national school of that parish, where he conducted himself with great propriety, and eagerly embraced every opportunity of acquiring information. He was often observed reading the Scriptures when his schoolfellows were engaged in play, and amidst their occasional differences and disputes he frequently interposed in the amiable office of peacemaker. So great was his regard for those from whom he received instruction, that he was for a time inconsolable at the departure of the master under whose charge he had been originally placed, and to the latest period of his life he evinced his attachment to the present respected master of the Poplar national school.

On leaving that institution, in the year 1822, George Milward was apprenticed to a cooper, in the establishment of Messrs. Steward, at Blackwall, from whence he removed, in 1831, to the brewery of Messrs. Truman and Co., in whose service he remained, in the capacity of clerk, till he entered the Church Missionary Institution at

Islington. His invariable good conduct and integrity obtained the confidence of his employers, whilst his kindness and consistency were duly appreciated by many of his fellowworkmen, and in some degree disarmed the ridicule of those who differed from him in opinion, when his religious views became clear, and his Christian profession and walk consequently bold and decided.

It was in the spring of 1825, when he had nearly completed his seventeenth year, that it pleased God to vouchsafe to George Milward a more perfect knowledge of those truths to which he had hitherto given merely a general assent. A sermon preached from the 23rd chapter of Jeremiah and the 6th verse, was the means which the Lord blessed to convince him of man's lost condition, and direct him to that " righteousness," "which is unto all, and upon all them that believe." The seed which had been sown in early youth was then opened by the heavenly dew of the Holy Spirit, the prayers of his dearest earthly friend were indeed answered, and unreservedly

66

receiving THE LORD" as his "

RIGHTEOUS

NESS," he acknowledged that he was "bought with a price," by thenceforth living to the glory of His name. His religious views are expressed with so much clearness, in a manuscript found among his papers, that they may not be inappropriately inserted here.

"In my opinion, the leading doctrines of the Holy Scriptures are comprised in the following three general divisions. First, that man by nature is in a state of enmity against God; that God is not in all his thoughts, and that he does not desire a knowledge of his ways; that he is corrupt in his nature, and as such, in a state of guilt and condemnation. Secondly, that man can only be restored to the favour of God, by the exercise of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; that this faith is the free gift of God, produced in the heart solely by the operation of God the Holy Spirit, not bestowed on man through merit, but entirely the result of God's free and sovereign favour. Thirdly, that the doctrine of complete justification,

through an interest in the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, though it lays man prostrate at the footstool of Divine mercy, and leads him to disclaim all grounds. for his acceptance on account of merit, yet ensures the practice of every good word and work, by producing through the regenerating power of God the Holy Spirit, an entire change of heart and life, a desire of conformity to the image of that Saviour, whose love to him has been so great, and through the constraining influence of whose Spirit he now lives no longer unto himself, but unto Him which died for him, and rose again." As far as I am acquainted with the feelings of my own heart, I think I have been led, by Divine teaching, to experience the power of the foregoing truths on my soul; and although sensible of much imperfection, and sometimes fearing lest my spots should not be the spots of God's children,' yet I think I can with perfect sincerity, and in the sence of God, who knows my heart, say-One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see.'"

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pre

As it is far from the desire of the Editor to attach undue importance to the character of the deceased, he has carefully abstained from entering into the details of his private life, respecting which it may be merely remarked, that from the period in 1825, already referred to, he "adorned the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things." A portion of every day was from that time set apart by George Milward for the prayerful study of the Scriptures, whilst on the Sabbath he was enabled, as a teacher in a Sunday-school, to communicate to the children in his class that religious instruction which is gratefully remembered by many who were committed to his charge.

The subject of missions frequently formed a prominent part of his conversations with Christian friends, to some of whom he eventually imparted his desire to devote himself to that sacred cause. Having for several months examined his motives with fervent prayer for divine guidance, he was, in the summer of 1831, encouraged to offer his ser