the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief;' and after languishing a little longer in great pain, he expired. He had nearly completed his seventy-second year, and had been almost four years a supernumerary.

Too great exertion on a visit which he paid to Runcorn, the preceding autumn, was the cause of that rapid decline in Mr. Myles's health, which preceded the final attack. There are some singular coincidences observable in his visits to that place, which may not be deemed unworthy of notice. The first time that he went there, was, when he was first stationed at Liverpool. He went with a view to introduce preaching: but no one would receive him or his horse, or let him have a place to preach in. After the lapse of many years, Methodism having gained an establishment in Runcorn, a chapel was built; and the friends, having heard of the former unsuccessful attempt of Mr. Myles, determined to invite him to assist at the opening of the chapel. He accepted the invitation with pleasure, and preached on the occasion. After another period of some twenty years or more, it was the lot of the writer of this memoir to be stationed at Runcorn. The prosperity which the Lord was pleased to vouchsafe to us, rendered a larger chapel necessary; and a favorable opportunity occuring for securing a suitable piece of ground, it was embraced; and a commodious, handsome new chapel was erected, having a Sunday school beneath it, and a good dwelling house attached. Mr. Myles was now a supernumerary at Liverpool; and the Runcorn friends, to whom he was greatly endeared, were anxious that, as he had preached the first sermon in their old chapel, he should preach the last in it too, previously to its being taken down; and also that he should take a part in the opening of the new one. He cheerfully engaged to do so; and he performed his engagement as far as the old chapel was concerned, preaching in it a sermon introductory to the missionary meeting; but, owing to a mistake respecting the packet, he was so harassed in his journey, that he began to sink very fast from that period. The circumstances under which the new chapel was opened will ever invest the remembrance of it in my mind with a mournful interest. During the preceding summer, Mr. and Mrs. Myles spent a few days at my house. We had then a little boy who was born after we came to Runcorn; and we were intending to have him consecrated to God in the solemn ordinance of baptism, at the opening of the new chapel. The name of the child was William; and Mr. Myles became very much attached to him, calling him his name-sake, and speaking of the pleasure he should have in assisting at the public dedication of his young name-sake to that Divine Master in whose service he himself was nearly worn out. The chapel opening at last came; but, O the vanity of all human calculations! our dear child lay that day in his coffin; and Mr. Newton, having preached the first sermon in the new chapel in

the morning, hastened home to Liverpool, to preach a funeral sermon on the occasion of Mr. Myles's death in the evening.

The esteem which Mr. Myles had secured for himself in Liverpool was not confined to his own people. Many gentlemen, unconnected with the Wesleyan society, testified their respect for his memory by attending when the funeral discourse was preached; and the Liverpool Auxiliary Bible Society recorded, in their printed report of that year, their high sense of his worth, and spoke of his death as a loss to the institution. Mr. Myles had been a steady friend to the Bible cause; and, on his will being read, it was found that he had bequeathed one hundred pounds (three and a half per cent. annuities) to the British and Foreign Bible Society, as well as one hundred pounds each to the two Wesleyan institutions, the Missionary Society, and the Preachers' Legalized Fund. The legacy to the last mentioned fund, Mrs. Myles, with a rare generosity and nobleness of mind, doubled, at the time of its being paid, by a donation of her own.

Few words will be requisite in summing up the character of Mr. Myles. His piety was deep and genuine; but what particularly distinguished him was, an integrity which showed itself in a most minute and punctual attention even to his most ordinary engagements, and a remarkable simplicity which gave a kind of transparency to his whole character. And it is evident from his journal, that his religious experience received a peculiar tone from an extreme sensibility, which often made those occurrences which others would not, perhaps, have felt at all, heavy trials and painful exercises to him. If his talents were not of the very highest order, they were respectable; and if his education was not a finished one, he acquired a considerable stock of knowledge, by a persevering application to reading and study through the greater part of his life. He was able to consult the Old and New Testaments in their original tongues, and he also acquired some knowledge of Latin and French. His sermons were generally collections of rich materials, and were distinguished in their style and delivery by his characteristic simplicity. The single sermons which he published may perhaps be regarded as tolerably fair specimens of his pulpit discourses. In his best days he was a popular preacher; and what crowned all was, the blessing of God resting upon his labours, and making him instrumental in 'turning many to righteousness.' In the various circuits where he successively laboured, his memory will long be affectionately cherished. For while many were effectually converted to God by his instrumentality, many more were instructed, encouraged, and edified; and his entire conduct was admirably calculated to inspire general esteem and love. His brethren also had the fullest confidence in his principles and uprightness, through the whole of his protracted and eventful life; and to them he was an example of order, diligence, fidelity, and zeal. Few men, occupying a public situation as Mr. Myles

did, have maintained for so many years a character so pure and unsullied. May a succession of men, actuated by the same spirit, be raised up to extend and perpetuate that blessed work of God, of which Mr. Myles and his coädjutors have been the honored instruments!

A DISSERTATION

On the most approved method of extending Missionary Operations, by pecuniary means and otherwise.-By REV. ALFRED BRUNSON.

'Ask of me, and I shall give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession,' PSALM ii, 8.

Ir is not necessary, at this period in the benevolent movements of the times, to plead for the introduction of missionary operations, or to show that it is an important duty of Christians to contribute to their support. These are doctrines already well established. The object of the present inquiry is, to ascertain, as far as practicable, the most approved method of extending' those 'operations, by pecuniary means and otherwise,' so as to obtain the most means, and render them the most useful, in promoting the glory of God in the salvation of souls.

The missionary cause is emphatically the cause of God. It took its rise in the benevolence of that Being, whose love to a fallen world induced him to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' And every means used, since the deplored fall of our race, in the varied dispensations of mercy, to restore man to peace and favor with his offended Maker, are properly and truly missionary.. And in every instance in which man coöperates with his Maker in this charitable enterprise, he imitates his heavenly Father, and is so far godlike.

The genius of missions, sitting in the highest seats of benevolence, contemplates the human family in its fallen, degraded, miserable, and (as to itself) helpless condition; and while she views the gloomy portrait, with the tear of compassion glistening in her eye, she reaches forth her hand, containing the proffers of the Gospel, and being commissioned by the high courts of Heaven, she urges the unhappy to receive them and live. And, as like begets like, so whoever receives this Gospel, with its attendant blessings, feels his spirit moved within him to extend its benefits to others; yea, on the same principle, the views and feelings which the Gospel inspires are usually coëxtensive with those of the Spirit from which they are received. This we take to be the desire of the Christian world; to assist in accomplishing which, we design, first, to consider the extent of the work necessary to a universal spread of the Gospel, which is the ultimate design in its propagation; which

view will enable us the better, secondly, to contemplate the most effectual measures to accomplish so great and so good a work.

In pursuing this order, then, we shall in the first place notice the work to be done. This is no less than the conversion of the world of mankind to the faith of the Gospel, as the most effectual if not the only means to rescue them from their deplorable situation. As yet, however, but a small portion of the world have heard the glad tidings of peace, and much, very much, is to be done, before the Gospel shall have taken such a universal spread as to usher in the millenial glory of the Messiah's reign.

The extent of this work will be the better understood, from a cursory view of the population of the globe, with their relative proportions. In this we cannot be exact, because of the barbarous state in which so many nations live; but we may be sufficiently correct for practical purposes. There are supposed to be about one thousand million souls upon earth, of whom not over two hundred million are called Christian; and of this number perhaps not more than ninety million come within the name or influence of the Protestant faith; the remainder being within the pale of the Roman and Greek churches, where the prospect of their conversion from a nominal to a genuine Christianity, is no better than that of the Heathen themselves, if as good. The Greek church is admitted to be rather better than the Roman; but both are so corrupt, in both doctrine and morals, that the proportion of their people who may be called pious, is not probably much greater than the proportion among the Pagans and Mohammedans, who, like Cornelius, fear God and work righteousness, according to the best light and knowledge THEY HAVE; and who, in consequence, are accepted of Him. And it is a well known fact, that the inveterate prejudices of a bad religion are more difficult to overcome than the mere opposition of a fallen nature; of which we have ample proof, not only in the attempts to convert the Papists and Mohammedans, but even in the Indians on our frontier, who had partially embraced the Roman faith for they were more difficult to be convinced of the necessity of repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ,' than were those who were in a perfect Heathen state. The blind madness of the Jews, the superstition of the Papists, the unconquerable prejudices of the Mohammedans, and the delusive fanaticism of the Pagans, obtrude obstacles of the most important magnitude in the way of the universal spread of the Gospel of the Redeemer, and show more clearly the extent and importance of the work to be accomplished.

In this work we may include, then, the Jews, Pagans, Mohammedans, Papists, and Greeks; and when we consider how small a proportion of those called Protestants are truly pious, we shall probably add nine tenths of the Protestant population of the globe to the other, which will give (in round numbers) not far from nine hundred million to be converted to the genuine faith of the Gospel.

This work assumes a still more important magnitude, when we take into view the probable time allotted for its accomplishment. It has been an extensive opinion in Christendom, that the thousand years when Christ shall reign on earth, when his church shall have rest from the assaults of Satan, will be the seventh thousandth year of the world. Upon this calculation, there is but about one hundred and seventy years till that reign shall take place; and let that reign be as it may, either that Christ will reign in person, (with all the saints, sharing in the first resurrection with him,) or from the universal spread of the Gospel, that he shall reign in spirit; yet, this whole work must be accomplished before this full millenial glory can take place. And if we deduct from the above calculation one half for minors or infants, there will yet be four hundred and fifty million to be converted in the space of one hundred and seventy years; which would require the conversion of more than two million and six hundred thousand per annum, without any allowance for the increase of population. In view of this great and important work, [especially when we add the increasing population,] well may we exclaim, Who is sufficient for these things? Yet, if we believe in the millenial reign of the Redeemer, we must believe the work will [as to the population of the world at some period of its existence] be accomplished; or if we discredit such a reign, we ought to view the world in such a state of ruin with an eye of compassion, and admit the work should be done, in order to ameliorate the condition of our species, and promote the future happiness of the human soul. From either view of the subject, if we are influenced by the feelings of benevolence, we are the better prepared,

Secondly, To inquire into the means by which this important work is to be accomplished. And as to these, it would be fair to conclude, that the Founder of missions himself, who undertook the redemption of the world, the extension of whose kingdom we are now contemplating, best understood the means adapted to the great end in view. And the means instituted by him were not in accordance with the wisdom of the world,' by which man cannot attain a 'knowledge of God;' but it pleased God by the' (apparent) foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.'

The object in the establishment of missions is, to ameliorate the condition of the ignorant and wretched in this life, and particularly to promote their happiness in the world to come. As for civilizing the Heathen, or even moralizing those called civil, without the efficient and practical effects of the Gospel, long experience has proved this to be impracticable. The Pagan Greeks, and Romans, in their highest state of improvement in the arts of civil life, were not to be considered moral; and even the semblance of truth found among them, is acknowledged to have been derived from the sacred books of the Jews. And though the Indians had been taught in schools, and instructed on farms and in workshops, yet they were Indians