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bonds. And now, after all, I thank my most merciful God and Father, that as he called me not to this lot of suffering, till I was arrived at some maturity of judgment, and firmness of resolution, so he left me not when my friends and acquaintance forsook me; that he supported my spirit, to endure this trial of my faith without wavering; that I was never so cast down, as to be tempted to renounce the truth; that he preserved my health under this long confinement; that I had a few friends who were a comfort to me in my bonds (the Lord grant they may find mercy of the Lord in that day); that he inclined any in authority to show, at last, compassion to me, and that he has brought me out of prison, and set my feet in a large place; that I have yet food and raiment left me; and, above all, that he has given me a mind, I think, as well contented with it, as ever I was in my greatest prosperity. I am content to want the kind and vain respects of the world, and to give up my name to mistaken reproach; or to lose it (if that may be) in silent unregarded obscurity. I have suffered the loss of many things, and do not repent; but upon the review, I do still count it all but dross and dung, if it has any way advanced the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.”

Sir Richard Steele, one of Addison's principal coadjutors in writing the Spectator, refers to the infamous persecution of Emlyn, in the sarcastic Dedication of one of his Works to the Pope:

"Sometimes," says he, "we of the Established Church can manage a prosecution (for I must not call it a persecution) ourselves, without calling in any other help. But I must do the Dissenting Protestants the justice to say, that they have shown themselves, upon occasion, very ready to assist us in so pious and Christian a work, as bringing Heretics to their right mind, being themselves but very lately come from experiencing the convincing and enlightening faculty of a dungeon or a fine. The difference between these two sorts of persons is this:-The one differ from us about ceremonies of worship and government, but they boggle not at all at the doctrine settled for us by our first Reformers; it is all with them right and good, just as Christ left it at first, and Calvin found it above fifteen hundred years afterwards. The others, unhappy men, look upon this to be straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel. However, the former sort having a toleration for their own way, upon subscribing all our doctrines, can the more easily come to persuade themselves, that the Christian world is unhinged, if the latter should be tolerated in their opposition to doctrines, which have been called fundamental, even by Protestants, for so many years.

"This hath been experienced particularly in Ireland by one who could not see exactly what they saw about the nature of Christ before his appearance in this world. For as with you, a man had better blaspheme Almighty God, than not magnify the Blessed Virgin, so with many of us it is much more innocent and less hazardous to take from the glory of the Father, than of his Son. Nay, to bring down the Father to a level with his own Son is a commendable work, and the applauded labour of many learned men of leisure; but to place the Son below his own Father in any degree of real perfection, this is an unpardonable error-so unpardonable, that all hands were united against that unhappy man; and he found, at length, that he had much better have violated all God's commandments, than have interpreted some passages of Scripture differently from his brethren. The Nonconformists accused him, the Conformists condemned him, the secular power was called in, and the cause ended in an imprisonment and a very great fine: two methods of conviction about which the gospel is silent."

On his release from prison, Emlyn retired to London, where he preached privately and gratuitously to a small circle of friends, whose views, like his own, were in advance of the age. In that city and the neighbourhood, he resided for upwards of thirty years, in comparatively humble circumstances; but enjoying literary leisure, and publishing

a number of religious works, controversial and practical, of great power and excellence. These were subsequently collected into three volumes, and are exceedingly valuable; though, at present, not easily obtained. The closing scenes of his honourable and spotless life are thus described by his son:

"On Saturday, July 25th, 1741, two or three friends came to see him, with whom he conversed in good spirits, and seemed as well and as cheerful as he had been for some time past, though the getting out of bed was a fatigue to him. He then expressed a great satisfaction in the testimony of a good conscience, that in godly sincerity he had had his conversation in the world, not with fleshly wisdom, and that what he had done was not, and indeed could not be from worldly views, but, as he judged, for the honour of God and the truth of the Gospel. There is, said he, such a thing as joy in the Holy Ghost; I have known it, and oh, how much is it beyond all the joys of this world! At the same time, he expressed a very thankful sense of the goodness of God in supporting and comforting him under all the trials he had passed through, and an humble sense of his own defects and unworthiness, saying, he thought it a very proper address for a man to leave the world with, Lord, be merciful to me a sinner. ......... On Sunday he was suddenly seized with a feverish disorder, which continuing that day and the next, afforded but little hopes of his recovery; on Tuesday the symptoms abated, and he was somewhat better; but on Wednesday they returned with more violence, so that on Thursday forenoon, nature being quite exhausted, both himself and all about him perceived his end to be very near. He enjoyed his intellects to the last, but about five of the clock in the afternoon was speechless; and at eleven at night, after a few struggles of nature, breathed forth his Spirit into the hands of his gracious God, and so was released from the bonds of this tabernacle, just thirtysix years after his release from his imprisonment. Thus lived, thus

died this excellent, holy, good man, this eminently faithful servant of God, and in him, give me leave to say it, the world has lost one of the brightest examples of substantial unaffected piety, of serious rational devotion, of a steady unshaken integrity, and an undaunted Christian courage."

To the writings, the fortitude, and the disgraceful persecution of this most able and excellent man, we owe, I firmly believe, a large portion of the Christian light and liberty which we this day enjoy. He was the intrepid Pioneer of liberal Principles in Ireland; and it will be well for those who are apt to speak despondingly of the progress of Truth, to remember that the very Doctrines, for the promulgation of which Thomas Emlyn was foully condemned by an ignorant Jury, and basely sentenced, as a felon, by a corrupt and brutal Judge, are now recognized by the State as Christian Doctrines, and openly professed and gloried in, by tens of thousands of our countrymen who stand pre-eminent in piety, intelligence, moral virtue, and social usefulness. We may be sometimes provoked by the conduct of the weak, the timid, and the dishonest, and lament that the cause of truth, charity, and holiness, is not advancing, as we could desire, with giant strides; but, to doubt its eventual triumph, would be to doubt the government of God.

In the sad history of Emlyn's' persecution, several circumstances are particularly remarkable and instructive.

1. His entire demeanour was distinguished by calmness, want of

ostentation, and unrepining endurance. He manifested no enthusiasm, called for no sympathy, uttered no complaint, sued for no compassion, sustained himself by no excitement. On the contrary, he acted entirely on the grounds of deep conviction and high principle— with reference alone to the approbation of God, and unmoved by the opinions of men. His views, therefore, command the greater respect, as deliberately formed and mildly supported-whilst he laid no claim. either to the glory of a reformer or to the crown of a martyr.

2. The insolent and infamous injustice of the Judge, who refused to hear his defence, and the heartless impertinence of the Law Officers of the Crown, cause us to rejoice in our own days of judicial moderation and official decency. Judges, in those days, were but the echoes of dominant intolerance; and venal Lawyers clambered to the heights of power by pandering to the worst passions of the people. A Judge, in the present day, who should act the part of Chief Justice Pyne, would be hurled from the Bench by universal indignation; and it is generally believed that an Irish Chief Justice lately "obtained leave to retire on a pension," because he lay under the imputation of having evinced partisan tendencies, on a political trial.

3. The conduct of the Clergy, both Bishops and Dissenters, exhibited no singular features. Of all classes of men, Divines are the least variable. The world may change: literature, science, arts, and all the embellishments of life may advance-political freedom may be extended, and the wings of commerce may be disenthralled; but the Clergy stand unmoved amidst the wondrous progress, and gloomy amidst the glowing light of the world. The Bishops of 1703, calling themselves Protestants, sat upon the judgment-seat to stimulate the appetite of intolerant Law; and the Dissenting Ministers of Dublin, who valued themselves on their integrity in separating from the Established Church, meanly united with the very Prelacy which they abhorred, in persecuting the estimable brother with whom, for eleven years, "they had taken sweet counsel," because he was honest enough to carry out, to its legitimate extent, the foundation principle of Protestantism-Free Inquiry. His colleague, Boyse, who had so repeatedly urged him to leave England, published a violent and disingenuous pamphlet against him, in order to prejudice the public mind, on the very eve of his trial; the others endeavoured to accomplish the same unworthy object, by preaching and private conversations; and although he was "sick and in prison, they visited him. not." But, have we not witnessed the same spirit, and almost the very same acts, in our own days? Have we not seen Prelacy, and Presbytery, and Independency, and Methodism, lay aside, for a season, their denominational jealousies, and unite in one common crusade against Unitarian Liberty? Did we not, in the year 1830, see the

early bosom friends and ministerial associates of the excellent William Glendy," assemble from the four winds of heaven," at the head of an infuriated rabble, in order to drive him from his temple and his home? Did we not, in the same year, at the instigation of his Brother Ministers, see the venerable John Watson seized by an armed Police, on the Lord's Day, when about to enter the MeetingHouse in which he had conducted Public Worship for more than thirty years, and dragged over the country, for eight hours on a winter day, as if he had been a convicted felon? And have we not just escaped, through the justice of Parliament, from a deliberate scheme of wholesale robbery? Times and circumstances may change, but the stern and unlovely features of bigotry are ever the same; and I firmly believe, that but for the milder spirit of human laws, the melancholy scenes of 1703 would have been re-acted by Presbyterians, in the year 1830.

4. The folly, as well as the wickedness of persecution, was signally manifested in the case of Emlyn. His peculiar opinions which, for the sake of peace, he had not promulgated, might have remained unknown, had not his ungenerous brethren forced them into public view, and given them currency and importance by the sufferings and intrepidity of their advocate. From that hour, Unitarianism spread through the land; and the short-sighted bigots of Dublin accomplished, to a considerable extent, what their equally unwise Brethren more effectually carried forward, in Ulster, by their futile attempts to trample upon Christian Liberty, in the year 1828. It is thus that a merciful Providence eventually overrules the unworthy machinations of men-causing the earthly tyrant, by his very oppressions, to become the founder of civil liberty, and the religious persecutor, also, to become an unwilling instrument, for the promotion of Christian truth, charity, and freedom.

5. Previously to the death of his wife, Emlyn was in easy circumstances, and associated with the many affluent members of his Congregation, on equal terms, as a truly valued and greatly admired friend. This agreeable intercourse continued, until the plague spot of heresy was discovered by Dr. Duncan Comyn; but, from that hour, they all forsook him, as if they expected to receive contamination from his very look. Had he been a murderer, his brother Ministers and many worthy persons of exalted station would no doubt have visited him, just as devout Clergymen and amiable Ladies are now so properly in the habit of bringing comfort to the most atrocious criminals; but poor Emlyn was guilty of the unpardonable crime of exercising his own judgment in the concerns of his soul, and of adopting the Faith of inspired Apostles, with regard to the person and office of our Lord Jesus Christ-the Faith of all Christendom during the first three hundred years of the Gospel Dispensation.

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Not one man of affluence, therefore, amongst the hundreds who had grasped his hand in friendship and rejoiced in his edifying ministrations-no, not one crossed the threshold of his prison-house, or offered one farthing towards paying the enormous fine which had been so infamously imposed upon him! Many of the poorer sort," however, as he informs us, "visited him, gladly joined in his prayers, and received his teachings." So it ever has been-so it is-and so, I fear, it will continue to be. "How hardly," said our Blessed Saviour, "shall a rich man enter into the kingdom of heaven!" I do not say, however, that there are not multitudes of devout and honest Christians amongst the noble and affluent. I am sure there. are; and many of them it is my privilege to know. But I do aver, at the same time, that wealth, with its concomitants, has seduced thousands from the open paths of Christian integrity, and prevented thousands, in popular and patronised Churches, from avowing the real convictions of their minds. We have seen, and we could name the men, who are outwardly, professing what they do not inwardly believe; and, I solemnly declare, that I know no spectacle more melancholy or more humiliating, than that of the man whom the very superabundance of Providential favours has turned aside from the honest worship and service of the God that bestowed them. The poor, dependent creature, whom worldly misfortunes have seduced from the path of integrity, I sincerely compassionate; but towards the affluent time-server and false-worshipper, I can cherish no milder sentiment than loathing and contempt. Be it remembered, however, that I cast no reproach upon the honest Christian of any Church, or upon the honest man who may be of no Church; my condemnation extends, not to creeds which are honestly believed, but solely to professions of faith which are dishonestly made. He who was gentle and compassionate towards all offences arising from the weakness of human nature, never failed indignantly to rebuke "the Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" The sincere though erroneous offering of an humble heart, I firmly believe, God will graciously accept; but I just as sincerely believe, that the formal devotion of the time-server "is an abomination to the Lord."

(To be continued.)
FOOD!

The poor man cries for bread;
Oh! rich man, hear his moan-
You who are clothed and daily fed,
His want do not disown.
Fathers, with gladsome heart,

Who pat the young one's head,
What if it were your bitter part
To hear him cry for bread?
Mothers, whose gentle grace

Fills home with love and light,

Want, in your lovely children's face-
You could not bear the sight.
Then hear the poor man's cry,
He asks for daily bread;
Do not his urgent need deny,
Whilst ye are warm and fed.
What will be golden store,

Compared to love and life,
When opens the eternal door

In the last awful strife?-M. B.

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