the wine of that ordinance the Wine of the Kingdom, he broke forth, But what will it be to drink the wine of the kingdom in the kingdom?

of

In taking a solemn leave of one of his friends, on the Friday night, when the attack came on which proved fatal, he said-I shall leave you, but may the presence Father, Son, and Holy Ghost be with you; may the presence of the whole Trinity be with you; I hope to see you again with joy at the resurrection of the just.' And then added, what you have seen in me that is good and imitable, follow it; but what you have observed that is not so, let not your affection and love to me sway you to do it.'

In the midst of his pains and hopes, he remembered the scene of his labours, and in the near approach of death, signed a letter with his dying hand to his diocesan, recommending a successor to him, who he trusted would be faithful and diligent in the care of the flock he was now about to leave.

A very short time before he expired, he signified a desire to be removed, saying, Come, Lord Jesus, make a short work of it.' He died on the Lord's day, Oct. 24, about eleven o'clock in the forenoon, at the age of fifty-three. A longer life had reasonably been expected, for his constitutional strength was great, and his habits were exceedingly temperate in every thing but labour, which was his only excess. His faculties were in full vigour at the time of his death.

The Memoir already referred to, records some important particulars illustrative of his personal and ministerial character.

'He performed the offices of the church in the desk and pulpit in a very grave and solemn manner, attracting the attention and affections of the congregation. His preaching was clear, and it pleased

In

God to prosper it with great success upon many of his hearers. administering the Lord's Supper, he evinced a solemnity becoming that holy institution of our Redeemer, his sermon and prayer before it leading to great devotion in it. *

'If any thing was moved of a design to promote holiness or love in the world, none appeared more ready than he to embrace it; witness what he did toward promoting religion in our Western Plantations. †

'He pleaded the cause of God against the Romish Baal, the cause of Christ against Deism, the cause of the Holy Ghost against the deriders of his name and office, the cause of Faith against justification by imperfect works, and the cause of special grace against the pretended powers of nature

to save.

He was from his younger years, to his dying day, a great valuer and improver of the precious talent of time, even of time in company, by religious discourse, if the company would bear it.

'His natural temper was of the happiest and best sort, cheerful enough, and withal very serious.

His sermons were plain and practical, suited to the meanest capacities, and such as God blessed to the conversion, edification, and salvation of many souls.

'His zeal and devotion was eminent in the church; he did not leave his religion there, but lived himself what he preached. That sober, righteous, and godly life, which he lived, is an evidence that he believed what he preached, and was himself under the impres

* His biographer adds, 'I once had the happiness to partake with him and assist him in that performance, and it was to me (I bless God) one of the most happy and entertaining hours of my life.'

The Society for the Propagation of Gospel was formed in his time with especial reference to our West Indian and American possessions.

sion and influence of those practical truths which he pressed upon others. He was a man more than ordinarily mortified to the pleasures and vanities of the world.

He was a man of great candour, thinking well and speaking well, of every body that had but any thing for candour to work upon; he hated a censorious spirit, and was seldom brought to think hardly of any.

His charity was seen in his readiness to give to those that were in want. He passed under the reproach of a covetous man, but perhaps few of those that reproached him for it ever expended so much in charity as he did.

'As he was a man of much grace, of eminent usefulness, and service, so he was a man of much peace and comfort. He enjoyed an uninterrupted calmness and serenity of mind, and lived in the comfortable hopes of God's love to his soul, and his title to glory, for several years.

The law of kindness was in his lips, whereby he won upon all almost with whom he conversed.

His frame in his sickness was a continued course of prayer, thanksgiving, and cheerful resignation to the will of God.'

A sermon, containing many of the above-mentioned particulars, was preached at his funeral by an unknown author. In this discourse some advice is offered to the parishioners, suitable to every place, that has lately been deprived of a faithful minister.

He says,

Humble yourselves before God, for your unthankfulness for, and unprofitableness under his ministry.... Honour his memory; never forget such a man as this as long as you have a day to live.... Direct your best desires to God for a successor.' And with reference to this last counsel, he observes,

That wherever a faithful minister comes among a people, it is God that sends him. When the word

of the Lord, delivered by his servants his ministers, hath a free course in the hearts and lives of a people, it is God also that glorifies his word, and makes way for its reception and entrance. No people can expect the blessing of a faithful minister, and that the word preached have a free course, and be glorified among them, but as they are importunate with God by earnest humble prayer for it. "Through your prayers," says the apostle, "I trust to be given unto you; and pray that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified," &c. There are many of you praying persons; it is your commendation that you are so; let prayer bring in your next minister, and accompany his labours among you, and then you and your minister will be happy in each other here and hereafter.Whoever you shall have come among you, if he be sound in the faith, and holily exemplary in his life, keep close to him; your unity

is your honour and your strength, as well as duty. Don't leave him, though he should not be in all respects such another as you have lost, but encourage him in his work, and let God be with you. Amen.'

Another sermon was preached at Dedham, on November 9, a week after his interment, on the lectureday, by the Rev. Nathaniel Parkhurst, Vicar of Yoxford, Suffolk, from Zech. i. 5. in which his ministry is commemorated, and the congregation are exhorted to profit by it. Do not put his sermons into his grave (he forcibly remarks) but call them to mind, and help one another in remembering what was said by your dead prophet.' And pre-admonishing his friend's successor, before his arrival, he says, 'Love the people committed to you, and bear them upon your heart, in your secret addresses to God; and beg of him to lead you to things and expressions in your

sermons, that may be suited to the variety in your auditory.'

Mr. Burkitt was married, but no information about his wife appears in the memoir; we merely learn from the dedication, that her name was Mary.

His principal work is his commentary on the New Testament, already mentioned, which has been often reprinted. Bibliographers differ in their estimate of it; Mr. Bickersteth briefly remarks upon it, Many good suggestions on texts, generally evangelical and very useful.' The life of Burkitt, by Parkhurst, is also included in his selection of Religious Biography.‡

As this little volume is scarce, a few passages from the ministerial counsels, which Mr. Parkhurst has appended to the memoir, may appropriately be added to the foregoing sketch.

I.

Let us receive the admonition God gave to the prophet in Ezek. xxxiii. 7-9. "So thou son of man, &c.

Let us warn the wicked from God's mouth, according to his word in the holy scriptures, of the evil and danger of sin allowed and continued in, though secret, though counted little in the eye of the world, enforcing upon them that sin allowed is an offence to God, a slight put upon his majesty and government, a breach of his law and covenant, and must end in a dreadful loss and misery.

This is the sum of the warning we should give. And we should deliver it in such a manuer, that they that are warned by us, may believe us in earnest, and that we think as we speak.

And our warnings should be attended with clear instructions to them concerning the credenda,

* Of classes and conditions. + Christian Student, 2nd. edit. p. 467. Ibid. p. 543.

As a goad in our own sides, to excite us to great diligence in our ministry, let us consider the peril attending negligence, the requiring the blood of perishing souls at our hands, and reputing us as the worst sort of murderers.

And this is so weighty a thing, and renders the ministry so awful, that the best preferment in Europe is not a sufficient temptation to an awakened mind, to undertake the office.

But it may be said, How comes it then to pass, that any engage in it?

Ans. 1. Some few, like primitive men, undertake it with understanding, and out of pure zeal for the service and glory of God, and in love to souls, but a child may write them.

2. The most of us I fear engage in it before we maturely consider. And when we come to some depth of considering, we find we cannot retire, having put our hand to the plough, and so we grow solicitous about managing the office with safety to our own souls, and then we feel that no maintenance is a recompence for our undertaking, and that only a desire to glorify

* Things to be believed-done-sought.

If this expression appear legal, let it be compared with the sentence following. This was written in 1704, a time when the vital principles of the gospel were very much disregarded.

God, and a love to souls, can sweeten the calling to us that is attended with so much difficulty and peril.

Were we only to perform the common offices, and preach so many times in a year, there were no great burden in this.

But when conscience awakens, and a minister studies, preaches, and prays, and visits solicitously, in expectation of passing an account with God, then the ministry is weighty indeed, and the minister had rather dig for a livelihood, if he might chuse, than be a pastor to get bread.

And if it be said, others are in like danger, through care of souls incumbent on them, as parents and masters of families, I answer, It is true, and oh that they would consider it! But our danger is not the less by this, but more accumulated, some ministers being also parents and masters.

Now in consideration of the hazard attending unfaithfulness and negligence in our office, let us implore divine aid, and gird up the loins of our minds [and] put forth our strength in our ministrations. And if we so do, we shall find very little time for pleasures; and the little ambition of being represented very ingenious men will be buried and lost in an endeavour to be found faithful.

III.

To diligence in our ministry, let us add an exemplary conversation, shining as lights in a dark world, living in an agreement with what we read and pray, and preach. For if this be wanting, though we could preach as angels, it will not profit us in the great day, as is evident from that passage in St. Matthew vii. 22, 23, fit to be engraven on the fronts of our studies, on our desks and pulpits, and much more upon our hearts: Many will say to me in that day, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name; then

will I say to them, Depart from me ye workers of iniquity.

We should lead by example in the ways of righteousness, purity, meekness, charity, humility, devotion, and forgiving, &c.

And that we may be exemplary, let us imitate our blessed Lord and Redeemer.

Many things in his management are for our imitation, and particularly his purity and zeal, in reproving sin. None escaped his reproofs. He reproved the church of the Jews in general, the capital city Jerusalem, the Ecclesiastics and the Civil Power, Scribes and Pharisees, and Herod himself, Go tell that Fox.

Now since we hope in his mercy, and wash in his blood, and depend on his merits, and glory in his name, let us tread in his steps.

IV.

As an attractive to faithfulness and great diligence in our ministry, let us contemplate the safety and reward that attends it. In thus doing we shall deliver our own souls from lying down in sorrow, from dwelling in darkness, and with the apostate, infernal spirit. And beside this, we shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, as the stars, and as the sun, in the kingdom of our Father.

In the consideration of these things, let us be diligent, stedfast, unmoveable, and abounding in our ministeral work, that our labour may not be in vain..

Let us preach the Divinity of Christ, the Incarnation of the Son less than one truly God could not. of God, and shew our people, that have been a sufficient King, Priest, or prophet to the church. And let us not fail to open and confirm to them the doctrine of Christ's satisfaction made for our sins, by

*The following passages, which are selected, are directed against the prevailing errors of those times, which were Deism and Socinianism.

his being a real sacrifice, made sin or a sin-offering for us

In defence of the Christian religion, let us preach more of the person, natures, and offices of Christ, and of justification, not by our best works, but by Him, and faith in him, which is Church of England doctrine. . . .

Let us shew them the Holy Spirit's co-operation with Father and Son in the works of creation, providence, redemption, sanctification, and resurrection; his offices with respect to the church and people of God, being their teacher, sanctifier, helper, remembrancer, and comforter, and that no good thing is done well without his influence, aid, and assistance.

Considering our being baptized in the name of the Holy Ghost, and that our bodies are his temples, and he seals us to the day of redemption, we should not in our sermons be silent concerning the Holy Spirit.

The Scripture speaks much of the Holy Spirit, and therefore we should speak of him not a little; and the rather that our .congregations may pray with understanding; Take not thy Holy Spirit from us, cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit. Send down thy Holy Spirit into our hearts. Who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit.

And if by much preaching of Christ and the Holy Spirit the people be insured to thoughts of, and dependance upon Christ and the Holy Spirit, it will not be easy to Deists to pervert them.

Not that I would in the least divert from practical preaching by what I have said; for every doctrine concerning Christ and the Holy Spirit may be improved in an application to the urging and promoting virtue and godliness, and assuredly, exhortations to piety

and holiness in general, or to any particular branch of godliness are rendered more lively by being grafted upon the stock of some evangelical truth.

This was St. Paul's method in his Epistles to the Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, and Hebrews, where he insists first upon some great revealed truths, as the Divinity of Christ, or his Priesthood, or justification by Faith, or the like, and then brings in his exhortations to parents, children, masters, servants, husbands, and wives, to live becoming the gospel, in all godliness.

We may then sufficiently attend to our endeavouring the reformation of our several congregations, and yet preach much concerning Christ, and the Holy Ghost. And we have great patterns of it in our own church, and in the writings of Archbishop Usher, Bishop Pearson, Dr. Jackson, and others of great name.

Let us then use our endeavours to keep up the great doctrines of the Trinity, and Incarnation of the Son of God, and his satisfaction, and justification by him, and of the impotency and opposition of nature to faith and godliness, and of our need of the aids of an Almighty Holy Spirit, by preaching these things. Religion and godliness bath flourished under these doctrines, and I verily believe piety will decay where these doctrines are forsaken, or not heeded.

And I shall conclude to you, my reverend brethren, with my earnest wishes, that we may be endowed with power from on high to fulfil the ministry we have received of the Lord, and to adorn our function, that we may die with the consolations we have ministered to such as we have judged accepted of God in Christ.