uel R. Brown, D.D., of Japan, as was also the tune, "Brown," named for her by Mr. W. B. Bradbury. The hymn beginning with, "O Lord! thy work revive," "was written from the impulse of a full heart, and shown to a friend, who begged a copy for private use. It soon found its way to the public in the 'Spiritual Songs.' Written at Monson, 1819." Such is her own account of it. Mrs. Brown became a widow, in 1854, in her seventysecond year. She then found a home with her only son, who had returned from China, and had become the pastor of the Owasco Outlet Reformed Church, near Auburn, N. Y. On his departure (1859) to Japan, she took up her abode with her daughter Hannah, the wife of Deacon Elijah Smith, who, with her only surviving sister, was residing at Henry, Ill. There she dwelt, serene and happy, until her death, October 10, 1861, in the seventy-ninth year of her age. The following hymn was written by Mrs. Brown, in 1819, at Monson, Mass., during a revival season, for a sunrise prayer-meeting; it was included (1832) among Hastings and Mason's "Spiritual Songs": "How sweet the melting lay, Which breaks upon the ear, "The breezes waft their cries Up to Jehovah's throne, He listens to their bursting sighs, "So Jesus rose to pray, Before the morning light, Once on the chilling mount did stay "Glory to God on high Who sends his blessings down, And makes his people one!" SIMON BROWNE. 1680-1732. SIMON BROWNE wrote in the days of Watts, whom he greatly revered. He was born, in 1680, at Shepton-Mallet, Eng. His early education was pursued at home under the care of the Rev. John Cumming, his pastor. He was then put under the instruction of the Rev. John Moore, pastor of the dissenting church of Bridgewater. He was a diligent student, and an apt scholar; of a grave aspect, and godly life. In his twentieth year he was authorized to preach. Soon after, he undertook the pastoral charge of a large and important church at Portsmouth. Here he continued, honored, useful, and beloved, about fifteen years. He was called thence, in 1716, to succeed the Rev. John Shower, as pastor of the Old Jury church, one of the most influential dissenting churches in the kingdom. Dr. Watts was then a near neighbor, preaching hard by in Bury Street. Matthew Henry had died two years before, leaving his great Commentary unfinished. The First Epistle to the Corinthians was assigned to and completed by Mr. Browne. Besides occasional sermons, he had published, before coming to London, a considerable volume (1809), entitled,— "The true Character of the Real Christian, or Sincere Good Man." Of the "Occasional Papers," he wrote Nos. 4, 10, and 12. He took part in the Salter's Hall Conference, held at London early in 1719, and sided, because of his zeal for the rights of conscience, against subscription to the First Article [Trinitarian] of the Church of England. Dr. Watts, the same year, brought out his version, or "Imitation of the Psalms of David," and Mr. Browne's Hymns followed, the next year (1720). Two years later (1722), he published a volume of his sermons (13), highly evangelical and well written. They are chiefly on practical themes. It pleased God, the following year (1723), to remove from him, by death, a beloved wife and an only son. A deep depression of spirits succeeded, aggravated, as some have said, by having unwittingly killed a foot-pad, by whom he was assaulted on a journey. But this statement is not well authenticated. A heavy gloom came over him, resulting in a most remarkable malady, which affected him, without interruption, to the end of his life. He became a confirmed monomaniac. He imagined, as stated by Mr. Atkey in his Funeral Sermon, "that Almighty God, by a singular instance of divine power, had, in a gradual manner, annihilated in him the thinking substance, and utterly divested him of consciousness; that, though he retained the human shape, and the faculty of speaking, in a manner that appeared to others rational, he had all the while no more notion of what he said than a parrot. And, very consistently with this, he looked upon himself as no longer a moral agent, a subject of reward or punishment." Nothing could shake this conviction. He ceased to preach and pray; gave up his pastoral charge; retired to Shepton-Mallet, and devoted himself to literary pursuits. He dismissed all fear, was calm and even cheerful. All the while the masterly character of his mind was more and more apparent. So acute a disputant was he, that his personal friends were wont to say, "He can reason as if he were possessed of two souls." He translated some of the ancient Greek and Latin poets into English verse; he composed several school-books for children; and compiled a Greek and Latin Dictionary. "A fit Rebuke to a ludicrous Infidel," written with great care and shrewdness, was published by him in 1731; “A Sober and Charitable Disquisition concerning the Importance of the Doctrine of the Trinity," a remarkably able and learned essay, followed the next year, also, his "Defence of the Religion of Nature, and the Christian Revelation," in reply to Tindal, said to be "superior to most, and inferior to none," of the Defences, "that have appeared on the same subject." For want of proper exercise, his health failed, and he died, at the close of the year 1732, of a complication of disorders. His Hymn Book contains 266 original hymns, truly evangelical, and quite superior, in rhythm and diction, to the most of what was then current as "sacred lyrics." Prefixed to the book are twenty Tunes-Treble, Tenor, and Bass-four of them of his own composition. In his Preface, which is quite valuable for its historical notices, he says: "The ingenious Mr. Watts has outdone all that went before him in the variety of his subjects, the smoothness of his verse, and the richness of his fancy." "The world, I hope, will not do me the injury to think that I aim at being his rival. These hymns are designed as a Supplement to his, not intended to supplant them." "I do not set up for a poet. And yet, 'tis no vanity to say, I aim at being more poetical than some who have gone before me. I have labored to make the verse smooth, and the sense obvious and clear." "I have more tyed myself to rhyme than any of my predecessors, Mr. Barton excepted; having throughout taken care, either to rhyme in couplets, or in every other line." He shows a great familiarity with Watts' Psalms and Hymns, frequently borrows his phraseology, and, in some cases, simply reconstructs his neighbor's production. "Sometimes," he says, "I have borrowed my stamina from others." The 122d hymn in his book,-beginning with, "Thrice happy saints, who dwell above, has ten stanzas. In God's immediate sight; They glow with everlasting love, And shine divinely bright," Five only are retained, in the altered form in which alone they have long been used. The following stanzas are from the fifth hymn of his third book: "Hail! Holy Spirit! bright immortal Dove! "Oh! shed thine influence and thy power exert; And heavenly life to all its powers convey." MICHAEL BRUCE. 1746-1767. "Whom the Gods love die young,' was said of yore." So wrote Lord Byron, quoting Plautus, and he Menander. It is true only in part. It was true, among many others, of Henry Kirke White, Robert Murray McCheyne, John Summerfield, Thomas Spencer, and Michael Bruce. The latter had entered only his twenty-second year, when he was called to join the heavenly choir. Michael was the fifth child of Alexander and Ann Bruce, whose eight children all died young-Michael outliving the others. The father was an humble weaver. Both the par ents were godly and discreet. Their home was a small thatched cottage, with a sashed-not a lattice-window, in the little hamlet of Kinneswood, skirted with a circle of old ash trees, two miles from Kinross, on the southwestern declivity of the Lomond Hills, and on the northeastern bank of Loch Leven. It was just the place for a poet. Here Michael was born, March 27, 1746, and here he grew to early manhood. Few, indeed, were his advantages, but he improved them well. At four, he could read; at six, he could write, and write well. In boyhood he was manlyin intellectual developments far in advance of his years. He was the chaplain of his humble home. In his advanced boyhood he was "slenderly made, with a long neck and narrow chest; his skin white, and shining; his cheeks tinged with red rather than ruddy; his hair yellowish and inclined to curl." The Rev. Thomas Mair, of the Associate Synod, was his pastor. Poor as he was, he began, in his eleventh year, the study |