ministerial efforts. True charity opened
up the highest and holiest of wisdom.
This was the wisdom which could alone
show us how to be useful to each other
and promote the happiness and welfare of
all. A minister was the leader and guide
to those knowledges of truth which lead to
charity. This required great tact, industry,
and care.
He had no doubt that the
gentleman whom he had been asked to
welcome had these qualifications, which
would doubtless be greatly strengthened
and cultivated by his experience at South-
port. A minister's path was not one of
roses, and he who made up his mind to
become a minister must well consider the
thorns. For if he must succeed, he must
manfully battle with the troubles and
hindrances that seem so frequently to
beset him. Both minister and people
must in wise charity learn to bear and for-
bear, and then success would be certain.
Mr. Mackereth laid great stress upon
looking well after the training of the young
in connection with the Society.

Mr. Brierley, Mr. Tidswell, and Mr. Pilkington afterwards addressed the meeting. Mr. Bates briefly replied, thanking them for the kind wishes and welcome to Mrs. Bates and himself. He said he was determined to do all he could for the good of the Church at Southport, and to make the friendship and harmony begun that day as lasting as possible. After a few other complimentary remarks from other friends, another stroll in the delightful country completed the pleasures of a day that will long live in the memories of those who took part in it.

SNODLAND BRITISH SCHOOL. The "annual prize-day" in connection with this school was celebrated on Wednesday, April 9th, 1879, when a large company of friends of the school and parents assembled in the schoolroom. The chair was taken by Mr. A. M. Flint of Snodland, who was supported by J. Rivolta, Esq., of Blackheath, and the Rev. P. Storey. A letter was read from the Rev. T. L. Marsden expressing regret that a severe attack of bronchitis prevented his attendance. During the evening a selection of songs and recitations were given by the scholars, and addresses on Education by the chairman and Mr. Rivolta, after which the prizes were distributed. Mr. Rivolta, an earnest worker in education, said they were the best collection of prizes he had ever seen. The meeting closed with ringing cheers for Mrs. Hook and the Misses Hook of Veles, Snodland, who are so nobly carrying on the work of education in Snodland, originated by the late C. Townsend Hook, Esq. The following is the report of J. C. Ley, Esq., H.M. Inspector of this school

in February last, when ninety-eight per cent. of passes were obtained: "The work throughout the standards from the highest to the lowest is thoroughly good; and the answering of the different classes in grammar and geography was equally satisfactory. The tone and order continue excellent, and the high state of efficiency maintained reflects great credit on all concerned."

REV. WALTER BATES.-The fund commenced by the Society at Melbourne, Derbyshire, for the relief of the pressing load which threatened to crush the widow of this esteemed minister is progressing favourably. The committee desire to thank those Societies and friends who have so promptly responded to their call, and would state that other Societies and friends are doing their utmost to make this charitable fund of permanent benefit. The sums collected up to the present time amount to £89, 1s. 6d., particulars of which appear on the wrapper of our present number. Donations should be forwarded to Mr. C. Fairweather, Mount Pleasant, Melbourne, Derbyshire.

Obituary.

At Leeds, on the 29th of April, Mr. George Padgett was removed into the spiritual world in the seventieth year of his age. Mr. Padgett was one of the oldest and most highly esteemed of the members of the Society of the New Church in this town. His early training was among the Wesleyans, and he retained through life the feelings and sentiments of piety which he had acquired in this body. With his advancement in life he was led to seriously inquire into the meaning and truth of the doctrines he had been taught. The teaching of his Wesleyan hymn-book and the preaching to which he listened did not satisfy the craving of his mind for definite and accurate instruction. The Trinity of Persons and the manifestation of this Trinity in the popular doctrine of the Atonement involved him in perplexity and doubt; and he was in danger of losing faith in revelation when his attention was attracted to the doctrines of the New Church. A book lent to him by a friend opened to his mind the truth he was seeking, and led to his cordial reception of the Heavenly Doctrines. He united himself with the church in Albion Walk, and from his excellent character and kindly disposition soon gained the affection and esteem of his fellow-members. He entered heartily into the uses of the Church, discharging all the duties that opened before him with quiet zeal and unostentatious diligence. For some time he taught in the Sunday

school, where he won the hearts of the as a stock and share broker proved in the young by his kind and loving manner; and end too great a strain for his constitution, his earnest words of advice will be doubt- and disease of the heart slowly but surely less long cherished by the young who were developed itself. The manner of his reinstructed by him. Another means of use moval was strikingly pathetic. He had into which, as he had opportunity, he been recruiting his health at Conishead entered was the visiting of the sick. He Priory for a few weeks, and was apparently was well adapted to this service by the so much benefited by the change that he warmth of his affections and the sympathy resolved to sojourn in that neighbourhood of his character, and his services were at for some months. His wife and family all times warmly appreciated. As a mem- left Liverpool with him on the day before ber of the conimittee he aided in giving his death. He was then apparently in stability to the little flock that met year fair health, and on the completion of his after year amid great discouragements. journey had retired to rest, when he reAnd as a constant and devout attendant on membered that his devotions had been public worship, he set an example of the faithful observance of the great duty of worshipping the Lord in the assembly of His people. Mr. Padgett enjoyed good health until his last illness, which found him, however, as one watching for his Lord. He departed in hope, and all who knew him recognised the simplicity and purity, the uprightness and sincerity of his Christian character.

On June 18th, at Bardsea, Westmoreland, aged fifty years, Mr. Andrew Pixton of Liverpool was removed to his heavenly home. Born of New Church parents, he was identified during the whole of his life with the church in Liverpool, with the exception of a few years spent in Carlisle, where he was also actively engaged in the promotion of the good cause. He was ever ready with his purse and time to aid in every way possible the spread of the Heavenly Doctrines, and most of the ministers and leading friends of the Church have at one time or other partaken of his hospitality. Mr. Pixton was the second son of Mr. George Pixton, a member of the Liverpool Society for nearly half a century, and whose name is a household word throughout Lancashire. He was one of the trustees of the church in Bedford Street North, and was extremely active in its erection. His heart was thoroughly in the good cause, and never was he so happy as when engaged in some work of use for the New Church. The whole Society look upon his removal as, humanly considered, a very great calamity, but we are assured that our Heavenly Father "doeth all things well." And though it is difficult to conceive why one engaged in so many uses, possessed of a loving and affectionate partner, blessed with a numerous family and a truly happy home, should be taken away at a time when his presence here would seem most desirable, still "we see as through a glass darkly," and must content ourselves with the reflection that our loss is his eternal gain. Our departed friend was originally a man of strong bodily frame, but his extensive business

forgotten. He rose from his bed to offer
his petitions to the Most High, and after
an hour spent on his pillow quietly passed
away to a realization of the joys of the
eternal world, no doubt to continue with
increased energy to serve his Divine
Master. He was a faithful husband, an
affectionate father, a true friend, and the
members in Liverpool are about to per-
petuate his memory by the erection of a
tablet in the church to mark their appre-
ciation of his virtues. Verily a good man
has fallen in Israel.
E. M. S.

On Wednesday, July 2nd, 1879, James Clegg, for many years an energetic member of the Keighley Society, was removed to his eternal home in his fifty-fourth year. Our esteemed friend met with a very serious accident in the engine-room, where he was engaged, on Saturday, May 24th, whereby he received injuries of such a nature that his recovery was deemed very doubtful. From that time until his departure he remained in a condition which but seldom changed sufficiently to justify hopes of his return to the activities of this world, or to the exercise of the immortal faculties he had so vigorously and so earnestly directed towards heavenly truth. For many years he was connected with the Sunday-school, in which he took for some time the duties of superintendent. On the Church Committee he was an earnest worker, had frequently been elected as its chairman, and was acting in that capacity during the present year. He worked hard in disseminating the doctrines by a judicious distribution of tracts, and by entering into conversation with those to whom he gave them, and lost no opportunity of making known the truths which he so highly prized. He once assured the writer-with a request that he might not be thought egotistical for making the assertion that he thought he had introduced the doctrines to a larger number than any other private individual living. It was his life's delight, and he continually sought and found occasions for following it. He possessed a ready faculty for discussion, and often met those whose

grounded, were so inwrought in her character as to become manifest in her life, which was eminently one of self-forgetfulness. As a consistent member of the New Church, looking to the Lord Jesus Christ as the Giver of all good, and earnestly seeking out what was good in every one, she won in a marked manner the affection and esteem of a wide circle. Thus indissolubly conjoined with those whom here she loved, she draws nearer to lead them to that real world which is now her home. Many kind evidences of sympathy and respect were shown at the funeral, which was attended by the Dean of Waterford and the leading citizens. The service was read by the Rev. R. J. S. Devenish, who with great consideration offered to omit any portion of the same which might not agree with the family's religious views.

views he thought mistaken, and gave them reasons for thinking so, and for advancing his own in their stead. His manner was genial and open, and secured for him a favourable impression with almost all he came in contact with, whilst those who cultivated his acquaintance found him a good friend. In his returns of partial consciousness he manifested his thoughtful regard for others by kind inquiries after them; and in one of the latest, with a recollection of his old pleasures, gave the assurance that he was "going home to preach.' On the morning of Sunday, July 13th, Mr. W. A. Presland delivered a discourse on Rev. xiv. 13, wherein he alluded to the removal of one whom all would have missed from the place he occupied with such regularity. He pointed out the true nature of what we call death, as being the means whereby man is introduced to the immeasurably higher joys of At Brighton, on the 15th June 1879, the immortal life, and urged the necessity Miss Hannah Castle, sister of the late for a calm resignation to those dispensations Mrs. Gibson whose obituary appeared in which, if painful to us as beings of time,. are in reality the greatest of blessings to us as eternal beings. Death was not the result of man's sinfulness, but the preeminent proof of the Divine Goodness, which by it releases us from a world of labours into one where all the works we have well done and have loved do follow us, and perfect rest from sorrow and temptation is the eternal reward.

On June 13th, Emily, the beloved wife of Mr Andrew Horn of Waterford, passed into the spiritual world, aged thirty-three years. The principles of the New Church, in which Mrs. Andrew Horn was carefully

the Repository of May 1876. Like her departed sister, she was for many years connected with the Nottingham Society, in whose prosperity she always rejoiced. Her life was gentle, quiet, and retiring, and death found her submissive and prepared-anxious, indeed, to depart and join her relations on "the other side." She has left one behind to mourn her loss and to remember her many amiable qualities of heart-a sister, who rejoices in the strongest assurance that she has gone where "there shall be no more pain," and where "God will wipe away every tear.'

J. D. B.

THE GENERAL CONFERENCE.

THE Conference which we last month spoke of as approaching is now past. Our anticipations of its character and results have been realized. The largest Conference which has ever been held, it has been, perhaps, the pleasantest and most useful. If it has not been the most harmonious, it has been the most harmonizing. Others may have equalled it in the pervading tone of brotherly love, but none have surpassed it in the characteristics of true charity. True charity does not require that all shall think alike on every subject, but that all shall be ready to change or modify their individual opinions when the light which discussion evolves shows a truer and better way than any or many had been able to see for themselves. This is a characteristic which we think we may claim for the members of the New Church. It is a result of their principles. These combine the utmost liberty with the largest charity. They teach that harmony is not produced by uniformity but by variety. In any measure which a deliberative assembly adopts there must of course be a majority of concordant voices; but on all important questions the members of the New Church aim at something more than this; and in our Conference they seldom fail to arrive at a near approach to unanimity if they do not always reach this desirable result. In this respect the session of our ecclesiastical parliament which has just closed has honourably distinguished itself.

The Conference was again favoured with the presence of several of our American brethren. The Rev. Chauncey Giles, the president of

the Convention, appeared as the messenger of the Western Church, and delivered, in graceful and affectionate terms, the greeting of the brethren on the other side, to the brethren on this side, of the Atlantic. Besides the president, we had two members of the Convention, the Rev. J. Goddard and the Rev. F. H. Hemperley, as well as the Rev. W. H. Benade, who has been for some time in Europe.

The business which the ministers and representatives of our Societies come together to transact is for the greater part concerned with what may be called the secularities of the Church, providing and applying the pecuniary means of carrying out the higher uses of teaching and preaching. These uses include more than supplying the wants of ministers and teachers. Ministers require churches, teachers require schools. Many of our Societies are too small or too poor to provide either of these without help. Hence our Ministers' Aid and our Augmentation Funds, and hence our School Union and Building Funds. And that our Societies may be supplied with competent ministers we provide for the education of young men for the ministry. That those who labour in a vocation that gives little opportunity of providing for the future may have no cause of anxiety for the morrow, we have also a fund for aged ministers and their widows. In all these respects ours is relatively the day of small things. We have, in our small way, considerable funded property, arising from gifts and bequests, while very liberal contributions are made to the Augmentation Fund, and an appeal for help where it is needed never fails to meet with a hearty response. We have therefore not only no seeming cause to murmur against, but great reason to be thankful to, the good providence of the Lord, who has been with His Church hitherto in her wilderness state, in which she has endured some trials but has enjoyed many blessings, and who will never forsake her, but will provide what is most suitable to her state and most conducive to her true welfare.

There are other requirements besides the means and agencies we have mentioned for the stability, growth, and prosperity of the Church. The true growth of a Church is growth in piety and holiness. A Church may be deficient or even destitute of these and may yet appear stable and prosperous. She may be rich and well regulated, and may be so inspired with a missionary zeal as to compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and yet be spiritually dead. There may be the signs of piety and holiness without these essential elements of religion themselves. The form of godliness may exist without the power. But may the power exist without the form? We are told that the Church is in a state of consummation when its worship