WESLEYAN-METHODIST MAGAZINE. DECEMBER, 1852. BIOGRAPHY. MEMOIR OF MR. CHARLES SMITH, OF LEEDS: BY THE REV. JOSEPH STINSON. AMIDST the abounding iniquity, the latitudinarian indifference, and the heart-sickening antinomianism which characterize our times, it is most refreshing to meet with a decided, earnest, amiable Christian: a man who loves not in word only, but in deed and in truth;' and who, by the diligent cultivation of Christian virtues, and the faithful discharge of Christian duties, spreads around him, in the domestic circle, in the church, and in his neighbourhood, the savour of the knowledge of Christ. Such a Christian was the late Charles Smith. From his earliest years Mr. Smith was remarkable for the frankness of his disposition, the depth of his filial affection, and an undeviating regard for the truth. In him his widowed mother had the happiness to find an industrious, sober, and obedient son, who at all times delighted to please and honour his bereaved parent. Surrounded as he was by religious privileges and associations, he not unfrequently experienced the drawings of the Holy Spirit; and sometimes, even in the morning of life, he had a painful sense of the sinfulness of his heart, and a strong desire for salvation. On one occasion, when attending a lovefeast, to which he had been led by his pious grandmother, he was brought under powerful religious impressions; and those impressions were strengthened by the sudden death of a beloved brother, who was cut off in the bloom of life. But the feelings thus produced did not at that time induce him to give his heart to God. He resisted the blessed Spirit, and, in opposition to the remonstrances of conscience, "walked according to the course of this world," and "loved and served the creature more than the Creator." At length, while listening to a powerful sermon on the shortness of time, he had such a view of his personal guilt and danger as a lost sinner, that he determined, by the help of God, to consider his latter end, to apply his heart unto wisdom, without further delay to seek the Lord while He might be found, and to call upon Him while He was near. Under the influence of these views and feelings, in the eighteenth year of his age, he became a member of the church of Christ, and sought in connexion with its ordinances VOL. VIII.-FOURTH SERIES. 4 K to enjoy the blessings of the everlasting covenant. In addition to the advantages which he received from the public ministry of the Gospel, the private study of the holy Scriptures, and the use of other religious books, he was greatly assisted in his inquiries after the truth by the wise and godly counsels, the affectionate sympathy, and the fervent prayers, of Mr. Christopher Pickard, a zealous and experienced ClassLeader. In a short time after he had joined the church, while engaged in private prayer, he found peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and was enabled to say, with humble confidence and heart-felt joy,-"O LORD, I will praise Thee: though Thou wast angry with me, Thine anger is turned away, and Thou comfortedst me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; He also is become my salvation." : At that time his friend Mr. Pickard was the Leader of a large class, consisting chiefly of young men, many of whom had been converted to God under the powerful ministry of the Rev. Gideon Ouseley, during a visit which that venerable and distinguished ambassador of Christ paid to Leeds. Mr. Smith cordially united with his Christian companions in various efforts to win souls to his Divine Master. As a Sunday-school Teacher, a Prayer-Leader, a Distributer of religious tracts, and a Collector for the Missions, he laboured with a zeal and energy which true religion alone could inspire. Constrained by the love of Christ, he lived not unto himself, but to Him who died and rose again. Several of the young men, with whom he was thus happily associated in the work of the Lord, and their venerated Leader, Mr. Pickard, (to whom, under God, they were greatly indebted,) having served their generation faithfully, now rest from their labours, and their works follow them. Their names are still held in grateful esteem. Being dead, they yet speak; and many persons who were converted from the error of their ways by their instrumentality are following them, as they followed Christ, and are rejoicing in the anticipation of meeting them again in that better world where death and separation are unknown and unfeared. About four years after his conversion, and as the result of much prayer and serious meditation, Mr. Smith, yielding to the convictions of his own mind, and the counsel of his Ministers and friends, engaged in the arduous and responsible duties of a Local Preacher. Subsequent events showed that, in entering upon this sphere of labour, he did not run before he was sent. His great Master was with him when he preached the Gospel, giving His servant favour in the eyes of the people, and making him instrumental in bringing many sinners from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. His proclamation of the truth was characterized by simplicity, fervour, and power. The object was not to please the fancy, and gratify the fastidious taste; but to enlighten the mind, awaken the conscience, and affect the heart. "He dealt not," as his friend Mr. William Dawson said, "in the light articles of the table, but fed the people with the most substantial food." To the nume rous congregations of all the Leeds Circuits, he was an ever-welcome messenger of peace and salvation; and in most parts of that widelyextended and important field of labour some poor, wandering sinners were, by his instrumentality, brought to the fold of the good Shepherd. From the day he entered upon the discharge of these duties to the end of his career, he found a sacred pleasure in publishing the glad tidings of great joy;" and, as long as health and strength permitted, he was "steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in" this "work of the Lord." 66 In the year 1828, at the death of Mr. Pickard, he was appointed to fill the place of his departed friend, and to take charge of a very large class. During twenty years he discharged the duties of Leader with great acceptance, and with a measure of success seldom surpassed-rarely, indeed, equalled. The number of members in his class was almost continually increasing. He was ever on the watch for those who evinced any concern about their souls, and was ready to say to each of them, "Come thou with us, and we will do thee good; for the LORD hath spoken good concerning Israel." He not only worked himself in this respect, but he set the members of his class to work. He knew that active exertion in the cause of Christ is necessary to keep the life of religion in the soul; and he used to urge those with whom he was associated in Christian fellowship to use whatever talent or influence they possessed, to bring their relatives, friends, and neighbours to the means of grace. As a ClassLeader, Mr. Smith was remarkable for wisdom, fidelity, and affection; and not less remarkable for punctuality and self-denying zeal in the performance of his duties. Amidst the numerous and pressing claims of a large business, to which he most conscientiously attended, he found time to meet the claims of religious duty with a promptitude and regularity which excited the admiration of those who knew him and could appreciate his conduct. During many years, it was his custom every week to travel great distances by night, that he might be with his class at the appointed hour. These services were rendered to the church with a cheerfulness which showed that his heart was in the work. Upon his mind there appeared to rest a deep and abiding sense of obligation to God. In each temporal and spiritual blessing he recognised the goodness and grace of his heavenly Father. The language of his heart and lips was, "My Saviour, how shall I proclaim, How pay, the mighty debt I owe? "Too much to Thee I cannot give, Too much I cannot do for Thee: Graven on my heart for ever be ! " In Mr. Smith were happily united Christian courage and meekness, zeal and courtesy, diligence in business and fervour of spirit. He was a man given to prayer-never more in his element than when engaged with his brethren in earnest supplication for copious effusions of the Holy Spirit upon the church and the world. In various memorable revivals of religion which have characterized the history of Methodism in Leeds, he took a prominent and active part, ever exulting in the peace and glory of the church of God. He was firmly attached to Methodist doctrine and discipline; yet his was not a blind and sectarian attachment. He had too much sense to expect perfection in any system of church-polity, and too much charity to imagine that true religion was confined within the limits of his own communion. But, after the scrutiny of many years, he did firmly believe that in no section of the Christian church is there as much security for purity of doctrine and purity of discipline as in his own, and that in no other are there to be found equally favourable opportunities of being happy and useful. Acting in accordance with these convictions, he revered, loved, and supported the Ministers of this body, while he openly and uniformly identified himself with all its interests. Mr. Smith was a public-spirited man: he looked not exclusively on his own things, but also upon the things of others. While in his domestic circle, as a son, a husband, a father, and a master, he was most exemplary, he sympathised with his neighbours and townsmen generally, and was ready to "do good unto all men, especially unto them who" were " of the household of faith." In him many perplexed and afflicted ones found a judicious counsellor, and a liberal friend. It is not to be supposed that our beloved brother was faultless. Like other men, he was encompassed with infirmity and liable to err; and no one more quickly perceived or more ingenuously acknowledged this, than himself. Saved from egotistic pride, he "walked humbly with God." The venerable W. Gilyard Scarth, Esq., who knew Mr. Smith long and intimately, thus speaks of his zeal for the cause of God:-"It might be truly said of him that he had a passion for souls; and for a Christian who was constitutionally warm in temperament to have his ardour so sanctified, was a great blessing to himself, and to all his connexions. His death is a great and painful bereavement to his family, and to the church." It was to be expected that a man who in health and strength had so zealously and so perseveringly devoted himself to the service of the Lord, would be sustained and comforted in the time of sickness, and in the hour of death. It was so. He received that measure of the grace of God which enabled him to suffer the Divine will with submission, patience, and joy. He was arrested by incurable disease, in the prime of life. Numerous, strong, and endearing were the ties to bind him to earth. When he saw his beloved wife and children around him, and knew that he must shortly leave them, his Christian principles were put to a severe test. But grace triumphed over nature, and he endured the last and severest trial as became the Christian. The following is his own statement, sufficiently indicating |