to himself, a desirable and happy change from faith to sight, from hope to complete and everlasting enjoyment. Mr. Crole was sixty-three years of age at the time of his decease; and had been thirty years a preacher, and about twentysix years pastor of a church which he first gathered, and which he had the happiness to leave in a very prosperous state. He was buried in Bunhill-fields, on Wednesday, July 14, when the Rev. A. Waugh delivered a very suitable address to as large and respectable an assembly as, perhaps, were ever collected on a similar occasion. On the following Lord's Day a funeralsermon was preached at Founders' Hall, by the Rev. M.Wilks, from 2 Sam. iii. 38. In whatever view we contemplate the character of this servant of the living God, we shall find him entitled to a very high degree of respect, and worthy of the imitation of those who stand in the same relations to society, and to the church of Christ. -- As a husband and father, he was prudent, affectionate, and faithful in the discharge of every duty resulting from those interesting relations. As an instructor of youth, his ability and integrity were generally confessed and admired. As a member of civil society, he was not only remarkably inoffensive, but always ready to do good to the souls and bodies of his fellow-creatures of every denomination. As a Christian, he exemplified the meekness, the dignity, and the purity of christianity: In him, religion appeared at once venerable, dignified, and engaging. As a minister of the gospel, he was not less diligent in the study than animated in the pulpit. He despised the meanness, and abhorred the dishonesty of delivering crude and indigested discourses to those whose improvement in knowledge and establisment in faith, — whose comfort, growth in grace, and salvation, were not only the professed objects of his ministry, but objects dearer to him thait life itself. He was unwearied in his endeavours to get at the mind of the Spirit in the oracles of truth; unreserved and undaunted in communicating the result of his enquiries. It was his constant study to shew himself approved unto God, a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Not walking in craftiness, or handling the word of God deceitfully; but, by manifestation of the truth, commending himself to every man's conscience as in the sight of God. Mr.Crole published but little. All the pieces that have come to the knowledge of the present writer, are the following: 1. Theotekton; or Meditations on Mark vi. 3. 2. Practical Remarks on Religious Profession in general, and on the Nature and Advantages of Evangelical Churches. 3. A Sermon, preached at the opening of Cheshunt College. ON ENVY. No disposition of the human mind is more baneful in its influence and effects than Envy: it may well be termed, "A miserable Affection (a);" and yet, perhaps, there is no one to which we are naturally more prone; " The spirit that is in us lusteth to envy (b)." Superior talents, accomplishments, possessions, or prospects, excite this temper, and feed it; and it is easily discoverable by expressions which have a tendency to undermine or lessen the reputation, &c. of the objects of it; —an eagerness to discern some defects in them, and a delight to report and aggravate it. Many arguments might be urged against this temper:the following are deducible from Scripture: 1. It is a work of the flesh (c); and, if reigning, is a proof of unregeneracy (d). 2. It brings its own punishment (e). 3. It is represented as exceeding other sins in its effects (f); and always connected with other sins (g). 4. It is recorded as a principal ingredient in the guilt of those who crucified the Lord of Glory (h). 5. It is a main spring in persecution (i). 6. In the future predicted state of the church, it shall be done away (k). 7. We are expressly commanded to lay it aside (1). 8. It is directly contrary to the spirit of love and the fear of God (m). Let all, especially professors of godliness, consider this subject with that attention and seriousness which it demands and deserves. Our conversation too often has a taint of this temper, The prayer which many use every Sabbath, will well suit all:-"From all Envy, good Lord deliver us!” (1) Acts v. 17. margin. Acts xiii. 45. xvii. 5. (1 Pet. ii. 1. Rom. xiii. 13. S-. (d). Titus iii. 3. Prov. xxvii. 4. Mark xv. 10. (k) Isaiah xi. 13. (m) 1 Cor. xiii. 4. Prov. xxiii, 17. Sir, THE MISERABLE INFIDEL. (Taken from the Connecticut Evangelical Magazine.) To the Editor. T has often been observed, that the greatest degree of error and stupidity concerning moral obligation and duty, and a state of retribution in the world to come, is found in certain persons who have been the subjects of serious impressions, and by long resisting their own consciences and the striving of God's Spirit, have provoked him to leave them to their own blindness and lusts. As a warning to others, I have transmitted you the following instance: A MAN who possessed reason and sagacity above the common proportion, and about the age of thirty, fell into such a state of debility as rendered him incapable of much attention to business. Before this, he had discovered an inordinate attachment to property, and omitted neither diligence, nor art, nor parsimony, to obtain it. His state was called Hypochondriac by his neighbours; for a certain recluseness of temper prevented his communicating to them the distracting feelings of his mind. When he was in this state, I accidentally passed a day in his company. After a short conversation, I discovered marks of a wounded conscience, and told him my suspicion, that his whole disorder proceeded from anxiety on spiritual accounts. Finding I had detected his feelings, he made a frank acknowledgment it was the case; but solicited that it might remain a secret with me. He told me of sundry times, in his past life, when, for short seasons, his conscience had continually accused him. He had seen himself to be a sinner, if there were any truth in the scriptures; and he dreaded an appearance before God, as the most awful of all events; still he could not bear to think of another kind of life, and of parting with those worldly designs which had governed his past conduct. He said he had been inany months in this situation; and something continually sounded in his ears that he was a sinner, that he must die and come to judgment, and without another state of heart, must be miserable; but, added he, "I cannot part with my worldly schemes. I must again be a man of business; I have just laid a foundation for success; and if I give way to these apprehensions, there is an end of my prospects. This I own to be the cause of all my gloom, and if I could put another world, and my own preparations for it out of sight, I should again be a happy man." I immediately perceived, that although he felt some conviction of the truth, he was contending with one who will prevail. I set before him the danger of resisting such impressions; the folly of preferring an avaricious life of gain to the immortal interest of his soul; and the superior wisdom of subordinating all our worldly labours, views, and hopes to our eternal wellbeing. I endeavoured to shew him his true state, his need of another heart, the danger of his being left to a most ruinous blindness, and to eternal misery. After much solemn conversation, we parted. Nearly a year from this time, we had another opportunity for free discourse. It was sought by himself, with an evident design to confront and reproach me, for the exhortation I had given him with the most friendly intention. I instantly saw that his seriousness was departed, and his conscience seared. By his own account, he continued several months longer in that state of apprehension and resistance to the truth which has been described; when he came to the rash opinion, that the whole of his past feelings were but an hypochondriac gloom; and supported himself by the following argument: "You know that hypochondriacism is a false imagination of the mind; and within one week after I detected my folly in being so anxious for another world, I became well and happy, and have so continued." He further added, I now think that all the notions I have had concerning the holiness of God, and the rewards of another world, are false. As to sin, it is evident there can be no such thing; nor shall I any more exist after this body dies, than those trees before us will exist hereafter, and be happy or miserable." But,' replied I, 'is it not a gloomy thought, that your existence will cease when your body dies?" As for that," he answered, "I cannot help it; and we must make the most of what we have." I perceived him determined not to think, lest it should make him unhappy; and on my solicitously urging him to review the momentous subject, he became peevish, and said I was trying to give myself importance in the world, by all I said concerning religion. 6 His life, for several years after this, was such as might be expected from his principles. Riches were his idol. His parsimony preserved him from licentious excess. Honest men detested the principles by which they saw him to be governed. His unprincipled associates were afraid of falling under his power. There was something in his countenance indescribeable, that marked him for another Cain; and while many, through necessity, resorted to him for assistance, there was not a man on earth that loved him. Passing over several parts of his conduct, which evidently proceeded from an endeavour to erase from his mind a sense of moral obligation, of sin, and a state, where impertinent sinners shall receive a reward according to their deeds, I shall now come to his death-bed. A just Providence forbade him a long state of decay, as a season of admonition and preparation for eternity. He had his call before, and it was rejected. An awful accident in a moment placed him bim in a hopeless state, and within two days of his exit from this world. This accident, though fatal, did not immediately affect his head; and the powers of reason were in full strength. Now, behold, the man who exploded moral obligation, denied the existence of sin, dctermined there was no future life, and consequently no punishment for him; and all this for the sake of gaining and enjoying this world without the molestations of his own conscience. True it is, that, in this awful moment, he was left to a great degree of judicial blindness concerning another world, the nature of hopeful preparation for death, and the just and eternal reward of sin; but misery and dismay rose upon him from a quarter he did not expect. His beloved scheme of ceasing to exist at death, became his terror. "And have I now," said he, " done with existence,? Shall I presently cease to think, to see, to feel? Am I to exist but a few moments filled with pain, and then lie down to be nothing for ever? I am pained for the fruits of my labour; - I have laboured for nothing; I cannot bid farewell to the earnings of so many years. On being told, by one who had not known his previous opinions, That he certainly should exist; and that the future' being of men was indicated by nature, and made sure by scriptural evidence, an aspect of still greater horror settled on his countenance; and, after a pause of a minute, he replied, "If those Scriptures are true, eternity will be more dreadful to me than the loss of being. I will not believe them; yet, how dreadful the idea of sinking into eternal thoughtless night!"This struggle of feeling lasted but a few minutes before this miserable man either sunk into the eternal sleep which he dreaded, or opened his eyes in an eternity to him more dreadful! Such are the dying comforts of impiety and infidelity. Thus, at last, will the excuses and pleas of irreligion torment those who adopt them in their lives to quiet an accusing conscience, and resist the warnings of the Holy Spirit, who strives with men. This is a fearful example of that blindness into which many are left judicially to fall, thro'grieving the Spirit of grace. To this striking Narrative, we beg leave to add the following impressive Passage from a Sermon, on 2 Pet. ii. 11, delivered by the Rev. Mr. Mason, of New York, ahen in London, and communicated by a Friend who heard it :- Bur there are men who set up for wise men: they have discovered the imposture, they have found out the cheat; they wish to unshackle you, they would release you from your thraldom. From your thraldom! What, from the thraldom of a hope of the everlasting kingdom? Do you wish to be |