RICHARD NEWTON, ESQ. (Continued from page 162.) Biography. Before his death Mr. Newton had prepared a long and very excellent letter of advice to his numerous and affectionate family, on the subject of personal religion, moral character, and general deportment; requesting them not to open it till after his death. Mr. Newton had been, for several years, a magistrate, and was much and deservedly respected by a numerous circle of friends. He has left three sons and six daughters to mourn the loss of a truly kind parent and excellent guide. May they follow him as he followed Christ, and all have the happiness of meeting in heaven! Several are already united to the Wesleyan Methodist Society. "To live is Christ; to die is gain." As a Christian, his piety was deep and uniform. He loved the sacred Scriptures; and, in his will, requested that his executors should purchase a good Bible for every one of his children, mentioning them by name. Of late years he manifested an improved spirit of candour and liberality. He truly felt a lively interest in all benevolent societies; rejoicing in the prospe Irity of the work of God, the spread of Christianity, and the improvement of all the different sections of the Christian church. He was united, in the bond of true affection, to all who loved our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity; and prayed constantly for great grace to rest upon all who hold the Head, and preach the distinguishing doctrines of "Christ and him crucified." Though on some doctrinal points, he did not entirely agree with us, yet he wished to be received as a member, to be under our pastoral care, and to be responsible to us for his moral and religious conduct. On several occasions, when I first came on this Mission, he said, "I have settled all my temporal affairs; I have only one desire left, and that is, that I and all my family may be members of your society;" and shortly before he died, he said, "how good is the Lord to me, an unworthy servant! I have all, and abound; my affairs in this world are to my mind, both in temporal and spiritual things; my children are uniting themselves to your society; and I am thankful, and exceedingly happy:" then, in an extacy of joy, while heavenly smiles beamed from his countenance, he said, "Lord, now letest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy Word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation!" His name will long be cherished by many in these parts who have had the pleasure of his acquaintance, council, and sympathy. As a friend he was kind, judicious, and greatly beloved. He was highly respected for his many virtues, for his truth, honesty, intelligence, and real worth. In the very excellent letter, prepared before his death, for the benefit of his children, he warns them against contracting prejudices unfavourable to true reli gion on account of the faults of professing Christians; and earnestly cautions them against meddling in political disputes. Often did he express his deep regret that the members of Christian Societies should be identified with political parties; and often did he mourn over the painfully injurious influence which such a position invariably exerted upon the piety, the peace, and prosperity of the Christian Church. Dead, indeed, to the world himself, he felt anxious that all true believers should keep in view their heavenly birth and holy character, and live as the lights of the world-displaying a temper, a charity, a decision in religion, accordant with their real dignity, spiritual hopes, and glorious destiny. Belleville, March, 1842. APPENDIX ΤΟ THE FOREGOING, BY THE KEV. W. COOPER. MR. NEWTON was ordained pastor over the Church and congregation in Ballina carrow (Thorn-Hill) near Collooney, county Sligo, by myself and other ministers, whose names I do not now distinctly remember; it is thought in the autumn of the year 1813. This little rural and once flourishing church, though revived and re-organized by the Rev. Dr. Nolan, when pastor of the church in Sligo, has since, it is feared, become extinct, and is no longer numbered among the few and struggling churches of the independent connexions in this country. Mr. Newton, though he had not received the advantages of a liberal education, and his manners were somewhat blunt, was a man of considerable talent; endowed with much good sense, and of a very strong mind. He was a rough, unpolished diamond. By his own exertions, after his removal to Ireland, he obtained a knowledge of the Irish language, an acquisition of no small difficulty, from the peculiarity of some of its sounds to an Englishman previously unaccustomed to any other language than his own. became able to converse freely with the peasantry in their native tongue; which, with his well-known honesty, and sterling good sense, served much to recommend him to them, and to give him free access to them, and frequent intercourse among them. He I am not sure that he was able to preach in Irish. When he and his family removed to Dublin, a measure rendered necessary by circumstances not now fully remembered by the writer, they joined the congregation in Plunket Street, then under my care; and he became at once a useful and active member of the church, assisting us in various ways, for which his natural talent and previous experience eminently qualified him. He uniformly presided at the meetings for conversation on the Scriptures, held on every Monday evening, on any occasion of my being absent; and the judiciousness of his remarks, with the soundness of his views, greatly kept up the interest of those meetings. All of us, and especially his pastor, greatly regretted his leaving us for America. It has been gratifying to some of his surviving friends to learn that he maintained to the last that unblemished character and those scriptural principles that marked him while among us, that he finished his course in triumph; and that his numerous family are every one of them following their father as he followed Christ. A letter from a married daughter, which conveyed the account of her father's death to Dublin, adds, to this happy intelligence respecting all his children, "Will you be kind enough to inform Mr. Cooper and Mr. B- - of the death of my dearest father. Say to Mr. VOL. I. C that all our family have united Church, as they could not see any prosthemselves with the British Methodist pect of an Independent Church in this part of the country; but that we are still unaltered in our sentiments, though I trust we have learned to forbear with one another in love; and I must say that morality, as well as religion, is at a very low ebb in this country." Dublin, Jan. 20th, 1844. MRS. CLEAVER, WIFE of the Archbishop of Dublin, born at in Ireland, and descended from one of its ancient and most honourable families. This lady stands so high in the records of excellence, that it may truly be said, "When the eye saw her, it blessed her;" when the ear heard of her, it was in the chorus of praise and admiration in her was united all the warmth and liberality of the Irish, with the solidity, energy, and fortitude of donations, yet her benevolence was as exthe English character. Munificent in her tensive as her generosity was unbounded; unostentatious in her charities, as in all her actions, she concealed them as much as possible from the public eye. She seemed indeed to live but for the welfare of others; her every pursuit was subservient to that exalted sense of duty, which was the ruling of all her actions. The benevolence and principle of her mind, and the great stimulus virtues of her heart appeared in her countenance, aud gave an inexpressible charm to her manners and conversation. No one retired from her society without having been pleased; and very few without improvement. elegant or graceful in language, and digniWith an intuitive perception of all that was fied in conduct, she united intellectual endowments which would have rendered she pursued the paths of literature; but her conspicuous in any sphere of life, had the friend, engrossed her attention. She the duties of daughter, mother, the wife, and happiness at home, and diffusing it in the was always actively engaged to promote wide circle of her connexions. She poured consolation into the bosom of distress; bound up the broken heart; "visited the fatherless and widow in their affliction;" 66 gave to the poor bread;" to the sick medicine; and to the ignorant instruction. record and lament, on the 1st of May, Such was the being whose decease we ing evening, and not having risen at her 1815. She had retired to rest the precedusual time in the morning, the family became alarmed, and on entering her chamber, engaged in prayer.-Ryan. found her dead; apparently as if recently, B b A SISTER'S CLAIM. Poetry. A PLEA FOR IRELAND; AND AN APPEAL TO ENGLAND. Island of beauty-nature's choice one-thou A spirit-stirring influence rise within! And must I add, ah, gloomy epithet,- I mourn for thee,-I blush for thine ally, Ah, look not on her with contemptuous eye! Say not, she is so sunk!-What once wast thou? Let thine own history teach thee kinder things; E'en pity to Hibernia's degradation! Thou owest her much, for she hath serv'd thee long, And serv'd thee well; the increase of her field, The labor of her firm athletic nerve Hath minister'd to thee. Give her an helping hand: Caress, restore her to her native rights! She'll prove a kindred worthy of thyself. For Erin is the child of intellect-of mind; Instructed, foster'd, she would brightly shine: Would gem the sacred firmament of lore! Would swell the glory of the classic page! Teach her wild muses, they will richly twine Immortal garlands for Britannia's brows! But more, far more! Oh, nobler, happier thought! Send her the word of truth-the living word; Unfetter'd as itself-pure as its source! Undipp'd-unsullied in streams of man's device Of pontifical, or of priestly bane! Reviews. arch of Constantinople, on the Priesthood; translated by EDWARD GARRARD MARSH, M. A., Canon of Southwell, Vicar of Aylesford, and formerly Fellow of Oriel College. London: SEELEY, BURNSIDE AND SEELEY, Fleet Street, 1844. The Treatise of John Chrysostom, Patri- | speaks of "that happy state, the life of monks." On which passage, the translator, in the notes at the end of the volume, judiciously remarks, "How early the disposition to invent a better way than that taught in the Bible, entered into the Church of Christ! Monasticism; a state unknown to the Apostles, was soon regarded as the true philosophy; and a life of contemplation and indolent devotion, was thought to advance the soul to a higher degree of perfection, than is attainable in the discharge of those ordinary duties which belong to common Christians." It appears also that this father could advocate a practice which leads to what have been strangely called the "pious frauds" of after ages; and which so disgrace the history of the Church; for he says in pp. 26, "There may be cases in which deception is a duty, and one by which the greatest good may be effected; and in such cases he who acts with integrity, would do a serious injury to the person whom he neglected to deceive." Where is the Christian minister in the present day who would not blush to be the author of such a passage? Those who can appeal to such a writer as an authority, either for faith or practice, must surely be ignorant of the indignant denouncement of the Apostle, who, speaking of those who do evil that good may come, says, "whose damnation is just." But Chrysostom also states, when speaking of the priests (ministers) "that they are the authors of our birth from God, of the blessed regeneration, of the true liberty and of the adoption of grace," p. 65. Again, when speaking of the same character, he says, p. 184," For, when he invokes the Holy Spirit, and offers that most awful sacrifice, and handles for a long time the universal Lord of all, (tell me) in what rank shall we place him? Then also there are angels who stand near the priest, and all the order of the heavenly powers raise their voice, and the place around the altar is filled in honour of the victim, as the greatness of the THE "Fathers!" this is the watchword of a certain party in the present day. But who were the fathers? Let history reply, and unquestionably the answer will prove that they were "men of like passions with ourselves." That they embraced serious errors, both in faith and practice, is abundantly evident from their writings, and apparent in the work before us, which is a translation of a treatise on the priesthood, written by the celebrated Chrysostom. This father was born in 354, made Bishop of Constantinople, in 398, and died in 407. "His parents (says Milner, in his Church History) were persons of some rank, and by the care of his mother, (for he lost his father soon after his birth), his education was attended to in a very particular manner. By her means he had the advantage of being early prejudiced in favor of Christianity. Yet, being naturally studious of eloquence, he devoted himself to the care of that great master, Libanius of Antioch, who being one day asked who would be capable of succeeding him in his school? "John," said he, "if the Christians had not stolen him from us." So great was the idea he had formed of his powers of eloquence. He prognosticated right. It would be easy to produce abundance of instances of his oratorical abilities. I wish it were in my power to record as many of his evangelical excellencies. Yet one, whose deficiency of evangelical sentiments is thus admitted by an Episcopalian historian, is held up as an authority by many, and treated with more respect than the oracles of truth. But with how little reason will appear from his admiration of Monastic Institutions; for he : rites, then celebrated, may well incline us to believe. But, besides this, I once heard a person relate what an elderly venerable man, who had been accustomed to see revelations, told him; namely, that he had on one occasion been honored with a sight of such a vision; and that at that time he perceived suddenly as far as it was possible for a man to perceive—a multitude of angels -clothed with shining robes, and surrounding the altar, and bending downward, as soldiers are seen to stand in the presence of their sovereign and I believe it." The translator very justly observes, that "the superstitious credulity of Chrysostom in this particular, in matters not revealed, and the honour paid in these fables to the outward symbols, appointed by our Lord to be signs of his most blessed body and blood, illustrate the declension which the church had even then undergone from the simplicity of the Gospel. We consider the translator has done an important service to the Church of Christ by this publication, as it shows how soon the mystery of iniquity began to work. Those who submit to the authority of Scripture, will say, as they rise from the perusal of this work-to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them. Ancient Christianity; and the Doctrines of the Oxford Tracts for the Times. Supplementary Number. By the author of "Spiritual Despotism." JACKSON AND WALFORD, London; CURRY, Dublin. WE hail, with pleasure, the conclusion of the admirable work, of which this Supplementary part “ brings forth the top-stone." | Though (from its erudite style) not the most popular, we look upon it as (from its scholar-like research) the greatest work which the Puseyitish controversy has produced. It aims a death-blow at the great master-heresy of our times. In order to convince, it requires (we are persuaded) only to be read with impartiality; but if those who stand most in need of its contents give it a reading at all, it is (unfortunately) not likely to be an impartial one. Its faults-chiefly those of arrangement-are incidental to its mode of publication-that by instalments; and, now that the whole is completed, we hope a speedy call for a new edition will induce the author to remodel it altogether; and give its contents more of a consecutive character. The part before us makes the following highly useful additions to the work: 1. Illustrations of the mode in which the fathers are cited by the compilers of the Formularies of the Church of England. 2. Additional evidence relating to subjects discussed in this work. 3. Explanations and corrections. 4. Tables of Contents, Chronology, Authors, and Editions. 5. General Index. The Glory of the Redeemer in his Person and Work. By OCTAVIUS WINSLOW. JOHN F. SHAW, 27, Southampton Row, Bookseller; and J. ROBERTSON, Dublin. The mighty theme, which is the subject of the Author's production, has been presented in a variety of forms, by able preachers and writers. The eloquent, the learned, and the reasoning, have each contributed to illustrate, expound and confirm the subject of the Deity, and consequent glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. But numerous as the preachers and writers upon the subject have been, it is in itself so vast and comprehensive and has such a direct bearing upon the highest interests of man, that it is impossible for tongue or pen to exhaust, or fully to exhibit the length, breadth, depth and height of this great argument. The writer, whose work has called forth these observations, has not treated the theme as a polemic, though he has adduced evidence of the Saviour's divinity, amply sufficient to to submit to the plain statements of the Holy satisfy every candid inquirer, who is willing Scriptures. It is the eminently scriptural, and experimental, and practical character of the work, which stamps it with such value, and renders it such a suitable companion for the serious, thinking, and intelligent Christian in his hours of retirement. Here is no shrinking from the explicit avowal of the distinctive doctrines of the Gospel; they are stated in the clearest and most lucid manner, and their connexion with the grand doctrine of the Deity of Christ pointed out, and illustrated with a master's hand, and a Christian's heart. If we have any fault to find, it is the want of condensation, which in books is less excusable than in sermons. We are disposed to infer from the author's style, though we do not know the fact, that the substance of the work has been preached, and this may have occasioned the amplification of thoughts and illustrations to which we have adverted. But many need line upon line, and therefore, though, as a matter of taste, we might prefer greater terseness, it will not in the general, detract from the value or importance of the book. The author rises far above mediocrity, and is a "workman that needeth not to be ashamed." It is a production which no pious person either in England or Ireland will ever regret purchasing. |