every creature." He preached its anniversary sermon in London in 1804, and delivered on a subsequent occasion, an address to some of its missionaries when going abroad. Nor did he deem it incompatible with his cordial attachment to the Christian Knowledge Society, to give his support to an institution which sends forth the Scriptures of truth in 157 languages or dialects of the earth. As Clerical Secretary of the Bristol Auxiliary Bible Society, Mr. B. has rendered most effectual aid to

that great cause, his very name having served as a pledge that union with that society is compatible with the most uncompromising attachment to the church.

Mr. Biddulph was either the originator or one of the earliest promoters of several other institutions, amongst these may be mentioned the Church of England Tract Society, an institution which has been sanctioned by successive Bishops, and whose publications are characterised by such soundness of doctrine, sobriety of style, and genuine Church of England principle, as entitle them to the warm support of the friends of the establishment, Not a few of the tracts of this society, and some, too, which have been extensively useful, came from his pen. Amongst these may be mentioned,

The Churchman on a sick-bed," a tract which has carried instruction and consolation to many a dying sinner; the Address to a Convalescent on his recovery from sickness;' most of the tracts connected with the offices of the church; and (though last mentioned not least in importance) the well-known 'Sixteen short Sermons,' which have been translated into fifteen languages.

But it is time to come to the closing scene. There had for months been a visible decline in Mr. Biddulph's health; as, however, he had previously recovered

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Mr. Biddulph's malady was of such a distressing kind as to deprive him of the of the power of lengthened converse, or of the fixed exercise of thought; but there were intervals of recollection and self-possession, and those intervals served to demonstrate that he was in the sensible enjoyment of the presence of his Saviour. There was nothing of extacy or transport, but there was that which is perhaps more desirable-peace-peace undisturbed by doubt or fear. His own expression was, I am in great peace.' The text on which his mind dwelt, and to which he clung, was that saying of the Saviour, Father, I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory." His renunciation of self-dependence was entire. Grace reigns (he exclaimed on one occasion)—that is my word-grace reigns! One who watched by his bed added, "through righteousness. Yes,' he replied, but not my righteousness,' (lifting up both his hands, and expanding them suddenly, as if casting something from him) I nauseate it!' In the same strain, he said to a medical friend, I have often dwelt upon the words of the apostle, "though I be nothing," but I never felt their full meaning till now-I am indeed nothing'I feel annihilated.'

On Friday, the 18th, the last day

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but one of his mortal existence, he said, Do tell me something of Him who came to save sinners.' A near relative read to him Heb. iv. 14-16. Seeing, then, that we have a great High Priest," &c. "Let us, therefore, come boldly to a throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need;" to which he added his fervent "Amen." He suffered exceedingly from thirst; on water being given him, he quoted the words, "To him that is athirst will I give to drink of the water of life freely."

The next day he was freer from pain, and remained perfectly tranquil until five o'clock in the afternoon, when he fell asleep in Jesus.

Thus terminated, on May 19, 1838, the career of a man who, had been for nearly half a century, a blessing and an honour to the city of Bristol; who, whilst he boldly proclaimed the gospel with his lips, adorned it with his life, who possessed and exercised, almost without being conscious of it, a powerful and most salutary influence over a large portion of the community, that influence the simple result of his sound judgment, genuine piety, and urbane deportment.

Never, perhaps, has any preacher more remarkably delighted or excelled in abasing the sinner, exalting the Saviour, exploring the secret treasures of the scripture mine, or delineating the varied features of religious experience. Never has the episcopal church possessed a more devoted son; the throne a more loyal subject; or those institutions of Christian benevolence, which so happily distinguish the present age, a more steadfast and effective friend. Consistency and circumspection, discretion and decision, quiet energy and untiring perseverance in duty, were pre-eminent in the constellation of his virtues.

Others, imbued with the same

spirit, will henceforth оссиру that pulpit, from which (during 38 years) have issued the purest streams of evangelical truth: but long will the majestic aspect, and the impressive accents of their departed pastor, haunt the memory of those who appreciated the privileges of such a ministry. With the contemporary names of Newton, Cecil, Robinson, Scott, and Simeon; names endeared to the church of Christ, and embalmed in a sacred immortality, is now enrolled the congenial name of Biddulph.

Mr. Biddulph's earthly remains were committed to the tomb, in St. James's church, on Tuesday morning, June 5, followed by the tears of the poor, the mourning of his parishioners, and the respect of most influential persons of this city. Above seventy clergymen of the city and neighbourhood, in their gowns, with scarfs and hatbands, assembled at the late residence of the deceased in St. James's-square, while the other gentlemen met at the Lower School-room, St. James's Barton. About half-past ten o'clock, the procession moved at a slow pace down the avenue leading to Milkstreet, through the Horse Fair, and into the church.

The coffin having been deposited over the family vault, the Rev. W. B. Mackenzie commenced the beautiful and solemn service for the burial of the dead. After the lesson had been read, the Rev. J. Hensman delivered a most appropriate and impressive address from Galatians i. 24. "And they glorified God in me." The body was then consigned to its last restingplace, and the service being finished, the congregation dispersed. Throughout the whole line of route the streets were densely crowded with people, who maintained a decorous silence, and the shops in the parish were almost universally closed.

"THESE Lectures were undertaken and are now published at the request of the Christian Influence Society.' The well earned celebrity of the Lecturer attracted a numerous and attentive audience of nobles, senators, and others of the higher walks of life; and the opponents of National Establishments have already evinced their alarm by propounding sundry prizes to those who may detect the fallacy, and counteract the effects of his arguments.

The Lectures are six in number; the question respecting a National Establishment is stated and vindicated in opposition to the reasonings and views of the economists, and of those who allege the sufficiency of the voluntary principle; the circumstances which determine a government to select one denomination of Christianity for the National Religion are considered, and the abiding by the selection once made is justified, while the efficacy of a Territorial Establishment is ably and satisfactorily stated.

Dr. Chalmers defines an establishment to consist in a certain legal provision for the ministrations of Christianity; this idea of an establishment, he observes, may, or may not imply a connexion between the church and the state. If the state maintain the church, there is such a connexion; but the maintenance may arise from other sources, as the bequests of individuals or numerous private acts of liberality. When a West Indian planter sends for a Moravian missionary, and maintains him in the work of instructing the labourers on his estate, we have the little

model of an establishment. The planter maintains the missionary; and the missionary in return teaches on the estate of the planter; yet teaches nothing there but his own Christianity. The Bible is as much his fountain head as before. The whole effect of the relation upon which he has entered, is to bring the gospel into contact with hundreds of immortal creatures, who but for this miniature establishment, might have lived in guilt and died in darkness. And this has no dependance on the planter's motive, it may have been with him a mere calculation of profit and loss; but whatever the force was which opened the door, still it was a door of the highest Christian usefulness to the missionary. And what is true of the little model of an establishment on this single plantation, may hold true when expanded into a great national establishment of Christianity over an empire. It is uncertain whether it was policy or piety which actuated the mind of Constantine. But whatever secularity it may have been which prompted the overture on the one side, it may have been accepted on the other in purest love to the souls of men, and without the surrender or compromise of one iota of heaven's high sacredness.

These ideas are expanded and illustrated to a considerable extent with our author's accustomed ability, and lead to various observations on Church Reform, every way deserving of serious attention; some of which are supported by extracts from a quarter which would scarcely be anticipated,

namely, the writings of the late William Cobbett.

In vindicating Religious National Establishments, we meet with the following passage.

In Edinburgh, a few years ago, at one of those public meetings, where the connection between church and state is no sooner spoken of than it lights up an instant and sensitive antipathy in the hearts of assembled thousands, there was a speech delivered by an American clergyman of the Presbyterian denomination, who happened to be an acquaintance of my own. The multitude whom he addressed were every one of them enraptured, at hearing from his lips, that the idea of any such connection was held in perfect abomination all over America. I afterwards ventured to make the whole controversy a subject of conversation with him; and my first question was, whether if a Christian philanthropist, seized with a strong affection for a district in Maryland, were to bequeath ten thousand pounds for the erection of a church and ministerial dwelling-place, and for the maintenance of a clergyman, providing at the same time that this clergyman should be of the Presbyterian denomination, and that, in things ecclesiastical he should be wholly under the control of his own Presbyterian judicatories in Americawhether such an endowment would be rejected by their General Assembly or Supreme Court of Management, as an unscriptural and unchristian thing, or be accepted by the body as an accession to the means of religious usefulness. There could be but one answer to this question, which was, that an endowment thus destined, and thus placed under the guardianship of what he deemed to be a pure and scriptural church, would be welcomed and encouraged to the uttermost. asked whether, if these endowments were so multiplied as that the whole state of Maryland should be covered with themstill adhering to the supposition that the theology of all these Maryland clergymen was in no subordination whatever to the will of the testators, but only to the will of their ecclesiastical superiors, the Presbyteries and Synods and General Assembly of America-whether such an arrangement, admitted by him to be desirable and good in reference to one small territory, whether the character and effect would be at all changed, if the benefit of it were multiplied several hundred times, and spread over the whole of Maryland. It of course was most readily admitted, that just as one apple, multiplied by 750, does not land you in 750 oranges but in 750 apples-so one moral and religious benefit multiplied by the same number, does not land in 750 evils, but in 750 most unJULY 1838.

I then

questionable and most desirable benefits. After this the transition was not a difficult one, from the single state of Maryland to the whole United States of America; and then the only adjustment betwixt us which remained to be made was, whether such a great and general endowment that would have so delighted all their hearts, if coming from the hands of so many thousand generous individuals, whether, if it had come down to them as the fruit of an endowment that had been instituted many hundred years ago, and was therefore so firmly based on a separate and proprietory right of its own, that no one individual could honestly affirm of himself, that he was injured by its existence in any thing that belonged to himwhether, as he and his brethren would rejoice in the coming on of such an endowment, whether they would willingly consent to the taking of it off at the clamorous outcry of men who represented it, not only as a bane and a burden on the commonwealth, but as an unchristian abomination in the midst of their land. The rejoinder upon this was a very memorable one. 'If all you mean by an Establishment is an organized provision for a clergy, we should rejoice in it. If this be the whole amount of the connection between church and state-if maintenance and nothing else come from the one quarter, and an unfettered theology from the other, without contamination from the authority of man, but subject only to an ecclesiastical judgment, grounded on a principle of deference to the Word of God-a simple arrangement of this sort is truly a different thing from what we understand by a Religious Establishment. The thing we deprecate is the authority of the civil magistrate in matters of religion; but we should be thankful to him or to any one else, for giving us what he termed an organized provision for clergymen.' Now this organized provision is truly all that we contend for. It is just, in other words, a legal provision for the support of a Christian ministry-an arrangement which might truly be gone into, and which actually is gone into, without the slightest infringement on the spiritual prerogatives of the church, or on the ecclesiastical independence of her clergyIt is obvious from all this, that the indignation of our transatlantic friend was directed against a wrong object; and that he failed in making the requisite distinction between the act of a government in giving food and raiment to ministers, and the act of a government in assuming a lordship over the creed and consciences of ministers.

men.

Now the mistake of this American continually occurs among our Dissenting brethren, while their

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own conduct affords a practical answer. We never find the nonconformist objecting to the endowment of a chapel, a minister, a school of his own denomination. The Incumbent of Stepney meeting-house or the claimants for Lady Hewley's charity, are as vigilant in defence of their own rights, as the most determined tithe-holder in the land. While at the same time very few of our Dissenting brethren have any idea of the entire independence of the beneficed clergy. The state cannot touch one of their rights without an appeal to Parliament; and the Diocesan himself has no power to interfere with their temporal concerns; and so long as they regularly discharge their several duties, he can no way affect or influence their spiritual proceedings. Of the extent of this independence, many churchmen are ignorant, it is therefore no matter of surprise that Dissenters and foreigners labour under very considerable mistakes.

The inadequacy of the voluntary system is ably argued on the same principle which Dr. Chalmers has long since advanced in his work on Christian and Civil economy of large towns. Man naturally desires food and clothing, and labours earnestly to obtain them; but he does not naturally desire moral and religious instruction; the more ignorant and depraved he is, the less he is disposed to seek for the means of instruction.

The less a man has, whether of religion or righteousness, the less does he care for them, and the less will he seek after them. It is thus that nature does not go forth in quest of Christianity, but Christianity must go forth in quest of nature. It is, on the one hand, the strength of the physical appetency; and, on the other hand, the languor of the spiritual, the moral, or the intellectual appetency, which makes all the difference. The law of our moral and intellectual is not the same, but reverse or contrary to the law of our physical wants. With the physical, the intensity of the desire is directly proportional to the want; with the intellectual and moral, it is inversely proportional, or the

less he has of these the less he cares for them. The strength of man's natural craving, guarantees an effectual demand for food or raiment, or all that might contribute to the shelter and convenience of the house that is over his head-which, rather than want, he will go if he can to the most distant market, and with the full price in his hand for them. But though we may trust to his natural longing, for the goods which are to be had in a market, there is no such natural or universal longing for the good to be had in a church, or in a college, or even in a school. And never, therefore, was there a more unfortunate generalisation than that by which our economists have placed on the same footing, the articles of ordinary merchandise with the articles whether of common or Christian education; or by which, because they had demonstrated of bounties for the one that they were unnecessary or even mischievous-they therefore contended against endowments for the other, as being, in their operation alike mischievous or alike unnecessary.

Certain it is, that the introduction of Christianity into any new land, proceeds by a very different method from the introduction thereinto of any of the goods of ordinary merchandise. The commercial adventurers look for the remuneration of their expenses, to the price or equivalent given by the natives themselves. The missionary adventurers are upheld in their expenses, not by a price, but generally in whole, and almost always in part, by a bounty-the bounty of those who employ and send them forth in full equipment for their high enterprise of charity. In this process, the law of equal and reciprocal barter, between them who bestow and them who receive the benefit, which the advocates of a free trade contend for, is altogether unknown. Rather than want the teas of China, the families in Britain do, in effect, send for them along half the circumference of the globe, and defray the whole cost of the expensive and distant voyage by which they are brought to our shores. But who paid for the outfit and the other charges of that first missionary vessel, which first wafted the gospel to the remote island of Otaheite? Not the natives themselves, who should have wanted the blessings of Christianity for ever, had we waited for their effective demand; or not moved but in the expectation of a safe and profitable return from their hands, for the cost of this great undertaking. The undertaking originated with us; and was defrayed to the last farthing, out of a missionary fund raised from the benevolent of our own land. It is generally thus that all missionary work is upholden-paid and provided for, not by the receivers of Christianity, but by its dispensers, or rather by those who