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miring, do more harm than good to the grain.'

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I overheard a conversation between him and a person belonging to a denomination of Christians with whom vowing and covenanting formed a leading tenet in their confession. The substance of their conversation was to the following purport. He was urging Mr. Wright to do something, to which, I saw, he was not inclined. To effect his purpose, he said,

"Mr. Wright, have not you vowed at the Lord's table so and so ?" "No, I never vowed there in all my life." "No! never vowed there! Why so?" "Because I knew I should break my Vows, and the Bible tells me, that it is better not to vow, than vow and not pay, (Eccl. v. 5,) and in all that I have read in the New Testament, about that ordinance, I do not find the remotest reference to vowing being connected with it." "What! Is it not a sacrament, or oath ?" "Neither Jesus, nor John, nor Peter, nor Paul, called or described it as a sacrament, and only to such authorities do I yield.”

He adhered so strictly to the Bible, as his rule, that he would receive no human assertion about religious matters, unless it had what he called, a tacket to it, meaning a Scripture text to hang upon, or to prove it, or he must have a Thus saith the Lord, for what he believed or did,

I remember, he did not like the word expected to be applied to God, because God knew every thing, and could be disappointed in nothing.

He had a daughter, about ten or twelve years of age, who died of a decline. For -weeks before the disease had effected its purpose, the depth of his concern, agony, and wrestling in prayer, for the salvation of that child's soul, would match that of king David's for his little boy. He was constitutionally a man of acute sensibility, and the grace of God greatly increased it in reference to the salvation of others.

He was afflicted with a confirmed asthma for several years before he died. I attended a private prayer-meeting for some years, which was held in his house from six to eight every Monday evening, composed of ten or twelve Christians, all

of whom, except myself, have been in the eternal world, for many years. They were then all my seniors.

I shall never forget the scene which took place at the conclusion of our worship one evening. Mr. Wright said, when all were standing ready to depart, "Brethren, I have spent many happy meetings with you, but this is the last; I shall meet with you no more, farewell." In person he looked, even then, as strong as any present. Two days after this, when I called, I found him gasping for breath. He said he had been so nearly choked for want of air to breathe during the night, that he could have knocked out the side of the room. After pausing a little he said, "When you come to my situation, you will find it more solemn than you can at present conceive; I have a boundless eternity immediately before me! Nothing but a crucified Saviour can give the smallest support under such circumstances." He died next day.

He had a son, licensed as a preacher in the Church of Scotland, a short time after his death, who was so much what, at that time, they called a Bible preacher, and so able a minister of the New Testament, that, the first time I heard him preach, I thought he would have so suited his father's taste as a preacher, that his ardent mind would have been overwhelmed, and, perhaps, would have said, "Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have beheld the completion of my wishes and prayers concerning my first-born and only son." This son, (Dr. Wright,) after faithfully labouring some years in the parish of Markinch, Fife; and, afterwards, many years in the town of Stirling, only lately finished his course, and, I trust, joined his father in the celestial world, whom I - once heard say, with deep solemnity, "If my son, when he becomes a preacher, does not preach salvation by the cross of Christ, I would sooner let down his head into the grave, than see him ascend a pulpit stair."

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From these documents you will perceive, that the subject of these memorials was no ordinary man, either in point of talent or piety, and he will not disgrace a niche in your printed edifice. Cuid 1 J.Ch

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And now, that he hath fought the fight,

Finish'd his course, and victory won, Behold him with yon saints in light,

His promised crown of glory on. Hark! hear you not the lofty strain,

Which now his golden harp inspires?
Praise to the Lamb that once was slain,"
For ever fills its sounding wires !

O may the mantle, dropp'd by him,
In his ascent to climes so blest;
Unsullied, brightening still by time,
On his belov'd successor rest!
The glorious Gospel, rich and free,
In all its fulness may he preach;
And his own soul replenish'd be
With the grand truths that he would teach.

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ON THE

DEATH OF MRS. TAYLOR, Wife of the Rev. R. B. Taylor, Missionary at Leguan, Demerara.

AFAR, on Leguan's foreign Isle,

The gentle Anna sleeps,

While o'er her grave, with bleeding heart, Her lonely partner weeps.

She left her dear, her native land,

A young and lovely bride,
With hope elate, and him she lov'd,

To cross th' Atlantic wide.

Parents, and friends, and kindred all,
She, "rich in faith," resign'd,
A noble object fir'd her soul,
And fill'd her ardent mind.

It was, fair knowledge to impart,
To Afric's sable race,
And teach, with sweet simplicity,
A Saviour's love and grace.

Accomplish'd, pleasing, and refin'd,
Yet humble, meek and mild,
She gain'd an interest in the heart,
Of many a negro child.

Yea, many a dark, untutor'd slave,
To her would oft repair,
And, children-like, their letters learn,
Her kind instruction share.

They lov'd to hear her cheering voice,
To see her beaming smile,
While taught to read God's sacred book,
Which could their woes beguile.

Four years incessantly she toil'd

Her Saviour's cause to spread, Nor e'er relax'd, nor aught repin'd, Till laid in death's cold bed.

'Twas Jesus call'd her to his arms,

To meet a large reward;
Kind slumbers broke the thread of life,
And bore her to her Lord.

Near to his radiant throne she sits,
In glory's bright array,

A perfect spirit, freed from sin,
To live in endless day.

Love, peace, and joy triumphant reign,
Within her happy breast;

For Jesus smiles! the crowning bliss Of everlasting rest.

Yet long will Leguan deeply mourn,
The kind instructress fled;
Planters and negroes both deplore,
The gentle Anna dead.

I would not change her honour'd lot,
For Queen Victoria's throne;
Nor barter negroes' honest tears,
For all that wealth can own.

The seed is sown of heaven-born truth,
That seed shall spring and grow
And, by the Spirit's influence own'd,
Through distant ages flow.

Thus, generations yet unborn,
Her early toil will share,
And reap the fruit of all her pain,

Her zeal, and earnest prayer.

May heavenly love her partner soothe,
And heal his wounded heart;
Train the dear child for future good,
And every grace impart.

May grieving parents find support,
In this their trying day;

Still" bless the Lord, who kindly gave,"
The Lord "who took away."

Brothers and sisters, while ye mourn,

O lift your thoughts on high; She's safely screen'd from every storm, "Beyond the starry sky."

Farewell, dear Anne, my youthful friend,
My time but short can be;

Yet while this mortal life remains,
My heart shall cherish thee.

The last sad hour we spent on earth,
Is erst to memory dear;

Thy tender voice, thine own sweet smile,
And gently flowing tear.

O may we meet again in heaven,
Our friendship to renew ;
And sit on Zion's holy mount,
And all the past review.

Jehovah's plan will then appear,
Both gracious, good, and wise ;
And, as each providence unfolds,
New songs of praise arise.

R. DYER.

REVIEW OF RELIGIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

A NARRATIVE of the GREEK MISSION; or, Sixteen Years in Malta and Greece: including Tours in the Peloponnesus, in the Egean and Ionian Isles; with remarks on the Religious Opinions, Moral State, Social Habits, Politics, Language, History, and Lazarettos of Malla and Greece. By the Rev. S. S. WILSON, Member of the Literary Society of Athens. 8vo. pp. 596.

Snow, Paternoster-row.

It

The brief space devoted this month to the review of books will only permit us just to call the attention of our readers to Mr. Wilson's very interesting narrative. contains a condensed and careful summary of the principal events connected with his missionary labours at Malta, and other parts of the Mediterranean, during a residence of sixteen years. His opportunities of acquaintance with the character of the modern Greeks were very ample, and his knowledge of their language was such as to enable him to hold free intercourse with them. He appears to have mingled with persons of every rank in life, from the lowest of the peasantry to the nobility of the country.

"In the rudest of times," he observes, "the author has travelled with the civilians and soldiers of this land,

'Land of the bard, the warrior, and the sage.' Many a night has he slept with half-savage Rumeliots, and Spartans, and Peloponnesians, all bristling in arms. In such society, as well as in company with Chevalier Cologno, Count Gamba, Count Palma, and other public men, his tours have been made. At Athens, Corinth, Eleusis, Daphne, Tyrins, Megara, Nauplia, the plain of Argos, some islands of the Egean, with numerous other towns, and villages of the classic land, the subsequent sheets will show that the author has not been an unobservant spectator."

Those who take but little interest in missionary proceedings will be greatly interested in this part of Mr. Wilson's volume; as it consists, not in dry statistics, but in incident, narrative, and detail.

The author has been very faithful to truth, in depicting the abominations, and deleterious influence of the Romish church. Wherever she has extended her baneful sway, she has acted as a blight and a curse

upon human nature; and, in Greece, she has been faithful to her true character.

Mr. Wilson expresses a becoming anxiety on behalf of the Greek mission. The wants and the woes," he observes, "of Greece have happily drawn to her aid brethren from sister institutions on both sides the Atlantic; distant, far distant be the day, when these heralds of the cross shall cease to pass through Macedonia and Achaia;' since a great and an effectual door is opened,' though there are many adversaries;' and should the purer churches of Christ ever abandon Greece, Rome would most heartily rejoice. The prurient anxiety of the man of sin' to renew the efforts he so often made in the middle ages, down to the Council of Florence, and to the very fall of the Greek empire, when the sovereignty of the Turks effectually arrested all his hopes and all his efforts, would again excite him to put forth his sleepless and unhallowed finesse, and one might from that day date the resurrection of hope and of triumph to this oldest and most practised foe to the light and liberty of Greece."

Though the results of the Greek Mission have had nothing in them to astound, we are not on that account to imagine that they are without interest to the Christian world. Mr. Wilson, and his colleague Mr. Lowndes, have done good service in the way of promoting education, printing books, circulating the Scriptures, and preaching the Gospel. The seed of truth has been widely scattered, and we cannot but anticipate a future harvest.

Mr. Wilson's narrative is exceedingly instructive, and deserves an attentive perusal. The friends of Missions will trace in it much to interest them in the spiritual destinies of Greece. In a second edition we recommend attention to a few minor errors of the press. Two or three of the Latin quotations are inaccurate.

As a

whole, we can very cordially introduce the volume to the friendly notice of our readers. It evinces a very respectable portion of learning, talent, and research.

HISTORICAL MEMORIALS relating to the INDEPENDENTS, or CONGREGATIONALISTS from their rise to the Restoration of the Monarchy, A. D. MDCLX. By BENJAMIN HANBURY. Vol. I. 8vo. pp. 588.

Fisher, Son, and Co.

Mr. Hanbury has been long and advantageously known to the religious public as an author devoted to the study of ecclesiastical antiquities. In his edition of

"Hooker's Church Polity" he did good service to the cause of Protestant Nonconformity, by thoroughly exposing some of the specious fallacies of that accomplished writer in defence of Establishments. The notes appended by Mr. H. to Hooker's Polity are a monument to his candour, industry, and varied research. We may have many Dissenters more deeply learned than Mr. Hanbury; but it is questionable whether we have any one so extensively read in what may be called the recondite portions of the history of Nonconformity. The "Memorials" before us, so far as they proceed, cannot fail to impress all competent judges with a lofty idea of the patience and discrimination which Mr. H. has brought to bear upon his difficult and delicate task. He has so combined the process of investigation with its legitimate results, that, unlike historians in general, he has furnished his readers with the means of pronouncing upon the merits or defects of his important undertaking.

Never before have the Independents had full justice done to their claims, either in a political or religious point of view. Under the skilful treatment of Mr. H., most of the obscurities of their early history have been successfully cleared away; while the aspersions of their avowed enemies have been disposed of in a way equally creditable to the head and heart of the author.

We give it as our deliberate opinion, that the prevailing fault of Nonconformists in general is, that they are culpably indifferent to "the acts and monuments" of their eventful story. Were they better informed, as it respects those mighty struggles for truth, which have marked the line of their spiritual ancestry, they would be willing to sacrifice far more in support of their principles, and would be less liable to be lured away from the religion of their fathers, by the specious, pretensions of less primitive claimants.

We are not without hope that these "Memorials" may be the means of introducing an era of ecclesiastical research among the younger branches of our Dissenting families. If such shall be the case, the amiable and laborious author will be ampiy rewarded for all his amazing toil, We say amazing toil; for we doubt much if any nonconformist in the country imagined, that so many facts and documents could have 1.,been collected, at this advanced period in the history of Independency, so strikingly illustrative of its interesting fortunes. Though the volume is mainly composed of unknown or scarce articles of information, it is the very reverse of what is dull or insipid. The incident never flags, and the continual reference to facts and principles

1

of undying interest, imparts to the undertaking a character bordering on romance.

It will be to the permanent discredit of the Independents if these Memorials do not command a wide and lasting reputation.

The LIFE and TIMES of SELINA, COUNTESS of HUNTINGDON. By a Member of the Noble Houses of Huntingdon and Ferrers. Vol. I. 8vo, pp. 488.

Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.

Few of our readers will be prepared, after the lapse of so many years, to find such a circumstantial memoir of that truly godly and devoted lady, the late Countess of Huntingdon. It is a circumstance of high congratulation to the church of Christ, that the family papers of the deceased have been preserved with so much care, and that their arrangement has fallen into the hands of one so well fitted to do justice to the task assigned to him. So far as the memoir proceeds, it is executed with much skill and energy, and throws considerable light on the great movements of the Methodists

in the last century. Lady Huntingdon was a woman of extraordinary decision of character, and was, beyond doubt, raised up by Divine Providence for the performance of a great work. The times in which she lived were very eventful, and she herself contributed, in no slight degree, to impress upon them their peculiar character. A hundred such persons among the nobility of our country would do much instrumentally, to bring on the glory of the latter day. We have piety, indeed, among many persons of quality in our day; but they are all 30 much afraid of acting irregularly, and offending the clergy and the bishops, that no great work of revival can be expected to emanate from them.

Lady Huntingdon, like many others who acted with her, took up her cross, and followed Christ; and was honoured above any other woman that Britain ever nourished upon her soil, in extending the knowledge of Christ. Her "Life and Times" present an accurate and impressive view of her history; and furnish a suitable companion to the Sketch of Methodism which precedes Dr. Morison's "Fathers and Founders of the London Missionary Society."

We are deeply indebted to the writer and editor of this admirable work, and trust it will be greatly blessed in the revival of the spirit of the early Methodists. We know that the doctrine of multitudes of Churchmen now is, "we do not want the irregularities of the Methodists now." We are of a different opinion, and firmly believe, that without an increase of their diffusive spirit, formalism will root itself once more in the land.

VOL. XVII.

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The CENTENARY of WESLEYAN METHODISM. A Brief Sketch of the Rise, Progress, and Present State of the Wesleyan Methodist Societies throughout the World. By THOMAS JACKSON, President of the Conference. Seventh Thousand. 8vo, pp. 388.

Mason.

This volume was written by the gifted author, at the express request of the late Wesleyan Conference. It is intended to commemorate that extraordinary revival of primitive faith and piety, which dates from the rise of methodism -an event which took place a century ago. It is a wellwritten volume, partaking extremely little of party-spirit, and fitted to benefit true Christians of every name. We have read it with no ordinary feelings of delight; and though we do not bind ourselves to every view, much less to every expression of the author, we very cordially recommend it to the perusal of our readers, being fully satisfied that it will "provoke them to love and to good works." The extraordinary effort of benevolence put forth by the Wesleyan body on occasion of their centenary, entitles them to the admiration of the Christian church, and should call forth the holy rivalry of other denominations of professing Christians.

The CONVALESCENT. Twelve Letters on Recovery from Sickness. By MRS. GILBERT, author of "Hymns for Infant Schools," "Original Anniversary Hymns for Sunday Schools," " Hymns for Infant Minds," &c. 12mo, pp. 120. Jackson and Walford,

A work such as this, from the pen of Mrs. Gilbert, may be fairly regarded as a boon to all who are emerging from the chamber of sickness. Those who take deep interest in the condition of the afflicted, will rejoice to be in possession of a volume which they can place with confidence in the hands of those whom God has mercifully raised up from the gates of death. It would be saying far too little of these letters to pronounce them judicious; they are eminently touching and tender, and are equally fitted to instruct the mind, and to improve the heart!

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