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JUVENILE DEPARTMENT.

Substance of an Address, delivered by a Minister of the Gospel to the Young Gentlemen at Mill-Hill School. Printed from a Copy

with which they were favoured, at their unanimous Request, by the Minister who delivered it.

Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Psalm xxxiv. 11.

My dear youths, had you been told that a king was to preach to you to-day, I doubt not but you would give the most fixed and eager attention. Allow me then to remind you, that it is a King who speaks to you in the text. David, the royal psalmist, the ancestor of Christ, stoops from a throne to be the instructor of children in the fear of the Lord; and no wonder that the most exalted personages bend to your tender age, when Jesus, the Lord of glory, condescended to take children into his arms and bless them. He, beholding the young man, loved him.' ought they to be who have such preachers! What scholars

The psalmist first entreats you to hearken to him; for, my young friends, one of the many humbling proofs of your inheriting a fallen nature, is the vanity, listlessness, and frivolous inattention which you are apt to betray. Childhood and youth are vanity,' saith the Scriptures; Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child. Vain man would be wise, though he is born like the wild ass's colt,' which bounds off from the voice that calls him, and spurns all useful restraint. himself speaks, they will not watch his lips; when eternity is presented to Hence, when God view, they are thinking about play; and when Jesus is proposed to their contemplation, their eyes are as the fool's, wandering to the ends of the

earth.

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I blame not youthful vivacity, for God condemns it not. The Majesty of Heaven has deigned to promise to Jerusalem, that he would restore her prosperity; and the streets of the city shall be full of boys and playing in the streets thereof. The sprightly eye, the bounding limb, the cheerful shout, the gladsome heart, are all suited to your age; and girls, the mind, as well as the body, receives expansion as well as vigour, from the exuberant exertion in which you delight: but every thing is beautiful in its season. If, while you were all at high play, your tutors should call for anxious study of your lessons, would you not think it hard? They admit that you would have reason for thinking so; for they know that there is a time to weep;' and are well pleased to see you play with all your might. Is it not then reasonable that they should require you to cultivate habits of fixed attention, when they present to you, at the appointed hour, lessons of important instruction? that by unbending the bow, it acquires new elasticity and vigour, Taat. Thus it will be seen, your hours of play are not lost time: sed nugæ seria ducunt, placed in an Institution which has engaged the attention of the public; and the wisest and best of them hope to see in your improvement the reward of their generous zeal for the dearest interests of the rising generation; but your teachers cannot enjoy the pleasure of meeting their expectations, unless they see in you that profound attention, that mighty effort for improvement, which may be included in hearkening to the Voice of Instruction.

Suffer me, however, to ask for something more.

You are

in some countenances, that you are hearkening to the voice of Religion; I am pleased to see and as this school was established by the friends of religion, for the denefit of your immortal souls, as you have the honour and felicity of de

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* Zech. viii. 5.
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scending from pious parents, I long to hear it said, That Mill-Hill School is the model of attention to religious instruction: that though there are scores of lively boys there, when religion is spoken of, you may hear a pin drop. It is evident, that they reverence their parents' God; and are all the better for an Institution, in which religion is combined with learning. Such diligent attention, such eagerness to catch the words of Wisdom, whether she speaks to you from the pulpit of the preacher or the desk of the tutor, will lay the most firm foundation for eminence in all knowledge, both secular and sacred.

If I should have gained your attention to me, I would now improve it, by saying, with the psalmist, I will teach you the fear of the Lord.' Some of you, perhaps, have already caught a spark of literary enthu siasm, and aspire to intellectual eminence; let me then remind you, that the fear of the Lord is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding Let the men of the world despise religion, as a proof of mental imbeci lity. The only wise God says, A good understanding have all they that do his commandments.' To fear him who made you, and who still holds your life in his hands, who kindly gave you all your advantages, and could in a moment recall them, who kindled the light of intellect in your minds, and could, by a touch, reduce you to the condition of a drivelling ideot, who could make you blessed by his knowledge and love, or frown you into wretchedness, must be the highest wisdom.

But that fear of the Lord, which the text and the preacher would recommend to you, is not the awful dread of the slave: it is the filial reverence which you feel towards your beloved parents, whom you would dread to offend, because they are the objects of your tenderest love: and is not our Father in heaven entitled to your fear? - for what has he not done to secure our attachment! He so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. O believe the faithful testimony, and you will rank among the children of his love, interested in that covenant, of which this is the delightful promise, I will write my law in their hearts, and put my fear in their inward parts, and they shall not depart from me!Be assured, that it was with peculiar reason that the psalmist entreated children to hearken, that he might teach them the fear of the Lord; for by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil; and though the evils into which you may now fall may seem little, my heart yearns to see you saved from thein by this divine preservative; for, ah! my dear children, I know how great guilt and misery may arise from what you call little evils. Perhaps, i may illustrate this to you by a circumstance within your own knowledge. If you cut your name in the bark of a young tree, though the letters may be not half an inch long, they grow with the growth of the tree, till in a few years they may be several inches in length. Thus the vices which you may now contract, by being desti tute of the fear of the Lord, may appear at present little, but they will grow with your growth, and strengthen with your strength, till at length Their folly and guilt will be written in great staring letters, which all will read to your shame.

Such is the deceitfulness of sin and of our own hearts, that some may now be saying, We may be converted in future life, though we should spend our youth without the fear of God. Were we to grant this, you know not what pangs your present evil dispositions and habits may cost you. Shall I attempt to impress this consideration on your minds by another familiar illustration? It is a common practice among sailors to produce figures on their limbs and bodies, by puncturing them with a needie till the blood starts, and then rubbing in gunpowder, or some strong dye, which will never come out. Sometimes they mark such figures or inscriptions as they are afterwards ashamed of, but they have only one way of obliterating the hateful stain. You ask, What is that? By cutting out the flesh. Thus, if sinful thoughts, habits, and ailections,

get fast hold of you in youth, though grace should rescue you in advanced years, they will cost you many a pang; and to get rid of them, will be like cutting out your flesh. Ah! then will you look back, and exclaim with a sigh, from the bottom of the heart, Remember not against me the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; but according to thy mercy remember thou me, for thy goodness sake, O Lord!'

intensely wish that you, my dear youths, may be saved from these pains of memory, and may know the full meaning of the title given to a modern poem, — The Pleasures of Memory; for I look round upon you, and knowing something of your parents and your prospects, 1 figure to ny imagination, one of you become a generous merchant, another an active tradesman, a third an intelligent upright lawyer, and a fourth a devoted minister of Jesus Christ. I am anxious that you may then say, My memory flies back to Mill-Hill School with fond attachment; for there I learned not merely languages and science, but heavenly wisdom, -the fear of the Lord. There I walked arm in arm with the companion of iny youth, who is now the friend of my bosom, with whom I sit down at the table of the Lord. There we poured our souls into each other's bosom, while we told of our first young desires after God, our first reliance on the Saviour's death.' Thus may you, my dear young friends, when your youthful circle is broken up, pursue, though in various places, the path to heaven, till you meet the companion of your youth before the throne of the Lamb!

Dbituary.

MRS. ELIZABETH YATES,

THE wife of Thomas Yates, Gent. of Winslow, Bucks, was the subject of early impressions of a religious nature; but it pleased God peculiarly to bless the ministry of an evangelical clergyman at the parish church where she attended, to the illumination of her mind in the grand doctrines of the gospel. Under his ministry, occasional attendance at a village church in the neighbourhood, and the perusal of good authors, she was gradually enlightened in the knowledge of divine truth. She then made an open profession of her attachment to Christ and his people; and laying aside her former prejudices, was glad to hear the gospel whereever it was dispensed; nor could any preaching satisfy her mind which was not purely evangelical.

It was her custom, after the conclusion of the public service, to retire to her closet. Indeed, a high degree of abstraction from the world was her peculiar character; reading and meditation were the elements of her soul; and she was used to devote some portion of time

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In the year 1808 her health began to decline; and at the same time she experienced a severe trial in the removal of the gospel from the parish-church where she worshipped; but being strongly attached to the doctrines of grace, she was obliged to withdraw; and statedly attended the ministry of a Baptist minister, with great satis faction and advantage. She occa"sionally attended also at some evening-lectures in the neighbourhood, preached by Mr.Wesley's ministers, although her own sentiments were decidedly Calvinistic. Possessed of genuine Catholicisin, the names of Episcopalian, Dissenter, or Methodist were in her esteen of little importance; she cordially loved !!

who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth.

On Sunday, April 15, 1810, after returning from public worship, she complained of indisposition; but medical aid being afforded, she obtained temporary relief. Early, however, in the month of May, she was more seriously ill; and her disorder continued to increase until it terminated in her dissolution.

During this severe affliction (for at some times her pains were extremely violent) she was never heard to utter a murmuring word; but uniformly evinced a patient resignation to the divine will. Soon after she was seized with her fatal disorder, she considered her dissoJution as certain.

On the afternoon of Saturday, May 5, it was clearly evident, that she wasnot only the subject of corporeal malady, but of soul-perplexing conflict and fear. In health, when at any time speaking on eternity, she expressed strong emotions and heartfelt concern; but now she spoke on those subjects with a peculiar emphasis, and exclaimed, O, I would not die under my present views and feelings for ten thousand worlds!' --and with a look, of which words can convey but an inadequate idea, she said, 0, the value of the precious immortal soul! If that should be lost, all will be lost!' Thro' the following week she endured a great fight of afflictions, and was sorely harrassed by the fiery darts of Satan.

From the commencement of her illness, Mrs. Yates entertained not a hope of recovering; yet it appeared she did not conceive herself so near the borders of an eternal world, till the morning of the day of her diss tution. Perfectly sensible, with a sweet serenity of mind, she expressed herself thus: Present my Christian remembrance to my minister. Tell him, I had hoped to have spent a pleasant hour with him to-day, in conversing on divine subjects; but the Lord has ordered another work for me; and 1 now feel, and have done for some hours, death creeping, as it were, through my veins.' Though inpatiently waiting the moment of

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'Jesus makes this my dying bed

Feel soft as downy pillows are ;

otherwise my pain would be insupportable.

Sensible, and most sweetly composed, she took a lasting farewell of her relatives then around her; and with the tenderest affection, with her dying lips, kissed each of them; but as more than an hour passed after this, and she continued to possess her mental faculties, we again saw her; and being desirous of having the fullest satisfaction as to the state of her mind, she was again asked if she continued to prove Christ precious. Being greatly exhausted, she replied, I am too weak to talk now.' We said, “Tho` you are too weak to speak, yet if you continue happy, give us some token of it, by the holding up of your hand." She did so; and gently pressing her bosom, with a look of inexpressible sweetness, she replied. I am happy! About four o'clock she exchanged the earthly for the celestial Sabbath.

On Monday, June 4, her remains were committed to the dust, in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life,' by her highly respected friend the Rev. Mr. Long Hutton, Rector of Maid's Mouton, Bucks. The Rev. Messrs. Pinnock and Bishop also were present on On the succeeding the occasion. Lord's Day evening the providence was improved by a funeral discourse, at the dissenting meeting. FILIUS.

RECENT DEATHS.

Lately died, at Tewksbury, Mrs. Ann Cecilia Doddridge, last surviving daughter of the pious and learned Dr. Doddridge, of Northampton, who died in 1751.

Oct. 10, died the Rev. Mr. Banis ter, of Wareham.

REVIEW OF RELIGIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

A Refutation of Calvinism; in which the Doctrines of Original Sin, Grace, Regeneration, Justification, and Universal Redemption are explained, and the peculiar Tenets maintained by Calvin upon those Points, are proved to be contrary to Scripture to the Writings of the Ancient Fathers of the Chrisbian Church, and to the Public For mularies of the Church of England. By George [Prettyman] Tomline, D. D. F. R. S. Lord Bishop of

Lincoln, &c. 8vo, 12s.

IT has been frequently remarked, that the usual and most successful artifice of infidels, in their attacks upon Christianity, has been to dress it in a disguise of odious and disgusting deformity, and then to hold it up to ridicule and condemnation. In the controversies which have unhappily agitated the Christian world, this disingenuous proceeding has often been adopted: a proceeding which, on what side soever it is employed, must in, the long run, be deeply, injurious to the cause of truth, and can be favourable only to error. The Bishop of Lincoln can promise himself little honour from joining in the train of such, unfair disputation. We do not suppose that he is, in all cases, intentionally disingenuous. We are willing to believe, that he is not perfectly conscious of the prejudices which infest his mind; and that the numerous misrepresentations which disgrace his book, have often been engendered by misapprehension: but the utmost length to which this apology will go, does not abate our surprize and concern that ignorance so gross, and confusion of understanding so palpable, should exist in a divine and a man of letters, who has enjoyed for twice twelve years one of the largest dioceses in the king

dom.

Bishop Tomline has wielded his weapons against a supposititions scheme of religion, or, more justly speaking, of irreligion, which he

depicts as unfriendly to virtue; as favourable to spiritual pride, unhallowed security, and vice in general; as inconsistent with the propriety and utility of a system of moral means; and as destructive of freedom of choice, moral obligation, and the accountableness of man. This absurd and impious scheme he is pleased to call' CALVINISM. Does not this writer know, that no denomination of Christians

has furnished so great a number of writers, inculcating the practice of piety and universal holiness, as the Calvinists? Does he not know that, to the purity of their morals, and their living protestation against fashionable vices and palliated sins, they have had to ascribe the obloquy of the world, and the reproaches of being gloomy, rigid, and righteous

over-much?

the requisitions of the divine law, Is he ignorant that and the natural capacity and irreversible obligations of men to yield with a force of reasoning, and urged a perfect obedience to it, are proved with a holy pathos and fervour that have never been exceeded in the sermons and treatises of the most eminent Calvinists? Has he never heard of the writings of Archbishop Usher, Bishop Hall, Bishop Reynolds, Bishop Hopkins, Archbishop Leighton, Owen, Howe, Flavel, Edwards, Maclaurin, Witherspoon, and Bellamy? Has he never seen the Corpus Confessionum? Or if this be too much to expect from him, has he never picked up in conversation, that the system of doctrines which he dreams of refuting is, with none but minor and unessential variations, the unanimous profession of all the Reformed Churches? If the Bishop of Lincolu is really ignorant of these facis and of these authors, let him call in his book, let him sit down to a studious and impartial re-examination of the subject, and let him humble' himself before God and man for having judged unrighteous judg ment, and spoken evil of the things which he understood not. If, on'

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