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tance. He visited the sick, and was much blessed in that good work. Many have lifted up their languid hearts, and eyes, and hands, when they have heard his voice. He was much owned of God in that office; and had always a word in season given him, to speak to those who were under the rod. He visited a sick woman, (who is since dead,) about an hour and a half before he died. His desire for the welfare of the rising generation was very fervent. He gathered a respectable Sunday-School; in the management of which he was ably and cheerfully assisted by several friends, whose hearts were touched with the same feelings as his own. He had the happiness to see the good effects of these labours. He had a summer-house in his garden enlarged and set apart for the worship of God. There he met his Class; held prayer-meetings; and on Tuesday evenings read a sermon. Many souls have been born again there; and many built up in their. most holy faith. His fervour and joy on such occasions were very great. He wept with those that wept, and rejoiced with those that rejoiced. His all was devoted to the cause of God; the promotion of which he esteemed above every other object. When the people became remiss in their attendance on the means of grace, or when any turned back again to folly, he mourned for them in secret places. His life appeared to be wrapped up in the spiritual welfare of the people; and he could truly say, "Now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord." He used to meet the children of the neighbourhood in the Chapel; to instruct them in the things of God; and to pray with them.

"Each art he tried, reprov'd each dull delay,

Allur'd to brighter worlds, and led the way."

I believe Mr. BLYFORD never left his first love; nor did he ever cease from doing his first works. But at the close of the year 1820, he experienced (as he informed me) a deeper work of God upon his soul, than he had ever felt before. This I shall relate in his own words.

"At our Chapel, (Blakeney,) in Class, while singing hymns of praise to Almighty God, he very graciously visited my soul from on high with an abundant out-pouring of the sanctifying influences of his ever-blessed Spirit. My soul experienced all the blessed effects of an indwelling Saviour. All was love, peace, and joy! Every promise was mine, and I was enabled to say, 'My Beloved is mine, and I am his.' Blessed be the God of my salvation, who hath thus delivered me from all internal foes. A salvation from all sin! O that I may always be on my watch-tower; ever guarding the avenues of my heart against the entrance of its enemies, through the help and strength of Christ alone. Gracious Redeemer! thanks be unto thee for this unspeakable gift! Thou hast bought me with thy blood.

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"Take my body, spirit, soul,
Only thou possess the whole.'

Help me, blessed Lord, to dedicate the remainder of my days to thy praise and glory. And grant, Lord, that I may grow more and more in the knowledge of Christ; continue faithful until death; and finally be admitted into the rest that remaineth for the people of God, to dwell in his presence for ever and ever. the Lord!"

Praise

This is Mr. B.'s own account of what he ever after spoke of as a great deliverance. Different persons will judge differently of it; but surely the Scriptures speak of being made "free from sin ;" and this, I think, implies all that he has declared took place in his soul. All must allow that such a deliverance is most desirable; and it is certain that the Scriptures represent it as attainable. O that all Christians would seek it with their whole hearts, rather than dispute about it! O for the destruction of all the works of the Devil! May every one who shall read this, say Amen, from the ground of the heart!

Some writers of lives tell their readers that they are not describing perfect characters; intimating that there are none such to be found among the children of men. Yet that there are some who answer the description which David gives in Psalm xxxvii. 37, is certain; or we should never have been called to mark and behold the perfect and upright man. That Mr. B. received what St. John speaks of in his first Epistle, (iv. 18,) his own account declares; and this was shown in his conduct. I have passed many hours with him; I have seen him at home and abroad; but I have never seen or known him act in a way contrary to the Gospel. That he was by nature a fallen creature, and that he had been a great actual sinner, he readily acknowledged. But he was created anew in Christ Jesus unto good works; and he did afterwards walk in them. I believe him to have been one of the most holy men I ever knew. I fear that he will rise in judgment against many whom he faithfully and lovingly warned. O that they may remember and turn unto the Lord, that they may meet him with joy in the eternal world! I have heard him mention some of his former companions with deep concern. was often thinking how he might do them good; and many a prayer did he put up for them.. I have frequently witnessed the fervency of his soul in their behalf. Indeed the good of all his fellow-creatures lay near his heart. He was truly a philanthropist. God taught him to love all mankind. I think all who have known him in his latter years must confess that he was a real Christian.

He

His death was very sudden, which prevented his displaying the Christian character upon a sick and dying bed. Some friends were at his house at the time. After tea, he and Mr. REVELL,

the Superintendent Preacher, walked into the garden together. They had been engaged in conversation for a short time, when he complained of a great giddiness; sat down upon the gardenchair; and exclaimed, "Glory! glory! Heaven! heaven!" He wished to be removed to a bed. This was quickly done. After he was laid on it, he breathed twice, and breathed no more!— What a change in a few minutes! What a glorious change for him that was taken; what a mournful one for those that were left! The consternation and grief which this sudden and awful stroke occasioned was very great. The house was all confusion and tears; and the town and neighbourhood soon felt the shock. The feelings and expressions of the bereaved widow were indescribable. She looked; she spoke; she touched; but, O! he was dead! But the full assurance of his eternal happiness, after recollection returned, was a balm that allayed the anguish of the wound. As his praise was in all the Churches round about, the mournful tidings of his sudden death were soon known far and near. It caused a general grief. This painful event took place July 21st, 1821. His funeral was attended by a vast multitude of people. Many tears were shed. The dear children mourned as for a father dead; and many cried, "Ah my brother!" The Clergyman partook of the general feeling; and, on the following Lord's-day, preached an affecting sermon on the occasion, in which he made a most respectful and affectionate mention of the deceased. The afflictive providence was also improved at the Methodist chapel. in Blakeney, on the evening of the same day, from Psalm xxxvii.

37.

Reader! behold and admire, in the subject of this Memoir, the grace of God. See the gay, worldly man, changed thereby into an humble follower and bold confessor of Jesus Christ. You need the same grace; and it is free for you; for Jesus Christ by the grace of God, tasted death for every man. O seek that salvation which is offered to all the world through him. How can you escape from the wrath to come, if you neglect it? The mortal part of my departed brother rests in the dust, in sure and certain hope of a glorious resurrection to eternal life: and his immortal spirit is, we trust, now enjoying that glory of which he spoke as he flew! I long to meet him there! May you meet there with us; that we may all be for ever with the Lord. Amen!

Fakenham.

S. E.

Scripture Illustrated.

ILLUSTRATION OF GENESIS XI. 4-6.

Let us build us a city and a tower-On this subject there have been various conjectures. Mr. Hutchinson supposed, that the design of the builders was to erect a temple to the host of heaven, the sun, moon, planets, &c. and to support this interpretation, he says, 'wi ve rosho ba-shamayim, should be translated, not whose top may reach unto heaven, for there is nothing for may reach in the Hebrew; but its head, or summit, to the heavens, i. e. to the heavenly bodies; and to make this interpretation the more probable, he says, that previously to this time, the descendants of Noah were all agreed in one form of religious worship; for so he understands лns no ve sapah achath, (and of one lip) i. e. according to him, they had one litany; and as God confounded their litany, they began to disagree in their religious opinions, and branched out into sects and parties, each associating with those of his own sentiment; and thus their tower, or temple, was left

unfinished.

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It is probable, that their being of one language, and of one speech, implies not only a sameness of language, but also a unity of sentiment and design, as seems pretty clearly intimated in ver. 6. Being therefore, strictly united in all things, coming to the fertile plains of Shinar, they proposed to settle themselves there, instead of spreading themselves over all the countries of the earth, according to the design of God: and in reference to this purpose, they encouraged one another to build a city and a tower, probably a temple, to prevent their separation-"Lest," say they, we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth;" but God miraculously interposing, confounded or frustrated their rebellious design, which was inconsistent with his will. See Deut. xxxii. 8. Acts xvii. 26. And partly by confounding their language, and disturbing their counsels, they could no longer keep in a united state; so that, agreeing in nothing but the necessity of separating, they went off in different directions, and thus became scattered abroad upon the face of the earth. The Targums both of Jonathan ben Uzziel, and of Jerusalem, assert that the tower, was for idolatrous worship; and that they intended to place an image on the top of the tower with a sword in its hand, probably to act as a talisman against their enemies. Whatever their design might have been, it is certain that this temple or tower was afterwards devoted to idolatrous purposes. Nebuchadnezzar repaired and beautified this tower; and it was dedicated to Bel, or the Sun.-See Prideaux, vol. 1. part 1. b. 2.

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An account of this tower, and of the confusion of tongues, is given by several ancient authors. Herodotus saw the tower, and described it. A Sybil, whose oracle is yet extant, spoke both of it and of the confusion of tongues; so did Eupolemus and Abydenus. See Bochart Geogr. Sacra. lib. i. c. 13. Edit. 1692. On this point Bochart observes, that these things are taken from the Chaldeans, who preserve many remains of ancient facts; and though they often add circumstances, yet they are, in general, in some sort dependent on the text: 1. They say, Babel was builded by the giants; because Nimrod, one of the builders, is called in the Hebrew text 1 gibbor, a mighty man; or, as the Septuagint, yas, a giant. 2. These giants, they say, sprang from the earth; because in Gen. x. 11, it is said, he went s p¡ min haarets hahiv, out of that earth; but this is rather spoken of Ashur, who was another of the Babel-builders. 3. These giants are said to have waged war with the gods; because it is said of Nimrod, Gen. x. 9, he was a mighty hunter before the Lord; or, as others have rendered it, a warrior and a rebel against the Lord. See Jarchi in loco. 4. These giants are said to have raised a tower up to heaven, as if they had intended to have ascended thither. This appears to have been founded on, and its top shall reach to heaven, which has been already explained. 5. It is said, that the gods sent strong winds against them, which dispersed both them and their work. This appears to have been taken from the Chaldean history, in which it is said their dispersion was made to the four winds of heaven, sy be arba ruchey shemyia, i. e. to the four quarters of the world. 6. And because the verb po phuts, or

naphats, used by Moses, signifies not only to scatter, but also to break to pieces; whence thunder, Isa. xxx. 30, is called roi nephets, a breaking to pieces: hence they supposed the whole work was broken to pieces, and overturned. It was probably from this disguised representation of the Hebrew text that the Greek and Roman poets took their fable of the giants waging war with the gods, and piling mountain upon mountain, in order to scale heaven. See Bochart as above.

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Verse 5. And the Lord came down-A lesson, says an ancient Jewish commentator, to magistrates to examine every evidence before they decree judgment and execute justice.

Verse 6. The people is one, &c.-From this, as before observed, we may infer, that as the people had the same language, so they had a unity of design and sentiment. It is very likely that the original language was composed of monosyllables, that each had a distinct ideal meaning, and only one meaning; as different acceptations of the same word would undoubtedly arise, either from compounding terms, or when there were but few words in a language, using them by a different mode of pronunciation, to express a variety of things. Where this simple mono

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