impression, she was very so n influenced by divine truth, and from one time to another would almost resolve to be a decided christian; but from not taking a bold stand against the devil, would lose her good impressions and resolutions.

In this way she continued to "resolve and re-resolve," until the year 1851, when, between Christmas and Lady-day, a blessed revival of religion broke out at Providence Chapel, and several were hopefully converted to God; and here Mary, believing that she must be a co-worker with the Spirit of God, sought him with many tears. Her heart was broken, and she felt a load of sin too heavy for her to bear. One night, during the protracted services she took up the cross and went boldly to the "penitents' pew," and sought a long time for "the pearl of great price;" but through unbelief she did not find it that night. However she was determined to persevere until she had succeeded, and the next day being sent on an errand to a neighbouring farm house, she met with a christian friend and unbosomed her grief, who gladly gave her the instruction she needed, which proved to be a word in due season. Having found her way home again, with a heavy heart, and being weary and heavy-laden with sin, she almost immediately repaired to an upstair room, and poured out her complaint to God; but although she went privately to the closet, her shouts of victory soon became so loud, that some part of the family hastened to her place of retirement, to participate in her enjoyment, and she could say,

"Jesus, I love thy charming name,

"Tis music to my ear;

Fain would I sound it out so loud,

That earth and heaven might hear.”

O, how visible the change, and how complete the victory! Glory be to God! It might be seen in her cheerful countenance, it might be heard in her affectionate and heavenly conversation, and it was evident from her christian deportment. She confessed her Saviour before men.

Before her conversion to God she would sometimes manifest displeasure, when opposed in her opinions and will, and would speak rashly, in positive terms; but the controlling influence of saving grace brought every word, thought, and action, into obedience to Christ. Perhaps in some respects she had not so much difficulty to get along in the way to heaven as some have, from her natural disposition and temperament, and from her favourable circumstances as regarded attending the means of grace. She was a person of few words, inclined to be of thoughtful and steady habits; with no inclination to wander from home, nor follow the fashions of the world in pursuit of happiness. The change wrought in the soul by Divine grace was so evident, that it has been said by one who had ample opportunity of observing her daily walk, though not in the way to heaven himself, "Too much cannot be said of her piety." See then an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile.

The Lord favoured her with talents, which she did not fail to employ in the holy exercise of speaking forth his praise. This she would do by taking an active par in the singing, and engaging in prayer in the social means of grace; and there is not the least doubt

but she would have become more extensively useful in the church had he been permitted to live.

"God moves in a mysterious way."

"Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return," though pronounced upon man so many thousands of years ago, has never been revoked. Of this we have proof in the death of all classes, characters, and conditions among men, at all the stages of human life. This world may be called the theatre of mortality. The infirmity of age, the imbecility of infancy, nor the strength and beauty of youth, can neither move the sympathies nor bribe the " king of terrors," when he has marked his victim.

""Tis here all meet,

The shivering Icelander, and sunburnt Moor,
Men of all climes that never met before."

At a very early period sister Harris gave evidence of a delicate constitution, and at the age of eleven years it is supposed that she injured herself by carrying a child too heavy for her strength, which in all probability laid the foundation of the affliction which terminated her mortal existence, as she felt the effects of it, more or less, ever afterwards. When she was about sixteen there were symptoms of approaching decline, and means were employed for her restoration, which appeared effectual for a time; but the complaint was too deeply rooted to be eradicated by medicine; and in the month of May, 1853, it presented a more serious aspect. She had medical aid again, and removed for the change of air; but this time death was not to be disappointed, and she gradually sunk under the pressure of affliction. Towards the close of her life she had more pain arising from a great deal of coughing and expectoration. She was not wholly confined to bed for more than three weeks, during which time she suffered much from extreme weakness, with sometimes a noise in her head which would make her distressingly ill; but the eye of Him who "never slumbers nor sleeps" was upon her, and when he saw that she was sufficiently refined, reflecting his own image, he said, "It is enough," and she fell asleep in Jesus, in the arms of her eldest sister, on the morning of February 3rd, 1854.

From almost the commencement of her last attack, she seemed to have a presentiment of approaching death; but death had no terrors. She could say from the first, "O death! where is thy sting?" Now and then she was subject to temptation; but generally her mind continued in a state of even joy, from a constant and steady reliance on the blood of Christ. Br. and Sr. Courtice, and the writer, had the opportunity of seeing her many times during her illness, and she always unhesitatingly expressed herself as being in the favour of God, with an assurance of heaven. One day, when very ill, she said to her mother," If my work were not done till now, I do not think it could be done at all." I saw her the evening before she died, when suffering severely from the noise in her head; but she was perfectly sensible; and when I asked her "If Christ was precious!" she repled, "Yes.". Up to this time there appears to have been some difficulty on the part of her mother to give her up, which doubtless detained her waiting spirit upon the earth. She had several times VOL. XX. THIRD SERIES.

C

requested her mother to commend her to God, and again early on the morning of her death, she called upon her parent entreatingly to give her into the hands of God. And now the affectionate mother bowed at her bedside, and commended her happy spirit to the hands of him who said," I am with you always," and Mary, having taken farewell of all earthly friends, before her mother rose from her knees, flew home to the Paradise of God.

On the following Tuesday, her mortal remains were carried to the Bodmin Street Chapel, Holsworthy; where the usual lessons were read, and an address was delivered by Br. W. Courtice, to a deeply affected audience, after which the body was interred in the burial ground behind the chapel.

On the following Sunday a funeral sermon was preached at Providence chapel to a numerous congregation of hearers, from Rev. xiv. 13, by Br. Courtice. The Lord was in the midst, and we trust the good impressions made by the death of our esteemed sister will never be forgotten.

The following Poetical address to parents is taken from the "Christians' Penny Magazine," and inserted here by request.

"Why weepeat thou, fond parent why?

Thy daughter is no more;

Canst thou not upwards glance an eye,
And view her wafted throngh the sky
To Canaan's happy shore?

Her lovely form, so light and fair,
Has vanish'd from thy view;
Her blooming cheeks, the flaxen hair
Which once adorned her neck so fair,
You bid them all adieu.

Transplanted from the world of care,
To her eternal home;

Too frail a plant for earth to rear,
Nipp'd from the root, and grafted where
"Twill in perfection bloom.

Why weepest thou, fond parent, why?
Thy darling does not mourn;
That lovely smile that deck'd her cheek,
Say, has it grown more faint or weak,
Because from you she's borne?

Ah! no, if aught of earthly joy

Her youthful mind did cheer,

Thrice happy now those features shine,

With smiles more heavenly, more divine,

Unsullied by a tear.

'Twas Israel's Shepherd bade her fly

To dwell with him above;
His tenderness can well supply,
His soft compassion far outvie,
An earthly parent's love.

Could she for one short hour resign
That heavenly land for this,
Like Noah's dove, no rest she'd find,
But fly and leave this world behind,
To reach the ark of bliss.

Then cease, for ever cease to mourn

Press on to reach the crown,

The smiling of a Father's face,
The brightest beamings of his grace,
Oft lie beneath a frown."

MEMOIR OF MRS. ANN PRATTEN.

Ir is a solemn thing to witness the departure of a friend, or relative While we stand and gaze on one whom we into the eternal world. so highly esteem, waiting every moment to see nature give her last departing indication, expecting the beat of every pulse to be the last, beholding the feeble hand gently raised, which indicates the token of farewell to all earthly friends, how solemn the thoughts that rush through the mind of every seriously thinking person. A moment or Whatever two more, and the state of the soul is unalterably fixed.

may be its condition, its state of probation is now closed. To witness the death of one whose life has been a life of rebellion against God up to their last moment, what bitter reflections for the mind! What cries for mercy, when mercy is gone! What anguish of soul! It is too late now! The soul is doomed to misery; and the awful language of the poet is realized ;

"In vain to heaven she lifts her eyes,

For guilt, a heavy chain,

Still drags her downward from the skies,
To darkness fire and pain."

But to witness the death of one whose "fruit is unto holiness," and whose end is "everlasting life," affords great consolation. The christian's own reflections must be satisfactory; and a review of the past, must now be a source of great encouragement under the most solemn circumstances, enabling him to shout victory through Chist his risen Lord.

The subject of this memoir, ANN PRATTEN, whose maiden name was FRAIN, was born in the parish of Chew Magna, in the county of Somerset. When she was about 17 years of age, she removed to the parish of Badgeworth,in the said county, where she learned the trade of dressmaking. Shortly after the expiration of her apprenticeship, she was united in marriage to WILLIAM PRATTEN, who was a native of that locality, and whose memoir appeared in the Magazine for March 1854. Sister Pratten's temperament was such as rendered her manner rather peculiar, and from the peculiarity of her manner some entertained an unfavourable opinion of her; while the world persecuted her: but notwithstanding her peculiarities, she was the subject of the grace of God.

Our departed Sister, like all the human family, was contaminated by the transgression of our first Parents, and sustained the loss of the image of God, possessing that "carnal mind" which is "enmity against God," which produces sinful fruits of vice, wretchedness, and crime in every person, unless it be destroyed. She was convinced of her fallen state in her early days, and became much concerned about her condition; and in the twenty-first year of her age, she was brought

under great convictions for sin, inducing her to exclaim,-"Oh that 1 knew where I might find him." She continued labouring under convictions and crying for the disquietude of her soul for the space of thirteen years. Then she was brought to see more fully the depth of inbred corruption, which rendered her convictions still greater, and the cries of her soul most bitter. This was her painful condition for five weeks and three days. At this time she attended the Bible Christian ministry, and occasionally the Wesleyan. She chiefly attended the ministry of the Bible Christians at Weare, at a place that is now spoken of as "the old barn." Here she was led to feed on the word of God, and to see light in his light until she was brought into the liberty of God's dear children; although the Lord did not speak peace to her soul in his house, but while she was kneeling by the bed-side. Her bonds now burst asunder, the chains of sin and unbelief were broken, she found peace with God, and her soul was so filled with the glory of God, that her Saviour appeared to her in such indescribable beauty, as constrained her to break forth in the language of the poet;

"Oh! how shall I my Saviour set forth,
Oh! how shall I his beauty declare;
Or how shall I speak of his worth,

Or what his chief dignities are!"

Being soundly converted she became a member of the Bible Christian Society, and regularly attended the place of worship above referred to. Afterwards, whenever she was found at the means of grace, she generally experienced a gracious baptism of the Holy Ghost, and a fresh inlet into God. Thus she continued to prize and enjoy her christian privileges. About two years after her conversion to God, she was appointed a class-leader at Allerton. She soon saw the importance and responsibility connected with the office she filled, which induced her to seek her qualifications from an uncreated source. Jehovah supported her, and she manifested such untiring zeal as was an evident proof that she enjoyed union with God.

She also had her name on the Local Preachers' Plan as a public speaker; and though her talents were small, yet while humbly warning sinners to "flee from the wrath to come," she felt that the blessing of God rested upon her soul, which encouraged her for some time to continue her labours in that sphere. She soon found that her opposition was greater than before, especially from the prince of darkness who hurled his temptations upon her to that degree, that she declined her position as a local preacher, thinking it was not her place. She gave up her appointments for some time, and had to wrestle with spiritual wickedness in high places, and to contend with the powers of darkness; but after a long struggle, in the exercise of faith and prayer, she conquered her many enemies through the strength of Jesus. She then realised the witness clear from heaven that it was her indispensible duty to blow the gospel trumpet, and to point perishing sinners to the Lamb of God, and however small her abilities were for preaching the gospel, many souls were brought to embrace the truth as it is in Jesus, through her humble instrumentality. As a class leader, and local preacher, she at all times had a word from the Lord to say to those committed to her charge.