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"On returning to the vestry, he was asked by the grandsire of the new Rector, why he had neglected his duty. He, honestly replied, Because, Sir, I did not choose to sanction those perversions of the gospel which the Rector has been guilty of this morning, nor appear to commend the severe and unjust animadversions which he has made on the character of my deceased pastor.' Then, Sir, you shall be turned out of your office."

Page 10.

London:

THE NEW RECTORS.

"Mine be the man, whose doctrine pure and sound
No tropes distract, no metaphors confound:
So plain, the simplest understand and love,
So just, the wisest cannot but approve;
Who with a keen, but nicely judging art,
Steals to the bosom and unlocks the heart;
And holds a mirror up where each may see
Both what he is, and what he ought to be."
RELIGIO CLERICI.

Soon after the death of the venerable Ingleby, the Rev. Mr. C, the rector of an adjoining parish, whose health had been gradually declining, was taken very ill. He had accompanied several of his friends to a concert at B and on his return caught a violent cold. No danger was apprehended for several weeks; but having, very imprudently, accepted an invitation to spend an evening at Mr. Ryder's, where he was detained to a late hour at whist, his favourite amusement, he renewed his cold, by his exposure to the night air. His fever increased upon him with great violence; and though he was attended by the most skilful medical gentlemen, yet they could not reduce it. Having some general knowledge of the nature and tendency of his disorder, he said to Mrs. C—~, when she was consulting him on the propriety of putting off a party who stood engaged for the following week, "My dear, I shall never appear amongst you again.”

Mrs. C. "Don't say so. You are getting low spirited. You should not think about dying. You should turn your attention from that gloomy subject, and anticipate the pleasure which you will yet enjoy amongst your friends."

Rev. Mr. C. I have no wish to die; but I must die. The Doctors can do nothing for me; my fever baffles their skill."

Mrs. C. "I heard Dr. Bailey say, that he placed great dependence on the prescription which he gave to Mr. Russel. Indeed, 1 think, you look better. Mr. Ryder says he has no doubt but you will recover; and all your friends say that you must banish the thought of dying, as nothing will tend so much to accelerate that awful event."

Rev. Mr. C.. "Yes, they may tell me to banish the thought of dying, but I cannot do it: it forces itself upon me, in spite of all my resolutions to avoid it."

Mrs. C. "Well, my dear, as you have long since made your peace with God, you have nothing to fear; and therefore I hope you will keep your mind composed." Rev. Mr. C. 66 My mind is tolerably composed, except when delirious thoughts come and throw it into a tumultuous agitation, and then I feel tossed about in a mizmaze of confusion. Death may appear to some, who have no taste for earthly enjoyments, invested with peculiar charms, as the forerunner of their future bliss ; but I should rather live than die."

When he found himself getting worse, and his most sanguine friends began to fear that the hour of his departure was at hand, he wished to receive the sacrament; and the Rev. Dr. Greig was requested to come and administer it to him. The Doctor seemed much affected when introduced to his old friend; and, after gently squeezing his hand, as a token of his affection, he sat down by the side of his bed and wept. "I am sorry, Sir," said the Doctor, "to find you so extremely ill; but I yet hope you will recover."

66

"That's impossible, Sir, I must die; and I wish, before I die, to receive the holy sacrament. I think it will put strength into my soul, and enable me to meet death without dread."

"I hope, Sir, you have no dread of death."

Why no, Sir, I have no dread of death; but as it is the passage into the eternal world, I feel that it is an awful thing to die."

66 It may be awful to the wicked, but it cannot be to you, who have spent your life in the public service of virtue and religion."

I confess, Sir, that I have nothing to reproach myself for. I have spent a long life in the service of our Church, and have endeavoured to teach my parishioners the way to heaven; but now death is near, I feel it to be a more awful thing to die, than when I viewed it in a distant perspective. I now see the propriety of the following passage in our Burial Service-O God, most mighty, O holy and most merciful Saviour, thou most worthy Judge eternal, suffer us not at our last hour, for any pains of death, to fall from thee."

[105

The Doctor now proceeded to read the Communion Service and having partaken of the elements himself, and given them to Mrs. C and the nurse, he presented them to his dying friend, who eat the bread, and drank the wine, with great solemnity of manner. The service being ended, he said that he had one more request to make, and then he should die in peace. wish, Doctor, you would read the Burial Service at my interment, and preach my funeral sermon on the following Sunday; and you may tell my parishioners, that I die in charity with all mankind."

I

In about six hours after his friend left him, a change took place, and he remained insensible the greater part of the night. Towards the morning he awoke out of a deep sleep; and having taken a little refreshment, he sat very composedly for a few minutes, when he fell back on his pillow, heaved a few sepulchral groans, and expired. On the seventh day after his death he was buried in a vault, near the communion-table of his own church; and the Doctor, according to his request, read the Service, and delivered his funeral discourse on the following Sabbath. The congregation, which was unusually large, being attired in black, assumed a very sombrous appearance, and were deeply affected, especially when the Doctor pointed to the tomb, in which their deceased pastor had just been interred.

In delineating his character, the preacher dwelt for some time on his classical taste and his literary acquirements; paid a just tribute of praise to his amiable and interesting manners, and commended him for his uniform attachment to the Church, of which he had been a minister for the greater part of half a century; and concluded by saying “ His religion was not of that austere cast which prohibits the innocent amusements and gratifications of social intercourse, and dooms its possessor to a life of perpetual gloom and mortification. It was an enlightened piety-a piety which united the gravity of wisdom with the cheerfulness of mirth; the dignity of reason with the indulgence of the passions; which courted no popularity by the vanity of its pretensions; which sought retirement rather than publicity; and conciliated the favour of the Almighty by the practice of virtue, rather than by the dogmas of belief. He did not,

like some, rob other churches to fill his own; but was contented to preach to the select few who favoured him with their presence and their friendship; and who, I doubt not, will revere his memory as long as the power of recollection remains; and who, when the duties of life are discharged, will go where he is gone, to renew the intimacy of friendship; and enjoy the felicity of social converse. And who is not struck with the dignified serenity of his death? There were no raptures of enthusiasm in prospect of dissolution; no flights of fancy; no rhapsodies of expression, as though he were weary of life and longed to lose it; but a submission to the law of nature, which requires that we must die, accompanied by a sublime avowal which he wished me to make to you, that he died in charity with all mankind.”

In examining the character of these two clergymen, and reviewing the temper of mind which they displayed in the immediate prospect of entering the eternal world, the intelligent reader will perceive a manifest difference; and though it does not become us to invade the province of the Supreme Judge, and fix the final destiny of any human being, yet we may be permitted to say, that the venerable Ingleby bore the nearest resemblance, in his life and in his death, to the ministers of the New Testament. If the Rev. Mr. C- was the most learned man, the Rev. Mr. I- was the most spiritual; and though Mr. Ingleby derived no gratification from the puerile and dangerous amusements of fashionable life, yet he uniformly displayed a cheerfulness of disposition, which became the sanctity of his office. Mr. Cconsented to die, because he could not live; while Mr. Ingleby yielded up his life as a free-will offering to God who first gave it, and then demanded it. In the death of Mr. C- we can discover no humility on account of the imperfections of his character-no movements of a mind delighting in communion with the great Supreme-no reference to a Mediator, by whom the guilty and the worthless are reconciled to the offended Sovereign-no ardent anticipations of a state of changeless purity and glory; while, in the closing scene of Mr. Ingleby's life, we behold a spirit, yet inhabiting the tabernacle of earth, springing forward to meet the great Deliverer-hailing his approach with mingled