glad of his occasional services. Not a few in other denominations held him in honour. He was a frequent visitor of an excellent clergyman in the neighbourhood, by whom, and by whose no less excellent wife, he was regarded with high esteem, and during the long illness of the latter, which was followed by death, it was one of her consolations to receive every morning, when he could not see her, a passage of Scripture he had copied, telling something of Christ's glory and of heaven's blessedness. Meanwhile he was never forgetful of relative duties, and for several years walked seventeen miles out, and as far back, to visit his mother, who was long afflicted prior to her death.

The enlightened judgment of many would have led to the remark, "Such a man is worthy of a larger and better sphere;" but William Robinson was content, and strongly attached to those around him. He remained unmarried, and was never less disposed to seek great things for himself than now. The character that was formed, and which has already been apparent, had only become changed by acquiring more completeness, harmony, and strength. As years rolled on, the grace of God made him a still wiser and a better man, though he had been habitually pious and prudent. His was only the transition from the blade to the full corn in the ear-that of the dawn to the approaching meridian.

But, at length, actuated by a sense of duty, he resigned his charge; having the privilege of saying to the church and congregation, "You are my witnesses that I leave this cause more prosperous than I found it ;" and bearing away with him a valuable present, as a memorial of their affectionate regard.

In 1849, the Committee of the Hertfordshire Union consented, at the request of the Trustees of the chapel at Redbourne, to take the management of it for six months, by way of experiment. They found it much dilapidated, the church reduced to three members,

| and the congregation very small indeed. For a short time it was supplied by local help, but before long their attention was directed to Mr. Robinsonthen looking out for some field of evangelical labour-when the very ample and honourable testimonials with which the Committee were furnished, and his apparent admirable adaptation to the station, led to their recommending him to the church and the trustees. His labours, during a visit which he made to Redbourne, proved so acceptable that he received a unanimous invitation to settle there, where he took up his residence in September of that year.

The chapel was now thoroughly repaired, and a gallery and school-room were soon afterwards erected for the increasing Sabbath-school. The morning congregations were greatly increased, and the evening ones were generally large, and always attentive. Additions were speedily made to the church. Two interesting Bible-classes were established, a small adult school was opened, a Clothing Club was formed for the Sunday-school children, and a Provident Society for the poor and afflicted members of the church and congregation. He mentions in one of his reports to the Hertfordshire Union that he was enabled to give some useful articles of clothing to about fifty Sabbath-school children, kindly furnished to him by ladies connected with the Poultry Chapel, London, and that two ladies, one of whom he only knew by name, had greatly aided him in a similar way -a valuable service which we trust many will yet be disposed to render or continue to our village congregations. Mr. Robinson was ordained September 17th, 1850, the Rev. W. Upton, J. Barfett, J. Harris, W. P. Bull, Josiah Bull, and J. J. Davies conducting that service.

In 1853 Mr. Robinson was called to endure a protracted and painful illness. Apologizing to a highly valued friend at Newark for not writing to her, he says, August 30th, "For some time I could neither read nor write at all.

It is one of the many advantages of our Congregational system, that it offers an adequate sphere to the exercise of gifts as well as grace. The guilt is therefore proportionate when any one among us hides his talent in the earth. And it is a happy circumstance when the grace bestowed is so abundant that others are better prepared rightly to appreciate the gifts than their possessor. Inadequate humility often requires that they should be restrained, and then it is not unusual for reaction to be considerable and even violent. What lamentable displays of pride have there been in such circumstances! On the contrary, it is delightful when, as in the case of William Robinson, there was the true spirit of the disciple, with none of the obtrusiveness of defective or feeble principle. He knew he might occupy a humble seat, but it was necessary for some voice he could trust to say to him, "Go up higher."

His pastor watched his progress with deep interest. The labours of the Sunday-school and the excrcises of social prayer were followed, in the course of time, by sermons in neighbouring villages and towns, to which he was invited, and where repeated visits gave further evidence of his acceptance. And now the question was put to him, "What think you of giving the remainder of your life to the service of the gospel?" The reply showed that to do so would be an honour he hardly dared to hope for, and a happiness with which no other on earth was to be compared. But there were difficulties in the way of their enjoyment. The pastor, therefore, laid the case before his ofttried friend, the late zealous and generous Thomas Wilson. His reply was brief, but as usual to the purpose: "If

his support." A cheerful affirmative was given to the proposal, and William Robinson became a student, invariably diligent and devout, and leaving not the slightest trace to mar the pleasure and satisfaction, mingled with gratitude to God, in the remembrance of his course.

It should be stated as a characteristic fact, that while thus engaged, his compassion was excited by the condition of the inhabitants of a part of Newark, well known by the name of "Botany Bay." It was one of the haunts of vice and crime, allied with deep poverty. But what would have repelled many, stimulated him to effort, and obtaining permission to use a room in one of the wretched tenements of that place, he gathered around him all he could to listen to words of instruction and of prayer. His benign countenance, his kindly manner, and his solemn exhortations and entreaties, won for him the respect and gratitude of many of these human outcasts. He visited them from week to week for several months, though there were sometimes very few to meet him, remembering the example of the Good Shepherd, and the importance of reclaiming even a solitary wanderer, until he had to yield to the urgent requirements of others.

Among his places of occasional labour was the Baptist Chapel at Carlton-leMoorland, in Lincolnshire, about nine miles distant from Newark, then without a pastor; to which he used to walk out and home. At length he accepted a unanimous invitation to labour among that people; and for about fifteen years he was indefatigable in discharging all the duties of his village sphere. Conscientiously providing for the instruction of his flock in their days of health, he was their sympathizing friend in the time of sickness and sorrow. The faithful Sunday-school teacher still, he had also words of truth and kindness for the mature and the aged. Surrounding churches, too, were

glad of his occasional services. Not a few in other denominations held him in honour. He was a frequent visitor of an excellent clergyman in the neighbourhood, by whom, and by whose no less excellent wife, he was regarded with high esteem, and during the long illness of the latter, which was followed by death, it was one of her consolations to receive every morning, when he could not see her, a passage of Scripture he had copied, telling something of Christ's glory and of heaven's blessedness. Meanwhile he was never forgetful of relative duties, and for several years walked seventeen miles out, and as far back, to visit his mother, who was long afflicted prior to her death.

The enlightened judgment of many would have led to the remark, "Such a man is worthy of a larger and better sphere;" but William Robinson was content, and strongly attached to those around him. He remained unmarried, and was never less disposed to seek great things for himself than now. The character that was formed, and which has already been apparent, had only become changed by acquiring more completeness, harmony, and strength. As years rolled on, the grace of God made him a still wiser and a better man, though he had been habitually pious and prudent. His was only the transition from the blade to the full corn in the ear-that of the dawn to the approaching meridian.

But, at length, actuated by a sense of duty, he resigned his charge; having the privilege of saying to the church and congregation, "You are my witnesses that I leave this cause more prosperous than I found it ;" and bearing away with him a valuable present, as a memorial of their affectionate regard.

In 1849, the Committee of the Hertfordshire Union consented, at the request of the Trustees of the chapel at Redbourne, to take the management of it for six months, by way of experiment. They found it much dilapidated, the church reduced to three members,

and the congregation very small indeed. For a short time it was supplied by local help, but before long their attention was directed to Mr. Robinsonthen looking out for some field of evangelical labour-when the very ample and honourable testimonials with which the Committee were furnished, and his apparent admirable adaptation to the station, led to their recommending him to the church and the trustees. His labours, during a visit which he made to Redbourne, proved so acceptable that he received a unanimous invitation to settle there, where he took up his residence in September of that year.

The chapel was now thoroughly repaired, and a gallery and school-room were soon afterwards erected for the increasing Sabbath-school. The morning congregations were greatly increased, and the evening ones were generally large, and always attentive. Additions were speedily made to the church. Two interesting Bible-classes were established, a small adult school was opened, a Clothing Club was formed for the Sunday-school children, and a Provident Society for the poor and afflicted members of the church and congregation. He mentions in one of his reports to the Hertfordshire Union that he was enabled to give some useful articles of clothing to about fifty Sabbath-school children, kindly furnished to him by ladies connected with the Poultry Chapel, London, and that two ladies, one of whom he only knew by name, had greatly aided him in a similar way -a valuable service which we trust many will yet be disposed to render or continue to our village congregations. Mr. Robinson was ordained September 17th, 1850, the Rev. W. Upton, J. Barfett, J. Harris, W. P. Bull, Josiah Bull, and J. J. Davies conducting that service.

In 1853 Mr. Robinson was called to endure a protracted and painful illness. Apologizing to a highly valued friend at Newark for not writing to her, he says, August 30th, "For some time I could neither read nor write at all.

And not only sight, but memory was so much impaired that to repeat even a small portion of Scripture I found to be impracticable. I am thankful, however, that I am now recovering. I have resumed my labours here, and it is my earnest prayer that the vivid impressions of the importance of Divine truth produced on my own mind in the season of affliction, may give a tone and character to my future ministry, which, under the Divine blessing, will be beneficial in promoting the best interests of the people of my charge." Enjoying the tokens of the Divine favour, he laboured with his usual zeal till August, 1854. His last day on earth was the Lord's-day. He preached in the morning from Hab. iii. 17, 18: "Although the fig-tree shall not blossom," &c., when the peculiar expression of his countenance suggested to some who looked on, his previous enjoyment of intimate communion with God; and the service proved to himself, as he afterwards declared, peculiarly happy. He afterwards remarked that he saw beauties in that passage which he had never before beheld, and wished to preach still further upon it. In the afternoon he administered the ordinance of the Lord's supper; and before he left the chapel he expressed a wish that in the evening the teachers and children would sing the hymn, each verse of which ends with: "We all shall meet in heaven at last." A little girl connected with the school had just died, very happily, and he was anticipating a funeral sermon, founded on the passage: "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." He left the tea-table early, and at a quarter before six sent for a friend to ask her some questions about the departed child, when she found him pencilling notes for the pulpit, and withdrew a few minutes after. The congregation assembled, and ten minutes after six had arrived, but the minister was not there: it was supposed that his watch had suddenly stopped, and some one was sent to his house, but how unexpected

and distressing the spectacle !—he was found lying on the floor, in a fit of paralysis, speedily followed by apoplexy. Apparently suffering much, he was asked where the pain was, when he replied, "Not in pain; only restless ;" and when the inquiry was made if he expected soon to be better, he cheerfully replied, "O yes!" But these were his last words: slumber followed; about two o'clock he gently breathed his last; and now, the remains of this faithful servant, found with his "loins girt and his light burning" at his Lord's coming, await, in the little burial-ground of the chapel at Redbourne, a glorious resurrection.

The Rev. W. Upton preached to his own flock, at St. Albans, on the following Lord's-day morning, from the words, Gen. v. 24, "He was not, for God took him ;" and in the evening, at Redbourne, from the text on which Mr. Robinson was meditating when struck by the hand of death; his manuscript sermon being found lying by his side when he was discovered by one of his friends. The chapel was too small for the crowd gathered to listen to the funeral sermon; grief was general and sincere; and even the poorest of the school-children wore some symbol of mourning. May the solemn and impressive appeal then made prove to have been instrumental to the conversion of many!

A member of the church thus writes: "The language of his heart was— A guilty, weak, and helpless worm,

On thy kind arms I fall,
Be thou my strength and righteousness,
My Jesus, and my all!'

"He once told me that he never failed to repeat this verse once a day, and sometimes oftener, it was such a favourite, that if allowed to choose he should like to die with it on his lips. The following prayer was found in a memorandum-book, written by Mr. Robinson, and dated March 16th, 1854 (I believe on his birthday). It is so in character with his daily walk and conversation that I cannot refrain from