ORDINATION OF J. W. DILL.

The commission of Iowa Presbytery appointed to present calls from Elliota and Lake Reno and Round Prairie congregations to J. W. Dill, licentiate, and in case of the acceptance of either to ordain and install him as pastor, met at Rehoboth, Iowa, March 19, 1878, at 2 PM. The call from Elliota was accepted. The commission then proceeded to hear trials for ordination previously assigned, viz., a lecture from James 1: 22-25 and a sermon from John 1: 14, "The word was made flesh and dwelt among us." These, together with the examination on the usual subjects, were unanimously and heartily sustained.

The ordination service proper commenced March 20, at 10 A. M. The sermon was preached from Mark 16: 15, "Preach the gospel," by T. P. Robb, chairman, who also propounded the queries. C. D. Trumbull led in the ordination prayer,

and the charge was given by E. G. Elsey.

T. P. Robb, with C. D. Trumbull, alternate, and elders R. Dill of Rehoboth, and Henry Dean and Mr. Elliott of Elliota, were appointed to install Mr. Dill pastor of Elliota congregation at the convenience of the parties. Mr. Dean was appointed to read the edict.

Thus another ambassador of the cross has received his commission and is about to enter on the duties of his office. The trial discourses and examination of Mr. Dill gave evidence of special fitness and qualification for the work of the ministry. Our prayer is that by manifestation of the truth he may commend himself to every man's conscience in the sight of God. C. D. TRUMBULL,

INSTALLATION OF REV. J. DODDS.

Clerk of Com.

The commission appointed by Kansas Presbytery to present the call made by the congregation of Sylvania upon Rev. J. Dodds, met at Sylvania church, May 9th, 1878. The call was presented and accepted. A sermon was preached by Rev. M. Wilkin, the Moderator, from Isaiah 30: 20, latter clause. I. The teachers that God's people have, were presented, viz.: inanimate and irrational things; aged and experienced persons; gospel ministers, (which are particularly meant in the text); the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit, (both of which are essentially necessary). II. That which is implied or taught in the promise, viz., that there will be a revival of religion; that it is a great privilege to have oral instruction; that it is a great privilege to have exemplary instruction; and that the hopes of God's people shall be realized. The prescribed queries were put and satisfactorily answered, and the candidate duly installed in the name of Christ, the Head of the church, with prayer. The people then came forward and heartily welcomed their pastor. Charges were given to both pastor and people by the Moderator, and the commission was adjourned with prayer, and the congregation dismissed, after singing a psalm, with the Apostolical benediction. Though this congregation had been much discouraged in not having previously obtained a pastor after having made out three different calls, now they are happy in obtaining an under-shepherd to go in and out before them, upon their fourth call; and both pastor and people feel encouraged to go earnestly to work in building up Christ's cause in that place. There is much room for spreading. Unimproved lands are abundant and at low rates. For a prairie country, there is a fair supply of timber and water, and there is abundance of stone.

M. W.

HOME CIRCLE.

THE YEAR OF RELEASE.

The following verses were committed to memory and often repeated by a small circle of friends who were for some time so circumstanced, as necessarily to be very much in one another's company. By the death of one of their number lines touchingly beautiful in themselves have attached to them a new interest:

When the bells rang their peal through the winterly air,
And startled the worshipers hushed in prayer,

When the people turned gladly to friends who were near

And whispered, " God give you a happy New Year,"

A fiat went forth from God's chamber of peace,
"To some there is dawning the year of release."

They knew not the sign that was put on their brow,
These happy ones soon in his presence to bow,
When the late light came in and began a new day
They saw not the messenger placed in the way;
They said, "Will the toil and the sorrow increase?"
Nor dreamed they had entered their year of release.

With courage they patiently turned to their task,
For strength, not deliverance, dared they to ask;
They sighed as they took up their burdens again
Of sorrow and weariness, sickness and pain,
Nor ventured to hope that their troubles would cease,
Or joy become theirs in this year of release.

Oh, could they but know what the new year will bring,
What glad songs of freedom and hope they would sing!
How willingly suffer and toil for a while,

Thinking aye of their Lord and His welcoming smile,
And the patience of hope would grow strong and increase,
As they counted the days of their year of release.

For ere it has passed, the King's face they shall see,
And ever from sorrow and sighing be free;

The things that perplex them shall all be made plain,
And the evil of sin never touch them again,

They will gain the bright country of pleasure and peace,
Thrice happy ones living their year of release.

Who are they, thus near to the end of their way,
With sad faces meeting that wonderful day?
We know not, they know not, the Master alone
Sees who shall have rest in the joy of his throne;
We may say, while our spirits grow strong in His peace,
“It may be—it may be my year of release."

Let us live with that hope in our hearts, day by day,
We can bear that which passes so swiftly away;
There is work yet unfinished, tasks yet to fulfill,
And lessons to learn of our Father's good will;
Let us spend, as for Him, the time shortly to cease,
And God make us meet for our year of release.

BIBLE QUESTIONS.

Who can tell where these passages of Scripture are found?

1. Who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?

2. Behold that which I have seen.

3. Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not? 4. Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

5. That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter.

ENIGMAS.

The initials of the following enigma tell what we ought to pray for:

1. An orator.

2. A prophetess.

3. A scribe.

4. An amiable prince.

5. A chamberlain.

6. The principal thing.
7. A deacon.

8. A spy.
9. A judge.

10. A reformer.

11. A queen.
12. A steward.
13. A gleaner.
14. A deputy.
15. An archer.

16. A Moabite.
17. A Syrian.

E.

The initials of the following form the name of a king of Israel: 1. One of the sons of Issachar.

2. A mount well known to all.

3. A king of Tyre.

4. A king of Bashan,

5. The king to whom Jeroboam fled from Solomon.

6. One of the sons of Eli.

7. The son of Jotham.

First a clevis; and zigzags then two;
Then an organ of sight, black or blue;
Then two-thirds of an angle that's true
And conjoined by a line running through;
Then two uprights together conjoined :
Now from these, then, the name you will find,
Of a man who presumptuously vied
With the priests, and with leprosy died.

Once, long ago, when the world was young,
I was theme of sadness in many a tongue.
In Judah's land, when her enemies came,
I gazed in triumph upon them slain.
After the captives from Babylon came,
I look o'er the march of a solemn train;

I rival the Bride, in Solomon's song,

In Isaiah, am found with an emblem throng;
With sublime Habakkuk, in vision stand,

And have taught for Christ, in the temple grand.

1st Enigma.-The Cross,

ANSWERS.

2d Enigma in April No. by "Qui."

Though often in the Scriptures brought to mind,
Yet boast I little of historic fame;

But once in England's records, you will find
I rendered service to a royal dame.*

How gloriously did God through sage reveal
His justice in that great salvation plan;

As with a cloak, He clothed Himself with zeal,
To render equity to every man.-Isaiah 59: 17.

Our Saviour, teaching from the mountain height,
Thus to His waiting congregation spoke,

Ne'er stoop to quarrel, even for your right;

M. E. F.

Z. Y. X.

JENNIE.

Better for peace, to yield both coat and cloak.-Matt. 5: 40.

'Twas Paul the aged thro' his letters spoke,

To Timothy, his well-beloved friend

Bring to me when you come, my books, and cloak,

In answer to this message which I send.--2 Tim. 4: 13.

May we who hear the truth, therein abide;
And strive all earthly tempters to deny;

For now we have no cloak wherewith to hide

Our sinfulness from the All-seeing Eye.-John 15:22.

"R."

3d Enigma. Samuel, Obadiah, Lemuel, Obal, Manasseb, Og, Naasson.-Solomon.

We make up for last month's omission of the Home Circle by giving more space to it in this number than usual.

* Refers to Walter Raleigh's cloak spread for Queen Elizabeth to step upon.

MARRIAGES.

At Long Branch, Mo., May 18, 1878, by Rev. M. A. Gault, THOMAS C. DUNN and MISS CLARA E. WOODS.

By Rev. D. J. Shaw, at the residence of the brides parents, near Bloomington, Ind., Mr. ALEXANDER KELLEY and Miss BELL LATIMER.

By Rev. T. Sproull, D. D., assisted by Rev. W. J. Robinson, May 7th, at the residence of the bride's parents, Mr. THEOPHILUS SPROULL and Miss RINA SHINKLE.

OBITUARIES.

MEMORIAL.

THE May number of the REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN conveyed to its readers the sad intelligence of the death of Rev. T. A. Sproull, the devoted and much loved pastor of the congregation of New Alexandria and Greensburg. He died on the afternoon of Monday, the 8th day of April, in the village of Gainesville, Florida, whither he had gone for the benefit of his health. Though for three years he had suffered from a bronchial difficulty which interfered with his pulpit ministrations, his death was unlooked for both by himself and his friends. He never lost sight of the possible fatal termination of his disease, and yet, encouraged thereto, by skillful physicians, he confidently hoped for a speedy and complete restoration to health. In a letter dated Gainesville, February 23d, he wrote: "My general health is good. I have an excellent appetite; I have very little-indeed I may say I have no cough; I am the picture of health, and cannot see why it is my voice does not gather strength. I fear I am impatient; I am so anxious to resume my labors and preach again, that I can hardly wait till I regain my strength. If it is the Lord's will he will bless the means and grant my request, and, if not, he will give me the grace of resignation, and make me to say, 'Thy will be done." "

Encouraged by his letter, we hoped ere long to welcome him home vigorous and well. We little knew, however, how soon he was to cease from his labors and enter upon the enjoyment of his reward. On Friday, the 5th of April, he was prostrated with an affection of the brain, and in less than four days a stranger in a strange land, far from wife and child, and home and friends, he died. When we remember the loneliness of his sickness and death, we are comforted by the knowledge that he was tenderly nursed and kindly cared for by those whom during his absence he had learned to love, and especially by the assurance that in the fulfilment of His gracious promise: "I will be with you at all times," the Lord Jesus accompanied and sustained his servant as he passed through the valley of the shadow of death.

My brother was the third son of Dr. Sproull. He was born on the 13th of October, 1842, and was in his thirty-sixth year when he died. Very early in life he gave himself to Christ, and in his eighteenth year he made a public profession of his faith in connection with the congregation of Pittsburgh and Allegheny, of which, at the time, our

father was the pastor. Here he was for many years identified with the Sabbath School, first as a scholar, then as a teacher, and finally as its superintendent, and it is the testimony of all that it was never more flourishing than when under his direction and control. He received his early literary education in Westminster College, Allegheny, for the most part under the direction of the late Dr. Sewell. Having completed his preparatory studies in 1860, he entered the sophomore class of Jefferson College, from which he graduated in 1863. He was fitted both by nature and education for a business life. He had a large circle of warmly attached and influential friends, and was strongly tempted to devote himself to some branch of business. For a time he hesitated, and had he been influenced by mere worldly considerations with the possibilities of life before him he would never have chosen the humble position of a pastor in the Reformed Presbyterian Church. Not long did he remain undecided. Knowing that he had been dedicated to God, and believing that in this way he could best serve him, he gave himself to the ministry of the word. This choice he never regretted.

In the fall of 1863 he was received as a student of theology under the care of Pittsburgh Presbytery, and having finished the prescribed course was licensed May 23d, 1867. During the following year he labored with much acceptance in different parts of the church. By his careful and consistent life, as well as by the clear, earnest and forcible presentation of the truth, he commended himself to the consciences of his hearers, while by his simplicity of character, generosity of heart, and honorable, manly bearing, he made for himself a multitude of friends. At a meeting of Pittsburgh Presbytery, April 15th, 1868, calls were presented to him from Garrison, Ind., and New Alexandria, Pa. The latter of these he accepted, and on June 17th was ordained to the office of the ministry and installed as pastor of the congregation of New Alexandria and Greensburg. The relation thus formed con

tinued to the end of his life.

For a year or two after his ordination he was co-editor of the REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN AND COVENANTER, and by his energy and diligence contributed to its usefulness.

He entered upon the work of the ministry with a deep sense of responsibility, and labored among his people with earnestness, diligence, and marked success. The congregation increased in numbers. With but few exceptions the youth of the church, on arriving at years of discretion, made a profession of faith in Christ. The contributions were largely increased, and a neat and commodious house of worship was erected and paid for. His labors were appreciated by his congregation, as was evident from the affection with which they clung to him, and the cheerfulness with which they supported him during his protracted disability. His sickness was not to them an occasion for seeking a dissolution of the pastoral relation; so far from it, they would not hear of it, but clung to their pastor with a love and fidelity worthy of all commendation, hoping that in answer to their prayers God would soon restore him to his former health. They expected ere long to see his face and again hear his voice. When the tidings came