[No. 2).

"His garden was his favourite amusement; there he toiled early and late, displaying great taste in its cultivation, often availing himself of the gratification of sending a portion of the fruits of his labour to some old civic friend."

Page 2.

London:

PRINTED FOR FRANCIS WESTLEY, STATIONERS'. COURT, AND AVE-MARIA-LANE.

FAMILY OF THE LAWSONS.

"In their own estimation, they are a privileged class, who dwell in a secluded region of unshaken security and lawless liberty, while the rest of the Christian world are the vassals of legal bondage, toiling in darkness and in chains. Hence, whatever diversity of character they may display in other respects, a haughty and bitter disdain of every other class of professors is a universal feature. Contempt and hatred of the most devout and enlightened Christians, out of their own pale, seems one of the most essential elements of their being; nor were the ancient Pharisees ever more notorious for trusting in themselves that they were righteous, and despising others."

HALL.

I RECEIVED an invitation from Mr. Lawson, whoresided about two miles from the villa, to dine with him before I returned home. Mr. Lawson had retired from business little more than three years; and, having built a very handsome mansion in his native village, there he resolved to end his days. He was a man of no education, but he possessed an active mind; his manners had never received a high polish, yet they were very agreeable; and though he had been buried in the trading world for more than twenty years, he soon acquired the habits of a country gentleman. His garden was his favourite amusement; there he toiled early and late, displaying great taste in its cultivation; often availing himself of the gratification of sending a portion of the fruits of his labour to some old civic friend.

He married, when he commenced business, and made what was thought a prudent choice. If he had no fortune with his wife, he soon found (to quote his own phrase) that he had a fortune in her; for what he gained by industry, she preserved by a system of the most rigid economy. He often repeated, with great satisfaction, one of her first maxims; Those tradesmen who begin life as gentlefolks, often end life as paupers. The habit of economy which Mrs. Lawson had early adopted, grew, in process of time, to extreme parsimony; and though she would often talk of charity, yet her usual apology was expressed in the common-place language of modern times; We must be just before we are generous. But though a

rigid economy was the order of the house, Mrs. Lawson was more anxious for the education of her children than her husband. He would often say, "Where is the necessity of spending so much money in education, when we got on without it?" But she, very wisely, replied, "The times are changed; and, if we wish our children to move with respectability in that rank of life to which their fortunes will elevate them, we must train them up to it."

Mrs. Lawson was esteemed, by some of her most intimate friends, very religious; but she was more attached to the doctrines of the gospel than its precepts; and usually expressed a more ardent desire to enjoy the consolations of faith, than to grow in knowledge or in grace. She was more solicitous to guard the little territory of opinion which her judgment oncupied, than to extend the empire of righteousness and peace; and, though she would sometimes speak of the love of God to sinners, yet such qualified terms were invariably employed, that it bore, at least in her estimation, an exclusive reference to a few of her own order. On their settlement at they attend ed the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Ingleby, but his style of preaching did not exactly suit Mrs. Lawson sometimes he preached well, but at other times he was too legal ;-he dwelt too much on the preceptive part of the Scriptures, and too little on the doctrinal. He enjoined obedience to the law of God, instead of leaving the principle of grace to produce it, without any reference to obligation. He did not go sufficiently deep into Christian experience; nor employ that singular phraseology of speech which she had been accustomed to admire. Mr. and the Misses Lawsons were more delighted with this new style of preaching (as it was termed) than the old; but rather than disturb the harmony of domestic peace, they consented to go with her on the Sabbath to a distance

of six miles, where one of her more favourite ministers officiated. This circumstance, at first, wounded the very delicate feelings of the venerable Rector; and excited no small degree of astonishment among the few pious who had anticipated great pleasure from the acquisition of this family to their little circle; but,

when the spirit of Mrs. Lawson was more fully displayed, and her sentiments more generally known, it gave entire satisfaction, as they were unwilling to have their numbers augmented at the expence of their mutual felicity.

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Our conversation, after dinner, turned on religious subjects, and Mrs. Lawson distinguished herself, not less by her loquacity than the occasional bitterness of her spirit. "I think, Sir," she said, "that we live in very awful times,—but few know the truth,-and very few preach it. I do not know six ministers in the kingdom whom I could hear with any pleasure." deed, Madam," I replied, " and what is the cause?" "I hope, Sir, you know." "But, my dear," said Mr. Lawson, "how should this gentleman, who is a stranger among us, know the cause unless you tell him?” "If, then," said Mrs. Lawson, "I must speak, though it is with great reluctance that I bring forth such a heavy charge, they do not preach the gospel. They are in general mere moral lecturers, and their sermons are mere essays on some one branch of relative duty; but those which are called 'evangelical,' I consider most censurable; because, though they profess to know the truth, yet they are afraid to preach it." "Your venerable Rector, Mr. Ingleby, I presume, Madam, you except from this sweeping charge?" "He may be," replied Mrs. Lawson, "a good man, but his knowledge of the gospel is very superficial. I have occasionally heard a sermon which has given me a little pleasure; but, Sir, his light merely serves to make his darkness the more visible. He preaches what I call a legalized gospel. It is twilight with him ;—instead of preaching a free salvation, he is always exhorting his hearers to be doing something; and tells them that they must look into their own heart, or to their own life, for the evidences of a work of grace." And pray, Madam," I asked, "where is a person to look for a genuine proof of his personal religion, unless he does look into his own mind? Are we not told, that a tree is to be known by its fruit? And is not this figure employed by Jesus Christ, to teach us that if our moral principles are good, we shall exhibit the visible signs of their goodness in our life and

conversation?" "I hear a great deal about moral goodness," Mrs. Lawson observed, "in the present day; but I very seldom see any; human nature is awfully depraved; some preach about its being made better by the grace of God, but I believe it never can be improved. The heart, after conversion, is as deceitful, and as desperately wicked, as before; and if we are saved, it must be by free and sovereign grace." "I admit, with you, Madam," I replied, "that those who are saved, are saved by grace through faith ;' but does not that faith purify the heart, and overcome the temptations of the world? Where the principle of grace is implanted, is it not represented as 'reigning through righteousness unto eternal life?" * Yes, Sir; and our evangelical moralists tell us, that the principle of grace will gradually extend its influence over the whole mind till every disposition is subdued, and we are fitted for the kingdom of heaven." "And do we not read," I replied, "that he that hath the hope of future blessedness purifieth himself even as God is pure ?" " "But how, Sir, can we purify ourselves? Does not such an idea supersede the work of the Spirit !" "By no means, Madam. If we are made alive from the dead by the infusion of the principle of spiritual life, we possess a certain degree of moral power; but this power does not render us self-sufficient; we become new, but not independent, creatures. We have duties to discharge, but we are not left to discharge them in our own strength. Mark the reasoning of the Apostle; For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye, through the Spirit, dò mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.' Rom. viii. 13. Here we see human agency in concurrence with the assistance of the Spirit, employed in mortifying the deeds of the body."

"It is but seldom," observed Mr. Lawson, "that I interfere with any religious disputation, but I must confess that I like those principles which have the best influence over our temper and our actions. Mrs. Lawson contends for faith, and some high points in divinity which I cannot reach; and, though I readily agree with her, that faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ is essential to salvation, yet I like to see some