DR. PAYSON'S POWER IN YEARS ago, when Dr. Payson was the pastor of the second parish church in this city, he instituted "the quarterly church fast." This season is still observed here by all the orthodox congregational churches. Being in one of these meetings not long since, I took occasion to mention the fact that the pastor of a church in Western Massachusetts, where I formerly resided, often alluded to these seasons, and the manner in which they were observed by Dr. Payson; and that, as a consequence, his church afterwards established such a meeting, and regularly attended upon it, with no little interest and profit. A pious lawyer who was present remarked that he was reminded by these statements of one striking feature in Dr. Payson's Sabbath exercises his wonderful power in prayer. Mr. S. was then a child; he sat in the gallery; he felt no special interest about religious things. But when that man of God arose in his place, and poured out his soul in supplication, so filial and tender, so earnest and reverent, so solemn and spiritual, his young heart was completely overwhelmed with emotion. He could not describe the feelings that rushed upon him at that hour, in any better way than by comparing them to the sensation which comes over us when we receive a sudden fright: his blood started quicker in his veins, his whole frame felt a shock, and his spirit was stirred deeply within him. Dr. Payson brought down so much of the presence and power of God, by his communion at the throne of grace, that it was awful to be there. That vast assembly were ready to exclaim, "How dreadful is this place! this is none other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven." He said Dr. Payson owed his remarkable success in the ministry, and his amazing influence, as much to his prevalence in prayer as to his faithfulness and pungency in preaching the gospel. A valuable testimony! In these ays, when so much is said about great efforts, about eloquent sermons, about intellectual preaching, and so little importance is attached to a high standard of personal piety, to a deep-toned spirituality, as an element of mighty power in the pulpit, may it not be refreshing to turn back to the experience of former times? Few, if any, ministershave wielded a more wide-spread and healthy influence than Dr. Payson. It is felt to the third and fourth generation. Its moulding hand is still pressing warmly upon the whole community.-Letters from Portland. A GOOD MAN'S WISH. I FREELY confess to you that I would rather, when I am laid down in the grave, some one in his manhood stand over me and say, "There lies one who was a real friend to me, and privately warned me of the dangers of the young; no one knew it, but he aided me in the time of need. I owe what I am to him." Or, I would rather have some widow, with choking utterance, telling her children-"There is your friend and mine. He visited me in my affliction, and found you, my son, an emhappy home in a virtuous family." ployer, and you, my daughter, a I say, I would rather such person should stand at my grave, than to have erected over it the most beautiful sculptured monument of Parian or Italian marble. The heart's broken utterance of reflections of past kindness, and the tears of grateful memory shed upon the grave, are more valuable in my estimation than the most costly cenotaph ever reared. Dr. Sharp. DO RIGHT. Do right, be the consequences what they will. Do right, and you will make an everlasting gain, whatever may be your present loss. Do right, and although your neighbours may scorn and avoid you to-day, in the end you will find the whole world, nature, and God on your side. Truth is the central sun of the universe; be true yourself, and you shall see all things revolve harmoniously around you, according to immutable laws.-Ironthorpe. THE METHODIST NEW CONNEXION MAGAZINE. APRIL, 1856. BIOGRAPHY. MRS. ELLEN POLLITT, OF BARNSLEY CIRCUIT. BY WILLIAM COOKE. He is no philosopher who thinks lightly of religious biography. Were the memorials of the pious dead to be blotted out, Christianity would lose one of the brightest evidences of its adaptation and experimental power, and providence be deprived the chief illustration of its marvellous operations. The church would have no history, religion no past examples, the promises no recorded fulfilment, and the principles of the gospel present a theory, ancient indeed, but unsustained by coeval experiment. In each age, the church would exist in cold and abstract isolation, without that sympathy and interest which spring from a common history; the present deriving no instruction, admonition, encouragement, or stimulus from the past, nor the future from the present. Such, however, is not God's order. The church is one in all ages, and in all nations; the experience of the past is the inheritance of the present; the present is adding her contribution to the past, and handing it on to the future. In religious biography Christianity lives and breathes before us an experimental reality; she puts on the costume of our humanity in all its diversified complexions, and evinces her power to transform, to purify, to ennoble, and to bless mankind. She thus assumes a history of glorious antecedents; rich with facts and examples, which assert her divinity, proclaim her potency, and transmit her influence from the beginning to the end of time. In the subject of our present memoir, we have not to present religion as embellishing some elevated station, or figuring in scenes of daring enterprise, and startling incidents; but as exemplified in "common life," as sanctifying and blessing the domestic sphere, adorning the character with the rich fruits of holiness, sustaining the mind under privations and sorrows, affording the purest and most elevated enjoyments, enabling the soul to exult over the last enemy, and triumphantly enter into the paradise of God. ELLEN POLLITT was born in the town of Wigan, in Lancashire, on the 7th of January, 1777. It was her privilege to have a N religious training. Both father and mother walked in the fear of God. Her father was personally acquainted with the venerable Wesley, and occasionally accompanied him in his preaching excursions, standing by him when exposed to the persecuting rabble, and often encountering rotten eggs and other offensive missiles in his endeavours to protect the ambassador of mercy in his evangelical labours. Besides these zealous and courageous efforts in supporting the devoted Wesley, he endeavoured to diffuse the light of the Gospel in his own immediate and more limited sphere. He delighted to visit the sick, and direct the disconsolate and the dying to the friend of sinners. Blest with such a father, our sister was early instructed in the principles and duties of religion. At a tender age she accompanied her devout father on his visits of mercy to the chamber of affliction, and read the word of God to the ignorant, the sick, and the dying, and at times offered up her simple but earnest prayers on their behalf. That these exercises were the fruits of piety is manifest from the fact that they were associated with private devotion and fellowship with God. When only seven or eight years of age she was in the habit of retiring to her room for prayer, where her gentle soul was melted into tenderness and love; for often, when interrogated by her sister as to the cause of her eyes being suffused with tears, her answer was, they were not tears of sorrow, but of thankfulness and joy. These early impressions and religious emotions, though at times accompanied with the foibles of youth, never left her, but ripened into established habits of piety. At a tender age she enjoyed the fellowship of God's people, and was recognized as a member of the church. Our sister was married when but young, with a fair prospect of being comfortably settled with a sufficient income, but she was soon called to experience vicissitudes and trials which severely tested her religious principles; yet through grace she was enabled to endure as seeing him who is invisible, confidently relying on the faithfulness and mercy of her covenant God. In setting forth her experience under these and subsequent periods of her history, we shall avail ourselves of the faithful records made by her own pen. She remarks: "I have experienced many changes both in circumstances and places of abode; sometimes having a comfortable home and a competency, and at other times without a home, dwelling among strangers, prostrate by affliction, and subjected to very straitened and inadequate means of support for myself and my children; but I would remember with gratitude what profitable seasons those were to my mind; what proofs I then had of the goodness of God in his supplying my necessities and causing me to find at all times his grace to be sufficient for me, and his strength to be perfect in my weakness. "My husband was religious from his youth, and for four years after our marriage (while we remained at Barnsley) we were blest with prosperity. We had then the worship of God in our dwelling, and his people for our companions." At this period her husband entertained the idea of emigrating to America, and with this view gave up his business and sold his furniture. This step proved to be the beginning of sorrows. Various events conspired to prevent their departure to America, and a succession of disasters occurred. For many years they had to struggle with difficulties. Whatever business pursuits Mr. Pollitt entered upon, though promising and flattering for a time, ended in disappointment, and brought him and his family to poverty, Disheartened by his losses, he neglected the means of grace, and amid the storms by which he was tossed he made shipwreck of faith. Unsettled and unhappy, he entered the army and was absent from his wife and family for eight years. This unexpected trial plunged our sister into deep temporal distress, and called for that energy and self-reliance which were her constitutional characteristics, and for that confidence in God which religion dictated as her duty and privilege. Thus left by her natural protector, she had three children to provide for, and to her privations were added personal afflictions, which at times disqualified her for exertion. Yet even in this period of extremity, the Lord was her helper, so that often gratitude for abundant mercy dictated the song of thanksgiving and praise. Amidst the changes to which herself and family had been subjected, they had removed from Barnsley to Stockport, and here her holy and consistent walk won for her many friends, some of whom had both the ability and the will to assist her in the time of need. And the practical manifestations of Christian sympathy she received in this place are recorded by her with fervent gratitude. She remarks:-"It was a great comfort in having my mother and my two sisters living with me, and the kindness of my class-mates and Christian friends was so great that I often felt oppressed by it, although it was done in the most delicate manner." Adverting to a period of protracted affliction she observes:-"During this time the wants of myself and my children were amply supplied. Some of my nurses and benefactors are, I doubt not, now receiving a full reward from Him who says 'A cup of cold water given in His name shall not lose its reward;' and 'Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."" Her two boys being apprenticed at Barnsley, she thought it her duty to remove thither in order that she might be near to render her maternal counsel and influence more effective; but being strongly dissuaded from this step by her friends and benefactors, she sought the special counsel and direction of her Heavenly Father; and having obtained what she regarded as a satisfactory intimation of his will, she removed to Barnsley, where she found a welcome reception from her Christian friends, and had ample proof that the step was a providential one. Speaking of this period she says:-"I have always been persuaded that I was led here by the Providence of God, and I wish to record his goodness to me and mine. I had in general plenty of employment. I lived near the house of God, and enjoyed sweet fellowship with my Christian friends. I had an altar for the worship of God in my family, and was blest with my Bible and my closet." Her enjoyments were now augmented by the society of her mother and her two sisters, who had come to reside in the same neighbourhood. Here, however, her path was chequered, and she was called to sustain the pangs of bereavement. Her youngest child, named after herself, was, after six months' illness, torn from the maternal embrace by the hand of death. As a mother, she deeply felt the stroke, but as a Christian, she bowed in humble submission to the will of God, and drew consolation from the promises and hopes of the gospel. On this bereavement she remarks, "I wept often when I thought of what she had suffered, yet I was thankful that she was taken from the evil to come, and that her happy spirit would praise her Maker and Redeemer for ever. After my little Ellen's death I was very poorly for some time, and often thought I should not live long. My mind was gloomy-I was not afraid to die, but I sighed when I looked upon my children, and wished I might be spared to them till their father should come home. One day I took my Bible in my hand, and kneeling down asked my Heavenly Father to be graciously pleased to satisfy my mind whether he was going to call me hence, or restore me to health. I opened at Proverbs ix. 11: For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased.' I cannot describe the emotions which then filled my breast. From that time I began to improve rapidly, and, however ill I was afterwards, I never thought that I was going to die till some years had fled away. Mrs. Pollitt was distinguished for her attachment to the Holy Scriptures. Endowed with a vigorous and inquiring mind, she was fond of religious books, and read them with avidity; but the Bible was to her the Book of Books; it was her chief treasure, her daily companion. She cherished its truths, claimed its promises, copied its holy examples, and sought to regulate her whole life by its requirements. It was her habit, I believe, to read the sacred volume entirely through once each year, besides its special perusal for devotional exercises. When in perplexity it was usual with her to seek the guidance of God by invoking his direction to some particular passage expressive of his will. On one occasion when her mind was in suspense respecting a matter which occasioned much anxiety, she had recourse as usual to her Bible, but not finding at once a clear and decisive response to her solicitude, the enemy of souls sought occasion, from the disappointment, to plunge her into deep mental distress; but by earnest prayer the snare was broken, and her soul filled with peace, satisfaction, and joy. She says: "I read and prayed much for three days without any greater comfort than the assurance of a good conscience. In other respects I was in great trouble. On the evening of the third day, as I was laying the Bible down, a wicked thought crossed my mind. I thought that I seek direction from this book, but I cannot find it. It seems ambiguous; it may mean this, or it may mean that; I know not what it means. Instantly my soul was wounded. I again took up my precious Bible, spread it open, and with a broken heart knelt down to pray for pardon. I did not pray in vain-every bond was loosened, every cloud dispersed, every want was supplied. I felt a sweet assurance of the Divine favour, and in this I found all I wanted. Before I rose from my knees I read a little in my Bible which was open at the thirty-seventh Psalm. I cannot express what I felt while I read that Psalm. Whenever I have heard it read, or seen it since, I have remembered that circumstance. I felt a full assurance that my God would guide me by his counsel, and conduct me in a right way, and I felt my will to be lost in the will of God." Like all Christians of long experience, our sister was occasionally the subject of grievous temptations. She says: "I will record a few, for the remembrance of them should inspire me with humility and gratitude to God. |