"WILLIAM COWPER was born at Edinburgh, in November 1565; and at eight years old was sent by his father to Dunbar school, where, in four years, he learned the whole course of grammar, and profited above his equals. Even at that early age did he begin to shew symptoms of genuine piety. Many times, when he was in the school, he used to lift up his heart unto God, begging of him knowledge and under. standing; and always, as he went to church, he sent up this ejaculation to heaven: Lord, bow mine ear, that I may hear thy word! At his entry into his thirteenth year, his father sent for him home to Edinburgh; and soon after he went to St. Andrew's, where be continued to his sixteenth year in the study of philosophy, but made no great progress therein, the religious bent of his mind rather inclining him to a careful hearing and penning of sermons, and other theological lectures. During his abode at St. Andrew's, Satan, working upon corrupt nature, often sought to entrap him in his snares; but, as himself testifies, the Lord in mercy forgave the VOL. II, New Series.

vanities and ignorances of his youth, and preserved him from such falls as might have made him a shame to the saints, and the reproach of his enemies.

"At the age of sixteen years he returned to his parents at Edin burgh, who proposed to him sun. But his dry courses of life. heart was still inclined to the study of the Holy Scriptures: whereupon he resolved to go in. to England; and the Lord provided him a place at Hoddesdon, 18 miles from London, just when he had spent all the money which he brought out of Scotland. Here he was employed by one Master Guthrie, a Scotchman, to assist him in teaching a school. remained in this place three quar ters of a year, and then, having occasion to go to London, he was unexpectedly called to the service of Master Hugh Brough. ton, with whom he continued a year and a half, and daily exercised himself in the study of divinity.

He

"When nineteen years old, he again returned to Edinburgh, where he lived with his elder brother, then one of the ministers in that city, who much furtherN2

ed him in his former studies. And at last he was required to give a proof of his gifts privately, which he did in the New Church, before Master Robert Pont, and Master Robert Rolloch, and some others, by whom he was commanded to preach in public also.

"Being twenty years old, he was sent, by the authority of the general assembly, which was then met at Edinburgh, to be pastor of Bothkenner, in Stirlingshire. But when he came thither, he found in the church, (besides ruinous walls) neither roof, nor doors, nor pulpit, nor seats, nor windows; yet it pleased God to give such a blessing to his minis. try, that within half a year, the parishioners, of their own accord, built and adorned the church in as good quality as any round

about it.

"There he continued seven or eight years, yet subject to great bodily infirmities, by reason of the wetness of the soil, and moistness of the air; and during that time, he experienced much distress and terror of mind, and inward temptation, so that his life was almost wasted with heaviness; yet thereby he learned to know more and more of the grace of Christ.

"About that time there was a general assembly of the church at Perth, to which the people of that town applied, desiring that a minister might be sent unto them. Whereupon the assembly appointed Master Cowper for that place, and accordingly wrote to him by Master Patrick Simp. son; who, coming to Stirling, delivered to him the letters from the assembly, and those from the town, containing his calling to

the work of the ministry in that place. And so, shortly after, the town sent their commission. ers to transport him and his fam. ily thither.

"In that place he continued, doing the work of the Lord for nineteen years together; where he was a comfort to the best, and a wound to the worser sort. Besides the Sabbath-days, he chose thrice a week to convene the people together in the evenings, (viz. on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays,) for a prepara tion to the Sabbath; upon which days they had no preaching in the morning. Concerning which meetings, himself writes: "That it would have done a Christian's heart good to have seen those glorious and joyful assemblies, to have heard the zealous cryings to God amongst that people, with sighings, and tears, and melting hearts, and mourning eyes.' And concerning himself, he saith;

My witness is in heaven, that the love of Jesus and his people made continual preaching my pleasure, and I had no such joy as in doing his work.' And, besides that, he preached five times a week; he penned also whatsoever he preached; many of which holy and godly sermons are extant in print.

"All the time of his abode there, except some little intermis. sions and breathing times, the Lord still exercised him with inward temptation, and great variety of spiritual combats; the end of all which, through God's mercy, was joy unspeakable, as himself testifies. 'Yea once,' saith he, in greatest extremity of horror and anguish of spirit, when I bad utterly given over, and looked for nothing but con

fusion, suddenly there did shine, in the very twinkling of an eye, the bright and lightsome counte. nance of God, proclaiming peace, and confirming it with invinci. ble reasons. O what a change was there in a moment! The sil

ly soul, that was even now at the brink of the pit, looking for nothing but to be swallowed up, was instantly raised up to heav. en to have fellowship with God in Christ Jesus; and from this day forward my soul was never troubled with such extremity of terrors.-There found I the power of religion, the certainty of the word; there was I touched with such a lively sense of a Divinity, and power of a Godhead, in mercy reconciled with man, and with me, in Christ, as I trust my soul shall never forget. Glory, glory, glory be to the joyful Deliverer of my soul out of all ad. versities, for ever!'

"In the midst of these wrestlings with God, he wanted not combats with wicked men also; but the greatness of his inward conflicts made him lightly regard all their outward contradictions. It was no marvel to see Satan stir up his wicked instruments to molest one, who professed himself a disquieter of him and his kingdom. Yet this much supported him, that he never had a controversy with any of them but for their sins; and, the Lord assisting him, the power of the word did so beat down their pride, that they were all of them at last brought to an acknowledgment of their evil ways.

"But at length, by little and little, the zeal and love of most of that people did fall away; so that his last conflict was, not with the profane, but with the

more religious part of his congregation. These men were stuffed with such pride self-conceit, disdain, and intolerable contempt, that thereby they were carried further from their duty than any of the former; and they, which should have been his greatest comfort, were his great

est cross.

"Presently hereupon God called him to the government of the churches in Galloway, in the southwest parts of the kingdom, being chosen by the assembly, and presented by the king thereunto. This was done without his privity, or ambitious seeking after it: yea, he was so far from it, that eighteen weeks passed between the king's presentation and his acceptation of the bishop. ric, In that place he was very careful to advance the gospel, and to adorn his ministry. Con. cerning the frame of his spirit, thus he writes: My soul is al. ways in my hand, ready to be offered to my God. Where, or

what kind of death God hath prepared for me, I know not; but sure I am, there can no evil death befal him that lives inChrist, nor sudden death to a christian pilgrim, who, with Job, waits every hour for his change. Yea, many a day have I sought it with tears; not out of impatience, distrust, or perturbation, but because I am weary of sin, and fearful to fall into it.'

"This faithful servant of God, who had always been faithful and painful in his ministry, when sickness grew daily upon him was no ways deficient in the duty of his ordinary preaching; taking great pains also to per. fect his work upon the Revela. tion, which he desired greatly to

finish before his death. His in. firmity increasing, he was compelled to keep home; yet, as his weakness permitted, he applied himself to revise his writings, and to dispose of his worldly estate, that he might be ready for his passage, which every day he expected. And some ten days before his decease, he manifested to his friends what great contentment he had in his approaching death.

"Many repaired to him in his sickness, whom he entertained with most holy and divine con. ferences, expressing a great wil. lingness to exchange this life for a better; and at last, feeling his strength and spirits to decay, (after he had conceived a most heavenly prayer in the company of those that were by) he desired to go to bed; where, having devoutly commended himself unto Almighty God, he took some quiet rest. After which time he spake not many words, his speechfailing, though his memory and under standing were still perfect. And so, about seven o'clock at night, he rendered his soul to God in a most quiet and peaceable manner, Anno Christi 1619."

A few brief remarks will close this article.

J. On turning to the account given of Cowper the poet, in your work of 1805, p. 165, I was much struck with the resem. blance, some particulars, between him and the subject of the present memoir. Not only are the letters, and other writings of the bishop superior to the age in which he lived, but we find him endued with the morbid sensibility of his descendant, his proneness to mental depression, and his susceptibility of religious joy;

at one time agitated by terrify. ing apprehensions respecting the future, at another rapturously exulting in the hopes and conso lations of the gospel. This state of feeling, which affords some solution of the peculiarities in the religious experience both of the bard and of his pious progeni. tor, is certainly far less desira. ble than that sunshine of the soul, that even, tranquil, and serene temper of mind, that "peace of God which passeth all under. standing," which may be consid. ered as more properly character. izing the Christian. And yet how infinitely is such a state, with all its gloom, despondency, and terror, even supposing it to be illumined by no alternations of peace, and hope, and joy, to be preferred before a state of re. ligious indifference! The one indicates disease indeed, but the other the torpor of death. The sorrows of the one may be acute, but they terminate at the latest in the grave, and joy, everlasting joy, succeeds; the sorrows of the other commence at the same point, and run parallel with eter nity.

2. The account which is given of the good bishop's pastoral la bors, while at Perth, as well as of the painful disappointment he experienced with respect to their final effects, is calculated to sug. gest to ministers an useful cau tion. The cultivation of a de. votional spirit is indispensably necessary to the progress, and and even to the preservation of the christian life: yet, whenev. er devotional exercises come to be made, as they too often are, not only by mere formalists, but by those who affect a superior degree of spirituality, the whole

or nearly the whole, of religion, instead of being considered as preparatory to farther services; hen, losing sight of their end, they are used for the sake of the emotions and enjoyments with which they are themselves attended, instead of being employed as the means of filling the heart with all holy and benevolent affec. tions, of subjugating every sel fish, worldly, and carnal propensity to the dominion of christian principle, and of rousing the soul to active and persevering exertion in the service of God; -there is great danger lest we should either contract a degree of susceptibility inconsistent with the ordinary occupations of life; or, as is much more commonly the case, become perfectly insensible to the impressions of religious fear or hope. In. deed, the occurrence of this last mentioned effect is so frequent, as to have led, in certain circles, to the adoption of a very significant phrase to express its nature: persons of this description are said to be "Gospel-hardened.” I by no means take it upon me to affirm that this was precisely ། the case with the bishop's congregation at Perth. At the same time, the rapid succession of public meetings for religious worship (no less, than eight occurring in the course of the week) must have interfered with other duties; and the extraordinary degree of excitement which ap. pears to have attended them, could hardly fail to be followed, in the long run, by injurious consequences. Accordingly we find, that "at length, by little and little, the zeal and love of

most of that people did fall away."*

3. Undoubtedly it is the tendency of man to degenerate, even under the most favorable circumstances. Offences come, divisions take place, christian charity languishes. Christian zeal decays, the power of relig ion evaporates, the form only remains. Still it is an inquiry of the highest moment, what course of proceeding is calculated to accelerate this degeneracy; and whether any measures can be pursued, which the Holy Spirit will be likely to bless, for retarding, perhaps preventing, its down. ward progress. On this important discussion, I feel myself unqualified to enter at large. There is, however, a passage in bishop Butler's admirable work on the Analogy of Religion, natural and revealed, to which I would direct the attention of your clerical readers, because it appears to me to have a direct bearing on this subject, and to contain most profound and accurate views of human nature. The passage to which I allude is the 2d section of the 5th chapter of the first part. I will at present extract only a few sentences, which relate more immediately to the point I have been consid ering, or rather to one which is strictly analagous. "Habits of the mind," observes the hishop, "are produced by the exertion of inward practical principles, i. e. by carrying them into act, or

A result something like this is thought to have been experienced in the place where Cowper the poet passed the greater part of his life the causes which led to it were probably not very dissimilar. See Christ. Obs. for 1805, p. 168.