ly explained in a discourse upon his death, by his intimate friend, Dr. Newman. To this he added, as appropriate to his present feelings, those lines of Dr. Watts's 71st Psalm, 66 "By long experience have I known his son ex After Saturday evening he spoke but little, his general strength and powers of articulation gradually, and almost imperceptibly, declining, till about a quarter before eight on Monday morning, October 4, when, as pressed it in a letter to the writer, one gentle sigh his fetters broke." Such was the effect of the peace of God ruling in his heart, and such the solidity of his faith, and the liveliness of his hope, that all around his dying bed were ready to exclaim, "Let me die the death of that righte ous man, and let my last end be like his." pearance of Mr. Thomas seemed to promise that his life would be prolonged to an advanced period; but he whose thoughts are not as our thoughts had otherwise determined. He was seized with an internal complaint, which produced jaundice. In the month of August last it increased upon him, yet not so as to produce serious apprehensions either in himself, or among his friends, till about a fortnight before his death, when his strength rapidly declined. At this time, knowing that gentlemen of the medical profession sometimes encourage their patients, by expressing hopes much stronger than they themselves entertain, he pressed those who attended upon him to give him their real opinion of his case. After consulting together, they gave him to understand that their hope did not extend beyond the mere possibility of his restoration, when he calmly replied, "The will of the Lord be done ;" and from that time directed his whole attention to the solemn change that was drawing nigh. He spoke with great satisfaction of the gospel, which he had faith-ber 11, the body of Mr. Thomas fully, for the salvation of sinners, endeavoured to preach, and added, "It is a holy gospel-a holy gospel," warning most earnestly his dear children, and others around him, not to neglect " so great salvation." Among many other expressions, which indicated the ground of his faith, and the stability of his hope, he repeated, a few days before his death, with peculiar emphasis, that noble avowal of the apostle Paul, "I know whom I have believed, and am per- At his funeral, as at that of suaded that he is able to keep Stephen, many devout men of difthat which I have committed to ferent denominations, and from him against that day." These several churches, made lamentawords were afterwards particular- tion over him, while his friend, To his numerous friends at a distance, especially in the Principality, it may be gratifying to be informed, that on Monday, Octo was interred in Bunhill-fields, where it awaits the morning of the resurrection, when it shall rise a spiritual, glorified body, together with those (which now occupy the same spot) of Owen and Watts, Bunyan and Gill, Gifford and Stennett, and a very great company who also have slept in Jesus, and whose bodies there rest" in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ." the Rev. Mr. Griffin, delivered an appropriate address. The pall was supported by the Rev. Dr. Abraham Rees, of the Presbyterian, and the Rev. Mr. Innes, of the Independent, denomination, with four of his Baptist brethren, the Rev. Messrs. Button, Ivimey, Hoby, and Broady, who, together with a train of relatives, ministers, and private gentlemen, occupied six mourning coaches-sorrowing most sincerely "that they should see his face no more!" On Thursday evening, October 14, Dr. Newman of Stepney delivered the funeral sermon, from the words before-mentioned, to a numerous and highly respectable audience, at Devonshire-square. As we are fully of opinion that the character there given is correctly drawn, we insert an ex tract. "I always admired the dignity and simplicity, the honesty and warmth, and the noble frankness of his temper. He had a high sense of rectitude and propriety which would have done honour to any man-to any Prince in Europe. He was cheerful without levity. If all our students and young ministers should resemble him, we shall have the satisfaction of seeing them, according to a good old maxim, lively, but not light; serious, and yet not sad.' were characterized by strong sense, and not less by a strong savour of evangelical piety. Those who meet for worship in this place, must have often heard him expatiate with great solemnity on the dignity of the person of Christ, and the depth of his vo luntary abasement for our redemption-the universal depravity and misery of mankind occasioned by the fall-the sovereignty and grace of the Holy Spirit in regeneration and sanctification --the privileges of God's elect→→ the perpetual obligation of the law-the necessity of a holy and useful life to prove our faith sincere and, in short, all the other topics which these must presuppose, or include, or draw after them by necessary consequence. "In public prayer, I think it will be allowed that he excelled most of his brethren. Those of you who knew our late venerable friend Mr. Booth, must have been often reminded of him, wheir you have seen our brother engaged in conducting that part of public worship. 66 Having had a free and confidential intercourse with him for more than six-and-twenty years, I need not hesitate to add, I loved him; and, if I live long, I shall long lament the loss I have personally sustained by his death. His heart was open to me at all times. In walking about London he was my guide and my companion. I was accustomed to lean upon his faithful arm. Frequently I have said to him, ' Brother Thomas, I think this must "Solomon says, 'Wise men lay up knowledge.' Prov. x. 14. Our friend laid up treasure of this kind in early life; grew richer as he grew older; and possessed much more literary wealth than he ever showed to the world. Osten-be the true notion of walking by tation, affectation, and artifice he held in unmixed abhorrence. "He had a very clear, correct, and comprehensive view of Christianity. His sermons, therefore, as might have been expected, faith-I know not where we are -but you know, and that is enough for me.' When he saw Multis ille bonis flebilis occidit Nulli flebilior quam [mihi.] Hor. any thing wrong in me, or intensively known than they are. others, or what he esteemed to be wrong, he could say the strongest and the sharpest things in a manner the most kind and inoffensive. "We shall miss him at our weekly meeting of ministers in Cornhill, which he constantly attended. I may apply now to him those lines of Gray's elegy, which I heard Mr. Fuller apply to Mr. Booth One is entitled, "The Mystery of the seven Stars as emblematical of the Ministers of the Gospel, explained and improved." Preached at the Baptist Monthly Associa tion, in the meeting-house, Little Prescot-street, Goodman's-fields, April 20, 1809. The other is entitled, "Jesus Christ the Object of Prayer," and was "preached in Dean-street, Southwark, January 21, 1819." This last contains in the conclusion some very One morn I miss'd him on th' accustom'd hill!interesting views of death and the * * nor yet beside the rill, Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he!' "We shall miss him, brethren, at our monthly meeting of ministers and churches. The last sermon which he delivered in intermediate state, which we little thought the preacher himself was destined to realize before the year ended! COMPARED. MUSING on the insensible and rapid revolutions of TIME, I found myself hurried forward towards the year 1820. I no sooner thought of the date, than my re that meeting, will not soon be A. D. 1620 AND A. D. 1820 forgotten by those who heard it.* We shall miss him in the Stepney Institution, of which he was the worthy Secretary, and to which he was a cordial and constant friend from its commencement. There are also many in England, and especially in all parts of the principality of Wales, who will say, We shall miss him too.' The mournful tidings of his death will be conveyed to his son resident in India, who will never repent of having been most affectionately and gratefully studious to honour his father while he was living." collections were thrown back upon the year 1620; and the events which then occurred, and those which are now taking place, relative to emigration, led me almost insensibly to repeat the observation of Solomon, "The thing which hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done, is that which shall be done ; and there is no new thing under the sun." At the former of these periods, England witnessed the departure of some of her best subjects; driven from their homes, first to Holland, and then to the inhospitable wilds of America, by the fierce demon of persecution. Two ships, freighted with persons belonging to Mr. Robinson's con Whilst the necessity for such expatriation I deeply lament, it affords me pleasure to consider that our countrymen are not forced away by a spirit of oppression and persecution, as our Puritan forefathers were in the bigoted reign of James the First. So far from this being the case, they have the encouragement, the protection, and the assistance of his Majesty's Government. It is gratifying too, that no mad and murderous spirit of enter gregation, sailed from Southamp-[ ton, June, 1620. These were the intrepid and persevering Englishmen, who founded the colony of New Plymouth, and who endured hardships almost incredible, and encountered difficulties which would have been insurmountable, had they not been experimentally acquainted with the scriptural sentiment, "The Lord is good; a strong hold in the time of trouble: he knoweth them that trust in him." The year 1820 will be memo-prise is contemplated, like that rable in English history, as the period of thousands of her subjects voluntarily preferring the prospect of cultivating the barren and inhospitable deserts of Africa, to labouring in England, and enjoying safety and protection un-property and their country. Proder her equal laws, and constitutional government. I am ready to adopt, upon this occasion, the expostulating language of our evangelical patriotic poet, "What appears in England's case," to produce this emigrating spirit? which led the Spaniards to colonize Mexico and Peru. No blood-hounds will be required, nor instruments of torture enployed, to destroy unsuspecting natives, and to rob them of their ceeding to Africa, with the spade and the plough, for the purpose of sowing fields and planting vineyards, which may yield the fruits of increase, is so harmless in its means, and so beneficial in its tendency, that I most sincerely pray that God may, by his kind providence, bless and preserve them; for he "turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into water springsand there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city of habitation." The all-wise and superintending providence of God, in conducting and controling the affairs of his creatures, was wonderfully displayed in the success which followed the emigration of the Puritans to America. The larger part, however, of the first settlers not only endured unparalleled hardships, but fell victims to the privations which they suffered. They were indeed diminished and brought low, through oppression, affliction, and sorrow; but eventually it has been said of their children, "Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock." The comparatively short period of two centuries has increased this small afflicted remnant to a nation consisting of many millions of people. Whether the projected settlement at Algoa Bay is destined to produce such astonishing effects in Africa, as the settlement at Cape Cod has already accomplished, is known only to him who bringeth the blind by a way that they knew not, and leads them in paths that they had not known. seek him, he with him; and if ye But the reader is probably a It is highly probable that the patient perseverance evinced by the colony of New Plymouth, arose from the principles of religion by which they were influenced. The pleasure which they experienced in worshipping God without the constraints of human laws, and the imposition of the inventions of men, enabled them to endure the miseries which they suffered, but which were infinitely less afflictive than those that they had borue from the violations of the rights of conscience. To this, likewise, may be fairly attributed the blessing of God; which protected them from the savage tribes of Indians, and caused the labours of their hands to prosper. Let the emigrants of 1820 imitate, in their pious zeal, the Puritan emigrants of 1620, and they may calculate upon the care and protection of the Father of mercies. But to enjoy this divine preservation, they must acknowledge God in all their ways; they must erect an altar for God wherever they pitch their tentthey must act in the fear of God all the day long. Let them hear and regard the advice of Asa, one of the kings of Judah, "The Lord is with you, while you are former times were not better than these. The signs of the times are portentous. Blasphemy and Sedition have of late stalked abroad, and the enemy has come in like a flood; but the Spirit of the Lord, by the word of truth, and the dispensations of his providence, has lifted up a standard against them. Let the godly unite in fervent prayer, that the sword may be turned away from the land. They that trust in the Lord shall never be confounded. "Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men !—Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving, kindness of the Lord.” Jan. 1, 1820. IOTA. |