memoir, to the personal and ministerial character of the late excellent Mr. Creak, of Yarmouth, will, we trust, secure for it a circulation proportioned to its high merits.

LECTURES on the GOSPEL according to LUKE. By the Rev. JAMES FOOTE, A.M., Minister of the Free East Church, Aberdeen. Crown 8vo. 3 vols. Second Edition.

John Johnstone, 26, Paternoster row. WE had unfeigned pleasure in introducing to our readers the first edition of this very valuable Commentary on the

Gospel of Luke, which may be regarded as a standard work in Theology and Biblical interpretation. It would be difficult, in our language, to point to a work on the Gospel of Luke so ample in its details and illustrations, and, at the same time, so thoroughly to be relied on for its sound and orthodox views of Christian truth. Mr. Foote is one of those Theologians who may be trusted, and who is altogether lifted above those follies and conceits which weaken and corrupt much of our modern expositions of Holy Scripture. It is with sincere satisfaction that we commend this new and improved edition of his popular work.

A SHORT MEMOIR OF THE LATE REV. WILLIAM JONES, BRIDGEND, GLAMORGANSHIRE, WHO DIED JUNE 5, 1847, IN THE 63RD YEAR OF HIS AGE, AND THE 37TH OF HIS MINISTRY.

"The righteous will be had in everlasting remembrance."

AMONG the people of God there are some who, on account of the excellence of their character, and the spheres in which they moved, have a special claim to have their memory handed down to posterity. The subject of the following brief memoir was one of this class.

William Jones was born in 1784, at Bala, Merionethshire, North Wales-a place in the production of good men almost sacred. His parents were William aud Elizabeth Jones, who were members with the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists in that town,-the father a leader in the church, and considered a very pious man.

Considering that little William had a mind as well as a body, his parents took great care to bring him up "in the way he should go;" they took him with them regularly to the house of God-even to their private meetings. He paid great attention to what he saw and heard. When only three years of age, he would frequently assemble children about him and preach to them.

He was sent to school young, and soon showed a capacity better than common for learning. When out of school, he would often preach to his schoolmates. When about twelve years of age, he frequently visited aged people in the town, who were unable to go out to a place of worship, and preached to them in their houses. father felt deeply concerned at this, fearing his son made too free with the sacred mini

His

stry, and corrected him severely for his presumption. At one time, when the good man was correcting his son for preaching, one of William's young friends went to a bell which the inhabitants used to ring in case of fire, and rang it. When the bell was heard, the people in all parts of the little town rushed out of their dwellings, and anxiously inquired where the fire was. The reply was, it was at William Jones' house. A great multitude hastened to the spot, could see no fire, but found William under a severe treatment for preaching. The father felt greatly ashamed when he saw the crowd, and William was no longer abused for preaching.

When about sixteen, he went to the Independent Chapel at Bala, to hear the late Rev. T. Phillips, Neuaddlwyd, D.D., preach. The text was Psa. lxxxiv. 10-"I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God," &c. His attention was soon arrested, and he felt convinced he was not where he ought to have been while out of the house of God. He afterwards attended the ministry of the Rev. W. Thomas, at the said chapel, sought a place in the house of the Lord, and was admitted a member of that Congregational church.

The following year, having gained the esteem of his pastor and the church, he was encouraged to preach-the work which had been so much his delight in his childhood; and his sermons proved very acceptable and profitable.

After he had received a tolerably good education, he kept a school for some time at Pental Llyncymmat, near Bala. In the year 1806, being then twenty-two years of age, he was admitted to the Independent Academy at Wrexham, then under the superintendence of the Rev. Jenkin Lewis, D.D., late of Newport, Monmouthshire; where he

pursued his studies for four years with great | diligence, and to the honour of himself and his revered and amiable tutor, with whom he maintained a close intimacy till that good and great man was removed to his Father's house.

A little before the expiration of his time at the academy, he was invited to come and spend some time on probation at the Tabernacle, Bridgend, and Brynmenyn, Glamorganshire. He complied, and came in the summer of 1810. The churches at the said places approving of his labours among them during the vacation, cordially invited him to become their pastor. His time expiring at the academy, he came to stay among them the following Christmas, and was ordained to the ministry of the gospel the following spring.

Mr. Jones had also to take charge of a small church at Coity, a village in the neighbourhood of Bridgend, where there was preaching on the sabbath and week evenings. In the course of some years, he had the pleasure of seeing there an active church, and a flourishing sabbath-school, which proved a great blessing to the place.

In the course of some years, a few persons residing in the higher hamlet of Coychurch, not then connected with any Christian church, raised a sabbath-school in their neighbourhood, and invited Mr. Jones occasionally to preach there. He readily complied, and had afterwards the great satisfaction of seeing, in that benighted neighbourhood, a small church formed, and a chapel built, called Bethel; at which, in connection with the other places named, he continued to labour to the close of his life.

In thus passing rapidly over the first years of the ministry of this excellent man, as the writer is giving his history, he feels compelled to refer here to one unpleasant circumstance which took place in a few years after he settled at Bridgend: faithfulness requires that it should not be passed over altogether unnoticed. A domestic at the house where Mr. Jones lodged, charged him with having had an improper intimacy with her; but in a few days, when friends met in order to investigate the charge carefully, she confessed it was entirely without foundation, which, happily, was the general opinion before. It appeared soon that a plot had been formed by two or three individuals in order to remove him, and that this disgraceful step had been taken to effect their purpose. This attack upon Mr. Jones's character was so far from injuring his reputation, that, when the truth became fully known, it greatly increased it. the public may have heard something about this circumstance, but have not had a fair representation of the case, it was thought necessary, in justice to the deceased, to place the affair fully before them.

As

In the year 1814, he married Miss Mary Tuberville, of Toocandy, who was a member at the Tabernacle, Bridgend, and possessed an amiable disposition. This valuable woman proved a helpmeet to him for many years. By her he had ten children, of which seven are now alive. Mrs. Jones studied how to make her husband comfortable in his family and in his connection with his churches, and was worthy of imitation in her constant endeavours to conceal from him everything likely to trouble his mind, which, to a person of his tender sensibili ties, was a great mercy. Thus he escaped feeling many a pang which otherwise would have greatly distressed him.

Mrs. Jones had but very delicate health, especially for several years previous to her death. Her removal, which took place sabbath morning, Oct. 23, 1836, proved a great trial to him, as he had left to her the whole management of his domestic affairs.

In the course of a few years, several of his daughters married. Being thus left alone, he found it necessary to seek another partner, and married Mrs. Howell, a respectable member of a neighbouring church, who very tenderly ministered to his comfort to the close of his life. May the Judge of the widow be her God!

Mr. Jones enjoyed tolerable health generally, though often complaining of slight indisposition. On the 30th of May, 1847, he had to preach three times and administer the Lord's supper twice. He generally preached four times one sabbath in every four. At the close of the day he felt unusually fatigued, but reached home with some difficulty. He suffered severely the following days from an affection of the liver, but enjoyed an undisturbed peace of mind, as might be expected from the tenor of his holy life. The latter end of the week he could converse but little, but was entirely resigned to his heavenly Father's will, and enjoyed a sweet foretaste of that eternal joy into which, on the Saturday evening, June the 5th, it is firmly believed, he entered.

On the following Wednesday, his mortal remains were interred at the Tabernacle, Bridgend. A great many of the ministers of the county were present, and engaged in the services performed on the mournful occasion. The appearance of the vast assembly present testified they had lost one they greatly esteemed.

As a Christian, he was eminent for his genuine and unaffected piety; very humble; taking great delight, as a sinner and as a Christian, in reading and studying the Scriptures. The better he was known, the more highly he was thought of. Sincerity characterized all he did, and an evident unconsciousness of his greatness. He was one whom all about him believed to be "an

Israelite indeed, in whom there was no guile."

As a preacher, he had a great many excellencies. There was something noble in his appearance; his action in the pulpit was natural and graceful; his voice, when young, clear and pleasant; and his delivery tolerably free. Soon after his ordination, both ministers and people perceived he was likely to become an able minister of the New Testament. His sermons proved, to every attentive and intelligent hearer, he possessed a mind of no ordinary cast, that had undergone an unusual degree of cultivation, beginning to show signs of no common greatness. At quarterly and yearly meetings, a prominent place would be assigned him; and thus he soon became generally known, and as generally respected.

He

He never paid any particular attention to the management of his voice, perhaps in this he was negligent to a fault. always took care to have his sermons full of useful matter, ingeniously brought out of his texts, and in such a natural manner, that many good preachers felt surprised they had not seen the same things before in the same passages.

When treating the leading doctrines of the gospel, he always drew from them practical lessons calculated to awaken and instruct. Once, at a public meeting, that popular and pleasant speaker, the late Rev. Ebenezer Jones, Pontypool, when hearing Mr. Jones preach, said, "It is well God did not give that man a pleasant voice, otherwise it would have been no use for any of us to attempt preaching with him." That talented man was struck with the mass of useful matter Mr. Jones had in his sermons and the good sense with which he managed it.

He was a zealous and consistent Nonconformist. He read and studied the New Testament carefully, in order to ascertain the nature of the kingdom of Christ; disapproved of all State interference in religious matters, and all compulsion for the extension and support of Christianity, as unjust to man and dishonourable to God. He was very diligent as a minister, labouring in season and out of season. In his prayers, there were fervency and solemnity, proving his sincerity and deep sense of the majesty of the Being he addressed. He had the happiness of seeing several powerful revivals in his churches, which greatly encouraged and delighted his mind. During the long period of his ministry, he buried most of his old members; but, through the Divine blessing upon his labours, others came in to supply their places.

Notwithstanding his powerful mind, he was often defective in self-possession; hence he could not speak in public upon any sub

ject scarcely, with comfort to himself, without having previously studied it well. And however well prepared he would be for speaking, a very trifling circumstance happening either immediately before commencing or while enaged, would greatly disconcert him. Not being free from tautology, and having such an abundance of matter, he was often considered too long in preaching-a fault more easily noticed than avoided, but still remains a fault.

In his connection with his brethren in the ministry, he carried his humility to excess. They would gladly have given him the lead in all their conferences; but seldom could they prevail upon him to take a prominent part in their proceedings. He possessed advantages to do good as a public man, which but few besides in his county enjoyed. His acknowledged superiority in learning and knowledge, his standing in the ministry, with other considerations, all tended to give weight to his opinion and secure acceptance to his advice. His younger brethren would have been greatly encouraged had he been bold enough to go before them.

It would have been well, perhaps, had he given himself more to visit his people; his visits would have been very acceptable, and might have proved very beneficial. Had he paid more attention to this when young, when he could have turned his mind in conversation to things within the range of ordinary capacities, he might have done much, under the Divine blessing, to advance the cause of his Divine Master in his neighbourhood. He had, at different periods of his ministry, many respectable persons about him that greatly revered him, who, in all probability, would have joined his churches had they had a little more of his society. But he, dreading to be troublesome, in avoiding that, went to the other extreme, and associated too little with his people. But for the last twenty years of his life, he confined himself so much to his study, and dwelt so much upon the great things of Christianity, that he actually unfitted himself for a free and easy conversation about common-place things. friends will find in this some excuse for what some of them called his distant manner, and the attentive among his hearers were abundantly rewarded for this apparent deficiency in the good solid matter with which his sermons were replete.

His

He did lasting good to Wales through his writings. Many excellent letters did he write to the Welsh periodicals; he published several valuable pamphlets; a volume of sermons ou John xiii. 14-21; a sermon on the Divinity of Christ; another on the office of Deacons in the Christian church; all of which are highly valued. But his principal work was his Theological Dic

tionary, at which he laboured hard for many years. This work was published in two thick vols., demy 8vo., and contains articles in Divinity that show an amazing strength of intellect, an extensive acquaintance with the word of God, and that the author possessed a large share of the spirit of the gospel. This work is highly valued by some of the best men of various denominations in the Principality.

He intended bringing out another edition of it, with many material alterations, but lived not to accomplish this desirable object, which is a great disappointment to the public. His sudden removal while engaged in such an important work, upon which he had set his heart so much, and the accomplishment of which the religious public in Wales so anxiously waited for, appears a very mysterious event. Mr. Jones in this work intended to dwell with some minuteness upon the figures of Scripture. treating these he had so much originality, and could draw his pictures so much like life, that his hearers would almost fancy that all was reality.

In

In reflecting upon the whole course of the ministry of this good man, we may observe that God takes care that His hand should be manifest in the success attendant upon the labours of his servants; that superior powers and liberal education, however important and valued, are not sufficient of themselves to secure success. This good man, possessing these advantages, had to labour for many years without seeing any extraordinary success, while some ministers destitute of them, only possessing good natural abilities and common sense, have been favoured with no small share of prosperity. God proves to both ministers and people that "the excellency of the power" is of him, and not of the instruments he employs.

We may also notice the great importance of cultivating social habits, and taking a lively interest in the various events that happen to our friends. Mr. Jones did not entirely neglect this part of his work, yet had he paid more attention to the young among his people, and made free to show his sympathy with his friends when in some particular trials, probably he would have had the pleasure of seeing more of the children flocking around him, and at the same time securing the best feelings of heads of families. Accustomed to study human nature more in books than in men, our esteemed friend would sometimes fret at trifling disappointments, not considering we should take mankind as they are, and patiently labour to make them what they should be.

Let churches carefully consider the natural dispositions and habits of their ministers, and value an instructive ministry, though

the pastor may be somewhat defective in liveliness of feeling and pleasantness of delivery. To his great comfort, Mr. Jones had many sober-minded persons among his people, that could set a proper value upon his labours, and thought more highly of him than almost of any other minister in the Principality, and took particular care to treat him with that respect which his character and standing in the ministry deserved: and he was greatly beloved by his churches and congregations generally, and especially by his brethren in the ministry. God favoured him with tranquillity and peace of mind through life, and blessed him with "strong consolation" at its close. Notwithstanding his sufferings, he could “rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." His exemplary life honoured religion, and his happy experience recommended it to all around him. E. GRIFFITHS,

Swansea.

BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR.

MRS. TIMPSON, the beloved wife of the Rev. T. Timpson, of Lewisham, departed to her eternal rest August the 7th, 1848, in the full assurance of hope of life eternal through Jesus Christ. She was born March the 7th, 1796, at Deptford, where she was baptized by the late Rev. J. T. Barker, Pastor of the Congregational church in that town; where her father, Mr. Robert Harvey, kept a boarding-school. He had been educated with a view to the ministry in the Church of England; but not being able to yield conscientious subscription to all its articles and offices, he united with the Dissenters.

Miss Harvey's mother died when she was an infant, and her father in 1812; at which period she was adopted by her aunt, Mrs. Bennett, of Lewisham. With her uncle and aunt, she generally attended the ministry of the late Rev. W. Chapman, of Greenwich; but, with them, frequently at the Old Chapel, erected by the London Itinerant Society, at Lewisham, until the erection of Union Chapel, 1823, and the settlement there, as its minister, of the Rev. T. Timpson.

Mr. Harvey being an intelligent, religious man, his daughter was, from a child, made familiar with the Scriptures, and acquainted with the distinguishing doc. trines of salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ; so that she scarcely knew at what period to date her conversion to God. About the time of her marriage, in April, 1827, she united in church-fellowship under the pastorate of her husband.

As a wife and a mother she was exemplary; discharging her duties in the fear

of God; regarding with veneration the Sacred Scriptures, and relying on the grace of the Holy Spirit. Conscious of the imperfection of her best duties, she renounced all dependence on her own works for justification before God, habitually trusting to the atonement and righteousness of Jesus Christ for salvation and eternal life in heaven.

During the last two years of her life, and especially the latter few months, her physical energies seemed gradually to decline; and she often expressed her conviction that she was shortly to close her mortal course. She was able to take her younger children, on Tuesday the 19th of July, to visit their brother's family at Woolwich; and on the following day, the 20th, to visit a friend at Lee, Blackheath; but on Thursday the 21st, she began to feel very poorly. Her diseases, bilious and rheumatic, increased until Saturday, the 4th of August, when a wound in the tongue, made

by a single tooth, occasioned swelling, gangrene, and stoppage of the breath; so that though every effort of medical and surgical skill was tried, it proved ineffectual, and she yielded up her spirit into the hands of her Saviour at seven minutes past twelve, on Monday, the 7th of August.

Mrs. Timpson was conscious till the last. On Sunday, the morning preceding her decease, on her husband taking leave of her to repair to the house of God, she desired to be remembered in prayer, and at the table of the Lord: and about two hours before her departure, on his asking her the state of her mind, she said she was not afraid of death, as she trusted entirely on the Lord Jesus Christ!

A funeral sermon on the occasion was preached by the Rev. John Pulling, of Deptford, to a very crowded congregation, on Lord's day morning, August the 20th, at Union Chapel, Lewisham, on Revelation vii., 14-17.

MAY MEETING OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE.

THE Annual Meeting of the Trustees of the Evangelical Magazine will be held, (D.v.), at Baker's Coffee House on Wednesday the 9th May, at Two o'clock precisely; when it is hoped that all the Trustees will be present.

THE CASE OF THE REV. JAMES SHORE.

THIS is a mournful page in English history. It would better suit the times of Laud than those of Sumner. It seems like a dream, in our day, to think of any man in prison for preaching the gospel. But Mr. Shore is in prison, and, all mystification apart, he is there for no other offence but that of preaching, contrary to the interdict of his mild and apostolical Bishop. We look not at the Bills of Costs, whether in the Judicial Court, or in the Court of Arches, they are to be regarded as mere results of an iniquitous state of law, which will be visited on other victims, if Englishmen are not roused by passing events to do their duty. The honour of our country is deeply compromised by a system under which any Bishop can do what his Lordship of Exeter has done. That he has acted legally is the bitterest ingredient in this cup of ecclesiastical tyranny and oppression. He is a representative of a system which men of his party in the Church of England

VOL. XXVII.

will not scruple to avail themselves of. Tractarians would restore, if they might, the Star-Chamber, and the High Commission Court. The only guarantee for our future liberty is to attack with unsparing determination and perseverance, through every legal channel, those powers of the Spiritual Court by which Bishops of Dr. Philpotts's class may involve in ruinous litigation and expense any clergyman who may choose to leave the Establishment, and to preach the gospel as a Dissenter.

As Mr. Shore had no favour to expect at the hand of his Bishop, we regret that he obeyed, even under protest, the original citation. This was, doubtless, a mistake. It complicated the case, and gave facilities to those who aimed at his ruin. Having taken his stand under the Toleration Act, he should have taken no notice of the Bishop's citation, and left him to pursue his own course. But Mr. Shore is in prison, and what is to be done for his release? It is most unsatisfactory to raise one penny to pay such costs; and we would not consent to do so if any other course could be adopted. If by passing through the Insolvent Debtors' Court Mr. Shore can regain his liberty, there should not be a moment's scruple about the affair. No particle of dishonour could attach to the step, and the friends of liberty, to say nothing of the personal friends of Mr. Shore, would then come forward with delight to raise a public testimonial to him, which should mark the abhorrence of all enlightened and good men of the harassing per

Q