not refrain from pressing silently his hand to my heart. He was not unmoved at this transport, but he betrayed no unmanly emotion. He told me that I had possessed myself of a secret, which in spite of his opinion that it was the duty of every one to wear his religion openly, he had hitherto concealed, except from a few who participated in his own sentiments. 'And whence came this happy change?' 'I will tell you that likewise,' he replied. There came to this city an Englishman, who taught the religion of Christ, with a boldness hitherto unparalleled in Persia, in the midst of much scorn and ill-treatment from our Moollahs, as well as the rabble. He was a beardless youth, evidently enfeebled by disease. He dwelt among us for more than a year. I was then a decided enemy to infidels, as the Christians are termed by the followers of Mohammed, and I visited this teacher of the despised sect, with the declared object of treating him with scorn, and exposing his doctrines to contempt. Although I persevered for some time in this behaviour towards him, I found that every interview not only increased my respect for the individual, but diminished my confidence in the faith in which I was educated. His extreme forbearance, notwithstanding the violence of his opponents, the calm, and yet convincing manner in which he exposed the fallacies and sophistries by which he was assailed, (for he spoke Persian excellently,) gradually inclined me to listen to his arguments, to inquire dispassionately into the subject of them, and finally to read a tract which he had written, in reply to a defence of Islamism by our chief Moollahs. Need I detain you longer? The result of my examination was, a conviction that the young disputant was right. Shame, or rather fear, withheld me from avowing this opinion: I even avoided the society of the Christian teacher, though he remained in the city so long. Just before he quitted Shirawz, I could not refrain from paying him a farewell visit. Our conversation-the memory of it will never fade from the tablet of my mind-sealed my conversion. He gave me a book: it has been my constant companion-the study of it has formed my most delightful occupation-its contents have often consoled me.' So saying, the Persian put into my hands a copy of the New Testament in Persian; on one of the blank leaves was written, 'There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth. Henry Martyn.'

We cannot refrain from adding the following just and eloquent testimony to the character of Martyn, from the pen of Robert Hall. It appeared in 1821, in his preface to the Memoir of Mr. Freeston, a Baptist minister, which has been reprinted in his collected works; a most valuable set of volumes, which we purpose introducing to our readers when the work is completed, by the memoir of his life, from the pen of his early friend Sir James Mackintosh.

"The religious public have lately been favoured with a rich accession to the recorded monuments of exalted piety, in the life and religious experience of the lamented Henry Martyn. It is delightful to behold in the history of that extraordinary man, talents, which attracted the admiration of one of the most celebrated seats of learning, consecrated to the honour of the Cross; an enterprising genius, in the ardour of youth, relinquishing the pursuit of science and of fame, in order to travel in the steps of a Brainerd and a Schwartz. Crowned with the highest honours a university could bestow, we see him quit the luxurious shades of academic bowers, for a tempestuous ocean and a burning clime, for a life of peril and fatigue, from which he could expect no other reward than the heroic pleasure of communicating to perishing millions the Word of eternal life. He appears to have formed his religious character chiefly on the model of Brainerd; and as he equalled him in his patience, fortitude, humility, and love, so he strictly resembled him in his end. Both, nearly at the same age, fell victims to a CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 366. 3 D

series of intolerable privations and fatigues, voluntarily incurred in the course of their exertions for the propagation of the faith of Jesus. And though their death was not a violent one, the sacrifices they made, and the sufferings they endured, entitle them to the honours and rewards of a protracted martyrdom. Their memory will be cherished by the veneration of all succeeding ages; and he who reads their lives will be ready to exclaim, • Here is the faith and patience of the saints.'"'

"OFFICIAL SUBORDINATION" OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

YOUR correspondent, Quadragenarius, needs not have apprehended from Mr. Simeon's statements, in his sermons on the Holy Spirit, any dishonour thereby to that Divine Person, as is evident from the caution which the author employs so expressly that his readers should be far from imagining that any the least dishonour is intended. And as the author intends none unquestionably, no construction of the terms he employs is warrantable, that implies even a shadow of that dishonour. With all deference, I beg to say, that the terms employed by Mr. Simeon appear to me as not dishonourably inappropriate to the official capacity of the Holy Spirit; for the order which the Three Persons seem to observe in the economy of redemption implies, or appears to imply, official "inferiority," "disparity," and subordination," particularly the latter term. Each of the terms is certainly infelicitous on a subject so sublime; but if we may express our meaning on such a subject in our own phraseology, how could the statements be otherwise expressed in accordance with the apprehension of the author? Besides, it is, I believe, the common mode in which the best divines have expressed themselves in speaking on the official order of the Sacred Three in the Covenant of Grace. Mr. Simeon, no doubt, will readily acknowledge that there is no inferiority or disparity in the necessity, the dignity, the magnitude, and the power of the Holy Spirit's office, but only that he was pleased, from his own equal love and grace, to engage himself to make effectual in the sinner's salvation the Father's gracious purpose and proposal, and the Son's mediatory work. And I have no doubt this is all Mr. Simeon means by the official inferiority, disparity, and subordination of the Spirit.

SEXTAGENARIUS.

THE DEAN OF PETERBOROUGH'S PRAYER AT THE EXECUTION OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

THE historian Hume having given, what appears to me, an exaggerated and unfair account of the conduct of Dr. Fletcher, Dean of Peterborough, at the execution of Mary Queen of Scots, I inclose a copy of the dean's prayer on that occasion, which I do not recollect having seen printed by any modern historian or biographer. The following is Hume's account of the circumstance :

"She then passed into another hall, where was erected the scaffold, covered with black; and she saw with an undismayed countenance the executioners, and all the preparations of death. The room was crowded with spectators; and no one was so steeled against all sentiments of humanity, as not to be moved when he reflected on her royal dignity, considering the surprising train of her misfortunes, beheld her mild but inflexible constancy, recalled her amiable accomplishments, or surveyed her beauties, which, though faded by years, and yet more by her afflictions, still discovered themselves in this fatal moment. Here the warrant for her execution was read to

1832.] Dean of Peterborough's Prayer at the Execution of Queen Mary. 383 her; and during this ceremony she was silent, but shewed in her behaviour an indifference and unconcern, as if the business had nowise regarded her. Before the executioners performed their office, the dean of Peterborow stepped forth; and though the queen frequently told him that he needed not concern himself about her, that she was settled in the ancient Catholic and Roman religion, and that she meant to lay down her life in defence of that faith; he still thought it his duty to persist in his lectures and exhortations, and to endeavour her conversion. The terms which he employed were, under colour of pious instructions, cruel insults on her unfortunate situation; and besides their own absurdity, may be regarded as the most mortifying indignities to which she had ever yet been exposed. He told her that the queen of England had on this occasion shown a tender care of her; and notwithstanding the punishment justly to be inflicted on her for her manifold trespasses, was determined to use every expedient for saving her soul from that destruction with which it was so nearly threatened that she was now standing upon the brink of eternity, and had no other means of escaping endless perdition, than by repenting her former wickedness, by justifying the sentence pronounced against her, by acknowledging the queen's favours, and by exerting a true and lively faith in Christ Jesus: that the Scriptures were the only rule of doctrine, the merits of Christ the only means of salvation; and if she trusted in the inventions or devices of men, she must expect in an instant to fall into utter darkness, into a place where shall be weeping, howling, and gnashing of teeth that the hand of death was upon her, the axe was laid to the root of the tree, the throne of the great Judge of heaven was erected, the book of her life was spread wide, and the particular sentence and judgment was ready to be pronounced upon her: and that it was now, during this important moment, in her choice, either to rise to the resurrection of life, and hear that joyful salutation,' Come, ye blessed of my Father;' or to share the resurrection of condemnation replete with sorrow and anguish; and to suffer that dreadful denunciation, Go, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.'

"During this discourse Mary could not sometimes forbear betraying her impatience by interrupting the preacher; and the dean, finding that she had profited nothing by his lecture, at last bade her change her opinion, repent her of her former wickedness, and settle her faith upon this ground, that only in Christ Jesus could she hope to be saved. She answered again and again, with great earnestness: Trouble not yourself any more about the matter: for I was born in this religion; I have lived in this religion; and in this religion I am resolved to die.' Even the two earls perceived that it was fruitless to harass her any farther with theological disputes; and they ordered the dean to desist from his unseasonable exhortations, and to pray for her conversion. During the dean's prayer, she employed herself in private devotion from the office of the Virgin; and after he had finished, she pronounced aloud some petitions in English, for the afflicted church, for an end of her own troubles, for her son, and for queen Elizabeth; and prayed God that that princess might long prosper, and be employed in his service. The earl of Kent observing that in her devotions she made frequent use of the crucifix, could not forbear reproving her for her attachment to that popish trumpery, as he termed it; and he exhorted her to have Christ in her heart, not in her hand. She replied with presence of mind, that it was difficult to hold such an object in her hand without feeling her heart touched with some compunction."

It was not to be expected that Hume, as an infidel, could sympathize with the anxiety felt by Dr. Fletcher to turn his royal auditor, even at the eleventh hour, from the delusions of Popery; but it is not equitable to construe his solicitude into cruel insults under colour of pious instructions." Even an infidel might have allowed that upon the hypothesis of the dean's believing what he said, and viewing Mary as standing in awful peril upon the brink of eternity, his words, however strong, were not meant to be cruel or insulting. If he thought that the unhappy princess was about to enter the unseen world" with a lie in her right hand," it was no time for compliment or lightness of speech; faithfulness, or what he considered to be such, was to be exercised even at the apparent hazard of disturbing the gentle spirit of his royal auditor. Never having seen the discourse, nor being aware that it is extant, I do not profess to offer any opinion upon its propriety or delicacy; I only would defend the preacher from the charge of intentional cruelty and insult, because in his anxiety for the soul of one who was about to meet her God, and would never hear another discourse, he spoke in a manner that must of necessity appear harsh to a sceptic, to whom all creeds are alike, and who viewed in the decapitated trunk the

384 Dean of Peterborough's Prayer at the Execution of Queen Mary. [JUNE termination of all existence, the death of a material soul as well as a material body. The following was the prayer:

"O most gracious God and merciful Father, who according to the multitude of thy mercies dost so put away the sins of them that truly repent that thou rememberest them no more, open, we beseech thee, thine eyes of mercy and behold this person appointed unto death; whose eyes of understanding and spiritual light albeit thou hast hitherto shut up, that the glorious beams of thy favour in Jesus Christ do not shine unto her, but is possessed with blindness and ignorance of heavenly things (a certain token of thy heavy displeasure, if thy unspeakable mercy do not triumph against thy judgment); yet, O Lord our God, impute not, we beseech thee, unto her those her offences which separate her from thy mercy; and, if it may stand with thy everlasting purpose and good pleasure, O Lord, grant unto us, we beseech thee, this mercy which is about thy throne, that the eyes of her heart may be enlightened, that she may understand and be converted unto thee; and grant her also, if it be thy blessed will, the heavenly comfort of thy Holy Spirit, that she may taste and see how gracious the Lord is. Thou hast no pleasure, good Lord, in the death of a sinner, and no man shall praise thy name in the pit. Renew in her, O Lord, we most humbly beseech thy majesty, whatsoever is corrupt in her, either by her own frailty or by the malice of the ghostly enemy. Visit her, O Lord, if it be thy good pleasure, with thy saving health, as thou didst the offender at the side of thy cross, with this consolation, This day shalt thou be with me in paradise.' Say unto her soul, as thou didst unto thy servant David, I am thy salvation, so shall thy mercy, being more mighty, be more magnified. Grant these mercies, O Lord, to us thy servants, to the increase of thy kingdom and glory at this time. And further, O most merciful Father, preserve, we most humbly beseech thy majesty, in long and honourable peace and safety, Elizabeth thy servant, our most natural sovereign lady and queen. Let them be ashamed and confounded, O Lord, that seek after her soul; let them be turned backward and put to confusion that wish her evil. And strengthen still, Lord, we pray thee, the hand and balance of justice amongst us, by her gracious government. So shall we both now and ever rest under thy faithfulness and truth as under our shield and buckler, and bless thy name and magnify thy mercy, which livest and reignest, one most gracious God, for ever and ever. Amen."

The queen during this prayer remained abstracted in her own secret devotions, with her portuary, beads, and crucifix, praying partly in Latin, and partly in English. At the funeral, Melvil the master of her household, and the whole of her attendants, left the church during the sermon and Protestant ceremonies. The bishop of Lincoln preached from Psa. xxxix. 5-7. In the course of his prayer, when offering up praise to God for those who had departed this life in his faith and fear, he used these words: -"Let us give thanks for the happy dissolution of the high and mighty princess Mary, late queen of Scotland and dowager of France; of whose life and death at this time I have not much to say, because I was not acquainted with the one, neither was I present at the other. I will not enter into judgment further; but because it hath been signified unto me that she trusted to be saved by the blood of Christ, we must hope well of her salvation; for, as father Luther was wont to say, many a one that liveth a Papist dieth a Protestant." In his discourse he merely dwelt upon the general topic of human frailty. Martin-Mar-Prelate, in order to slander the Anglican bishops with the charge of Popery, published that the bishop of Lincoln prayed that his soul and the souls of all present might be with that of "an unrepentant Papist." Upon which, either prebendary Gunton,

or Dr. Patrick who published his history of the Church of Peterborough, remarks," Though the bishop, as became a charitable Christian, might hope well of her salvation, yet who but Martin would accuse him of being so credulous as to bind up his own salvation in so confident an assurance of hers?"

The above circumstances relative to an event so long past, may not, in themselves, be of much importance; but they furnish a serious topic of inquiry respecting the duty of the ministers of Christ in visiting, under extreme circumstances, persons of erroneous creed or known evil life. It may be said that Dean Fletcher erred on the side of harshness; and I confess that the political allusions in his prayer might have well been spared: but is there not a fault on the other side in the present day; a want of faithfulness, of explicitness, too great fear of disturbing the nerves of a delicate patient even for the welfare of his soul; nay often, even in the case of condemned felons, a softness of speech which ministers to false peace and fatal security? Knowing the terrors of the Lord we are not to suppress them, but to persuade men by means of them, and to point to the Cross of Calvary as a refuge from the thunders of Sinai.

MONITOR.

INQUIRY INTO THE UTILITY AND EXPEDIENCY OF OATHS.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

IN a former communication, I referred your readers to the nature and origin of oaths, and pursued the question of their utility by discussing, though imperfectly, the coronation oath, the oaths taken at the university of Oxford, and the bribery oath administered at parliamentary elections.

There is little necessity to urge on your attention the inutility and inexpediency of the custom-house and excise oaths. That the occasions of their requisition are very many, and exceedingly trivial, is well known to every commercialist, and has been the matter of comment in the commons house of parliament. It is sufficient therefore, in addition, to allege that in many cases in which they are required, the agent swears on the faith he has in the veracity of another; while in others he has still less within himself a moral certainty of the truth of that to which he swears: so that if the contrary to what is sworn afterwards appear, it is considered as immaterial-as unavoidable from the necessity imposed of passing through a mere unmeaning formula; and no one pretends to urge, that the individual placed in so untoward, but oft recurring a dilemma, is chargeable with perjury, or even that his character has in the smallest degree suffered by the circumstance. Thus the very modus of the observance of these oaths, and their effect, have become equally little regarded, and the ostensible purpose of their first framing is come short of, the affording an additional protection to the claims and revenues of government. Need I add how miserably impotent must every man of sound sense estimate the constitution of a law, the satisfaction of which extends not beyond the anathema it breathes? And how grievously impaired in the estimation of her contemporaries must be the character of a nation for intelligence, which has such as part and parcel of her laws; that not only has its provisions unaccomplished, but indirectly operates to the perversion of moral government, which must of necessity be the case where there is any uncertainty of punishment for the commission of crime, or a withholding of the proper execution of the penalty.

Yet, multiplied as are the instances in which these oaths are disregarded, few are heard of in which their infraction is visited with the penalty attached in our civil code to the commission of perjury. On the contrary,