do so. Whether at Hoxton, where he supplied a month in the autumn for thirty-seven years, or in the midst of his own large and attached congregation at home, or in his frequent labours in the adjacent villages, he always appeared fully fraught with the blessings of the gospel of Christ, and numbers in each of these districts have glorified God in him. Few ministers have been more successful in turning men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. He was highly honoured of God with many seals to his ministry, and many souls for his hire, who shall be his joy and crown of rejoicing in the day of the Lord.

His last sermon was founded on the first verse of the 86th Psalm,-" Bow down thine ear, O Lord: hear me, for I am poor and needy." With this prayer he might be said to have entered upon his ministry; in the spirit of this he prosecuted it, and he could not more appropriately have finished it. The last public service at which he officiated, was the administration of the Lord's Supper. Like his Divine Master, he seemed to say, "With desire I have desired to eat this before I suffer."

In addressing the church on that occasion, feeling that the time of his departure was at hand, he alluded in most impressive terms to his approaching dissolution, and to his anxiety on their behalf after his departure from them, the people were much affected. The impression was general that they should soon see his face no more, and his affectionate manner of taking leave of them drew forth many tears. On the following Tuesday he visited some of the sick of his flock, and on the evening of that day took to what proved to be the chamber of death.

The peculiar nature of his disease prevented much conversation during his last illness. Occasionally, however, he was able to express those views and feelings in the immediate prospect of eternity which his doctrine, manner of life, faith, long-suffering, charity, and patience might be expected to awaken. He reviewed his life, and spoke gratefully of the goodness of God to him in every period of it. He assured his relatives that his mind was at peace, and stated that he thought he could lie passive in the hands of the Lord, and know no will but his, willing to live, and ready

to die; "Yes," he repeated, "I hope, quite ready."

At one time he evinced some degree of uneasiness, and was asked if it arose from pain; he replied, "I was thinking of lost souls-lost souls."

Mrs. Hillyard inquired, "You have no fear for your own safety ?" his answer was, "Oh no! but for that of many unto whom I have ministered!"

At intervals, when he supposed he was alone, he was frequently overheard pouring out his soul in prayer, principally for his church and congregation, or repeating verses from favourite hymns, expressive of the devotional feelings of his heart.

On the Sabbath evening, a fortnight before his departure, he seemed fast sinking, and said to Mrs. Hillyard, “I hope my children will all be pious and kind to you, and thus smooth my dying pillow;" and in a few minutes afterwards he repeated these lines,

"Jesus can make a dying bed

Feel soft as downy pillows are,
While on his breast I lean my head,

And breathe my life out sweetly there."

He then remained for some time perfectly still, while his family stood silently watching around his bed, expecting every breath to be his last, when he opened his eyes, and sweetly smiling on them, said, "I am revived a little; I am better now." After which he conversed with them, and expressed his earnest desire that they would all love the Saviour, and employ every power they possessed in his service, that they might cherish the hope of meeting again, and being happy together in the presence of Christ for ever.

Two days after, he would frequently allude to some journey which he had to perform. Being asked if it was to heaven he was going, he replied, with great emphasis,

66 Yes, sure;" and repeated three times that gracious declaration of our Lord, "In my Father's house are many mansions, if it were not so I would have told you: I go to prepare a place for you."

To his youngest daughter, who stood by weeping, he said, "I do not like to see you look so dejected. Are you crying because I am going home? You

must love and serve Jesus Christ, and then we shall soon meet again. I hope I have endeavoured to direct you all to

him. Christ and his cross is all our theme."

In this peaceful state of mind he continued, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, till Monday morning, the 4th of March, when he obtained that which he sought after, and was quietly dismissed to his rest, in the

69th year of his age, the 49th of his ministerial labours at Bedford, and the 47th of his pastoral relation to the same church. "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them."

THE history of Abraham appears to be presented to us to illustrate the power and influence of faith, and the honour God puts upon true believers. He is introduced without any notice of his previous history, and his conduct and example are exhibited for our imitation. Faith was the principle upon which he acted, and that principle bore him onward and rendered him triumphant over every opposition. "By faith," says the apostle, "Abram, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went."

Abram was the son of Terah of Ur, a city of Babylon or Chaldea, and the centre of idolatry. Fire was there worshipped as a deity, or rather as one of the representations of the sun. The word Ur, signifies fire or light. That Terah was an idolater is evident from Joshua xxiv. 2, "Your fathers, on the other side of the flood, in old time, even Terah, the father of Abram and Nahor, and they served other gods." It may be reasonably conjectured that Abram was equally so; but the God of glory appeared to him when he was in Mesopotamia, Acts vii. 2. The manner of this appearance is not stated, whether by a dream or a vision, or by some visible manifestation. It is evident, however, that Abraham knew it to be divine. He was found of Him whom he had not sought. God regarded him in his low estate, and this doubtless often impressed

*

• Mesopotamia is situate between the Tigris and the Euphrates, and is now that part of Turkey called Diarbec.

his mind, inspired him with humility, and excited his gratitude. As he journeyed from Ur to Haran, how frequently did he say, if not in the letter, at least in the spirit of the words, "Who am I, and what is my father's house, that thou hast brought me hitherto ?" Christian, how much have you felt when you have united in singing these lines at the table of the Lord?

"Why was I made to hear thy voice,

And enter while there's room?
While thousands make a wretched choice,
And rather starve than come."

as a

The command of God was as definite as it was extensive: "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house." All was to be relinquished, nothing retained; although precious right eye, or useful as a right hand. Equally decisive and imperative is the declaration of Christ, "He that will come after me, must deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." How many are there to whom this is a hard saying! There are gay relatives and acquaintances, whose society they cannot renounce; there are diversions they cannot relinquish; the theatre, the card-table, the ball-room, the love of the world, are obstacles in their way to the kingdom. This they resign, because those have their pre-eminent affections. Hence there are so few on the Lord's side, who, daring to be singular, count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. Abraham was a man whom Divine grace had made resolute to obey the call of God. He could say,

"Thy call I follow to the land unknown;
I trust in Thee, and know in whom I trust:
Or life or death is equal, neither weighs;
All weight in this-Ö let me live to thee!"

In such a man there is much to admire and imitate placing his life, his health, his fortune, his character, his soul, his all into the hands of God, he exclaims, "Lead me in thy truth, and teach me; for thou art the God of my salvation, my present portion, my exceeding great reward."

Many were, doubtless, the objections raised by the inhabitants of Ur, against the departure of Abram. By some he was considered infatuated; by others superstitious; by many he was ridiculed, by a few he was pitied; but none of these things moved him: faith answered every objection, surmounted every difficulty, and inspired him with courage and confidence. The voice of God still sounded in his ears,-"Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house."

When a sinner, convinced by the Spirit of God of his awful state, and of his need of a Saviour, begins to seck the Lord, and determines to devote himself to His service, how formidable is the opposition made against him, and how numerous the contrivances to withdraw

him from his purporse! Adolescens was at an early period taken to the house of God. From the lips of the faithful ministers of Christ, he heard the words of eternal life: he heard, and was impressed. He was soon recognised as attentive to the means of grace, and many regarded him as a hopeful character; but he was reserved; he feared to make known his feelings, and for seven years confined them to his own bosom; he feared that he had not been truly convinced of sin, and went on sorrowing yet rejoicing, hoping yet fearing. The late Rev. John Eyre once preached at Orange-street, from the words, "I am the Lord's," a sermon which administered great encouragement and consolation. At the age of sixteen or seventeen, he became more courageous, Christians were delighted, but his worldly friends were outrageous. They tried the force of ridicule, but its shafts could not reach him; they used persuasions, but could not subdue him. They painted professors of religion as hypocrites and full of deceit; they described the places of worship as gospelshops and conventicles; and all that Satanic ingenuity could devise was prac

tised to induce him to return to the world and its pursuits; but he was firm,

"Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified,

His steadiness he kept! his love, his zeal;
Nor number, nor example with him wrought
To swerve from truth, or change his constant
mind."

And why was he firm? The principle of grace was fixed in his heart: this was the main-spring of his actions, this inspired him with love to God, and made him determine to win Christ, and be found in him.

Reader, have you that principle? have you heard and received, believed and obeyed, tasted, and felt, and handled the word of life? Is Christ precious to you, the foundation of your hope, the source of your joy? O cleave to him with purpose, full purpose of heart, and say with Ruth, "Whither thou goest I will go, thy people shall be my people, and their God my God."

The faith of Abram was still more conspicuous by his departure from Ur, for a land that God was to show him. "He went out, not knowing whither he went." No information was given to him as to the locality or character of the land. He departed under sealed orders, prepared to encounter the difficulties, trials, and discouragements of the way. “Vigorous faith," says the Rev. J. Ryland, "is not governed by sensible appearances. It looks through all the terrifying aspects of things, to an invisible, ever-present God; a God who has left nothing to an after-thought in his decrees, nor is he ever a moment too late in his actions." Abram relied upon the wisdom of God to guide him, his power to preserve him, his faithfulness to perform what he had promised.

The land promised to Abram was a type of that rest which the people of God are seeking. Of its existence they are fully persuaded, but as to the rest they know but in part. They walk by faith, not by sight; for it is a promised land, and the actual possession secured by Him that purchased it with His blood: for He is gone before

it for the reception of his people. "The feeblest seeker of salvation by the blood of Jesus, and the meanest hungerer after the kingdom and righteousness of Jesus, may be assured," says an excellent writer," that the kingdom shall be his. The inseparable blessings of grace and glory are styled, the sure mercies of David, Acts xiii. 34, ra oota subid Ta

Tisa, the sacred, the faithful things of David, i. e, of Christ, or more conformably to the original passage in Isaiah, "the sure benefits of David." Trials and afflictions more or less will attend the Christian in his journey to the heavenly land.

"Per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum,
Tendimus in Latium; sedes ubi fata quietas
Ostendunt."
Eneid, lib. i. line 208.

Eneas thus describes his journey to Italy, and Dr. Watts, in his usual felicitous manner, has thus applied them to the Christian's journey to heaven :— "By glimmering hopes and gloomy fears We trace the sacred road; Through dismal deeps and dangerous snares, We make our way to God.

AN article under the above head appeared in the "Patriot" newspaper a week or two ago, and on the following week, a communication was inserted highly gratifying to the feelings of the writer of the former paper. It also exhibits one of those curious coincidences which seem to mock human calculation, and would almost warrant the conjecture that the soul, that subtle essence, sometimes spurns the clogging influence of its clay-built shrine, and strangely wanders forth to hold communion with kindred minds: this may be fanciful, but who shall assert that he knows all the powers of this spark of divinity? When our weary bodies are lulled in slumber, how does the soul revel in the gay region of fancy? if, then, we are sad, what grief in the plodding routine of real life can equal ours? if we rejoice, the sober realities of every day's existence yields no parallel to our ecstasics. May not this faintly shadow forth the gigantic capacities of the soul for happiness or woe, when "this mortal shall have put on immortality ?" But the reader may inquire, What has this metaphysical rhapsody to do with the proposed subject? Very little, I am fain to confess, but it is a theme in which the imagination may blamelessly riot, and I have been inadvertently decoyed into this lengthy digression, by a

remark made by the reverend gentleman to whose communication I have alluded. It appears that while we in Barton, in Lincolnshire, were agitating the subject of a stated interchange of ministers, the same subject was vividly impressed upon his mind, residing two miles from Barton, in Leicestershire; and further, that upon seeing my remarks, he instantly invited the co-operation of his brother ministers, which request was instantly acceded to, and that, for the future, the pulpit of Market Bosworth will be supplied by a neighbouring minister every fourth Sabbath. I feel this subject to be fraught with so much of importance and interest to the cause of dissent, that I cannot forbear enlarging upon it a little further, for which purpose I thankfully avail myself of your extensivelyread pages; should I adopt any argumen already in the field, or antagonist to any time-honoured prepossessions, I claim the reader's Christian indulgence.

God has heaped high honour on his feeble creatures, in making them instrumental in carrying on his vast designs of love and mercy, and every mind unchilled by prejudice, must concede, that we are bound to adopt the most appropriate means, and avail ourselves of every assailable point in the human constitution to attract mankind to attend the means of grace, since "faith cometh

by hearing." Let no one suppose that undue stress is here laid upon human agency. God can save souls without such agency, but it is our privilege to be "workers together with him." The ministry is a mean especially sanctioned and owned by him through whom alone means are effectual, and the inquiry naturally presses upon us, and it behoves us to give it meet and candid consideration, "Is our present system the most winning that can be adopted? Can nothing of a more attractive and engaging character be lawfully introduced, whereby a larger mass of our population might be induced to attend the means of grace?" Predilection for the views I entertain compels me to answer, Yes. I shall proceed briefly to show the grounds I assume. It is a fact familiar to all who take an interest in the progress of dissent, that many of our country interests are at a very low ebb; and while the religious world around them is in a buzz of delightful activity, they are dragging on an existence at the lowest rate of vitality. If the cause of this depression be closely examined, it will, I believe, be generally found to proceed from some evil that would be greatly mitigated by exchanges at short and stated intervals.

Beside the innate thirst of man for variety, where is the church or congregation in which all agree with their stated pastor on some, perhaps, unimportant points?-this feeling is, alas! too often fanned by the father of lies and discord to a relentless flame-might not this sad state of things be much mollified by the proposed measure, whereby the varied taste of a congregation would be gratified? Again, a minister, suppose of medium talent, but of sterling piety and unflinching faithfulness, has laboured in the same field for many years-his audience presents from year to year the same cheerless, unvarying aspect, his very trains of thought and turns of argument are anticipated, and the actual monotony of liturgical service is almost realized; perhaps, stern duty might whisper the propriety of his removal, but the thought is dismissed soon as entertained, something allied to cruelty is in it; kind sympathy and Christian feeling suggest, "Let him remain this year also," but follow out the quotation, "dig about him," unsettle not the roots whose fibres are entwined around your own hearts, but call in the cheerfully

lent aid of surrounding ministers, as the careful husbandman changes his seed, and enriches his soil, with the nutritive compost-then may his labours, watered with your prayers, bring forth fruit to the glory of God. The anarchy and reckless collision too frequently resulting from the removal of even an unsuitable minister might, by these means, be frequently avoided; his mind would be expanded and refreshed by more extensive Christian intercourse, and much labour of study would be saved. While to the people fresh aspects of divine love would be exposed, and a beneficial interchange of tried plans of usefulness ensured; and, further, it would tend much to consolidate and unite the scattered links of the chain of dissent, securing, when needed, a more efficient and simultaneous effort on any subject affecting either the advancement of the kingdom of Messiah, or the protection of our religious liberty. It trenches upon no principle of dissent, as our independency is in no wise compromised thereby. But I hear some veteran in the financial department saying, how is the heavy expense to be met? besides, we are perfectly satisfied with things as they are. To the first objection I would simply reply, Try the experiment, and see whether the trifling outlay will not be amply met by the increased pewage; to the latter, Though you may be perfectly satisfied, are all your fellowhearers satisfied; and would it not be a means of drawing many to attend, who, under ordinary circumstances, never do so? It is, after all, but a qualified compliance with the command, "Go ye out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." Look at our friends, the Wesleyans, their ingenuity is constantly taxed to present some novelty to their congregations, and they are larger in proportion, in this part of the country at least; but I entertain serious objections to their system; the kindly buds of friendship have scarce time to expand ere the minister is hurried away by the stern laws of itinerancy. The proposed plan, while it presents even a larger amount of variety, is free from this objection.

Allow me, in conclusion, to ask, Can any serious objection be urged against the plan? would it not have a tendency to increase our congregations and