and dignified, but which shall savour nothing of bigotry and intolerance." P. 10. He recommends it to them to devote a large portion of their time to friendly and improving intercourse, especially with the humbler part of their parishioners, and by thus offering them in their clergyman a neighbour, a friend, a counsellor, and a guide, prevent their resorting to less competent teachers, who seldom gain a footing in a parish except by the fault of the clergy themselves. P. 12. The time which is not demauded by these practical duties of his office, he exhorts them to bestow on the cultivation of theological learning, and particularly of the Hebrew language, in which he confesses the inferiority of the divines of his own Church to those of the continent. This leads him to speak, in a note, of the merits of those German commentators on whom Mr. Rose has lately poured forth the phials of his wrath; and he has the liberality and boldness not only to protest against the injustice with which they have been treated by their superficial censor, but to vindicate a class of men to whom it is a still more rare occurrence, in the present day, to be treated with fairness and respect by a minister of the Church. As the Sermon is dedicated to the Rev. Francis Wraugham, it is proper to observe, that Mr. Hett takes upon himself the sole responsibility of the sentiments which this note contains :

"The following passage, at p. 82, I give it in his own words, leaves the impression of Mr. Rose being more of an advocate than of the dispassionate, candid inquirer. It is curious to ob serve,' he writes, that the common principle of rejecting every thing above reason has conducted the learning of the Germans, and the GROSS IGNORANCE Of the English schools (the Unitarian is meant) to the same point of absurdity.' Now, this passage alone, and it is far from being the only one of the kind, would put me upon my guard against placing implicit confidence in Mr. Rose's statements. The insinuation, to say the least, is harsh and uncalled for, and proves that, though Mr. Rose professes himself to be a great admirer of calm and lucid views of theology,' he is not the person disposed at all times to take them. An advocate, he knows, contends for victory, not for truth, and is therefore lavish, when it may suit his purpose, of imputations discreditable to his adversary. I know little of the Unitarians, nor am I the advocate of Unitarian error; but can, with any shew of truth or

candour, 'gross ignorance' be imputed to Larduer, to whom the world is indebted for one of the fullest and best defences of Christianity ever published-cau 'gross ignorance' be imputed to Taylor, the author of the best Hebrew Concordance at present in use? Was the late Gilbert Wakefield (I have nothing to do with his political opinions) a man to whom gross ignorance is to be imputed; or is Mr. Belsham, the individual probably aimed at, now living, a man of gross ignorance? It is in the hand-writing of the late Dr. Parr, perhaps also a person of gross ignorance, that he thought very highly of Mr. Belsham's acquirements both as a critic and theological scholar. Such severe and unqualified censures upon any body of professing Christians, can only have the effect of making us distrust, or receive with caution, any assertions or reasonings of a writer who can so far forget what is due to acknowledged talent, as to deny its existence.

"I would further remark of Mr. Rose's sermons, that there appears to me to exist in them a constant desire to mystify, to use a term rather expressive than elegant, the real question. The point which he labours to establish against the German divines is, that they have rejected virtually the authority of Scripture, and have substituted in its place the dictates of their own reason, as their only guide in religious matters. Now, in the unqualified manner in which this point is maintained against them by Mr. Rose, I think the German divines hardly dealt with. I for one have not so read them. The ground on which they reason, a ground which Mr. Rose will not easily shake-which has been ably defended by divines of our own Church-is this: That God being the author of reason to man equally as of revelation, there cannot be any contradiction between right reason and revelation correctly understood; but, on the contrary, there must exist a harmony and correspondence between them. The principle is incontrovertible. Whatever doctrines militate against improved reason, and eighteen centuries of strife and disputation have produced not a few which do so, may confidently be rejected; I say, doctrines which militate against, not those which are above improved reason-a distinction not sufficiently attended to by Mr. Rose, nor by some others in similar discussions; for, as Mr. R. justly observes, there will be in all countries flippant

"At p. 176 it seems Taylor was a man of considerable learning."

and superficial writers on religious subjects. Whatever theoretical speculations tend not to moral amelioration, may unhesitatingly be regarded as of minor importance. These criteria every judicious commentator will keep steadily in view; the moment he loses sight of them he will mislead himself, and those who confide in him. And it is the having a constant regard to these criteria, which stamps such excellence upon the Scholia published by the Rosenmüllers; as a whole I have seen nothing in the shape of a commentary which deserves to be put in competition with them. At the head of those who have laboured, and I think successfully, to establish the accordance between reason and revela tion, I would place Morus. Let any candid reader, Mr. Rose himself, peruse his Epitome,' and then say whether it be a principle with the German school to reject every thing which reason can not comprehend. Almost every page of that admirable little book refutes such a charge. I am not undertaking to deny that some of the modern German divines, and De Wette more particularly, have carried their system of interpretation to a dangerous extreme still I augur that their extravagances will gain few converts, and that rational theology is destined, in the long run, to acquire even from their labours credit and stability. I would, therefore, recommend the young student not to give up, though proscribed, or censured by Mr. Rose, Bishop Blomfield, * or any other authority, his Schleusner, his Rosenmüller, his Kuinöel, or other works of high philological character, which have been produced by the learned of a country which Mr. Rose himself hesitates not to place in the first rank, if not the first in that rank, of European nations."-Pp. 20, 21.

The sentiments expressed respecting Dissenters and Roman Catholics also deserve to be extracted:

"We may express ourselves warmly upon the apostolical institutions of our Church-upon its tolerating characterwe may shew, as it is our duty on proper occasions to shew, how little of weight there actually is in the arguments usually adduced to justify separation; still if we plead its cause in intemperate language -if, in our intercourse with our Dissenting brethren, we betray sentiments

* "Rose, p. 181."

of asperity toward them, so as to render it plain that marks of benevolence are withheld merely on the ground of the differences which subsist between us, we discover that there is lurking in our hearts a feeling which is not of Christian growth-a feeling which, so far from sustaining, will serve only to cast suspicion on any professious of zeal that we may make for our own articles of faith and mode of worship. We may arraign the Roman Church ob errores exitiales, superstitionem anilem, idololatriam detestandam, ob sublatam libertatem conscientiæ, et intolerandam tyrannidem Romanorum pontificum,' we may explain in how many ways that church has corrupted the pure faith of the gospel, and shew the grounds of separation between us and members of that communion; but though our opposition ought, on these points, to be expressed in firm, intelligible language, yet ought it also to be expressed in a candid, liberal spirit, and in strict accordance with those canons of religious controversy, which have received the sanction of an enlightened age. Above all, in censuring the Romanists for error in doctrine, expediency itself, not less than the sacred office with which we are invested, requires that we should abstain from introducing matters of a political concernment only, and which have nothing to do with points of faith; as, how far it may be prudent to concede, or continue the denial of, civil privileges to our Catholic brethren? At any rate, it should demand consideration, whether by the attempt to rivet faster their chains, a minister may not be loosening the stability of that cause of which he exhibits himself so indiscreet an advocate ?"

If the clergy would adopt these excellent rules for the discharge of their own duties, and the treatment of those who conscientiously differ from them, instead of appearing as enemies to improvement, jealous of freedom of thought, and interested advocates of a political monopoly, every good man of every denomination would rejoice to acknowledge them as coadjutors in the noblest of human labours, and cordially bid them God speed, however he might differ from them in points of discipline or doctrine.

*"J. Jacobi Zimmermanni Opuscula:-Oratio de imagine theologi pacifici. Vol. IV. p. 1243."

MR. BERNARD FRY. January 28th, at Stafford, in the 41st year of his age, Mr. BERNARD FRY, surgeon. He was the youngest son of a Dissenting minister, [the Rev. Mr. Fry, now of Kidderminster,] and was a native of Billericay, in Essex, where his father, at the time of his birth, and many years after, resided. From his earliest years he was highly promising, and through all his growth to adult age, being amiable, virtuous, and endowed with a good capacity, he gave full satisfaction to those with whom he was connected, and the greatest delight to his friends and dearest relatives. After he had passed through the regular course of medical and surgical education, and obtained the usual testimonials, he was in several situations as an assistant surgeon, in which he gained more information and experience, and practically improved his professional qualifications. He succeeded to the practice, at Stafford, of his truly worthy elder brother David, who died of a consumption, much lamented, March 10, 1814, having, about six months before that mournful event, for the purpose of assisting him in his increasing illness, relinquished the intention of settling with a favourable prospect in a neighbouring county town. In consequence of a severe cold, which he took in August last, attended with a violent cough, he had the affliction of a ruptured artery in his lungs, which reduced his frame, not naturally robust, to great debility, and for some weeks endangered his valuable life, by threatening to terminate in an incurable decline; but from this disaster, which he bore with the most placid patience and devout resignation, he happily recovered; and at the commencement of the present year his health and vigour were completely re-established. About this period a typhus fever, of a very malignant kind, was introduced into the parish poorhouse by a diseased vagrant, who was incautiously sent there; and before many days had elapsed, fifteen of the inmates were at the same time suffering under this dreadful malady, whom Mr. Fry, as the parish surgeon, constantly attended. By his assiduity and skill he had nearly subdued this virulent distemper, which had proved fatal to four persons; and, as he expressed, in a letter written about the middle of Ja

nuary, he was in hope of effectually removing it in a short time, when he took the baneful contagion himself, which soon rendered him incapable of following his practice, and in less than a week after this, notwithstanding the skilful and unwearied endeavours of his friend Dr. Somerville to save him, he fell a sacrifice to his humane exertions.

His religious views were Unitarian, which he never shunned openly to avow, and, on proper occasions, to maintain with becoming zeal; and as Trinitarian worship was to him extremely objectionable, as being, in his opinion, contrary to the Divine requirement, he much lamented his being so situated as to have no opportunity, when his avocations would permit, for joining in that social devotion which alone appeared to him consistent with the oracles of God. He was desirous of having the old Presbyterian meeting - house in Stafford, which had been shut up for many years, reopened for divine service agreeably to the doctrine, that the God and Father of Jesus Christ is the only right object of adoration; and several times he took steps for this purpose; but, having no coadjutors there, he could not surmount the difficulties and accomplish his wish. That the sentiments he entertained resulted from serious consideration and a calm investigation of the Holy Scriptures, or at least that they became established in his mind by these means, may be justly inferred from the judicious observations on various scriptural passages, and other written remarks on doctrinal topics, which are among his papers; and these writings evince his high estimation of what he believed to be the truths of the gospel, and how much his views of them interested his mind, because, his medical practice being very extensive, it must have been difficult for him to spare time for this employment from his numerous professional engagements. What is more important is, that his heart and life were as uniformly as human frailty will admit, under the beneficial influence of his religious principles. His pious reverence of the one supreme Being, sincere gratitude for the revelation of his free mercy and grace by the Mediator Jesus Christ, and his firm belief of a resurrection to immortality, were productive of good fruits. The strictest integrity and conscientious up

rightness were manifest in the even tenour of his conduct; and for benevolence in his arduous occupation, a scrupulous regard to an honourable deport ment towards his professional brethren, fidelity in friendship, and general philanthropy in his intercourses with the community, he could hardly be excelled. One instance, which should not be omitted, may suffice to demonstrate how strong was his feeling of humanity, when excited by a case that appeared to demand his generous efforts. In the year 1820, three young men of the Potteries, utter strangers to him, were tried, convicted and condemned at the Stafford spring assizes. Soon after this deplorable occurrence, some circumstances, connected with the criminal behaviour for which they had been ar raigned, came to his knowledge, which he conceived greatly extenuated their guilt, and convinced him that they ought not to suffer death, and, consequently, that this excessive punishment should not be inflicted without a representation of the palliative circumstances being submitted to the supreme authority. Actuated by this persuasion he rode to the Potteries, devoted several days to an inquiry into the whole of this affair, was at great pains and considerable expense in collecting evidences and taking the necessary measures for having their testimonies confirmed; and by this investigation he became more fully convinced that the execution of the condemned prisoners would be a subversion of justice. He then drew up a petition to the judge, Richardson, who tried them, which he sent with a lettter and depositions, representing what had occurred, entreating his intercession on their behalf; and another petition to Lord Sidmouth, then Secretary of State for the Home Department, praying him to recommend to His Majesty a commutation of their sentence, which he sent with the signatures of 237 respectable persons. With the latter petition he transmitted a. letter from a solicitor who had been engaged in the cause, and a letter from himself, accompanied with many attestations which detailed a variety of facts, that from sad neglect and the legal adviser's confidence of an acquittal, were not brought forward at the trial, so favourable to the youths, by subverting the credibility of their notoriously in famous accuser, as to induce a general belief that they could not fail of causing an alteration of their awful doom. His mind was therefore inspired with the pleasing hope that his ardent exertions

would have been rewarded by the staying of the hand of the executioner; and had he been instrumental to the saving of their lives his sensibility would have received the highest gratification. But, alas! his compassionate heart was disappointed, and all who signed the petition were astonished and grieved by the noble secretary's answer, which informed him that he could not, consistently with his public duty, advise His Majesty to exercise mercy towards the condemned malefactors. Accordingly they were shortly after executed, to the sorrow of almost every person acquainted with the circumstances, and to the discouragement of merciful endeavours, ou just grounds, to obtain the mitigation of a too severe penalty.

Feeling a warm concern for the recovery of his patients and the promotion of their welfare, his habitual aim was utility in his profession, and he was sedulous and indefatigable in pursuing this worthy end, rendering his practice much less tributary to his personal interest than he might have done, and often acting gratuitously, and even supplying pecuniary aid in particular iustances of affliction and indigence. He had a quick discernment of the characteristic symptoms which different diseases exhibit, and wherever he discovered danger he was prompt and persevering in administering all the assistance in his power for relief. He neglected no case that required his vigilant attention, if he could possibly yield it, though it might, and frequently did in dark and stormy nights, subject him to much inconvenience and trouble; and he made no distinction between the rich and the poor, often observing to a beloved relative, who wished to abate his diligence from an idea that such incessant toil would be injurious to his health, that the life of a poor man was to himself as precious and important as that of the rich could be to him, and sometimes of more consequence to his family. A deportment so correct and benevolent could not but secure approbation and respect, which was remarkably testified by the numerous congratulations he received from many of the inhabitants of Stafford and its vicinity, when he returned from Kidderminster, where he had been for six weeks with his father, for recovering his strength after he experienced the ruptured bloodvessel, on which occasion he remarked, that he had no conception of his being so generally respected: and, that his moral as well as professional worth was

highly appreciated, was strikingly attested upon his premature and calamitous decease, known, as it was, to have been occasioned by his generous zeal to rescue his fellow-creatures from extreme danger, and to alleviate their misery. Not only those who had been his patients, many of whom speak in the highest terms of his attention and skill in reciting the eminent cures they re. ceived from his judicious treatment, but all who knew him concurred in saying that society had lost a very valuable member, the medical profession a bright ornament, and the poor a kind friend and liberal benefactor. As he was greatly esteemed in life, so his death was generally and deeply deplored; and it has been the occasion of many instances being related which are highly honour. able to his memory, as testimonies of tender sympathy for the distressed and kindness to the indigent, whom his pursuits continually brought under his observance. No person who was conversant with his disposition and character will deem this obituary record either an unmerited or an overrated eulogium; it cannot then be wondered at that the writer of it, who was most intimately acquainted with the excellence of both, and who peculiarly knew and felt his filial affection and duty, should be filled with grief on account of such a loss, and stand in need of all the consolation which Christian hope affords under such an afflictive and inscrutable dispensation of the allwise Providence.

MR. CHARLES SKEY.

REV. G. B. WAWNE.

concern

April 18, at Bridport, the Rev. G. B. The intelligence of his deWAWNE. cease will be received with by all who were acquainted with his character and usefulness in the Christian ministry. There are some who have to mourn his loss with a sorrow that will not soon or lightly pass away, and to feel that his early death must be regarded as one of those dispensations of Providence which, in the imperfection of human knowledge, are confessedly mysterious. His lingering illness assumed towards its close all the usual Indications symptoms of consumption. of a constitutional tendency to this fatal complaint were not wanting, and the duties of the ministry, performed with a trembling solicitude, and connected in his case with much and constant mental excitement, may be regarded as having called into action the latent principles of disease. He was a native of Hull, and, after the loss of his mother, who died when he was young, brought up under the pious and judicious care of his maternal relatives. The early religious sentiments which he imbibed were such as are commonly called orthodox, but on arriving at the period of life when opinions are usually formed, he embraced, after careful examination, the views of the Christian revelation which he subsequently advocated, and with a zeal resulting from his lively convictions of their truth and value. In consequence of a long-cherished desire to devote himself to the ministry, he became