JOHN JANEWAY.

He was born in Hertfordshire, in the year 1633. At twelve years of age he had made considerable progress in the mathematics, in the study of astronomy, and other parts of useful literature. At the age of seventeen he was admitted to King's College in Cambridge: and when he was about eighteen, it pleased the Lord to open his understanding, and discover to him, that the knowledge of his great Creator, and a consciousness of an interest in his love, through the mediation of a Redeemer, was infinitely more to be desired, than all the possessions and attainments of this world. At the same time he became fully sensible of the comparative insignificance of astronomy, in which he so much delighted, when contrasted with the sublime and satisfactory discoveries which religion opens to the mind; "that the love of God was ever new; the contemplation of Him ever delightful, and that, as the astronomer, multiplies his powers of vision, and discovers at a greater and a greater distance, new worlds unseen before, so the pious man, by the effect of revelation on his intellectual faculties, increases the vision of the Almighty; ranges over vast fields of bliss, and beholds an extent of happiness as unlimited as eternity." The complacency and delight which he found in a religious life were discernible in his very countenance. Though he had a right sense of the value of learning, and thought that it might be rendered subservient to the noblest purposes, yet he justly esti mated the possession of religious knowledge as far superior. It was consequently his chief endeavour to rise above the world, and to labour for purity of heart, and acceptance in the Divine sight.

He regularly devoted an hour every day to secret

retirement and solemn meditation. On one of these occasions, a friend of his, unknown to him, happened to be in a situation, where he observed all that passed; and his remarks on the scene before him are worthy of insertion :-"What a spectacle did I behold! Surely, a man walking with God, conversing intimately with him, and maintaining a holy freedom with the great Jehovah. Methought I saw a spiritual merchant in a heavenly exchange, pursuing a rich trade for the trea sures of the other world. O what an animating sight it was! Methinks I see him still. How lovely was his countenance! His looks and smiles, and every motion, spoke him to be upon the confines of glory!"

Love and compassion to the souls of men, were the habitual feelings of his mind; and he often lamented the deficiency of Christians, and their neglect of spiritual things, in their converse with each other. ‹‹ Ó,” said he, "what indifference, to spend an hour or two together, and to hear scarcely a word that speaks people's hearts in love with holiness! Where is our love to God and our fellow-creatures all this while? Where is our sense of the preciousness of time? Of the greatness of our account? Should we talk thus, if we believed we should hear of it again at the day of judgment? Does not this speak aloud, that our hearts are devoid of grace; and that we have little sense of spiritual and eternal concerns."

When he fell into a decline, and was fully aware that he had little prospect of recovering, he was far from being alarmed. "I am ashamed," he said, "to desire and pray for life. Is there any thing here more desirable than the enjoyment of Jesus Christ? Can I desire any thing below comparable to that blessed vision? O that crown! that rest which remains for the people of God! and, blessed be God, I can say I know it is mine!"

To a friend who visited him, and who spoke of the excellency of Christ, and of the glory of the invisible world, he replied, "Ah! I feel something of it. My heart is as full as it can hold in this lower state."

Near the close of life, most of his work was praise. Admiring the boundless love of God to him, he said, "O why these favours to me, Lord, why to me?Praise is now my work, and I shall be engaged in that sweet employment for ever. O my friends, stand and wonder! Come, look upon a dying man, and wonder! Was there ever greater kindness; more sensible manifestations of divine grace! If this be dying, dying is sweet indeed. Worldly pleasures are poor, pitiful things, when compared with one glimpse of God's glory which shines so strongly into my soul. Oh! why should any of you be so sad, while I am so very happy! This, this is the hour that I have waited for !

nances.

A short time before his death, he again said, “Come, let us lift up our voice in praise. I have nothing else to do. I have done with prayer and all other ordiI have almost done conversing with mortals; I shall presently behold Christ himself, who died for me, and loved me, and washed me in his blood. I shall in a few hours be in eternity, singing the song of Moses, and the song of the Lamb. I shall presently stand upon Mount Zion, with an innumerable company of angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect, and Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant. I shall hear the voice of much people, and be one among them who say-Hallelujah! Salvation, glory, and honour, and power, be unto the Lord our God!" And again we say, 'Hallelujah!' Methinks I stand as it

were with one foot in heaven, and the other on earth. Methinks I hear the melody of heaven, and by faith I

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see the angels waiting to carry my soul to be for ever with the Lord in glory."

Thus did this favoured and happy spirit take leave of earthly things, and rise on the wings of love and adoration to the glorious regions of immortality.

Sequel to a Manuscript, &c.

MR. BOYLE.

THE Honourable Mr. Boyle was a man of extensive learning, one of the most exact inquirers into the works of nature that any age has known; and what reflects the greatest honour on himself and upon Christianity is, that while he was an acute reasoner, he was also a firm believer. His religion was not a mere profession by which he was distinguished from an Atheist, a Jew, or a Turk, but he suffered it to have its due and genuine influence on his life and actions. He did not only wish well to the cause he espoused, but endeavoured to diffuse that light and knowledge even in the most distant parts, which he saw so absolutely necessary for the present and future welfare of mankind. This indeed is the noblest kind of charity, and therefore discovers the warmest benevolence. But Mr. Boyle's generosity and beneficence did not stop here; it was discovered in innumerable instances relating to the external wants and distresses of his fellow-creatures; and conferred too in such a manner as enhanced their value. But these I shall omit, and represent him only as an example of beneficence in the propagation of Christianity. "He was at the charge of the translation and impression of the New Testament into the

Malayan language, which he sent over all the East Indies. He gave a noble reward to him that translated Grotius's incomparable book of the Truth of the Christian Religion into Arabick, and was at the expense of a whole impression, which he took care to order to be distributed in all the countries where that language is understood. He was resolved to have carried on the impression of the New Testament in the Turkish language; but the Company thought it became them to be the doers of it, and so suffered him only to give a share towards it. He was at seven hundred pounds charge in the edition of the Irish Bible, which he ordered to be distributed in Ireland; and he contributed largely both to the impression of the Welsh Bible, and of the Irish Bible in Scotland. He gave, during his life, three hundred pounds to advance the design of propagating the Christian religion in America; and as soon as he heard that the East India Company were entertaining propositions for the like design in the East, he presently sent a hundred pounds for a beginning, and an example; but intended to carry it much farther, when it should be set on foot to purpose. He had designed, though some accidents did, upon great consideration, divert him from settling it during his life, but not from ordering it by his will, that a liberal provision should be made for one who should, in a very few well-digested sermons, every year set forth the truth of the Christian religion in general, without descending to the sub-divisions amongst Christians; and who should be changed every third year, that so this noble study and employment might pass through many hands, by which means many might become masters of the argument.

He also saw atheism and infidelity beginning to show themselves in the loose and voluptuous reign of King Charles the Second, pursued his philosophical