The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-05-07 00:00:00

TESTIMONIAL TO THE REV. F. A. POWER•

A meeting of members of the congregation under the
pastoral charge of the Rev. F. A. Power, of the Bebington
district, was held ChT Thursday evening, at the Church of
England North Schonfi Bend street, to present a suit of
robes and an address to their minister, as a testimonial of
their affection and high estimation el his indefatigable
zeal and important usefulness.
The rev. gentleman, on entering the room, was received
with hearty cheering. The robes were laid on a large
table covered with a white cloth, and at the side was hung
the address, which is beautifully written and framed.
Mr. COLLZY opened the prcceedings with a few brief
observations, and called upon Mr. Clark to read the
address. _ _

Mr. CLARK stated that the robes had been made by
Messrs. C. and 3. Vintner, of Cambridge, and were of
the very best quality—a proof of the generous subscrip-
tion of that small and humble congregation. Mr. C.
then proceeded to read the following affecting address :

" Rev. Sir,—We, the members of the congregation who
have assembled for worship under your ministration, in the
School-room, Bond-street, deEke to give utterance to our feel-
ings of gratitude to you.
" First,—For the faithfulness and zeal which you have inva-
riably displayed in expounding to us the saving truths of the
Gospel of Christ, and preaching to us, we trust effectually, the
truth as it is in Jesus. .

"econcliy2-1,4;;;Our unremitting anxiety for the welfare of
the immortal souls of those whom it pleased the Almighty dis-
poser of events to afflict in the late awful visitation of cholera,
and we fervently pray that your kind and undaunted visits to
the bedsides of those sufferers may not lose their reward, but
yield you an eternal recompense.
" Thirdly—For the kindness and patience you evinced in the
examination and instruction of those candidates for confirma-
tion who were under your care, and we trust that your instructions
may net have been bestowed in vain ; but that those who then
confirmed their covenant with God may, by His grace, be
enabled to continue His faithful soldiers and servants to
their lives end.' _ _

" Fourthly,—For your care and assiduity in behalf of those
children who assemble for instruction under your superinten-
dence in the North Church of England School, and we earnestly
hope that the principles of religion and virtue which are there
inculcated may guide the recipients safely through this life,
and finally, by the mercy of God, obtain for them eternal feli-
city in the life to come. . _

a In conclusion, we beg your kind acceptance of the accom-
panying suit of robes, as a mark of our esteem and gratitude.
We fervently pray that you may long be spared to minister to
us in holy things, and that when called hence you may be
clothed in the everlasting robe of righteousness which Christ
has prepared for his faithful followers, and be welcomed into
his everlasting habitations. by the joyful sound—' Well done,
good and faithful servant 1 Enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord.' "

The Rev. F. A. POWER then rose and said,—

"My dear Friends,—lreceive with the warmest thankfulness
this token of your esteem, and of what ye are pleased to call
your gratitude, and assure you that I consider your gift as a
most generous effort to do me honour, of which, I must, in all
sincerity, consider myself unworthy. Had it pleased Provi-
dence to bless you all with abundance of this world's goods,
your gift would have been to me a pleasing token of your
esteem ; but when I think that ye have abounded in liberality
even beyond your ability, I can never cease to regard your
kind token as one of the most valuable things this world can
bestow upon me.
" Ye have added to the gift another mark of your esteem, in
my mind not less valuable than the first token of your kind-
ness. Ye have presented to me an address expressive of your
gratitude for the performance of my duties as your minister;
and ye have declared the gift to be a token of your feelings,
arising from your knowledge of my life and conversation
amongst you. lam fully sensible of the kindness and gene-
rosity of this conduct towards me, and beg to assure you that
I receive your address as a most cheering encouragement to go
onward in that course which has afforded you satisfaction—at
the same time remembering that I must always consider myself
an unprofitable servant, having done only what was my duty
to do, if, perhaps, I may have attained even unto that.
" I feel, and I have ever felt, and, by God's grace, I hope
always to feel, that the great business of my life, as a minister
of the Gospel of Christ, is to sow 'the incorruptible seed' of
God's word, by which ' we are born again.' and to declare
that truth in Jesus' by which we are 'sanctified.' If I have
preached amongst you, on my part, with faithfulness and
zeal,' and on your part effectually,' it is an abundant reward
for my labour, for which thanks are due only to that God who
can give the increase.'
" The late visitation of the Almighty, when it pleased Him
to afflict our country and our neighbourhood with cholera, can
never be forgotten by any of you who witnessed it. We
learned, by the awful scenes rapidly passing before us, the
meaning of the words Be ye ready also, for in such an hour
as ye think not the Son of Man cometh.' As God gave me
fortitude in that trying season. I hope I used it for His glory,
and went into those scenes of His wrath with the confidence
that He sent me with a message of mercy and consolation,
that the bones which he had broken might rejoice.' Ido re-
lieve some felt that prayer was heard, and their lives were
spared ; whilst others rejoiced in a felt salvation as the answer
of prayer, and died in hope of eternal life. The consciousness
of being the instrument of good sustained me in the perfor-
mance of my duty, until it pleased God to withdraw His
chastening band from our neighbourhood. I feel sow fresh
gratitude to God that we are spared to call to remembrance
that awful season of His wrath, and to thank Him for His mercy
toward us. _ _

" The pleasing duty of meeting candidates for confirmation
has devolved upon me once since I came amongst you. I re-
member what happiness I felt last year in the performance of
this part of my ministry, from the steady attention of all the
young people who came to me as candidates, as well as from
the serious and devout conduct manifested by them all. I
pray that they may continue safely in the ark of Christ's
Church, and sail over the waves of this troublesome world
without shipwreck of faith, and finally ' have an entrance
ministered unto them abundantly into the everlasting kingdom
of their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.'
" The North Church of England Schools have been included
in the Bevington district ; and it has been my duty, as the
minister of the district, to visit them. Their importance was
impressed on me as soon as I saw them. I very soon felt an
interest in them proportioned to their importance, and deter-
mined to devote no inconsiderable portion of my time and
strength not merely to visiting the schools, but to the religious
instruction of the senior classes of the children. I hope I may
say that 1 have never, knowingly or willingly, shrunk from the
duty which I felt I ought to assign myself. lam certain that I
have enjoyed great pleasure whilst endeavouring to instruct
the children • and I say with much feeling that I am very
happy when I reflect upon the success of some of those chil-
dren ; and witness the industry with which some of them,
now apprentices in the school, strive to improve their own
minds and teach the classes to which they may be appointed.
Nor shall I fail to state that my belief that all the teachers in
these schools are concerned for their own and for the chil-
dren's spiritual welfare, affords me very great happiness.
May the blessing of God rest upon the instruction.

"Four years liave now nearly rolled away since I commenced
my public ministry amongst you. I shall not dwell upon the
disadvantages of my position. You know them full well.
Some of you have, from the very first, attended divine service
in the licensed school-room in which I have ministered, and
most of you have attended regularly for some years past. I
am cheered by the remembrance of your constancy and stead-
fastness. Nor can Ibe ashamed to confess that your perseve-
ring attendance on my ministry has encouraged me amidst the
otherwise cheerless scene in which I found myself placed, when
our blessed Lord himself derived consolation from a similar
source, saying to his apostles, " Ye are they which have conti-
nued with me in my temptations."
" I thank you for your prayer that I may spend many years
with you in Christ's kingdom on earth, and that I may wear
the robe of righteousness in his eternal kingdom in heaven.
We are fellow-travellers to the eternal inheritance in heaven
which the precious blood of Christ has purchased for us. Our
faith is in God and in his son Jesus Christ. And we hope that
" the end of our faith—the salvation of our souls''—may be
our portion. Let our prayers be mutual. May the minister
pray for the salvation of the souls of his people ; and may the
people pray for the salvation of the soul of their minister. The
God that heareth prayer will answer, and bless us with the
fulness of the blessings of the Gospel of Christ.' May our lot
on earth be with the people of God ; and may the God of all
grace' number us with his saints in glory everlasting.'
After the doxology had been sung, and the benediction
pronounced, the meeting separated.