MONKWELL-STREET.—English Presbyterian. congregation there, as we shall relate more particularly under that article. SAMUEL LAWRENCE, D. D.-This respectable minister was born in 1693, at Nantwich, in Cheshire, where his father was minister of a congregation of Protestant Dissenters, a man of remarkable piety and extensive literature; of whom we shall speak in a future part of this work. Dr. Lawrence was his second son; and received the first rudiments of learning at a grammar-school, at Bethnal-green. Having acquired a competent knowledge of the languages, he was sent very early in life, to the University of Glasgow, where he continued several years, performing a course of academical studies. When he left that place he returned home, being then too young to engage in the ministry. His father, who knew well the importance of laying a solid foundation in useful knowledge, read lectures to him for upwards of a year, both in philology and philosophy. The pains taken with him were far from being lost; he made very considerable improvements, and at length became a workman that needed not to be ashamed." 66 Before he settled as a minister, he became a tutor to the eldest son of Chief Baron Ward; the duties of which office he discharged with fidelity. The first congregation he was connected with, was at Newcastle-under-Line, where he was ordained in 1714. While there, he married a person of a very respectable family, by whom he had eight children, only one of which survived him. On the death of the Rev. Benjamin Bennet, author of the "Christian Oratory," he had a pressing invitation, in 1727, to succeed him in the pastoral office at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which he accepted. There he was greatly esteemed; but a very ill state of health rendering a long stay amongst them impossible; he accepted the unanimous call of the congregation in Monkwell-street, to succeed their late pastor, Mr. Daniel Wilcox, in 1793. Here he continued till his dying day, having for many years MONKWELL-STREET.- English Presbyterian. a crouded auditory, and his labours being very respectable and successful. Dr. Lawrence was a man of a most amiable temper, and possessed a happy mixture of seriousness, cheerfulness, and politeness. He had all the ease of the gentleman, without departing, in the least, from the decorum of his profession. He knew life; and read men as well as books, and could discern nicely the characters of mankind. His acquaintance with the world, the felicity of his temper, and the courteousness of his deportment, joined to render him a most agreeable companion. As a preacher, there was a noble simplicity in his style, and engaging affection in his manner, that added weight to what he said, and engaged the attention of his hearers. Valuable knowledge, unaffected devotion, undissembled benevolence, and well directed zeal, contributed to render him a faithful and useful pastor. It was the business and the joy of his life, to promote at once the salvation and happiness of all with whom he was connected. He was much esteemed by good men of different denominations, and was a considerable acquisition to the Dissenting cause. During his last illness, which was occasioned by the dropsy, he discovered a manly composure, and pious submission to the will of God, preserving his wonted cheerfulness to the last. Nature, at length, being worn out, he resigned his soul in peace, Oct. 1, 1760, aged 67.* His assistant and successor, Dr. Fordyce, delivered an address at his interment, in Bunhill-Fields; and preached a discourse upon his death, from Rev. xiv. 6. The everlasting gospel. Dr. Lawrence was many years one of the Friday evening lecturers at the Weigh-House. JAMES FORDYCE, D. D.-This ingenious Divine, and celebrated pulpit orator, was born at Aberdeen, North • Dr. Fordyce's Sermon on the death of Dr. Lawrence. VOL. III. EE MONKWELL-STREET.--English Presbyterian. Britain, in the year 1720. He descended of very respectable parents, who had the singular good fortune of transmitting superior talents to almost every individual of a numerous family. Dr. David Fordyce, a learned Scotch professor of divinity, and elegant writer, was the elder brother of our Divine; and Dr. George Fordyce, a late physician, and learned writer, was his nephew. James Fordyce having acquired the rudiments of classical learning, at the granımarschool in Aberdeen, was entered at the Marischal College, where he went through the regular course of studies necessary to qualify him for the Christian ministry. As he possessed excellent natural abilities, and studiously improved the advantages which he derived from his situation in the university, he was, when very young, deemed well prepared for the office of a preacher of the gospel, and obtained his licence. according to the forms of the church of Scotland. His first appointment was to the place of second minister in the collegiate church of Brechin, in the county of Angus. After continuing there some years, he received a presentation to the parish of Alloa, near Stirling. It was very discouraging to Mr. Fordyce, that the parishioners of Alloa were prepossessed in favour of another minister, who was well known to them, and prejudiced against himself, whom they did not know. His situation at Brechin, however, had become so unpleasant, owing to some disputes with his colleague, that he judged it expedient to hazard the consequences of a removal, notwithstanding the unfavourable circumstances in which he must enter on his new charge. From the result it appeared that his decision was prudent and happy: for by his able and impressive manner of preaching, and his diligence in discharging the other branches of the ministerial duty, particularly those of private visiting and catechising in the different districts of his parish, he soon removed the prejudices which had been conceived against him, and acquired the admiration and warm esteem of his parishioners. MONKWELL-STREET.-English Presbyterian. During Mr. Fordyce's residence at Alloa, he attracted the notice of the public by printing three sermons, all good in their kind: one "On the Eloquence of the Pulpit," and annexed to his brother David's "Theodorus;" another "On the Method of promoting Edification by public Institutions," preached at an ordination in 1754; and a third, entitled, "The delusive and bloody Spirit of Popery," preached before the synod of Perth and Stirling, in the year last mentioned. But still greater attention was drawn to another sermon, "On the Folly, Infamy, and Misery, of unlawful Pleasure," which he preached before the general assembly of the church of Scotland, and published in 1760. It displays such excellences of composition, in point of description, spirit, and elegance, and was delivered with such solemnity, animation, and feeling, that it produced a striking impression on the author's learned and respectable auditory, and raised his fame as a pulpit orator to unrivalled eminence among his brethren in Scotland. It was about this time, and probably in consequence of the reputation which the author acquired by this sermon, that the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him, by the University of Glasgow. Dr. Fordyce's nearest relations were now all settled at London, and were very pressing in their solicitations that he would come and live amongst them. While he was upon a visit in the metropolis, unsuccessful efforts were made by some of his friends to have him chosen one of the ministers of a respectable Dissenting congregation, meeting in Carterlane. Soon afterwards, however, their wishes were gratified, by his being invited to become co-pastor with Dr. Lawrence, minister of a respectable Dissenting congregation, meeting in Monkwell-street. With this invitation he complied, to the great regret of the people of Alloa; and upon the occasion of the death of Dr. Lawrence, which took place within a few months after Dr. Fordyce became his colleague, the latter displayed his oratory with much ap MONKWELL-STREET-English Presbyterian. plause, both from the pulpit and the press, in a sermon, accompanied with a funeral oration delivered over the grave. For several years Dr. Fordyce maintained a high share of popularity at Monkwell-street, generally preaching to crouded and overflowing audiences. Such popularity was certainly due to the excellence of his pulpit services, whether considered in relation to the elegance which they displayed as compositions, or their happy adaptation to impress the heart, and their uniform practical and useful tendency. Their effect was also much heightened by the author's studied action and elocution, which were well calculated to strike the generality of hearers; by the dignified figure of his person; and by the animated expression of his countenance, and of his bright penetrating eye. He lived, however, to see a great declension in his popularity, to which more than one cause contributed. Fashion and curiosity, it will readily be imagined, had some effect, for a time, in producing the throng of his hearers. But the attachment of persons attracted by such motives, will be as capricious and variable as their minds. They will change their preachers as they change their dress, not from their own taste, for in general they have none: but from the desire of being where others are, of doing what others do, and of admiring what others admire. Dr. Fordyce appreciated justly the value of such men's approbation; and knew it eventually from experience. In the year 1772, a circumstance took place, which contributed greatly to thin the pews of his auditory, and that was the failure of a younger brother, a banker in very exensive connections, whose ruin involved in it that of many of the Doctor's constant hearers, and most liberal supporters. Several of them by this means became dispersed into different situations; and though no blame could justly attach to the Doctor on account of his brother's misconduct, vet the odium which it brought on his family did undoubtedly operate very unfavourably on the attachment of several other |