Condemned by others, he condemned no man! Other tokens of respect both private and public were paid to his memory. RICHARD BAXTER was born at Rowton, in Shropshire, 1615, and falling into the hands of ignorant schoolmasters, he enjoyed not the advantage of a regular education. Taking orders of the Bishop of Winchester, he became Minister of Kidderminster, where an uncommon success attended his ministry; But the civil wars which broke out soon after his settlement at this place, interrupted his labours.-Upon the restoration of Charles the Second, he refused the Bishopric of Hereford, asking, indeed, for no favour but that of remainiug at his beloved Kidderminster, which was denied him! Upon the fatal Bartholomew act, he was silenced, with a large number of clergy, for refusing to conform to the Church of England. He suffered vexatious përsecutions, on account of his religious opinions, with a firmness which did honour to his piety. He was even tried before that barbarian Jefferies, who condemned him to a long and tedious imprisonment. His publications were numerous, for his Practical Works make four volumes in folio. Bishop Burnet says, that he was his whole life long, a man of great zeal and much simplicity?”? k 2 WILLIAM PENN was born in London, 1644; he was the son of Admiral Penn, who was greatly offended with him for joining the Quakers; but, previous to his death, he became reconciled to him. He suffered much on account of his sentiments, but adhered to them with stedfastness. His famous book, No Cross, No Crown, was written during his confinement in the Tower of London... He lived much of his time in Sussex, and accompanied George Fox and Robert Barclay on a mission to Holland and Germany. In 1681, Charles the Second, in lieu of arrears due to his father, granted him a province in North America, since called after him Pennsylvania. Thither he went, and gave just and wise laws to his new settlement. To his honour be it noticed, that in his legislative code, the sacred rights of conscience were left free and unfettered. In 1718, he died near Beaconsfield of a gradual decay, occasioned by apoplectic fits. His works are comprised in six volumes octavo, and are in high esteem with the society to which he belonged; the first volume contains the particulars of his Biography. GEORGE WHITFIELD (founder of the Calvinist Methodists) was born at Gloucester, 1714, where he received the usual school education, and then became Servitor of Pembroke College, Oxford. Having been ordained at the age of 21, he applied indefatigably to the duties of the ministry. The churches being shut against him, he preached to immense multitudes in the open fields; for which he was fitted by his powerful elocution. He however built two large places of worship in the metropolis for himself and followers, the Tabernacle, Moorfields, and the Chapel, Tottenham-court Road :He several times visited the continent of America, where he closed his eyes in the year 1770, not far from Boston, in New England. He died of an asthma, brought on by excessive preaching. His works are made up of sermons, and letters, but it was from the pulpit that he shone; thence he made extraordinary impressions, JOHN WESLEY (founder of the Arminian Metho dists) was born at Epworth, 1703, educated at the Charter-house, and in 1716 elected to Christ Church, Oxford. He however, in 1726, was chosen fellow of Lincoln College, where the first Methodist society was instituted. Like his associate, Mr. Whitfield, being excluded the churches, he preached in the open air, and visited America, as well as the West India Islands. He built a handsome chapel in the City Road, opposite to Bunhill Fields: and in the ground adjoining he lies interred under a neat tomb, with an inscription of some length, to his memory. He died at a very advanced age, in 1791, after a short illness, regretted by his extensive connections. His works are said to amount to thirtytwe octavo volumes, but many of these are compilations, which he thought were favourable to the diffusion of knowledge among mankind. ELHANAN WINCHESTER (a popular preacher of the doctrine of universal restoration) was born at Brooklyn, Massachusets, North America, 1751, but did not enjoy the advantages of an academical education. He was originally a minister among the Calvinistic Baptists, by whom he was caressed, till he embraced the universal doctrine, when he stood as it were alone, and preached it with astonishing success. He came over to England about the year 1787, where he delivered a Series of Lectures on the Pro, becies remaining to be fulfilled, which he afterwards published. This indeed, and his Dialogues on Restoration, a new edition of which has been published by Mr. Vidler, are his principal publications. In the year 1794 he quitted England, leaving behind him a numerous congregation meeting in Parliamentcourt, Bishopgate street, which is still in a flourishing condition. He died at Hartford, in New England, 1797, where the public prints bore testimony to his zeal and integrity. DEAR SIR, You had nearly attained to the assigned age of man, when this little work was submitted to your inspection, and published under your patronage. And yet you have lived to see it enter its twelfth Edition, after å sale of upwards of fifty thousand copies! Indeed the number sold in the given time has exceeded that of almost every other publication in the religious world. A few particulars respecting the Origin and Progressthe Design and Success of the SKETCH will be grati❤ fying to your curiosity. n Entering at an early age the Academy at Bristol, conducted by my much respected relative the late Dr. CALEB EVANS,* I was imperfectly acquainted with the Christian World. I felt the want of an Epitome of the several tenets as preparatory to the study of Theology. For this purpose a fellow student recommended me Dr. Gill's Body of Divinity, in three volumes quarto, which I read through with patient industry. His delineation of the Divine Attributes, and his enumeration of the claims of Jesus to the Messiahship, left an impression on my mind. But the leading opinions of different Sects were to me still involved in obscurity. I afterwards obtained a knowledge of the several opinions as I was able from controversial treatises and disputative conversations. There was however an indistinctness remained which a brief Guide would have dissipated. At Aberdeen, whither I went in 1787, and at Edinburgh, where I passed the winter of 1790-it was my lot to associate with religious individuals of very 1 * He died at Bristol, after an illness borne with exemplary resignation, August 1791, in the fifty-fourth year of his age. The line of Horace which with the alteration of one word he applied to his venerable and beloved father, the Rev. Hugh Evans, upon his decease in 1781, is equally applicable to his own dissolution Multis ille bonis flebilis occidit! The Son of God reveals his dazzling light, |