SARAH SENIOR. Dbituary. MARCH 21, 1904, died in the Lord, aged twenty-eight years, S. Senior, of Shelley, in the parish of Kirkburton, near Huddersfield. She was religiously inclined at sixteen years of age. At that period, when youth are apt to promise themselves many years to come, she became impressed with the importance of religion, "the one thing needful." She regularly attended the Wesleyan Methodists for two or three years; but, on hearing the Rev. Mr. Thorpe, of London, she altered her views, and embraced the doctrines commonly called Calvinistic: in consequence of which she became a member of the Independent church at Shelley. During the last two years of her life, she was exercised with much bodily weakness; but she exemplified a great measure of patience, resigna. tion, and Christian fortitude. She could seldom attend public ordinances; but He who promised to manifest himself to his disciples, mercifully visited her in her closet. She evidenced the advantages of an early acquaintance with divine things; and the salutary influences of religion were apparent throughout her long affliction. The gospel of Christ supported her most when she most needed support. The happy moments she enjoyed previous to her entering into rest, were such as to render her situation enviable, and to furnish sufficient arguments in favour of revealed religion to confront and confound the most hardened infidel. Though her conversation had been such as "becometh the gospel," she would speak of herself in the most debasing terms. Her hope was founded on Jesus, the sinner's friend. The tempter was permitted to perplex her but little; and for a fortnight before she departed, the was favoured with the unclouded sunshine of the Divine Presence. Tho' sur rounded with an indulgent parent, affectionate sisters, a kind husband, and two young children, her conversation was in Heaven; and her language was, "Whom have I in Heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire be sides thee!" converse Three days before she finished her course, an impression of the limits of her time rested upon her mind; nor could any arguments of the uncertainty of visionary imaginations alter her prepossession. The whole of these three days she was uncommonly tranquil; and would talk of dying with more comabout taking a posure than many can found death without its sting! The journey. She last of these days she grew visibly weaker; and a person present desiring an absent sister might be sent for, she replied, "Do not trouble yourselves: I told my sister I should die this evening; and she will be here." She prayed for those about her; encouraging such as knew the Lord to "cleave to him with purpose of heart;" and exhorting others to seek his face. At length her expected moment arrived: she bid her friends "Farewell," and sweetly fell asleep in Jesus. Let the reader practically regard Isaiah lv. 6, which was the text she chose for her funeralsermon, then shall his latter end be like hers. R. B. Shelley. MRS. ANNA HEWETT WAS the youngest daughter of very respectable parents; and born at Thetford, in Norfolk, in the year 1771. Her father dying when she was very young, deprived her, in a great measure, of that parental instruction which is so conducive to early religious impressions. On the death of her father, one of her sisters, paying a visit to some friends in Cambridge, was happily brought to the knowledge of the truth by the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Sn. On her return home, her conversation and example were blessed to the conversion of an elder sister. These two young persons soon excited the warm opposition of friends and neighbours; and living, as it were, in a burning bush, they were not consumed; but held on their way rejoicing; and still continue to walk as becometh women professing godli ness. At the age of twelve years, the conduct of these two sisters made a powerful impression on the mind of Mrs. Hewett, who now became sensible of the importance of divine things, and discovered the vanity of those allurements with which per sons at her age are generally fasci. nated. In the year 1794, she married Mr. J. Hewett, of Reading, Berks; and soon after removed to London, where they joined the Tabernacle connexion; with which they continued in fellowship until the providence of God removed them to New York, in 1801. Mrs. Hewett enjoyed better health than she had done in her native country, until Aug. 1803; when excessive heat brought on a bodily infirmity, which laid the founda. tion of a pulmonary consumption, that terminated in her death. Although her friends were soon aware of the nature of her disorder, and of its probable event, yet her physician encouraged her to expect a recovery, assuring her, till within one month of her dissolution, that she had not the least symptom of a decline. This professional de. ception, so commonly practised by medical men, cannot be too strongly reprobated; as it is cruel to the patient, disingenuous to the rela. tives, and must be highly criminal in the sight of a holy God, tho' adopted, perhaps, from motives of mistaken kindness. Certainly, there are circumstances which would justify a medical man in conceal. ing the whole truth from his pa tient; but none that can warrant On the Lord's Day previous to "Sin, my worst enemy before, She earnestly desired that all her friends in England might take encouragement from her experience, to trust in the Lord for ever; and expressed a hope of meeting them all in Heaven, to part no more. Mr. Hewett read to her part of the Hymn beginning "When languor and disease invade This trembling house of clay, 'Tis sweet to look beyond our cage, And long to fly away," &c. -re She found these words remark ably precious to her soul, said they exactly suited her case, peating many times, with a smile, And long to fly away."-The prospect of death had so engaged her mind, that she declared she lunged for it more than any thing she ever anticipated in her life. She continued very comfortable in her mind till the morning of the day on which she died; when she felt herself much altered; and called out, "I am going home! I think I am dying; for I never felt as I now do: I am not so comfortable in my mind as I have been; but, I bless God, I am not afraid of death; for I trust the sting of death is taken away!" But now her peace was disturbed; and Satan perinitted, for a short time, to perplex her with many doubts and fears. "Oh !” said she, "if I should have been deceiving myself! Do you think I have been deceived? Have you any doubt of me?" To which one answered, 'None at all; but when absent from the body, you will be present with the Lord." She replied, "I have nothing but Christ to hope in! All my dependence is on him; and, I trust, all will be well! But alas! what a poor creature have I been in the ways of God! how barren and unfruitful! how peevish and fretful! Oh, I am all impurity and sin! But the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin; and on this I rely." Soon after this she exclaimed, "Now, I am happy! I long to be gone! Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!" "Oh, why are thy cha riot-wheels so long in coming!" - REVIEW OF RELIGIOUS PUBLICATIONS. Organic Remains of a former World. By James Parkinson, Hoxton. 4to, with Plates. Price 21. 28. ALTHOUGH the Mosaic History, independent of its inspiration, is so perfectly consistent with itself, and free from those difficulties with which other systems are clogged, there have not been wanting ingenious men to fabricate hypotheses, as if purposely, to oppose the history and chronology of this inspired writer. One, by tracing back the salt water of the ocean to its original freshness; and another, by digging up the lava of burning mountains, would carry us back to periods more ancient than the account of Moses. A third imagines, there was a time when a fresh water river ran over an island 200 feet high, lying out at sea; because the sand of the island has the appearance of river sand: and that the successive deluges necessary to produce this and the like wonderful revolutions, musty he thinks, have required such prodigious tracts of time, that a few successions of such changes would carry us to periods of unfathomable antiquity. The Christian believer, who is charged with credulity, may observe by the way, that wise men, in different ages, take different ground, and, as it were, change sides in their attempts to invalidate sacred trath. To prove there should be no final judgment, they objected, formerly, "That all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation; for this they willingly are ignorant of, that the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished." Now, they would depreciate the Sacred History by supposing deluges upon deluges, convulsions and revolutions, rivers upon mountains, and sca-ports in the middle of a continent. Since, however, that part of science which relates to the formation, constitution, changes, &c. of the earth, has been more elaborately studied with the aid of modern inprovements in chemistry, it is gratifying to the believer to observe, that the best collateral proofs of the Deluge are produced (amongst numerous others) from the remains of vegetables, animals, and of marine bodies; and that, after dispas sionate examination, this branch, like every other of sound philosophy, is found in perfect agreement with the Bible. Of this we have an additional specimen before us. The title-page of this work sufficiently intimates the design of the respectable author. The term Fossil, it may not be improper to remark, in Natural History, denotes, in general, every thing dug out of the earth, whether, 1. Native or primary, as metals, stones, &c.; or, 2, Extraneous or secondary, as bodies of the vegetable or animal kingdom reposited in the bowels of the earth by some extraordinary means, --as earthquakes, the Deluge, &c. The justly celebrated Bergman, elegantly called Fossils The Medals of Creation, whose number and situation equally gratify our curiosity; not in one particular spot, not in one region, nor in one quarter of the globe; but wherever this world has been explored, these wonderful remains afford indubitable evidence of the universality of the Deluge; and that the globe we inhabit is one vast tomb of the antediluvian world."Mr. Parkinson, in this volume, states the opinions which were formerly entertained respecting the substances known by the name of Extraneous Fossils: sketches the history of the discoveries which have been made respecting their nature and origin; and gives an account of the different strata of the earth in which they are found. lle afterwards enters upon the subject of his investigation in this volume (reserving the animal, fossils for another) with an examination of such substances as appeared to be best designated by the terms Vegetable Fossils; which he divides into the following order: —1. Fossil Trees, 2. Fossil Plants, 3. Fossil Roots, - 4. Fossil Stalks, 5. Fossil Leaves, 6. Fossil Fruits and Seed Vessels; and, in the course of his work, to furnish an historical sketch of what has been hitherto made known respecting them, states the several theories by which it has been proposed to account for their origin; and lays before his reader the facts which later observations have discovered. In prosecuting this object, Mr. Parkinson describes the process of mi -- See the Physiological Disquisitions of the Rev. W. Jones, M. A. F. R. S. especially on Fossil Bodies, and on the Geography and Natural History of the Earth; Calcott on the Deluge, &c. Kirwan's Geological Essays; neralizing vegetables, by what he calls "Bituminous fermentation peculiar to vegetable matter, placed in such situations as not only to exclude the external air, and secure the presence of moisture," &c.; and which terminates in the formation of those substances called Bituminous; and states the various products of this fermentation. We shall select Mr. Parkinson's reasoning on the formation of coal, as a specimen most agreeable to our work. He is of opinion, that coal is the product of vegetable matter, which has been buried at several periods, but chiefly in consequence of an universal Deluge; and which, after having been reduced to a fluid state by the beforementioned fermentation, is formed into coal. In examining the solidity of this hypothesis, three different enquiries are to be made. In the first, Mr. Parkinson considers the quantity of vegetable matter on the earth prior to the Flood, the universality of the Deluge, and the changes produced by the probable effects of this catastrophe, as sufficient to prove that the Deluge might occasion that deposition of matter of which coals are formed. The next question is, Whether such an arrangement of the materials of the flooded surface of the antediluvian world would be likely to promote such chemical changes as would effect its conversion into coal? And, thirdly, How far this opinion may appear to agree with the economy of Nature? We lament that our limits preclude us from stating the arguments at large. On the last our author observes, page 275," When the very limited powers of our judgment are considered, which frequently are not even sufficient to satisfy us respecting the immediate proximate cause of several of the most common natural phenomena, we should be very cautious in proposing any hypothesis respecting the operations of Nature, unless the regular concatenation of cause and effect can be plainly traced; and the supposed final end is in exact accordance with our best ideas of utility and wisdom. This caution is particularly necessary, if the hypothesis is intended to point out a regular series of operations; to mark their dependence; and, lastly, To infer the purposes and motives which have influenced the Creator in making this particular arrangement. Without such circumspection there would be danger, jest, measuring the wisdom of God by he scale of human intellect, inferences, derogatory to the divine dignity, might be made, and plans and contriXIII. vances be imputed to the Divinity, not only unworthy of omniscience, but originating only in misconception and presumption. "But, it is hoped, that hypothesis which supposes the transmutation of vegetable matter into bitumen and coal, possesses the internal evidence of truth, since it presents to us a scheme, in which the economy of Nature is evercised in a manner the most agreeable to the ideas we entertain of a beneficent Providence. "Delightful indeed must have been the scene which the earth everywhere presented, immediately before the Deluge. Every hill and valley must have been clothed with luxuriant vegeta tion. But the moment of apparent destruction arrives: the lofty forests, with which nearly the whole of the earth is supposed to have been covered, are at once levelled; — a world, which just before appeared an elysium, is desolated, and rendered one vast mass of seeming ruin. Torn up and carried away by the force of the tremendous torrent, the trees of the mountains are laid on those of the vallies ; and are together buried by the subsequent subversion of the mountains themselves. "After a short period, the waters pass through their destined channels, and the earth again becomes covered by the delightful verdure of vegetables, fitted for the gratification of man, and for the support of animal life. The vast forests too, thus buried in the earth, instead, of mouldering into an inert and useless mass, still continue to perform an important part in the operations of Nature. Instead of having been destroyed, they are only changed; but so changed in their forms and qualities as with difficulty again to be recognized. They have ceased, indeed, to live a vegetable life; but another mode of useful existence is allotted them. Their constituent principles are now so arranged as to form a substance entirely new, and different from any other which had previously existed; and they are again made, after the lapse of a considerable period, to contribute, in another mode to the comforts and enjoyment of man. "Thus that which might once have appeared to have proceeded from imbecility, or from a system of destruction, is, at a distant subsequent period, shewn to have been the result of Supreme Wisdom; which has ordained, that every atom, as well as the immense masses of matter, shall be continually suffering certain changes, agreeable to L |