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to prepare a place for you, and if I go, I will come again to receive you to myself."

Mr. T. repeatedly said, how much he wished to bear his dying testimony to the truths he had preached. He remarked, "It has been my office all my life, to teach men how to die, and now I wish to exemplify my own instructions." He sent impressive messages to one or two friends, of whose spiritual state he felt doubtful; exhorting them to consider the things belonging to their peace, while they had time. Once, when a dear Christian friend came into the room, he shook his head, half playfully, half in displeasure, and said, "You are wrong-you are all wrong" as if to court inquiry. His friend said, "Do not fatigue yourself by speaking, dear Sir." He replied, "I must speak-you are wrong-you are all inundating me with kindness, and you are trying to make me look more to the testimony of man than the testimony of God."-" No, indeed; not so, "his friend replied; we are not looking to you, we are glorifying God in you; we rejoice to see the power of Christ rest upon you." With great animation he rejoined, "Do you glorify God in me? then praised be God!"

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On being told, on the Wednesday morning, that he would soon be released from the body of sin and death, and numbered with holy and glorified spirits in heaven to be ever with the Lord," he replied, Yes, I shall, I shall! and I shall

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wonder how I got there." When he seemed almost at the last, and labouring under great oppression of breath, he expressed a longing desire to " depart, and be with Christ;" adding, "if it might please the Lord; but not my will, but his be done." It was observed, "You can now fully enter into the experience of St. John, Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!""Yes," he replied, "but let patience have her perfect work.' A friend said, "You are still kept in peace." He replied, "Thank God!"-" And in comfort.""Thank God!" He breathed softly twice, and his happy spirit fled, at five o'clock in the afternoon of Wednesday, July 24, 1822, aged 63; his countenance still expressing peace, and a hope full of immortality.

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Thus closed the useful and valued life of this eminent minister. Few, it is believed, ever left behind a greater number of sincere mourners, especially among the many who will form his " crown of rejoicing" at the coming of the Lord Jesus. Their chief consolation under their afflicting bereavement, is derived from the conviction, that their beloved pastor, counsellor, and friend, has enter ed into the joy of his Lord, and now shines as the brightness of the firmament and as the stars for ever and ever, among those who have been made the happy instru ments, through divine grace, of turning many to righteousness.

DEATH OF AN AMIABLE CHILD. ON earth's rude bed a peerless flowret grew, Fragrant to smell, and beautiful to view ; The blushing sweetness of the new-blown rose, Nor lily's lustre, could such charms disclose.

The watchful genius, whose faithful arm Protects the parterre's pride, with fond alarm Survey'd the spot where stood the lovely form Expos'd to chilling blasts and beating storm, Transplanted quick the hope of care and toil, To bloom cternal in a blissful soil.

S. S. D.

ELEANOR.

REVIEW OF BOOKS.

On the Corruption of human Nature. A Charge delivered to the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of Ely. By the Rev. J. H. Browne, A. M. Archdeacon of Ely.Rivingtons. 1822. Pp. 48 and Ixxii.

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Five Letters addressed to the Rev. G. Wilkins, Vicar of St. Mary's, Nottingham; containing Stric tures on some Parts of a Publication entitled, Body and Soul." By the Rev. J. H. Browne, A. M. Archdeacon of Ely, &c. Hatchards. 1823. Pp. 72. WE are not of the number of those who despair of the Church of England. There may be many causes which impede her progress; and there doubtless is a vast increase of those who dissent from her doctrines and discipline, and are therefore, to a certain extent, inimical to her prosperity. Impolitic and absurd regulations have long impeded the provision of suitable places of worship for an increasing population; hard measures may have been dealt to some of her curates; and the weakness or wickedness, the defects of the head or the heart of some possessed of a little brief authority, may have induced them to adopt violent, and tyrannical, and oppressive measures, measures extremely annoying to individuals, and injurious to true religion even in extensive districts but after all that can be said, we have no fear for the permanence and eventual prosperity of our Zion. The very defects to which we allude are producing their own remedy. The intolerance of individuals will naturally lead to a greater degree of caution in those who appoint to important situations. The cries of the humble and the oppressed have already awakened the attention of an enlightened Legislature; which, how ever reluctant it may be to diminish the authority of any in respon

sible situations by hasty or unnecessary interference, will unquestionably not endure the repetition of injuries similar to those which have been inflicted.

Our confidence, however, in the permanence and the ultimate prosperity of our church rests on far higher grounds than the correct feelings of an enlightened Legislature. The Church of England must be permanent, and must prosper, because her doctrines, ́her Articles, her Liturgy, her Homilies, are all founded on the basis of Scripture. It is this which affords her, as it were, a principle of vitality, and, under the divine influence, produces continual revivals of religion amongst her sons. other churches, when error is once introduced it spreads with rapidity, and proves permanent; but in our own church, the authenticated formularies constitute an abiding standard; and many who, from the most improper motives, have entered into her ministry, have been mercifully recovered from their erroneous and mistaken views by the careful perusal of her authorized writings.

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These ideas have been forcibly impressed upon our minds by the perusal of the very excellent Charge before us. Deeply convinced as we are, that the corruption of human nature, the depravity and misery of man, is the basis of all true religion; and that right views on this subject are essentially necessary to a cordial reception of the doctrines of justification by faith, of regeneration, conversion, and sanctification by the illuminating and consoling influences of the Holy Spirit, we hail with unmingled satisfaction the delivery and the publication of this Charge, in an archdeaconry where for very many years the archidiaconal visitations had sunk into mere form; especially, as we conceive, the

sound argument, the temperate manner, and the continual refer ence to scriptural proof, and to authorized documents, which pervade the whole of this Charge, must inevitably produce a deep effect on all who carefully peruse it.

In the commencement of the Charge, the Archdeacon remarks, that

Some individuals are unwilling to admit the deep, entire, and universal corruption of human nature, lest such an admission should entangle them in the difficulties of the Calvinistic scheme. It must indeed be

acknowledged by every candid and dispas-
sionate inquirer, that the supposition of
the total depravity and moral impotency of
men, may lead some persons to espouse the
doctrines of particular election and final
perseverance. These doctrines have been

maintained by many wise, many pious,
many learned divines; they have been sanc-
tioned by names, which will be held in ve-
neration so long as the Church of Eng-
land, and the writings of some of the most
distinguished of her hierarchy, shall endure.
But whatever arguments may be propound-
ed against these tenets, they ought to be
discussed upon their own merits, without
involving the rejection of other doctrines of
a fundamental nature, not necessarily con-
nected with them. If, however, it should
still be urged that they must stand or fall
together, I do not hesitate to avow my
own conviction, in the words of Bishop
Horsley, that "any one may hold all the
theological opinions of Calvin, hard and
extravagant as some of them may seem,
and yet be a sound member of the Church
of England and Ireland: certainly a much
sounder member than one who, loudly de-
claiming against those opinions (which, if
they be erroneous, are not errors that af-
fect the essence of our common faith), runs
into all the nonsense, the impiety, the
abominations of the Arian, the Unitarian,
and the Pelagian heresies; denying, in ef-
fect, the Lord who bought them*.".
Pp. 4, 5.

In considering the doctrine of man's corruption apart from its supposed consequences, the Archdeacon purposely abstains from any metaphysical disquisition on the origin of evil, or the imputation of Adam's sin, remarking,

That which it most concerns us to know, to survey in all its bearing, to investigate Bishop Horsley's Charges, p. 219.

in all its symptoms, to contemplate in all its malignity, is the actual depravity of the human race-"the fault and corruption of engendered of the offspring of Adam." the nature of every man that naturally is Erroneous ideas upon this subject, or even crude and superficial notions respecting it, must have a pernicious and fatal tendency. If the Gospel be for the healing of the nations, and if its sanative properties, according to the ordinary method of divine dispensations, be communicated through the medium of appointed ministers, it must surely be unnecessary to point out to them the danger of entertaining an inadequate conception of that disease, to which it is their especial office to unfold and apply the remedy.

A careful, and I am willing to hope that I may be allowed to add, an impartial examination of the testimony of Holy Scripture, associated with the corroborative evidence supplied by history and by experience, has fastened upon my mind the

conviction, that those statements are most consonant with the truth, which represent man, in his natural condition, as a being totally and universally depraved.-Pp. 8, 9.

And after alluding to the difference of character and conduct in individuals, he adds,

By asserting, therefore, that man is totally depraved, I do not mean to insinuate that he is destitute of every thing that is excellent and praiseworthy in his social capacity: but, I would be understood to intimate my belief, that he is by nature devoid of all spiritual desires and holy dispositions; that his heart is alienated from God; and that, till he be renewed by divine grace, and till a new bias be communicated to his will and affections, his most splendid actions, however admirable they may appear with regard to their outward form and substance, since they do not emanate from a right motive, are utterly valueless in the sight of God, and may be said to partake of "the nature of sin *.". P. 11.

The Archdeacon then adverts to the scriptural proof of this doctrine -to direct declarations on the subject, and to a variety of indirect but equally conclusive proofs of human corruption-as the distinction between flesh and spirit-the necessity of regeneration-of crucifying the flesh-of renouncing the world of being made free by the power of Christ. He shows how direct

* Luke, vi. 34.

ly the precepts of morality contained in the Sermon on the Mount are at variance with the inherent propensities of the human heart; refers to our experience of the movements which take place in our own breasts; adverts to the profanation of the name and day of God, so common amongst ourselves, and appeals to the concurrent testimony of all history, sacred, profane, and ecclesiastical, in support of his position.

It is obvious, that the limits of our work render it impossible for us to accompany the Archdeacon through all his various proofs. The following extracts may suffice as a specimen.

The contrast between a state of freedom and a state of servitude, supplies another forcible illustration of the disastrous consequences of original sin. We find an interesting example of this contrast in the eighth chapter of St. John's Gospel. It appears from the thirteenth verse of this chapter, that many of the Jews had yielded to the convincing evidences, by which the truth of our Lord's divine mission was authenticated upon which our blessed Saviour, to encourage them in their adherence to him, said to the Jews who believed on him, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man; how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin, is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever; but the Son abideth ever. If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." How replete are these words with valuable instruction! How many important reflections do they suggest! But I must confine myself to those which are immediately connected with the subject before us. Surveyed in that connexion, they place in a very clear point of view man's natural state of bondage on the one hand, and on the other, his emancipation by embracing the great doctrines of Christianity. "Whosoever committeth sin, is the servant of sin;" this must not be understood absolutely and without any restriction; for then the most eminent saints would be justly obnoxious to this appellation. But it implies, that every person who is in his unregenerate or uncon

verted state, is the vassal of sin, and from this vassalage nothing can extricate him, but the gracious interposition of the Redeemer of mankind, and a cordial recep

tion of the saving truths of the Gospel.

"The truth shall make you free."-" If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed;" i. e. you shall be free from

the burden of the ceremonial law, free from the guilt of sin, free from the thraldom of your own lusts, free from the dominion of Satan. But it is not a merely speculative assent to the evidences of divine revelation, which will effect this emancipation; there must be an implicit faith in its peculiar doctrines: the Son himself must

make us free; for "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty *." This Spirit will enfranchise the mind, and enlarge it from the captivity of error and prejudice; it will also manumit the will, and release it from the slavery of carnal lusts and appetites, and thus it will prepare the whole man for the service of God, "which is perfect freedom."-Pp. 28, 29.

When we turn our thoughts to that sublime code of morality promulgated in our Saviour's Sermon on the Mount, who does not perceive, that all the precepts contained in it are directly at variance with the inherent propensities of the human heart? Must we not, then, be constrained to acknowledge the obliquity of our natural inclinations, when we compare them with the unerring rectitude of these heavenly rules? If we ever approximate to this perfect standard, to what shall we ascribe that approximation? Shall we ascribe it to the vigorous exertion of our native powers? Or, shall we not rather with all humility confess the impotency of our best endeavours, and acknowledge our total indisposition to regulate our conduct by the divine will, until our hearts be transformed, and our wills changed by the renewing influences of the Holy Spirit? Man is naturally prone to give vent to his feelings in the moment of irritation, by the use of rituperative language: but here every term of reproach is distinctly prohibited. Man is naturally prone to resent a provocation, and retaliate an injury: but here he is required to manifest a passive and forbearing temper, and to cherish a benevolent and affectionate feeling even towards his bitterest foe. Man is naturally prone in his acts of benevolence, and in his exercises of devotion, to seek the praise of his fellowcreatures, and to be swayed by ostentatious or ambitious motives: but here, retirement, and secrecy, and unobtrusive piety are recommended. Man is naturally inclined to give way to excessive solicitude

* Cor. iii. 17.

about the future, to depend upon his own forethought and sagacity, and to lose sight of the providential care of an over-ruling Deity: but here he is taught to seek the salvation of his soul in the first place, and then implicitly to refer the disposal of his temporal concerns to the sovereign will of his Creator. Man is naturally inclined to usurp the seat of judgment, and to arraign the conduct of his neighbour before his own partial tribunal: but here all rash and censorious reflections upon the characters of others are peremptorily proscribed. What does this contrariety demonstrate? is not irresistibly prove, that man is by nature averse from all that is good, and propense to all that is evil?

Does

If the com

mandment be holy, and just, and good, must not man, whose natural inclinations are opposed to the commandment, be unholy, unrighteous, and exceedingly de

praved?-Pp. 35-37.

The Archdeacon concludes his

Charge with the following striking

passage:

Suffer me, in conclusion, to address you once more in the fervid and energetic language of the late Bishop Horsley: "Apply

yourselves, with the whole strength and power of your minds, to do the work of Evangelists. Proclaim to those who are at enmity with God and children of his wrath, the glad tidings of Christ's pacification; sound the alarm to awaken to a life of

righteousness a world lost and dead in trespasses and sins; lift aloft the blazing torch of Revelation to scatter its rays over them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death, and guide the footsteps of the benighted wanderer into the paths of life and peace *."

To the Charge is added an Appendix of proofs and illustrations from the early reformers, the Articles, Homilies, Liturgy, and Fathers of the English Church, the confessions of other Protestant churches, and many of our distinguished divines. The Archdeacon animadverts with temper, but with the utmost decision, on some very unwarrantable assumptions of Mr. Pyle, which Bishop Tomline has inserted in that strange farrago, entitled, "A Refutation of Calvinism," and contrasts in a very striking manner the language of the Christian Remembrancer on the subject of hu

Horsley's Charges, p. 231.

man depravity with that of the Homilies of the Church of England *.

It is, however, time that we advert to Mr. Browne's second publication, the Letters to the Rev. G. Wilkins, on a book, entitled, Body and Soul. We have not seen the production here animadverted on, and were at first ready to conclude, that Mr. B.'s pamphlet was called forth by cirture. It seems, however, that Mr. cumstances merely of a local naWilkins has thought proper to embody in a work of fiction certain stale and common arguments and of evangelical religion, of the dimisrepresentations on the subject vine influence, the circulation of preaching of morality, the nature tracts, &c. among the sick, the of justification, the amusements of the clergy, &c. which have a direct tendency to injure the cause of true religion. These fallacious arguments and misrepresentations are very ably commented on in five Letters, which we conceive may be circulated with great advantage in various places where the work

* We would earnestly recommend to any who are in the habit of reading the Christian Remembrancer the perusal of Mr. Browne's fourth Appendix. It shows how a periodical work, laying high claims to orthodoxy, and proceeding from the shop of the very respectable booksellers to the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, may yet be employed in undermining the fundamental

Articles of the Church of England. It were easy to enlarge, but we forbear; those who carefully peruse the Appendix alluded to will perceive the subject is in far abler hands, and there we most cheerfully leave it. It may, however, amuse some of our readers to hear, that when the proprietors of Scott's Bible determined, about months since, to publish that estimable work in parts, and in consequence sent advertisements to all the principal magazines,

two

the Christian Remembrancer and the British Critic refused to insert those advertisements after the publisher had taken them in, and actually returned the bills and the money. Such is the liberality with which the most valuable commentary of modern times is in some quarters regarded '!!

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