of their Royal Master? Did He not give them, in the bread and wine of the Sacrament, a great symbol, which, as oft as they ate that bread and drank of that cup, was to remind them Whose they were and Whom they served? Shall the servants of such a King bring discredit upon His great Name by strife and vain-glory? Would it not be honour for any one of them to be permitted to pick up the crumbs falling from His table? or to stand as a doorkeeper at His palace-gate? Is it not only because He is the same Lord, Whose property is always to have mercy,' that they are, any of them, allowed to sit at His table? Ah! if in our strifes for personal precedence, or Church precedence, we could but bow down before the awful mystery of the first words of the Lord's Prayer, 'Our Father which art in heaven,' how utterly paltry and unmannerly our pride and passion would appear! to 2. The other tie which was bind them together in Church fellowship was loving service for one another. On that same first day of the feast there was a strife among the disciples, which should be greatest.' This the Lord sharply rebuked: the secret cause of it He sought to correct; against the recurrence of this He carefully guarded. What did He say to them?—The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so : but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.' What did He do for them? 'Knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God,'that is to say, at the very mo ment when He was most conscious of His own personal greatness, and of the destined glory of His Kingdom, 'He riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded Himself. After that He poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded......So after He had washed their feet, and had. taken His garments, and was set down again, He said to them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord; neither he that is sent greater than He that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.' Happy! Yes. For the success of the benefaction which it was to be their highest honour and joy to carry to the perishing multitudes depended, to a great extent, upon their doing to one another as He had done to them. If we cannot love and serve the brother whom we have seen, how can we love and serve the Brother whom we have not seen?: 'A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.' The second great Sacrament of the Church of Jesus Christ, instituted by our Lord on this first day of the feast, is a Sacrament of Communion not only Communion by faith with God and Christ, but Communion also, by love and service, with one another. It has been truly said, 'If the Sacrament of Holy Baptism expresses the distinctness of the Church from the world, the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper expresses the unity of the Church within itself.' How unworthily do they communicate ! what condemnation do they eat and drink to themselves! how monstrously do they contradict the profession which by that solemn act of fellowship they make to the world? how fatally do they damage their own influence as servants of Christ, who, at the very moment when they are commemorating their Lord's love unto death, are not themselves in love and charity with their neighbours. II. Or if, when these servants. went forth to invite men to their Lord's feast, they appeared emaciated with hunger and care, without staff to lean upon, or sword to fight with, or garment to shelter themselves withal, or wallet, showing, in its ample provision, their Lord's loving care of His servants; or if, when they gave their message, or told of their Lord's power and wisdom and goodness, their tongues faltered; or even if, whilst reciting the story of His selfsacrificing love, their countenances did not glow with loving enthusiasm, what heed would even perishing people give to their message? What probability would there be of success in their mission? Would not the people be likely to say, 'We do not believe these men. They say, "Come with us, and we will do you good; for our Lord and Master has spoken good concerning us all." But what has their Master done for them? See how starved and feeble and joyless they are! Do they believe their own words? Did you not notice how one stammered and hung down his head and contradicted himself, when he was questioned? Did you not hear how coldly and listlessly the others they profess to be brethrenspoke words which, if one tenth part of them had been true, should have fired them with passion or melted them to tears? One of them flung off words about love, which fell amongst us like morsels of ice driven by the wind; and the other, when one of us did but whisper in his ear a threat of the sword and a baptism of blood, blanched with terror, and spake no more? Away with such impostors! We will not we cannot, believe one word they say.' Again, I ask, if, in such circumstances, the people perish by millions-out in darkness, cold and hunger, hunger, upon whom will the heaviest blame fall? Upon them? or upon those servants who thus betray their Master? How did our Lord guard against this peril to His work? 'When the hour was come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. And He said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer....And He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is My body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of Me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you.' Shall we leave these words in all their inspired simplicity, trusting to the Divine Spirit to give them, for each of us, voice and meaning? I certainly will not violate their sanctity by words of controversy. Suffice it for us to believe and know that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has given His life for our life: that His sacred body was once broken for us: that His most precious blood was shed for us and for many, for the remission of sins.' Happy those servants who, day by day, feed upon Him in their hearts by faith with thanksgiving; to whom He is life and peace! Woe unto those servants who have never eaten His flesh or drunk His blood, and who therefore have no life in them! This is the greatest preparation for the work of our life: that personal and daily communion with our crucified Lord, which is sacramentally symbolized in the broken bread and shed wine of the Table to which we this day are summoned. This is the ground of our confident rejoicing as we proclaim the glad tidings of life to our dying brothers and sisters: this is that which will make our poor broken words glow with an enthusiasm, which will do more to win human hearts than any earthly wisdom or human eloquence: this it is that will make our lives proclaim over again the message of our lips; that His Blood of the New Covenant, shed once for all, pleads the cause of our fallen race in the Court of Heaven, and that we know His oblation of Himself once offered' is a full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world,' because we can each say, 'He loved me, and gave Himself for me.' O with what joy are we able to tell to others, 'He breaks the power of cancelled sin, He sets the prisoner free; His blood can make the foulest clean,' when we are able to add, His blood availed for me!' And as to the future: the future of our bodies, of our souls, of our companions in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ': the future of the great work He has given us to do: having Christ always with us, and Christ formed in our hearts, the hope of a glory which is to be revealed, not only in us, but also in the restitution of all things, may we not calmly and confidently await the day of His appearing? Is not the death, which we this day show forth, the fountain of present life, and the pledge of future glory? Do you not remember the words of our Lord to the leader of that first band of servants: 'Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake He, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, He saith unto him, Follow Me'? And after years of noble labour for the Master, and when the shadows of that Christlike death were beginning to gather around him, what were the words of holy rapture which 'Simon Peter, a servant and an Apostle of Jesus Christ,' poured forth? 'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith...might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom, having not seen, ye love; in Whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.' Was it any wonder that, under the preaching of such a man, old and young fell by thousands? Lord, and what shall this man do?'-the friend who was dearer to him than a brother, the companion of happy days for ever fled, the destined comrade of years to come in many a fierce conflict and many a noble service. 'Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou Me.' And he did tarry, far on into that age of whirlwind and earthquake, long after his own brother had fallen under his baptism of blood, long enough to hear, at least, of the abundant entrance which was ministered from the cross of martyrdom to his friend, into the everlasting kingdom of their Lord and Saviour -far on into a beautiful old age, drinking deeply of his Master's cup, but rejoicing ever in the sunshine of his Master's love, until at last it was his lot also to enter into rest. This reminds me that there was yet one other way in which our Lord, on the first day of the feast, prepared His disciples for the work of the future. He bridged over the immediate future, and carried their thoughts beyond, to that day when, in another and higher sense, they should sit at His table in His kingdom: 'I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom.' Words which, whatever else they mean, point to a joyful communion with our Lord and with one another, compared with which the communion of earth in its highest rapture is as the early morning twilight to the unclouded light of noonday. Severed from our Lord in the flesh, we shall yet see Him again. Scattered upon the face of the earth, we shall one day be gathered home. Harassed with toil and care and conflict, we shall in a little while enter into that rest where the glorious company of the Apostles are now in joy and felicity. The opened heavens are waiting to receive us, together with all whom we may bring with us. How long we may have to tarry here, or how soon we may enter through the gates into the city, no man can tell. Standing on the threshold of a new year, in the solemn hush of this day of new consecration, we look around on the companions of our life and the comrades of our work, and we ask, 'Lord, what shall this man, and this man, do?' 'If I will that he, or thou, or both, tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou Me.' Yes, Blessed Lord! we will follow Thee -through stony ways of daily duty; through thorny paths of daily sorrow; through years of conflict; or through hours of silent watching, until Thou shalt once more say to Thy servants, 'Come unto Me, all that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' ye MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TWEEDALE RAWSTHORNE, ESQ., J.P., OF DEWSBURY : BY THE REV. GEORGE SCOTT (B). MR. RAWSTHORNE left nothing in writing available for a memoir: the only information we have of his early years is that he was born in Manchester, in 1810, and when eleven years of age removed to Dewsbury as the ward of his uncle, Mr. Joseph Tweedale, to whose business, that of a slate and stone merchant, he was brought up. The Rev. Elijah Jackson, who had known him for forty years, speaking of the surroundings of Mr. Rawsthorne's youth and early manhood, gives the following information as to Mr. and Mrs. Tweedale Mr. Tweedale was a Wesleyan-Methodist by conviction and by descent. His religion was unobtrusive and guileless, and was the guiding principle of his commercial transactions. He was greatly respected by his fellow-townsmen as a man of strict mercantile integrity; and by his death Methodism in Dewsbury lost one of its most generous friends. Mrs. Tweedale was the daughter of the late Rev. Cleland Kirkpatrick, a Wesleyan-Methodist Minister, well known in his day as a man of considerable pulpit power. was a woman of strong mind and sound judgment, firm in purpose and well qualified to discern and relatively to estimate the various shades of character. She She was an earnest labourer in the vineyard of the Lord, being a successful Class Leader and engaging heartily in other departments of Christian service.' Such were the guardians by whose influence the youth of Mr. Rawsthorne was environed and to whom he was indebted for those views and principles which shaped his future course. An inmate of a dwelling-place of Mount Zion, he became a worshipper in her assemblies, connected himself with the Sunday-school, and in the year 1832 joined a Class conducted before the public service on the Lord's Day morning by Mr. Nathan Child. Of the inward experiences which preceded and followed the vital union of his soul with his Saviour, we have no information; but of that union the life which followed was the evidence and fruit. He became, and for more than forty years continued, a diligent worker, first in one and then in another of those departments of Christian service, which, in the Wesleyan-Methodist Church, give scope to the zeal of her sons. At the time Mr. Rawsthorne joined the Society, the Dewsbury Circuit included the Ossett and Horbury Circuit. The Methodists of Dewsbury and its neighbourhood worshipped in a small chapel, the floor of which, where the free-seats stood, was without boards. The school buildings opposite corresponded with the chapel in dimensions and style. Daisy Hill and Moorlands, where chapels now stand, were then what their names indicate. Batley Carr and Thornhill Lees were without a Methodist chapel; and Ravensthorpe and Saville Town, both now Methodist stations, had no existence. As the population increased, men were raised up who cared for the souls and sought to provide for the spiritual requirements of the people, and amongst these, in time, Mr. Rawsthorne stood in the foremost rank. One department in which he found a specially congenial sphere was the Sunday-school. After passing through all the subordinate offices he was, in 1838, appointed Superintendent, and for many years filled the office with. exemplary diligence and success. He took a leading part in promoting the enlargement of the school buildings and, with Mrs. Rawsthorne, had the honour of laying the foundation stones. As a Superintendent, and in other relations to the Sunday-school, Mr. Rawsthorne is remembered for his pleasing addresses to the scholars, his endeavours to bring them to early decision for Christ, his gentleness in the administration of discipline, his regularity and punctuality in attending meetings for business, his skill in the management of discussions and his fidelity when others abandoned their posts. The love and confidence with which he inspired the scholars brought many to him in after years to thank him for the attention he had shown them in their early life, and to consult him respecting their affairs. The year 1839 was an epoch in the history of Methodism in Dewsbury, as in that of Methodism throughout the world. A fortnight after the meeting was held for the celebration of its centenary, a second meeting was convened to promote the erection of the Centenary chapel. Mr. Rawsthorne's name appears in the first list of subscribers. He was one of a band of young men-there were several of these bands-who canvassed districts for sub |