variety of changes in our family, so affectionate expressions, which we knew, from a long experience, engrossed his thoughts. One afternoon, my mother asked him why he did not converse; he observed, he could not. Oh, dear Sir, what a father have we lost; and what a husband has my mother been bereaved of. Alas! our idols must be rent from us, and I idolized my sainted father. The only fault I could perceive in his character was, a too great indulgence to his children, which blinded him entirely to our failings. But I could fill the sheet in writing his praises, and will, therefore, stop. Physicians and friends all remarked, they had never witnessed such fortitude, patience, sweetness, and acquiescence in all their desires. He was so truly pious I wonder he was left so long from his home, heaven. We are of opinion, he thought his case hopeless from the first, and longed to depart, but for his affliction at leaving his family. He was dying all the day previous to his death, (which happened the 7th day of last April) and truly can I say, we all experienced the truth of that passage, as thy days so shall thy strength be." Never could I have imagined death could appear so truly lovely, so entirely divested of its sting. 66 "Jesus can make a dying bed Feel soft as downy pillows are." My father was continually engaged in prayer, as his eyes, until they closed in death, were raised to heaven. It was a source of great affliction to us he could not speak, but he was reduced to an infantile weakness. Aunt Josiah asked him, if he knew in whom he believed? he bowed his head in token of assent, and sweetly smiled. He apparently suffered none in dying, and departed at five o'clock on Wednesday morning, without a struggle, sigh, or groan; but sweetly fell asleep in Jesus. Directly after his departure, the most rapturous, triumphant smile shone on his countenance I ever witnessed. Never shall I forget it-it was the smile of one released from the fetters of mortality, and who had winged his flight, as a celestial spirit, to join his Saviour and his God. The day after his countenance changed into a calm and tranquil smile. Do not suppose, dear Dr. E., it was imagination created the idea: no, it was a happy reality. Owing to the unhappy difficulties in our church, mamma would not request a funeral sermon to be preached there, but there was one preached at Newport, his native place, (in the church he first joined) by Mr. Gammell, a very popular preacher, who has drawn up a biography of my father, which we send to you. I have a great deal, dear Sir, to write to you yet relative to our family, which the paper will not contain: I should esteem it a great privi lege to hear from you, and would en- Review. THE asperity and unkindness which have been recently displayed by the Editor of the Eclectic Review, towards those of the Bap tist: who maintain that Baptism is a term of communion," is a matter for lamentation; because it was desirable that a work, avowedly conducted upon the principles of nonconformity, should not have been employed as the tocsin of strife, nor have been made the engine of comparatively a very inconsiderable portion of the dissenting body. 66 The writer of the pamphlet before us, having taken a prominent part in the controversy regarding communion, bad the honour of having his name associated by this Editor with the "respectable and amiable characters," and "venerated authorities of Booth and Fuller," but as being, nevertheless, as they were, a tolerant abettor of a principle so essentially intolerant" as that of strict communion. Our author respectfully thanks the Editor for his good opinion, though he does not appear to feel greatly obliged for the accusation of having contributed towards "consecrating the dogma in the eyes of hundreds of individuals, and giving to a few gratuitous positions and talismanic phrases the semblance of power and arguments." an assertion If these assertions of the Editor are any thing more than dogmas, we are unable to perceive the reasons by which they can be supported :-" Gratuitous positions!" Is it then without proof, that none but persons baptized were by the apostles admitted to a participation of the Lord's Supthen to perform the part of a magician per?" Talismanic phrases!" Is it the force of inspired authority?to say, that apostolic precedent has "Semblance of power and argument!" But if there be only the semblance of argument in such statements, then the reasons assigned by Protestants to justify their withdrawment from the church of Rome; or those which Dissenters employ to defend their Nonconformity, are also without force or reason! For, unless, both as Protestants and Nonconformists, we contend for the perfection of the scriptures alone, for all the purposes of faith and the arguments by which the corrupdiscipline, we cannot successfully resist tions of the one, and the impositions of the other, are urged and defended. But our author must be allowed to state his own view of the case. "The main principle of what is called Strict Communion is nothing more than this: that the church of Christ should be composed of persons who have been bapthe only requisite for membership, but, according to the New Testament, baptism was always required of those who professed faith in Christ, and, if the institution is not repealed, it is required still. This principle has been so long, and so tized. It is not contended that this is -extensively acknowledged to be correct, by nearly all professing Christians, and makes such an open appeal to the New Testament authority and practice, that it is surprising it should ever be condemned and treated with asperity; for the strict Baptists do nothing more than act on the principle, and apply it to their own views of the command of Christ. According to the mode of argument which, of late years, has been used against them, the question is not, when or how professed believers in Christ have been baptized; but, whether it is requisite that they should be baptized at all, in order that they should be members of a Christian church. This is the hinge of the controversy, as may easily be seen by any one who will examine it with candid attention. By the Eclectic Reviewer, however, the principle, as adopted by the strict Baptist, is called the duty of disunion-pernicious doctrine-a principle essentially intolerant-a tenet which as signs to schism a place among the articles of faith.' He says, further, the spirit of the cause has too unequivocally manifested itself, in the many, to be both an intolerant and malignant spirit; it has especially put on this form towards those Baptist churches who have dared to act on the principle of Christian communion -one of the worst features of the system is the petty warfare which it wages in the form of detraction and depreciation both against the living and the dead—them of concision-narrow policy-sectarian party -schismatical Baptists-who are without the shadow of support from ancient precedent, unless it be that of the Jewish converts, who refused to eat with the uncircumcised.' How then, it may be asked, does the system stand? The Reviewer replies, that those who have pleaded for it have had such influence, that they have consecrated the dogma in the eyes of hundreds of individuals, and given to a few gratuitous positions and talismanic phrases, the semblance of power and argument! Eclectic Review for 1824, Vol. xxii. New Series, pp. 270-273.”" · For the purpose of apologizing to those Baptists who are opposed to the opinions of the strict Baptists, the Editor produces extracts from what he calls “Mr. Hall's masterly reply to Mr. Kinghorn;" and thus he seems to think be is justified by competent authority, in the unkind and unjust as persions which he had employed. It would have afforded us pleasure to have given other extracts. This excellent pamphlet may be perused with advantage by our readers, whatever are their peculiar views on the subject of communion. Mr. Kinghorn defends himself from misrepresentations which had been given of his sentiments, with spirit, while he manifests the appro priate temper for the Christian polemie: we recognize a similar spirit in this Defence to that expressed by Paul, when he said, "But of those who seemed to be somewhat, whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man's person: for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me." Interesting Narratives from the Sacred EVERY effort which is made to engage 66 cum its historical narratives and its bio graphical sketches. Robinson's Scrip ture Characters, and Hunter's Sacred Biography, are of the latter description; and we consider ourselves as much indebted to them. The writer of the following Narratives may be considered as having taken, in a great degree, new ground to either of these able writers; and, if he does not charm us by his vivacity, or dazzle us by the brilliancy of his imagination, nor even instruct us by the variety of his knowledge, or the expansion of his thoughts, yet in every Narrative he holds us in wrapt and delighted attention, pleases us with the chastity of his style, the elegance of his simplicity, and the pertinence and propriety of his remarks. Narratives like these are calculated to make their way almost insensibly to the youthful mind, and prepossess it in favour of those pages in which they are formed; and will, it is probable, allure them to the cultivation of those Christian excellencies which are so eminently displayed in them. The Narratives are twenty-five in number, and a very considerable portion of them are drawn from the Old Testament. The titles are comprehensive and significant. As a pleasing specimen of the volume, which we sincerely hope will be followed by another, we select a part of the improvement from the illustration" of the Character of Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon." "From this affecting detail of circumstances, we learn the folly of encouraging a spirit of pride. It leads us from step to step, promising, like the serpent of old, great things, till at last it plunges us into ruin. It shews us the mutability of all worldly honours.-He who to-day governs many nations and people, of many lan guages, may to-morrow be reduced in intellect and station to a level with the brutes. Let us, then, not trust in the world, nor in any thing it can give us. It illustrates the awful consequences of having God for our enemy. If we oppose him, and act in opposition to his will, we can expect nothing but his sure displeasure, and that displeasure is awful indeed. But a small portion of it will make us unhappy, and its full extent is nothing less than eternal torment and despair. And, lastly, the subjects suggest to the VOL. XVII penitent, who has seen the evil of his ways, and desires to return to God, the highest ground of encouragement. However greatly we have transgressed, if we hope in his mercy, and are relying on him for salvation, he will pardon us, and imand that shall last when all human dispart to us joys that earth cannot give, tinctions shall be unknown, and the existence of the globe itself almost forgotten." 1. The Quarterly Review and the D is senters. 8vo. pp. 62. Westley, 2. The Reviewer Reviewed; or, Strictures upon the Articles in the Sixtyfirst and Sixty-second Numbers of the Quarterly Review, upon the " Progress of Dissent," and "The Church in Ireland." By a Dissenter. Offor. Pp. 64. Price 1s. 6d. We should have considered the pamphlet on this subject, which was noticed in our last number, as more than sufficient to answer the silly and contemptuous attack upon the Dissenters in the Quarterly Review, to which it was a reply. But here are two others, each, after its own manner, laying on heavy blows, by soft words and hard arguments, upon the clerical defamer; reminding us of the poetical description: "And thrice he slew the slain." The first of these is a production of no ordinary merit, written, as we suppose, principally to obtain a local circulation in the district in which the Reviewer resides. We are of opinion that while our author might have been justified in treating the "false tongue" of this deanery-hunting scribe with keen severity and cutting irony, yet that he has pursued the more dignified course, in not bringing against him 66 effect, as if conscious of the strength railing accusations," but saying in and goodness of his cause, "The Lord rebuke thee." The second reply, which is well worth reading, contains some wellselected quotations to prove, that this over-worked and ill-paid race of unfortunates, the clergy of the estab lished church, looking for help to the state lottery, in which there are but "few prizes," and many blanks! may T thank themselves for the "progress of Dissent!" That their want of orthodoxy, properly so called, and their nonresidence, and other glaring corruptions of their ecclesiastical character, easily accounts for the zealous Dissenters having out-run them in exertion, and excelled them in success; the only success which in religion is lawful to be sought, the conversion of sinners to the cross of the Redeemer. We take the liberty to advise, that if any other Reviews should appear in the "Quarterly," evidently written with an eye towards Canterbury, that no replies to them should be published by Dissenters. Surely it is not necessary that, in addition to supporting our own cause, and paying our proportion towards supporting the established clergy, and building the new churches, we should also be taxed by purchasing works, answering reasons often repeated, and worn-out statements, and continuing to prove the self-evident propositions, the principles on which our Dissent is founded, that Christ is the Head, and the only Head of his Church; that the scriptures, and the scriptures alone, is the religion of Protestants; and that the religious principles which a man believes, he has an undeniable right to profess, and to propagate. An Appeal to all Classes on the Subject of Church Patronage in Scotland: with a Plan for its Amendment. Glasgow, 1824. THIS very able and spirited tract is dedicated to James Douglas, Esq. of Cavers, and seems to have originated in the discussions on the Case of Principal M'Farlane, which will not soon be forgotten. ing." minated Presbyterian, were endowed, many years ago, by Calvinists, on principles calculated, as they thought, to ensure the preaching of the truth. They were invested in Trustees; and what has ensued? They have become, almost without exfor private trusts. The Seceders in Scotception, Socinian or Unitarian. So much land, on the other hand, placed their church, a hundred years ago, on the freest popular footing; and what has ensued? They are only more strict to their original standards, than when they separated from the establishment. These two facts speak volumes. They supersede all argument. They go far to prove, that the blessing of God awaits the popular principle." In this case, as in many others, the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men, and we may add, in the words of the same apostle, which will, in due time, be verified, that the weakness of God is stronger than the strength of men.* There are myriads and millions now in Europe, whose acquaintance with the gospel is but commencing, who will see, with the utmost astonishment, that in complete opposition to the national establishments under which they have long lived," the popular princi ple" pervades the New Testament in every part of it. tion of many who are now in the regions of peace and safety, and will praise God for ever that they heard it. Many are now living who have derived millions in their infancy, and millions great benefit from it, and there are THIS "Alarm" has roused the atten 66 The proposal is to constitute "A Society for promoting the appointment of evangelical ministers, by placing Church patronage on a popular foot-yet unborn, who will be stimulated by And the time is coming when it to keep the narrow path that leads this subject will be pressed on the peoto everlasting life. ple of England, with all the advantages of that light which, no doubt, will be derived from the multiplication of Bibles and schools, and the vast increase of readers in the rising generation. We can give only one short extract from page 26: "Various churches in England, deno. not pretend to vouch for every one of Agreeing with the Editor, we do his sentiments. We do not approve of all his modes of expression. There is his statements; and frequently someoccasionally something overcharged in thing vulgar and offensive in his lan * 1 Cor. i, 25. |