friendship. Shall the entrance of the heirs of God upon their unfading kingdom, occasion only heavenly acclamations? Shall it excite on earth no delight; inspire no "hymn of laud, no solemn canticle?" Shall not hope restrain sorrow, and faith exult over the vanquished grave? When Mrs. Henry was bereaved of her venerated husband, she expressed her thankfulness that she had him so long, and that she had the prospect of being eternally with him in glory.¶

many others, to elicit and nerve the sublimest vir- | titude, and the anticipation of a more endearing tues. Yet he cannot forbear to reiterate the remark of Mr. Jay," Who, without sentiments of love and veneration, can think of Philip Henry?" If Ennius was justly commended by Cicero, for having bestowed lofty epithets upon poets, because of their peculiar gifts, a like course, in the present instance, would, for similar and more powerful reasons, have been defensible; for, undoubtedly, Mr. Henry was "one of the most pious and excellent men of the age in which he lived, or any other." At the same time, let it not be inferred, that he constituted an anomaly in the records of the new creation. Although he is even "believed by many, to have come as near the pattern of the apostles, and the first ministers of the Christian church, as any that, to this day, have succeeded them ;" and although it deserves acknowledgment, to the glory of God, that no public blot defaces the accurate delineation here exhibited, enough of the "stain of human frailtie" is visible, to show that he was human, and, therefore, to prevent "esteem above that which behoveth."§

It cannot escape remark, that those associations with eternity, which, by a moral necessity, attend written lives, gain, in a case like the present, special ascendency: they seize the mind with a firm grasp, and, if duly cherished, disentangle it from the world. Having traced the earthly sojournings of the heaven-bound traveller, and witnessed the increasing development of principles, as unvarying as they are immortal, every advance towards the "final hour" occasions new and refined excitements. At length placed, in imagination, upon the brink of that river which "has no bridge," we gaze upon the pilgrim as he draws nigh to the water, and listen to his parting salutation; as the billows rise and swell around him, every thing irrelevant and unhallowed is absorbed in personal interest; the "reign of stillness" commences, and other cares, and other thoughts, save those of future and interminable existence, are silenced and suppressed.

How singularly, how deeply, interesting** the

Connected with, and perhaps in proportion to, such impressions, the work of praise to God, a duty always incumbent, will not be overlooked. The eye of the mind, instead of resting upon the picture, how beauteous soever, will ascend to the Eternal Benefactor,|| in devout adoration of his mercy, and the triumphs of his grace. Love to the brethren is an affection, neither sordid nor imbecile: while ministering, with obedient assiduity, to the household of faith, it rises, instinctively, to the ever-communications of an expiring believer! The atblessed Jehovah; by whose power the new nature tention is arrested, nay, awed, by reflecting, that is, in every instance, produced, and into whose the chief result of vigilant observation is then imimage the indispensable transformation is invari- parted, in the immediate prospect of eternity. ably effected. When, therefore, that sacred reno- Mr. Henry, consciously unable to recapitulate his vation, which forms the attractive cause of Christian history, or to detail his enjoyments, or to dispense, love, has been perfected, though by the violence of minutely, his counsels, and in haste to enter upon death, the expectants of similar dignity, instead of the "blessedness of the righteous," gave utterance, occasioning, by inferior considerations, a suspen-with a rapidity peculiarly striking, to the one main sion of the principle, should indulge in lively gra- sentiment of his soul. Follow peace and holiness,

was the instructive exhortation. The accents, now that the spirit has long fled to celestial occupations, seem to linger upon the fancy; the last flashings of the fire ethereal are yet seen through the lengthened distance, and each word, at all times valuable, becomes, by no violent metamorphosis, a pearl indeed, deriving an additional lustre from the deepened shadowings of the "vale of death," the use of succeeding generations, and the hope of that untold felicity, which will consist in their fullest exemplification, and ever-brightening splendour.

seen foes,-as still effecting the work of "redeeming mediation," is beheld in the bright effulgence of uncreated divinity, and is invested, as the Lamb that was slain, with loveliness inexpressibly captivating. Employed in such meditations, the Christian participates in the grateful admiration and vehement aspirings of Stephen, when, full of the Holy Ghost, he saw Jesus standing on the right hand of God; and, mingling astonishment with triumph, uttered the memorable invocation,-Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!

These views of the subject, while they prevent our wonder at the multiplicity of Scripture narratives, and account satisfactorily for the interest Mr. Henry took" in the lives, actions, and sayings of eminent men," + discover also to the reflective and pious mind their legitimate effect. Nor can it escape notice, that the chiefest of the apostles, when closing the early records of faith, has consolidated, in one unexampled address, and as a deduction from the whole, sentiments the most noble and

The disregard, or non-improvement, of an event so momentous as the soul's transition to unknown regions, involves deplorable indifference, if not stupidity, comparable only to that of the Egyptian monarch, or the very auditors of Zechariah: concerning the latter of whom, it is affirmed, to their perpetual reproach, that they made their hearts as an adamant stone. It should always be remembered, that death, in the case of every human being, is so inevitably certain, as to render, when the appointed season shall arrive, every plea, whether for exemp-sublime :-Seeing we also are compassed about with tion or postponement, fruitless. No man hath power in the day of death: there is no discharge in that war. And an apostle, as if to force onward the thoughts with an impetuous ardour, urges the solemn warning,-We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ.

When man's probationary existence, its termination, and the altered, but endless mode of being which then commences, are thus contemplated, not only is biography suitably improved, but the proclamation, that—time shall be no longer-once to be heard from the apocalyptic angel,-will fill the mind, and chase to a distance, with irresistible authority, all terrestrial attractions. Visions of eternity, succeeding in awful progression, and undefinable grandeur, obliterate those "characters of divinity which men set upon absurdities, and errors ;"* sweep away, as with hail, every refuge of lies, and exalt the religion of the Bible to her rightful pre-eminence. The glorified Saviour, as a prevailing intercessor, as the vanquisher of un

so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us; and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Let it never be forgotten, that admiration, however glowing, bestowed upon the affecting structure of a passage, like that just cited, can avail, for practical purposes, either personal, or in reference to the community, only as the metaphorical allusions, which it embodies, are duly regarded. But let that regard be once prevalent; let the eye be intently fixed upon high examples, and not upon those who rank, at best, only as inferiors in the school of Christ; let the attention be, especially, directed to the Great Exemplar himself; and effects, fruitful and all-pervading, will invariably follow. Then will be given to base companionship the hap

* See Locke's Essay concerning Human Understanding, ch. iii. § 26. + See the Life, post. p. 127. The names of the ancient fathers should be very precious with us, and the remains of their lives and labours; the first Reformers in our own land, in other lands; the good old puritans; those ministers and Christians who have been eminent in

our own country. We should not despise the way of our fathers, but be ashamed to think how short we come of them. We must regard their testimony; and, as far as it agrees with the word of God, put a great value upon it. We must follow them as far as they followed Christ. Matthew Henry. Orig. MS. And see post. p. 188.

God.

JOHN BICKERTON WILLIAMS.

piest overthrow; then will calumniated piety be due, will be secured to the only living and true upheld by unanswerable vindications; religious attainments will be advanced to an enviable maturity; and, while individual happiness, and the prosperity of the "holy church universal, are

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efficiently promoted, glory in the highest, ever justly

Swan Hill, Shrewsbury,

February 12, 1825.