abstract inserted in our last month's Religious Intelligence. It is worthy of himself and of his subject. Plain and scriptural, uniting the utmost simplicity with purity and elegance, the preacher seems solely occupied with the desire of benefiting his congregation, and impressing upon their minds the truth so forcibly expressed in his text, and so strikingly exemplified in the character and conduct of his departed friend. Much, however, as we have already inserted in our former number of this discourse, we shall here add one or two extracts, which we were previously compelled to omit. Speaking of Mr. Owen, Mr. D. observes, When his ardent and charitable mind first interested itself in the cause of the British and Foreign Bible Society, he little anticipated, I believe, either the formidable nature of the service which he undertook, or the continually growing demand which it would urge upon his time and attention. Happily, however, if it required extraordinary endowments, it found in him a person suited to the task, and willing to spend and be spent in the promotion of its Christian object. I know of no qualification demanded by that Institution of its Secretary, which he did not remarkably possess; nor of any emergency that befell it, in which he did not rise to the level of the occasion: and when to this it is added, that the progress of the Society afforded ample scope for his various powers, and that, perhaps, in no other situation could they have been so fully called forth, or employed so beneficially to mankind; it seems reasonable to conclude, that Providence smiled upon his undertaking, and sanctioned the prosecution of it. The conviction, indeed, that there exists a directing Providence, over-ruling for its own high purposes the pursuits and occupations of men, when they, perhaps, little suspect it, might lead us to observe, with some interest, the way in which he had previously become qualified for this particular appointment. It is of great importance to the welfare of the Society, that its Secretary should be well acquainted with modern languages. Your deceased Minister had not only a singular facility in acquiring this knowledge, but it so happened, that in his early travels he had cultivated that talent, and had made himself familiar with the manners, and habits, and modes of thinking, which prevail in different DECEMBER 1822. parts of the Continent. Little did he anticipate, when engaged in these pursuits, to what account they would be turned! And little would any one have imagined, while looking at the youthful traveller, that he was thus training, however unconsciously, to be the effective agent of a Society, which should, ere long, arise to embrace nation, and kindred, and tongue, and within the sphere of its benevolence, every people; and that in the very countries which he now visited to gratify a laudable curiosity, he should hereafter appear as its accredited representative. Those who may hereafter furnish us with a complete description of his character and talents, will have much to tell, which, in this brief sketch, I can scarcely notice. They will speak of the fertility of his imagination; of the quickness of his perception; of his lively and innocent wit; of the soundness of his judgment; of his almost intuitive knowledge of character; of his extemporaneous and commanding eloquence; of the facility with which he could turn his mind to any subject proposed to him; of his unwearied diligence and unconquerable resolution: and, particularly, of that cheerfulness of disposition, and that frankness, candour, and urbanity, which seemed to be interwoven with his nature. But upon these and similar topics I have no leisure to dwell. The great excellence in his character to which I would most particularly advert, is the consecration which he made of all his talents to the best and noblest objects. In early life he had shown no disinclination to lend himself to pursuits unconnected with religion: and it is said, that, like many of his young contemporaries, he took a strong interest in political questions. But from the period of which I now speak, and for some years previous to it, he had ceased, in any sense of the word, to be a party man. To the king he was a loyal subject, and the radical and blasphemous spirit of the day he beheld with feelings of serious concern: but on questions purely political, I know not that I ever heard him deliver an opinion: he was occupied by higher things; he determined to have nothing else in view than the glory of God, and the benefit of mankind.-Pp. 22-25. In one of his last letters to his daughter, he writes in these terms: My frame has been so shattered, that I must not expect it to be speedily, perhaps, never thoroughly repaired. There is nothing I wish to live for, but the service of my Divine Master; and if I may but be favoured with the testimony of having pleased him, and possessing an interest in his love, I shall be willing to live or to die, as to him may appear best. Oh, my dear daughter! this should be our first, our last, our invari able object; we cannot dispense with its consolations in sickness, or its support in death."-Pp. 39, 40. To him, whom we now bear in our af fectionate recollection, we are well persuaded that to die was gain: ours is the loss; and how deeply it is felt, this pre sent assembly can witness. But shall we mourn then for the great cause to which his labours were devoted? and especially for that Institution which is now deprived of his services? Did the success of it depend upon human talent or human energy, the loss might indeed be irreparable: but whatever becomes of the agents of the Society, if it have the sanction of God, it cannot fail to prosper. Whatever be the fate of the Society itself, the work which it has so successfully laboured to promote, will eventually triumph. The ways of God will, ere long, be known throughout the earth, his saving health among all nations. For, from the rising of the sun, even to the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles: and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering; for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts. Already, as we we may venture to hope, has an impulse been given, which shall not be destroyed till it has reached the farthest nations of the globe. Amidst all the conflicts and disappointments of the world, Divine Providence is still steadily accomplishing its plans of mercy and benevolence, and in due season they shall all be fulfilled. In expressing our gratitude for having been permitted to see the progressive advancement of the kingdom of Christ in our own days, and to share the privilege of making known more extensively the glad tidings of salvation, let us recognise our duty and zealously discharge it. Let the death of those that have toiled in this service, stimulate the industry of them that survive : let every event of this kind be felt as a call to in creased energy and activity in all good works, that when this world of strife and perturbations shall close upon us, we too may die in the Lord; and, finally, with all his faithful people, may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in his eternal and everlasting glory. Pp. 45-47. We next advert to the discourse of Mr. Hughes. This is entitled, Attachment to Life, and the text is taken from Ps. xxxix. 13: "O spare me; that I may recover strength, before I go hence and be no more.' In the commencement of his discourse Mr. H. adverts to the inconveniences and disasters دو We with which human life is fraught, and then proceeds to remark on the general desire of life which prevails notwithstanding such inconveniences. This attachment to life-may be pronounced either criminal, and warranting our censure; innocent, and awakening our sympathy; or laudable, at once challenging our approbation, and urging us to bring our minds under its influence. The consideration of these three topics occupies almost forty pages of this discourse; and though the discussion is both sensible and original, we cannot but feel that it is somewhat foreign to the purpose. are not aware that Mr. Ö. had manifested any remarkable attachment to life; yet the employing so large a portion of the sermon in defence of this desire is calculated to produce, and has in fact, in various instances, produced, such an impression. We say not that this idea is at all derogatory to his character: many innocent, many laudable reasons may be given for such an attachment-reasons which might induce, as Mr. H. intimates, the saint, the parent, the preacher, the philanthropist, to desire a longer continuance; but we think that this should not have been made the prominent topic of a funeral discourse, unless the departed saint had manifested that desire in a more than usual way. With this one remark we turn with unmingled emotions of pleasure to the character given by the pious and amiable author of his departed fellow-secretary. For my own part, should indeed diminish my claims to your respect, and that of others, were I to advert, with faint emotions, to his private and his public worth. After every deduction which truth concedes, and justice requires, and severity exacts, from our estimate of the late Clerical Secretary of the British and Foreign Bible Society, how much remains to gather round him our warm affections, and to lodge within us deep and permanent regrets for his removal! In the language of my revered friend and colleague, who survives, I would say to "the Father of mercies, 'Never may the Church of England want such a Minister, or the Bible Society such a Secretary, or the world such a Benefactor!' Small is the offering which I can add to the well-earned eulogies which have accompanied the mention of his name in our own and in distant countries. For the last eighteen years of his life he drew upon himself the almost incessant notice of the public, whose servant, or, rather, property, for Christ's sake, he consented to become; so that he might, with propriety and emphasis, be called" a living epistle, known and read of all men;" and who could read such an epistle without being taught, pleased, and edified? The talents of the deceased enlivened every topic, and his temper conciliated every heart. His accomplishments were both great and various. Whether he ascended the pulpit, or entered the crowded hall, or prosecuted the details of business with his official coadjutors, or carried on a voluminous correspondence, or undertook the arduous task of the historian, or became a fellow-traveller, or spared a few hours to the social circle, or rejoined his family; he was still the gifted, impartial, ingenuous, amiable, and interesting-Owen. Divine Providence had eminently fitted him to meet the exigencies of a vast occasion; and was pleased to show him, in the Society so often specified, an occasion deserving all that wisdom could devise, and power execute; and demanding all that it deserved. Who can avoid discerning, in the abilities and energies of such an advocate, as well as in the character and prosperity of such a cause, the applausive smile of an Omnipotent Guardian? Mr. Owen never appeared, while discharging the duties of his office, to so great advantage, as when environed with those novel and menacing circumstances which would have appalled ordinary men into silence, or a worse kind of confusion, which opponents would have greeted with convulsive joy. It were little to say, that his memory was capacious, retentive, and richly furnished; that his imagination was exuberant, his wit pure and keen, his eloquence free and forcible; and that he had "the pen of a ready writer." He had the higher praise, of a disciplined judgment, and a piercing intelligence, combined with frankness, candour, and urbanity, with diligence which hardly allowed itself a pause, and resolution which disappointment did not impair, and which hostility only roused into more efficacious vigour.-Pp. 38-40. The union of all Christian denominations in an object important to them all, and not to them only, but to the whole world, he hailed as the crown of the Society's excellence. It was his delight to associate, on the platform and in the parlour, with good men, whose differences, no longer the signals of dissension, placed in a clearer light the harmonizing tendency of their common faith, while their firm confederacy secured the diffusion of the Oracles of God among the diversified dwellers on the earth, far beyond all previous example, and all that could be accomplished by any other means.-P. 41. Though sometimes embarrassed, in his official capacity, by difficult questions, and grieved by untoward incidents; though habitually pierced with anguish by the calumnious and unrelenting virulence vented against a Society entitled to far other treatment; his dauntless mind still rushed onward with a noble impetuosity. He reflected on the immense dispersion of the Scriptures-on the cordial reception given them by many that were near, and more that were afar off,- -on the Society's usefulness, in the most exalted sense, to its benefactors, as well as to the objects of its bounty; and he reflected, too, on those interviews, and transports, and adorations, towards which the promises of the Volume circulated by the Society, direct the "hope which maketh not ashamed."—P. 43, 44. The last words which he spake, in my hearing, were, Those are the things!''Those are the things!'-in allusion to the following language which I had just cited, "Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory;" meaning, as it was natural for me to conclude, that to him worldly subjects had lost their savour, and that he wished to be engaged, as far as his debilitated faculties would permit, in the contemplation of God, eternity, and heaven.—P. 45 *. *We cannot but contrast the amiable spirit and temper of Mr. Hughes in various passages of this sermon with that of the writer of an article in the last number of the Congregational Magazine. In noticing Mr. Owen's death the writer says, "It will long shed a ray of lustre upon his name, that though a churchman, he there (in his History of the Bible Society), without hesitation assigned the palm of pre-eminent distinction to his co-secretary, the Rev. J. Hughes, a dissenting minister." Now, the assigning the palm of pre-eminent distinction is certainly a somewhat poetical description of the simple statement contained in Mr. O.'s History, that Mr. H. was the first, or one of the first, who entertained and endeavoured to carry into effect the idea of a Bible Society; and the regarding the circumstance of Mr. O.'s not having falsified the history of his own institution, as that which will long shed a ray of lustre upon name, is a very equivocal species of compliment. Mr. O. is praised not for having been in labours more abundant, not for hav his We notice, thirdly, the discourse of Mr. Newport. We are not aware of having previously met with Mr. N. as an author, and we cannot but feel that his coming forward with a voluntary eulogy on the present occasion is a somewhat hazardous attempt. The text he has chosen, Isa. xi. 10, His rest shall be glorious," seems to us to apply rather to the Saviour's dominion than to the rest of the departed believer; and while we are gratified with the scriptural and evangelical views which the sermon contains, we must earnestly recommend our author to cultivate a plainer and more intelligible style. We regret to add, that the office of clerical secretary to the Bible Society still continues vacant; and we cannot but fear that this may ing sacrificed health and ease and prospects and life itself in the Bible cause, but for hav-. ing told the truth concerning Mr. Hughes!! We can scarcely suppose the writer meant to insinuate that a churchman would rather speak the thing that is not, than allow praise to a dissenter; especially when it is notorious how many honourable testimonies have been borne by churchmen to the exertions and piety of their dissenting brethren. It was, most evidently, no part of Mr. O.'s plan to assign ranks, or palms, or degrees of distinction; he knew too well the invidious nature of such an undertaking; and we do not envy that mind which can choose the very moment when standing round the grave of a departed friend, to enter on these cold-blooded calculations. The closing paragraph of the article is still more objectionable. After observing, that It will be found a matter of difficulty to supply Mr. O's loss, the writer adds, any clergyman, however gifted, who has committed himself against dissenters, must, we should think, be ineligible. We really think the editor might have left this consideration in the hands of the Committee of the Bible Society-he might have depended upon their wisdom to make a proper choice, without throwing out a hint much more likely to create than prevent dissension. Suppose the case were altered;-suppose it had pleased God to deprive the Society of the labours and services of a Hughes, instead of an Owen, what would the stated contributors to the Congregational Magazine have said, if the following sentence had appeared in the Christian Guardian yet be the case for some time. The union of the various talents which are requisite is not very common; and where that union exists, the individual will, generally speaking, be found too much engaged in other important services, to allow of his undertaking a work of so much labour and such incessant occupation. No one, however, can for a moment attend to the important negotiations which must devolve upon the clerical secretary, and which, in many cases, no one else can transact, but must see the importance of the situation being speedily and ably filled. We apprehend this point has not been sufficiently attended to in certain quarters, though for obvious reasons we cannot here enlarge. We can only press it upon all who have influence, to exert themselves to -Any dissenter, however gifted, who has committed himself against the Establishment, must, we should think, be ineligible. We are sure that such an intimation would be immediately followed by loud cries of bigotry and intolerance. Let it, however, be remembered, that where one clergyman has committed himself against dissenters, ten dissenting ministers have committed themselves against the Church. The serious part of the clergy rarely allude to the dissenters in any of their sermons, and very seldom bring forward the various arguments in favour of establishments. The reverse of this conduct is commonly observed among our dissenting brethren. Some of our readers may think that these paragraphs in such a publication were undeserving of notice. We should have been of the same opinion, had not the Magazine in question been avowedly connected with the most distinguished names among the dissenters-with Collyer and Pye Smithwith Clayton and Burder. Insinuations in a work supported by such men, call for notice beyond what their intrinsic importance may deserve. We say not that any of these individuals have either sanctioned or approved the article in question. We have little doubt that they will agree with us, that such remarks are to be regarded less as attacks upon individuals or parties, than as infringements of that fundamental principle of mutual respect, and forbearance, which is so necessary to, and which has hitherto so highly distinguished, all parties connected with the Bible Society. supply the vacant seat, and would call upon all our readers to unite in fervent prayer to Almighty God, and entreat him of his mercy to raise up and bring forward such an instrument as may most effectually promote his glory in this great and important work. A Second Letter to the Right Hon. the Earl of Liverpool, K. G. &c. in Reply to that from the Rev. H. H. Norris, on the Subject of the British and Foreign Bible Society. By the Rev. James Scholefield, A. M. Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. 8vo. p. 200. Seeley, 1822. HAD we been able to calculate and to prognosticate the future proceedings of the Bible Society's adversaries, as we are accustomed to anticipate the determinations and movements of men of reflection, prudence, and foresight, we should have expected that, warned by the result of former attacks, they would have strictly preserved the silence into which they had of late years been driven. It might have been hoped that the more candid would at last adopt the language of Gamaliel, and at least determined "to refrain from these men, and let them alone,”-while the more relentless would have been forced to see the wisdom of forbearance, in the fact, that every successive attack has placed the Society several degrees higher, in patronage, in pecuniary means, and in the public estimation. There are, however, among the opponents of the Society, a few individuals upon whom all experience is lost, and all warning thrown away. The only thing worth remembering about Mr. Norris's former volume is, that it contributed to raise the Society's income, ELEVEN THOUSAND POUNDS * per annum; and yet with this kind *That is, from 76,000l. to 87,000l. per annum. See Reports of British and Foreign Bible Society for 1814. of encouragement he will venture a second. That the institution will derive benefit from its publication we cannot doubt, but we fear that Mr. N.'s beneficial influence must be nearly exhausted. The great advantages, however, which the Bible Society has received from former controversies, have most unquestionably arisen from the exemplary manner in which its friends have conducted these successive contests. Indeed, when we call to mind the polished, convincing, and conciliating tracts of the Noble President, and his friend the present Chancellor of the Exchequer-the complete and masterly replies of Mr. Dealtry, and the rich volume of eloquent demonstration which formed the Dean of Carlisle's legacy to the institution, we are apt to imagine, and we believe upon good grounds, that a connected series of controversial writings, so honourable to the characters of the authors, both as scholars, as men, and as Christians, was never before produced, on any occasion, or at any period. The work now before us is worthy of its predecessors. It is a variety of the same class, agreeing in the main, differing in particulars. The circumstances under which it was composed were new, and, we incline to believe, more discouraging than in either of the former instances. The motives to undertake the task were less strong, and the task itself more distasteful. The Society was now in a condition to rest its defence, silently, upon its past proceedings and its present conduct. Least of all did it stand in any fear of such an enemy as Mr. Norris. Nor could the task of clearing away such a mass of con-troversial rubbish as this indefatigable writer had got together, be by any means inviting. For these reasons we were at first rather surprised to hear that any individual competent to the of |