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actually a roar, and he thumped the table in the fury of his vociferation, and the eagerness of his orthodoxy."

In the second volume we have a long argument on the existence of a deity, in which the advocate of atheism is permitted to triumph over the feeble reasoning of Zaira, who was equally ignorant of the evidences of religion, and of the power of faith. We have no room for an extract from so unprofitable a discussion. There is, however, a moral to be deduced from it, for it was the miserable sophistry of Cardonnean, that drove Zaira to the desperate resolution of committing self

murder.

After all the jeers at evangelical religion, we are hardly prepared for so edifying a scene, as is exhibited by Eva on her death bed. There is, however, even in this, an occasional gird at the orthodox.

"Her dissolution was now obviously near; she rose no more from her bed, but her countenance became gradually more celestial; a faint but lovely tinge overspread the cheek it had long deserted; her eyes had a light beyond the brightness of mortality, they did comfort and not burn.' Her evangelical friends were much in her apart ment; this is customary, and, when practicable, from the state and habits of the invalid, is undoubtedly a solemn and edifying spectacle. But it had somewhat too much publicity for Eva. One night, after there had been prayers and hymn-singing in her room, and each, departing, had solemnly wished her peace, she said to Mrs. Wentworth, When I am dying, do not let the preachers be about me: let me die in private; death is too solemn a thing for witnesses. They might, perhaps, press me on some points, which I could not then answer clearly; and the failure of my intellects, the natural decline of strength, might be mistaken for ' unsoundness in the faith.' They are fond of proposing tests at such a time; it is no time to answer nice questions; one must enjoy their religion then, not define it. If my testimony could be offered up, I would offer it in the presence of the assembled world; but God needs no such witness to his truth. The curtains of a death-bed should be closed-let mine be so, my dearest aunt. Shall I confess the truth to you? I think there is something too public in the printed accounts of the deaths of evangelical persons. I do not wish to be surrounded by preachers and persons calling on me to witness the truth, when I have no longer a breath to heave in witness of it. Oh, no, there is something too theatrical in that and I,' said Eva, wiping the drops from her streaming forehead, and forcing a ghastly smile-I have suffered too much by the theatre.'

"At these words, Wentworth, who was in VOL. III.-No. 111.

24

the room, came forward. He could not bear that a niece of his, brought up in the very strictest sect of evangelical religion, should thus depart without leaving a memorable article for the obituary of an Evangelical Magazine. He had expected this, at least, from her. He had (unconsciously in his own mind) dramatized her whole dying scene, and made a valuable addition to the testimony of those who die in all the orthodoxy of genuine Calvinism.

bed, and softening his voice to its softest "My dear Eva,' said he, approaching her tones, "I trust that I am not to discover in your last words a failure from the faith, for which the saints are desired to contend earnestly, and to resist even unto blood. I trust that your approach to the valley of the shadow of death does not darken your view of the five points, those immutable foundations on which the gospel rests, namey-and Wentworth began reckoning on his fingers-Mrs. Wentworth in vain made signs to him-he went on as far as Perseverance, when Eva, lifting her wasted hand, he became involuntarily silent.

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"My dear uncle,' said the dying Christian; the language of man is as the dust of the balance' to me now. Reality, reality is dealing with me. I am on the verge of the grave, and all the wretched distinctions that have kept men at war for centuries seem to me as nothing. I know that 'salvation is of grace through faith,' and, knowing that, I am satisfied. Oh, my dear uncle, I am fast approaching that place where there is neither Jew or Greek, Barbarian or Scythian, bondman or free, but Christ is all, and in all.' Speak no more of points, which I cannot understand; but feel with me that the religion of Christ is a religion of the soul -that its various denominations (which I have heard so often discussed, and with so little profit,) are of light avail, compared with its vital predominance over our hearts and lives. I call,' said she, collecting her hollow voice to utter the words strongly.-'I call two awful witnesses to my appeal-the. hour of death and the day of judgmentthey are witnesses against all the souls that live. Oh, my dear, dear uncle, how will you stand their testimony? You have heard much of the language of religion, but I fear you have yet to learn its power.' She paused; for dim as her eyes were hourly growing, she could see the tears running fast down Wentworth's rugged cheeks. His wife led him from the room. The mercy of God visited him even at the seventh hour, and we are rejoiced to relate that the labourer is (though called so late) in expectation of receiving the same reward as those who bore the burden and heat of the day. Mrs. Wentworth returned, to pass the night beside the bed of death. Eva said to her at intervals that night, Do not let the weakness of my dying frame, or even the wandering of my intellect, (if I should wander) induce you to think that God has deserted

me, that I have not an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast. The body may fail, the workings of the soul are invisible, but I feel that the everlasting arms are under me, though I may not always be able to express my feeling. Remember this, when I am no longer able to utter it; and let the thought that this was my declaration, while yet the power of speech remained, be your consofation. At another she said, Death is a very different thing from what we read of in Évangelical Magazines. I have read of many who departed in triumph, who exlaimed continually, Why tarry the wheels of his chariot?' whose spirits were almost glorified while yet in the flesh. I feel none of this no ecstasy, no enthusiasm. Death is an awful thing! how awful, none but the dying can tell I tremble, but I hope; triumph becomes not a dying sinner, who casts herself with fearful confidence on the mercy of God. The waters of Jordan are cold to the foot of the passenger, but God will be with me there, and the waters shall be a wall on the right hand and on the left. Towards morning she slept, and Mrs. Wentworth approached nearer the bed, to watch her countenance; she wished to accustom herself to the change produced by sleep so closely resembling that which must soon be produced by death. When she awoke, a female friend who had sat up along with Mrs. Wentworth inquired how she found herself? She answered,' Perfectly calm.'

"It was explained, that the question referred to her bodily feelings; her answer was given with more than usual strength of tone. I am so little accustomed to think of my bodily feelings that when I hear the inqui

ries of a friend, I can only conceive that they mean, how my soul is faring? A few moments after, she said to Mrs. Wentworth, I die a monument of the power of religion. What could the whole world do for me as I lie this moment? could it restore my withered youth, or heal my broken heart? could it suggest a single hope to brighten the dark road I am about to travel? Oh what a difference between the powers of this world, and the powers of the world to come! Men might pity me, but never could imagine that they are objects of pity to me. My feet stand on the threshold of the house of many mansions, and worlds could not bribe me to look back for a moment; and this the religion of Christ has done for me. Oh how little consolation could I derive at a moment like this from gay religions, full of pomp and gold' from a religion that promised nothing but temporal power or splendour to its professors-from any religion but that of the heart and of grief? Amid the darkness of my earthly prospects, the cross brightens by the contrast. I lie here a help. less dying wretch; the world views me, and passes by on the other side; but he, the divine Samaritan, had pity on me, and the wounds of my spirit are healed."

The scene is protracted to such a length, that we must be excused from going through with it. In fact, we are very glad to take our leave, here, of a book, which hardly deserves the consideration we have bestowed upon it. It is some consolation to be assured by Mr. Maturin, that this is the last time, that he will trespass, in this way, on the public. E.

ART. 6. Anecdotes of the Life of Richard Watson, Bishop of Landoff. Written by himself, at different intervals, and Revised in 1814. Published by his Son, RICHARD WATSON, L.L. B. Prebendary of Landaff and Wells. 8vo. pp. 456. Philadelphia. Abraham Small. New-York. Kirk & Mercein.

THE

HE Christian world has not yet ceased to deplore its recent loss in the death of Dr. Watson, the celebrated Bishop of Landaff,-whose talents and piety have acquired for him a more honourable distinction, than the possession of any mitre could confer. The memory of this patriarch prelate is so generally and justly revered, as well in this country as in England, that any authentic sketch of his life could barldly have failed to be well received by those who have long been accustomed to venerate his learning and his virtues. Happily the task of compiling his biography was not left to incompetent hands. Less than two years before his death, Bishop Watson revised and completed the memoir before us, which has been published under the in

spection of his son. To say that we have been pleased and edified by the perusal of this volume, would be but a feeble expression of the rare gratification which we have derived from it. The amiable views of life which it discloses, are calculated to conciliate the most morose, and the elevating and cheering prospects of religion which it unfolds, to invigorate the most despondent. To all who can procure the work we earnestly recom:

end, not merely the reading, but the study of it, For the benefit of those who may not enjoy that opportunity, we shall give a brief outline of the history of its author, and shall introduce ample extracts from his narrative and correspondence.

Bishop Watson informs us that, from an early age, he was in the habit of writ

ing down the events of his life, with an account of the feelings and motives which actuated him in relation to them. "This habit," he adds, "has been both pleasant and useful to me; I have had great pleasure in preserving, as it were, my identity, by reviewing the circumstances which, under the good providence of God, have contributed to place me in my present situation; and a frequent examination of my principles of action has contributed to establish in me a consistency of conduct, and to confirm me, I trust, in that probity of manners in my seventyfifth year, with which I entered into the world at the age of seventeen." To this habit, we may attribute the precision with which he is able to speak of his conduct, in all the transactions in which he was engaged, in that interval. His father was, for nearly forty years, headmaster of Heversham school, in the county of Westmoreland. He died in 1753. The subject of this memoir was born in 1737. He received his elementary education in Heversham school, though, before his birth, his father had resigned the charge of it. In 1754, he was admitted a sizer of Trinity College, Cambridge. On the 2d of May, 1757, he offered himself for a scholarship, a year before the usual time of the sizers' sitting, and succeeded.

"I had," says he, " at the time of being elected a scholar, been resident in college for two years and seven months, without having gone out of it for a single day. During that period I had acquired some knowledge of Hebrew; greatly improved myself in Greek and Latin; made considerable proficiency in mathematics and natural philosophy; and studied with much attention Locke's works, King's book on the Origin of Evil, Paffendort's Treatise de Officio Hominis et Civis, and some other books on similar subjects; I thought myself therefore entitled to a little relaxation: under this persuasion I set for ward, May 30th, 1757, to pay my elder and only brother a visit at Kendal. He was the first curate of the new chapel there, to the structure of which he had subscribed liberally. He was a man of lively parts, but being thrown into a situation where there was no great room for the display of his talents, and much temptation to convivial festivity, he spent his fortune, injured his constitution, and died when I was about the age of thirty-three; leaving a considerable debt, all of which I paid immediately, though it took almost my all to do it."

Of the course of his collegiate life, he

says

"Whilst I was an under graduate, I kept a great deal of what is called the best comany that is of idle fellow commoners,

and other persons of fortune-but their manners never subdued my prudence; I had strong ambition to be distinguished, and was sensible that, though wealth might plead folly in others, the want of wealth could some excuse for idleness, extravagance, and plead none for me.

"When I used to be returning to my room at one or two in the morning, after spending a jolly evening, I often observed a light in the chamber of one of the same standing with myself; this never failed to excite my jealousy, and the next day was always a day of hard study. I have gone without my dinner a hundred times on such occasions. I thought I never entirely understood a proposition in any part of mathematics or nawalk, obstipo capite atque exporrecto labello, tural philosophy, till I was able in a solitary to draw the scheme in my head, and go through every step of the demonstration without book or pen and paper. I found this was a very difficult task, especially in some of the perplexed schemes, and long demonstrations of the Twelfth Book of Eu alid, and in L'Hospital's Conic Sections, and in Newton's Principia. My walks for this purpose were so frequent, that my tutor, not knowing what I was about, once reproached me for being a lounger. I never gave up a difficult point in a demonstration till I had made it out proprio Marte; I have been stopped at a single step for three days. This perseverance in accomplishing whatever I undertook, was, during the whole of my active life, a striking feature in my character."

In the tenor of his studies there is nothing remarkable, save an early predilection for metaphysical speculations. In 1759, he took the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He was the second wrangler of his year, and but for the partiality of the moderator towards a student of his own college, and one of his private pupils, would have been the first.

Mr. Watson was afterwards moderator himself, and to prevent similar acts of injustice, instituted the practice of examining the candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Arts, in classes formed according to the abilities of the pupils in the schools. To illustrate the advantage of this method, he adduces a case.

"The first year I was moderator, Mr. Paley (afterwards known to the world by many excellent productions, though there are some ethical and some political principles in his philosophy which I by no means approve,) and Mr. Frere, a gentleman of Norfolk, were examined together. A report prevailed, that Mr. Frere's grandfather would give him a thousand pounds, if he were senior wrangler: the other moderator agreed with me in thinking, that Mr. Paley was his superior, and we made him senior wrangler. Mr. Frere, much to his honour,

on an imputation of partiality being thrown on my colleague and myself, publicly acknowledged, that he deserved only the second place; a declaration which could never have been made, had they not been examined in the presence of each other."

Of Dr. Paley he further says"Paley, I remember, had brought me, for one of the questions he meant for his act, Eternitas pænarum contradicit Divinis attributis. I had accepted it; and indeed I never refused a question either as moderator or as professor of divinity. A few days afterwards, he came to me in a great fright, saying, that the master of his College (Dr. Thomas, Dean of Ely,) had sent to him, and insisted on his not keeping on such a question. I readily permitted him to change it, and told him, that if it would lessen his master's apprehensions, he might put in non, before contradicit, and he did so. Dr. Thomas, I had little doubt, was afraid of being looked upon as an heretic at Lambeth, for suffering a member of his college to dispute on such a question, notwithstanding what Tillotson had published on the subject many years before.

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"It is, however, a subject of great difficulty. It is allowed on all hands that the hap piness of the righteous will be, strictly speaking, everlasting; and I cannot see the justness of that criticism which would interpret the same word in the same verse in different senses. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life. Mat. xxv. 46. On the other hand, reason is shocked at the idea of God being considered as a relentless tyrant, inflicting everlasting punishment, which answers no benevolent end. But how is it proved that the everlasting punishment of the wicked may not answer a benevolent end, may not be the mean of keeping the righteous in everlasting holiness and obedience? How is it proved that it may not answer, in some other way unknown to us, a benevolent end in promoting God's moral government of the universe ?"

In October, 1760, Mr. Watson was chosen Fellow of Trinity College, over the heads of two of his seniors of the same year. In 1762 he took the degree of Master of Arts, and in the ensuing October was made Moderator for Trinity College. He speaks of this office, as one of the most important and arduous offices in the University. In 1763, he was appointed Moderator for St. John's College; and in 1764 for Christ's College. In the year 1764, he evinced the warmth of his heart and the sincerity of his friendship towards his college friend Mr. Luther, who, as will be seen in the sequel, generously repaid the obligation.

"On the 12th of February, 1764, I received a letter informing me that a separation

had taken place between my friend Mr. Luther, then one of the members for Essex, and his wife, and that he was gone hastily abroad. My heart was ever warm in friendship, and it ordered me, on this occasion, to follow my friend. I saw he was deserted and unhappy, and I flew to give him, if possible, some consolation. I set off from the account. I could read, but I could not Cambridge on the same day I had received speak a word of French; I had no servant pounds, and bought a French and English nor any money; I presently borrowed fifty Dictionary, and thus equipped, I went post to Dover, without so much as knowing whether my friend was gone to France, and from thence, almost without sleeping, I got ing was such as might have been expected. to Paris and enquired him out.-The meetbut immediately returned to England, and, I did not stay above twelve hours in Paris, forl crossed the channel four times, and traafter a variety of accidents and great fatigue, velled twelve hundred miles, in very bad weather, in a fortnight, I brought my friend back to his country and his family. His appearance in the House of Commons instantly quashed all the injurious reports which, from dal had raised to his disadvantage. He was a his hasty manner of leaving the country,scanthorough honest man, and one of the friends I ever loved with the greatest affection. His temper was warm, and his wife (a very deserving woman) had been over-persuaded loved her, she would have borne with his to marry him,-had she loved him as he infirmity of temper. Great are the public evils, and little the private comforts attending interested marriages; when they become general, they not only portend but bring ou a nation's ruin.”

On the 19th of November, 1764, Mr. Watson was unanimously elected, Professor of Chemistry, on the death of Dr. Hadley. Of this subject, at that time, he was utterly ignorant. He sent, however, for an operator from Paris, and buried himself for a while in his laboratory. In the course of fourteen months from his election he was able to read a course of chemical lectures, "to a very full audience, consisting of persons of all ages and degrees in the University."

Professorship of Chemistry, nor any thing "There was no stipend annexed to the furnished to the Professor by the University, except a room to read lectures in. I was told that the Professors of Chemistry in Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Stockholm, &c. were supported by their respective monarchs; and I

knew that the reading a course of lectures would every year be attended with a great expense; and being very hearty in the design of recommending chemistry to the attention of the youth of the University and of the country, I thought myself justified in applying to the minister for a stipend from

the crown. Lord Rockingham was then minister (1766), and Mr. Luther, who had lately spent above twenty thousand pounds in establishing the whig interest in Essex, undertook to ask for it. Though an hundred a year, given for the encouragement of science, is but as a drop in the ocean, when compared with the enormous sums lavished in unmerited pensions, lucrative sinecures, places, and scandalous jobs, by every minister on his flatterers and dependents, in order to secure his majorities in Parliament, yet I obtained this drop with difficulty, and, unless the voice of a member of Parliament had seconded my petition, I doubt whether I should have succeeded. I sent up to the duke of Newcastle, Chancellor of the University, a testimonial from the Vice-Chancellor, that I had read with credit a course of chemical lectures; and that a chemical establishment would be highly useful to the University; together with this testimonial, I sent my petition to lord Rockingham, requesting the duke to present it to him.

"The petition was presented in March, but I heard nothing about it till the July following; when, waiting upon the duke of Newcastle, he asked if my business was done? I answered, No, and that I thought it never would be done. I own I had been so much vexed at the delay, that I was very indifferent whether it ever was done or not, and therefore answered with more firmness than the old man had been used to. He then asked why it had not been done. My answer was, 'Because lord Rockingham says your grace ought to speak to the king, as Chancellor of the University; and your grace says, that lord Rockingham ought to speak to the king, as minister.' He stared at me with astonishment; and, calling for paper, he instantly wrote a letter, and sealing it with his own seal, ordered me to go with it immediately to lord Rockingham, who had a levee that day. I did so (and it was the only time in my life that I ever attended a minister's levee,) and sent in my letter, before the levee began. I understood it was whispered, that lord Rockingham and the whigs were to go out of administration; and it was so: for their dismission was settled that day. Lord Rockingham, however, undertook to ask the king; and, apologizing for not having done it sooner, offered in a very polite manner to have the stipend (I asked only for 100l. a year,) settled upon me for life. This I refused, and desired to have it only whilst I continued Professor of Chemistry; and discharged the duty of the office.

"The ice being thus broken by me, similar stipends have been since procured from the crown, for the Professors of Anatomy and Botany, and for the recent established Professor of Common Law."

In 1767, he was chosen one of the head tutors in Trinity College. In 1768, he composed and printed his Institutiones

Metallurgica; and in the same year was chosen a Fellow of the Royal Society.

forth, Mr. Watson was chosen Regius In 1771, on the death of Dr. RutherProfessor of Divinity.

"This professorship, as being one of the most arduous and honourable offices in the University, had long been the object of my ambition; I had for years determined in my own mind to endeavour to succeed Dr. Rutherforth, provided he lived till I was of a proper age, and fully qualified for the undertaking. His premature and unexpected death quite disheartened me. I knew as much of divinity as could reasonably be expected from a man whose course of studies had been directed to, and whose time had been fully occupied in other pursuits; but, with this curta supellex in theology, to take possession of the first professional chair in Europe, seemed too daring an attempt even for my intrepidity."

It was, however, the general expectation that he would offer himself as a candidate for the vacant chair- and he publicly announced himself as such. But there was still a difficulty to be overcome.

"I was not, when Dr. Rutherforth died, either Bachelor or Doctor in Divinity, and without being one of them I could not become a candidate for a professorship. This puzzled me for a moment; I had only seven days to transact the business in; but by hard travelling and some adroitness I accomplished my purpose, obtained the king's created a doctor on the day previous to mandate for a doctor's degree, and was that appointed for the examination of the candidates."

"Thus did I," he continues," by hard and incessant labour for seventeen years, attain, at the age of thirty-four, the first office for honour in the University; and, exclusive of the Mastership of Trinity College, I have made it the first for profit. I found the professorship not worth quite 3301. a year, and it is now worth 1000l. at the least."

Of his conduct in the theological professorship, Dr. Watson gives the following candid account.

"I reduced the study of divinity into as narrow. a compass as I could, for I determined to study nothing but my Bible, being much unconcerned about the opinions of councils, fathers, churches, bishops, and other men, as little inspired as myself. This mode of proceeding being opposite to the general one, and especially to that of the Master of Peterhouse, who was a great reader, he used to call me autodidantos, the self-taught divine.-The Professor of Divinity had been nick-named Malleus Hæreticorum; it was thought to be his duty to against what is called the orthodoxy of the demolish every opinion which militated Church of England. Now, my mind was wholly unbiassed; I had no prejudice

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