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Angell James, and William Jay.

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which will assist all who give a good secular education." With a little trouble, it might be shown, that motives of economy, as well as good principle, recommended the step referred to. Let the Christian people of England take this advice, and be at the same time prepared so to extend their schemes both of vernacular and English education, that government shall have no reason to complain, or the people to suffer. Let the solution of this long-standing grievance by this step be secured, and the Bible would be rid of its greatest obstacle, and have the mind of young India almost entirely under its own influence, profieds

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The Autobiographical Fragment found among the papers of the late John Angell James was commenced in the autumn of 1858, and angel was laid aside before the end of the year.[monei ne estas

Let the reader imagine himself in a square room of moderate dimensións, comfortably furnished, but without ostentation, a blazing

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fire on the hearth, the dark heavy curtains drawn, and candles lit for an evening's work. The wall on your left is covered with engravings of well-known ministers: you will recognise at once the majestic form and the ardent gaze of Dr. M'All, the most brilliant of modern preachers; the quaint, kindly countenance of William Jay; the rugged face of Chalmers; and the robust form and ample brow of Robert Hall, who, in genius and scholarship, vigour of judgment and splendour of imagination, surpassed them all. Facing you are two Large oil-paintings, one on each side of the fire place that on the right is an early portrait of Mr James, the other, of his second wife, who has been dead now for seventeen years. Two or three other faces which are dear to the old man writing at the table, lookoɖown upon him from above the mantelpieces; and on a bracket fastened to the opposite wall stands the bust of his tutor, Dr. Bogue/qmooon ad There is a couch on one side of the fire, and on it there lies, one whose sufferings, protracted through many weary years, have had much to do with her father's sanctity Now and then, as he looks up from his writing to speak a kind word to his child, you see in his

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countenance a massive strength and a winning a winning gentleness, the simplicity of childhood blended with manly shrewdness as bool bord and nobility. The mouth was made for eloquence; the broad and ample thest below is what you like to see in a popular orator. His eyes are of the light blue so uncommon now in England, and brighten as Thè speaks till they shed a positivé illumination over his face. But the light passes away, and heiturns again to the page before him, writing swiftly and yet surely, hardly ever ipausing for a word ordgraing back to cancel or correct. He writes like one who has written much, and who has small anxiety about the refinements of literary ant. If he can make his meaning clean, if his sentences run smoothly, and are tolerably accurate and vigorous, he is satisfied. And now, having shown you the writer, I leave you for a time to the manuscript which is growing rapidly under his hand. It is the record of his long and faborious is life. eidemanes owi owd wit MOSYTOJ 6990GICIDEST neboogobud edt lo rojmezill a enw doc outogot bacte orod 19Mr. Jay was fortunate in having his manuscript edited by two brother ministers who had known him long, and who possessed the double advantage of great ministerial experienceye and cont siderable practice in authorship. We do not impute it to Mr. Dale as a fault that none of these things can be predicated of him and we are not unmindful of the difficulties of his task. We only wish that the material he has accumulated with such laudable care had been more skilfully employed, and in particular that he had been mindful of Mr. James's just remark: Even of the most distinguished men, biographical memorials are often too diffuse. It is too commonly thought, that a great man's history must necessarily have a very great book.! (Page 8.) A third edition will probably be much improved by the omission of certain passages which Mr. Dale himself appears

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sw The two Autobiographies,

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to have been inclined to remove from the second, if opportunity had been afforded him, those, namely, in reference to his own sement, and we would suggest that the letters to Mr. James's his deacons, and his friends in America, might be, if not omitted greatly abridged, or, better still,

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worked in mosaic as Southey used to say, into the narrative. Best of all Dae in trebuit alterations, however, would be the condensation of the whole into a moderate-sized volume which every minister might buy and keep on his shelves for a Saturday book. Such a volume might be compiled from the present as should well answer this purpose; and its compilation would be the most fitting tribute to Mr James's memory, inasmuch as his memoir would thus be accomplishing a purpose most dear to his heart, in assisting to promote the usefulness of Christian ministers from generation to generation. 7189 per dorords batostory encolina szodw But hotwithstanding the necessity and capability of improvement on which we have remarked, we hold that Mr. Dale has produced a valuable book It is a faithful portrait, though of somewhat too large a size, and too cumbrously framed. The book is true. The impression with which we rise from its perusal is in accordance with our personal, knowledge, so far as it went, and with the facts of history. And on doctrinal subjects the tone is sound and clear, while the styles throughout is vigorous and compacti Many a good man has been twice buried,stin his grave and in his biography, and it is because we are sure that Mr. Dale has it in his power to preserve our beloved friend from such a fate that we urge upon him the abridgment or feconstruction of the volume before us. viderelor MUDZANGIoedt of a G TO LOV BYR9 190(TV 901 That each left an autobiography was but one of the many DEMAN 290106 VICKER SIWOTDEA resemblances between the two remarkable men whose names here stand together. Each was a Dissenter of the Independent denomination,neither of them a noisy or a violent Dissenter. Both were highly popular preachers, attracting large congregations wherever they went: Both for a time statedly preached in London, and thus secured a metropolitan as well as a provincial reputation; but both remained pastors of country Churches. Blach completed half a century in the service of one Church, and delebrated a jubilee with his congregation! Both were highly successful authors their writings carrying instruction and • susmor seni elcome! all to luthura wood bed od dedo relvoit els Saturday books is a phrase used by baudeimantail by Clayton of the Weigh House; (the father of three distinguished preachers, John, George, and Wilham,) to denote books by the use of which ministers might be assisted to bring their minds into a frame harmonizing to some extent with the duties and engagements of the coming Mr. James was accustomed to call them Saturday afternoon books,' and his list was made of such books as Baxter's Reformed Pastor?) but see after, p. 22320MO SIS

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delight far beyond the range of their noble voices. Mr. Jay republished his works in twelve volumes during his life, but takes care to inform his readers that the credit of the edition is due to his son; Mr. James's son (who is, we believe, like Mr. Jay's, a solicitor) announces himself as the editor of his father's collected works, in eleven volumes. Both these great preachers made their way to distinction and usefulness in spite of early disadvantages; and they are among the best examples of 'selfhelp' which our age has produced, for they neither proudly omitted to invoke the highest aid, nor forgot to put forth their own strenuous endeavours. Each was prayerful, each laborious, each achieved success of no common order.

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James was born at Blandford Forum in 1785, and received the name of Angell in honour of his mother's aunt, who left her four thousand pounds. His father, who appears never to have exercised much influence over him, attended the Independent Meeting, and at the close of his life became a member of the Church. His mother was a General or Arminian Baptist; but for lack of a Baptist place of worship in the town, accompanied her husband; she found, however, little spiritual life among the Independents, and, weary of the coldness and formality of the services at the Meeting, often attended the Methodist preaching, and found there,' says Mr. Dale, 'less polish and more power.' After four years spent in two poor schools, he was, in his thirteenth or fourteenth year, apprenticed to a draper at Poole. Here his religious life began. The instrument of his awakening was a fellow-apprentice who, on the first night he came, knelt by his bedside, in the presence of all the other inmates of the room, and prayed before he slept. This apprentice was in the habit of going out, when the shop was shut, to call upon a pious cobbler, for purposes of religious improvement. Young James, whose conscience was thus awakened, asked leave to join them; was admitted to the fellowship of their conversations and prayers; and from that time came more and more under good influ. ences; and never looked back, though the man to whom he owed his good impressions did. The old cobbler and his wife were kind to him; lent him good books; and encouraged him to pray, little thinking that the timid and volatile youth with whom they were so much grieved when he went once to a ball, and once to a play, would in a few years be one of the most popular and useful ministers in England. We are glad this portion of the history has been preserved; for the encouragement it supplies to private, personal labour in the cause of Christ is invaluable. But for John Poole we might never have had Angell James.

James's early religious History.

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We have much desired a more full and clear account of Mr. James's conversion. That he was unable, at the distance of sixty years, to remember the details, is the apology suggested by Mr. Dale for the meagreness of the chapter in the Autobiography relating to the subject; and it is the only probable one; for really he tells us little or nothing, save that the little company which met at John Poole's increased; that James grew increasingly serious, and was often impressed, under the word preached, particularly by the sermons of Mr. Durant; that he attended prayer-meetings, regularly, and gladly, and became a Sunday-school teacher. Of his coming to Christ, closing with Him, and relying upon Him, there is not one word. He did not join the church at Poole, nor was he even invited to join it; though he was invited to preach in a village congregation, and had some intention of doing so. He has recorded his love and practice of prayer; but beyond this scarcely any signs of grace appear in him when we find him on his way to Gosport to study for the ministry. He appears to have been sent under the stimulus which Mr. Robert Haldane's liberality gave to the Hampshire Independents through Mr. Bennett of Romsey. I, said he, will give a hundred pounds per annum. Do you raise two hundred, and we can thus provide for the education of ten young men for the Christian ministry, allowing them thirty pounds each. A noble proposition! How far it was responded to, and how long the contribution was continued, we are not informed; but the money was well spent if it did no more than bring Angell James into the work of the ministry, and save him from the secularities of a draper's shop, from which, however, his father was loth to release him.

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bring together here a few extracts from the Autobiography relative to this period of his history..

The little circle at the shoemaker's was enlarged by two more young men, who were permitted to join us. We usually all met on a Sabbath evening after sermon at his house for prayer and praise, and very sweet and sacred were the seasons we there spent. It was the vernal season of my religious life, when all was lively and budding. I now attended an early prayer-meeting on a Sunday morning at the vestry before breakfast, and occasionally engaged in prayer, though I believe with more fervour than correctness. The sermons seemed very solemn and interesting to me, and religious exercises in general very delightful. My religious affections were very strong, but my knowledge limited. I, of course, understood that I was to be saved from my sins by Christ, yet I had very crude notions of justification and other great doctrines of the New Testament. I was now thoroughly engaged to the

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