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anxious to enjoy fome fenfible difcoveries of divine love; not to enjoy them at the time, nor in the manner you wifh, is no reafon for you to conclude, either that your former experiences have not been genuine, or that God does not love you; for these enjoyments do not form a safe ftandard by which you are to judge of your religion: It is by their effects, or the fruits they produce, that you will come to a more fatisfying view of your own ftate, and a knowledge of your growth in grace.

To affift you in this important matter, let me inquire, what are the fruits which your former comfortable attainments have produced? Have your hearts been more enlarged in a holy contemplation of the divine excellencies ? Have you admired the glory of them, as difplayed in the whole scheme of redemption? Have you been filled with wonder and admiration, in confidering the riches of divine grace and redeeming love? Have you acquired more humbling difcoveries of yourselves? Have you blushed, and been ashamed to lift up your heads, when you confidered the depth of divine condefcenfion? Is your love to Jefus, and is your hatred of fin daily increafing? Is obedience to Chrift's authority a pleasure and a joy ? Are the difpofitions of your hearts becoming more conformed to the image of God? Are love, joy, peace, long-fuffering, gentleness, goodnefs, faith, meeknefs, temperance, becoming more perfect? These are inquiries you may eafily anfwer; and these you will answer in the affirmative, if your former attainments in religion have been the fruits of the Spirit. By thus searching for the fruits of your former experiences, you will acquire a more fafe folution to the doubts you entertain of your religion, than by calling to your remembrance, the enjoy ments themselves, or by having them repeated.

It is likewife neceffary for you to confider, that God, by withholding fenfible manifeftations of his love, proves your graces, and brings them to perfection. Many changes in your fpiritual life are neceffary to give you the opportunity of exercifing your humility, your patience, your faith, and hope. You never can experience your hearts in the exercife of any of these graces, till you are brought into fuch circumftances as require you to exercise them. In enjoying fenfible manifeftations, you are neither exercifing patience, faith, nor hope, properly speaking; "for what a man sees, why doth he yet hope for ;" but when these enjoyments are withdrawn, you are to "poffefs your fouls in patience," to exercise faith and hope, till faith vanish into vision, and hope

into

into enjoyment. "He that walketh in darkness, and hath no light, let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay himself upon his God."

Finally, let me remark, that those enjoyments you fo much defire, are chiefly reserved for the happiness of the heavenly ftate. There your faith will vanish into vifion, your hope into enjoyment, without a single cloud to darken your profpect, or a fingle storm to shake your confidence and joy. Then you fhall" with open face behold the glory of the Lord, and be changed into the fame image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord. Eye hath not feen, neither hath ear heard what God hath prepared for them that love him;" fo inconceivably glorious, and unspeakably great, will be your happiness in the bofom of God. Be not impatient then under a few changes in this vale of tears. The borders of Emmanuel's land will foon open to your view. The shades of night will foon be difperfed. The light of eternal day will foon break in upon your fouls. Be patient till the time arrive, when God will fet you free from this mortal state, and all the ills which attend it; then the perfect enjoyment of God will more than compensate for all the unwelcome changes you experienced below: You shall fit down with Abraham, with Ifaac, and with Jacob, and with the moft illuftrious characters that ever lived; there you shall be eternally happy; for " forrow and fighing shall flee away, and God fhall wipe away all tears from your eyes."

ADJUTOR.

ANECDOTES.

DR. YOUNG.

MR. EDITOR,

THE character of Dr. Young, as a Chriftian, has fuffered much from his being the writer of a play: A wish to remove a little of the odium his memory lies under on that account, induces me to beg a small space in your valuable Magazine for the following quotation from Davies's Life of Garrick; a work written at the defire of Dr. Johnson, who contributed many anecdotes recorded in it, if not the following.

W. H.

*THE

ke

T

HE Brothers, a Tragedy, by Dr. Young, was written about the year 1726, and rehearfed at Drurylane foon after; but the author going into holy orders, it occafioned the fudden withdrawing of his Tragedy: Great expectations had been formed of it, and it was with fome reluctance the managers gave it up. Near thirty years after Dr. Young confented to have the Brothers acted at the same theatre. He had formed a defign of giving a thousand pounds to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel; and hoped that the profits arifing from the acting of the play would enable him to profecute his fcheme. Whatever fuccefs the play met with in the acting, the money raised by it was not adequate to the fum which was intended to be given away; nevertheless the author made up the deficiency, and accomplished his pious intention."

W

RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE:

MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.

E formerly stated, that a late application to the Directors of the East India Company, to obtain permission for Missionaries to go to Bengal, to preach the Gospel to their subjects, was, in the first instance, unsuccessful; however, the religious part of the community will be happy to learn, that those who desire to devote themselves to this work are determined to persevere; while sineere Christians, of every denomination, cannot but admire their zeal, we hope they will not fail to make earnest supplication at a throne of grace that their laudable endeavours may be crowned with success.

WE are authorised to say, that the Rev. Melvil Horne, of Olney, author of the celebrated Letters on Missions; the Rev. William Moorhouse, of Huddersfield; the Rev. Isaac Nicholson, Tutor at the late Countess of Huntingdon's College, at Cheshunt; and the Rev. Alexander Waugh, of London, have engaged to preach at the next. Annual Meeting. The places of meeting for divine worship, with other particulars, will be mentioned in our next Number.

SHIP DUFF.

WE are persuaded the contents of the following letter, from a mariner on board the ship Duff, will afford unfeigned pleasure to many thousands of our correspondents.

TO MR. JOHN ALEDEY, CARLISLE-STREET, SOHO.

DEAR SIR,

Rio-Janeiro, Friday Evening, the 18th of November, 1796.

HAVING just arrived from my first cruize on shore, since I embarked with you at Execution- Dock, I now take the liberty of confirming my letters of the 14th inst. to my worthy Pastor, my friend Mr. B., and my invaluable wife, and acquainting you with an outline of my visit on shore.

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My companions were the Third Mate, Mr. Wilson's nephew, and one my messma es.. We were guarded, the whole of the day, by a military Ensign; and though we were his temporary wards, he was truly our servant; for wheresoever we were inclined to go, there he was obliged to attend. He was particu larly obliging and singularly studious, from his own observations, to convince' those we had any dealings with that we were Christians; and, it being Friday, we, at dinner, consequently had nothing presented to us besides fish, differently dressed, served with boiled French-beans and lattice-sallad.

Amongst other places, we visited several of the churches, monasteries, and nunneries; and, at one of the latter, we had a half-hour's polite and serious conversation with one of the solitary inhabitants, whom we could distinctly hear without the possibility of seeing each other. She,, in the first place, paid several very high encomiums on our city and nation, expressing some grateful sensations respecting the good understanding that subsisted in general betwixt the kingdoms of Britain and Portugal, She then, with particular warmth, recommended the Saviour to us, under the expressive Scriptural titles by which he hath been pleased to reveal himself, such as Father, Brother, Shepherd, Friend, Sc. withal giving an outline of the nature of her religious Order, and the high expectations she had, from her way of life, of an eternal reward. I heard this singular speaker with much sympathy; sadly regretting my inability of replying to her well-meant ministrations. O! that it would please God to have compassion speedily on all mankind, and dispel the mists of ignorance and error that yet exist in the Northern and Southern hemispheres !

This is a most excellent and capacious harbour; and the city adjoining is both rich and populous. Its exports, I believe, are sugar, rum, tobacco, cotton,. fine wood, &c. besides gold and precious stones, dug from the bowels of the earth, about eight leagues from this city. This is entirely effected by the labour of African slaves, who must live and die within certain prescribed limits around the mines. One singularity of this place I cannot help noticing, that no white woman, of any description, is to be seen out of doors throughout the day

We expect to drop out of the harbour to-morrow morning into the fairway, there to wait the first fair wind to carry us to sea; and, I suppose, it will entirely depend on circumstances, whether we call at any other port previous to our reaching Otaheite.

As I expect you will see all my above-mentioned letters, provided they come safe to hand, I will not trouble you with a recital of their contents. In general I only mention that our passage here was quick and favourable, seven weeks from St. Helen's to this place; being indulged thus far with moderate weather and favourable winds. Though we cannot reasonably expect a continuance of ich friendly weather from hence to the South-Seas, yet I hope it will be such as will constrain us devoutly to acknowledge the loving-kindness and manifold mercies of the Lord, in carrying us safely from land to land, and from people to people, until brought to the particular place he may have purposed by this mission to establish the kingdom of his dear Son.

My dear Sir, I am obliged to close this letter very abruptly; for the pilot is
now (Sabbath morning, five A. M.) come on board to put us to sea; therefore
Ijust beg leave to request you will mention me kindly to Mrs. Allday, and every
other inquirer; and be pleased to accept of my sincere acknowledgments of
gratitude for all your kindnesses, and rest assured that I will not fail writing by
ships, should opportunity offer, how all is with us on board the Duff.
The Missionaries are all welt. Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Main request, that
in all nine to you I will not fail to offer their best respects.

I am, Dear Sir, with much sincerity,
Your humble servant and well-wisher,

THOMAS ROBSON,

.S. I had, at our parting from the convoy, a long letter for you ready to put on board some of the ships; but, as it then blew a little fresh, and a considerable & vell running, there was not an opportunity, And in general we justly are shy of coming near any strange sail.

Rie Janeirois a province of Brazil in South America. The capitol, from whence The letter is dated, is situate in about 23 degrees south latitude, making from St. Helen's, near Spithead, 5000 miles latitude, and nearly 43 degrees, or about 3000 miles west longitude.

Mr. Robson, the author of the above letter, is a member of Mr. Waugh' Church, was formerly occupied in the great waters, and had gone out in the character of first mate, and sometimes supercargo, but had, like Captain Wilson, many years left the sea, and would never have returned to it again, had he not been moved by that missionary ardour which has inspired the breasts of many thousands. After being acquainted with the designs of the Society, his mind could find no rest till he had offered his services to help to navigate the ship. He is certainly an acquisition to the crew for ability, solidity, and piety; and as a proof of his disinterestedness in this great work, he did not refuse to tender himself as a common sailor, though qualified to command the ship.

Thus far our anxieties for the safety of the vessel are relieved, and the Society has encouragement to continue instant in prayer, and unfeigned in thanksgivings, for the speedy and pleasant passage of the ship to Rio-Janeiro, and for the health of the missionaries.

It appears that Mr. Robson had wrote several letters, dated Nov. 14, 1796. We are sorry to say that this is the only one yet come to hand. Our conjecture is, that intelligence from the Captain, the missionaries, and crew, must have been forwarded by the regular packet to Lisbon, which, we suppose, has been retarded by contrary winds, or captured on her passage.

Should the other letters from Rio-Janeiro arrive in England from the Ship Duff, the friends who receive them are requested to forward copies, or extracts, of them to Mr. Chapman, No. 151, Fleet-street, for the Directors of the Missionary Society.

THE public prints have asserted, that a very considerable Prince, of the name of WAHABEE, in Persia, has taken large strides to overthrow the Mahomedan religion; he professes the worship of one God, and he has already drawn several of the neighbouring Princes over to his tenets, and is daily in creasing his adherents. WAHABEE forbids all force, and wishes for proselytes only on the conviction of reason, and calls his "The Religion of Peace."

ON Wednesday, the 22d inst., the Rev. Wm. Maurice was set apart to th pastoral office over the church of Christ assembling in Fetter-lane The Rev Mr. Brooksbank prayed, and read a judicious selection of Scriptures; the Rev. Mr. Clayton gave a very pleasing account of the constitution and rights of the Gospel church, and read also the account drawn up by the church of the steps taken by them since the resigna ion of their late worthy pastor, Dr. Davies, and particularly with respect to their invitation and settling of Mr. Maurice. We were very much struck with the love manifested by the church to their late pastor, and we sincerely wish and hope the present may equally deserve, and possess an abundant share in their affection. The Rev. Mr. Barber preached from Rom. xv. 29, and was particularly animated upon the occasion; and the Rev. Mr. Goode concluded with prayer. The Psalms and Hymns were read by the Rev. Mr. Hamilton.

The service of the day was conducted with a pleasing e that many had reason to say, It is good for us to be here. and unity of spirit, manifested by the Ministers through remembered with pleasure.

and solemnity, so The sweet harmony the day will long be

OBITUARY

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