ed the ingathering of the nations to Christ!

And, oh! who can reflect upon the dreadful prospect of the unconverted minister, as he is seen hastening to the bar of God, to surrender his own unhappy spirit, and to give an account of the souls whom he has blighted for eternity, without shedding tears of compassion and grief over his miserable and abandoned lot? Surely if those families, who bring up their sons for the ministry of the church, as a genteel and honourable profession, without reference to the grand question of their conversion to God, were, for one moment, to reflect upon the awful consequences of such a step, they would never be guilty of such cruelty to their offspring, or of such a heinous offence against the best interests of society. It is not to colleges and halls of theological science that we are to look for a converted ministry; but to the renewing energy of the Holy Spirit, and to the power of that "faith which purifies the heart, works by love, and overcomes the world."

That eminent servant of Christ, whose death we regard as a great public loss, did not minister at an altar dedicated" to an unknown God;" his were not the labours of a mere professional servant of the Church; on him did not rest the guilt of preaching a Saviour whose grace he had never tasted; to him did not belong the incongruity of pointing men to heaven without himself leading the way.

I am not aware indeed that his early youth was hallowed by the influence of piety; nor even that his college life gave promise of the scenes which afterwards followed. Attractive in the family circle, beloved among his schoolcompanions, and courted by his fellowstudents in the university-there is yet reason to apprehend that he was a stranger to the life of faith; and that his ordination vows were assumed without any higher motives than those which would naturally press upon a mind accustomed to regulate itself by those sentiments of honour and deco

rum which obtain among persons of well-disciplined habits, however little conversant with the genuine workings of spiritual religion.

After finishing a brilliant university course, at Cambridge, in 1817, Mr. Blunt was admitted to the orders of the English Episcopate in the year following, and commenced his ministry at Clare, a village in the county of Suffolk, where he first learned the responsibility of the work upon which he had entered, and became deeply imbued with those evangelical sentiments which gave a marked character to his future ministry. In what way the Spirit of God began to work upon the mind of this distinguished man, I am not precisely informed; but I have reason to believe that, like Thomas Scott and others, he was led, by a comparatively solitary process, to dig into the precious mine of God's holy word, and, in the absence of human instructors, to yield to the promised and effectual teaching of the Holy Ghost. The process of illumination was very gradual; but the result was satisfactory and substantial. He became deeply penetrated with the reality and power of the doctrines of grace; and though the most flattering prospects of wealth and distinction opened before him, in preparing the members of distinguished families for the Universities of our country, he formed the noble determination of sacrificing all to the higher pursuit of winning souls to Christ, and consecrating his talents, his learning, and the energies of an unusually active mind to the ministry of the word, and the good of souls.

Thus, brethren, did he become equipped for those high and honourable services to which his Lord and Master had destined him. In the comparative seclusion of a village sphere, he came to know the plague of his own heart, to feel the preciousness of Christ's gospel, and to form and foster those principles of action and those devotional habits which shed a hallowed lustre on the whole of his subsequent ministry.

In the absence of that vital change which passed upon him, during his sojourn at Clare, he could never have attained to the standing of a good minister of Jesus Christ." His reputation as a scholar, his respectability as a man, his integrity and moral worth as a member of society, would all have been nugatory for the great purposes of the Christian ministry, if it had not pleased the great and gracious Disposer of events to lay open to his mind the wonders of redeeming love, and to place him as an humble penitent at the foot of the cross. How wondrous and sovereign are those dispensations by which God prepares his servants for great and eminent service in his church! Among all the ministers of Christ, with whom it has fallen to my lot to communicate on such subjects, I never met with one who more fervently acknowledged himself a debtor to Divine grace for all that pertained to his own spiritual interests, and for all that qualified him for usefulness in the Christian church, than did Mr. Blunt. With Paul he was ever ready to acknowledge," By the grace of God, I am what I am;" "unto me who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ."

It may be observed that," as a good minister of Jesus Christ," the servant of the Lord whose death we mourn,

II. POSSESSED THE HIGH QUALIFICATION FOR HIS OFFICE, WHICH CONSISTS IN SCRIPTURAL VIEWS OF THE GOSPEL OF

CHRIST.

Both in his ministry and in his writings he had learned the necessity of giving marked prominence to those views of truth which humble the sinner, and exalt the Saviour. There was nothing doubtful in the character of his appeals. He probed the sinner's wound to its very core, and pointed him directly to the skill and power of the great Physician. He was neither a legalist on the one hand, nor an injudicious asserter of Divine grace on the other; but steered the happy medium between systems which would either

exalt the sinful creature, or turn the grace of God into licentiousness.

His doctrinal views were eminently scriptural and penetrating; removed alike from the frigidity of mere system, and the laxness of unconnected statement. On no occasion did he suffer himself to forget that the faithful minister's great advocate is the human conscience. Without a particle of severity in his manner or compositions, he had the happy art of bringing himself into immediate contact with the minds and sensibilities of his hearers, and of riveting their attention to truths and statements put forth in the simplest phrase, divested of all the arts of oratory, and of all the embellishments of an exuberant fancy. I have often been struck with astonishment, in observing a crowded and intelligent audience listening with breathless attention to a train of thought in which there was not a single sentence or sentiment beyond the comprehension of a child.

He possessed the power, above many of the most distinguished preachers of the day, of seizing upon those features of his subject which were most likely to impress the conscience, and of imparting to them that character of reality which made every one feel that they were addressed to himself. One of the most marked peculiarities of his ministry was the power which he possessed of delineating character; and whether he unfolded the biographies of Scripture, or traced the workings of human nature in living character, he was eminently successful in presenting a picture in all respects true to nature, free from that exaggeration which removes the portrait drawn from the sphere of humanity, and from that coldness and vague generality which wearies in the detail, and fails to produce impression upon the heart of the hearer. I never heard a preacher who better knew how to say much in few words, or who better attained to that simplicity of style which is the greatest ornament of the Christian pulpit.

But my brethren, his noblest

distinction was his settled ardent love of the pure and unadulterated gospel of Christ. He honoured his Saviour, and his Saviour honoured him. He gloried in the cross of Christ; he aimed to "declare the whole counsel of God;" he "determined to know nothing among men, save Jesus Christ and him crucified;" he rejected all the puerilities and new-fangled opinions of the day, by whomsoever put forth; and one of the last documents to which he affixed his name, was a protest against Popery and Puseyism, signed by more than two thousand clergymen of his own church.

I doubt not that he owed much of his doctrinal stability, in trying times, to the love which he had early cultivated for the writings of the Puritans and Nonconformists of the last age. Pointing, one day, while I was conversing with him in his study, to some of the choicest monuments of their theological industry, with which his library was well stored, he exclaimed, with an air of pleasantry peculiar to himself, "These are my best friends, next to the Bible." And he well knew how to seize upon the pith and marrow of their spirit-stirring compositions, without adopting their cumbrous phraseology, or being drawn into their tedious details. He had caught the fervour of their devotion, their love of souls, their reverence for the word of God, their deep-toned piety, and their unflinching attachment to the grand doctrines of the Protestant Reformation.

It may be observed that, as a good minister of Jesus Christ," the servant of the Lord whose death we mourn,

III. WAS DISTINGUISHED BY EMI

NENT DILIGENCE AND ASSIDUITY IN THE DUTIES OF HIS SACRED CALLING.

"Instant in season-out of season," must be the motto of all who would follow in the footsteps of inspired men. "Give thyself wholly to the work; let thy profiting appear unto all men," was the counsel of "Paul the aged" to his "son Timothy in the faith."

Now, considering the great delicacy

of constitution under which Mr. Blunt habitually laboured, he may be fairly regarded as an example to his brethren in the ministry, in the ardour and energy with which, for the space of many years, he discharged the duties of his sacred calling. It was in 1824 that he removed from the quiet repose of a country village to the parish of Chelsea, where he had to preach in one of the largest churches in the vicinity of the metropolis, and where parochial duties had to be performed to more than thirty thousand souls. In writing to me freely on some questions pertaining to his ministry, he once observed, emphatically, "How are we to meet the claims of duty and conscience in these overgrown parishes? It is enough to make one tremble to think of the multitude of souls for which one is bound to care. As Dissenters, you have mainly to look to your own congregations; but we have to range over a populous district, and, when we have done our best, to feel that we have not overtaken half the claims which press upon us.” Yet how faithfully and energetically, while curate of St. Luke's, did Mr. Blunt discharge his trusts, both as a minister of the word and as a pastor of the flock of Christ; for the space of six years, "serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears;" keeping "back nothing that was profitable" for the people; teaching" publicly, and from house to house;" testifying to all who heard him, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." Many living witnesses there are, who can bear ample testimony to the happy effects which then attended his ministry. A spirit of hearing was created, a love of gospel truth was generated, not a few were brought to repentance, a real revival of religion took place, and many who loved the truth as it is in Jesus were led to bless God for the arrival of an instructor, who "preached not himself, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and himself their servant for Jesus' sake." Every week his announcements of truth became more and more dis

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tinct, his views of the gospel were enlarged, his experience of Divine things was deepened, he was a burning and shining light, and many for a time rejoiced in his light."

Through the interest of powerful friends, when Trinity church was erected, he became the rector of Upper Chelsea, under the provisions of a particular act of parliament; and there, though in a less extended sphere, and amidst a circle of warmly-attached friends, drawn around him by the power of his ministry, and the weight of his long-tried character, he entered upon a career of service, in 1830, sufficiently exhausting and laborious to impair the energies of a constitution far more vigorous than that which it had pleased his heavenly Father to confer upon him. His sermons, indeed, were not long, and his manner was calm and gentle; but he preached often, not only on the Lord's days, but also on other days in the week, holding private meetings with his communicants in his own house, and conducting an extensive system of domestic visitation, far beyond the reach of his physical powers;-to say nothing of those more private calls of duty which are being constantly made upon the popular and acceptable pastor of a large congregation. For five years he thus laboured in Upper Chelsea, and drew around him a circle, which, for its intelligence and respectability, has rarely perhaps been found assembling in any single Christian sanctuary.

God gave

ning to listen to the gospel from his lips who had never heard it before, when his varied plans of usefulness were beginning to tell upon the people of his charge, and upon the spiritual interests of the surrounding district, it pleased the adored Head of the church to arrest him in his bright career by threatening indisposition, and to bring upon him those symptoms of constitutional malady from which he was never perfectly relieved to the hour of his death. This affecting change in the state of his health, far more, perhaps, than the patronage of the Duke of Bedford, prepared his mind for a change of ministerial sphere. All that a milder climate and professional skill and kindness could effect for him was achieved, and at times the energy of his constitution seemed as if it would triumph over the power of lurking dis ease; but every fresh recruital of strength was followed by a corresponding depression; so that it may well be regarded as a signal display of Divine mercy to the church, that a life so valuable should have been spared for more than eight years, after medical men of distinguished ability had pronounced his lungs to be fatally diseased. It is true, that after the winter of 1835, he was never able to take upon him the labours of former years; but he was active to the very last, and, either from the pulpit or the press, was ever aiming to do something for the good of souls. When presented to the living of Streatham, in Surrey, he was compelled to seek that relaxation in travel and otherwise which the shattered state of his constitution demanded; but in his new sphere, no less than in his former one, he left a testimony in the consciences of his parishioners, that to him "to live was Christ, and to die was gain."

In estimating the labours of Henry Blunt, it would be unjust to overlook the efforts of his pen. His writings on Scriptural Biography and in other departments of Christian truth, were voluminous; and if we except some of the productions of Dr. Harris, and the

Missionary Enterprises of Mr. Williams, no religious works, perhaps, in modern times, have secured for themselves so wide a circulation. One reason of their success, I doubt not, may be found in the fact, that they were, in most cases, delivered, in the first instance, to crowded auditories of per sons well able to purchase them when they made their appearance from the press. But this consideration alone will not account for their unprecedented popularity. They have in them an internal charm of beautiful simplicity and truth, which adapts them to a very numerous class of readers; and they are, moreover, free from all those asperities and ecclesiastical controversies which would restrict them to particular circles; so that they have literally be come the common property of the Christian church, and have carried light and consolation to thousands of God's children, who never met the author in the flesh, and never listened to his calm and dignified address. As in the success of his ministry, so also in the wide circulation of his works, I am disposed to recognise the hand of that God who makes ministers, naturally and spiritually, what they are, appoints their several spheres of action, and grants unto them such measures of success as he sees fit to ordain. There is a secret and hidden influence by which some of Christ's servants are raised to an eminence and a usefulness which cannot be accounted for by reference to second causes. That Spirit, whose operations are compared, in Scripture, to "the wind which blows where it listeth," surrounds some of Christ's servants with an atmosphere, by means of which their several efforts are rendered largely productive of good to their fellow-creatures. He who is the light of the world, holds the stars of the church in his right hand, and causes them to shine with an obscurer or brighter ray, as seemeth good in his sight. And who shall say that the fervent pleadings of our departed friend at a throne of grace were not a main

There is a great diversity of spiritual attainment among the faithful heralds of the cross; but in general, those who are greatly honoured of Christ, are distinguished by peculiar measures of Divine grace. Among the qualities of Christian character which shone forth most brightly in the life of Mr. Blunt, I would mention the following: humility, charity, devoted friendship, edifying conversation, right use of affliction, and strong faith in the dying hour.

1. His humility was conspicuous.— Although for the space of more than ten years, from the time that he commenced his ministry in Chelsea, till the failure of his health, in 1835, he experienced a run of popularity among the great and noble of the land, unprecedented in the history of any other clergyman in the metropolis, I must bear this grateful testimony to his character, that I never saw him evince the slightest elation of spirit, or indicate, by any one feature of his conduct, that he was puffed up with a feeling of superiority, or that his vanity was acted upon by the numerous instances of flattery which had been poured into his ear. His estimate of his own talents, attainments, and graces, was evidently very lowly. He often complained, in unaffected terms, of his spiritual defects; and more than once, in my own hearing, as well as by letter, referred, in desponding terms, to the slender spiritual results which had sprung from his faithful ministry. His full cup of ministerial prosperity he carried with a steady hand, and looked far more at the defects which attended the discharge of his duties, than at the apparent prosperity which met the eye.