nigh to death, Mrs. Leslie hav. ing mentioned that I was standing by his bed, he stretched out his hand, took hold of mine, and said, 'You have great cause to bless the Lord for having put you into the ministry; we serve a good Master; he carries us wonderfully through.' I said, Sir, I hope you now experi. ence that the Lord Jesus Christ is a good Master." He replied with much earnestness, 6 Yes, yes,' Tuesday, March 29th, 1796, in the 84th year of his age, and 54th of his ministry, about midday, Dr. Gillies fell asleep in Jesus. Mrs. Leslie, when she saw that her father was in the article of death, kneeled by his bed, and remained in that posture till the short and easy conflict was over. Her unceasing attention to her parents can never be sufficiently commended; the satisfaction which she must now derive from a retrospect of her conduct to both her parents is one, but not her only, reward for her tender attention.-Let all children who may read this narrative, and who have parents in life, go and do likewise.' Great multitudes attended the doctor's funeral in tears; and his memory to this day is very dear to thousands in Glasgow. 6 Dr. Gillies most firmly believ ed, and most faithfully preached, the doctrines which are generally called Calvinistic; but a Teacher, at whose feet he daily sat, had taught him to call no man Master he much rather chose to be called a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ than a follower of Calvin. He was a most devout Christian he spent a very consid. VOL. II. New Series. erable part of every day in devotional exercises. Searching the word of God, meditation and prayer, were not only duties which he daily performed, but duties in which he greatly delighted. As long as the state of his health would permit, he devoted the greatest part of every Monday to fasting and prayer. When the weather was good, the doctor regularly took a long walk once in the day; and when he walked by himself, he chose the most sequestered places. On those occasions, he was frequently found engaged in acts of devotion. Humility and meekness, zeal against error and vice, and a catholic spirit, were prominent features in the character of Dr. Gillies. He possessed and mani. fested an ardent, unceasing, and growing desire for the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom, News of a revival of religion, or of attempts to carry the gospel to heathen lands, were, to the doctor's heart, like cold waters to a thirsty soul. With regard to his style of preaching, he proposed the truths of the gospel with the greatest plainness, and pressed them with all possible earnestness. His discourses were always enriched with many suitable portions of Scripture. The doctor used frequently to observe, when speaking in private, with regard to preach. ing, That ministers might be the unhappy instruments of ruining souls, in two different ways: 'The one is,' said he, 'by starving them; and the other is, by giving them poison.' 'I love,' he was wont to say, 'to give God's children plenty of their own bread; meaning thereby 3H the pure Word of God. Dr. Gillies on no occasion shunned to declare the whole counsel of God; but he insisted on the leading doctrines of the gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ was the delightful subject of his daily meditations, the frequent subject of his conversation, and the substance of all his sermons. He knew, by sweet experience, and he endeavored to make it known to others, that Christ is all and in all. I have thus endeavored to give you a short sketch of the life and death of my late much respected father in Christ; but I am deeply sensible that I cannot do justice to his character; and a complete delineation of it would far exceed the space allotted to any one article in a periodical publication. His principal works, besides that already mentioned, were, Exhortations to the Inhabitants of the South Parish of Glasgow ;'-' Historical Collections relating to the Success of the Gospel,'-'Appendix to the Historical Collections ;''Life of the Rev. Mr. George Whitfield Sermon at the Opening of the Synod of Glasgow; Hebrew Manual, for the Use of Students of that Lan. guage;'-'Devotional Exercises on the New Testament ;' Psalms of David, with Notes, devotional and practical, extracted from Dr. Horn's Commentary;' and 'Milton's Paradise Lost, illustrated by Texts of Scripture.' Evan. Mag. RELIGIOUS COMMUNICATIONS. SIR, COPY OF A LETTER WRITTEN TO AN INFIDEL. March, 1808. I PRESUME you will not think it strange, that I address you on the subject of your rejecting christianity. The subject concerns you personally, and fills me with deep anxiety on your account. The circumstance of our former acquaintance, while you were a pupil under my tu. ition, may be, even with you, a sufficient apology for this communication. Your present sentiments in regard to christianity did not appear, and I trust did not exist, while you resided as a member of my family and I am extremely sorry to have occa. sion, at this time, to address you as one who has abandoned divine revelation. I was loath to believe, when your intimate acquaintances informed me, that you questioned the truth of the bible while in college; but of the correctness of their information you convinced me yourself, by an interview at my house, several years since, in company with Mr. S. You, doubtless, recollect, that to caution you, then said, "that the ground you had taken, if not abandoned, would carry you into the camp of infidelity." The course you took, it appears, you have unfortunately pursued; and your late conversation at my house, in the hearing of a number, whe I distinctly recollect it, disclosed ulous faith," we had ample rea. the melancholy fact. In this conversation I exhibit. ed arguments in favor of christianity, and appealed to your own judgment to decide if they had not some weight; and upon hearing you reply, "they had none,' we were induced to believe you inclined to infidelity. When we heard you say, "that you had read not a quarter of the bible, and but few other books in favor of it, since you began to question its truth," we could not but consider you extremely uncandid and hasty in your conclusion. When you informed us that " you had formerly concealed your disbelief of christianity; that you now thought it dastardly, and, there fore, came out openly; that it required independence of mind and strong nerves so to do, since men were so shackled with christianity;" and when we heard you converse unreservedly, both before my pupils and family in favor of your principles, we had every reason to think that you intended to be openly and publicly on the side of infidelity. When we heard you say, "that son to conclude that you were most daring and presumptuous in your infidelity. When we heard you say, 66 that you neith. er believed nor disbelieved a fu ture state; that it was an insult to pray to God a second time; that you meant to die like a brave fellow," we had reason to believe you stupidly fearless, and awfully confirmed in infidel delusion. These observations, which dropped from your lips in the hearing of a number, evidence something, which I am loath to admit; something, which I deeply lament; something, which I would gladly disbelieve, were I not compelled to the contrary by the force of truth. I am aware that men, sometimes, utter themselves unguardedly in the hurry of conversation, and a suitable allowance should be made. But you, sir, repeated your deistical remarks and sentiments with all the appearance of fixed belief; and after I had made solemn appeals to your conscience, referred you to the confessions of dying infidels, and pointed you to the tribunal of some deists were the best charac. God, you unyieldingly insisted ters you ever knew; that many upon their truth and correctness. in the country, and the most res- But still, it is possible, and to pectable men in Boston, were me probable, that you are not deists; that had you sufficient so decidedly established in deistabilities and should you preach ical principles as your own lan. infidelity in Boston, you could guage then imported. For infi draw the largest and best society dels, equally bold, in some inin town;" we had reason to stances on a death bed or before, consider you a boasting infidel. have been constrained by the When we heard you say, "you force of conscience to confess would not believe in miracles, that they had been liars, had if God himself should work made false pretensions, had utone before your eyes-and that tered themselves in language behe could not thus make you beyond their belief. Such, through lieve, except he gave you mirac. the mystery of iniquity, are often found hasty, bold, and clamor. qus in conversation, in order to still the voice of conscience, and obliterate every impression of truth from their minds. How far this remark applies to you, I am unable to determine. It is painful, extremely painful, for me to have reason to fear, that you are given up of God to blindness of mind and hardness of heart. I am loath to admit that you have arrived to that state of fearless insensibility of conscience, which your language imported at our last interview. Pause, sir, pause, I intreat you, and pen down your own creed, and seriously consider it. A creed, which discards the pre. cious revelation of God as mere delusion; which denies Jesus Christ, the only mediator, and his infinite condescension and love; which contemns the existence and operations of the Holy Ghost in the conviction and sanctification of guilty men ; which rejects, as visionary, heav. en, and hell, and all the awful realities of eternity; which de. nounces frequent and repeated prayer for mercy as an insult to God! And on this creed, according to which you presump tuously attempt to face down christianity and every appear. ance of religion, lay your hand on your heart, and in a serious moment lift your eyes to God, and say, this is my creed. hope you cannot, I hope you dare not; I presume your own conscience, that monitor of God placed in your bosom, will restrain you. I Take up, then, your bible, and read it candidly, and prayerfully, like a rational and honest You have abilities and man. opportunities to search its contents, to trace its doctrines and precepts, and to examine and weigh the evidences by which its inspiration and truth are supported. Do not stop short at the reading of a few chapters, and pronounce the whole folly and delusion as prejudice would dictate: but read it through, and attentively, and call to your aid the writings of men who, in different ages, have appeared in its defence. The subject, on which I treat is serious, is momentous, is of everlasting im. portance to you, as well as others: and I earnestly request you to consider and treat it accordingly now, in season, before it shall be for ever too late. I do pot urge you to this because of particular gratification to myself, though it would certainly afford me pleasure to see you brought to that state of gospel humility and brokenness of heart for sin, which you spoke of at my house with contempt. If brought to it you said "you should despise yourself." I do not urge you to this to relieve the solicitude and anxiety of your christian acquaintance and connexions, who deeply lament your avowal of such sentiments; though they would doubtless rejoice to behold you a believer in Christ, and a stable friend of the christian religion. I do not urge you on account of your happiness and usefulness in this life, though it is an unquestionable truth, that the christian in the present world is incomparably more happy in himself, and more useful to others than the infidel. But I urge you, sir, for the sake of Christ, for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of your own everlasting salvation. The soul is valuable; its life is precious; it is of more worth than thousands of worlds. Consider the providential kind. nesses, which have attended you from the morning of your life; consider the christian light and privileges, which have waited upon you in ripening years; and then suffer me to beseech you by the tender mercies of God, that you no longer reject and despise the holy gospel. Shall I point you to the bed of dying infidels, and place before you the bitter remorse, the agonizing fear, the awful despair which often seize them, at the close of a life spent in open hostility to Christ and his word! Look forward, sir, and only admit the possibility, that there may be a judgment when sinners shall be found on the left hand-that there may a place of punishment designed for the wicked, where despisers. of the gospel shall wonder and perish; and see if your reason, judgment, conscience, and safety, do not unite their voice with the command of God, and call on you to search the scriptures, embrace their truths, and receive with meekness the word of life, that your soul may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. be I have little more to say on the subject, though my earnest solicitude, I trust, will remain. In what manner you will receive this letter, and what effect it will have on your mind, it is not within the province of human foresight to determine. But this will be regulated according to the government of that infinite God, in whom we live, move, and have our being." If, how. ever, the Lord, in sovereign mercy, should render it influen. tial in bringing you to the con. viction and cordial reception of the truth as it is in Jesus, I am persuaded you will never think it either untimely or unkind, but seasonable and friendly. But if otherwise, if your present views of the subject should continue,. if your sentiments of christianity, and your feelings toward its friends and advocates should remain as they were at our last interview; it is not difficult to foresee how you will treat the present communication and its author. Fora spirit of infidelity, which has acquired an uncommon boldness, is completely prepared to consider a real friend, as the worst enemy; to call seriousness and plainness, superstition and abuse; to denounce love and faithful. ness to the souls of men, as weak. ness, and enthusiasm. To the Editors of the Panoplist. GENTLEMEN, If you think the following observations on the evil of sin, worthy of a place in your useful publication, you will be pleased to insert them. THE Divinity of Christ is questioned, by some, on the ground that the evil of sin is not so great as to require that He should be any thing more than a creature, in order to accomplish all the ends, for which he came into the world. Hence it must be an inquiry of no small importance, whether sin be an infinite evil. The following observations may assist, in forming an opinion on the subject, viz. 1. Sin derives some degree of aggravation from the consideration of the infinitely high and glorious character of Him, against |