or, Persecution for Religion condemned by the Light of Nature, Law of God, Evidence of our own Principles" appeared as the work of "William Birchley," an "Independent," in 1651; the second part followed in 1652, and a third part in 1653. Under the same pseudonyme he published in 1651 "The Oath of Abjuration Arraigned." "Reflections upon the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance" was printed in 1661, "Booker Rebuked" in 1665, and, in 1668, "Devotions in the Antient Way of Offices; containing Exercises for Every Day in the Week and Every Holiday in the Year." A second edition of this work was published in 1672 and a third in 1675. He was the author also of "A Letter from a Cavalier in Yorkshire to a Friend, written during the Civil War," also of "A Punctual Answer to Dr. John Tillotson's Book called 'The Rule of Faith," "The Four Gospels in One," and several anonymous pamphlets against the Assembly of Divines at Westminster.

He died at his house in Bow St., Covent Garden, in the summer of 1669; and, according to Anthony Wood, "was buried in the church of St. Paul there." The editor of one of the issues of his "Devotions" says: "He sweetened a tedious sickness by a perpetual exercise of Divine love, and welcomed his approaching dissolution with incredible transports of joy." "He gave up the ghost with these remarkable words: 'Now, heartily for heaven, through Jesus Christ.""

His "Devotions," etc., contain forty-three hymns, some of them of great excellence.

A beautiful specimen of his style and spirit is given in a part of one of his hymns as follows:

"My God! had I my breath from thee

This power to speak and sing?

And shall my voice, and shall my song,
Praise any but their King?

"My God! had I my soul from thee-
This power to judge and choose?
And shall my brain, and shall my will,
Their best to thee refuse ?

"Alas! not this alone, or that,
Hast thou bestowed on me ;
But all I have, and all I hope,
I have and hope from thee.

"And more I have, and more I hope
Than I can speak or think,-
Thy blessings first refresh, then fill,
Then overflow the brink."

THOMAS WILLIAM B. AVELING.

1815.

MR. AVELING became personally known to the American people as one of the delegates from Great Britain to the Conference of the Evangelical Alliance that met in New York, October, 1873. On October 11, 1838, he became the pastor of the Independent Chapel at Kingsland, a suburb of London. During the first two years of his pastorate he was the colleague of the venerable John Campbell [17661840], the noted African traveller.

Mr. Aveling was born at Castletown, Isle of Man, May 11, 1815. He obtained his early training in the school of Mr. James Smith at Wisbeach, Cambridgeshire, at which place also, though born in the Church of England, he became a member of the Independent Church. In 1834, with a view to the ministry, he entered Highbury College, London. He graduated with honor in June, 1838, and immediately afterward was called to Kingsland Chapel.

In addition to his pulpit labors and pastoral duties, Mr. Aveling has been a frequent contributor to the religious press. In his youth he was addicted to versification. At the age of nineteen [1834] he published a small volume of poems. He edited for five years [1848-1853] the Jewish Herald, a religious monthly; also for a considerable time the Missionary Souvenir, to both of which he contributed frequently. He is the author of several interesting and

useful miscellaneous volumes, and of a considerable number of hymns-the greater part of which were written on the occasion of the several anniversaries of his SundaySchool, or in connection with his annual sermons to the young people of his charge. The hymn,

"Hail! thou God of Grace and Glory,"

was written for the jubilee of his church, June 16, 1844. Several of his hymns have appeared in the British "SundaySchool Union Hymn-Book," in the London Evangelical Magazine, and the Sunday at Home. The stanzas that follow, taken from a hymn published in the Evangelical Magazine, are a fair specimen of his style:

THE REV. DR. BACON was the son of a missionary, the Rev. David Bacon, who, in 1800, was appointed by the Missionary Society of Connecticut to labor among the In

dians on the south and west of Lake Erie. In order to learn the language of the savages Mr. Bacon and his young wife located themselves at Detroit, then a frontier settlement, where their son Leonard was born February 19, 1802. The father left the service of the Missionary Society in 1805, and subsequently resided in Hudson and Tallmadge, Ohio, of which latter place he was the first settler. He died in 1817, leaving three sons and four daughters.

In 1812 Leonard was sent to reside with an uncle at Hartford, Conn., where he was fitted for college. He entered the Sophomore Class of Yale College in 1817, and though with one exception the youngest of his class, he ranked high among his fellows as a scholar and writer. He graduated in 1820 and entered the Theological Seminary of Andover, Mass., the same year. He was ordained at Windsor, Conn., to the work of an evangelist, September 28, 1824, and the next Sabbath began to preach as a candidate for settlement in the Centre Church, New Haven. A call was extended to him, and he was installed as the successor of the Rev. Nathaniel W. Taylor, D.D., March 9, 1825, a youth of only twenty-three years. This most influential position he occupied for forty years with eminent ability and marked efficiency. In 1866 he was appointed Acting Professor of Revealed Theology and Lecturer on Church Polity and American Church History in the Theological Department of Yale College. The latter position he continued to fill till his death, Dec. 24, 1881.

Dr. Bacon was one of the most prolific writers of his day. The leading article of the March number of The Christian Spectator (a New Haven monthly) for 1822, "On the Peculiar Characteristics of the Benevolent Efforts of our Age," was from his pen. From that date he was almost constantly before the public. Every subsequent volume of the monthly, and every volume of the quarterly Christian Spectator, as well as of The New-Englander, contained some article (one or more) from his pen. He was also for some years one of the editors of the New York Independent. He was the author of a large number of essays, ser

mons, and lectures in pamphlet form. Not content with this wonderful fecundity, he found time also for the publication of several volumes, many of them requiring a large amount of research and care in their preparation.

In 1833 he compiled "A Supplement to Dwight's Psalms and Hymns." The hymn beginning,

"Wake the song of jubilee,"

is found in this compilation.

"Hail tranquil hour of closing day;"

is from the "Psalms and Hymns for Christian Use and Worship, prepared and set forth by the General Association of Connecticut" (1846), of which he was one of the supervising editors. To this collection he contributed eight other hymns, three of which had also appeared in 1833. The following stanzas are from one of his hymns on "The Missionary's Death":