WESLEYAN-METHODIST MAGAZINE. DECEMBER, 1873. MEMOIR OF MR. FRANCIS TESSEYMAN, OF MANCHESTER: BY HIS SON, THE REV. JOHN TESSEYMAN. "IT matters little at what hour o' the day The righteous falls asleep. Death cannot come The less of this cold world, the more of heaven: The true development of man consists in the knowledge of God, and in an increase of holiness and goodness, of virtue and truth. Mere intellectual culture and mental refinement are of themselves one-sided in their effects, only laying hold of a portion of the human being, while the moral and spiritual part of humanity remains undeveloped and uneducated. The Gospel alone can regenerate the soul. By it alone is a new nature implanted, and a new life inbreathed. And this new creation must maintain itself in constant growth. All life implies progress: to stand still is death. There is a law of development in nature; and by the light of revelation we discover that it extends to the realm of grace. The regenerate man goes on "unto perfection." This is what the subject of this memoir steadily strove to do; he was an ardent believer in, and had a personal experience of, the truth of the Methodist doctrine of entire sanctification. For many years he accounted it his greatest honour to bear witness to its reality, and to preach it to others. FRANCIS TESSEYMAN was born at Kirkby-Malzeard, a small town seven miles distant from Ripon, on January 11th, 1816. His parents, who were strict adherents of the Establishment, regularly took part in its services, and taught their children to do the same. When their son Francis was about eighteen years of age, not finding at the church the peace he eagerly sought, he began to attend upon the Wesleyan-Methodist ministry. He now heard "the truth as it is in Jesus," laid hold upon Christ by a personal faith, and realized the salvation of his soul: "being justified by faith," he had "peace VOL. XIX. -FIFTH SERIES. 8 Y with God," and, freed from the spirit of bondage, could gratefully cry to his Deliverer : "My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed Thee." Concerning his consciousness of acceptance with God, I have heard him speak in the most positive manner. His religious experience was after the Apostolic description: "we know that we have passed from death unto life." Of the direct witness of the Spirit to his spirit he was as sure as that the natural sun shone in the visible heavens; and I know not that he ever lost his hold of this great privilege of the children of God. Not long after my father received the blessing of pardon, he began earnestly to seek that of Christian purity. He looked upon cntire sanctification as an instantaneous work of the Holy Spirit, to be realized through faith in the same way as justification. He sought long ere he found; and even after he had obtained what his soul desired, it was lost again for a time. Yet he sought once more, and having realized the richer heavenly baptism, constantly urged upon the attention of others that which he himself enjoyed. To be "sanctified wholly" was not with him a bare theoretical speculation, but a personal experience; and often was he heard to declare his holy confidence of the possession of the blessing. It was his favourite topic in conversation, and was more agreeable to him than any other. The works of John Wesley and John Fletcher were his favourite books, especially those parts of them which bear on the doctrine of Christian perfection. The Antinomian errors against which these divines levelled their strong arguments he hated with a "perfect hatred;" and on all controverted points he appealed at once "to the law and to the testimony." His general book-knowledge was respectable; but, like Wesley, he became, comparatively speaking, “a man of one book," and that one the Bible. It was for him, in a great measure, and especially toward the close of his life, the substitute of all other literatures, and all other lores; in short, his whole course and demeanour declared, "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." His first Society-ticket bears date 1833; his first plan, for the Bedale Circuit, 1846. As a local preacher he apparently performed a large amount of work; for the Circuit was large, the preach. ing-places wide apart, and the services numerous. But he was conscientious in the discharge of his duties. It seems much to assert that he never neglected an appointment; but I never heard of an instance of the kind. Often he has been known to say that, on a Sabbath-day, he had preached thrice, and walked twenty miles. Frequently also would he tell of sinners having been converted to God, and believers brought to a higher state of spirit. ual enjoyment, through his instrumentality. Rarely, it would seem, did he preach without some visible good being done. He was the means of saving scores, if not hundreds, of souls, by leading them to the Lamb of God; and some of the spiritual offspring thus given him have already recognized and greeted him on "the eternal shore." About 1853 my father removed from Kirkby-Malzeard to Huddersfield, where he laboured as class-leader, local preacher, and in other ways, in the Buxton-Road Circuit. After a two years' residence at Huddersfield, he was induced to repair to Manchester, to undertake an agency; and here he remained up to the time of his death. While in Manchester he identified himself with the Society and congregation associated with the New Islington chapel, in the Grosvenor-Street Circuit. The years he spent in connection with this Circuit, and in the surrounding district, were amongst the most important of his life. Many and various were the objects he sought constantly to promote; such as the preaching of the Gospel, prayer, class and cottage-meetings, Bible-classes, and Sunday-schools; and these occupied all the time he could spare from his daily duties. He was especially active on the Sabbath, which often was with him the busiest day of the week. He was "diligent in business," yet "fervent in spirit, serving the Lord,"a fine example of Christian activity and earnestness. By nature his constitution was robust and vigorous, particularly in the earlier years of his life; but for some time prior to his death he was not strong. This was owing chiefly to an accident which befell him whilst residing at Kirkby-Malzeard, and to the circumstance that Manchester never suited his health. For eighteen months he was almost wholly laid aside from active engagements; various causes operating to bring about that fatal issue, carrying sorrow to many hearts, which took place on Monday morning, April 5th, 1869, when he exchanged mortality for life, aged fifty-three years. In the prospect of death my father was calm. He did not in his last hours converse much on his religious state, in consequence of severe pain; but there was no need that he should: his life had declared the power of the "Gospel of the grace of God," and he had been a faithful witness for Christ, a "living epistle, known and read of all men." A short time before his departure he said to his wife, "I am going." "Yes," she replied, "going to heaven;" to which he rejoined, "Praise the Lord, I am!" At times, when the pain which he suffered was extreme, the ejaculation, "Lord, help me!" escaped his lips. He often asked his wife to aid him in keeping his mind "stayed on God," and in "perfect peace: " "Yes," said he, "that is it; perfect peace." The words, "Come, |