THE PULPIT GALLERY. NO. XII. REV. THOMAS RAFFLES, LL.D. "Ever was he seen A faithful pastor. In admonition warm, The heart; and oft, more anxious than their Taught the surrounding innocents, who loved POLWHEELE. DR. RAFFLES was born May 17, 1778, in the parish of Christchurch, Spitalfields, London, where his father was an eminent and highly respected solicitor. The early part of his education he received at Peckham in Surrey, under the Rev. M. Ready, from whence he removed to a situation in the Bishop of London's registry, in Doctors' Commons. While at school he was introduced to the Rev. Dr. Collyer, who, perceiving his great predilection for the ministry, strongly encouraged it, and, in conformity with the doctor's advice, he returned to the academy at Peckham, and entered upon a course of preparatory studies, previous to his admission into the College at Homerton, which took place in 1804. He remained there rather more than four years, and on leaving the college was ordained to the pastoral office over the Congregational church at Hammersmith. In December, 1820, Mr. Raffles was created Doctor of Laws, by the Senatus Academicus of the Marischal College and University of Aberdeen, from whence he had previously received the degree of Master of Arts. His testimonials on being created a doctor were signed by the Dukes of Sussex and Somerset, as graduates of the same degree in the English universities. Dr. Raffles has been the author of several useful and important works-his Memoirs of the life and ministry of Spencer is a beautiful piece of biography-his Tour through France and Switzerland is often used by travellers through the romantic scenery of Savoy. The doctor has also published two volumes of Lectures on the doctrines and duties of the Christian religion, and sundry discourses delivered on public occasions. His talents as a preacher are of the first order: the crowds which attend his ministry-the affection which is felt for him by the members of his church, and the universal esteem with which he is regarded by all classes of society, are the best tributes to his talents and his virtues, and the brightest and best rewards he can hope for, or desire, on this side of eternity. sion: We close this sketch with an extract from a work by the Rev. Calvin Colton, entitled "Four Years in Great Britain." On Mr. Colton's visit to England he landed at Liverpool on a Sunday; in the evening of the day of his debarkation he went to Great George street chapel to Mr. Raffles continued in this scene of attend divine service, and heard the sublabour for two years, when, in conse-ject of this sketch preach. The following quence of the melancholy event which is his account of the man and the occadeprived Liverpool of the excellent and lamented Spencer, he was invited, with other ministers, to supply for a few weeks the bereaved church. In November, 1811, Mr. R. preached on three Sabbaths in Newington chapel, Liverpool, and shortly after received an unanimous call to become the pastor of the congregation late under Mr. Spencer's charge. This invitation was accepted, and in the April following he took up his residence in Liverpool, which has been the scene of his active labours ever since. "At the appointed hour a clergyman ascended the pulpit, knelt, and offered his silent prayer-a custom most befitting and impressive, but not practised in America, except by two denominations; and then, opening the Bible, he read the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew with great pertinency and pathos of expression, in silvery and subduing tones. From the first opening of his lips he seemed moved from his inmost soul. I could have imagined, though ignorant of the cause, that then applied himself to the proper theme of his text, in application to his hearers, and in view of the mournful event which had suggested it- Be ye also ready.' the deep fountains of feeling were opened | ocean to the haven of eternal rest, and within him, and that some mighty sympathies were working there, and I thought too that the congregation were ready to be with him in feeling; but still I knew not the occasion. Is that Dr. Raffles?' said I in a whisper to the gentleman on my right, as the preacher began to read. 'Yes, sir,' was the answer. After the usual introductory services, and a prayer which breathed the soul, and seemed communion with the skies, a fellowship with heaven, and fitted well to raise the heart that wished to be with God, the following text was announced :—There-it-all feel it; and this is eloquence. fore be ye also ready for in an hour that ye know not the Son of man cometh.' 666 Nearly twenty years have rolled away since I have had the pastoral charge of this congregation,' said the preacher, (and these were his first words after reading the text,) and never have I been called to mingle my tears with the bereaved of my charge, in any instance, for a work of death so astounding to private and public sympathy as in the late and ill-fated doom of the Rothsay Castle.' And here, at the end of the first sentence, the secret was all opened to me, and I felt myself at once a mourner with the mourning, and was ready to claim a full part in the deploring enact ment of that solemn hour. For I had passed in full view of the scene of death, and had heard the story for the first time that very day. Three members of Dr. Raffles' church, Mr. Lucas, his wife, and their daughter, were of the number who perished and that evening it had devolved on the pastor to stand up before a sympathizing people to tell the story, and try to impress them with the practical lesson of the awful event; and he did tell the story in the outset the simple story. He did not begin a great way off, and deliver a lecture on the abstract truth, till his hearers were tired of a discussion, as it is too apt to be the fashion on such occasions; but he told the simple story as the exordium of his sermon. He briefly noticed the character of those whose sudden and awful death they lamented; traced the pathway of their spirits through the stormy waves of the "I had heard of Dr. Raffles, and entertained a high opinion of his powers. He is unquestionably an eloquent man; and a man of good sterling sense, of pure taste and sound discretion; he is sure to be pertinent; and in these attributes, and others akin to them, great. He demonstrates a perfect honesty. It is his full soul that speaks out, and no one doubts Take, then, a theme like the fate of the Rothsay Castle, and give it such a man, before an audience whose acquaintances and dear ones perished there, and let him bring heaven and earth, time and eternity, probation and the judgment all together, as they stand connected with such a scene, and in the light of Christianityand none who can hear can be indifferent. And there were none indifferent on that occasion, I dare to say. It was not the voice of man alone. Man only gave a palpable utterance to the voice of God. "In the midst of the sermon, and at a moment when the minds and hearts of the audience were entirely captive, under the guidance of the preacher, and with him meditating on death, judgment, and eternity-abstracted from earth, and rapt in thought of a coming world—a sudden, protracted, and apparently an expiring groan came from a distant part of the galleries, reaching every part of the house, and penetrating every heart. It was a startling, thrilling expression of distress, augmented a thousand fold by the cir cumstances. The self-possession of the preacher, however, in a measure quieted the apprehensions of the audience, by stating that it was a person taken in a fit; and the individual having been carried out, after a pause of two or three minutes the doctor proceeded. What was the real cause of suffering I know not. But the shock at such a moment-when the feelings of the audience were under the highest excitement, and borne away by the most powerful sympathies for the dying and the dead, and forced to think of future and eternal events-was abso- brighter, the spirit of the gospel expands lutely appalling. and diffuses itself through all the faculties and affections of his mind, so as it has never done before; and a conviction of the divinity of his principles, the safety of his state, and the grandeur of his prospects, gets to be more and more impress "Occasionally in the progress of the sermon the doctor was exceedingly powerful his thoughts and manner, and the tones of his voice, all befitting each other. The interest of the occasion was itself intense; and when the amen was pro-ive and absorbing; till, at length, every nounced, that perfect stillness which had reigned for the hour, excepting only the speaker's voice, was succeeded by that singular bustle which an instantaneous change of position in every individual of a great congregation, after having been long chained by eloquence in fixed and motionless attitudes, produces." bystander feels himself to be quite on the verge of heaven; or says to his neighbour, Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace; or ejaculates the fervent prayer, Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.-Dobson. DEATH-BED OF AN AGED BELIEVER. AFFECTING ANECDOTE. By a certain burst of water into one of the Newcastle collieries, thirty-five men THERE is not a more sublime and inte- and forty-one lads were driven into a disresting spectacle than the death-bed of an tant part of the pit, from which there was aged and consistent believer. It is inde- no possibility of return until the water scribably interesting to listen to his last should be drawn off. While this was conversations, and to mark the heavenly effecting, though all possible means were aspect of his countenance; it is unutter- used, the whole number gradually died, ably grand to observe with what tranquil from starving or from suffocation. When and fearless composure he sinks to the the bodies were drawn up from the pit, rest for which he has been prepared by seven of the youths were discovered in a the influence of a lively faith, and by a cavern separate from the rest. Among course of uniform and exemplary godli- these was one of peculiarly moral and ness; and, while contemplating such a religious habits, whose daily reading of scene, it is almost impossible not to com- the sacred Scriptures to his widowed pare it with the glorious sunset of an mother, when he came up from his laautumnal evening. The light of Chris-bour, had formed the solace of her lonely tian experience and character, reflected condition. After his funeral, a sympaby the venerable saint as he approaches thizing friend of the neglected poor went the close of his career, seems to throw to visit her; and while the mother show back a hallowed radiance upon all its ed him, as a relic of her son, his Bible preceding stages; a hope full of immor- worn and soiled with constant perusal, tality triumphs over every doubt, and he happened to cast his eyes on a candleputs to flight every fearful apprehension, box, with which, as a miner, he had been whereby his soul may have been afore- furnished, and which had been brought time beclouded his enjoyments inter- up from the pit with him; and there he rupted or his usefulness in any measure discovered the following affecting record counteracted; the felt presence of a di- of the filial affection and steadfast piety of vine Redeemer gives energy and anima- the youth. In the darkness of the suffotion to his voice, imparts a more than cating pit, with a bit of pointed iron, he mortal lustre to his eye, and gilds the had engraved on the box his last meschamber where he languishes with the sage to his mother, in these words:-glories of a better world; and in propor-Fret not, my dear mother; for we were tion as he nears the moment of depart- singing and praising God, while we had ure, his moral greatness becomes increas- time. Mother, follow God more than I ingly apparent evidence that all is well did.-Joseph, be a good lad to God and with him, for eternity grows brighter and mother." VOL. I.-47 SERMON XL. THE NEARNESS OF DEATH. BY THE REV. THOMAS MACCONNEL. "There is but a step between me and death."-1 Sam. xx. 3. In prosecuting my object I shall ob serve, I. That this solemn assertion was seem ingly true concerning David. II. That it is really true with regard to many now living in the world. And, III. That it may be true with regard to some here present. THAT Solemn and startling event, the serious consciousness of which sits deep on every countenance, and speaks impressively to every heart in this numerous assembly, calls loudly upon us all to shake off our drowsy disregard to death, and rouse us to the serious and salutary task of numbering our days. The shepherd numbers his sheep; the miser numbers I. It was seemingly true concerning his gold; the general numbers his sol- David. His affecting story is soon told. diers; and the sovereign numbers his When, owing to Saul's disobedience of subjects; but we omit to number our God's orders, the Spirit of the Lord dedays. Is this because our days are of parted from him; an evil spirit, of which less value than sheep, or gold, or soldiers, kind there are many, came upon him, and or subjects? Certainly not; but because a horror of great darkness brooded over we have no disposition to so necessary his distempered imagination. Royalty a work. It is true that we are too prone was now, as it has not unfrequently been, to number days that we presume are yet splendid wretchedness and magnificent to come, while we criminally neglect to misery. Music was recommended to disnumber those which are gone by, and pel the oppressive melancholy, and the which, correctly speaking, only are ours. son of Jesse was named as a superior perA momentary exclamation at the swift- former on that sweet and ancient instruness of time, a passing shock, is, for the ment, the harp. He was introducedmost part, all the effect produced by events played, and pleased. After this, and the like that we are assembled to improve, slaughter of Goliath, he was taken into upon guilty mortals, who are any thing great favour, and became Saul's armourbut prepared for the awful summons. bearer. Returning from the field of batThe necessity of preparation for our mor- tle and of victory, the beautiful women tal exit is now forced upon our attention of Israel chanted his praises, in strains by this dispensation of Providence. It is more laudatory than those in which the perfectly identified with the text "There monarch was eulogized. Saul was of is but a step between me and death." fended, and from that day he watched DaThis is the declaration of David to Jona- vid with unslumbering jealousy; struck than, whose father was now, with un- a javelin at his unsuspecting and defencewearied assiduity and savage determination, seeking to take away his life. * Wreck of the Rothsay Castle steamboat, in which about ninety persons were lost. less enemy, whom, having missed, he hunted now like a partridge on the mountains, determined to kill him. Surrounded by numerous enemies eager to slake their cruel thirst in his blood, he exclaimed in his extremity to Jonathan, his only friend, "As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death." But this was not correct; there were many steps between him and dissolution. He lived many years after this; composed many psalms; fought many battles; entered into many alliances; wept over the deaths of Saul and Jonathan his son, in a matchless monody; ascended the throne of Israel; died full of riches, and honours, and years; and Solomon his son reigned in his stead. This teaches us how liable we are to be wrong in our judgments. We can only judge from appearances; therefore we should draw all inferences of importance with caution. Yet this judgment of David's, perhaps, was the instrumental cause of his preservation. It made him cautious. How many evils, which we dread and prepare for, never come upon us! And how many, that we never had the slightest idea of, overwhelm and confound us! Thus Providence sports with our calculations; "man knoweth not his appointed time, but is like the fishes insnared in an evil net," &c. &c., says Solomon. "Safety consists not in escape II. The text is really true concerning some individuals now in the world. It is calculated that nine hundred millions of men might be found in both hemispheres of the inhabited globe. It is computed that one individual dies every moment. Time treads a man to death at every step. How true it is, then, that "there is but a step between many and death." 1. Let us, in the first place, look at the great number of the sick scattered over the face of this well-peopled world. The poor emaciated invalids who, during the wearisome watches of the sleepless night, long for the dawning morning, and who, when the earliest sunbeams play upon their pillow, turn away from the oppressive glare, and long for the evening, are slowly dying; they are given up by their physicians, and their decease daily expected ;--"there is but a step between them and death." 2. Go into the gloomy cells of condemned criminals, whose life must pay the forfeit of their crimes on the coming morning: see them, by the dim light of the lamp, spending the little time that remains to them in devotional exercises; "there is but a step between them and death." 3. Look at the combatants that are now preparing for deadly battle; their country's cause palpitates at their heart, and burns on their tongue. They are buckling on their armour; but they will never unbuckle it. They are destined to fall in the struggle. "There is but a step between them and death." 4. Listen to the cries of those mariners in distress; "they are going up to the heavens, and now down to the depths." The ship is unmanageable; her hold is filling with water; she is sinking; the poor wretches are climbing to the shrouds. "There is but a step between them and death." 5. View those men of apoplectic structure. How precarious the hold they have of life! Fresh and hale one minute-the next dead. How true it is, with regard to some men, that "there is but a step between them and death!" III. The declaration in the text may be true with regard to some of us. Let us make good our ground at every step. 1. Sentence of death has been passed on all men, "because that all have sinned." Death, which in poetry is called the king of terrors; in philosophy, the negation of existence; in infidelity, annihilation; in law, capital punishment; in theology is the "wages of sin." In Adam, our federal head, we all fell; and, when he was sentenced to die, we his descendants were sentenced also. "In Adam all die, and in Christ shall all be made alive." We read the record of our sentence in the Scriptures, which, though they be thousands of years old-yea, |