THE REV. GREVILLE EWING, of whom we have furnished this month a striking and approved likeness, is a native of Edinburgh, where he was born in 1767. Though originally destined by his parents for a secular profession, so decidedly was his mind directed to the Christian ministry, that, after having served an apprenticeship, he entered the University of Edinburgh, where he passed through the regular course of study appointed by the Church of Scotland, and in the year 1792 was licensed to preach the Gospel in the Established Church by the Presbytery of Hamilton. After preaching a few months as a probationer, he was ordained minister of Lady Glenorchy's Chapel, Edinburgh, in 1793, as colleague with the Rev. Dr. Jones, who still occupies that charge.

About the year 1796, when attention was so powerfully awakened to missionary objects, a plan of a mission to India was formed by Robert Haldane, Esq. of Arthrey, near Stirling. The parties principally engaged in this undertaking were Mr. Haldane, the Rev. David Bogue, of Gosport, the Rev. William Innes, then one of the ministers of Stirling, and Mr. Ewing. It was proposed that they and their families should go out to some part of Bengal, and there spend their lives in propagating the Gospel. The entire expense of the mission was to have been defrayed by Mr. Haldane. NEW SERIES, No. 1.

The Directors of the East India Company were repeatedly petitioned and memorialised on the subject, but permission to proceed to India was most peremptorily refused. From one of the memorials, presented to the Directors in their joint names, we extract the following spirited passage, rejoicing that the dispositions of the Directors are now changed, or that it is no longer in their power to prevent the introduction of the Gospel into India.

"The history of the world does not afford a similar instance of conduct. Twenty

four English merchants, of splendid for

tunes, men of a liberal education, and of enlarged minds, and who will receive credit

from the world for a considerable share of

philanthropy; men professing the Christian religion, and consequently believing

that it is unspeakably superior to every

other, and has the most powerful tendency to promote the happiness of mankind, and by the providence of God invested with Sovereign authority over the populous provinces in Hindostan. That men in such a

situation, and with such advantages, should be unwilling to permit Christianity (the religion they themselves profess) to be carried to that country, and should appear to wish to shut up twelve millions of people from the benefits of that religion which conduces greatly to their present comfort, and secures their eternal blessedness, is unique in the annals of mankind. The records of nations contain nothing like it, nor has language terms to express it. Every other State, Protestant and Catholic,. which has had foreign colonies and settlements, has procured and employed missionaries to instruct the natives in the principles of Christianity. This has been the case for the last two hundred years; and an exception cannot be produced. If at the end of the eighteenth century the Directors of the East India Company refuse liberty to persons who wish to under

B

take a mission at their own expense, they will not be able to plead a precedent; and men of literature, of liberality, of philanthropy, and of religion, will cordially unite in their prayers to heaven, that it may remain a unique in the decrees of the rulers of the nations, till the world itself shall be dissolved."

The mission to India having failed, in consequence of the determination of the Directors to prevent such an establishment in that country, the attention of Mr. Ewing, and of some others, was then directed to the state of religion at home. The Missionary Magazine, the first religious work of a periodical nature in Scotland, began to be published in 1796, under the editorship of Mr. Ewing, which continued through the three first volumes, and under the title of the Christian Herald this work still continues to be published by the Independents in Scotland. The restrictions on preaching the Gospel in the country, imposed by the Established Church of Scotland, were felt to be very grievous; in consequence of which, and of other considerations, Mr. E. relinquished his situation as a minister of that church, and accepted of one of the places then provided and opened by Mr. Haldane in different parts of Scotland. This change removed him to Glasgow, where he has been ever since the pastor of a large and respectable Independent church.

Mr. Ewing was not allowed to retire quietly from the Establishment, though he voluntarily withdrew, and in the most respectful manner. The following sentence of the General Assembly discovers the principles and the spirit which actuated that body.

"At Edinburgh, the 29th day of May, 1799.

"Which day the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland proceeded to hear a reference by the Synod of Lothian and Tweeddale, relative to the resignation of Mr. Greville Ewing, mirister of Lady Glenorchy's Chapel, of his character as a minister of this church and having deliberated upon the same, and considering

that Mr. Greville Ewing's resignation of his character of a minister of this church has been accepted by the Presbytery of Edinburgh, uanimonsly find and declare, that Mr. Greville Ewing is no longer a minister in this church, and that he is incapable of receiving or accepting of a presentation or call to any parish or chapel of allowance of some future General Assemease in this church, without the special bly: and the Assembly prohibit all the ministers of this church from employing him to preach or perform any ministerial offices for them, or from being employed by him, unless some future Assembly shall see cause to take off this prohibition."

This secession from the Church of Scotland, and the active measures for disseminating the Gospel in that country, adopted by the Seceders, aided by the labours of ministers from England, excited great alarm among the friends of the Ecclesiastical Establishment. The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, in 1799, issued a pastoral admonition, addressed to the people of Scotland, warning them against the new opinions, and denouncing the missionaries as demagogues, and enemies to government, as well as dissenters from the church by law established. To this singular document replies were published by the Rev. Rowland Hill, and the Rev. George Burder, who was then in Scotland. Mr. Ewing replied in the following letter, published in the Scots newspapers.

"Sir,-In your paper of this day you have inserted a Pastoral Admonition, which has been unanimously approved of and adopted by the late General Assembly, addressed by them to all the people, and ordained to be read from all the pulpits of the Church of Scotland. In that Admonition, the missionaries from the Society for Propagating the Gospel at Home, are loaded with many heavy charges, which, if true,

would justly render them the abhorrence of mankind. I am known to have acted repeatedly as one of the missionaries from that Society, and of course am involved in the common accusation.

"Through the channel, therefore, of your paper, I appear before the world, to assert my innocence of crimes which I detest, and to complain that I have been grossly libelled, in the most solemn manner, by the unanimous order of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland,

Matheson, a respectable Dissenting minister at Durham.

It would be indecorous for us to enter more into detail respecting an individual who is still alive, or

unanimous

tion, or rebellion, but the very reverse.

"I challenge the whole world to produce the most distant shade of evidence, that my profession, in this respect, has ever been belied by any part of my con

duct; or that I have ever acted with

any man, or set of men, moment, whose principles, political or religious, were, to my knowledge, inconsistent with my own.

"I bless God, that my life has been early devoted to nobler pursuits than those of worldly ambition. I have preached, and by the grace of God I will preach, wherever my lot may be cast, the everlasting Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; referring to the infallible standard of his word as at once" my authority," and "my public pledge of the soundness of my faith;" and submitting "the correctness of my morals" to the testimony of those who see and know me, and to the authority of

the laws of the land in which I live. "I am, Sir, &c.

"GREVILLE EWING."

A class of young men, intended for the ministry, was placed under Mr. Ewing's charge, at the expense of Mr. Robert Haldane, which he superintended for several years, and from which a number of valuable labourers were sent forth to different parts of Scotland and Ireland, and a number of whom still continue to preach the Gospel. Subsequently to the dissolution of the connection between Mr. Haldane and the Scots Independent churches, a new academy was formed, and placed under the joint tuition of Mr. Ewing and Dr. Wardlaw, whose valuable labours have, from the beginning, been entirely gratuitous.

Mr. Ewing has been more than once married. His present lady is the daughter of the late Sir John Maxwell, of Pollock, sister to the present baronet, and aunt to John Maxwell, Esq. Member of Parliament for the county of Renfrew. His only daughter, by a former wife, is married to the Rev. James

and for learning and talents as a minister and a tutor, we know not a more estimable individual. The following, we believe, is an accurate list of Mr. Ewing's publications:

A Defence of Missions from Christian Societies to the Heathen World; a Sermon, preached before the Edinburgh Missionary Society, on Thursday, February 2, 1797.-Edinburgh, 1797.

The Duty of Christians to Civil Government; a Sermon.-Edinburgh, 1798.

A Defence of Itinerant and Field Preaching; a Sermon, preached before the Society for Gratis Sabbath Schools, December 24, 1797. Edinburgh, 1799.

Animadversions on some Passages of a pamphlet, entitled "Lay-Preaching Indefensible on Scripture Principles."-Glasgow, 1800.

Remarks on the Reply.-Glasgow, 1800.

Remarks on a Sermon concerning the Qualifications and Call of Missionaries.-Glasgow, 1801.

A Greek Grammar and Lexicon for the New Testament.- Edinburgh, 1801.

The Ignorance of the Heathen, and the Conduct of God toward them; a Sermon, on Acts xvii. 30, 31, preached before the London Missionary Society.-London, 1803.

A Lecture on part of the Fifteenth Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. -Glasgow, 1804.

An Exposure of some things

A Sermon on the Death of her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales.Glasgow, 1817.

Two Discourses, delivered at Mr. Jack's Ordination. -Whitehaven, 1820.

The Testimony of God against Massacre and Rapine; a Sermon. Glasgow, 1820.

The Duty of abstaining from Debt; a Sermon. Glasgow, 1821.

An Essay on Baptism.-Glasgow, 1823.

Ditto. Second edition, 1824.

The Sympathy of Christ; a Sermon, in the volume of Discourses by Ministers of the Congregational Union, for the benefit of their Widows' Fund.-1823.

MY LIBRARY.

AT the present season of the year, when the days are short, and the evenings long-the fields barren, and the roads muddy-the fireside more tempting than the gardens, I am compelled, though I must say it is no great hardship, to betake myself to My Library. Here I sometimes find amusement in hours of relaxation from business, by looking into authors, ancient and modern, of different parties, and upon a great variety of topics. Among the works which contribute to my amusement and instruction, I may be allowed to say your Magazine finds a place, and that among its varied contents the labours and DREAMS of your BOOK-WORMS are not the least entertaining.-By-the-by, I do not wonder that Book-worms dream, nor that their dreams should be, like those of another species of worms, upon the carcases on which

they feed.-Occasionally I have thought of transmitting you some of the reveries in which I have indulged, and probably should have done so before, had I not felt a sort of instinctive dread of criticism and editors; and even now suspect that I shall wish my letter a thousand times in the fire before it appears in your columns. However, I must communicate to you the result of one of my late musings. As I opened, about a week ago, the folding-doors, which shut in my books from hands profane and vulgar, and looked from shelf to shelf for something to occupy a leisure evening, I found myself more than usually difficult to please. Not a book seemed to chime in with the present state of my mind, and after casually opening some half-dozen, and returning them to their stations, I fell into a train of reflections, upon the juxta-position in which a mul