truth.' 'The hideous execration of Voltaire concerning the Saviour, "Ecrasez L'Infame," has found its echo among the infatuated mobs of the land of Calvin and Farel. Amidst the grandest scenes of creation, where, on every hand, the finger of God has inscribed the memorials of his Majesty, the fool has been heard proclaiming "No God," and the air has been burdened with the frantic cry,-" Down with the good God!"' Surely, we may add-'A brutish man knoweth not, neither doth a fool consider; when the wicked spring as the grass, and all the workers of iniquity do flourish—it is that they shall

be destroyed for ever-for thou, Lord, art most high for evermore!'

"Let us not, however, exult over others; let us rather tremble for ourselves. The craft and delusions of Popery-the madness and pollutions of infidelity-are not confined to Switzerland. In France-in Germany-in Belgium-in America-in our own islands-the mystery of iniquity, in both kinds, doth most powerfully and incessantly work; and if, in the quick-coming day of the Lord, we are to save our own beloved land-the time is precious, and a great work is yet to be accomplished.”

The Wesleyan Conference territorially covers every parish in England, with 1688 ministers under its orders, 15,000 local preachers, and 30,000 leaders, stewards, and trustees, with 468,313 members of society acknowledging its sway, and perhaps 2,000,000 hearers affording their countenance. The immense amount of their chapel and other real property has been estimated at more than £3,000,000 sterling; while the annual revenue of the body, from every source, is probably not much less than £1,000,000. The income of their missionary society for the year 1845-6 was more than £112,000; in 1840, by a mighty effort, £171,687 of chapel debts were extinguished, and the centenary fund fell little short of £250,000. The product of the weekly pence and quarterly shillings (these are minima) contributed

in the classes of the yearly and July collections-suffices for the maintenance (in far greater average comfort than any other body of Christian ministers) of more than 1500 ministers, with their wives and families; for, perhaps, no married minister receives less than an equivalent of £175 per annum, and, perhaps, none more than £350. The Theological Institutions at Richmond and Didsbury contain 74 students; the Kingswood and Woodhouse-grove schools provide for the education of 200 pupils; proprietary schools have been established at Sheffield and Taunton; the last return shows that their Sunday-schools are attended by 500,000 scholars; and of the 700 day schools which it was determined to form at the close of 1843, more than one half have already been called into existence.—Church of England Quarterly Review.

Received 13s., for Ventry, from "M. K."

"Parish Clerk" in our next.

Mr. Whalley thus became the affectionate pastor, the enlightened teacher of his flock. He was not only prompt to render them effectual help, to the best of his ability, at the call of sickness, or poverty, or sorrow, but he made himself personally acquainted with their various characters, and, as far as possible, with their religious condition. From day to day he watched over them for good; and to his exhortations and active endeavours for their improvement and happiness, he united earnest prayers to God for a special blessing on his labours.

I give the following as specimens of his "Sacra Privata;" the first of which appears to have been penned about the time just referred to.

A SACRAMENTAL PRAYER.

"Lord! give me grace, a miserable sinner, to lay hold on thy mercies in Jesus Christ. Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. Strengthen my faith in the sacrifice I am about to commemorate, and teach me, while I fly to it from the terrors of a wounded conscience, to make it the assured pledge of my redemption, by a renewed and sanctified conversation for the time to come. Oh! let it ever be a means and a motive with me to an effectual change of heart. Let it gradually work in me some faint reFEBRUARY-1847.

semblance of thine adorable perfections; a pious submission to thy blessed will; a patient conformity to thy most holy life: a spirit inclined and qualified to glorify God on high, and to follow peace on earth and good-will towards men. Grant, O merciful Father, that the world may be crucified to me, and I unto the world, through Him who loved me and gave himself for me, Jesus Christ the righteous. Amen."

A PRAYER, WITH PASSAGES IN IT FROM THE CONFESSIONS OF ST. AUGUSTINE, ESPECIALLY FROM BOOK X., C. 43.

O God, the true life, in whom we live, and move, and have our being, the author and fountain of all life both in the body and the soul, the common source of all good; let our faith in thee excite us to approach thee; our hope exalt our desires towards thee; our love unite us inseparably to thee.

"Thou commandest us to seek thee, and art ready to be found; thou biddest us knock, and openest when we do so. To turn from thee is to fall into ruin and death; to turn to thee is to rise to life and glory; to abide in thee is to stand fast and secure from all dangers for ever. No man loses thee, who does not suffer himself to be deceived: no man seeks thee, who does not submit to instruction and

D

reproof: no man finds thee, who does not seek after thee with a clean heart and purified affections. To know thee is life: to serve thee is freedom: to enjoy thee is power: to praise thee is happiness. O give us strength to praise, and bless, and adore thee, with heart, and hand, and voice, and every faculty; to worship thee, to give thanks to thee for thy great glory, for thy great goodness, for thine innumerable and inestimable mercies, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!

"What fear, what reverence, what love, what thanks, what praise, and glory, ought miserable sinners to pay to a God who hath thus pitied, and loved, and rescued them, thus sanctified, thus exalted them! The whole of our abilities, the whole of our time, our life and being itself, are thy just tribute. But what ability have we, which is not thine already, and derived from thee? Thou, therefore, from whom all good things do come, impart to us, for thine own name's sake, of thy good treasure, that of thine own gifts we may give back again to thee, and be enabled by thy grace to serve and please thee in faithfulness and truth; and render thee due and daily praise for all thy works of mercy, yea, even for the very power of rendering thee praise.

"O make us sensible, Lord, and inwardly convince us, that the very power of serving thee is entirely thy gift, since every good and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness or shadow of turning. And in this sense, and under these impressions, we address thee, O Father Almighty, acknowledging thy power; O Father of mercy, depending on thy goodness; O Lord incomprehensible, adoring thine infinite excellencies; O maker and restorer of all things by thy Son Jesus Christ, in confidence of thy love through the Son of thy love, whom thou didst send out of thine own bosom for our salvation, to take our life, that he might give us his, and be subject unto our death and dissolution, that we might not die eternally: Man of the substance of his mother, born in the world; God of the substance of his Father, begotten before the worlds:

the Creator and the creature; the Shepherd and the sheep; the victor and the vanquished; dead and behold he lives, ever liveth to make intercession for us, having given us perfect assurance that whatsoever we shall ask the Father in his name, he will not fail to give it us.

"Let us, therefore, by this great, and true, and only High Priest, this Bishop of souls, this good Shepherd, who laid down his life for the sheep; this gracious Redeemer and Mediator, who sitteth at thy right hand, pleading for miserable sinners; implore thy mercy, O most tender Lover of mankind; beseeching Thyself, thy Son, the blessed Spirit, to grant us grace worthily and constantly to praise thy holy name, with deep remorse and godly sorrow for our sins; with great humility and plenteous tears, with the profoundest reverence and fear, and with every demonstration of a true repentance. But being feelingly sensible that though the Spirit be willing, the flesh is weak, that the corruptible body presseth down the soul, we pray that thou wouldest stir us up, and quicken our stupidity, and so actuate and inspire this heavy lump of clay, that we may diligently attend to, and vigorously persevere in the way of thy commandments, and in the proper methods of giving thee true praise day and night. O let our spirit burn within us, and let the holy flame burst out. As thy Son hath declared that no man cometh unto him, except he be drawn of the Father, and again, that no man cometh to the Father, but by him; draw us, we beseech thee, continually to him, that he at length may bring us to thee, even to those happy mansions where he now sitteth at thy right hand.

"Blessed are all thy saints, my God and King, who have passed the tempestuous sea of mortality, and have at length made the desired port of

peace and safety, fearless of future hazards, and full of perpetual joy. This sea thou, our Saviour, didst condescend to try and be tossed upon. O cast a gracious eye upon us, who are still on the dangerous voyage.

"Thou art gone up to never-fading glory, but thou wilt not in the midst of thine own happiness forget those

who are beset with a vast variety of miseries. Thou hast chosen us to Thyself, and what we are or hope to be is all thy gift. Thou hast promised to make us immortal, with and by thyself, and to bestow upon us the everlasting felicity of thy presence. O remember us, and succour us in our distress, and think on them who lie exposed to the rough storms of troubles and temptations.

"Thou art the gate of heaven, the door at which the sheep must enter; but we, alas! lie grovelling here below our soul cleaveth to the dust, stretch forth thine hand and raise us up! Amen."

In the year 1800, Mr. Whalley gave up the living of Horsington to his nephew, and soon after took possession of Chelwood, a small rectory, near Pensford, in Somersetshire, given him by his old friend and connexion, Dr. Beadon, Bishop of Bath and Wells. The population was chiefly rural, and the kindest feelings quickly sprung up between them and their pastor. The daily proofs which they received of his disinterestedness, and heartfelt zeal for their present comfort and their eternal welfare, secured to him their reverence and affection. Even those who refused to profit by his warnings, could not but appreciate his character and example. His Christian tenderness towards the youthful members of his flock was truly impressive. At a later period than that now referred to, an instance came under my own notice, in which he watched like a ministering angel at the sick couch of a young person who was dying of consumption, and to whom his ministry had been eminently useful. In the last stage of her trying illness, he even received her and one of her relatives into his own house, for change of air and better attendance; and he was finally rewarded for his great kindness, not only by her heartfelt gratitude, but by witnessing the perfect peace and joy with which, through faith in the Redeemer, she breathed her last.

He occasionally relaxed from his parochial duties to visit friends or connexions; and among the houses

to which he was fond of resorting, was Barley Wood, the residence of Mrs. Hannah More and her four maiden sisters; a household which was not only illuminated by the brilliant genius of that pious, eminent, and beloved lady, but by the kindness, the hospitality, and the various talents of the other members of the sisterhood. No one admired Mr. Whalley, in his new character, more than Hannah More, or had a livelier sense of the contrast which it presented to her early recollections of him. "A great many men," she used to say, are near heaven, but Richard Whalley is in heaven."

66

The late Bishop Ryder, when Dean of Wells, made his acquaintance, and regarded him with affectionate veneration. He was also held in high esteem and regard by his diocesan, Dr. Beadon, and usually spent some days at the palace in the course of the year.

In the year 1810, a friend of Mr. Whalley's, Mr. a Director of the East India Company, lost his wife, to whom he was deeply and tenderly attached. By way of alleviating his grief, he addressed a letter to his old friend, claiming his sympathy, and anxiously enquiring if he thought that he should know and recognize the lost partner of his affections in a future state of being. The question touched his feelings on a tender point: but he did not allow himself to be drawn into the discussion of it, as he had reason to think he should be more truly acting the part of a faithful Christian friend, by intreating his correspondent rather to test the validity of his own title to the heavenly inheritance, than to speculate on such a topic. Such was the sound judgment and affectionate sympathy with which he pressed this delicate point on his friend's attention, that his disappointment at not being indulged with a letter in the strain that he had expected, was forgotten, in his admiration of the wisdom and sincerity with which Mr. Whalley had addressed him. Under this impression, he transmitted the letter he had received to his friend, the late Mr. Wilberforce, who at that time represented the county of York in Parlia

ment. No one was more qualified than that truly great and good man to appreciate the value of such a counsellor; and the letter was returned, with the following reply, which is introduced here, from its connexion with the subject of this Memoir.

66

To Mr.

"Hermontseux, near Battel, July 26, 1811. Many thanks, my dear Sir, for your friendly communication, and for the truly Christian epistle you have entrusted to me. It is a happiness, a happiness for which I doubt not you are duly thankful, that you can call such a man your friend.

Mr. Whalley's former letter, which you were so obliging as to lend me last year, I returned, and a precious letter it was. In sending back that which I have now before me, I will add a few words which the perusal of it suggests, because they are of a sort congenial with this day's purposes and objects.

"Your good friend, my dear Sir, truly says, that the religion which Í approve and which I wish to possess, is such as he recommends to youthe religion of the Bible, of the holy apostles, of the pillars of the Church of England, and of your most excellent and venerable friend, Swartz; holiness of heart and life, produced by the operation of the Spirit of God in those who have been accepted through Christ Jesus the Redeemer; that is, having repented and believed on him, they have become sons of God, according to the expression of St. John, (ch. i. ver. 12.) As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God; who are born (as the next verse says,) of God;' i. e. by his converting and sanctifying Spirit. This, as your correspondent says, is what the natural man receiveth not. So St. Paul said before him, 1 Cor. 2. It is foolishness unto him, because it is spiritually discerned.’ And wherever it really exists, there certainly is a disposition not to be conformed to this world; not, however, from gloom or austerity, or from any idea that God is pleased by our denying ourselves what would give

us pleasure, and subjecting ourselves to pain, but because the true Christian finds from experience that worldly pleasures have a powerful tendency to blunt the edge of his spiritual appetite, and to diffuse a fog, if I may so express myself, through his mind, so as to cause spiritual objects to be seen less distinctly, their beauties and excellencies to be less clearly recognized, and consequently less keenly relished. The truth is, he endeavours to retain a practical impression of that astonishing promise, Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.' (2 Cor. vi. 17, 18.) Remembering this gracious declaration, and remembering also the apostle's injunction, twice repeated, not to grieve,' not to quench the Spirit,' he avoids not merely that which is absolutely unlawful and positively forbidden, but whatever he conceives would be unsuited to his blessed Inmate; whatever may dull or deaden, not merely whatever would extinguish the flame.

"O, my dear Sir, I talk and write of these things fluently, but how much harder is it to preserve a lively sense of them in their reality and power! and therefore how do we need all that can stimulate and quicken, rather than subject ourselves to the action of causes which have a directly opposite effect? But surely it can scarcely be necessary for me to add, that all this inward religion is not to terminate within; but having there its seat; there being the living fire; thence, as from the sun, the centre of the system of our universe, will be diffused those quickening beams which are known through the world as the producers of beauty and fertility. In like manner these peculiar people are zealous of good works, and are only grieved that they cannot still more glorify their gracious Father and Redeemer, and benefit their fellow-creatures. May you and I, my dear Sir, and all whom we hold most dear, experience more and more of the divine transformation of which I have been speaking. Shall I express myself in Scriptural language, and