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now ministers of the gospel; and one of them tutor of an aca demy *. He took great delight in assisting young men of talents, particularly those destined for the ministry; recommending pro per books to them, teaching them himself the languages, &c. earnestly warning them not to aspire to pride and popularity, rocks on which many have been dashed to pieces.

Several prayer-meetings were established in different parts of the congregation; and in 1796, a General Monthly Meeting was esfablished at Branton, for Christian fellowship and prayer; at which Mr. S. presided. In 1803, he established a Library in the chapel, composed solely of religious books, intended to promote the knowledge of truth and advance the interest of practical religion. It has stirred up a spirit of emulation in reading, and happily answers the intention of its founder. He copiously reaped the fruit of his labour in the attachment of his people to his person and ministry it was reciprocal to his own. He had the happiness to see many walking in the narrow way in singleness of heart, worshipping God with their whole house daily. To this duty

he strenuously exhorted, saying, ' A house, in which the worship of God is not duly observed, is like one without a roof, exposed to every storm and danger.' Brotherly Love reigned at Branton; and Peace was seldom interrupted during his abode there.

In July 1807, he was attacked by his last illness, as he was returning from assisting the Rev. Mr. Ord, of Longformacus, at his Sacrament. His complaint at first was bilious. Hopes of his recovery were long entertained; and many fervent prayers were offered on his behalf; but at length it proved a confirmed jaundice, and entirely baffled all the powers of medicine. Long after this, he was as lively and weighty in preaching as ever, if not more so. In a letter to a friend, dated March 21, 1808, he wrote thus: "I am still able to preach the glorious gospel; and, I hope, with greater fervency and pleasure than ever. The people appear very attentive; and numbers seem much impressed. I am truly amazed at the great attention and kindness they all manifest towards me. I desire to be grateful to God, and also to the people amongst whom I have laboured now about 24 years. I am still indisposed; the symptoms at times appear more violent; at other times more gentle. I feel no other complaint. Moderate exercise in the open air is highly proper and necessary; but from this I have been much prevented of late, through the severity of the weather. My times are in the hand of that God, whose wisdom cannot err, whose power cannot be baffled, whose goodness and covenant-love are immutable and inexhaustible !'

On the 24th of April he administered the Lord's Supper for the last time; it was to him perhaps the most solemn time he ever

*The Rev. W, Vint, of Idle, Yorkshire.

experienced; he was firmly persuaded he should never more participate of that ordinance; and it was rendered peculiarly affecting, because his only daughter, with four others, were at that time admitted to the table. It was his custom to address new communicants publicly the preceding evening (when a sermon was preached). Having spoken to them collectively, he turned to his daughter, and said,And you, my Alice, ought particularly to think of these things: how that in this house I solemnly dedicated you to the Lord when you were baptized, and now you give up yourself to be his with your own consent and choice; see to it that you walk circumspectly.' He said much more; but all present were so much affected, that the words could not be distinctly remembered.

He preached every Lord's Day, though in much weakness, till May 15. On that day he delivered his last sermon, from Rev. xxii. 14,- Blessed are they that do his commandments,' &c. He was much entreated to consider his extreme debility, and refrain from preaching, as he could scarcely walk to the chapel (about 200 yards); but he caused himself to be supported, saying he was resolved to speak a few words to his dear people once more. When he was taken into the pulpit, he baptized two children; during which service he stood, but was obliged to sit and preach. When he concluded, he was supported to the chapeldoor, where numbers stood, drowned in tears, to take their last farewell. Overwhelmed with the great attachment of his flock, and under a deep sense of divine love, the venerable paster. exclaimed, This is not crying out Crucify him, crucify him!"' The scene was affecting beyond description. After this he lived seven weeks; but never left his house more. The sermon which he had preached on the preceding Sabbath, May 8, may be deemed his dying testimony to the truth. Speaking of justification through the righteousness of Christ, he said, 'This doctrine has afforded me consolation through all the stages of my life. have preached it upwards of 20 years among you. If I were a young man, and had all my labours to begin again, I would still preach this as a leading doctrine of Christianity. It may be I shall never address you more. Should that be the case, I leave this as my dying testimony to the truth of this doctrine; and on this righteousness I build all my hopes of salvation.'

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He now grew daily worse; but manifested the most perfect resignation to the will of God, in whose hands, he said, "I am; and he will accomplish that which is appointed for me.' was always grateful when a little revived; and frequently said, he never was so well as when preaching. I love to preach. If the Lord please to restore me, I will be more diligent than ever, and more earnest in warning and exhorting every man. there is need of it.'

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When almost unable to speak, he would tell his people who

visited him, 'You must now strive to improve what you have heard from me these 20 years. In that time, I have said all I have to say; and am now so weak I can say no more.' He took great delight in hearing of heavenly things. He could seldom be induced to sit in his chair at family-worship: he would say, What were our knees made for, but to bow before God? He is the best Being, and deserves the best worship we can perform." For some weeks, he endured strong pain with the most exemplary patience. It pleased God to remove it about a week before his death; and he retained the entire possession of his faculties to the very last. He was not altogether free from doubts and fears; but the enemy was never permitted to have the dominion over him. He ever maintained a confidence in divine mercy, through the Saviour's merits. A friend observing, "The Lord will support you," he replied, 'I hope so: the Rock on which I build for my salvation, is the Rock of Ages.' At another time, in answer to a kind enquiry, he said, 'I have a good hope, through grace.' The last Sabbath he was on earth, his dissolution being hourly expected, some of his most intimate friends took their last farewell of him: he could only hold out his hand, and give a look full of affection. One of his elders saying, "The Lord be your support," he turned his face towards him, and, in a manHer never to be forgotten, exclaimed, Walk in peace!'-he wished to say more, but could not. On Friday morning, July 8, a change took place: he appeared evidently to be dying. A young minister, having prayed with him, asked him if he found his mind comfortable ? he grasped his hand in both his own, and feebly answered, Yes:this was the last word he was heard to utter. He survived till 9 o'clock the next morning; and, without a struggle or a groan, calmly breathed his last, in the 65th year of his age, and 36th of his ministry. Without doubt, his disembodied spirit securely winged its way to the regions of a blessed immortality, and joined its kindred spirits who surround the throne, singing the praises of redeeming love.. It is not intended to represent the deceased as a perfect character. Enough of the old man remained unsubdued, to remind him that, in this tabernacle, we groan, being burdened; and to cause him to say, My soul cleaveth to the dust; quicken thou me according to thy word.'

Thus lived and died this most excellent man and faithful minister; than whom few have been more beloved in their lives, or in their death more sincerely lamented. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace.'

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When he saw death approaching, with all the fortitude of a Christian, he set his house in order. Among other arrangemeuts, he requested of his intimate friend, the Rev. Geo. Atkins, of Morpeth, that, when it should please God to call him home, he would preach his funeral-sermon at Branton, from Phil. iv. 1. Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved and longed for, my jov

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and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.' He also drew out the plan of the discourse; which, he added, he had thought of for some time. He further requested that, as a mark of respect to the people of Morpeth, Mr. Atkins should deliver a discourse to them, from 2 Cor. xiii. 11. The former of these was complied with July 17. On this occasion, the audience was extremely large, and much affected. The chapel was far too small for the number who were anxious to testify their respect to his memory: every person was clothed in mourning, and every eye bedewed with tears: the latter was fulfilled a few Sabbaths after. His affectionate friend, the Rev. Lewis Jones, improved this event at Durham, where he was much beloved, from Isaiah lvii. I, 2. The Rev. Mr. Hill, his successor at Ravenstonedale, also preached a funeral-sermon to his old congregation at that place.

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REASON

WHY PART OF THE BOOKS OF DANIEL AND EZRA ARE PRESERVED IN THE CHALDAIC LANGUAGE.

I NEVER doubted of the divine wisdom in every particular relative to the revelation God has made of himself in his word, whether I could understand the reason of it or not; and this implicit confidence, I considered as requisite to be extended to even the smallest circumstances: but, I own, I have formerly wondered at one particular, which has lately struck my mind in a very forcible manner, as most wisely ordered, differently from what we might have expected.

I have been used to wonder, why a part of the Book of Daniel (from chap. ii. 4, to the end of the seventh chapter) as well as part of Ezra, was written in a different language, and preserved in that language only, without so much as being translated from the Chaldee into the Biblical Hebrew. If the convenience of the writer, or of the Jews, had led to it, why were not the whole books in the same language?

But, a few days ago, while reading Dr. Graves's Lectures on the Four Last Books of the Pentateuch, when I came to that part where he takes notice of the subserviency of the Babylonish captivity to the gracious purposes of God, respecting the introduction of the gospel dispensation, I very clearly perceived the wisdom of God in so ordering it, that those parts of the Book of Daniel which concerned, the Chaldeans, should not only be written in that language which the Babylonians could understand, but that they should be written only in that language in which those could readily read it who were most able to contradict the

Part iii. Lect. v. sect. 1.

history contained in it; and who would doubtless have been disposed so to do, had not the facts been undeniable. Had the accounts been only in Hebrew, it would have been said that the Chaldeans did not contradict them, because very few among them ever heard of them; and that the Jews, who forged them for their own honour, kept them secret till long after the period. Had they been extant in both languages, still it might be said that the Chaldee translation was made long after the event, and therefore not contradicted; but as they exist in that language only, there is no room to doubt of their authenticity; for, as Dr. Graves justly observes, in vol. ii. page 386, These were not obscure nor doubtful transactions, related only by deluded fanatics or artful impostors, but attested by the authentic decrees of the most distinguished monarchs, solemnly proclaimed through their wide-extended dominions. What writer would have dared, if unsupported by truth, to have asserted, when the facts were recent, the promulgation of the decree,' in honour of the God who had delivered Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego? —or the proclamation of Nebuchadnezzar after his recovery from insanity?

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and, surely, the argument is strengthened by reflecting, that the narrative was written, not in the dialect of a remote and obscure province, whose inhabitants had little intercourse with other nations, but in the dialect spoken in the metropolis of the largest empire then in the world, where also the transactions related took place, and from whence it was affirmed, they were promulgated, by imperial authority, all through the dominions of the humbled, and, I hope, at last, converted monarch.

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ORIGINAL LETTER OF THE LATE REV. J. BROWN. Dear Friend,

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THROUGH the tender mercies of the Lord, we have been, generally, in good health since we heard from you; but, alas! there is little health of soul to be found with us! There, all things are 'wounds and bruises which have not been bound up nor mol. lified with ointment.' We are glad to hear that you are in usual way at present. O that we could reach to the apostle's usual way in the spiritual life, when he said, 'The life that I live is by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me!' But, ah! how little we attain to in that path! nor have we any to blame but ourselves. Jesus, his Father, and the blessed Spirit, are the same as ever! His new-covenant-fulness, promises, and offers of grace are still the same; but these wicked, carnal, careless hearts are the shameful cause of our barrenness and leanness! Wo unto us, that this treacherous dealer

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