This work has since been published. It is entitled, "Remarks on a sermon preached before the Association of Ministers, in the third congregational society in Middleborough, September 26, 1810, by John Reed, D. D. Pastor of the first church and congregation in Bridgewater." In these remarks the talents of the author for metaphysical discussion, are strikingly displayed. It is believed, that no candid reader, after examining them, will hesitate to acknowledge, that he was thoroughly conversant with the abstruser parts of theology. Sinee such was the character of our deceased friend, it is obvious that Society has sustained a great loss on his removal, and that the church of Christ is deprived of one of its ornaments. But the afflictive dispensation, which has deprived them of such a blessing, has, it is hoped, issued in his personal benefit. Since he fought a good fight, finished his course, and kept the faith, he has undoubtedly gone to receive a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge will give to all his faithful ministers at the last great day, and not to them only but unto all others also, that love his appearing. A voice from heaven has said, they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. What our Lord said to the angel or minister of the church of Smyrna, he says to each of his true ministers. Fear none of those things, which thou shalt suffer. Be thou faithful unto death, and 1 will give thee acrown of life. A similar honor is reserved for all his sincere followers. To all such in presenee of the assembled universe he will ere long say, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. There all sin and suffering will be done away.

There

they will live and reign with Christ forev er and ever; and make an endless progression in knowledge, holiness and happiness. What powerful motives present themselves to the view of Christ's ministers and to all others, to be faithful in his service! Blessed are the dead, who die in the Lord; for they rest from their labors and their works do follow them.

DIED, at Paris, Col, CHARLES LOUIS PREVOST DE BOISSY, an officer of Bonaparte's legion of honor, shot as a spy.

At Woburn (Mass.) on the 23rd ult. of an apoplexy, the Rev. THOMAS WATERMAN, pastor of the Baptist church in that town, aged 39.

At Princeton, (N. J.) Mrs. CHRISTIANA GREEN, wife of the Rev. Dr. Green, President of Princeton College.

At Belchertown, (Mass.) the Rev. JUSTUS FORWARD, Senior Pastor of the Congregational church in that place, aged

83.

At Lexington, (Vir.) the Rev. DanIEL BLAIN, Professor of languages in Washington College, aged 42.

In Maryland, the Hon. WM. M'CREE-RY, Esq. formerly member of Congress from that state.

At New Haven, (Con.) JESSE AtwaTER, Esq. postmaster, aged 45.

At Concord, (Mass.) the Ephraim Woon, Esq. formerly a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, aged 81.

At Providence, AMOS TROOP, Esq. President of the Exchange Bank.

At Taunton, Mrs. ELIZABETH HOPKINS, widow of the late Rev. Dr. Hopkins of Newport, aged 75.

At St. Johns, (N. B.) the Rev. MATHER BYLES, D. D. late rector of that city, aged 80. He was son of the celebrated Dr. Byles, who was for many years pastor of Hollis Street Chnrch in Boston.

Ye knew not that ye saw th' exalted man, Who through a host of countless dangers Whom no reproach, nor scourge, nor threaten'd doom,

ran,

Nor present woes, nor vision'd ills to come, Nor heighth, nor depth, nor peril, pain, nor sword,

Could sever from the love of his dear Lord. To you was given with pitying care t impart Those gentle deeds, that sooth the stranger's heart;

And though more spacious lands, perchance, display

A richer soil, a titled train more gay,
Yet, lonely Isle, thy praise is on a page,
That shall remain to Time's remotest age.

And in thy soil, made soft by genial rain, An unseen Hand has sown a wond'rous grain;

Though weak its stalk, its verdure faint at first,

Yet by the dews of heaven the plant is

nurs❜d,

KNOX,

THE LIFE OF JOHN ABRIDGED FROM THE WORK OF THE REV. THOMAS M'CRIE. (Concluded from p. 150.)

DURING two years he resided at Geneva, happy in the friendship of Calvin and of the other ministers. But nothing could extinguish his regard to Scotland, and his desire of promoting there the establishment of the reform ation. Being requested by some of the nobility to return to Ed. inburgh, he bade adieu to his congregation and repaired to Dieppe. At this place, discouraging letters from Scotland reached him, which, together with a reluctance to occasion such scenes of discord and bloodshed as he expected, induced him to relinquish his journey. By his letters, however, he still advanced the reformation. In one of them, speaking of the doctrine of predestination, he says, "If there be any thing, which God did not predestinate and appoint, then lacked he wisdom and free regimen; [or government; or if any thing was ever done, or yet after shall be done in heaven or in earth, which he might not have impeded (if so had been his godly pleasure,) then is he VOL. X.

VOL. X.

not omnipotent; which three properties, to wit, wisdom, free regimen, and power denied to be in God, I pray you what rests in his Godhead? The wisdom of our God we acknowledge to be such, that it compelleth the very malice of Satan, and the horrible iniquity of such as be drowned in sin, to serve to his glory and to the profit of his elect."

Knox returned to Geneva in the end of 1557, and in the following year was engagad in making a new translation of the Bible into English, which is called the Geneva Bible. He also wrote several treatises, of which the one, that made the greatest noise, was The first Blast of the trumpet against the monstrous Regiment of Women, in which he assailed the practice of entrusting the reins of goverĥment in nations to females. The first sentence is "To promote a woman to bear rule, superiori. ty, dominion or empire, above any realm, nation, or city, is repugnant to nature, contumely to God, a thing most contrarious to his revealed will and approved ordinance; and finally it is the subversion of all equity and justice." It was undoubtedly the cruelty of queen Mary of England towards the protestants

25

which incited him to blow this blast. It was his intention to sound his trumpet thrice; but on the accession of queen Elizabeth, who favored the protestant cause, he was induced to abandon his design, although his opinion remained unaltered.

His letters to Scotland had the effect of encouraging the protestant lords, and they soon renewed their invitation to him. Bidding adieu for the last time to Geneva he went to Dieppe, and thence sailed to Leith, where he latided in May 1559. In the preceding year an aged priest was committed to the flames on a charge of heresy;-an event, which awakened the general indignation of the people, and strengthened the protestant interest. On his arrival he found, that the queen regent was determined to suppress the reform ed religion, all the preachers of which she summoned to trial at Stirling on the 10th of May. In reference to this order he says in a letter, "Satan rageth even to the uttermost, and I am come, I praise my God, even in the brunt of the battle. For my fellow preachers have a day appointed to answer before the queen regent, when I intend (if God impede not) also to be present; by life, by death, or else by both, to glorify his godly name, who thus mercifully hath heard my long cries. Assist me with your prayers, that now I shrink not, when the battle approacheth.' As a large number of the protestants were preparing to assemble at Stirling, the queen by a profligate promise to put a stop to the trial induced them to return to their homes. But on the day of trial the accused were

outlawed for not appearing. When the news of this treache ry came to Perth, where Knox had just preached a sermon against the idolatry of the mass, and image worship, the people in their indignation, notwithstanding his efforts to restrain them, destroyed all the ornaments of the church and demolished the monasteries of the grey and black friars and of the Carthusian monks.

The evident disposition of the queen to maintain with the sword the Catholic religion induced the protestant lords to enter into a close bond of union, and they determined, where their authority extended, to abolish the popish superstition. St. Andrews was thought the fittest place for beginning the reformation. Accordingly Knox went thither in June, and proposing to preach in the cathedral the archbishop assembled an armed force and declared, that if he appeared in the pulpit he would give orders to the soldiers to fire upon him. The noblemen on consultation advised him to desist from preaching, as their retinue was small, and the queen was near at hand with an army, ready to sup port the bishop. But he replied in the heroic spirit of the Christian, that he was determined to preach. "As for the fear of danger, that may come to me, let no man be solicitous," said he, "for my life is in the custody of Him, whose glory I seek. I desire the hand nor weapon of no man to defend me." The next day and for the three suceessive days he preached to a numerous assembly without the slightest opposition or interruption.

Such was his influence,

that the inhabitants agreed to set up the reformed worship, and the church was stripped of images and pictures, and the monaster. ies pulled down. In a few weeks the houses of the monks were destroyed in other parts of the kingdom,even at Stirling and Edinburgh. Knox entirely ap proved of the destruction of the monasteries, for he observed, that "the best way to keep the rooks from returning was to pull down their nests."

At the end of June, he went to Edinburgh, and was chosen the protestant minister in that city. But he soon was sent on a tour of preaching through the kingdoin, and in less than two months travelled over the great er part of Scotland, and was the means of opening the eyes of the nation to the abominations of popery, He was also at this period much employed in some negociations with the English court, to persuade to an effectual support of the protestant cause in Scotland against the queen regent, and the French soldiers sent from France to her aid. His exertions at this time were incredi̟ble; and although the papists publicly offered a reward to the person who should seize or kill him, he was not deterred from the discharge of any duty. The protestants, thinking it necessary to effect a revolution in the government, met at Edinburgh in a large assembly consisting of nobles, barons, and representa tives of boroughs, and it being proposed to depose the queen regent, the opinion of Knox respecting the lawfulness of that measure being required, he gave his opinion, that it was lawful

She was ac

and necessary. cordingly deprived of her authority. He was of opinion, that that there was a mutual compact, implied if not explicit, between rulers and their subjects, and that if the former became tyrants and oppressors, the latter have a right to depose them from office, and to elect others in their stead.

An English army entering Scotland in April 1560, the French troops retired to Leith, and a treaty was made with France, by which it was provided, that the troops should be rcmoved from the kingdom, and that a free parliament should be called. This treaty was fatal to popery in Scotland, which was supported by force only, and the reformed worship was every where set up.

In 1560 Knox had a principal hand in organizing the national church of Scotland. At the first General Assembly, Dec. 20th, he was one of the six min. isters present. About this time he was called to a heavy affliction by the death of his wife, and the care of his two young children was devolved upon him.

In Mary, queen of Scots, who had been educated in France, and who came to Scotland and assumed the reigns of government August 19, 1561, the protestants found a most determin. ed and artful enemy. As she immediately set up the Roman Catholic worship in the chapel` of Holyrood house, Knox took occasion to observe the next Sunday in a sermon against idolatry, that "one mass was more fearful to him, than if ten thousand armed enemies were landed in any part of the realm