In the latter stages of his life, Emlyn felt severely the burden of declining years, but his mind continued vigorous, his spirit cheerful, and his religious affections lively and ardent. He wrote and studied, till this exercise became a weariness, and then his hours were passed, at the intervals of bodily pain, either in the conversation of friends, or in drawing materials for pious and grateful reflection from the inexhaustible resources of his own mind. He always spoke with the greatest satisfaction of the joy he felt in his religious opinions, and to his last hour praised God, that he had been pleased to open his mind to those truths, which the Saviour came into the world to reveal and publish for the good of man, and which he believed were the only true grounds of the sinner's hope. The last day of his life was serene and happy; not one lingering desire clung to the world; the hour had come and he was ready; full of gratitude for the past, and of humble confidence in the future, he looked forward with an eye of faith, that brightened and caught new beams of joy, as the taper of life faded, decayed, and expired. His spirit departed on the 30th of May, 1741, in the seventy ninth year of his

age.

The narrative of the persecutions suffered by this excellent man is not without its benefit, even in our age; not that the recurrence of such a scene needs be apprehended; but it is of eminent use for us to know the value of our religious privileges, and, what

is more, to be prepared to maintain them against the usurpation of power, and the lawless ravings of fanaticism; for power will always usurp, bigotry will always rule with a tyrant's rod, and while the sun shall last and the stars shine in the firmament, fanaticism will burn, and blast, and destroy. The reviving spirit of human improvement will do something to temper the rage of false zeal, and make religion worthy of the God who gave, and of the rational beings who profess it. How much, indeed, has it not done since the trial of Emlyn? Where is the dark corner of the civilised protestant world, in which such a blot on the face of society, such an insult to the majesty of law, and such violence to the rights of nature, would now be endured? The spirit, however, which prompts to an outrage like this, is not easily extinguished; when public sentiment makes it ashamed to appear in open day, and the stern sway of justice shortens the arm of its power, then it works in secret, it whispers of heresies that are abroad, and taints the passing breezes with the poison of slander. It is not changed in its nature, but only in the mode of its operation; it does not imprison, gibbet, and burn the body; it resorts to a different, but not less certain mode of ruining its victim; it seeks to undermine reputation, and to fix a stigma on character, and to stamp honest opinion with crime, by sounding the trumpet of alarm with the loud, harsh, ominous notes of heresy, infidelity, and irreligion, in the ears of the credulous multitude, till

their minds are shocked at the fearful discord, and every good feeling is banished from the heart to make room for lurking suspicion, or to wake from their slumbers the devouring fires of passion.

Now under whatever forms this spirit, so hostile to truth, virtue, and religion, may show itself, whether it aims to devour the body and substance, or blast the character, it equally behooves every friend of the public good and of true christianity to be on his guard against it. When the Chief Justice sentenced Emlyn to imprisonment and fine for no other offence, than that of conscientious opinion, he represented to him the mercy of this sentence, by telling him, that if he had been in Portugal or Spain, his mildest punishment would have been burning. Persecution may always use this argument. Unhappily, examples will not be wanting to sanction any enormity. Let the examples be forgotten, or cast off as a reproach to the history of man; let this presumption, which assumes authority over another's faith, be resisted, till it shall no longer have the power, if it have the will, to meddle, usurp, and oppress; let every christian feel, that he has no dearer right than the liberty of conscience, and let him be at least as ready to show the purity of his faith, by the convincing argument of a good life, as by the tenacity with which he holds to the dark, intricate, and unintelligible dogmas of a long and ancient creed, woven in the web of a semibarbarous philosophy and perverted metaphysics, when

'For dubious meanings learn'd polemics strove,
And wars on faith prevented works of love;

The brands of discord far around were hurl'd,
And holy wrath inflam'd a sinful world.'

Bishop Hoadly's remarks in reference to the case of Emlyn, written ten or twelve years after the event, may with propriety be quoted here. They are contained in his ironical Dedication to the Pope, which was prefixed to Sir Richard Steele's Account of the State of the Roman Catholic Religion. Hoadly tells the Pope, with what facility the protestants could manage to set up a prosecution of their brethren, who differ from them, notwithstanding they have abjured the authority exercised by his holiness' church in passing judgment on others in matters of faith; and this, he adds, is not confined to the national church of England, but is equally the delight of dissenters, when a proper occasion offers. He then goes on to say,

"This hath been experienced, particularly in Ireland, by one who could not see exactly what they saw about the nature of Christ, before his appearance in the world. For, as with you, a man had better blaspheme Almighty God, than not magnify the blessed virgin, so with many of us, it is much more innocent and less hazardous to take from the glory of the Father, than of his Son. Nay, to bring down the Father to a level with his own Son is a commendable work, and the applauded labour of many learned men of leisure; but to place the Son below his own Father

in any degree of real perfection, this is an unpardonable error; so unpardonable that all hands were united against that unhappy man; and he found, at length, that he had much better have violated all God's commandments, than have interpreted some passages of Scripture differently from his brethren. The Nonconformists accused him, the Conformists condemned him, the Secular Power was called in, and the cause ended in an imprisonment and a very great fine; two methods of conviction about which the Gospel is silent."*

The writings of Emlyn were collected and published in three volumes octavo, a fourth edition of which appeared in the year 1746. The first volume contains a memoir of the life of the author, written by Sollom Emlyn, to which is added an appendix comprising Emlyn's own narrative of the proceedings against him at Dublin. In this volume are also found the Humble Inquiry, five other Tracts chiefly of a controversial nature in reply to Mr Boyse, Dr Waterland, Dr Sherlock, Dr Willis, and others, and also a treatise on Baptism. In the second volume are the remarks on Leslie's writings against Unitarians, an inquiry into the authenticity of the celebrated text of

* See the whole of this ingenious Dedication in the first volume of the present Collection of Essays and Tracts, p. 255. In the life of Emlyn, prefixed to his works, this Dedication is ascribed to Sir Richard Steele; but this is a mistake, the cause of which may be earnt by consulting the volume here referred to, p. 247.