In some villages, where the preachers could not obtain li cenced houses, he very warmly recommends them to attempt out-door preaching.

"You can't preach in the villages, it seems, till places are procured and licenced;" because you find, by enquiry, that the opposition will be great among some of the principal people: and as to out-door preaching, you are told it is hazardous; and the people think it prudent at present, to go on more cautiously. There is not any thing you say, which might not then have been anticipated. For, who ever expected to preach the gospel in new places without opposition? And as to the hazard of preaching out of doors, it is neither less nor greater than it has always been in our time, or the time of our predecessors.-If, however, you are afraid, and no other person will undertake it, I hope some supply will be found for my own chapel, that I may commence Itinerant in the villages around Petersfield."

When Societies, formed solely for the purpose of spreading the gospel, were falsely and maliciously charged with the infamous design of propagating political opinions of a baneful tendency, Mr. Eyre wrote thus to one of the preachers :

"Yours I received in due time, and hope all will go on perfectly well. We need not fear what the enemy can do, since he that is with us is greater than he that is in the world. Satan works by lies; and no wonder if his children do the works of their father. Biessed be God, Truth is more powerful than the weapons of our adversaries; and it shall ultimately prevail. But let us keep our temper, and learn sometimes to keep silence. Scurrility and abuse are best refuted sometimes, by answering them not. Unless I am mistaken, we shall have great need of caution. Such exertions as are now making, will be offensive to a carnal mind; and therefore evil motives will be attributed to those who have nothing in view but the glory of God. Our lives must speak for us; and to those who are capa ble of discernment, our disinterestedness will appear. None will be found so faithful to their country, and so obedient to its laws, as those who seck a better country, and have put on the yoke of him who was meek and lowly in heart. The discontented and ambitious, who have only earthly things in view, may be contentious and unruly; but the children of God seek the peace of the land where they dwell, and are, intent only in pro moting the honour and interest of the spiritual kingdom of Christ. Blessed be God, that is flourishing, and it must flourish and increase, and spread itself at last over all the earth."

Nothing can give our readers a more just idea of the man, than a letter he wrote, respecting a slight inisunderstanding be tween the preachers:

"It is no easy matter to judge impartially of ourselves; and more difficult still, to decide properly on the characters of others. The oldest and best Christians bear but a very imperfect resemblance to their Lord and Saviour; it is not therefore to be expected that the zeal and meckness of Christ should exactly harmonize in young persons. If the apostles, brought up under the eye of our blessed Lord, were so mistaken in their expressions of concern for his honour, as not to know what manner of spirit they were of, which of us ought not to suspect a possibility of being mis taken also? And if we once learn to watch over our hearts in this respect, we shall have reason to be thankful that the error of these eminent scr vants of God was recorded for our instruction.”

"A censorious spirit has ever been to me a source of grief. I have

See Mr Eyre's masterly Review of Bishop Horsley's Charge, in our Magazine for March and April 1301; in which his Lordship's malevolent accusations are completely refuted and exposed.

mourned over it for many years; and yet I mourn that it is not sufficiently subdued. I am apt to fix my eye upon another person's faults, while I overlook his excellencies; and, being of an open disposition, I am led to pronounce his character, merely from a view of his defects. This is the more blameable, because I have so often discovered that I was wrong, and experienced much inconveniency, by being constrained to go out of my way, to give some signal token of affection to those whom I had so misrepresented, through precipitancy of judgment.

"These things I mention, to put you upon your guard. You area younger man than I am; and being of the same sanguine disposition, you may be liable to fall into the same error."

Useful as this society then was, Mr. Eyre projected a plan. to enlarge its sphere of action and utility, in a very considerable degree. He had found, upon a careful investigation, that, notwithstanding the number of ministers furnished by our semina-. ries, a very small proportion indeed was employed in breaking up new ground. He had repeatedly applied to one of the most popular and useful Schools of the Prophets, near London, for young men to act under the direction of his own Society; but could not obtain even one. Nor had he the least hope of doing. so in future, as he was given to understand, that that seminary had for its object, solely the furnishing of pastors for churches. He had also considerable doubts, whether the mode of education adopted in that and other academies, were such as would fit young men to answer his purpose, however useful they might be in another line. He observed, that a considerable portion of a short term allotted to the students, was occupied in learning a language in which they were never to speak or write; and to read what they were never designed to teach, viz. "Heathen Historians, Poets, Rhetoricians, Orators, and Philosophers;" and this very frequently, to the gross neglect of their own tongue: and, what is of still greater importance, to the awful neglect of solid Biblical and theological knowledge. He noticed, that in consequence of such a mode of education, many forgot what they had so imperfectly learned; and that those who had been the most diligent and successful in such acquisitions, frequently lamented they had spent their time without acquiring suitable mental furniture for the discharge of ministerial duties. These observations he had communicated to two or three valuable correspondents; and, finally, induced the Society to educate, under their own eye, and in their own mode, those young men they might in future send out.

In the execution of this plan, he was assisted by his friends, and particularly by Mr. Hanson and Mr. Townsend the latter of whom generously agreed to give 500l. per annum during his own lite; and to pay by installments, or give by his will, the principal sum of 10,000l. for the same purpose 1.

A plan of education was drawn up, excluding the dead languages, except so far as to read the Scriptures in the original,

Mr. Eyre intended to give a Memoir of Mr. T's Life; and the materials he has left, will be shortly presented to the public, with his Portrait, in this Magazine.

to consist of twelve courses of lectures: six of which were to be Biblical and Theological; and six on Science, Literature, and the Duties of a Preacher. Students were collecting, a tutor was engaged, and the time of commencement was fixed, but has been protracted by his death.

Under the auspices of the same Society, he instituted schools in Spital-fields and Bethnal-green, for the purpose of teaching. poor ignorant children to read the Bible, and to understand the first principles of Christianity, from well-known and approved catechisms. The teachers were some of his own congregation, who freely gave their labours in so good a work; and the schools were open for public inspection.

Pitying the state of the poor in these parishes, many thousands of whom never attend any place of public worship on the Lord's Day, he designed to obtain a spacious chapel, to be regularly supplied by an evangelical minister, of respectable character and talents, solely for the use of the poor, without any cost whatever on their part. How mysterious the Providence which removed a man so devoted to his Lord and Master, at a time when his greatest plans appeared near to an accomplishment!

Humility was another prominent feature of his character: those who were best acquainted with him, will recollect in what modest terms he spoke of his own talents and attainments. An extract from a small paper, which he wrote with his pencil, and gave to Mrs. Eyre, during an illness, six or seven years before his death, and which he styled his Epitaph, will illustrate this

observation:

"Here lies the mortal part of John Eyre, the chief of sinners, saved by grace: But he was the chief of sinners, in a sense very different from that in which the expression could be used by St. Paul: for the apostle viewed himself in that light, from the greatest degree of holiness which any mortal in this life perhaps ever attained; but he from the greatest degree of sinfulness, which ever subsisted in a soul renewed by the Spi rit of God; and which actually polluted every operation of his body and mind for the space of upwards of years; during which he made an open profession of faith in Christ; when God, moved with compassion, released him from the bondage of corruption, and took him up to Heaven."

It was his practice, as we have seen, to conclude the old year with a sermon, reminding his hearers of the mercies they had received. The last year was improved from Ps. cxxvi. 3. "The Lord hath done great things for us." In this discourse he enumerated signal blessings continued and enlarged; among which he mentioned, that the number of communicants was then greater than the number of hearers when he first came to Homerton. He then particularized new favours, among which he reckoned the establishment of the academy above mentioned, as likely to be a great blessing to the country.

Jan. 1st, 1803, he opened the new year with an address from Solomon's Song ii. 16. "I am his." On the following Lord's Day evening he preached from 1 Cor. vii. 29. "But this I say,

brethren, the time is short.” ، It was a serimon, says one of his hearers, of uncommon elegance and ability, and strikingly prophetic, as Mr. Townsend died within four hours after it was delivered ; his dear friend Mr. Hansou, and another of his congregation, within a week; and himself, within the short space of three months.'

Jan. 16, He preached Mr. Townsend's funeral sermon from Rev.xiv. 13. "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord," &c. Jan. 23, He preached Mr. Hanson's funeral sermon, from Mat. xi. 28-30. "Come unto me all ye that labour," &c. in which he declared he would rather die with Mr. H's poverty of spirit, than in the most triumphant manner; and begged the people to notice, that he desired his dying words might be those of the publican, "God be merciful to me a sinner!"

Feb. 13, in the evening, he preached from 1 Cor. vi. 9-11. In the course of the sermon he solemnly appealed to the consciences of his hearers, respecting the doctrines he had preached among them. "Have I asserted that fornicators can enter the kingdom of Heaven? Have I asserted that the covetous, drunkards, and extortioners can enter the kingdom, of Heaven? J solemnly affirm, before God and you, I have not. Have I not declared, that the unrighteous, &c. shall not inherit the kingdom of God? I solemnly declare, that I am pure from your blood." This was his last sermon.

The next day (Monday) he attended the Committee of Examination of the Missionary Society; and returned home in the evening, very ill of the influenza, which terminated in an impostume of the head. This breaking on the Tuesday following, produced a great degree of deafness. About a week after being seized by this illness, his friend Mr:Wilks wrote a note, enquiring after his health; to which he returned the following

answer:

"My dear Brother,

"Except relief from excruciating pain, I can scarcely venture to think myself better. My strength altogether fails me, and my spirits are greatly depressed. It is the nature of the disease. Debility is its charac teristic. The Lord only knows when I shall be again restored to my labours; or whether I shall be restored at all, is to me very questionable. I wish to stand prepared, and know no will but his. Why did not Brother --'s young men write their letters for the Committee? Things must move whether I live or die. Pray go forward, and believe me, with affec tionate remembrance to Mrs. W→→,

After three weeks, he began, tho' slowly, to recover; and at the end of the fourth, he appeared in a state of convalescence. About this time he observed to a friend, who called upon hun, "The Lord has prevented me from enjoying much of the society of thy friends, on account of my deafness. I have, therefore, had more leisure for his blessed word. I have travelled through the book of Job and the Psalms; but foun

nothing peculiarly adapted to my state. I therefore passed on to the living word." He then related the views with which he had been favoured of the whole gospel of John: describing the glory of Jesus in his conversation with Nicodemus and the woman of Samaria; his discourses on himself, as the bread of life, fountain of living water, and the good shepherd; the glory of his actions in opening the eyes of the blind; but especially at the tomb of Lazarus, adding, "Who would not die to be raised up by such a Saviour?" In short, he threw such a lustre upon the whole book of John, and spoke with a countenance so illuminated with joy, with an air and manner altogether so superior, solemn, and impressive, so much like a being who had been conversing personally with the Saviour, as strongly to remind the writer of that fine image of the Christian-poet:

When one that holds communion with the skies
Has fill'd his urn where these pure waters rise,
And once more mingles with us meaner things,
'Tis ev'n as if an angel shook his wings:
Immortal fragrance fills the circuit wide,

That tells us whence his treasures are supply'd."

COWPER.

On the Lord's Day, March 28, he was attacked with very violent pains in the head. Leaning on Mrs. Eyre, he observed, "If it were so sweet to recline on the bosom of an earthly friend, what must John haye felt when leaning on the bosom of his Saviour?"

On the Monday his pains increased; but on the Tuesday were less violent. On the Wednesday morning, when engaging in private prayer with Mrs. Eyre, before he left his room, he was seized with a paralytic affection, which impeded articulation. However, he got down stairs; and that day wrote a letter (the last he ever did write) to the Missionaries at Otaheite; and observed to a friend, "Perhaps my chariot may be nearer than we are aware of. I have been praying for my family, and all my friends by name, as many as I can recollect; and the charge the Lord has committed to me, I have resigned to him again. I do not say I will go before, and prepare you mansions. No; blessed be God, they are already prepared! And my friends I shall not lose: I shall meet them again, for I have long broken off all friendship with the world.”— Upon his friend observing, You have not been left in this affliction?' Oh, no!" said he, in an extacy, "I do not indeed know what Heaven is, but I have had such views, that it seems worth while to leave Heaven, and come down to enjoy them over again. But on these joys I lay no stress; - I had rather go out of the world in poverty of spirit, than with the greatest joy!"

To Mrs. Eyre he said, "Here is a portion for you, my dear Mary, in Jer. xlix. 11, "Leave thy fatherless children, and let thy widow trust in me.”