the attention and the charity of his audience to our suffering Protestant Brethren in the South of France. We need not inform the reader that his Sermon abounds in those generous principles of religious liberty which he has so often and so effectually asserted. ART. VII.-God the Author of Peace. A Sermon, preached in the Dissenting Chapel at Mill Hill, in Leeds, on Thursday, January 18, 1816, being the day of Public Thanksgiving on the Conclusion of a General Peace. By the Rev. Thomas Jervis, Minister of MillHill Chapel. 8vo. Pp. 38. Longman and Co. Na strain of bold and manly elo. IN quence, Mr. Jervis sets forth the blessings of peace by describing the plague and curse of war. He seems to have judged, in our opinion correctly, that the only way to make peace permanent is to cherish the spirit of peace. Hence, whilst he extols the national courage, and adverts with conscious pride to our military and naval achievements, he hesitates not no rebuke and condemn that hostile disposition, too-long prevalent in Great Britain, which has made Europe a field of blood. ART. VIII-The Happiness of Great Britain. A Sermon, delivered at Newbury, January 18, 1816, being the Day appointed for a General Thanksgiving. By John Kitcȧt. 8vo. Pp. 18. 13. Hunter. TUS shat) HIS Sermon breathes a military spirit which is rare in meetinghouses, where "the ever venerable Blucher, that noble veteran in the cause of national independence," (p. 5) and the "illustrious Commander, the ever-inemorable, Field Martial" (MarDuke Wellington" (P. 6.) are, we believe, as yet, strange names. The preacher paints with a patriotic pencil the happy consequences of the battle of Waterloo; other consequences, might, we fear, be described by the French and Piedmontese Protestant, the Spaniard, the Saxon, the Genoese and the Pole. Even the English farmer and tradesman would have listened to Mr. Kitcat with some surprise and incredulity, whilst he described in words of large meaning, Great Britain as risen superior to her difficulties, and enjoying the sunshine of pros ART. X.-An Aldress to the Committee of the Isle of Sheppey Auxiliary Bible Society, containing Animadversions on their Conduct, in having rejected a Donation. With a Copy of the Correspondence. By. M. Harding. 8vo. pp. 18. Rochester, printed. 8d. HE Bible Society is on no account more worthy of support than that it promotes a spirit of charity amongst the several Christian denominations. Here and there, however, a bigot mistakes and perverts this happy tendency and design. "The Rev. T. Price," for instance, on the occasion described in the title page of the first of these publications, miserably abused the privilege of a public speech by attacking the Unitarians, whom he represented "as the Devil's Chaplains,” sent by his Satanic Majesty to Sheerness to oppose the Bible." Mr. Harding, an Unitarian teacher, was an indignant hearer of this Bedlam jargon; which he afterwards exposed to his neighbours in the "Letter," on the title-page of which he advertised that the profits arising from its sale would be given in aid of the Bible Society." We may congratulate Mr. Harding as one of the few successful authors. His Letter netted a profit of Eleven Shillings. This sum he paid into the hands of the Treasurer of the Society, September the 18th, 1815, wishing it to be inserted in the Annual List of Subscriptions as " a Donation, being the profits, &c." The List appeared without any acknowledgement of the donation. Mr. Harding then Review-Trinitarian Catechised.-Old Unitarian's Letter. addressed a note of inquiry to the se HE 241 cretary, who returned for answer that. Tauthor says, "This small publication has no other object in view than to produce candid reflection, and destroy the influence of superstition, bigotry and prejudice, those grand enemies to the kingdom of Christ, and to peace on earth and good-will towards men." This important object we think it calculated to promote. The Questions proposed are pertinent, and the reader is left to form the Answers. the sum alluded to was in the Bank, but that it was not passed into the account of the last year, because the Committee had not determined "on the propriety of receiving it." Wishing to save this body the trouble of further consultation, Mr. Harding then demanded that the contribution should be given back. In reply to this demand the secretary stated that it would be "most likely" complied with at the next meeting of the Committee, the matter having been debated but not decided at two previous meetings. At this announced meeting the Committee made up their minds and instructed their secretary to inform Mr. Harding that he might receive his Eleven Shillings" by applying to the bank where he left it." Mr. Harding pocketed the affront, and in return for the favour has addressed the Committee upon their conduct. The Address must, we should think, shame them, and will, no doubt, prevent the repetition of any such bigotted and mean proceedings. This affair ought to occupy a page of Mr. Owen's proposed History of the Bible Society.... ART. XI.--The Trinitarian Catechised, and allowed to Answer for Himself. 1815. pp. 15. 2d. or 2s. 6d per dozen. Hunter. ART, XII-A Letter from an old Unitarian to a young Calvinist. 1816. pp. 24. Hunter. "That THIS letter contains just and point- the value of this letter would not have The following lines, to which I venture to add a translation, may not be uninteresting, as the composition of a learned Negro. They are the introductory stanzas of a Latin elegy, the fragment of which is preserved by the Abbe Gregoire in his work de la literature des Negres. Their similarity to the Pallida Mors of Horace makes it probable that they were thence suggested to the author. The elegy was written by the African Jacques Elisa-Jean Capitein or the death of his friend and master, Manger, a clergyman at the Hague. Capitein was bought and carried to Holland at about eight years of age, whence, having passed through several universities, with great celebrity, he was sent Calvinistic missionary to Guinea. M. Gregoire mentions the remarkable circumstance that, before his death, at the instigation of some Dutch merchants, he became an advocate of the Slave Trade. OTIOSA. Invida mors totum vibrat sua tela per or- Et gestit quemvis succubuissse sibi. Death's all uuerring dartsaround are spread In regal palaces her dire command She checks the warrior in his proud carcer, And lays him vanquished on the trophied bier : Or treasur'd hoards, or pen'ry's simple all, To a withering Rose that had been trans- Say, have the Sun's meridian rays No; morn and eve have scarcely flown, To grace thee, lovely sight of woe, As glistening in their wonted shew To a Crocus, OTIOSA. Which has blown for thirty years on the same Welcome, thrice welcome; little flower, Exhausted nature droops and dies, Gay woodbines and the blushing rose, From the Portuguese of Camoens. Thou lovely spirit that so soon hast filed From this dark vale of solitude and woe, In heaven's eternal peace to rest thy head, While I must heave unceasing sighs below; If in the ethereal Courts thon honorest now, A thought of earth may enter, heavenly maid! Forget not the pure tears these eyes have shed, The love which fill'd this breast with holiest glow! And if the sorrow from my bosom driven, Ask from the bounty of indulgent heaven That I to meet thee from vain earth be riven, Early as thou wert torn from these sad eyes. A. ( 243 ) OBITUARY. On Thursday, the 18th of January, at Doncaster, after a short indisposition, in the 81st year of his age, the Rev. RICHARD HODOSON, Unitarian Minister at that place, where in connexion with Long Houghton he continued preaching until six months before his death, for the last fifteen years. He was the son of the Rev. John Hodgson, the minister at Lincoln. He received his education at Glasgow and Warrington: on his removal from thence he married Miss Lightfoot, daughter of the Unitarian minister at Osset, at which place he commenced the ministry, succeeding his wife's father, and for sixty years faithfully and unremit tingly preached the gospel. He had by her seven children, (two having since died) four of whom he had the satisfaction to see advantageously settled in Sheffield. From Osset he removed to Monton and continued to discharge the various duties of the ministry for many years. He afterwards went to Namptwich, where he preached thirtyone years. The former part of his time there he devoted to the education of a small number of young gentlemen. He then succeeded the Rev. Mr. Scott, at Doncaster. Although the smallness of the congregation there would often cause him a momentary concern, yet it proved no discouragement to his zeal and perseverance; he seldom suffered any thing except indisposition to interfere with the performance of bis duty, and could not be prevailed upon by his children or friends (who long thought him unequal to the exertion) to retire, until he was completely incapacitated for public service. He was blessed with a strong constitution, uncommon vigour and activity at his advanced period of life, until the loss of his excellent wife, who died the 10th of October, 1812, in the 76th year of her age that deprivation produced in him a material change, though he bowed with bumble submission to the will of heaven; since that time his intellectual faculties lost their vigour, and his health was gradually on the decline. Throughout life, he exhibited a natural cheerfulness of mind united with sensibility of heart, and in his last illness he exemplified the true spirit of Christian fortitude, patience under his sufferings, and derived great consolation from those principles of faith he had imbibed himself, and endeavoured to instil into the minds of others" The memory of the just is blessed." His children will ever remenuber his tender concern for their welfare, and his grandchildren his affectionate disposition and engaging manners. The above is inserted as a tribute of affection and respect by a part of his surviving family. Sheffield, March 19, 1816. K. At Saffron Walden, on Friday, March 1st, 1816, in the 73d year of his age, Mr. JOSEPH EEDES, for many years a deacon of the General Baptist Church in that town. He was a worthy member of society in general, and particularly useful to the religious society to which he belonged. He was a bright and ornamental character as a Christian; loved and respected by persons of different persuasions in religion for his mild and peaceable temper, his charitable disposition and good will to all.. He truly adorned the doctrines of Christianity. His death was easy and calm; be was resigned to the will of heaven, and fell asleep without a sigh or groan. He was interred March 12, in his family vault, in the burial ground belonging to the General Baptists in Saffron Walden. An impressive sermon was preached on the occasion by his minister, the Rev. S. Philpot, from 1 Thessalonians iv. 13, 14, to a respectable and crowded audience, who testified their regard to the good man by paying this last tribute of respect to his memory: an appropriate Oration at the grave finished the last part of the solemn scene. H. Died, March 22d, 1816, in her fiftysecond year, ANN, wife of Mr. Robert BLYTH, of Birmingham, (to whom she was married April 10, 1783), and daughter of the late Mr. George Brittain, merchant, of Sheffield. The best qualities of the understanding and of the heart were united in this valuable woman. A worshipper, on inquiry and from conviction, of the one God, the Father, in the name of the man Christ Jesus, she adorned her religious profession by the spirit of genuine meekness, humility, devotion and beneficence. Her estimable and liberal-minded parents had educated her in the principles of the Established Church. The events, however, of her early life, led her to examine the foundation of Unitarian Dissent: she reflected and read much on the subject; and, comparing with the scriptures what she heard respecting it in conversation and in public discourses, she saw reason to embrace that simple faith in the evidences and obligations of which she assiduously instructed her children; ten out of eleven, of whom survive to bless her memory and attempt the imitation of her vis tues. In her family and neighbourhood, in a large circle of associates, through which the sweetness of her temper and manners uniformly shed delight, and in the religious community of which she was a distinguished ornament, her death has occasioned a va cancy that will not be easily supplied. All her duties were discharged with eminent wisdom, affection and fidelity, As a daugh, ter and a wife, not less than as a mother, she was, above most, deservedly admired and beloved. To the voice of friendship and the feelings of enlightened piety she was ever alive and her submission to the Divine Will, through many years of bodily languor, presented a truly engaging and edifying spectacle. Of such a character a sketch is now given, that the graces of it may be emulated: around such a tomb Christian mourners may join in two employments which are among the noblest, the most beneficial and the most soothing, of any that can occupy the contemplative mind-in virtuous recollection and in the indulgence of sacred and even exulting hope! son. On the 29th of March, in the 60th year of his age, and exactly seven weeks after the death of his mother, (see p. 110;) Mr. JOSHUA JOYCE, of Essex Street, Strand, highly respected as well for the activity and usefulness of his talents as for the uprightness and integrity of his conduct in every relation of life. By the death of his father in 1778, when he was a very young man, the care of the junior branches of the family, in a great measure, devolved on him, whose concerns he managed with zeal and disinterestedness. The patrimony resulting to them was small, but to the younger brother, in addition to an equal share with the rest of the children, was bequeathed a small copyhold, supposed by his father, to be his right as youngest The subject of the present article was, however, informed, when he appeared in court to pay the usual fine, in behalf of his brother, that he might dispute his father's will and claim it for himself, the idea of which he instantly rejected. By this act of disinterestedness the youth, in whose favour it was done, was enabled, when he came of age, and had completed the term of his apprenticeship, in which he had been engaged about a year, to quit mechanical employments and to devote himself, under the patronage of the late Rev. Hugh Worthington, to those studies that are necessary qualifications for the profession of a dissenting minister. In 1794, when his brother was singled out by the late Mr, Pitt as a victim, with others, to be sacrificed at the shrine of his wicked ambition, Mr. Joshua Joyce zealously interested himself in his behalf, and that of the other state prisoners; and the late Mr. John Horne Tooke has frequently asserted, that himself and friends were more indebted to his exertions than to those of any other man in defeating the projects of ministers, who, at that period, were conspiring to subvert the liberties and constitution of the country. The minister had hoped to perplex and coutound the prisoners, by sending to each, or causing to be sent, an unheard of number of persons as jurymen and to use his cwp phrase a cloud of witnesses whose cha racters it would be difficult, if not impossible to scrutinize in the short period of ten days; but by the constant and unwearied efforts of the subject of this article, with the aid of other persons of great respectability, who felt that on the issue of those trials depended the liberties and safety of every man in the realm, as well as the lives of the accused; the characters and motives of four hundred and twenty-one persons were fully investigated in the time allowed: the minister was baffled, his spies detected, and himself discomfited and disgraced. Many private trusts were committed to the care of Mr. Joyce, which he executed with fidelity and to the satisfaction of those for whose interests he was engaged. He has left a widow and ten children to deplore his loss: the latter by imitating his virtues will do honour to the character of an excellent parent, and probably secure to themselves the reputation and success in the world which are, to the young and well disposed, always objects of laudable ambition. Addition to the Obituary of MR. JAMES DROVER, p. 184. (Extracted from the conclusion of Mr. Aspland's Funeral Sermon for him, just published.) Here I might conclude. But I shall be expected perhaps to say a few words on the sad occasion of this Sermon; and I shall fulfil this expectation as far as appears to me consistent with propriety and serviceable to the cause of righteousness and truth. Funeral sermons are however for the benefit of the living only, and any further praise of the dead than may excite the virtuous imitation of survivors would be useless and even painful: within this limit I shall strictly confine myself. The sentiments of the discourse which you have just heard were familiar to the mind of our departed brother, Mr. JAMES DROVER. He was in the constant habit of putting down his thoughts and feelings in writing; and amongst his last-written manuscripts there has been found a paper, with this remarkable sentence, "When I arrive at the closing period of my existence, if I can look back with as much satisfaction as I now look on my present sentiments, I shall die with confidence in the divine mercy." Hence it appears, that though the death of our respected friend was sudden, it was not, in the most important sense of the word, untimely; it did not find him unprepared. He was, in fact, a truly religious man. I know no one, not engaged in the study of divinity by the duties of a profession, who read and thought so much upon sacred subjects. He was accustomed to frequent retirement; and the papers which he has left behind show how his retirement was occupied, namely, in the inquiry after |