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that he ever entertained towards his most determined opponents, might be expressed in the words of our liturgy;- That it may please thee to forgive our enemies, persecutors, and slanderers, and to turn their hearts: We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord."" Dealtry, pp. 29, 30.

We cannot withhold the passage which refers to the state of Mr. Owen's mind in regard to personal religion. We know not how to abridge it.

"We are often reminded," observes Mr. Dealtry," that, amidst the bustle and tumult of public occupations, there is great danger lest personal religion should be forgotten, and lest, even while endeavouring to promote the salvation of others, we should be tempted to neglect our own.

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"In admitting the propriety of this remark, I cannot allow that it is applicable in the instance before us. I might refer to the unaffected humility of the deceased, as often manifested in his ready deference to others: I have seen him yield,' says a near observer, with the simplicity of a child,' to persons inferior to himself in understanding and knowledge.'-I might advert to his unshaken trust and confidence in God. When difficulties were more than usually formidable, he was frequently heard to repeat, If God be for us, who can be against us?' This was not, as repeated by him, merely a well-sounding quotation: he acted upon the principle; he staked upon it his ease, his prospects, his reputation, and his life.—I might appeal to the impression of his friends concerning the habitual seriousness of his character, and the pleasure which he took in conversing with them upon sacred things. Christian conversation was at all times delightful to him; and by him was always conducted in a becoming spirit. Whatever, indeed, might be his vivacity upon other subjects, and however unrestrained within the limits of innocent mirth the course of conversation, if any observations were introduced of a religious tendency, he instantly checked his imagination, and restrained the sallies of his wit. This circumstance is more particularly worthy of remark, because he possessed, naturally, a cheerfulness and liveliness of disposition, which, in his early days, might seem almost to border on volatility; and, till disease had weakened his frame, he continued through life to have such a flow of animal spirits, that it must have required no ordinary check to keep them within CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 253.

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regular bounds. But on serious subjects he was always serious. I speak, here, of the whole period within which I was honoured by his acquaintance. Of late years, this feature in his character appears have been particularly remarked. 'Ever since his severe and tedious illness in 1818,' says a correspondent, I observed in the whole of his conversation and deportment increased gravity and seriousness. He seemed to have death and eternity most deeply impressed upon his mind; and, on many public occasions, he repeated with great emphasis those striking words; Work while it is day; the night cometh, when no man can work!'

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"It must be acknowledged, that even the most judicious friends may form an incorrect estimate of the religious character and Christian virtues of those who stand high in their affectionate regard. To see the interior of a person's mind, we should follow him into retirement; and by doing so, as far as it is possible in this case, we shall, I think, discover much evidence of a mind devoted to God.

"Among the papers of our late valued friend, I find one which he kept for some years suspended in his study, containing a few verses of Scripture, calculated to give him courage and confidence when in great hazard of being tempted to unfaithfulness in his ministerial duty. In another paper are several passages from which, as it is stated in his own hand-writing, he · was accustomed to derive the greatest relief, support, and direction.' What an instructive lesson would it have afforded to behold him, in his many afflictions, thus casting himself upon the goodness of God, and reposing in the comfort of his exceeding great and precious promises!

"On one occasion, when much depressed by very painful intelligence, he writes;- I sought comfort from meditation on the word of God; particularly, I was much relieved by reflecting on the passage; In the multitude of sorrows that I had in my heart, thy comforts refresh my soul. Oh, for faith in the divine promises, and the faculty of applying them wisely and effectually to my own condition!' At another time, being greatly afflicted, and finding that a friend was yet more troubled than himself; The comparison of situations,' he observes, threw me upon my knees, and made me bless God for the kind proportion in which he had measured out my chastisements.'

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"Of a somewhat similar description are the following extracts.H

"April 23. Humbled myself before God many times this day, having been astonished to find such powerful corruptions within me. I betrayed a great hastiness of spirit yesterday evening: this is a sign that the grace of God has not been improved as it ought to have been. I will, by God's assistance, watch against this propensity. And, oh, that I may never again offend him, or wound my conscience by falling into that snare of the devil! Let every one of you be slow to wrath.

"Sunday, April 24. Have humbled myself before God, this morning; and do resolve to watch and pray that I enter not into temptation. May the Lord pardon all my sins, and secure me, by his grace, from falling into them again! Amen.' "It ought to be recollected, that the writer was a man of remarkably fine temper.

My next extracts respect his ministerial duties:

666

August 9. Endeavoured to put Dr. A.'s advice into execution, to bear the

people to whom I was about to preach, fervently to the Throne of Grace.

"April 22. This day I performed a very interesting service in baptizing two adults (young ladies)

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I pray God, that the beneficial memory of it may continue with me, and with them, till the day of our death.'

"At a somewhat later period, he again expresses the affectionate interest which he took in their welfare, and the hope which he entertained of their progress in true religion.

"Most, if not all of these passages, were written many years ago.-What, it may be asked, was the state of his mind as he approached the termination of life?

"Just before he was taken ill, his family read to him, by his own desire, the Book of Job, with Scott's observations; and being placed at that time under certain outward

cireumstances of discomfort, he was in the habit of applying what was read to his own

case.

The progress of disease presently incapacitated him, either for reading much himself, or of giving his attention to others. But I learn, from different friends, who had sometimes the opportunity of speaking to him, that his mind was always most awake to subjects of religion; and that,

whenever he could be roused to mental

exertion, these were the subjects which re

called, for a time, his decaying energies. The Sunday week after his seizure, when one of his daughters was sitting with him, he laid his hand upon a book on the table, and asked what it was. Being informed

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that it was the Life of Hooker, he immediately began to repeat that celebrated passage, I have lived to see this world is made up of perturbations, &c.' This pas sage, it seems, he was much in the habit of repeating, doubtless from its expressing the views and feelings which he habitually entertained. In one of his last letters to the same daughter, he writes in these terms; My frame has been so shattered, that I must not expect it to be speedily, perhaps never thoroughly, repaired. There is nothing I wish to live for, but the service of my Divine Master; and if I may but be favoured with the testimony of having pleased him, and possessing an interest in his love, I shall be willing to live or to die, as to him may appear best. Oh, my dear daughter, this should be our first, our last, our invariable object: we cannot dispense with its consolations in sickness, or its support in death.'"-Dealtry, pp. 32-40.

Another paper to which a reference is made is one of much interest

(pp. 40-42), written, it appears, by Mr. Owen, at a time when he was deprived, by sickness, of the power of attending on the public means of grace. We could willingly transcribe it, and also Mr. Dealtry's concluding remarks, did our limits allow. There is also a brief passage, at page 27, which appears to have been written by Mr. Owen a short time before his last illness, and was found appended to some notes on the progress of the Bible Society. Nothing could more strikingly coincide with the assurance of the text. "How sweet," he says, " to have toiled in this work! And if, wasted with labours more abundant, he is compelled to withdraw-I have done!"

The last words occurring," says Mr. Dealtry, "at a short distance from the others, as if, after a short pause for reflection, he had felt convinced that his strength was already worn out, and that in this great cause he should labour no more."

spoken in the high terms which it Of Mr. Dealtry's sermon we have deserves; but we think it somewhat wanting in one respect, when viewed as addressed to the congregation of the late minister. With the exception of the note from Mr. Owen's

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and we conclude, that although many of Mr. Owen's flock may have reaped spiritual benefit from his labours, yet there may have been others to whom their value might never have been till that day known. Amidst the multiplicity of points which offered themselves to the preacher's notice, we are not surprised that the brevity of a sermon rendered it necessary to pass some over; otherwise what a valuable opportunity was afforded of presenting a heart-stirring view of their responsibility, and of testifying to the consolation of such as would hear, and to the conviction of such as would forbear, that truly "the signs of a great teacher had been wrought among them*."

• Mr. Dealtry's sermon has been translated into French, by the Rev. C. Scholl, minister of the French Church in London. The translation is dedicated to the Paris Bible Society. Mr. Scholl remarks, in his preface, after speaking of Mr. Owen as being the projector, and in fact the founder, of the Paris Bible Society,

"Quelques semaines avant sa mort, dans une conversation particulière qu'il eut avec lui, celui qui rend maintenant hommage à sa mémoire avoit eu occasion de juger du vif intérêt qu'il ne cessoit de prendre aux Sociétés Bibliques de France. Quoique abattu déja sous le poids de la maladie, pouvant à peine s'exprimer, il laissoit voir dans le peu de paroles qu'il pouvoit prononcer, dans l'expression même de sa physionomie, la joie pure qu'il éprouvoit, à l'ouïe des communications du Comité de Paris. Ces sentimens étoient si bien connus et si vivement appréciés, par les amis dé la Société de Bible, en France, que la nouvelle de la mort de M. Owen a causé parmi eux, les regrets les plus vifs et les plus sincères. Dans la séance du 5 Novembre dernier, ces regrets

But we must pass on to Mr. Hughes's discourse. We feel much regret that our preceding remarks and extracts preclude us from any copious notice of his pathetic appeal. He has taken completely dif ferent ground from Mr. Dealtry, over which to travel to his object. From the thirteenth verse of the

thirty-ninth Psalm, he has viewed attachment to life as in some cases criminal, in others innocent, and in others laudable. His remarks are always good, and at times particularly beautiful. We were struck with the description given of the penitent's desiring the prolongation of life, to bring to a more certain test the sincerity of his contrition. The same desire on the part of the philanthropist, for the purpose of forwarding and completing all his projects of zeal and charity, naturally leads to the character of the preacher's late valued and beloved colleague. After dwelling with much force on his unwearied activity in their common cause, and testifying of him, that, "while he was acting most consistently as a minister of the national church, he kept the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace with real Christians of every name; that without technical peculiarities he maintained a growing attachment to evangelical truth; that he met with promptitude the inclinations of others to touch the theme of experimental religion, for pleasantry in him did not imply the want of seriousness; and that he revered the whole household of faith;" Mr. Hughes proceeds to remark on the distressing character of that illness which invested his latter days as with a cloud.

"The last words which he spake, in my hearing, were, Those are the things!''Those are the things!'-in allusion to the following language which I had just cited: Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel,

ont été exprimés, avec toute la chaleur de l'éloquence Chrétienne, par Monsieur le Marquis de Jaucourt, au nom des membres du Comité qu'il préside.”

hand should be cut off, with regard to my body; that my mind feels, when I think of my invaluable friend."

and afterward receive me to glory;'meaning, as it was natural for me to conclude, that to him worldly subjects had lost their savour, and that he wished to be engaged, as far as his debilitated faculties would permit, in the contemplation of God, eternity, and heaven. The torpid quality of the disease which terminated in his death, prevented him, for several months, from communicating with more than a very few of his friends, and, even within that limited circle, most affectingly diminished his capacity to dilate on those views and hopes which, we trust, had interested his own mind, and the more distinct expression of which would have added to the consolation of such as watched and mourned by his side, till his spirit, delivered from the burden of the flesh,' took its flight, and began to join in the hymns of immortality." Hughes, pp. 45, 46.

There is not wanting, as will be seen from the head of our paper, a public testimony from the other surviving secretary, the Rev. Dr. Steinkopff; and although it is more brief than Mr. Hughes's, and delivered in the form of a speech, and to be regarded as subject to the disadvantages of being taken in shorthand, yet it breathes the wellknown affection and simplicity which usually characterize the effusions of that beloved and valued individual -we will not say "stranger and foreigner," but in the best and highest sense, a "fellow-citizen," because a member of the " household of God."

We select the following passages.

"We were united together for eighteen years, in a manner to which I cannot look back without the most lively emotions of gratitude to Almighty God. I have received in this country innumerable blessings; and have been favoured in a manner, which, perhaps, few foreigners have ever known: but, amidst them all, I freely confess, I have most valued my connexion with the British and Foreign Bible Society; and, amongst the blessings of that institution, my connexion with my departed friend. What I should feel if my right

In page 5, "chains in his imperial crown," is written apparently for "gems;" the short-hand writer mistaking Mr. Steinkopff's pronunciation.

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He made many sacrifices; and I might here publicly state, that at one time, he came to me and said, I do not really know what to do. I have pupils; and my pupils necessarily confine me, and consumè my time. Either I must give up my pupils or the Society.' He gave up his pupils! I shall never forget his noble, disinterested, Christian conduct; and I pray that a special blessing may rest upon his family."Steinkopff's Speech, pp. 10, 11.

We have also placed on our list a second speech, not only for its intrinsic excellence, but because it proceeds from another minister of a religious persuasion distinct from that of Mr. Owen. Like many other brilliant productions, Mr. Smith's speech has some marked defects*; but there are passages in it of great energy. It is well worth the perusal of our readers, not only for its delineations of the character of Mr. Owen, but for its general remarks on the objects and progress of the Society in whose service he lived and died. But our purpose at present is with the former. The sacrifices made by Mr. Owen in this

* We allude, among others, to that passage, at p. 11, which attempts an analogy between Mr. Owen's death in the service

of the Bible Society and the martyrdom of Stephen; but, still worse, the "precious blood-shedding of our Divine Lord. Such things are not only in bad taste, but furnish the means of miserable and petty objections to our charitable societies and public meetings; of which, miserable and petty as they are, there are not wanting individuals willing, in default of more valid arguments, to take advantage, to prejudice the public against the most valuable institutions. Far from wondering to see men seek to adorn their pages with a few injudicious or ungainly remarks, uttered at the Bible Society meetings, our surprise is that the instances have been so rare, comparing these few macula with the innumerable speeches uttered at the public meetings of societies in every part of the kingdom; we cannot but feel surprised, all things considered, at the favourable disproportion, especially when we carry our view to other public popular meetings, St. Stephen's chapel itself not excepted.

cause are placed by Mr. Smith in a striking view.

The little pamphlet which con'cludes our list we should have considered ourselves as blameable had we not marked for the consideration of our readers. It purports to be a "Tribute of Gratitude to the Memory of Mr. Owen," from one of his congregation; who, appearing to value and appreciate his pastoral labours, is anxious to excite the same conviction of their worth in others. This we hoped would, as it does in a considerable degree, supply some interesting particulars of his ministerial life; but we expected to have found in it a more complete outline of this portion of his character. We go along with the writer of the "Tribute" in his statements of Mr. Owen's fidelity and plainness; his earnest expostulation and affectionate rebuke; his combination of a large proportion of that zeal which animated the great Apostle of the Gentiles, with the milder virtues of "the disciple whom Jesus loved." We have traced those portions of holy Scripture which he selected for the instruction of himself and his people during the last year of his public ministry; and we can find none more important in doctrine, more fruitful in encouragement, more deeply practical, or more calculated to search the heart. But over and beyond all this, there was one feature in his pulpit addresses which prominently and habitually stood out from the rest, and in which his peculiar powers seemed to find their fullest exercise; we mean, the sin and danger of conformity to the world. When detailing its hollow maxims, detecting its crooked policy, and exposing the insufficiencyofevery thing in it to yield the soul of man one satisfying joy, nothing could exceed the vigour or spirituality of his remarks; an inconsistent professor of religion must have writhed under them. We cannot, therefore, but wonder that no notice should be taken of this, his frequent topic, in the "Tribute." The texts from

which Mr. Owen preached are indeed detailed, but no comment is elicited which applies to this very important characteristic, both of Mr. Owen's preaching, and of the life of the true believer; a point the more important in the present day of false liberality, when the sophistries of the half-Christian and half-worldly throw additional difficulties around an obedience to that voice which says, "Be ye separate."

We give the following passage, as the most interesting in this little work; for which, subject to our preceding remarks, we would ourselves give the "tribute of our gratitude."

"It appears to me a circumstance which we may improve to our edification, that he

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closed his ministry dwelling on one of the most important passages in the sacred volume (1 Cor. i. 30), one which comprises the great doctrines of salvation. He felt the weight of his subject, and gave to every head a full consideration; having treated, in separate discourses, on Christ, as our wisdom' and righteousness.' illness, he took up the third head, After an interruption, occasioned by severe tification;' and who that heard him on that morning could have entertained the slightest apprehension of the sad event which so rapidly followed? It is not the recollection of a partial few, but, I think I may venture to say, the unanimous voice of his whole congregation, that his unrivalled I cautiously shrink from clothing one word powers had seldom been so fully displayed. of his impressive eloquence in my own language; but I pray for myself, and I trust and believe it is your earnest desire, that the full import of that discourse may be deeply engraven on our hearts. my mind it has carried the consolatory conviction, that though the outward

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was perishing, the inward man' was renewed day by day.' It was his intention to have treated separately on redemption;' and then, in an additional discourse, to have reviewed the whole subject. He was not permitted to do this; and I cannot but view it as a dispensation peculiarly calculated to impress upon our minds the vital importance it is to us, that our hearts should be sanctified by the regenerating influence of the Holy Spirit; Spirit, by stifling or neglecting its suggesthat we should not grieve that blessed tions, but watching constantly for its dictates, pray for its guidance, and yield our

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