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with God, as the Patriarchs of old. He was much in prayer. The habitual standard of his principles and feelings was high and scriptural; he lived under the influence of the Spirit,-he watched and laboured to subdue his constitutional errors. The result was large measures of grace, and habitual consistency in his conduct.

"In fact, I appeal to those who knew him, if there was not a placid dignity in his deportment, which scarcely ever forsook him, which repelled follies and inconsistencies at once; and made every one feel that he was a most sincere and holy man.

"I do not call him a perfect man (there is no just man upon earth, that doeth good and sinneth not) but I think I may call him a complete man -there was no material defect-no glaring omission-no considerable error running through his principles or practice. He knew his line; he knew to what kind of duties he was competent; he estimated justly and humbly his powers; he attempted nothing that he could not execute, and execute well; he was always at his post, always the Minister, always ready for his duties. He excited, indeed, no great attention at the time in each individual act, because he did every thing so calmly and so well-but now he is gone, the bright and soft tenor of his life shines as a light for the guidance of those who may succeed him in bis parochial charge."-pp. 45-48.

"For this humble, meek-spirited man maintained the course I have described-laborious, holy, consistent under the pressure of the most severe bodily sufferings. It was four or five and twenty years since that he was seized with the first paroxysm of a most excruciating calculous complaint (the formation, I believe, of biliary stones in the gall-bladder, and their forced passage from time to time through the gall-ducts), which never left him till his decease. The attacks recurred at intervals of six or seven weeks, sometimes shorter, and sometimes prolonged to a distance of three months, often without any previous warning. He has told me more than once that the agony he endured under the access of pain, was such that it was impossible for words to describe it. Sometimes particular anxiety about a sick child, at other times an unusual burry of duties, at a third the disappointment in an arrangement for the Sunday, would bring on the attacks. Often have his friends observed his agonized countenance when sitting in his pew during the prayers (for latterly he had been compelled to have the assistance of a curate) and then have seen him force himself into the pulpit and deliver his discourse. In this state of health-all the effects of which, as well as the grace which sustained him under them, will never be known till the day of judgment; he preached to you the Gospel--in this state of health he wrote his sermons (the vast accumulation of which mark bis laboriousness for your good.) In this state he visited the sick, he taught his children, he attended societies and committees. Perhaps few Ministers in the enjoyment of the best health, ever performed their duties more regularly than he did with the worst. Besides this complaint, he had other infirmities of a distressing nature. In his domestic circle, also, much occasional affliction arose, all aggravated at times with what his tender and disinterested heart would never fully make known, the pressure of narrow circumstances."-pp. 48–51.

"Of the general character of this excellent Minister the summary may be very brief. As a husband and father, few exceeded him in the tender discharge of the duties of those relations. As a Christian he was remarkable for humility and love to his Saviour. As a preacher his forte was mild and dignified and sober persuasion. As a pastor he was peculiarly useful in the chamber of sickness. As a clergyman he was a firm and consistent member of the Church of England.

His life and character should be the study of young ministers. In the placid, mild, persevering, useful cast of duties he had but few superiors. If he yielded to others in splendid talents, in the power of reasoning, in the faculty of defending truth against adversaries, in the masculine and heroic fortitude which takes the lead on great public occasions; he was superior to most in the far more useful every-day virtues which form the essence of real worth-in lowliness, in patience, in a diligent employment of the talents committed to him, in a just estimate of what he could accomplish—and above all in the exercise of those graces most opposite to his natural temperament,-firmness, resolute opposition to the world, unyielding fortitude under difficulties, a discreet, well-balanced presiding mind. More splendid characters, if they were multiplied, (considering the great defects which commonly attend them), would be far from proportionably benefiting the Church. Such men as Samuel Crowther, if they could be planted in every parish, would be a blessing of incalculable value. It is by such men God has chiefly wrought his works of grace in every age. A few persons of distinguished powers have been raised up from time to time for especial purposes. But it is by humble and meek and spiritually-minded and laborious ministers, who are scarcely heard of out of their own sphere, that the glory of the Saviour is most effectually advanced and the salvation of souls accomplished."-pp. 60, 61.

Here we should willingly conclude. In this highly coloured but not unmerited panegyric upon Mr. Crowther, every member of the Church of England may concur-and we are sorry that Mr. Wilson has felt himself required to intermix with it other matter upon which great difference of opinion may be expected. We are told, p. 55, that “ Mr. Crowther was raised up and placed in the heart of this great metropolis at the commencement of that revival of primitive zeal and simplicity which God has been granting to his church," and a strong emphasis is laid upon the peculiar doctrines of which he is said to have preached-and upon the peculiar faithfulness of his life. Under the latter head we are told,

"He was by natural temperament a most benevolent, mild, tenderhearted man. If it had not been for the special grace of God, be might have been through life an amiable minister, active in relieving the poor, diligent in the external part of his duty, and in the opinion of the world all a clergyman ought to be-but he would have been temporizing and indecisive. He would have been afraid of reproach; he would have sunk down into the negative, inefficient pastor; he would have confined NO. XIV.-APRIL, 1830.

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himself to temporal activities, and kindnesses; he would have judged all men, or almost all men, to be sincere Christians; he would have distinguished little between one class of preaching bearing the semblance of the Gospel and another; he would have stumbled over the doctrine of regeneration; he would have yielded his judgment to the current of the times or the influence of great names; he would have deserted the religious societies when they became less popular in certain quarters. But none of these things did he do. No; this amiable, child-like creature was so guided and strengthened by the Holy Spirit, that he was as unbending and bold and undeviating in his integrity, as if he had had the firmest constitutional temperament, and the largest infusion of natural courage."-pp. 31, 32.

By way of a contrast, we presume, to the faithful minister, who has finished his course, Mr. Wilson draws the following portrait of an unfaithful minister of the Gospel.

"This is the primary qualification in a matter of such moment, trustworthiness; a conscientious aim, not at pleasing men-corrupt and wayward in their inclinations, and requiring smooth things to be said to them--but God, which trieth our hearts as the furnace purifies and tries the metal-God, who hath allowed and approved of us for this high trust, and before whose omniscient eye every part of our instructions lies naked and open. This impression we are to feel in every word we utter -so we speak is the apostle's phrase-so sincerely, so boldly, so authoritatively. And under this sense of awful responsibility, we are to set ourselves against the dangers to which we are most exposed, deceit, uncleanness, guile, and the use of flattering words; faults which grossly defaced the heathen priesthood-impurity, ignorance, and intentional craft, corrupting the very essence of their worship- and from which the false apostles were not free-faults likewise, which have sapped in every age, in some degree or other, the fidelity of too many professed ministers of Christ. They conceal some part of truth, they soften the declarations of God's anger against sin, they weaken the doctrine of man's corruption, they obscure the offensive parts of the scheme of redemption, they pass over slightly the nature of conversion, regeneration, the spiritual life, the duties of prayer, of separation from the world, of sanctification of the Sabbath, of love to Christ and dependance upon his Spirit. They indirectly countenance the impurity of the world, by palliating some forms of its evils, by giving soft names to fashionable vices, by apologizing for, or not sufficiently condemning all approaches to drunkenness and uncleanness, and excusing the abe rations, as they term them, of

In 1803 or 1804, the London Missionary Society obtained his parish church for a sermon in behalf of their institution, at the usual time of their anniversary. Our friend was much assailed at Sion College, for having consented to grant his pulpit for such a purpose. First, the Bishop (Dr. Porteus) questioned him on the subject; but finding that the clergyman about to preach was an incumbent in another diocese, and perfectly regular, he expressed himself fully satisfied. Not so the clergy who bore so hard upon our friend, that the Master of the Temple (Dr. Rennell) interfered. Mr. C. went on his course undeviatingly. Probably, the church had been obtained in the first instance through some parishioners, whom our amiable friend did not choose to disappoint. But I mention it merely to notice his firmness.

youth, and countenancing almost all worldly amusements, however, polluting to the imagination and the heart, under the thin disguise of innocent recreations.

"From this lax and flattering view of things springs, of course, a general unfaithfulness, to the weighty trust of the Gospel; and even if a barren orthodoxy be retained, the spirit of Christianity is gone, and the remedial law, or some other delusive scheme, perhaps merely natural religion, usurps the place of the Gospel of Christ, and lulls into a fatal security the souls of men."-pp. 15-17.

It is difficult to extract any other meaning from this and similar passages, than a sweeping sentence of condemnation (a sentence which Mr. Crowther would not have ventured to pronounce) upon all who dissent from Mr. Wilson's opinions respecting the peculiar doctrines of the Gospel. And what are Mr. Wilson's qualifications to decide in this matter? He has given conclusive evidence of an unsound and partial judgment in this very discourse. It appears that Mr. Crowther had not "attained to a clear and distinct view of the Scriptural scheme of the Gospel" when he first took holy orders. And the doctrine which he held in those days, is thus described by his surviving friend.

"In some previous years he had confounded the law and the Gospel, instead of distinguishing them, and employing them for their proper ends; he had mixed justification and sanctification together and obscured both; he had gone upon what is called The new or remedial law, which consists of men's doing their utmost in obedience to God's commandments, and then relying on Christ to make up their deficiencies-a system which elevates the powers of fallen man to the disparagement of the grace of God-which in fact unites pharisaical self-righteousness with practical antinomianism: and can only spring from a most imperfect view of the Scriptural doctrine of the corruption of man and the ground of a sinner's acceptance before God."-pp. 11, 12.

Of course, we are not prepared to deny that these may have been the early opinions of Mr. Crowther. But we defy Mr. Wilson to prove that such opinions are held by any considerable body of his brethren. The repeated mention of this "remedial" scheme compels us to believe that the foregoing extract contains Mr. Wilson's estimate of the doctrine preached by the majority of the Clergy, by the Armenian as opposed to the Calvinist, or by the Orthodox as opposed to the Evangelical. We will not insult the common sense of our readers, by asking them if such a representation be correct. That those who make it, make it in the sincerity of their hearts we are ready and willing to believe. But that they grossly misunderstand the opinions of their brethren, is beyond all doubt; and it is neither unreasonable, nor uncharitable to think that men who cannot or will not obtain accurate informa

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tion, upon so very plain a question as that of the doctrine preached from ten thousand pulpits, may happen to be equally mistaken when they are engaged with the deep and hidden things of God.

In conclusion, we are firmly convinced that Mr. Crowther did much good, but we believe that he would have done much more, if the piety, the zeal, and the remarkable sweetness of disposition which he has distinguished, had been free from the taint with which Wesley and his followers have infected a certain party in the Church.

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ART. XIII.-The Case of Censure, more particularly with reference to the Clerical Profession, considered in a Charge de livered to the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of London, at the Visitation held May 27th, 1829. By the Venerable J. H. Pott, M.A. Archdeacon of London, and Chancellor of the Cathedral, Church of Exeter. London: Rivingtons. 8vo. 1829. pp. 32. No man is less likely to deserve censure than the Venerable the Archdeacon of London; and few men are so unwilling to pronounce it. When, therefore, he addresses his brethren on the Case of Censure," he treats of a matter in which he may well be deemed impartial. Throughout a long and active life, it has been his general character neither to blame nor to be blamed. And if it should be said on the one hand, that he must consequently be without experience in the things to which his Charge refers, it may be said on the other hand, with much greater justice, that his freedom from a common fault gives him peculiar fitness for examining and condemning it. The words of so wise and good a man are clothed with more than ordinary importance when they are directed to a point, in which he has little or no personal interest. The vindication of those who have been rashly condemned becomes doubly powerful in the hands of one who is himself above all censure; and Archdeacon Pott's defence of his clerical brethren, against the common-place and vulgar accusation so frequently preferred against them, entitles him to their warmest admiration and gratitude. The following passages are particularly deserving of notice.

"To return then to our own case, where the censure to which I have adverted, of interposing in the things of this world is cast upon us. Our profession then requires, no doubt, a real separation from the common business and employments, garb and offices of other callings. In order to promote the welfare of society, and to satisfy the special duties of his place, the prudent and considerate man, whatever may be his proper station or pursuit, must in due measure confine his habitual