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pressive countenance that he comprehended me as I proceeded in my statement, that the subject in its true bearings was perfectly new to him, and that I had opened to him a new leaf in the history of human depravity, which filled him with commiseration for the oppressed, and virtuous indignation against their oppressors. At length, toward the close of the recital, rising from his seat, very much agitated, he laid his hand on my shoulder, and remarked, in his familiar and impressive style, with a tone of solemn earnestness, and with an elevation of voice I had never discovered in him before, (for there was generally a softness in his most solemn moments which sustained the mind under an appearance of unmixed awe):- My friend, you will never die in peace—I would not have the horror of your death-bed for a thousand worlds-if you do not make known these things to the public!"" pp. 305,306.

Dr. Philip did make them public. He bore his testimony through good report and evil report; and never did he cease till, by the blessing of God, he secured his object. But he well knew of how little value was even a government proclamation in a slave colony, where Africans are but beasts of burden; and he therefore returned to the scene of his labours, to see enforced what government had granted: and the result has been that virulence in every shape has assailed him; and for a passage in his book, not his own, but willingly acknowledged by a friend, a passage containing nothing malevolent, or a fiftieth part so strong as the undisputed facts which he has elsewhere recorded, he has been prosecuted for a libel, and condemned in a fine of 2001. and the law and other expenses have been 1000l. more. The Missionary Society to which he belongs have not thought it their duty to pay these charges from the funds of the institution; but they have opened a subscription to bear him harmless, and we trust it will not fail of its object. In the mean time he has the consolation of being found worthy to suffer for righteousness sake; for, abating the technical guilt of the not-disproved libel, there is nothing, as we understand, to urge against him, except that he

has offended oppressors by his advocacy of the oppressed.

Dr. Waugh had a remarkable power of making a friend where he did not find one. In one of his

voyages to Scotland he was forced, by a storm, to land unknown and destitute, on the coast of Norfolk.

diately walked to the churchyard, and, "When he reached the shore, he immekneeling behind a grave-stone, poured out his heart in gratitude to his God and his deliverer. After which, finding himself quite worn out with fatigue and anxiety, tian friend, he wandered through the buand wanting much the comfort of a Chrisrial-ground, to find an introduction to one who served his Master. On a newly-made tomb, it was said that the departed had died in Jesus. This was what he wished: he went to the house where the family reinteresting tale; and with the aid of their sided, introduced himself, and told his kindness and hospitality was soon able to pursue his journey. I have often heard him speak, with the tear in his eye, of the when they feared their little bark would despair and anxiety the poor sailors felt, sink, and with what pleasure he saw them join him in his prayer to God for protection and deliverance.

"In his yearly pocket-book, at the anniversary of this deliverance, he invariably afterwards entered the motto-' God is love."" P. 124.

We shall add a few passages relative to his views and feelings in the prospect and at the hour of death.

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Though Dr. Waugh lived to the age of seventy-four, he did not enjoy, for a number of years before his death, any thing like vigorous health. He was subcaused exquisite pain; yet in these cirject to frequent ailments, which often cumstances, he was not only patient, but even cheerful; and while he edified his family and visitors in his affliction, by the which he manifested, he delighted them submission and the heavenly-mindedness by a pleasantry which stripped his sick chamber of its gloom, and sent them away from his side struck with the power of

religion and with the energy of a mind disdosed to be happy." p. 495.

"To his nearness to death he sometimes alluded in his family,though his wish to spare their feelings kept him from doing this so he spoke of it without reserve. often as he felt inclined. To his friends never see you again; I am going home, as 'I shall the pious old man said, and I have a good home to go to, and have had a good home here; it has been blessed to me by the unwearied kindness of a dutiful and affectionate family; but my best friends are in

heaven, and I have a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better.' There was remarked in his prayers and sermons also a tendency stronger than ever to dwell on the topics of death and immortality, and the consolations which religion provides to prepare us for both." pp. 504, 505.

Writing to his wife from Harrowgate, whither he had gone for his health, he says:

"In my state of confinement, while our dear relations are out gathering health and vigour, I feel a relief to my mind and most pure delight in writing to you.

This

ought to be a day of grave reflection to my own mind. For seventy-one harvests has God preserved my existence in this world. What goodness hath his fatherly providence heaped on my head and poured into my cup! How few of those who began the career of life with me have reached my age! How imperfectly have I answered the end of my creation! What have I done in comparison with what I might have done, for God, for his church, for my dear family, for my own soul! What a blank does a large portion of my life now appear, barren of improvement or blotted with guilt, rising up against me in sad remembrance. How precious should the mediation and atoning sacrifice of my Divine Redeemer now be to my soul, supplying the only foundation of rational hope, and the only balm to a wounded spirit! I cannot reasonably look forward to much addition to my life, but I feel its value increasing as its termination every day draws nearer. May God, by his good Spirit, enable me to preach more earnestly, to live more usefully, to endure the privations and pains of the dark evening of life more submissively, than I have hitherto done! My heart hovers around you; and every thing within that sacred enclosure at home is important to my comfort." pp. 505, 506.

But though thus infirm, he was not actually laid aside from his pulpit labours for a single Sunday, by the illness that brought him to his grave. He took cold the last week of November 1827; and, appearing alternately better and worse, on the fourteenth day of the next month he was taken to his heavenly rest. Till within the last few days he was able to attend to many of his beloved duties. A few cursory extracts will exhibit the general state of his mind during this period.

"On the Saturday morning he said to his wife, Mary, I have been very happy, for I have had such a delightful dream! CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 350.

I thought I was lying at the foot of a hill, the grass was so green, and the gowans were so beautiful, the birds were singing so sweetly, and a rivulet ran by my feet; you were sitting by my side. It was heaven or Gordon, I know not which !*'"' p. 508.

"Dr. Waugh preached his last discourse from these words, Heb. xii. 1: Let us

lay aside the sin which doth so easily beset us.' This subject was admirably adapted for leading him to set before his audience the pledge they had that day given to run the Christian race, the obligations to do so under which the cross of our Lord had brought them, the hindrances to the active and happy prosecution of it arising from the corruptions of the heart, excited by the scenes of business, folly, and pleasure, with which they were surrounded; and the advantages of that self-denial and moral discipline in which the heart is kept with all diligence, and the life is preserved unspotted from the world. It was a discourse rich in the counsels of experience, delivered in the tone of paternal admonition, and proceeding from the lips of one who had so long trod the path of the just, and who, in the near prospect of its close, evidently felt the solicitude of Paul, that he might finish with joy his course and the ministry which

Dr. Waugh's love of natural scenery broke out, as we have seen, on all occasions; and it was not merely his nationality and warmth of reminiscence; for we find him descanting in the same strain in France, in England, or, above all, in Wales. We adduce a specimen.

"I do not think that I ever had a more delightful ride than this morning, from six o'clock to eleven, over a part of Shropshire, Flintshire, and this county, every yard of which is highly cultivated, and of which I do not believe there is a furlong of even ground. The ever-varying prospect of gently-rising hills and retiring valleys; streams of pure water from the high Welsh mountains; fields of wheat, barley and oats, in the most healthy state; gentleman's seats bursting every minute on your sight through clumps of trees; little decent churches on the neighbourng hills, with plantations of yew-trees around the habitations of the dead; the roads singularly good; the high mountains of Montgomeryshire rising in the distance to the clouds, on the left hand; the extensive valleys of Shropshire spreading themselves far as the eye can reach, on the right;-the spires of Chester on the north-west,-with the sun behind us, and by means of the ever-changing clouds giving unceasing variety to the scene;

all afforded to my mind the most exquisite pleasure. How gracious and how kind is our God, who opens to our minds so many sources of innocent gratification!" pp. 380, 381.

he had received of the Lord Jesus. It may be viewed as a testimony from Hea ven against that specious Antinomianism which was then attempting to delude the religious world; and it was the will of God that such a friend to the doctrines of grace and such a son of consolation should close his official duty with these words of holy admonition, and raise his voice for the last time in calling for the sacrifice of every passion however urgent, of every indulgence however dear, of every folly however fashionable, and of every opinion however popular, by which the sanctity of the Christian name might be sullied, holy duties impeded, and virtuous purposes quenched.

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"He reached home well; and when it was proposed to him, after supper, that he should go into his easy chair by the fire, which was his usual custom, he refused, and said, that he wished to sit and look at his dear family, and that he felt more than commonly happy.' He sat up later than usual, and talked most cheerfully of the days of his youth." pp. 510, 511.

"Monday evening a person called to request him to visit one who was dying, and who was unhappy in her mind. Mrs. Waugh was unwilling that he should go out at so late an hour in his weak state; but it was the wish of his heart to go even at the risk of his health. While they were talking about it, he suddenly exclaimed, I cannot go to see her, I am very ill!' His mind was much affected on account of his inability to visit this dying person." p. 512.

"He was assisted to his bed. One of his daughters was standing near, and he put out his hand to her, and said, 'Let me talk to you, my lamb; for I am very ill, and I shall never get up any more.' She begged him to endeavour to sleep, and said that he would be better, and work very hard yet for his Master's sake. To this he replied, No, no, my child, my work is done. Let me talk to you while 1 can; I have very little time.' He then spoke of the necessity of being constantly ready for death, and gave some solemn counsels." p. 513.

"His spirits now rapidly sank. He asked for his sons, and said, 'Send for them; they are good lads, and I cannot die in peace without seeing them.' On being assured that they were sent for, he replied, God bless you, my child! God bless you!' In a few minutes he commenced prayer, and prayed most earnestly for his dear wife and family, closing with these words: Amen, amen. So grant it, Lord Jesus!'"' p. 514.

"His mind soon began to wander; though on every topic on which he spoke, his language was suitable, and the spirit of his conversation the same holy and kind one that had so long hallowed it. All his thoughts were bent towards works of benevolence and mercy; and much of what

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On being asked how he was, he replied, I am very ill, but just where it has pleased God to place ine; pray for me, that I may not be impatient.'" p. 519.

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"Once he said to his children: ⚫ My journey is near its close; all the way by which God has led me has been mercy and truth; I have his light still to guide me, and that staff to support me on which I have so long leaned; and the blood of Christ is the only staff I need in my way to the grave. It is a blessed journey, which ends in heaven.'" p. 520.

"He repeated the story of the minister who was told that he was going to receive his reward. Reward? No, no; I am going to receive mercy! mercy!' p. 523.

"When a slight improvement in his appearance was mentioned to him, he replied, I feel a little better; but it is like lying on a hot summer day at the foot of a stay brae: we forget that we have yet to climb it.' p. 524.

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During Thursday his strength became quite prostrate, and he could make no effort to raise himself in bed, but was lifted, when it was necessary, by his four sons. Being asked, Do you know that you are dying?' Yes, I know,' said he, that I am dying, and my mind is as much composed at this moment as any man's in London. One of his family inquiring if he was able to tell the state of his mind, he said, 'I will try,' After having spoken in general terms of the depravity of human nature, he added, But I am thankful for the remedy provided--I am thankful for the word of truth. I have endeavoured to live as near to the rule as I could: I cannot say that I have experienced the degree of assurance and close communion with God which some have been privileged to attain; but I have lived by faith, and I die in the faith of the Son of God. And this I know, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord :' then emphatically elevating his hand, he added, with earnestness, This is enough for me;' and pointing to those who surrounded his bed, and for you, and for you, and for you!'" pp. 524, 525.

"Mrs. Waugh having asked him to bless his children, he raised his feeble arm and eye to heaven, and with great animation, prayed, ⋅ O that thou wouldest rend those heavens and come down, and crown them all with thy loving-kindness! '-Speaking afterwards of some Christmas presents he had ordered for his grandchildren, he said, with emphasis, I have six-and-twenty grandchildren, and who

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1831.] Review of " The Christian Dispensation miraculous."

would not love them, after the Saviour took such in his arms, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid

them not?' Then reverting to his first earthly friend, he said, If I could see my mother at this moment, it would make me leap for joy.' pp. 530, 531.

"Towards the close of Thursday, when his mental and bodily powers were draw. ing near to dissolution, Mrs. Waugh said to him, When you are now in the deep Jordan, have you any doubt that Christ

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will be with you?' He replied, Certainly not! who else? who else? All that human kindness could do had been done, all that human skill could suggest had been employed; but his Saviour was with him in unabated love and in unceas

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ing aid; on his arm he was leaning, in his strength he was advancing, and to him he was crying, Save me, O God, for the waters are come into my soul!' With the above testimony all his communication

with mortals closed. He fell into a stupor, in which he continued during the whole of the night,--his family surrounding his bed, and expecting his immediate departure. On Friday morning, at twenty minutes before seven, he opened his eyes, cast them round the circle of his weeping children, and, bestowing one parting look of grateful recognition on his aged partner, his spirit returned to his Father and to his God." pp. 532, 533.

Such was Dr. Waugh; to whose excellent biographers we are much indebted for their interesting and instructive narrative. We shall only add, in the words of Dr. Johnson on Dr. Watts," Happy will be that reader whose mind is disposed to imitate him in all but his nonconformity; to copy his benevolence to man and his reverence to God."

The Jewish Expositor for Feb. 1831, -"The Christian Dispensation miraculous."

THE Jewish Expositor has followed Mr. Irving, Mr. Erskine, and Mr. M'Neile, with the Morning Watch and the Port-Glasgow pretenders to the gift of tongues, in the notion that miraculous powers are still vouchsafed, that "the church of Christ has never abandoned her claim to them;" and that nothing but want of faith prevents their frequent exercise. A notion so ex

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traordinary, so opposed to all that we daily see and hear, to the feelings and opinions of the wisest and most holy men, and, above all, to the nature of the dispensation under which we live, since the canon of revelation was completed, and the infant church, which had been planted by miraculous agency, began to be built up and fostered by the ordinary influences of the Holy Spirit, sanctifying and blessing the means of his appointment, in a manner though less visible, not less real than in the days of extraordinary manifestation ;-a notion so startling and extraordinary, if propounded at all, we might have expected would be propounded in a spirit the most modest and ingenuous, and in a tone of inquiry and humility becoming the investigation of so novel, yet so serious a proposition. To maintain, not merely that miracles are possible with God, for no person doubts this; but that they are a regular part of the present dispensation; that they are actually in operation; that nothing but want of faith prevents their more frequent occurrence; that miraculous healing, miraculous opening the eyes of the blind and giving feet to the lame, miraculous gifts of tongues, miraculous casting out of devils, miraculous handling of deadly things unharmed, and, by inference, and not denied, though not yet openly asserted, miraculous raising of the dead, are inseparable parts of the dispensation under which we now live, things to be believed, expected, and prayed for as confidently in the nineteenth century as in the days of Christ and his Apostles;-to maintain all this, is to say the least-to hazard an hypothesis so singular and novel; an hypothesis so startling in a Protestant church, and

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an enlightened age," that we might naturally look in its advocates for much proof and little dogmatism, overwhelming arguments and modest words, scrip

tural appeals and no invectives; in short, such a spirit as becomes a man, who, separating from the vast mass of his brethren, thinks he can instruct them in the way of God more perfectly, claiming to himself no superiority in understanding or piety, no special vision or manifestation, but only as an inquirer among inquirers, arguing with meekness and deference what appears to him to be the mind of the Spirit in the word of God. If better motives did not prompt to this, good sense might, from the common observation that when a disputant is unusually positive that he is right, and all the rest of mankind wrong, the probabilities are strongly against his hypothesis, and this in the very proportion in which he is overbearing and dogmatical in maintaining it. With solid argument on his side, a man can always afford to offer battle on equal terms: he does not lay down as the first preliminary of the negociation, that he has all the truth, and his opponent none; for this is the very point to be proved, not to be assumed he condescends to leave the professor's chair; he does not claim to be the umpire as well as one of the litigants; and above all, as a Christian, he is inclined to distrust his own infallibility and to believe, with unaffected humility, that he may have something to learn as well as to teach, and that his brethren may possibly be sometimes right as well as himself.

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Now, with all sincerity, we can not affirm that this is the spirit in which the propounders of the new notions which have gone abroad among us, have offered their speculations to their fellow-Christians. However meekly or modestly we may express our doubts of the soundness of their opinions, we meet with no reciprocity. We are expected to listen as to oracles; the inspired word and the human comment are virtually placed upon a level if we humbly bow to the interpreter, all is well; but if we

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reply or hesitate, we are said to fight against God; we are not merely guilty of an error of judgment, but we wilfully impugn Scripture, we are Neologists," "Materialists," or disguised" Infidels ;" and our motives are as bad as our principles. To doubt of an alleged miracle at Hoxton or PortGlasgow, is to attack the mission of Jesus Christ and his Apostles; to refuse to receive Mr. Macdonald's gibberish of " disco capite" as Divine inspiration, is to deny the miraculous manifestations of the day of Pentecost; and this, moreover, with a base cowardice equal to its wickedness, as if we only wanted the boldness to speak out, in order to apply to the Old or New Testament, what we might say of the Jewish Expositor or Morning Watch.

Now we can reason with reasonable men; but we cannot reason with sneers or insinuations, and much less with denunciations. And we will add further, that we cannot consent to reason with those who will not meet us on equal terms; and on this ground "the religious world," so much reprobated by Jewish Expositors and Morning-Watch men, may feel itself fairly exonerated from replying to much that has been addressed to it by the abettors of the new doctrines. To go no further than the article on miracles in the Jewish Expositor now before us, how does the writer of it accost his brethren? Does he invite them with the meekness of wisdom, and the gentleness of Christ, or even with the usual courtesies of literary and gentlemanly warfare, to consider the serious question under discussion? No, he summons them as culprits to his bar : he does not condescend to argue the matter on equal terms; he takes it for granted that they are wrong, and he is right; they are covert Neologians, if not Infidels; men who "sweat down faith to nothing;" and for whom

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