author of a very valuable work in defence of the Doctrine of the Trinity; in this invitation there was an offer of more than double the salary he received from his people at Welford. Under his circumstances he felt disposed to favour the invitation, and sent an answer to that purpose; but when his people became acquainted with the affair, they waited upon him, and expressed their firm attachment, and their deep regret that he should think of leaving them; reminded him of the providential manner he was brought amongst them; and referred to the happy effects of his labours, which, after some deliberation, prevailed, and he determined to continue with them.

The providence of God now graciously appeared to supply Mr. King in his necessities. Miss Cooke, an aged maiden lady, and the only remaining branch of a wealthy family, who had for a long period supported the dissenting cause at Welford, bequeathed to him some respectable property, in addition to other legacies which he received within a few years. He was thus enabled to give his children a liberal education, and place his sons in respectable trades. Mr. King was a man of very benevolent feelings, which appeared in his liberality, in which he was encouraged by his pious and venerated partner, who united with him to relieve those who applied to them in their distresses. The young of Mr. K.'s flock had a very large portion of his solicitude; his private and public instruction was

* In a recent edition of this work, the editor has made an extraordinary mistake, in representing Mr. Sloss "as one of the brightest ornaments of the Established Church," and "a minister of the Church of England, having held the living of St. Mary's, Nottingham;" whereas Mr. Sloss was a dissenting minister of the old school, and most firmly attached to nonconformist principles.

eminently blessed in many instances. Amongst other youths indebted to his ministry, was a native of Welford, Mr. John Wood, who, after passing through Daventry Academy with great credit to himself and his pastor, first settled with with the Independent Church at Sudbury, Suffolk, and afterwards at Creaton, in Northamptonshire, where he continued for twenty years till his death.

There was nothing in connection with his family enjoyments that gave Mr. King greater pleasure, than being able to provide his venerated mother with a comfortable abode in his own house, where she died in 1763, at the advanced age of eighty-one years. Amongst the trials which Mr. King was called to endure in the decline of life, none was greater than · the loss of his beloved partner, who, after a lingering illness, died on the 3d of May, 1781, in the sixtieth year of her age. In her he lost a kind and affectionate friend, and her children a tender, kind hearted mother, and the poor an unwearied benefactress. She was one that never seemed more happy than when communicating to the poor and afflicted. Her piety was as amiable as her benevolence was great; her humility and unassuming manners were attractive to all who had the pleasure of her acquaintance.

Mr. King continued his pastoral office with the church at Welfold till the year 1782, a period of nearly forty years, when, through infirmities and declining strength, he resigned his connection with the church, and removed to Northampton to reside with his son-in-law, the Rev. John Horsey, where he enjoyed the affectionate attention of his amiable daughter, the late Mrs. Horsey.* Here, in this peaceful and happy residence, the good and

*The death of this lady is recorded in the Congregational Magazine, vol. 8. p. 504.

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venerable man waited, "looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life," till November 6th, 1788, when he died, peaceful and happy, in the seventyfourth year of his age; and on the 12th, his remains were conveyed to Welford for interment; when the high esteem in which he was held was demonstrated by the crowds that attended, most of whom were in deep mourning. A *.funeral sermon was delivered after his interment, by the Rev. John Horsey, from the latter part of the 21st verse of the Epistle of Jude, Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life," words chosen by the deceased. Mr. Horsey, at the request of the church and congregation, printed the discourse, in which he thus refers to Mr. K. "About forty years God placed his servant in this part of his vineyard, and enabled him to labour, both in season and out of season, to defend his cause in this town and neighbourhood. That his talents were generally acceptable, most who hear me know. The plainness of his style, (for he always aimed to be understood by the lowest of his hearers,) the evangelical complexion of his doctrine, and the seriousness of his address, endeared him peculiarly to other congregations, as well as his own; and numbers, in this and neighbouring counties, ascribe to his instrumentality their first serious thoughts of God and eternity. With many present, he has laboured even from your infancy; endeavouring, by an attention to catechising, suggesting the most simple and easy remarks, to bring you early acquainted with the holy Scriptures. And no greater pleasure could he feel, than to see the children of his charge walking in the truth. As you have risen into life, he has regularly addressed you by his an

nual instructions to the youth in the assembly; cautioning against the paths of the destroyer, and directing your feet in the way of peace. Oh, how often have I seen him with marks of inward reverence and undissembled piety, sit like good old Simeon, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And when a word has been dropped, to bring his former charge to his remembrance, with the tenderest tokens of friendship, and the falling tears of affection, would he waft up a prayer to heaven for your prosperity."

Mr. King never published any thing, except two single sermons, one preached to his own people, on the Murrain amongst the Cattle; and a sermon delivered at the Ordination of the Rev. Joshua Symonds, at Bedford, 1767. His son, the late Mr. Joseph King, of Liverpool, has printed three of his ordinary pulpit discourses in one volume, which are interesting specimens of his preaching talent.

A few additional facts will bring down the history of the church at Welford to the present time. On Mr. King's resignation in 1782, he was succeeded by the Rev. William Severn, who was ordained over the church May 22, 1782; he came to Welford from Hoose, in Northamptonshire. He was a very popular preacher, and possessed of uncommon talents; his Sabbath evening and week-day evening lectures were anticipated with the greatest pleasure by his hearers, who were strongly attached to him. He, however, left Welford, to regret of his people, in 1783-4, in consequence of a slight family difference, and removed to Hinkley, in Leicestershire. But we regret to say, that he departed from that faith he once so faithfully preached, and died in connection with a Socinian congregation at Hull a few years ago.

On Mr. Severn's removal, the church was for some time destitute of a pastor, with the exception of a Mr. Northend, who came to Welford upon an invitation far from unanimous, which naturally led to his speedy removal to Nayland, in Suffolk. In the year 1788, the Rev. Evan Johns came to Welford, and in the spring of 1789, was settled as their pastor. This gentleman much in jured his usefulness, and lessened the esteem of his friends for him, by practising the absurd theory of animal magnetism, which induced him to tender his resignation to the church, which was accepted; in consequence of which he left Welford in 1790, for Bury St. Edmonds. In 1792, Mr. John Clement Bicknell, a student from Newport Pagnell Academy, was ordained pastor. During his ministry, the old meetinghouse, being much out of repair, and inconveniently situated, it was agreed to erect a new one in a more eligible part

of the town, near the pastoral residence, which was opened for worship in 1793; and in 1795, a respectable house was rebuilt for the minister, which, together, cost the people about £1500. But to their honour, the whole debt was in a short time discharged. Mr. Bicknell retained the pastoral office till November 1811, when he resigned, and was succeeded by the Rev. Benjamin Hobson, in February, 1813, from Great Driffield, Yorkshire, where he was minister for a short period after he left Rotherham College. This gentleman is still the pastor of the church, and under his labours it has, with the congregation, considerably increased. May they and their worthy pastor, as the descendants of a goodly number of confessors of the truth as it is in Jesus, enjoy from Him, as the head of influence and authority, a double portion of their spirit, and be followers of them who now, through faith and patience, are inheriting the promises.

DR. J. M. MASON ON THE PECULIARITY OF THE GOSPEL, AS ADDRESSED TO THE POOR.*

FROM the remotest antiquity there have been, in all civilized nations, men who devoted themselves to the increase of knowlege and happiness. Their speculations were subtle, their arguings acute, and many of their maxims respectable, But to whom were their instructions addressed? To casual visitors, to selected friends, to admiring pupils, to privileged orders!

* We extract this article from an elo

quent sermon of Dr. J. M. Mason on Luke vii. 22, which is just published in New York, in an American work entitled "The National Preacher."

In some countries, and on certain occasions, when vanity was to be gratified by the acquisition of fame, their appearances were more public. For example, one read a poem, another a history, and a assembled at the Olympic games. third a play, before the crowds To be crowned there, was, in the proudest period of Greece, the But what did this, what did the summit of glory and ambition. mysteries of pagan worship, or what the lectures of pagan philosophy, avail the people? Sunk in ignorance, in poverty, and crime, they lay neglected. Age succeeded to age, and school to school; a thousand sects and systems rose, flourished, and fell; but the de

gradation of the multitude remained. Not a beam of light found its way into their darkness, nor a drop of consolation into their cup. Indeed a plan for raising them to the dignity of rational enjoyment, and fortifying them against the disasters of life, was not to be expected: for as nothing can exceed the contempt in which they were held by the professors of wisdom; so any human device, however captivating in theory, would have been worthless in fact. The most sagacious heathen could imagine no better means of improving them than the precepts of his philosophy. Now, supposing it to be ever so salutary, its benefits must have been confined to a very few; the notion that the bulk of mankind may become philosophers being altogether extravagant. They ever have been, and, in the nature of things, ever must be, unlearned. Besides, the grovelling superstition and brutal manners of the beathen, presented insuperable obstacles. Had the plan of their cultivation been even suggested, especially if it comprehended the more abject of the species, it would have been universally derided, and would have merited derision, no less than the dreams of modern folly about the perfectibility of man.

His

Under this incapacity of instructing the poor, how would the pagan sage have acquitted himself as their comforter? dogmas, during prosperity and health, might humour his fancy, might flatter his pride, or dupe his understanding; but against the hour of grief or dissolution he had no solace for himself, and could have none for others. I am not to be persuaded, in contradiction to every principle of my animal and rational being, that pain, and misfortune, and death, are no evils, and are beneath a wise man's regard. And could I work myself up into so absurd a conviction, N. S. No. 23.

how would it promote my comfort? Comfort is essentially consistent with nature and truth. By perverting my judgment, by hardening my heart, by chilling my nobler warmth, and stifling my best affections, I may grow stupid, but shall be far enough from consolation. Convert me into a beast, and I shall be without remorse; into a block, and I shall feel no pain.

But this was not my request. I asked you for consolation, and you destroy my ability to receive it.. I asked you to bear me over death, into the fellowship of immortals, and you begin by transforming me into a monster! Here are no glad tidings; nothing to cheer the gloom of outward or inward poverty. And the pagan teacher could give no better. From him, therefore, the miserable, even of his own country, and class, and kindred, had nothing to hope. But to lift the needy from the dunghill, and wipe away the tears from the mourner; to lighten the burdens of the heart; to heal its maladies, repair its losses, and enlarge its enjoyments; and that under every form of penury and sorrow, in all ages, and nations, and circumstances; as it is a scheme too vast for the human faculties, so, had it been committed to merely human execution, it could not have proceeded a single step, and would have beenremembered only as a frantic reverie.

Yet all this hath Christianity undertaken. Her voice is, without distinction, to people of every colour, and clime, and condition: to the continent and the isles; to the man of the city, the man of the field, and the man of the woods; to the Moor, the Hindoo, and the Hottentot; to the siek and desperate; to the beggar, the convict, and the slave. She impairs no faculty, interdicts no affection, infringes no relation; but, taking men as they are, with all 4 D

their depravity and woes, she proffers them peace and blessedness. Her boasting is not vain. The course of experiment has lasted through more than fifty generations of men. It is passing every hour before our eyes; and has never failed, in a single instance, when it has been fairly tried.

The design is stupendous; and the least success induces us to inquire, by whom it was projected and carried into effect. And what is our astonishment when we learn, that it was by men of obscure birth, mean education, and feeble resource: by men from a nation hated for their religion, and proverbial for their moroseness; by carpenters, and taxgatherers, and fishermen of Judea! What shall we say of this phenomenon? A recurrence to the Jewish Scriptures, which had long predicted it, either surrenders the argument, or increases the difficulty. If you admit that they reveal futurity, you recognise the finger of God, and the controversy is at an end. If you call them mere conjectures, you are still to account for their correspondence with the event, and to explain how a great system of benevolence, unheard, unthought of by learned antiquity, came to be cherished, to be transmitted for centuries from father to son, and at length attempted, among the Jews! And you are also contradicted by the fact, that however clearly such a system is marked out in their Scriptures, they were so far from adopting it, that they entirely mistook it; rejected it, nationally, with disdain; persecuted unto death those who embarked in it; and have not embraced it to this day! Yet in the midst of this bigoted and obstinate people, sprang up the deliverance of the human race. Salvation is of the Jews. Within half a century after the resurrection of Christ,

his disciples had penetrated to the extremes of the Roman empire, and had carried the day-spring from on high to innumerable tribes who were sitting in the region and shadow of death. And so exclusively Christian is this plan, so remote from the sphere of common effort, that after it has been proposed and executed, men revert perpetually to their wonted littleness and carelessness. The whole face of Christendom is overspread with proofs, that, in proportion as they depart from the simplicity of the Gospel, they forget the multitude as before, and the doctrines of consolation expire. In so far, too, as they adapt to their own notions of propriety, the general idea, which they have borrowed from the Gospel, of meliorating the condition of their species, they have produced, and are every day producing, effects the very reverse of their professions. Discontent, and confusion, and crimes, they propagate in abundance. They have smitten the earth with curses, and deluged it with blood; but the instance is yet to be discovered, in which they have bound up the broken-hearted. The fact, therefore, that Christianity is, in the broadest sense of the terms, glad tidings to the poor, is perfectly original. It stands without rival or comparison. It has no foundation in the principles of human enterprise; and could never have existed without the inspiration of that Father of lights, from whom cometh down every good and every perfect gift.

If he, therefore, who spake as never man spake, has declared his own doctrine to abound with consolation to the miserable, then, certainly, the instructions of others are evangelical, only in proportion as they subserve the same gracious end. A contradiction not unfrequent among some advocates of revelation, is to urge