ttempt at preaching
at or near Beamsville, on Easter Sunday, 1825, in the morning, from the
5th verse of the 126th Psalm: "They that sow in tears shall reap in
joy;" and in the afternoon at "The Fifty," on "The Resurrection of
Christ."--Acts ii. 24.

Toronto, Nov. 11th, 1880.

Such was the sketch of my life which I wrote on Sabbath in my Long Point
Island Cottage, on the 24th of March, 1873, the 70th anniversary of my
birthday. I know not that I can add anything to the foregoing story of
my early life that would be worth writing or reading.

* * * * *

[In his cottage at Long Point, on his seventy-fifth birthday, Dr.
Ryerson wrote the following paper, which Dr. Potts read on the occasion
of his funeral discourse. It will be read with profoundest interest, as
one of the noblest of those Christian experiences which are the rich
heritage of the Church.--J. G. H.]

Long Point Island Cottage, March 24th, 1878.

I am this day seventy-five years of age, and this day fifty-three years
ago, after resisting many solicitations to enter the ministry, and after
long and painful struggles, I decided to devote my life and all to the
ministry of the Methodist Church.

The predominant feeling of my heart is that of gratitude and
humiliation; gratitude for God's unbounded mercy, patience, and
compassion, in the bestowment of almost uninterrupted health, and
innumerable personal, domestic, and social blessings for more than fifty
years of a public life of great labour and many dangers; and humiliation
under a deep-felt consciousness of personal unfaithfulness, of many
defects, errors, and neglects in public duties. Many tell me that I have
been useful to the Church and the country; but my own consciousness
tells me that I have learned little, experienced little, done little in
comparison of what I might and ought to have known and done. By the
grace of God I am spared; by His grace I am what I am; all my trust for
salvation is in the efficacy of Jesus' atoning blood. I know whom I have
trusted, and "am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have
committed unto Him against that day." I have no melancholy feelings or
fears. The joy of the Lord is my strength. I feel that I am now on the
bright side of seventy-five. As the evening twilight of my earthly life
advances, my spiritual sun shines with increased splendour. This has
been my experience