MRS. TURNER.

Mrs. Turner was one of the oldest members of the Old Church Congregation; and one of the last connecting links of the Heavenly-minded Christians of David Brown's time. Early called to the knowledge of the truth, as appears from an interesting journal she was accustomed to keep, we see her first dedicating herself to God in solemn covenant in nearly the terms recommended by Dr. Doddridge, in his Rise and Progress of Religion, chap. xvi. The document is dated so far back, in her own handwriting, as September 1810. The affecting addition is added by her :-"I hope and trust, oh God, that thou wilt enable me through Christ to peruse this paper once every month to put me in mind of my solemn transactions with thee; and may this engagement through the influence of thy Holy Spirit entirely wean my affections from the perishing things of this world, to be fixed on those blessed things above. I ask these blessings in the name and through the merits of thy dear son Jesus Christ my blessed Redeemer, Amen." E. T.

It is evident from her journals, and her holy walk, that she never lost sight of this solemn covenant. God accepted the dedication, and she has been enabled to go on from strength to strength in the paths of peace. She had preserved her christian integrity and consistency to the time of her death, which took place on Tuesday the 16th of November 1841, after a very short illness.

The following inscription is on her monument :—
Sacred to the Memory of Elizabeth Turner,

who died Nov. 16th, 1841, aged 54 years.
"Jesus is precious to them that believe.”

This Tablet is erected to the Memory of the best of mothers, by her afflicted children.

CIRCULAR ROAD BAPTIST CHAPEL.

REV. JOHN CHAMBERLAIN.

John Chamberlain was born at Welton, in Northamptonshire, on the 24th of July 1777, of poor but industrious parents. They appear to have accustomed him to an early attendance at the house of God, and to an acquaintance with his blessed word. It is not surprising, therefore, that he should have been the subject of religious impressions at an early age. In the spring of 1795, at the age of 18 years, he had reason to hope the important change, without which the Saviour himself assures us, no man can enter into the kingdom of God, was effected. At the age of 19 he was baptized by Mr. Simmons at Guilsborough.

On account of the delicate state of his health, his father had been induced to alter his intention of bringing him up to some mechanical employment and to select for him the business of a farmer, upon which he entered at the early age of 12 years. It was whilst following this occupation that his attention became directed to Missions; first, by hearing of the Baptist Missionaries, Thomas and Carey ; and secondly by reading the periodical accounts, and the sermons preached at the formation of the London Missionary Society. His worthy master, Mr. Haddon, perceiving the turn his mind had taken, used his influence, and was successful in getting him "accepted as a probationer for Missionary undertakings by the Committee of the Baptist Missionary Society." After about a year's study at Olney, under Mr. Sutcliff, he was sent to Bristol Academy, where he continued till January 1802.

During the whole period of this course of preparation for his important work, Mr. Chamberlain studied with the greatest diligence, often spending no less than nineteen hours a day in literary pursuits. He did not however neglect either private devotion or public services. As to the former, besides perusing many of the best devotional books, he was accustomed to read fifteen chapters from the Bible, and also to engage in prayer five or six times every day. With regard to the latter, he was zealous in visiting the meanest and most degraded parts of the city, that he might preach the Gospel to the poor; and his efforts were much blessed in the conversion of sinners.

In April 1802, Mr. Chamberlain was publicly ordained in London as a Missionary; and in May sailed for Calcutta via America, having first been united in marriage to Miss Hannah Smith of Walgrave. After a short sojourn in America, they proceeded on their voyage, and arrived at Serampore on the 27th of January 1803. Here at the age of 26, he commenced his Missionary career. application was such, that " by a happy mixture of exercise with study, he soon overcame the difficulties of the language; and in about a year, was able to preach the Gospel with confidence."

His

In May 1804, he first went to Cutwa, and spent two solitary months in necessary preparations for his residence there. After some opposition from the natives, he succeeded in procuring about "two acres of land, pleasantly situated by two tanks, and a fine grove of Mango-trees, at a small distance from the town." Here he raised a mat bungalow at an expence of 650 Rupees. He then went down to Serampore, and returned with his wife to commence his arduous labours. He devoted himself with untiring zeal to incessant preaching in the streets and bazars, and kept open house for visitors, and inquirers, itinerating also in all the villages within his reach. It is said by one, who was an eye-witness, "that the number of places he would visit, together with the number of times he would address different congregations in one day, was truly astonishing. The simple travelling from village to village and from place to place in the different villages where he preached, appeared to me a sufficient exertion for one day, while he, from eight in the morning till five in the afternoon, continued to travel and preach without cessation, allowing himself time to take a little dry provision only as he went from one hamlet to another."

In the midst of these labours, Mr. C. was visited with a most afflictive stroke in the death of his wife after her confinement. Dr. Marshman, who had very kindly brought up a boat to convey Mrs. C. to Serampore, arrived the night before her death, and proved a sympathizing friend in this time of great distress. It was with difficulty that either a coffin could be made, or a grave dug. The latter Dr. Marshman had himself to commence before he could prevail on any one to assist him. The bereaved one and his friend had themselves to carry the coffin, and consign it to the silent grave. Dr. Marshman succeeded in taking Mr. C. away from this scene of woe to Serampore, but could not prevail in detaining him longer than ten days from his post. But though his grief was great, he does not appear to have relaxed in his labours.

At the end of fifteen months he was married to the widow of the Missionary Grant. But after only eight months of mutual comfort, he was again visited with a blow equally severe with that which he had before received. Alone, on the bosom of the river, he had to close in death the eyes of his beloved wife, to conceal his grief, and to restrain the sorrow of his step-daughter, 10 years old, lest the boatmen, advised of the sad event, should desert him in this time of deep affliction ; well might he write, "I am afflicted with wave upon wave till I am shipwrecked in the midst of the storm. The arrows of the Almighty stick fast in me, and I am consumed with the blow of his hand. Yet still his strokes are fewer than my crimes, and lighter than my guilt. The Lord hath done it. I would therefore be dumb and open not my mouth."

In September 1809, Mr. Chamberlain re-entered the married state with Miss Underwood, with whom he had been acquainted in England, and who was one of the first to direct his mind to Missionary service. His labours were now divided between the heathen at Cutwa, and the European Soldiers at the Military station of Berhampore. Here his preaching was greatly blessed to his countrymen, so that, when the Regiment was removed from Berhampore, the Church consisted of between thirty and forty members. At Cutwa, his success does not appear to have been equal to his labours. He had, however, at least, one remarkable seal to his ministry in the conversion of a poor degraded mendicant, Brindabun, who, for thirteen years, proved his crown of rejoicing, and then preceded him to glory.

The Missionaries at Serampore, being anxious for the extension of the gospel, and the improvement of the translations of the Scriptures made for the upper provinces, urged Mr. Chamberlain to proceed to Agra. They considered his facility of acquiring languages, his acquaintance with the original Scriptures, and his tried zeal and experience in Missionary work as peculiarly fitting him for a Mission, where at least two versions of the word of God would require to be carefully revised and improved. Persuaded of his duty, he quitted Cutwa, not without regret, and, with the permissson of Government, proceeded up to Agra, January 1811. Here, in conjunction with a fellow Missionary, Mr. Peacock, he laboured with his usual diligence for fifteen months. His time was fully occupied in carry. ing on a school for his support; attending to the translations of the Scriptures; preaching in English to a small congregation in his own house; and to the soldiers in the fort, as well as to the natives in a language not yet perfectly acquired. Here, also, he had to endure affliction. He had formerly lost several children, but now he had to part with three within the space of six months. The eldest was the only surviving child of his first wife, and was, on many accounts, very greatly endeared to his heart. In the midst of his sorrows he was much cheered by the conversion of others, whom he could call his spiritual children. He thus writes, to one :-" When I lost the last of my children, I remember looking at you and Mr. and Mrs. W., all my dear and kind friends, and then I said in my heart again and again O Lord! if thou bless these friends with thy saving grace, it is enough, I abound. I will resign my darlings for them."

Things at Agra wore a pleasing aspect; but they were suddenly beclouded. An order was received from Government to send him to the Presidency under a guard. The Magistrate of Agra very kindly ordered the guard to attend him as his servants, and Mr. C. did not fail to embrace every opportunity of preaching to the natives on his way down. On his arrival at Calcutta, he was informed that he was

at liberty. "And now instead of spending his time in thinking what was to become of him and his family, leaving all to the direction of his faithful God, he set out on a preaching tour to those places which had been the theatre of his former exertions."

Scarcely had six weeks elapsed after his arrival at the Presidency when he received an invitation from Mr. Dyce, the adopted son of the Begum Somroo, to come up to Sirdhana, and undertake the tuition of his son. Considering this as an opening made by Providence for the spreading of the Gospel in the North-Western provinces, and having first stipulated that there should be no restraint laid on him in his Missionary work, Mr. C. proceeded to Sirdhana, where he arrived on the 8th May 1813. He was received by the Begum and Mr. D. with every mark of respect and much kindness. Besides attending on his young pupil for three or four hours every morning, he was diligently employed in translations; establishing schools for the Roman Catholics and Heathen; distributing the Scriptures and preaching to the people. Whilst here he had an opportunity of visiting Delhi and Hurdwar, and though suffering greatly in his health, laboured with persevering ardour in preaching and distributing the word of God, both among the rich and haughty Mussulmans and the poor and degraded Hindoos. He styles these, "grand campaigns." The following is a description of the Missionary at Hurdwar by an eye-witness. "His knowledge of the language was that of an accomplished native; his delivery impressive; and his whole manner partook much of mildness and benignity. No abuse, no language which could in any way injure the sacred service in which he was employed escaped his lips. Having finished his allotted portion, on every part of which he commented and explained, he recited a short prayer, and concluded the evening by bestowing his blessing on all assembled. At first, as may be expected, his auditors were few a pretty convincing proof, when sixty thousand people were collected, that it was not through mere curiosity they subsequently increased. For the first four or five days he was not surrounded by more than as many hundred Hindoos: in ten days, (for I regularly attended,) his congregation had increased to as many thousands. They sat around and listened with an attention which would have reflected credit on a Christian audience. On the Missionary's retiring, they every evening cheered him home with " May the Padre live for ever!"'

A complaint however was sent by some one to the Secretary of Government about Mr. C.'s preaching at Hurdwar. The Government, fearing lest some evil might arise from his preaching to the natives, requested the Begum to dismiss him; which, after unavailing applications for permission to retain him her Highness was obliged most reluctantly to do. He once more returned to Serampore. Permission having been obtained for his settlement in some of the lower provinces, Mr. C. set out, well supplied with the word of God; and after travelling up and down the river between Mirzapore and Monghyr, he at last fixed upon the latter as his abode. The reasons which directed his choice are thus expressed by him. "The place is immensely larger than I had supposed; and I hope here to sit down quietly to my work. And as I shall not be far from you, we shall be able to have frequent communications in the proof way, which I shall much like. Hence, as I can get a house without much trouble, and as here are two friends already, who are likely to come under our charge, and as there are a few others, who may be brought to the Saviour when the banner of the cross is unfurled, and as this is a very populous place, I am come to a determination to remove to it without delay." Here he was as diligent as he had been in other places. He devoted four days in the week to translations, two to preaching to the natives and one to Europeans. Indeed, as his health decreased, he seems to have laboured more abundantly, for we find that in 1820, whenever he was able, he studied hard at the translations; preached three times a week in English, attending two meetings besides; preached three times a week to the natives; and conducted native worship every morning, Sabbaths excepted, in his own house. A greater blessing seems to have attended his labours in this place than in any former sphere. He had laboured, amid the pain and weakness attendant on diseased lungs, but for five years; and yet he had the gratification of leaving a small but very flourishing Church, consisting of twelve natives members, besides some Europeans and East Indians. Twice was he compelled to recruit himself, by going to the Sand-Heads, and once to Berhampore, till at length, on the 13th of September 1821, he was obliged to abandon his beloved work, and repair to Calcutta. By the advice of his Medical attendant, his passage was, as the very last expedient, taken for England on board the