the Church Catechism, and still more when informed that one of our teachers had cautioned us to keep away from the Tabernacle, and avoid all such people." It is a joy to think that a better understanding now exists, and a more Christian feeling prevails, between the followers of Whitfield and Wesley, than was evinced on the above occasion.

Thomas now went regularly to the Tabernacle with his parents, and began to feel a deeper interest in Divine truth. He says, "In the Tabernacle I was privileged to attend the ministry of John Hyatt, who proved to me both a Boanerges and a Barnabas-a son of thunder and a son of consolation. Under his solemn appeals to the conscience, and striking delineations of character, my mind received new and deeper impressions. Personal religion and the concerns of the soul became invested with unspeakable importance. Sin appeared hateful, and holiness lovely and desirable. To muse and mourn over my own wretchedness, especially among the tombs in Bunhill Fields, during the intervals of worship on the Sabbath, was my frequent employ. It was by a slow and painful process that I was led to cherish a hope of mercy. Sanctuary seasons were often sweet and refreshing; and, under the ministry of Mr. Hyatt, my soul received edification, and gradually found peace."

Having received good from Sundayschool instruction, he, while yet young, began to assist in teaching, and was sent, by the London Itinerant Society, for this purpose, on alternate Sundays, to Wimbledon

Common. He afterwards connected himself with the Tabernacle Sunday school as a teacher; and in the year 1808, at the age of nineteen, was admitted a member of the church of Christ in that place. In the year 1812, he was led by Divine Providence to Stratford, where he obtained employment at his trade, as a cooper. Here his intelligence and exemplary conduct won for him the esteem of his employer and his family, whose daughter he subsequently married. In November, 1814, conceiving baptism by immersion to be a duty, he joined the Baptist church at Bow, and ever after shared largely the affectionate regard of his pastor, the excellent Dr. Newman. On his marriage, he commenced business at Bow; but having a very small capital, he found himself, after a few years, with a family of six children, unable to maintain his position. Great were the trials which this worthy couple suffered in their struggles, amidst poverty and affliction, to bring up their family. After another effort in a country village, a few miles farther from London, which also failed, he took a situation as cooper in a brewery at Homerton. In a year or two, that business declining, he was obliged to leave, and was again subjected to the sore trial of being without any certain means of providing for his family. In this exigency, he was led to think of emigration to Canada. The sale of a house which had been left to his wife by a relative, produced one hundred pounds; and with this help, after payment of all their debts, they went forth, somewhat like Abraham,

"not knowing whither they went." In the summer of 1832, when he was in his 44th year, with five children, the eldest a girl of fourteen, they went forth, being first commended to the Lord in a special prayer meeting held in their own dwelling at Homerton. Under the good guidance of Divine Providence, they arrived safely in their adopted country, and settled at Pickering, about twenty-five miles to the northeast of Toronto, then called Yorktown. Here they took fifty acres of uncleared land; and in a loghouse, constructed for them, and partly with their own hands, the family took up their abode and entered on their new mode of life. For the first few years they suffered many privations; but by degrees their circumstances improved. Their two boys, aged twelve and eight years when they left England, grew strong and hearty young men, and with their help, chiefly, the land was cleared. Thus, under the Divine blessing, they still went on happily together, until they could report, to their friends in the old country, that they wanted for nothing.

Soon after his settlement at Pickering, Mr. Gostick began to exercise his gifts in the preaching of the Gospel at Markham, a neighbouring township. His labours finding acceptance, he was encouraged to proceed; and at length, a place of worship having been erected on a piece of land given by one of his sons, a church was formed there, of which he became the pastor-an office which he honourably and usefully sustained to the close of life. A year or two after the family

quitted their native land, another family, not related, went out from Hoxton and settled near them, taking with them letters of introduction from mutual friends. Two sons of this family afterwards became the husbands of two of Mr. Gostick's daughters. The heads of this family were Independents. On the formation of a Christian church among them, coming as they did from a church that practised strict communion, the question aroseOught they to exclude these from their fellowship who differed from them in regard to baptism? The writer's advice was on this occasion asked, and given very strongly in favour of open communion. was adopted, and such has ever since been their practice. Some ten years afterwards, Mr. G., in a letter to the writer, referring to the happy state of Christian union subsisting among them, says " You asked me, a few years ago, whether, supposing you were to pay us a visit, we would allow you to sit down with us at the Lord's table?—I wish you would come and see."

It

Mr. Gostick, as years advanced, continued to receive fresh tokens of the Divine favour. He had the unspeakable joy of receiving all his children, one after another, to churchmembership. He lived to see them all comfortably settled, near their parents, with suitable and pious companions; all having families, with no lack of the means of subsistence, and happily free from those anxieties about provision for an increasing family, which their parents experienced while in England.

Our dear brother was of a weakly constitution, and often suffered from ill-health, yet was he spared to the full age of man. In his last letter to the writer, which he posted only a week before his death, he intimates that it would “probably be the last ;” and yet he says, "I am a wonder to myself, being on the whole better than usual for the winter season. My dear wife, too, is still spared as my greatest earthly comforter. By the time you receive this, if I am spared so long, my lease will have expired," meaning his 70th year would be completed, “ and, alas, for me! like Hezekiah, I sometimes feel desirous to have it renewed, or rather, a supplement added, but only on the ground of the question in the evening hymn of Dr. WattsWhat have I done for Him that died to save my wretched soul?'" He then refers to the annual meeting of the Canada Baptist Union, held at his chapel on the 24th of June previously, "which was," he says, "the 41st anniversary of our marriage. We had a considerable gathering of friends from a distance; some a hundred miles or more; and one dear friend, a merchant from Montreal, came 380 miles to be present. Two days were occupied; and before we sung the parting hymn, when I told them how Bunyan had described my feelings, in the gathering of the pilgrims at the river side, it was to myself and to many present a very affecting season, for I thought I should see those from distant parts no more on this side the stream of death." By another eye and ear witness the same scene is thus described: - "Before the assembly

was dismissed, Mr. Gostick rosehis frame trembled, his lips quivered, his emotions could not at once find utterance. At length he said,-* I am come to the margin of the stream-the stream that has no bridge. Before another of your annual meetings I shall have crossed it. I regard your visit, dear and honoured brethren, like the visit of the shining ones, in Pilgrim's Progress, to poor Ready-to-halt, to strengthen and encourage me to go and pass over. Farewell, dear brethren, for ever! The president took him by the hand, and availing himself of the words of a great poet, replied, in solemn tone-'Fare thee well, and, if for ever, still for ever fare thee well.'"

An incident which occurred many years ago, taken in connexion with the above, is of sufficient interest to deserve mention here. When the writer was about nine years old, his father bought him a copy of the "Pilgrim's Progress." It was a large edition, having in it a map of the road. Poring over it, one evening, with childish curiosity, he turned to his father and asked how far he had got on the road. His father said he had been in "Doubting Castle," and had got somewhere beyond that. Turning then to Thomas Gostick, who was present, and putting the same question to him, he replied, pointing to the "Hill Difficulty," "I think I am hereabouts -going up this hill." Thus the writer's earliest recollection of this Christian brother is when he was going up the "Hill Difficulty;" and the last he hears from him, fortyseven years afterwards, is, that he is

come to the river's brink; and then, in another fortnight, the tidings arrive that he has safely passed over.

On Saturday, March 26, 1859, being in his usual health, he walked three miles, to see a neighbouring minister; and on his way called at the school, talked to the children and master, visited a blind neighbour whose wife was ill, and several others, all of whom noticed how cheerful he seemed. The next day, he went with his family to the chapel, as usual, and preached from Rev. ii. 1-6. He spoke for above an hour, with great animation, entering deeply into the spirit of the subject. On returning home, he was taken suddenly ill. Medical attend

ance was called, but he appeared conscious that his work was done, and that he was going home. He said, "You can do no more for me." None but Jesus could do him any good. The next evening, sitting in his arm-chair, his wife having hold of one hand and a son-in-law of the other, his head sunk, and, without a sigh, his happy spirit departed to glory. Six ministers, two each of three denominations, carried him to the grave; and the Rev. S. Tapscott, his particular friend, preached his funeral sermon from Ps. xvii. 15. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace."-Ps. xxxvii. 37. Essex.

J. B.

THE duration of human life is governed by a law, the operations of which are as regular as that of gravitation. It is proverbially uncertain with the individual, but there are few things less subject to fluctuation than the average duration of life with a multitude of individuals. Take 10,000 persons in the prime of life:-1,200 will die the first ten years, 1,500 the next ten, 1,700 the next ten, and so on till all have passed away; 10,000 persons, at the age of 25, will attain the age of 62 years, on an average; at the age of 35, 65 years; at the age of 45, 68; at the age of 55, 71. The average age at death of all born is about 33 years; one-quarter die previous to 7

years, one-half before 17; those who pass this point enjoy an advantage refused to one-half of the human family. Truly, in the midst of life we are in death. Of the 1,000,000,000 on earth, it is estimated that 91,824 die every day, 3,730 every hour, 60 every minute, or 1 every second. We have deduced these facts to show that modern registration and investigation have explained what, to the casual observer, might seem confusion worse confounded. The earliest continuous registration of deaths now extant is that kept by the city of Geneva, in Switzerland, which dates back to the middle of the sixteenth century, and for more than three hundred years has been

kept with great care; and, as on that table the history of nine generations of men is recorded, it shows to the reader that ample time has elapsed to prove the correctness of the general tables of mortality. It is an interesting fact, deducible from this record, that the duration of life has wonderfully improved since this was commenced.

The general registration tables of England date back only about twenty years, while in the United States the matter has been taken up only by individual States during the last eighteen years. We also note the comparative mortality in the chief countries of Europe, as given by Dr. Farr-In England, one person dies annually in every 45; in France, in every 42; in Prussia, in every 38; in Austria, in every 33; in Russia, in every 28. It will be seen that the lowest rate of mortality exists in England.

No person forms a correct idea of a life-assurance society who does not regard it as a savings-bank, yielding compound interest for life, without interruption. This is better than a man can do for himself, having only small amounts to invest. He will make money, therefore, by paying an office to invest his money for him, which is done simply by insuring his life; and if he die the next day after, his heirs get the deposit, compounded for the average of life. Any liberal man who desires to leave a fund to a college, or found a library or public charity, can do so by an insurance on his life.

The man about to marry should present his future wife with this proof of his thoughtfulness and

affection, while it is equally the dut of the father to insure his children the means of education and support. And while the man who lives up to his income should thus secure those for whom he is bound to provide, from poverty or dependence, he who is on the tide of successful prosperity should thus guard against unforeseen reverses. The honest borrower and the honest debtor in trade can thus secure their friends and creditors. All persons who have mortgaged their property should have their lives insured to cover the amount, and thereby save the farm, the factory, or the city residence, from liability to sacrifice in the event of their death. The lessee of property from a tenant for life can thus secure his outlay should the lessor die. The creditor whose chances of payment depend on the life of his debtor, can secure himself in the event of such debtor's death, and the young partner provide for the continuance of his business, should the death of his senior cause the withdrawal of the capital on which that business depends. The minister of the Gospel, and the professional man generally; the clerk who would secure a provision for old age, or a competency for those who survive him; the young man to whom credit and a character for prudence would be in themselves the best kind of capital, should each and all avail themselves of this philanthropic institution.

We suggest to the members of the various congregations of this country, that in each church they form themselves into a committee to raise funds to insure the life of their pastor, and thereby manifest their regard for him