1. That when they went away, as they termed it, it was always at the time they were fullest of the love of God. 2. That it came upon them in a moment, without any previous notice, and took away all their senses and strength. 3. That they were as in another world, knowing nothing of what was done or said, by all that were round about them.

"About five in the afternoon, I heard them singing hymns. Soon after, Mr. B. came up, and told me, Alice Miller (fifteen years old,) was fallen into a trance. I went down immediately, and found her sitting on a stool, and leaning against the wall, with her eyes open, and fixed upward. I made a motion, as if going to strike; but they continued immoveable. Her face showed an unspeakable mixture of reverence and love, while silent tears "stole down her cheeks. Her lips were a little open, and sometimes moved; but not enough to cause any sound. I do not know that I ever saw a human 'face look so beautiful. Sometimes it was covered with a smile, as from joy, mixing with love and reverence; but the tears fell still, though not so fast. Her pulse was quite regular. In about half an hour, I observed her countenance change into the form of fear, pity, and distress; then she burst into a flood of tears; but in about five minutes her smiles returned, and only love and joy appeared in her face. About half an hour after six, I observed distress take place again; and soon after she wept bitterly."

Now, if any seriously-reflecting Christians can believe that these outcries, screams, contortions, convulsions, dreams, trances, and visions, (we copy the very words) were the genuine marks of a true revival of piety, and not tares profusely sown among the wheat; that, as the narrative says, "these are the chief times at which Satan is cast out," and not rather that these are his doings to thwart, if he might, the work of the Holy Spirit; we concede that, thus judging, they cannot but conclude that the jealousy evinced in regard to these agitating revivals is a warfare against God. But if such are not the manifestations of His grace which He has taught us to expect; and if strong animal

excitement is not genuine religious conviction, or fanaticism true piety; then ought not those ministers of Christ to be called lukewarm and carnal, who would rather guard against than promote such occurrences in their parishes; and who humbly, yet hopefully, look for, and pray for, and strive, by the Divine grace, to promote "repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ," in the ordinary and settled labours of a zealous Evangelical ministry.

Thus, then, we blow aside seas of froth; and cast away a vast mass of alloy and heaps of scoriæ. We have now a solid residuum of what is truly the work of God, and will stand the test of time and temptation. But as this formed no portion of what was the device of Satan, so neither did it spring from what was only of man; so that in viewing the real ultimate spiritual benefits resulting from Mr. Berridge's labours, we set aside as hindrances, not aids, whatever was defective in the individual, such as his unhappy habit of jocoseness; nor do we feel bound to admit that if, instead of proceeding in an erratic course, he had selected a field of labour equal to his vast energies — and parishes innumerable presentsuch fields and had devoted himself with equal zeal to his pastoral duties, without deviating from due order in the church, his exertions would, in the end, have been crowned with less success.

But then comes the moral of the whole. If with so much that was not perfect in the individual; and with so much that we believe to have been the work of the enemy of souls; the really solid Scriptural results were still so great as unquestionably they were; if among vast multitudes warmly excited, many were savingly converted; if there was a genuine, extensive, and permanent revival

of piety, the blessed effects of which are felt to this very hour, while thousands have gone to heaven venerating the name of this devoted pastor; to what, under the agency of the Holy Spirit, must we attribute it? and what salutary lessons may those clergymen learn, who with the advantage of improved religious machinery, and devoting their labours with careful regularity to their allotted portion of their Lord's vineyard, are yet cast down because they do not witness similar fruits of their labours. Let them be what, with all his imperfections, Berridge was. He honoured God, and God honoured him. He laboured for God, and God blessed his labours. His faith was strong, and it removed mountains; his love was warm, and it melted ice-bergs; his zeal was glowing, and it irradiated all around him. He was a man of one pursuit; he was absorbed in promoting the glory of God and the salvation of souls. In the study, at the social board, in his parish, on his knees, or in his walks, in the cottage or the

church, the desk or the pulpit, he was pursuing one vast and infinitely important object with all the powers of his heart and soul, his mind and body; and he was ardently and affectionately eloquent, because he was mighty in the Scriptures, deeply conversant with the dealings of God with his own soul, and spoke as a dying man to dying men. Heaven and hell with him were not abstractions; they pressed on him with vivid reality, and he spoke as one who had come from the dead to awaken the living. The love of his Saviour burned intensely in his own soul; and never could he enough dilate upon His grace, His promises, and His salvation. We need not imitate his peculiarities; but if we would, by the sovereign blessing of God, witness such revivals as he did, and freer from defects, let us follow Him whom he followed, Christ; not with the languid footsteps of ordinary pastoral diligence, but with a zeal and fervour somewhat more adequate to the value of the human soul, and the price paid for its redemption.

WITH extreme affliction we record the decease of that much-loved and truly apostolical prelate, the Honourable and Most Reverend Power Trench, D.D., the last Protestant Archbishop of Tuam. It is consoling that since this ecclesiastical province is now blotted out from the map of Ireland, the last memory of it will live with the name of a prelate worthy of the primitive days of the Church, and which will go down to posterity with those of Usher and Bedell among the eminent worthies of Irish episcopacy. We hope to present to our readers a fuller notice of the deceased prelate; for the present we must content ourselves chiefly with two or three extracts.

It is now twenty years since Dr. Trench was translated to the province of Tuam; and we well remember the

glowing anticipations with which we hailed that event, and which have been more than fulfilled by his Grace's devout, and diligent, and wise, and affectionate discharge of the arduous duties of his responsible office under the supreme Shepherd and Bishop of the flock. We alluded as follows to his Grace's appointment, with warm heart, though for obvious reasons with purposely quiet phrase, in our volume for 1819.

"It is with peculiar pleasure that we insert a part of an address recently presented from the clergy of the diocese of Elphin to their late Bishop, on his translation to the archbishopric of Tuam, together with his Grace's truly Christian reply. It augurs well for the sister island, when such an endearing relation is seen to exist between her

prelates and their clergy, and when sentiments so truly apostolic are thus publicly avowed by such a man as the Archbishop of Tuam. After mentioning several of his Grace's plans for the benefit of his diocese, the address proceeds as follows:- But, more particularly, observing the ardent desire always evinced by your Grace, to promote the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we hail with unfeigned pleasure your Grace's translation to the archbishopric of Tuam, hoping and praying as we do, that thereby, as an instrument in the hand of Providence, your Grace will more extensively become the blessed means of diffusing and maintaining Gospel truth. From our knowledge of your Grace, we are fully persuaded that the awful responsibility of your high station is deeply felt by you, and, as springing from that feeling, we anticipate, that as your Grace is amongst the foremost in temporal rank and distinction; so also will you seek to be amongst the foremost in that spiritual distinction 'which the world can neither give nor take away;' and that looking unto Him who is able to give the increase, your Grace's exertions will ever be devoted to promote true religion on earth, and to uphold every institution in aid thereof, and connected therewith.'

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"To the above address his Grace was pleased to give the following answer :'Elphin House, Nov. 23, 1819. "My Rev. Friends-After a residence of above nine years in the diocese of Elphin, and much of that time in intimate and close intercourse with many of you, it is with no small satisfaction that now, upon my translation to the archbishopric of Tuam, I am favoured by you with such a testimony of your approbation, as the address which has this day been presented to me. If, by the influence of God's grace, I have been made the humble instrument of providing, in any way, for the benefit of the diocese of Elphin, and of its clergy -if it has been mercifully put into my heart, to use the ample means provided by the legislature for procuring glebe lands, and erecting glebe houses for their residence-if I have taken my share with you in setting on foot a subscription for the maintenance of our widows, and, in co-operation with you, afforded my humble aid in promoting schools for the instruction of the poor in the Scriptures-and if I have been enabled to provide for the spiritual wants of the Protestant population, by erecting churches in retired parts of the diocese, and affording it the blessings of a Gospel ministry-after all, I am but

an unprofitable servant, I have done only that which was my duty to do.' Be assured, that while the Lord is pleased to spare me, and bestow upon me health and strength, I will (humbly praying for his blessing and assistance, without which I can do nothing,) unceasingly endeavour to merit and support the favourable opinion entertained by you of my conduct by taking advantage of every opportunity of promoting the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ—by exerting myself in the cause of true religion upon the earth, and by upholding, by my influence, by my patronage, and by my personal countenance, every institution in aid thereof. Were I to express all that I feel upon this occasion, I should write a volumebut you will bear with me a little longer, while I offer my grateful thanks to you for having, under Providence, introduced into my late diocese that most valuable institution, The Monthly Clerical Association;' -an institution, the progressive good effects of which I have observed among yourselves, and have thankfully experienced myself;stitution which has dispelled jealousies and prejudices, and connected and cemented Christian love and charity, in persons of discordant opinions upon some points;- -an institution which, though only in infancy, has already proved so great a blessing to the diocese of Elphin; an institution which I would rejoice to see extended over the whole empire, and which I trust (under its present constitution and conduct) will entirely meet with my successor's approbation. And now, my dear and reverend friends, farewell. I joyfully look forward to frequent personal, as well as epistolary communication, with many of you that I may be comforted together with you, by the mutual faith both of you and me.' And in my visits to my diocese of Ardagh, which will take me into your neighbourhood, I shall embrace every opportunity of meeting you. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.

—an in

"POWER TUAM, &c."

We shall not attempt at present to draw up any account of the deceased prelate's life, or sketch of his character; but will copy two extracts from the Irish Newspapers, which will show the esteem in which his Grace was held in his own country by all who knew how to appreciate Scriptural doctrine, or the graces of a meek, exemplary, and highly useful life.

The Dublin Mail says," The Hon. Dr. Le Poer Trench was, in every sense and acceptance of the term, a great and

of Commons, nor with the progress of any legislative measure assented to by the House of Commons, or at present under its consideration."

The heads of this amendment were perfectly true and calmly statesman-like; but divesting the question of technicality, there could be no doubt that Lord Roden intended his motion as a censure upon the proceedings of Lord Normanby and her Majesty's Ministers; he did not affect to deny this when discussion arose upon the tendency of his motion; and the nation at large, and doubtless the majority of those members of the House of Lords who voted for it, so regarded it. We cannot wonder, therefore, that the government wished to obtain a vote of confidence from the House of Commons; for unless supported there, they must be forced from office by the censure of the Lords; and though Lord John Russell's motion, as Sir R. Peel justly stated, was inexplicit, both as to time and principles, yet, morally speaking, the policy upon which the present government has administered the affairs of Ireland is sufficiently notorious to enable every statesman to give a very decisive Yes or No to Lord Russell's proposition. The evidence before the House of Lords may affect details; but the general issue is clear enough; and all parties accordingly addressed themselves to it.

We cannot attempt the slightest outline of this memorable debate, in the course of which most of the leading men in the House, with many others, expressed their sentiments. The result was, that Lord John Russell's motion was carried by only the very slight majority of twenty-two. And how was that diminutive majority constituted? eleven voters abstracted from the heavier side, and added to the lighter, would have made the balance even; twelve would have turned it against the policy of the cabinet. Had the votes of ministers themselves, and of the numerous placemen, and others connected with them, been substracted, the majority against them would have been very large. Again, the O'Connell party, and still more the English extreme, or Radical, section of the House, so strongly reprobated many of the proceedings of government, some of the speakers condemning almost every feature of their policy—or impolicy that

had not they all concurred that the anti-Protestant doings in Ireland were a bright exception, and that, in the phrase of the day, it was better not "to upset the coach" and let in the conservatives, the cabinet would still have been out voted, notwithstanding its phalanx of hangers-on of office.

To call the result a victory for Lord Melbourne's cabinet, would be preposterous; or if it be a victory, it is one of those victories, a recurrence of which is destruction. The nation will now await the result of the inquiry in the House of Lords; though we cannot say that we attach any overwhelming importance to it; for whether Lord Normanby judged as well as we think he judged ill in his jail deliveries, the whole course of the Melbourne policy in regard to Ireland, is unjustifiable upon scriptural principles, nor can it be upheld even upon the principles of secular expediency. Mr. O'Connell says, "Their very strongest point is the government of Ireland;" and all the radicals, papists, infidels, and political dissenters, have concurred in this opinion. We need only reply, that if this be their strongest point, wretched indeed must be the common-weal in all its other relations. Not to mention other heads of grievance, they have brought Ireland to that pass, that the agitating popish priest, who, in defiance of law, is permitted publicly to claim the title of archbishop of Tuam, even in his official letters to her Majesty's ministers, boldly tells the whole world, and without contradiction, that it rests upon the sole decision of the bishop of Rome" a foreign prince, power, or potentate," what shall be the system of education for her Majesty's subjectswe beg pardon, the Pope's subjects-in the sister island; and we are even exultingly assured, that England and her colonies will ere long be reduced to the same bondage. Of this we have no fear; though we must say, with grief and shame, that not a few Dissenters by their ungodly politicalism, and some Churchmen by their worse than coquetry with Romanism in its anti-scriptural docrines and slavish practices, are doing much to prepare the way for such a result. Our strength is not to sit still; but to be up and doing; for if Protestants choose to sleep, they may rest assured Popery never does.