language as his own, without the labour of formal quotation. The intelligent reader will hardly need to have it pointed out what energy, force, and dignity this gives to the style of the writer; nor how careful he is, never to introduce these passages but when the subject well justifies their use. It is by such a judicious application of language so sacred, that the true Christian, whose religion resides in the heart, and who has it there, always ready for use, is distinguished from the enthusiastical fanatic, who is continually dishonouring God's word by unseasonable applications of it. I quite agree with a beautiful and energetic modern writer*,

"That Scripture should never be perverted, either in speaking or writing, to unworthy purposes; that ordinary occurrences should be relat ed in ordinary language, and that we have only to turn our eyes to the fanatical government of Cromwell, and the language of the Independents of that age, to behold the rock which true piety should avoid. The solemn language of inspiration was never intended to promote deceit, or to cover hypocrisy, to be used by the inconsiderate, or hackneyed by the designing. It is the word spoken in season which alone is pronounced good."

But paying all due attention to a caution so wise and judicious, I also agree with the same animated and interesting writer," that when an allusion can be made with success, the opportunity ought not to be omitted, or rather ought to be readily accepted:" and knowing that the excellent person, whose life I am recording, was neither a hypocrite nor a fanatic, I have no difficulty in saying, that the beauty of his letters, and the strength of all his writings, are chiefly derived from this source, which he had the art of so happily applying, or rather which flowed so naturally from his pen,

*Brewster's Meditations for the Aged.

guided by a heart so entirely dedicated to the ser vice of his blessed Master. I shall for the present conclude his correspondence with his observations on the uses of sickness to the true Christian, as found in parts of two or three letters, addressed to the lady, whose vivacity of manner, and unfeigned piety, for so many years, and to the end of his life, attracted his friendship and esteem.

"November 30, 1789.

"I am extremely obliged to you for your affec tionate letter: but, methinks, though I wished you to write, I am sorry you did write. I wished it as a proof of your being in better health, but as you are not, I am afraid it was an exertion beyond your strength, and I am sorry for it. Pleasing as it is to hear from you, let me beg of you always to consult your own ease, and never write but when you find yourself in good spirits; for be assured it will ever be a pain to me to read what was a pain to you to write. It is a sad thing that the faculty cannot, by skill or by chance, hit on something to relieve you: but though they have not yet done it, let us continue to hope they shortly will; for hope itself, as Sam. Johnson observes in one of his Idlers, is happiness; and its frustrations, however frequent, are less dreadful than its extinction. You deserve good health and good spirits, you employ them to such excellent purposes, when you enjoy them in any tolerable degree: and your conduct in sickness is an admirable lesson of instruction. We all lament your want of health, and feel for you in your sufferings: but none of us can be tired of you. As to the continual horrors on your mind, of which you complain, they are with you, as with Dr. Johnson, owing to bodily disease; and whenever it pleases God to remove the one, the other will cease of course. I thought of you the other day, when I was looking over your good

κ

*

father's godfather's comment on the Gospel for the 24th Sunday after Trinity, where he says, 'So provident is God in all his dispensations, so gracious even in withholding his mercies and supplies for a season, that the very delays we suffer in temporal affairs are for our own advantage. They do not only contribute to our improvement of another kind, but oftentimes make way for a more surprising and bountiful grant in the same kind. And provided we may make the right use of them, (as you eminently do) wait God's leisure with patience, consider his methods with prudence, and trust in his power and goodness with perseverance, these will not fail in the end to render us both happier and better.'"

The next letter is relative to his own, as well as Mrs. Gunning's illness.

"Ewell, Dec. 8, 1794.

"I take the opportunity of what I call a lucid interval, with which a gracious Providence sometimes indulges me, to thank you for your very affectionate letter, so close on the heels of the former. To receive two letters when your general state of health seldom, without pain, admits of your writing one, is a mark of your solicitude for me, so much beyond any pretensions of mine, that I feel quite ashamed and confounded; and I am ready to ask you the question I did Frere, in reply to his friendly enquiries-Why all this bustle about a poor insignificant old woman, who has been long past labour, and is fit only to sit mumping in a chimney corner? You are kindly anxious to know how I am attended in my crazy condition of body and mind; for never having heard me speak much of female friends, you are fearful I have none to

* George Stanhope, D.D. Dean of Canterbury, author of the Comment on the Epistles and Gospels,

rely on in my distress, but male friends; and of them you seem to think as Job did of his, that miserable comforters are they all. To be sure they are not to be compared with the others, and could I have had you to shake the vial, and pour out the draught, it would have lost all its bitterness: but such assistance as was necessary having been supplied, I have done tolerably well, and in being much alone there is no harm. Sheep, you recollect, when they are ill, and find their end approaching, separate from the rest of the flock, to lie down in solitude and die in peace. And can we, the sheep of God's pasture, act more sensibly than to follow their example, and do likewise? However, except for the first fortnight after the knock on my pate, I have made the usual excursion to Ewell, (Mr. Calverley's) not on horseback, indeed, but in a chaise, from Saturday till Tuesday, which, it is supposed, may do good like a medicine: though when I consider my time of life, with the nature of my complaint, I have no reason to expect much in the of recovery*. As our days, at most, are but a span long, the measure remaining to me must be short, and all that cometh is vanity.

way

"It was no small relief, after the wretched account given of your health, to hear that though you had very many hours of darkness and horror, you had some of light and gladness, and had experienced that the sharpest afflictions, through the tender mercy of God, have their intervals of ease and comfort. Gold is tried in the fire, and for every trial it comes forth the purer, as you have the satisfaction to find. When the furnace is heated seven times more than it was wont, it is that the vessel may be the fitter for the master's use, purged from all dross, and sanctified. You sus

* He, however, was spared to his friends and the world for above twelve years longer.

pect that you lament so much the want of health, as not to be sufficiently thankful for the many blessings you enjoy: but let not your heart be troubled, be of good cheer. The very suspicion is a sign to the contrary: the fear of not being sufficiently thankful is an argument of thankfulness."

It is now time to introduce Mr. Stevens to the reader in another character, namely, that of an author; for he has at several times produced very learned works. But such was the excessive humility, which ever marked his character, that his name was never prefixed to one of them for many years. In the year 1773 he first appeared as an author, by sending forth a work entitled "An Essay on the Nature and Constitution of the Christian Church, wherein are set forth the Form of its Government, the Extent of its Powers, and the Limits of our Obedience, by a Layman.' The period chosen for this publication was most happy; for it was "at a time (as the preface states) when the press teemed with the most scurrilous invectives against the fundamental doctrines of our religion; and even the newspapers were converted into trumpets of sedition by the enemies of the Church;" and, therefore, this good man thought, and justly, that silence on the part of its friends would be criminal, and a cold neutrality inexcusable. The object which this excellent writer had in view in the publication does honour to his head and heart, as explained by himself. He concludes the preface by praying" that the publication may prosper to the edification of the ignorant, the conviction of the erroneous, and the establishment of the faithful that the ever blessed Trinity may be worshipped as such, in all sincerity and truth; that Christians may no longer dissemble with each other, in transactions of the most serious nature; that their conduct may be directed by knowledge,