The Life of Jesus; a Fact, not a Fiction. A Response to M. Renan's "Vie de Jesus." By J. A. Gage. Price One Shilling. London: H. J. TRESSIDDER, 17, Ave Maria Lane. THIS little book, though humble in its pretensions, is of great value. Its limits necessarily preclude its author from a complete examination of the various sophisms contained in Renan's "Vie de Jesus," but he fully proves that the Life of Christ was not, as the brilliant Frenchman teaches, in the main, "a fiction," but a solemn and glorious "fact." We hope to give some extracts in our next Number. The Young Heroes of the Bible; or, Illustrations of the Power of Youthful Piety, in Three Lectures. By the Rev. Samuel Newton, Minister of the United Methodist Free Church, Newcastle-underLyme. Newcastle: T. BAYLEY, Printer, Red Lion Square. AN excellent book for the young,-plain, earnest, and abounding with noble sentiments. We welcome the author to the literary brotherhood. MEMOIR OF Biography. MR. JOHN PEARSON, OF WEST BY REV. W. EMBLETON. MB. JOHN PEARSON, was born in South Shields, in the county of Durham, in the year, 1816. His parents did not make any profession of religion, though they were much respected for the rectitude of their outward deportment. Through them their son was early sent to the Methodist New Connexion Sabbath-school in his native town. Here he received into his mind the seeds of the glorious principles of our holy religion. He heard of heaven, of hell; he was told that he was a sinner, and that God is angry with sinners every day. He was told that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, even the chief. For a long season all these truths lay in him, hidden and buried, giving no outward indication or promise of fruit, and the teachers and other observers might have inferred, from time to time, that there was nothing unusual passing in the mind of that quiet youth, who regularly presented himself in his class on Sundays. But it was not so. He had many a heart-struggle. The ever-perplexing question presented itself, "Who can resolve the doubt Which tears my anxious breast? Thus matters went on until they were suddenly brought to a crisis, by an awful calamity which befel a member of his own family. He had a younger brother whose disposition was less quiet than his own. Sometimes he was unwilling to go school, preferring, like too many boys, to stroll by the river side, or to row a boat on the Tyne. One fatal Sabbath he expressed a determination to go and do his own pleasure on the Lord's Day; his tender-hearted brother followed him to induce him to go with him to the house of God. By a false step he stumbled, and was precipitated to the bottom of the Middle Dock, which at the time was dry, and received such injuries that he died the same night. What the feelings of John were may be readily imagined. He jumped down after him, took him up in his arms and tried to restore him, but it was in vain ; he never rallied. God was pleased in this mysterious manner to call him to his account. Tae mind of Mr. Pearson was so affected, that from that time he made a full surrender of himself unto Him who bought him with His precious blood. He sought and obtained the mercy of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Hitherto the Saviour, at the door of his heart, had been a supplicant for admission; now the door was opened, and the heavenly Bridegroom entered and took up His everlasting abode. As might be expected from his peaceable and inoffensive habit of mind, God did not put him through the terrible process which some of us have felt. The lightning, the earthquake, and the storm no doubt there were, but at so great a distance that his soul was not filled with that amazement which some experience. God, in working upon human souls, has a way peculiarly adapting itself unto each particular case. Samson, no doubt, after all his follies, was taken to heaven; but it was from the midst of falling stones, and crashing timbers, with a bruised and mangled body, as though the Master would let all men know that he was saved, yet so as by fire. Paul had been an outward, bitter persecutor, and after he was saved testified, "I bear in my body the marks of the dying of the Lord Jesus." Others who have been as soundly converted as either Paul or Samson, have had their hearts opened gently as the womb of the morning; gently as the flower when it is kissed by the rays of the orb of day. So was it with our brother; he was drawn by the cords of the love of God, and those silken bands which none but He can throw around the soul of man; but he ever afterwards gave full proof that he had seen the Lord and felt His power to save. One evidence of the genuineness of the work was found in his strong desire to be made instrumental to the salvation of others. "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" He became a teacher where formerly he had been a learner. The Scripture had made him wise unto salvation, by faith in Jesus, and he complied readily with the injunction, "Freely ye have received, freely give." Every Sunday-scholar is in this respect a debtor to the school where he has got good; and the best way to discharge the obligation is to put on the harness, and to do unto others as others have done unto him. Of Mr. Pearson we can safely say that he brought to his office all the patience, punctuality, prayer, and diligence, which characterized him in his ordinary walk in life. In the year 1832, his father removed from South Shields to Middlesbro', and here as the New Connexion had no church, he connected himself with the Conference Body. Here he enlarged the sphere of his Christian labour; to Sabbath-school teaching he added tract distribution, visiting periodically his district for the delivery of those well-known publications which have been made so great a blessing to so many thousands of souls in this and other countries. He also joined a band of young men, "whose hearts the Lord had touched," and who went forth into neglected parts of the town, and held meetings for prayer and exhortation. He continued thus until the year 1849, when, as is well known, a great convulsion shook the Conference Connexion, and 100,000 of her members left her communion. Our brother sympathized deeply with the expelled ministers, and he with a large number of others retired, and ultimately built and occupied Brougham Street Chapel. To a man of his unobtru sive disposition, we need scarcely say that these were days of severe trial; but he passed through them, and to the day of his death he thanked God for enabling him to make the stand he did on the side of conscience. After the Reform Society was organised he was appointed superintendent of the Sabbath-school, which office he held until he removed to West Hartlepool. It was after he went to this latter town that he was made a Leader, one of the most important offices it is possible for a man to hold. So responsible did he feel it to be, that he often groaned in secret for what he thought to be the want of success in connection with his class; but all his members loved and honoured him, and his book shewed that the class had increased in his hands. Latterly, his nervous system had been so much shaken that he dared not to pray in public, and no doubt that was the premonitor of the disease at his heart which ultimately led to his removal from the Church militant to the Church triumphant. Besides the office of Leader, he held that of Steward on behalf of the poor, which he filled entirely to the satisfaction of his brethren. Having said thus much about his conversion to God, and his offices in the Church, it remains that a little should be said about the peculiar traits which distinguished him in his private deportment. And first, and not least, among these was his great respect for the feelings and characters of others. He had no love for those witty and biting sayings which so often plant stings in the minds of our fellow-men, leading them to regard you afterwards with uneasiness and uncertainty as to whether you are a friend or foe. He might speak good, but never evil of any. The Apostle James says, "If any man that is among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, this man's (whatever other showy qualities he may have) religion is vain." Brother Pearson was, "swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath." Hence it was that he had so many friends, and so few enemies. When sometimes he has been invited to listen to some story about some one, he has turned aside and endeavoured to divert attention from what he did not like. "He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear." He was entirely free from ostentation. Now, we know it would never do for every one to occupy an unseen position in the Church of Christ; but still, we must honour that feeling which leads a man to esteem others more highly than himself, and makes him think that others can do things better than himself. In honour preferring one another." He exemplified this in all he did. 66 He was a profitable hearer of God's Word. It was impossible to talk with him without finding that his treasures of scriptural information were great. Having heard nearly all the popular ministers of his day, both in Methodism and other Churches, and having taken notice of the leading features of their pulpit labours, it was most interesting to listen to him, and nothing warmed him in conversation more than this. The style of preaching which pleased him most was that which is kept lively by apt and pointed illustration. It was, however, in the midst of his family that he was seen to most advantage. Here the finer qualities of his heart developed themselves to the utmost. A more perfect bond of love could not be presented than that of his household. He was the centre of attraction; there was that strong affection which led one to an icipate, and seek to supply, the wants of the other. His strong love for his children was seen in his desire to fit them for the duties of this world, but much more in his anxiety for their souls. He, therefore, himself walked before them with a perfect heart, in integrity and uprightness; in precept and example, saying unto them, Follow me, for I follow Christ. Family worship was as much a part of the household arrangements as eating and drinking; Bible reading and Bible study, as the day-book and ledger, and the blessing of the K God of Abraham, which maketh rich, and addeth no sorrow, rested upon them. He was a decided teetotaler; and, purely, that he might be of service to others, by his example. Being brought to God in early life, and hav ing been saved from forming those outward vicious habits under which so many have had to groan, it was not on his personal account that he acted out this great principle; it was a question of benevolence, a seeking to benefit others, without hope or prospect of return. But it was, nevertheless, impossible for him to be an abstainer without being indirectly benefited by it; for "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly." If a man wash his hands entirely from the things which ruin so many others, he must be helping to keep up a safeguard around himself and his own family, and thus, very often, "Virtue is its own reward." But we must hasten to the end of the pilgrim's journey, the termination of the labourer's toil, the cessation of the Christian's conflict, and the consummation of the believer's triumph. "It is appointed unto men once to die." The time had come when the great head of the Church saw good to sever, suddenly, the ties which bound Brother Pearson to earth, and to take him away in the midst of his days. For some time they had been unusually busy at the shop, and this led him to be a little more active, and to engage more freely than was his wont. On the Tuesday night, he was unable to meet his class; but he did not feel anything to alarm him, as to the state of his health. He went to bed, little dreaming that he had been laid open to the final attack of the last enemy. On Wednesday morning, he was seized by the cold icy grip of death; he staggered, fell faint, and was obliged to acknowledge that he was ill. He gradually became weaker and weaker, until, at the end of eight days, "The golden bowl was broken, and the silver cord was loosed; the pitcher was broken at the fountain," and the dust returned to the earth as it was, and the happy spirit hastened back to the God who gave it. We may be ready to ask, how he was sustained during that bitter week of illness and death? Death is a detecter of shams; and if a man has built upon the sand, then is the time when it may be found out,— "Men may live fools-but fools they cannot die." Was the God whom he served able to deliver him in the hour of need? Did he then find religion to be all she had promised to be to those who embrace her? Thanks be to God, he did!" At times he was delirious; but when he had power to express his feelings, he gave the most satisfactory testimony that all was well. On one occasion, especially, he seemed as though he had been caught up to heaven, and permitted to return, dazzled and delighted with the glories he had witnessed there. There was a sublimity about his language, and grandeur about his conceptions which were quite superhuman. It was, while in this state of mind, that he called his family around his bed, naming them one after another. He asked for his spectacles, intending once more to read the Bible to them, but his eyes refused their office. His sorrowing wife took the book, and read for him, after which he prayed for each of his four children, called them to him in order, gave them separately his parting blessing, charged them to meet him in heaven, and gently passed away. His body was interred in the West Hartlepool Cemetery. No private individual was ever in that town honoured by so large a concourse of per sons attending his remains to the tomb. The writer of this sketch read the burial service; the Rev. S. Beavan delivered a most touching address at the grave, and the Rev. John Hargreaves offered the last prayer. The vessel thus launched upon Time's troublous sea in 1816, safely made her port in 1863. MEMOIR OF JOHN DAVEY, OF TRENANT, NEAR WADEBRIDGE, CORNWALL. MR. JOHN DAVEY was born at Bodieve, near Wadebridge, on the 29th December, 1792. He was the third son of Mr. Malachi and Mrs. Elizabeth Davey, who were two of the first members of the Wesleyan Methodist Society, at Wadebridge, and entertained the preachers who came there to preach. In early life the subject of this memoir was light and trifling, full of wit and humour, yet never malicious; he was good-natured, and kind to all, but lived after the course of this world. He was very fond of ringing, and was accustomed to attend the Church at Egloshayle, on the Sunday afternoon, and remain behind to ring until the preaching service at Wadebridge had begun. He would then go to the Chapel and listen at the door and windows to what was going on inside, and wish to go in, but could not make up his mind to do so; this conduct, which he ever after disapproved of, he pursued for some years. Also, before his conversion to God, he was much addicted to the sin of swearing, and after that time this besetment followed him. On a certain occasion he and one of his brothers were at work in their father's field; when about to take their dinner his knife slipped, and in an unguarded moment he swore an oath. He immediately left his dinner, and retired to an outhouse in the field, and there, during the dinner-hour, he remained, and with fasting, strong crying, and tears, besought God for pardon of his besetting sin, and strength for the future to overcome it, which was imparted; for he never afterwards swore an oath. When about the age of twenty, a remarkable change took place in his life and conduct-he had a pious cousin, Samuel West, about his own age, who had loved and feared God from his youth; this young man's health had been declining for two years, during which time Mr. Davey was much with him, and had an opportunity of seeing how a Christian lived, and now was soon to witness how a Christian dies. On January 16th, 1813, this good young man felt his end was near, and requested to see some friends, amongst others his cousin, John Davey; when he entered the room, the dying man said, "You have an immortal soul to save." The words come home to his conscience, and after his friend had passed away, he fell on his knees and earnestly sought pardon for his sins; he could with difficulty be kept from the side of his cousin's coffin, but spent the principal part of the time, until the interment, there in prayer. From that time he became decided to give his heart to Godthere was no halting between two opinions; he broke off from his old companions, and joined himself to the Wesleyan Methodist Society, and received his first ticket in June, 1813, and soon after with two others, his sister and cousin, established the first Sunday-school in the neighbourhood, at Bodieve. His name appeared as a fully accredited local preacher, January 16th, 1816; but it appears he was on the Plan some time prior to that as an exhorter. He was so extremely retiring in his habits, reserved in his disposition, and anxious to hide himself from public view, that it must have been a great cross to take so prominent a position. He was well known in this Circuit in which he for so many years preached, as a very faithful and acceptable Local Preacher. He preached for several years almost every Sunday, taking long journeys and undergoing great fatigue; but of late, since he felt infirmities coming on, he did not preach very often. His sermons were got up with great care, and caused him many a restless night, both before and after preaching. He used to say, in reference to his preaching exercises, that if no one of his hearers was benefited by it, he was, and that he could say with the Apostle, |