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have there learned that they were sinners;
and some have found mercy, and are now
manfully bearing the cross, and are
themselves engaged in training up the
rising generation to know, fear, and love
God, a mode of preaching the Gospel
in Hayti which is truly needed. Could
but her young sons and daughters, in
the plains and in the mountains, be
brought under the influence of Christian
instruction, what might we not expect?
But, alas! it is only in here and there
a town that these evangelical nurseries
are found the vast wilderness is still
untouched; and it is truly a
howling wilderness," where African and
Romish superstitions blend, and are di-
rected, without the slightest molestation,
by the Prince of darkness. Still, what
has already been done in the way of
education is quite sufficient to reconcile
us, and more than reconcile us, to all our
toils and sacrifices.

:

"waste

In the church, we have much to rejoice over. Some thirteen or fourteen, during this year, have declared themselves on the Lord's side. Our congregations continue to be encouraging, and our hopes of the future continue to be good. It is matter of unspeakable satisfaction to the Haytian Missionary, as he looks upon his flock, to remember that they have been snatched, not only from the world, but from the still more deceitful enchantment of Romish pomp and error. Many there are who feel the force of evangelical truth; but they cannot yet dare the world; they cannot yet brave the sneers and accusations of those who love darkness rather than light. Still, for what has already been done we cannot be too thankful. Yea, by the blessing of God, there are many now in Hayti whose meat and drink it is to do the will of God.

I am thankful to say we are all well.

DEPARTURE OF MISSIONARIES.

ON Sunday, September 16th, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Hardey, and their three children, with Misses Drewett, Elliott, Harris, and Watson, and Mr. Roberts, son of the late General Superintendent of the Madras District, sailed from Portsmouth, in the "Vernon," Captain Voss, for Madras.

On Saturday, October 6th, Mr. and Mrs. Oram sailed from Plymouth in the "Panama," Captain Thomas, for Sydney, New South Wales. The Committee are greatly indebted to John Lidgett, Esq., of London, who generously granted a free passage for Mr. and Mrs. Oram. See the "Missionary Notices" for October.

On the same day, Mr. John Jenkins sailed from Liverpool, in the "Niagara," Captain Stone, for New-York.

On Monday, October 8th, Mr. and Mrs. Cheesbrough, and family, sailed from Southampton, in the "Jupiter," Captain Meehan, for

Gibraltar.

On Monday, October 15th, Miss Allen embarked at Gravesend, by the "Thames," Captain Barclay, for Kingston, Jamaica.

DEATH.

INTELLIGENCE has been received of the lamented decease of Mrs. Curtis, of Brown's-Town, Jamaica, the beloved partner of the Society's highly esteemed Missionary at that place, on the 22d of August.

LONDON: PRINTED BY JAMES NICHOLS, HOXTON-SQUARE.

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THE

WESLEYAN-METHODIST MAGAZINE.

DECEMBER, 1849.

BIOGRAPHY.

MEMOIR OF JOHN DYSON FERNLEY, ESQ.,

OF STOCKPORT:

BY THE REV. HENRY CHETTLE.

THE value of judicious Christian biographies is generally acknowledged. They impart pleasures and blessings to the church of God. Like fine paintings of beautiful subjects, they exhibit virtues in their most attractive form. They teach such lessons as the wisest desire to learn; they excite such feelings as the best delight to cherish; and they present examples of such graces as all ought to admire and emulate. "The memory of the just is blessed." When we think of their excellencies, and call to remembrance their principles, spirit, and conduct, we glorify God in them. Our hearts are subdued and quickened; holy impressions are revived; our slothfulness is rebuked; our zeal and diligence provoked.

These remarks may justly introduce the memorials of my lamented friend. His was a career, brief yet influential, on which the eye is pleased to linger.-Mr. John Dyson Fernley was born in Stockport, August 4th, 1816. He had the inestimable advantage of a godly parentage and ancestry. He was the child of many prayers, and in earliest infancy was consecrated to God. In his family, the highest importance was attached to domestic worship, instruction, and discipline. Thus he was trained in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; and he knew the holy Scriptures from a child. The providential favour of God encompassed him, as with a shield, through life; and not a few were his remarkable deliverances from death. When only four years of age, a severe accident brought him to the verge of the grave: yet, in answer to prayer, he was wonderfully restored. In some subsequent periods, very narrow were his escapes from danger; once on the river at Liverpool, once from a pistol-shot, and once in the course of hard horse-exercise. To these critical circumstances he was accustomed to refer with gratitude, as indicating the divine goodness and his own special obligations. The same kind Providence led him all his life long. The Lord evidently made his way plain before him, and upheld his steps in the divine paths. Of his early religious training he was wont to speak with most grateful recollections; as indeed of the continued and ever-wakeful solicitude

VOL. V.-FOURTH SERIES.

4 K

of his parents for his spiritual good. The excellencies of his mother, a daughter of the late Mr. Dyson, of Huddersfield, made an indelible impression upon his mind. He delighted to extol her example, and never regretted the strictness of her discipline.

The solemnities of family devotion he deeply felt; and his mother's supplications during his childhood, with him and for him, offered at her noon-day hour of retirement, he could never forget. Her oftrepeated prayer was, that he might be a pillar in the Lord's house, to go out no more. To parental vigilance he owed much. No fault was committed but the investigation and decision were accompanied with prayer. Nothing morally wrong was ever allowed to be trivial. The instructions of his father and mother showed him that every sin is a transgression of God's holy, just, and good law. From the same lips he received those assurances of the divine goodness and mercy which taught him that "God is love." Thus early was he both "moved with fear" and "drawn with the cords of love." It is a pleasure to add, that his early religious lessons were confirmed during his academical years, spent under the care of the Rev. Edward Wilson,-of whom, as also of Mrs. Wilson, the grateful pupil ever cherished a loving remembrance.

In very childhood he was favoured with the visitations of the Holy Spirit. He delighted in the means of grace; and was his father's constant companion in the sanctuary, and in the Sabbath-school. As he rose to manhood, his character was amiable, though not as yet, in the high sense, Christian. Religious influences gradually acquired full strength in his mind, until he freely and entirely gave himself first unto the Lord, and then by His will unto the church. In his eighteenth year, a very dangerous sickness considerably augmented the depth and intensity of these feelings. About the midsummer of 1836 he joined the Methodist society. His spiritual awakenings were already powerful. The all-gracious Spirit had descended on his heart, to convince him of sin, and reveal his deep depravity. He saw, felt, and acknowledged his guilt, danger, and helplessness: great was his misery of soul, and earnest his concern for salvation. Meeting a friend, while in this state of mind, he said, "The first time I am asked, I will go to class." That very day, the Rev. William Burt, from whose ministry he had derived much profit, and to whom he was much attached, asked him to join a class that he was then forming for young men. He at once consented; and from that time he was a steady and consistent member of the Methodist society. Having "put his hand to the plough," he never "looked back.”

He had not yet found peace with God; and the lovely features of his character could not but awaken much interest, in this respect, among all his Ministers. He attended a weekly meeting of young men, conducted by the Rev. F. A. West and his colleague. There his intellectual powers were stimulated, and the course of his reading guided, while he was taught more perfectly the way of salvation, and encouraged by prayer and sympathy. His attachment to his Ministers, and the profit which he derived from their preaching, were mean

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