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servant of God was to be called to his reward. Whether he had any presentiment of his approaching dissolution, I know not: but it is certain that the thoughts of death were ever present to his mind, and but one month before his departure, namely, in January, 1807, he writes thus to a confidential friend:

"In regard to my man William (meaning himself) you must see he is good for nothing, and no assistance I can get for him will be of any avail. The time is come when Israel must die, however reluctant he may be to it. You see I am scarce able to write, and of course you will not expect to hear much more from me."

Whatever his inward sensations were, he dined at the house of the writer of this account the very day week before his death. He appeared in high spirits, and read aloud to the family with his usual energy and pathos during the whole evening. The author saw him again on the Wednesday following, and dined in company with him on Thursday, the 5th of February, which was only thirty-six hours before his death; and though on the latter day he was not quite so cheerful as he frequently was, he ate a hearty dinner, and there was nothing in his manner nor in his expressions, to occasion the least alarm in the minds of his friends or admirers. So far this good man's wishes and prayers were heard; for he had always hoped that his death might not be lingering; and all who knew him were assured that however sudden it might be, with him it could not be unprepared; which we presume to be the true meaning of the word sudden in our Liturgy. On Friday, the 6th of February, Mr. Stevens spent the whole morning at home, chiefly in company with his friend, Mr. Bowdler, who says, that his conversation was animated, lively, and very much like

what it ever was, with a friend he so tenderly loved, and whose sentiments were so much in unison with his own. These two friends were to dine together at Mr. Richardson's, in King's-road. His coachman, who had always been remarkable for his punctuality, and had frequently received the commendation of his master on that account, was, on this day, happily and providentially a great deal after his time; and Mr. Stevens in putting on his great coat, in order to be ready, was suddenly seized with a violent pain in his chest. Mr. Bowdler asked the cause of his sudden emotion; he answered calmly, nothing but death. He was attended immediately by two physicians; and he was bled: and, though restless at times, he, upon the whole, slept quietly. Mr. Bowdler, who never quitted him till a late hour, when he could no longer be of any use, relates an anecdote which proves that the same religious spirit, and the same ready obedience to God's will, which pervaded every thought, word, and action, from his earliest youth, continued to operate upon him, even to the latest moment of his existence. After the stroke of death above-mentioned, feeling, (I suppose) that he was dying, he refused the medicines which the physicians had prescribed; and I (says Mr. Bowdler) was desired to prevail on him to take them, which I did with the usual argument, "do it to oblige me:" but in vain; for he still refused: at last I was going to say, "It is your duty to God to do what you can to preserve your life:" but when I had uttered only the first six words, he seized the cup, and drank it to the dregs, and laying hold of my hand, said with great earnestness several times," my dear friend, my dear friend!" as if wishing to express, not only his affectionate regard to this excellently good man, but his gratitude for recalling him to his duty to God, at that moment, when, as our

excellent Liturgy teaches us to pray, that God will not suffer us in our last hour for any pains of death to fall from him. Not long before he expired, Mr. Bowdler asked him, after he waked from a calm sleep, whether he should repeat a prayer: the dying Christian assented. Mr. Bowdler repeated the collect from the order for the visitation of the sick, beginning with these words: "O Lord, look down from heaven, &c." when he had said," Give him comfort and sure confidence in thee," Mr. Stevens said very calmly and distinctly, Amen! but as he did not repeat it at the end of the collect, it is -presumed his mind was exhausted. When the clock struck three in the morning, he said to the servant, "My time is come. Oh dear, good God!" and fell asleep without a struggle or a groan.

The remains of this valuable man were deposited, on the 14th of February, in Otham church-yard, in the county of Kent, which, though not the place of his nativity, yet, from being the parish of his maternal relations, he had always regarded as his home; and in the church-yard of which he had always expressed his desire to be buried. Indeed to the church of Otham he had, during his life time, been a great benefactor, having laid out about £600 in repairing and adorning it. The following Epitaph, written by a friend, (to whom, when young and an orphan he had been a father, and from whom, in his declining years, he had received all the dutiful and affectionate attentions of a son) is placed upon a marble tablet in the church; and is the best and truest summary of the character of this extraordinary man that could possibly have been given:

Sacred to the Memory of

WILLIAM STEVENS,

Late of Broad-street, in the City of London, Hosier,
And many years Treasurer of Queen Anne's Bounty;
Whose remains, by his own desire, were deposited near this
Church,

Which he delighted to frequent as the place of his devotion,
And which he repaired and adorned by his munificence.
Educated, and during his whole life engaged, in trade,
He yet found means to enrich his mind

With English, French, Latin, Greek, and especially Hebrew
Literature;

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And connected by blood and affection With many of the most distinguished Divines of his Age, He was inferior to none,

In profound knowledge, and steady practice, Of the doctrines and discipline of the Church of England: Austere to himself alone,

Charitable and indulgent towards others,

He attracted the young by the cheerfulness of his temper, The old by the sanctity of his life :

And tempering instructive admonition with inoffensive wit, Uniting fervent piety towards God

With unbounded good-will and well regulated beneficence towards men,

And illustrating his Christian Profession by his own
consistent example,

He became the blessed means, by divine grace,
Of winning many to the ways of righteousness,
He finished his probation, and entered into his rest,
On the 7th day of February, A.D. 1807,
In the 75th year of his age.

On Sunday, the 15th day of February, the day after Mr. Stevens's burial, his intimate and affectionate friend, the Rev. Mr. Prince, in the chapel of the Magdalen Hospital, of which charity Mr. Stevens had acted on the Committee for many years, in a Sermon on the text of St. Paul, "That ye sorrow not even as others, which have no hope," introduced a very just and affecting eulogium upon the religious character and conduct of his dear, departed friend: and, as is usual with that excellent person, he endeavoured to enforce upon his hear

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ers the necessity of following the steps of this bright example in the paths of virtue and holiness. . He thus concludes this animated discourse :

"His body is at peace, and his spirit returned

unto God who gave it: he is gone to his grave, like

as a shock of corn cometh in its season. It is our's, who knew, and loved, and revered him, to imitate, far as we are able, the pattern he hath left behind; by a life of faith and holiness, of piety and charity, and of active, cheerful benevolence; discharging the duties of our respective stations well; using this world, as not abusing it; doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God. So, whensoever it shall please the Almighty to call us hence, Death will not find us unprepared; but we shall have hope in our death: and when the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, we shall ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words!"

It may be supposed that a man of such extensive benevolence, and whom Providence had blessed with temporal prosperity, would, being a bachelor, by his will have left large sums for charitable uses. But no such thing. All his conduct was formed upon principle: and he had often said, and acted upon that opinion, that charity is a personal grace; and that if a man has exercised that virtue during his life, and also carries on his benefactions by will, he deprives his successors of the means of exercising those virtues as he has done; and thus prevents them from shewing themselves to be good stewards of the bounties of heaven. Accordingly, except two legacies, one of four thousand pounds stock, and another of two hundred pounds sterling, one of which lapsed by the death of the individual before him, he left the whole of his fortune to his first cousin, the Rev. William Horne, Rector of Otham,

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