rant of his character till he came up from the country to attend his funeral. The good man waited on me before the rites of sepulture were performed; and, though I suppressed the strong descriptive language of his son, yet it was not in my power to alleviate his fears. He wept aloud. He paced backwards and forwards in my room like a man bereft of his senses. Had I lost my property, I had merely lost what will melt in the general burning; but I have lost my child, who will never see Woe is me!”

* *

*

"I went to see the good man a few months ago; but his countenance has never worn a smile since; his food is the wormwood, and his drink the gall." "What anguish," said Mr. Stevens, "does an irreligious child often inflict in a parent's breast! I have often grieved because I have not had a family, but I am sure that I shall never grieve again."

"I now observe, that God often employs the religious education of children as the means of their conversion; but if, when they leave their father's house, they are not placed in a pious family, we often see them turn out the most depraved. Hence we derive an argument for our encouragement, to train them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; and also a fact to warn us of the danger to which we expose them, when we introduce them. into situations where they are under no religious controul. This good man demands our pity; but, perhaps, if wa knew the whole history of his conduct to his child, we should be disposed to blame him. But, what a warning is this fact to the youth, who has received a religious edusation! He may indulge himself in a course of sin, but conscience will rebuke; he may suppose that his father is ignorant of his conduct, but he cannot conceal himself from the eye of God; and he may presume on a future day for repentance, but that day may be a day of darkness, of lamentation, and of woe!"

"Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these things God will bring the into judgment."

W. Tyler, Printer, 5, Bridgewater Square, London.

EVANGELICAL

A

[No. 8.

RAMBLER.

"We reached the rectory early in the afternoon, and found the venerable Mr. Ingleby anxiously waiting our arrival."

London:

PRINTED FOR FRANCIS WESTLEY, 10, STATIONERS' COURT, AND AVE-MARIA-LANE,

VISIT TO THE RECTORY.

"Near yonder copse, where once the garden smil'd,
And still where many a garden-flower grows wild;
There, where a few torn shrubs the place disclose,
The village preacher's modest mansion rose.
A man he was to all the country dear,
And passing rich with forty pounds a year:
Remote from towns, he ran his godly race,
Nor e'er had chang'd, nor wish'd to change, his place:
Unpractis'd he to fawn, or seek for power,
By doctrines fashion'd to the varying hour:
For other aims his heart had learn'd to prize,-
More skill to raise the wretched than to rise."

GOLDSMITH.

"I HAVE been thinking," said the amiable Mrs. Stevens, "that the spirit of bigotry must be very much of fended with us.” “How so, Madam ?" "Because, though we belong to different religious denominations, we have had no religious disputations." "Religious discussions,” I observed, "when fairly and amicably conducted, do good. They improve the understanding, by extending the range of its inquiry; and by bringing human opinions to the test of examination, enable us to determine which ought to be received, and which rejected; and they give us also an opportunity of exercising towards each other that candour and liberality which our mutual imperfections require. But religious disputations too often do essential injury to the truth, by obscuring its brightness; and to the christian character, by infusing into it a spirit of bigotry." "Oh, Bigotry, how I hate thee!" exclaimed Mr. Lewellin. "When I look at her," he added, "I am at a loss to trace any resemblance between her and Christianity. There is nothing amiable in her temper; nothing sociable in her disposition; she is as incapable of grandeur of design, as she is inimical to union of co-operation; where she goes, she distils, not the milk of human kindness, but the venom of the serpent ;-her aim is not to gather together the children of God, who are scattered abroad, but to throw among them the seed of discord, and keep them in a state of mutual alienation; and finds herself, breathing her native element, not beneath the tran

W. TYLER, PRINTER, 5, BRIDGEWATER SQUARE,

quil sky of christian joy and peace, but amidst the mists and fogs of a noxious ignorance, or a rude dogmatism, which the pure light of truth is intended to dispel. The Spectator says, in one of his papers, that "there is nothing which more denotes a great mind than the abhorrence of envy ;" and, in my opinion, there is nothing which more denotes a catholic mind than the abhorrence of bigotry." "I love," said Mr. Stevens, "pure religion, wherever I find it; whether in a palace or a cottage; in a cathedral or a meeting; and though I cannot but feel a decided preference to that external form of Christianity which is established in this kingdom, yet I love all that love the Lord Jesus in sincerity." "Well," said Mrs. Stevens, "I hope, while we are favoured with the society of our friends, that we shall have many religious discussions, but I flatter myself that we are all too much imbued with the lovely spirit of the gospel to have even one religious disputation."

We were now interrupted by the servant, who entered the parlour with a letter which he presented to Mr. Stevens, and said that the boy was waiting for an answer. "As the letter relates to you as well as myself," said Mr. Stevens, addressing us, "I will take the liberty of reading it:

"Mr. Ingleby's kind regards to Mr. and Mrs. Stevens, and their friends; and hopes they will do him the pleasure of taking tea, &c. at the Rectory this evening.""

This invitation was accepted, and we began to prepare for our visit. It was agreed that Mr. and Mrs. Stevens, and Mr. Lewellin should ride in the chaise, and a horse was provided for me.

We reached the Rectory early in the afternoon and found the venerable Mr. Ingleby anxiously waiting our arrival. In his person he was tall and slender; about sixty years of age; his silver locks fell in curls on his shoulders; in his countenance there was a fine expression of benignity and his entire appearance produced a mixture of reverence and delight in the breast of a stranger. He was presented to his living in the year 1788; and, though he had several offers of preferment in the church, yet he declined them. This circumstance needs some explanation, and I am happy that it is in my power to give it. When he commenced his ministerial labours, he

ound the church in a most dilapidated condition; the grass growing in the walks which led to the antique doors; and almost the whole parish involved in a state of ignorance and barbarism, which exceeds all description. His heart sunk within him as he surveyed the moral waste which he was appointed to cultivate; but recollecting that he was not appointed to labour in his own strength, he resolved to consecrate the whole of his life to its improvement. Having formed this resolution, no offer, however flattering, could for a moment shake it. The first thing

he attempted, was, not to raise the tythes, which he knew would inflame the prejudices of the people against him, but to get the church repaired. He called a meeting of the parishioners, stated his wish, and urged them in such a mild and persuasive manner, to comply with it, that the utmost degree of unanimity prevailed; and they retired, mutually congratulating each other on the residence of a clergyman among them, who seemed to manifest a concern for their spiritual welfare. Though the parsonage house was, if possible, in a more dilapidated state than the church, yet he prudently declined alluding to it; which gave a few of the leading men such an exalted conception of his disinterestedness, that they called another meeting, and resolved that the house and the church should be repaired at the same time. The whole was finished within the space of four months; and, when the church was re-opened for divine worship, there was such a concourse of attendants, that it was not large enough to contain them. The clerk, who had grown old in the service, having repeated the Amen, within those walls, nearly half a century, said to his rector, while he was assisting him in putting on his sacred vestments; "There is a main lot of people come, Sir, to see our beautiful church; one should almost think that the dead had got leave to come out of the graves to see it."

It was with some difficulty that Mr. Ingleby could get to the desk; and when he commenced the service, instead of reading the prayers like his predecessors, in a hurried and irreverent manner, there was so much gravity in his appearance, so much solemnity in his deportment, and such a clearness and impressiveness in his enunciation, that the whole congregation were astonished and delighted. But it was in the pulpit, where he had to proclaim the