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Dbituary:

when he had been a wife only nineteen months.

She was not only highly respected by all who knew her, as a most amiable and worthy woman, but she was considered by the best and most disinterested judges, a genuine and growing Christian.

When very young, she was re

MRS. ANN CLARKE, THE venerable relict of the Rev. Thomas Clarke, formerly curate of Chesham, Bucks, died on the 5th of January last, in the 80th year of her age. She was called by grace out of a gay family, and suffered some unkind treatment, on account of her piety. This circumstance rendered her the peculiar ob-markably thoughtful and serious,ject of Mr. Clarke's attention: he was then curate of Amersham, where his ministry was blessed to many. Mrs. Clarke, who had been 16 years a widow, was accustomed to speak in the highest terms of gratitude to God for the communication of his special grace to her, and for the happiness she enjoyed in her relation to Mr. Clarke. She was a cheerful and happy Christian, and a great friend to the poor and afflicted, and such was her candour, that she not only associated with the Evangelical Dissenters where she resided, but left 100 to the place of worship in which the Rev. Mr. Surman offi. ciates. Her property was cons:derable; out of which she bequeathed handsome sums to her relations, to the poor, and to several charities.

On

A few hours before her departure, she said to Mr. S.I am going to Jesus, my adorable Saviour!' the 17th of January, her remains were deposited in Chesham Churchyard, in the same vault wherein her valuable husband had beea in terred. The Rev. Mr. Woosley, curate of Olney, preached an excelJent sermon on the occasion, from Heb. vi. 12, That ye be not shɩ thful, but followers of them who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises.'

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MRS. MARY CHAPMAN, Wife of the Rev. Mr. Chapman, of Greenwich.

Her 30

not being more than 10 years of age
when she felt the exceeding sinfulness
of sin, and groaned under the burden
of it. These early convictions were
not permitted to die away, as they
often have done in many young per-
sons as they advanced in life, and
drank into the spirit of their gay and
vain companions: but as she ad-
vanced in years she grew in the love
of retirement, and of the worship
and ordinances of God.
quaintance were not only circum-
scribed as to number, but extremely
select; she, therefore, seldom or
ever mingled with young people in
their worldly amusements and
par
ties of pleasure; and before she had
reached maturity, in point of age,
she gave satisfactory proofs of be-
ing a true and experimental Chris-
tian, who had devoted herself to the
glory and service of him who had
redeemed and sanctified her to him-
self.

When the truly interesting and beneficial system of Sunday Schoolteaching was established in her neighbourhood, she became an active and successful helper; and took great delight in this labour of love, till domestic circumstances and an ill state of health prohibited her attention to it.

Lier illness proved long and trying; during which she would sometimes say, That hymn is very suitable to my case : →

In every trouble, sharp and strong,
My soul to Jesus flies.'

She was enabled to do this for he self; and to him, whose grace is all-sufficient, she looked in all her

THIS excellent and justly esteemed woman departed to a better world Dec. 10, 1809, before she had attained the 23d year of her age; times of need; and though greatly

exercised with bodily pain and weakness, as well as by spiritual conflicts, she was enabled to bear all with great resignation, knowing that her God and Father was too wise to err, and too good to be unkind.

The following account principally refers to a few of her last days; and was taken down by her afflicted partner. The substance of it was mentioned in the funeral which was preached for her by the Rev. John Townsend, to a very crowded and attentive audience, from Job i. 21.

- sermon

For several days previous to Dec. 7, her mind was in great darkness. Doubts prevailed; which, together with extreme debility, attended with flying pains, rendered her exceed ingly uncomfortable. On that evening, when I returned home from lec. ture, I found her very low, and took her up stairs; but it was with difficulty she could sit to be undressed. Just after she was in bed, she was seized with a violent pain in her breast; which, for a few minutes, deprived her of the power of speech. We thought she was just going to breathe her last. On commg to herself, she said she thought she never should have spoken again. By this attack she was much weakened; so that she could scarcely bear to speak, or to be spoken to. I just asked whether she doubted her salvation,

she replied, No; I did not, even then' (referring to the violent pain with which she had just been seized). Dec. 8, Friday Aft. I asked if there were any tex's of Scripture comfortable to her now; she replied, ́ Yes ;' and mentioned, • Fear not, I am with thee; be not dismayed, I am thy God ;' and, ' Tho' I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death, I will fear no evil,' She added, That hymn is very sweet:

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Dec. 9, Saturday Morn. She became much worse; breathing was very difficult, and she could scarcely articulate, when she said to me, It will soon be over now!' little thinking she had before her 24 hours hard conflict with the last enemy. About a quarter before six, she said, This is hard to nature!' - and soon after, with great emphasis, Jesus is precious!'

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About half past eight she exclaimed, When will it be over! If it were his will, I could wish he would strike at once: I fear nothing from the consequences of death, but I dread the struggle.'

About one, she struggled hard for breath; and cried out, I wish it were over!' I asked if she were still happy in mind. She said, Yes.' Having struggled for a considerable time, I asked whether she were any easier. She said, 'No; I don't wish to be easier: I wish it were over!' I said, "It will soon be over; and then what glory will follow!". "Yes,' said she, a glory worth dying for. A little after, she repeated her earnest desire to have the conflict over; and asked if there were much pulse, saying, I fear I shall be impatient.'

Half past three, when we expected every breath would be her last, she revived again. I asked if she were at all harrassed in mind. She said, No; but I was in hopes I should have been landed before now.'

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Half past four, I said to her, Yet a little time, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.' She said, "Amen." I added, You can say, 'Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!' "O yes," she replied, "I have often said so to-day." About six I said, "What a mercy that we have religion! What would you do, or what should I do now without it!' She said, "It is a. mercy;" and then added, "I could have wished, if it had been his will, that we might have lived longer together on earth; but as it is not his will, I don't wish it. We had every prospect of happiness; but we don't know what might be.' About 10 she said, 'O that he would come!' She afterwards said, this is hard work!'"Yes," added I," so Mr3,

B. said! and you can add with her, God is my Refuge," she replied, ** Yes."

On Lord's Day morning, Dec. 10, after a severe struggle for 24 hours, she breathed her last; fell asleep in Jeans, and commenced an eternal Sabbath.

THE REV. N. RAWLINS

WAS born at Morton-in-theMarsh, Gloucestershire, 1733. II's father and other were long members of the Baptist Church at Bour. ton. On his maternal side, genne piety is to be traced through preceding generations. His ancestors were among those of whom the world was not worthy, and who avoided its fury in persecuting times by assemblsng in solitary places. Mr. R. was serious from a child, and admitted a member of the church at Bourton, at 18 years of age. The church soon requested him to preach, and when, after long solicitation, his diffidence had yielded to this reluctant trial of his abilities, he was sent to Bristol Academy. Here he remained four years; during this period be supplied the church at Trowbridge, and was so far approved as to be called, at the lermination of it, to the pastoral charge. It was, nevertheless, a season of adversity; the nnmber was canty, the brethren were at variance, and symptoms of disaffection to the ministry of Mr. R. began to discover themselves, so that his ordination, which occurred October 10th, 1765, was succeeded by his resignation and removal in 1771, when he settled at Broughton, in Hampshire.

to the attention of a stranger, but gave him an honourable seat in the circle of friendship; there it was known how much the law of kindness governed his heart; and there, breaking through his natural reserve, it was expressed by the appropriate communication of the tongue in ministering grace to the hearers.

To the popularity of his address, or the brilliancy of his talents, none of the friends of Mr. R. will attribute his success as a preacher; but they will remember, with veneration, how well his holy life and deep personal experience enabled him to enforce those doctrinal subjects, in which he especially delighted. They will recollect the usefulness of discourse, which finding entrance at the heart, abundantly compensated for the want of elegancies, which had they distinguished the preacher, could not thus nobly have survived him. They will look round on the late converts of his ministry, and see how this aged shepherd brought home the wanderers to his Master's fold, when it was even-tide with himself, and nature might have languished for repose! More than 40 members have been added to the church during the last five years; and the place of worship has been crowded.

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He was taken ill while attending the funeral of the late Rev. Mr. Clarke, of Trowbridge; and never preached afterwards. He said to a friend who called on him the next day, My work is done; I have nonothing more to do here." tedious illness was admirably sus tained, his consolations were not expressed by extacies, but by the peaceful triumph of an abiding hope, of which he often spake to those about him He died Oct. 7, 1809. His funeral sermon, by the Rev. J. Barnard, of Bradford, was delivered to an overflowing houso, It was founded on a passa e se lected by himself; at once deA remarkable integrity of cha-scribing the bl ssedness of is past racter, united with great plainness experience, and the emphasis of of manners, sometimes failed to his present joy," Christ is all, and Aroduce Mr. R. advantageously in all."

Were he resided six years, when a visit to his friends at Trowbridge renewing all their former attachments, produced their united and successful application for his return. He resamed his charge in November, 1777. The first settlement was short and troublesome; the last durable and happy.

7

REVIEW OF RELIGIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

An Essay on the Gospel Dispensation, considered in Connection with God's Moral Government of Men, &c. In Two Paris. By W. Ben net. 8vo, 5s. 6d.

To those whose personal acquaintance with the co-pastor and successor of good old Dr. Conder, has led them to view the suspension of his ministerial labours as a mysterious dispensation of Infinite Wisdom, it must be peculiarly gratifying to hear that the years of his retirement have not passed fruitlessly away: they will open, with pleas ing expectation, the volume on which the mature investigation of many years has been bestowed; and if they fail to recognize in these pages the preacher, whose name could once attract, and whose eloquence could sway, so numerous a congregation, they will not fail to find the spiritual, temperate, and judicious divine.

The subject of the present Essay is of universal interest, and of the highest importance: its design is, in the First Part, to establish the fact, That the whole of Revelation is a moral plan of exercising the natural powe s of men, congenial with their character and present state as intelligent accountable creatures, agreeably to the principles and reasonings laid down in Bishop Butler's Analogy of Religion. In the Second Part, is deduced from this fact tho nature and import of the gospelconstitution, with the indispensable obligation of sinners to yield to its authority, and the rationale of its ministerial exercise to saners indefinitely, consistently with the doctrine of the specialty of grace, The writer, disclaiming all attachment to party or system, makes his appeal to the pure word of God; but if his principles must receive a name, they may be characterized as those of Moderate Calvinism.

We give the following Extract, not less for the importance of the sentiments it contains, than a spe

cimen of the author's manner and style:

Whatever propriety and adrantage may be conceived to arise out of a systematical arrangement of revealed truths, as conducing to a clear and consistent view of their harmony, dependence, and relative importance, we nowhere, in the divine word, find them, either syste matically arranged, or technically defined. They are rather incidentally introduced, as proper occasious required, intermixed with matters of a practical or experimental nature, without any of that formality and studied precision of language, which so commonly occur in productions of human science. Definitions of Scripture doctrines scarcely ever are found in the word of God, nor is any such caution used by the sacred penmen as controversial writers generally adopt. The divine truths themselves lie scattered promiscuously throughout the New Teslament, without any other method or connection than what naturally arose out of the subjects of discourse on which they are introduced; and they are sometimes expressed in such a manner, as doth not immediately direct to a determinate sense; but requires them to be considered in connection with other parts of the same revelation.

'If, however, we contemplate the analogy which pervades all former dispensations of mercy, and consider the New Testament as a conti nuation of one uniform plan of exercising the mental powers of men, as moral agents, we may see good reason to look on this mode of exhibiting the truths of Christianity as an excellency, and instance of divine wisdom, in the moral adaptation of means which are afforded them for the acquisition of spiritual knowledge; for, if men are seriously disposed, and desirous to know the certainty of these things, the word of God represents them in a manner sufficiently plain and substantially instructive, not indeed with artifi

cial method and exactness, as priaciples of science, but in a way of ordinary communication or discourse; in which the great truths of the gospel are practically taught in their connection with, and subserviency to the faith and hope of sinners, as well as the boliness and comfort of believers. Here the principles of Christianity lie fairly open to the closet examination, without any artful colouring or studied conceal ment. They may be seen in their application to every subject in religion, whether professedly or incidentally introduced by the penmen of Scripture, who, without previous concert, and with evident diversity of talent and circumstances, have given us their respective views of the gospel with such perfect agreement, as to the subject matter of the whole, as cannot rationally be accounted for on any other supposition than that of their being all taught and guided by the same unerring spirit of truth.

This manner of revealing the great truths of Christianity, is also wisely adapted to the spiritual advantage of believers; being thus set forth, in their proper application aud practical influence, as the enlivening principles of the whole system; for, though an artificial arrangement of doctrines might have given a greater facility to a system of notions, and have enabled common Christians more experily to judge of the connection which one part of the system has with another, this would not have answered so valua ble a purpose as is now answered, by their being distributed promiscuously through the word, and appearing, as proper eccasions required, interwoven with every part of Christianity. Believers in general

would not hav seen so much of the importance of these principles, nor have had such a spiritual savour of them, as they now become sensible of, by observing with what views they are introduced, and to what uses they are applied by the unerfing Spirit. This is a compounding of gospel truths into the bread of life, for the spiritual nourishment of renewed souls; and though the pecular manner of the Spirit's reveal

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To conclude. We earnestly recommend this volume, particularly to the young, who bave just set out on the path of enquiry, and whose ingenuous feelings, shocked, perhaps, at the licentious presumption of Antinomianism, are hurrying them away in the pride of human reason, to embrace the cold systems of a vain philosophy; and we fervently join in the prayer of the author, That the Fountain of Life and Truth may shed his gracious influence on the minds of all who shall read this Essay, and assist them in duly appreciating the authority and excellency of the Gospel-dispensation!'

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The Obligations of Christians to attempt the Conversion of the Jews. By A Presbyter of the Church of England. is.

THIS is a commendable effort, to increase the attention of the Christian world to the miserable state of the Jews. The worthy author, after noticing the laudable exertions of various denominations of the faithful, in diffusing the blessings of their benevolence, laments, that

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one object has been overlooked, overlooked for centuries,-the Conversion of the Jews.' We readily admit, that too little general attention has been formerly paid to this object; yet we ought not to forget those endeavours which were made nearly a century ago. Bishop Kidder's Demonstration of the Messias' is a work of much labour and value; and in the close of that valuable performance, where he stirs up his readers to zealous endeavours, he says (p. 201) Yet, after all, much may be done still this way; and I need no other proof of it but this, That in fact much hath been done. Inthe city of Hamburgh, in thẹ

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