is one of delightful obedience and holy love-facts which determine the character of the intercourse which ought to exist between them, and the manner in which, when Providence requires it, they ought to part. The tie that binds them together is of the most intimate and honourable nature, very unlike that of men fortuitously thrown together, among whom there is no element of moral cohesion, no social connection. It is not allowable for them, therefore, to withdraw from a church as they would from public rooms, public exhibitions, or public gardens, or any other loose aggregation of individuals FOR THOSE THAT NEED IT. the holy and loving compact of the church of Christ. This compact, then, is not to be broken up capriciously, rudely, dishonourably: on the contrary, the same qualities ought to mark the dissolution of the tie that marked its formation. As a rule, the pastor ought always to be apprised, not through the cold medium of a letter, but, wherever it is possible, by a respectful, affectionate, personal call. Thus much is due to him as a shepherd; how much more when it happens that he is the spiritual father? But this is not all. Wherever it is practicable, the church ought to be apprised at its prayer or other meeting, and to make special supplication for the brother, who ought to be present, on his bidding them adieu. And, finally, he ought to take with him a certificate of character, that he may enjoy the full benefit of his past consistency, and so be at once installed in the full confidence of the flock with which he is to be thenceforth and elsewhere united: and in addition to this, if any of the members can be of temporal or other service, whither he is going, it behoves them, by letter or otherwise, to aid him. Such, in substance, we conceive is what ought to be; let us now inquire what, as a rule, is the true state of the case. One class of individuals withdraw clandestinely, and are never more heard of. They may remain at home, or they may have gone abroad, they may be gone to some other church, or they may have slid down into the gulf of a lost world; what is become of them none can tell. Another class, tossed by caprice, or charmed by novelty, secretly, and without any valid reason, leave the fellowship with which they became solemnly connected, to unite themselves with some other. But in all such cases as this there are two parties to blame-the receiver, as well as the received. No church ought in this manner to receive individuals; on various grounds it is wrong, and in all mischievous. As a rule, no such persons ought to be admitted without communication with the church to which they formerly belonged. This is a principle on which, for our own parts, we have uniformly acted, and we believe it is acted on in all respectable churches, both in London and in the country: there are, however, many dishonourable exceptions. But even among the best churches there is, in this matter, a hitch in the working of Nonconformity. Parties applying to the new pastor, on being interrogated, of course, give the name of their last this demand is made that the former, on behalf of the applicant, may write to the latter for a testimonial. This we hold to be wrong in principle, and not seemly in practice. As a rule, we uniformly decline this course. It has sometimes occurred that the applicant has given us the name of the pastor, with a proposal that we should apply for a testimonial. This is too commonly the plan, both in proper and in improper cases of removal; but in neither case have we ever concurred. We have uniformly replied in such terms as these: "No, it is not my business to apply for testimonials, but to receive and judge of them; that is wholly your affair. Besides, do not justice, order, and decency, to say nothing of good feeling, demand of you a personal communication with your pastor? I am sure, if you think, you will come to this conclusion. Would you leave the church of Christ as you would make your exit from an Exhibition Room, or the Zoological Gardens, where you enter by ticket, form no compact, contract no friendships or obligations, official or social, and may honourably depart without notice? You ought to have seen to the matter before; if you have neglected this, it is all the more binding upon you now, and to apologize for previous neglect towards your former pastor and his flock. You ought to part with him in such a way that you may not be ashamed to meet him in the street, and with his people in such a manner that you could, with comfort and honour, return to their fellowship. You must, therefore, write yourself; since, with a due regard to what is orderly, proper, and decent, I cannot." The subject is by no means exhausted; but this may suffice for the present. We commend these thoughts to parties whom it doth or may concern, in the hope that they may contribute, if duly weighed, to abate somewhat a very serious and widespread evil. We would, in conclusion, submit to ministers of the Gospel that it may be highly expedient, on the admission of members, occasionally to animadvert on these points, since there can be no doubt that many err as much through ignorance and the want of thought as through improper feeling. So plain is the matter, that it might be thought that mere common-sense and Christian sentiment would prevent such improprieties; they are not, however, prevented, and hence the necessity of resorting to other means. |