He was

It was to him a pleasant duty to preach in the floating chapel under the Bethel Flag, and to address, ere their annual departure, the sailors engaged in the Greenland fisheries. To his very thoughtful ministry gathered a large congregation; and seats in the sanctuary were difficult to secure. not a textual preacher, but usually took a text to illustrate some great principle or course of argument. His own thorough investigation and grasp of truth lent a special value to his teaching. All who heard him felt that "he believed, and therefore he spake." His aim was to persuade men. No effort was spared to secure this result. Hence, to establish his point, there was often much repetition and diffuseness; and, though "he was not aided by that peculiar fluent aptitude of words which some possess, yet there was often much force, occasional felicity, and sometimes grace of expression, accompanied with a racy and kindly shrewdness, which produced much practical effect.”

Living in a seaport, large demands were made upon his sympathy. He was a man of quicker feeling than he seemed —his nerves sensitive to pain, his mind to wounds. Some of the scenes of bereavement to which he was called made severe impressions on his health; and, in 1824, his health was so broken that with difficulty could he effect an insurance on his life. A sphere of lighter labour was evidently necessary. Such opened to him in Nottingham, whither he removed in 1825. Here for three years the Rev. R. Cecil and himself were joint-pastors of a recently-formed church. When this co-pastorate was dissolved, in 1828, to retain Mr. Gilbert in Nottingham, a new chapel (in Friar-Lane) was erected, almost at the sole expense of a lady, Miss Greaves, who was much

attached to his ministry. Here he laboured to the end of his ministerial career-Nov. 16th, 1851-the twenty-sixth anniversary of his arrival in Nottingham.

Through these years, while preaching to an attached people, he was not unobservant of the signs of the times, and with promptitude and wisdom threw himself into the contest for what was right by public advocacy or by the voice of his cultured pen. The abolition of the Test and Corporation Acts; the obtaining Catholic Emancipation; the abolition of Slavery; and the enacting of Free Trade, found in him an able advocate. He exerted no little influence in guiding aright the public mind of the midland counties. He successfully contended with the infidelity then raising in Nottingham its blind venomous head. He also took rank as one of the leading theologians of his own denomination (if not indeed beyond) by his Life of Dr. Edward Williams, (which "included, in the appendix especially, some of the most abstruse as well as important theological discussions,") and by his valuable work (one of the Congregational Lectures) on "The Christian Atonement: its Nature, Basis, and Bearings." This last, which has been a spiritual boon to many, must be regarded as the most substantial monument to his name.

In 1849, Mr. Gilbert was much interrupted in his usual services by breaking health. On September 29th, 1850, for the last time he ascended the pulpit, and preached his last sermon from words which had been the text of his first"Search the Scriptures." These words fitly closed a ministry whose constant appeal had been "to the law and to the testimony." After this he only took part in some occasional services. At the request of his friends he continued to hold

the pastorate till November 1851, when he resigned it, and in the following month received at their hands a handsome testimonial as a token of their esteem.

There now slowly grew about him the indications of the latter end. But his health had been infirm so long that affection was lulled into security. On Thursday, Nov. 25th, 1852, he took his last look at the study, where so many happy laborious hours had been spent. He became confined to his room. His sons were summoned from a distance to see him, when he "preached to them,” as he said, his "last sermon.' Propped up by pillows he lay, grateful for every act of kindness from the fond ones who waited upon him. He overflowed in love to all. Chiefly he spoke, cheerfully, humbly, of his “Blessed Redeemer"—the expression most frequently on his lips. His words became few. "I love you all;" "Bless you ;" and then the pressure of the hand of his loved ones to his lips showed that there was no death to love. Then he fell into a lethargic sleep; and when he seemed soon to pass, he suddenly lifted up his head, and, with searching eyes, looked on all around him, and strove in vain to speak. Fond eyes read "bless you" on those powerless lips. And, blessed by his loving ones again and again, a sweet smile upon his face, he laid his head down once more upon his pillow and dozed into the last sleep. "The Sabbath drew on." At about half-past three of the Sabbath morning, December 12th, without a movement, gasp, or sigh, he entered upon the Sabbath of Eternity.

MEMOIR

OF

THE REV. THOMAS STRATTEN.

HE REV. THOMAS STRATTEN was born at Bradford, Wiltshire, in the year 1793. His parents were exemplary Christians, and sought to inspire in their children a desire for holy usefulness. Their house was open on the Sunday for the spiritual instruction of poor neglected children, of whom their son early became a teacher. It was their privilege and joy to see two of their sons, James and Thomas, valuable and valued ministers; and to the father in far-advanced and honoured age was given to see his son, the subject of this sketch, precede him to the eternal crown and rest. The early years of Thomas Stratten passed unmarked by any extraordinary events. "He was remarkable," says his brother James, for forty years minister of Paddington Chapel, and who still survives,-" for great sweetness of temper, and amiableness of manner, courage, and cheerfulness." At about the age of fourteen he was removed to Bath, where he was apprenticed to a woollendraper. The good resolutions he had formed were unable to resist the tide of temptation to which he was now exposed. "A novel was lent me," he says, "I read it with avidity, enquired for others, and at last became so infatuated that I could read with pleasure nothing else. The effects produced

on my mind by the subtle poison they infused were lamentable in the extreme. Destroying those principles which a religious education had implanted, they produced in their stead those corrupt principles which led me to call evil good, and good evil." His conduct continued moral, but his heart was estranged from God; and, to stifle the emotions of conscience, he either promised himself future reformation, or endeavoured to persuade himself that there was no God to bring him to account— or if there was, that he was too merciful to punish. "What was my danger," he says, "when in this state of mind, I was introduced to the acquaintance of a young man, my superior in circumstances, whose conduct was as depraved as his principles. Happy for me, ere my principles were so far depraved as to induce me to increase it by dishonesty, divine grace snatched me as a brand out of the burning."

He had now entered his eighteenth year. A chapel was to be opened at Holt, the village where then his parents lived. He was invited home on the occasion. The Rev. Richd. Elliott, of Devizes, was the preacher. The sermon heard called his serious attention to his spiritual state and under another sermon, heard shortly afterwards (and apparently during his visit home) from the text-" Choose ye this day whom will serve,"ye "-he was enabled to choose God's service. On his return journey to Bath, he tarried in secluded spots on the road to pray: he wrestled with God, blessed him there."

" and He

Soon after this he became a member of Mr. Jay's Church. His hours in business were so long that opportunity for mental improvement could only be secured by early rising. The useful habit then formed continued with him through