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love of peace, and seeking to promote it, his life was that of a devoted follower of the Lord Jesus. For forty-si years he was a member of the Methodist Society, and for thirty-two years a class-leader, besides filling for a lengthened period the offices of Local preacher, Circuit steward, and trustee, with great fidelity. He was a man of a meck and gentle spirit, always cheerful, and particularly devoted to his family, and to the cause of God. His prayers, both in his family and in public, were simple, terse, and earnest. He was regular and active in all his public duties, until the time drew near that be must die. His end was eminently peaceful and happy. His soul was kept in patience and in confiding submission to the will of God. Death to him had lost its sting; faith triumphed over the last enemy; and, full of hope, he would frequently exclaim,

"I long to behold Him arrayed

With glory and light from above!"

He spoke of his departure with calm composure, and urged upon all who visited him the importance of religion, observing, "I have not followed cunningly-devised fables."

J. M.

November 23d.-Mr. Robert Brown, of the Great-Yarmouth Circuit, son of the late Rev. Jonathan Brown. He was born at the OrphanHouse, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in the year 1800. During his apprenticeship in Hull, and when about seventeen years of age, he became decided for God. From Hull he removed to Spalding, where he resided until 1842, carrying on a suocessful business. During all this period he was careful to sustain the cause of God with a generous liberality and an earnest zeal. health compelled him to remove to Norwich, Failing where he sustained several important offices. Subsequently Yarmouth became his place of residence, where, from various causes, he

was less prominent in the affairs of the Church. In the summer of 1857, unfavourable symptoms presented themselves so decidedly, that apprehensions of the coming end forced themselves upon all who knew him, and an impression that November would close his earthly career took possession of his own mind. The prospect, however, did not produce dismay; and when, some weeks after the utterance of the above conviction, his paroxysms became more violent, and respiration was rendered almost impossible, he could still testify to his confidence in the Saviour. His one desire was for a fuller manifestation of Divine love. To use his own expressions, he "wanted to feel as when he was first converted, that he could cut off his hand,' or do anything, for Christ." Nearly the whole of one night he spent in prayer for this clearer display of Divine mercy, and on the following morning, with a beaming countenance,

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January 24th, 1868.-At Thurmasion, in the Leicester Circuit, Mrs. Sarah Hartshorn, aged sixty-nine years, having been a member of the Wesleyan-Methodist Society for nearly fifty-two years. Her parents were pious Methodists, and sought to train her up for Christ. When she was about seventeen years old, she was deeply convinced of sin, and soon afterwards found peace with God through faith in the Lord Jesus. Her piety was uniform and unostentatious; and in the several relations of life she evinced the power of Divine grace. The profound esteem and love of her children testified to her excellencies as a mother; and her character commanded the respect of all who knew her. Her last illness was long and painful; but she was graciously sustained, and ultimately triumphed over death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

H. W. W.

April 13th.-At Leighion-Buzzard, in the twenty-eighth year of his age, Mr. Frederick Harris. From early life he was seriously disposed, and showed his attachment to the house of God by regular attendance on the preaching of the Gospel, and other religious services in connexion with the Wesleyan-Methodist Society. But it was at a watchnight-service, in the year 1859, that he was deeply convinced of his sinfulness; and at the close of the following Sunday. evening service, he, with several other young men, came forward to the communion-rail, and there sought and found the pardoning merey of God. From that time till his death, he was careful to act in everything consistently with his religious profession. His experience was not uniformly bright and joyous; but he always felt a calm and satisfactory assur ance of his acceptance with God through Christ. He took a deep interest in the Sundayschool; and, both as a teacher and a secretary, discharged his duties with the highest credit to himself and satisfaction to others. His long and painful affliction was borne with great patience, -a patience upheld by his constant reliance on the Saviour. It was very pleasant to see and converse with him in his last illness. drew near to the close of life he seemed increas As he ingly cheerful and happy. Not more than a quarter of an hour before his death he sang praises to God, and asked his friends to sing with him; and then, without a sigh, he slept in Jesus. W. G. D.

LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM NICHOLS, 46, HOXTON EQUARE.

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WESLEYAN-METHODIST MAGAZINE.

AUGUST, 1868.

MEMOIR OF MR. WILLIAM KEER,

OF MUTFORD, SUFFOLK:

BY HIS ELDEST SON, THE REV. WILLIAM BROWN KEER. MR. WILLIAM KEER was the eldest child of William and Maria Keer, of Framlingham, Suffolk, where several branches of the family, who are known to have descended from the Kerrs of Scotland, had long resided. His grandfather was one of the earliest Wesleyan Methodists in that part of Suffolk, then comprehended in the Great Yarmouth Circuit; and his parents, from an early period of their life until its close, were warmly attached and consistent members of the Methodist Society, "walking," like Zacharias and Elisabeth, "in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." It is not a slight privilege to be descended from truly pious ancestors. Devout parents, in particular, generally bequeath to their children, in their instructions, their example, and their prayers, that which is far more precious than gold and diadems. William was born on September 11th, 1797, and was early dedicated to the Lord in the Sacrament of Baptism. Throughout his childhood his parents sought to instil into his mind the truths which accompany salvation. Their circumstances, though once comparatively affluent, became straitened by heavy losses; and this, together with other changes, rendered necessary the early removal of their eldest son from the parental roof. He left home when about thirteen or fourteen years of age; not, however, before he had heard from the Methodist preachers, as well as from his parents, those truths, and received that bias, for which he had cause ever afterwards to thank God. In his new sphere he attended the ministry of the late Rev. William Hurn, M.A., at that time the zealous and faithful, but persecuted, vicar of Debenham; of whose memory he was always accustomed to speak in words of strong and reverent endearment, and of whom he has been heard to say, "I received great good under the ministry of that blessed man." Afterwards he attended, with the family in whose house he lived, the ministry of the late Rev. Mr. Dennett, for many years the esteemed Independent minister of Halesworth, whose affectionate and faithful expositions of Divine truth he valued as no ordinary blessing.

VOL. XIV.-FIFTH SERIES.

2 x

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It is not easy, in the absence of written records, to ascertain the exact time when they who have been from earliest childhood the subjects of the drawings of the Father, come to that decided personal closure with Christ upon which their enjoyment of His salvation depends. That this took place, in the case of Mr. Keer, in very early life, there can be little doubt; as he has been heard to speak of the petty persecution and cynical ridicule to which, when a youth, he was exposed, in his intercourse with the ignorant or profane among whom he was sometimes employed; although his naturally quiet and forbearing demeanour was calculated to disarm rather than provoke opposition. But the information for which we might otherwise have sought in vain has been furnished in a letter from my father's only sister, Mrs. Baxter, of Ipswich. She records the often repeated testimony of his mother, that when quite a child he was deeply convinced of his lost and sinful state; that he wept bitterly on account of his sins; and that he never rested until he found peace through the atoning death of the Lord Jesus. His open profession of religion also commenced at a very early period. Very shortly after leaving his paternal home, if not before, he appears to have become a member of the Methodist Society either at Framlingham or Peasenhall, as he often spoke of attending the prayer and classmeetings at the latter place with Mr. Joseph Tripp, then a wellknown and zealous class-leader and Local preacher.

When about twenty-four years of age, Mr. Keer removed to the neighbourhood of North Cove, in the Lowestoft Circuit, where he at once joined himself to the Wesleyan-Methodist Society. Here Mr. Charles Huke was for many years his class-leader; and afterwards, about the year 1837, or the early part of 1838, Mr. Keer, though with much reluctance and diffidence, succeeded him in that office, which he continued to hold until he was disabled by the sickness which preceded his death.

In the year 1826 he took a small farm at Mutford, and was united in marriage to Miss Hannah Brown, of that place. Here he resided for the remaining thirty-nine years of his life, only once changing his house-for that in which he died. His wife, who was also an exemplary member of the Methodist Society, was taken away by death in the early part of the year 1829, leaving him with two sons, for whom he faithfully watched and prayed, striving to bring them up "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." They both survive him : the elder having been for upwards of ten years a minister in the Established Church, and the younger having been for fifteen years past the subject of a melancholy misfortune, which has incapacitated him for society. This affliction of his son was a severe and painful trial to the father, but he bore it with Christian meekness, resignation, and patience.

In October, 1838, Mr. Keer removed to a larger farm, and was

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