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chapel was erected. Mr. Meadows, however, had not laboured here long, before it was found necessary to enlarge the place of worship; and in September last this place was re-opened, when sermons were preached by the Rev. J. Anderson, of Dorchester; the Rev. T. Crump, and the Rev. J. Hoby, of Wey mouth. Much good has been done. A Christian church, on Congregational principles has been formed, and it is hoped that he who has said, "Surely the isles shall wait for me," will continue to bless his word, that the present pleasing prospect may be abundantly realized.

On Tuesday, November the 18th, the Rev. Henry March, late Chaplain to the Dissenters' Grammar School, Mill Hill, was publicly recognised as the Pastor of the Congregational Church at Colchester, vacant by the resignation of the Rev. J. Savill. The service was introduced by the Rev. R. Robinson, of Witham, who read the Scriptures, and offered an introductory prayer. The Rev. W. Ward, of Stowmarket, then delivered an able discourse on the grounds of dissent from the Established Church. The usual questions to the minister were then put by the Rev. N. Kemp, of Tarling, who, in early life,

had been thirteen

assistant

years preacher to the congregation. In replying to the questions, Mr. March gave a statement of the reasons which had induced him to accept the vacant charge, and of the principles which he intended to advocate and exemplify, in a very clear and decisive manner. Mr. Kemp then offered the benedictory prayer. A sermon was next addressed by the Rev. T. Craig, of Bocking, to the minister and the people, on their reciprocal duties, from 2 Cor. ii. 10. "Our sufficiency is of God." The solemn services of the occasion were concluded by prayer by the Rev. J. Robinson, of Man

ningtree. In the evening, a serious and useful sermon was preached by the Rev. Mr. Notcutt, of Ipswich.

RECENT DEATHS.

December 5, 1828, the Rev. HANSON EVISON, pastor of the Congregational Rev. T. Kidd, the first pastor of that Church, Clapton. He succeeded the church, and like him was cut off by "pining sickness" in the morning of his days.

On the 7th of December, the Rev. JoSEPH SHRIMPTON BROOKSBANK, pastor of the Congregational Church at Tottenham and Edmonton Chapel. Like his respected father, the Rev. Joseph Brooksbank, of Haberdashers' Hall, he was educated at Homerton College, and was ordained to the pastoral office November 7, 1821. But an insidious consumption terminated his earthly course, at the early age of thirty-five years.

On the 30th of July. at Tananarivo, the capital of the Island of Madagascar, the Rev. DANIEL TYERMAN, formerly of Newport, Isle of Wight; but for the last eight years employed in connexion with G. Bennet, Esq. in the honourable but hazardous task of visiting the principal stations of the London Missionary

Society. After having more than circumnavigated the globe, and escaped from perils by land and water, he sunk under what is supposed to have been an apoplectic seizure, in the fifty-fourth year of his age. His premature death is no ordinary calamity to the Society which had deputed him, and brethren, in whose judgment, on various anxiously expecting the return of their weighty matters, they were ready to confide.

NOTICE.

were

We are informed that measures are in progress for removing the Western Academy from Axminster to Exeter.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND MINOR CORRESPONDENCE. COMMUNICATIONS have been received during the past month from the Reverend Dr. J. P. Smith, Rev. Messrs. Wm. Davis-A. Tidman -- Robert Halley -- Charles Scholl-John Hoppus --Benj. Hobson-J. Bounsell -- Robt. Ashton--H. J. RoperThos. Lewis - John Thornton--R. H. Shepherd --T. J. Guyer --W. Copley-Thos. Keyworth-J. Jerard—J. Arundel John Anderson-John Cockin.

Also from Messrs. Wm. Shrubsole-Wm. Carpenter-S. Brown-Thos. Parkin-J. Baker--and W. Walker-Amicus A.-Z. Z.-M. R. N.-Zeta--Aliquis-Civis --X.-- Rogator- J. M. S.-- A Constant Reader.

Our subscribers will perceive, that we have given an extra half-sheet in the present number, which we regret has been insufficient to contain several valuable communications, which we have reluctantly deferred till our next.

"The Stanzas" on Dr. Good, though not destitute of poetic and pious feeling, are yet disfigured by so many inaccuracies, as to preclude their publication in our pages. Mr. Baker's communication is important, but more adapted for a medical journal than our work.

CONGREGATIONAL MAGAZINE.

FEBRUARY, 1829.

BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW.

MEMOIR OF LORD VISCOUNT BARRINGTON.*

FEW Comparatively of the learned or noble of this world have in any age been genuine members of the Christian community. This does not arise from the insufficiency of the Christian evidence to satisfy such persons, or from its want of adaptation as a medicinal system to their condition. In those respects, as it is addressed" to all," so is it adapted to all, without any difference. The fact is to be accounted for in a very different way, and reflects no discredit either on the nature of the Gospel, or on the character of its testimony. The circumstances of such persons, in ten thousand ways obstruct the reception, and injure the full influence of a spiritual and holy dispensation by fostering the pride of life-blunting the moral feelings of our nature-and surrounding them with an atmosphere, which, while it conduces to the growth and prosperity of earth, is most inimical to all the interests of heaven.

If few persons of elevated rank have been numbered among the faithful, a still smaller portion of this class of society has been

found among the Dissenters from Established Churches. Whether this fact tells most in favour of the spirituality of Dissenters, or of the secularity of Established Churches, we will leave our readers to

determine. On any other grounds than those which belong to the good of such individuals themselves, and the interests of religion, we have no regrets to feel or to express. "The king

dom of God cometh not with observation.". "It is not of this world." The pomp of rank, the power of riches, the aggrandisement of the world, add nothing to its real glory and efficacy, and ought never, therefore, to be objects of painful solicitude on the part of the disciples of Christ.

During a former period in the history of Nonconformity not a few, speaking comparatively, of the titled members of our community belonged to the Dissenters. Into the causes of this, and of the change which has since taken place, we do not at present inquire. We only remark in passing, that to the Nonconformists then, genuine and decided religion was almost exclusively confined, and

The Theological Works of the First Viscount Barrington, including the Miscellanea Sacra, the Essay on the Disperations, and his Correspondence with Dr. Lardner, never before published. To which are prefixed, a Life of the Author, with a Brief Memoir of his Son, Shute Barrington, the late Bishop of Durham. By the Rev. George Townsend, M. A. Prebendary of Durham, and Vicar of Northallerton. In 3 vols. Price £1. 11s. 6d. London: C. and J. Rivington. 1828. K

N. S. No. 50. VOL. XII.

therefore Lords and Ladies who felt the power of the Gospel, were from necessity shut up to associate chiefly with them.

Among the titled Dissenters who made a considerable figure about the beginning of last century, the nobleman, whose works and life are now before us, claims distinguished consideration. He was a man of more talent, more learning, more political influence, and more theological information than any other individual of his own class. He has conferred greater benefits on the general theological inquirer, than any noble Lord, whose writings are known to us; while his exertions on behalf of the Dissenters entitle him to an honourable and lasting memorial among them. This is the third time which his theological works have appeared; but the first time in which an account appears of their author. This is furnished by the Rev. Prebendary of Durham, who has executed it, on the whole, with a commendable portion of candour and liberality. We shall extract from it the principal facts in the life of Lord Barrington, with occasional observations of

our own.

"John Shute, first Viscount Barrington, was born in 1678, at Theobalds in Hertfordshire. He was the third son of Benjamin Shute, merchant, who was the youngest son of Francis Shute, Esq. of Upton, in the county of Leicester; and was lineally descended from Robert Shute, Esq., who was appointed one of the barons of the exchequer by Queen Elizabeth, in the year 1577. His ancestors were eminent for their virtue, and zeal in the cause of liberty; and several of them served the kings of England with honour as commanders in the wars of Normandy, when that dutchy was annexed to the English crown."- p. i.

The Shute family seems to have been extensively connected with the Dissenters. From a list of the church members belonging to the Society first under the care of

Mr. Caryll, and which on his death united with the church under Dr. Owen, it appears that Benjamin Shute, the father of Lord Barrington, belonged to that church. He died on the 26th of June, 1681. There were also in it Mr. Samuel Shute, the brother we suppose of Benjamin, Mrs. Mary Shute, and Mrs. Ann Shute; the one probably the mother, and the other the sister-in-law of the Viscount. They all died while members of the church.

The mother of his Lordship was a daughter of Joseph Caryll, of whom we should have been glad had Mr. Townsend stated something more than merely the annunciation of the fact. He was a learned, a pious, and an

man.

able

"At the age of sixteen, Mr. Shute was sent to the university of Utrecht, where he distinguished himself greatly by his academical exercises, which have not only been printed, but have been eminent writers on the Civil Law. After cited with great commendation by some passing four years at Utrecht, he returned to England, and applied himself with diligence to the study of the common began to write in favour of the Proteslaw at the Inner Temple. In 1701 he tant Dissenters, to which body he belonged. He published in this year, but without his name, a pamphlet in 4to, entitled, 'The Interest of England considered in respect of Protestants dissenting from the Established Church.' This was reprinted two years afterwards with considerable alterations and enlargements. As he dwells much in this pamphlet on the rights of the Dissenters to toleration, it was probably the occasion of his being known to Mr. Locke, who afterwards honoured him with his friendship, notwithstanding the great disparity of their ages. This circumstance, which does the character of Mr. Shute so much credit, appears by an ode addressed to John Shute, Esq., in the year 1704, on occasion of the dangerous illness which terminated in the death of Mr. Locke.”

pp. ii. iii.

The ode referred to, Mr. Townsend neglects to mention, was written by Dr. Watts.

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"About two years after he had written the above-mentioned pamphlet, he published another, entitled, The Rights of Protestant Dissenters,' in two parts, which reached a second edition in 1705.

"Mr. Shute's character was now so generally known, though only in his 24th year, and his influence with the Dissenters was so considerable, that he was sent for by the cabinet council, when it had been determined by the Queen's ministry that the important measure of the union of the two kingdoms should take place. The Lords Somers, Wharton, Halifax, and Sunderland were at this meeting, the first of whom opened the design and general view which they had in promoting this great object, and condescended so far, since they designed he should take a part in it, as to ask his opinion on this head. Mr. Shute having then expressed himself most warmly with regard to the national advantages to be expected from such a close connection between the two kingdoms, Lord Somers said that it could not be carried without the assistance of the Dissenters in England, and of the Presbyterians in Scotland; for which reason they wished he would undertake a journey to Scotland for that purpose. Mr. Shute at first declined this service, because it was inconsistent with his professional views--the study of the common law-and also because he conceived that he could scarcely prevail with the Presbyterians and Dissenters to promote the Union, unless the corporation and test acts were repealed. To this it was replied, that on account of the sacrifices he would be obliged to make in foregoing the advantage of pursuing his professional engagements, he should, on his return from Scotland, have an employment to the amount of £1000. per annum, and that there was little doubt that the test act would be re

pealed as soon as the Union took place; though this could not be previously proposed to Parliament. Mr. Shute, being encouraged by these assurances, soon afterwards went to Scotland, where he was greatly instrumental in promoting the Union, and continued there until it was ratified. After his return to England, he was, in 1708, appointed one of the

Commissioners of the Customs. About the same time, Francis Barrington, Esq. of Tofts, in Essex, who had married Mr. Shute's first cousin, left him his estate in that county, upon condition of his taking the name and arms of Barrington."-pp. iv—vi.

The facts recorded in this paragraph deserve to be remembered.

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They show the services which the Dissenters have rendered to the interests of the country, and the influence which they have had on some of its most important affairs.

"In the year 1710, Mr. Barrington received a still more flattering proof of the high and honourable character which he bore, in a bequest left him by John Wildman, Esq. of Becket, in Berkshire, who adopted him for his son after the Roman custom, leaving him his estate by a will dated in 1706, which declared that he gave it to him merely because he knew no man who was so worthy of it.

"How high Mr. Barrington's character stood in the estimation, not only of the most zealous Whigs, but of those who differed from him most widely in religious and political sentiments, appears in the following extract from a letter of Dr. Swift to Archbishop King, dated Nov. 30, 1708:-One Mr. Shute is named for secretary to Lord Wharton: he is a young man; but reckoned the shrewdest head in England, and the person in whom the Presbyterians chiefly confide; and if money be necessary toward the good work in Ireland, it is reckoned he can command as far as £100,000. from the body of Dissenters here. As to his principles, he is truly a moderate man, frequenting the church and the meeting indifferently.""-pp. vi, vii.

The above paragraph shows Swift's opinion of Barrington's talents; but his remark on his going to the church and the meeting indifferently, is doubtless incorrect. He was well known to be a decided Dissenter, though he perhaps even communicated with it. The went occasionally to church, and next passage which we shall quote affords proof of this, as well as of the sacrifices he was disposed to make for his principles.

"In 1711, Mr. Barrington was displaced by the Tory administration from his office of Commissioner of the Customs; and in 1713 he published a pamphlet entitled, A Dissuasive against Jacobitism;' for which there was so great a demand, that it reached a fourth edition.

"On the accession of George the First, Mr. Barrington had the honour of an audience with his Majesty, the first day

after his arrival in London, in which he declined the offices of preferment which were graciously made him, because the schism and conformity acts (which took place in 1712) were yet unrepealed; and from thence he took an opportunity of stating the great grievance of these statutes to the body of Dissenters. In the fifth year of this reign those two acts were repealed, after which, in 1717, Mr. Barrington, who continued to be honoured with the personal confidence of his Majesty, was created Baron Barrington of Newcastle, and Viscount Barrington of Ardglass; and, at the same time, had a reversionary grant of the office of the Master of the Rolls in Ireland, which he surrendered the 10th of December, 1731." -pp. vii, viii.

What follows in the memoirs, is a long account of the affair of the Harburgh lottery, for which Lord Barrington was unjustly censured by his political opponents, and expelled the House of Commons.

The statement is too long for us to quote; but is a satisfactory justification of his Lordship against the charge of immoral or unprincipled conduct.

"Lord Earrington was, on the accession of George the First, chosen member of Parliament for Berwick-upon-Tweed; and, in 1722, he was again returned to Parliament for the same place. His Lordship does not appear to have been either an eloquent or a frequent speaker. On the 12th of April, 1717, he spoke in favour of the motion for a supply. On the 7th of January, 1718-19, he spoke in support of the bill for strengthening the Protestant succession, as he did also on the 17th of June, 1721, in favour of the subsidy to Sweden.

"He died at Becket, in Berkshire, after an illness of only seven hours, on the 14th of December, 1734, in the fifty-sixth year of his age. He generally attended divine worship among the Dissenters, and for many years received the sacrament at Pinners' Hall, when Dr. Jeremiah Hunt, an eminent and learned Nonconformist divine, was pastor of the congregation that assembled there. He had formerly been an attendant on Mr. Thomas Bradbury, but quitted that gentleman on account of his bigotted zeal for imposing unscriptural terms upon the article of the Trinity. His Lordship had a high value for the sacred

writings, and it is plain from his theological works that he was eminently skilled in them.

"In 1725 he published, in two volumes, 8vo., his Miscellanea Sacra, and the Essay on the Dispensations. A second edition of these works, with large additions and corrections, was published 1770, in 3 vols. 8vo., by his son, the late Bishop of Durham, then Bishop of Llandaff.

"In this work the noble author has traced, with great care and judgment, the methods taken by the apostles and first preachers of the gospel for propagating Christianity, and explained with great distinctness the several gifts of the Spirit, by which they were enabled to discharge that office; these he improved into an argument for the truth of the Christian religion, which is said to have staggered the infidelity of Mr. Anthony Collins."-pp. xvii-xix.

been a favourite work with us; The Miscellanea Sacra has long and of which we possess both the first and second editions. It is a book full of ingenious and original discussion, and which will amply repay the diligent and inquiring divine in its perusal. We are pleased with the following view of his writings by Mr. Townsend.

"We have said that Lord Barrington was the friend and disciple of Mr. Locke, and from him he derived those ideas of civil and religious liberty which he has so forcibly stated and maintained in many of his productions: no one, indeed, who is acquainted with the writings of that great and illustrious man, can fail to discover in the religious and political publications of Lord Barrington, the same clearness of ideas, the same closeness of reasoning, and the same unadorned perspicuity of style, which distinguished the works of Mr. Locke. Each indeed of his Lordship's productions is strongly marked with all the characteristic peculiarities of Mr. Locke's corresponding treatises in the tract entitled Revolution and Anti-Revolution Principles Stated and Compared,' we find an able amplification of nearly all the most important positions in the famous treatise On Government: in the pamphlets on the Corporation and Test Acts, we plainly discern the same spirit of civil liberty, and the same arguments in support of it, which we find in the

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