MEMOIR OF THE REV. WILLIAM BENNET, (Continued from page 7.) BUT the greatest trial which had yet befallen Mr. B. and his beloved people, must now be related. This was his separation from them, in the year 1793, in consequence of a severe affliction with which he was visited. Such of his people as have survived the ravages of thirty years, have a lively recollection of many interesting particulars connected with this painful event. Some of them have kindly informed us, that his last sermon, previously to the interruption of his labours, was delivered, June 3, 1792, from John xix. 30.-" When Jesus, therefore, had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished." This discourse was pronounced by him in a manner so solemn and impressive, as to excite apprehensions in some of his hearers, that his own public work was nearly at an end. The following day he was seized with a violent complaint, which threatened the most alarming consequences. In compliance with medical advice, as soon as he could be removed, he sought relief from a change of air. Finding himself somewhat recovered, he returned to London in the beginning of the following August, to resume his ministerial duties; and on the 5th of that month, he preached once more from Psalm Îxxi. 16.—“I will go in the strength of the Lord God," &c. This exertion, however, brought on all the former dangerous symptoms, and he was obliged again to desist from his labours. The subsequent winter was spent in the use of all the CONG. MAG. No. 62. methods which human skill could suggest for the restoration of his health and vigour; but these proving of little or no avail, in the spring of the next year he sent to his church the following letter of resignation, which is at once a painful memorial of the uninterrupted harmony which had attended their union, and of the ab solute necessity for its dissolution. "To the Church of Christ meeting on the Pavement, Moorfields, London. "Dearly beloved in the Lord,Since the receipt of your kind and respectful letter, I have, with much prayer and deliberation, weighed all the circumstances of my own affliction, and of your unsettled and uncomfortable situation, being equally with yourselves sensible of the inconveniences that have arisen, and may arise out of it. "The uncertainty which has prevailed as to the probable issue of my complaints, is not removed by substantial grounds of hope, that my health and strength are likely to be soon established. On the contrary, painful experience too clearly proves, that the prospect of this is yet very distant: and I am fully persuaded, after having long waited in the use of means, that it would be inconsistent with what I owe to myself, as well as trifling with your religious interests, were I to think of re-attempting the duties of my pastoral relation. "Scarcely can I conduct the ordi I 1 nary worship of my family, even at this distance of time from every public engagement, without sensible inconvenience: how then should I sustain the necessary labours of a stated ministry of the word, with other collateral branches of the pastoral care, which are essential to the comfort and prosperity of any church. "From a conscientious and close attention to these things, conducted (I trust) in the fear of God, and with a true concern for your spiritual advantage, I feel it incumbent upon me to resign that sacred office, which, with fear and much weakness, I have held among you for several years. And, accordingly, (looking with humble hope to my gracious Lord and Master, for pardon of all my failures in the discharge of that solemn trust, which I received before many witnesses, on the day of my separation to office among you, by prayer and imposition of hands,) I now give up my pastoral oversight of you in the Lord; praying, most affectionately, that a dispensation of Providence, so dark and painful, may be truly sanctified to us all, and overruled for the glory of his name. I am thankful, however, and rejoice on your account, that, through the great kindness of our much esteemed friend and brother in Christ, the Rev. Dr. Fisher, you will not be left wholly without a shepherd, nor be deprived of that special ordinance of Christian fellowship, the Lord's Supper; and I trust that the glorious Head of the church will so influence your hearts, and direct your views, as that a pastor shall soon be given you in answer to prayer, who shall feed and go before you in the strength of the Lord, with much acceptance and usefulness, for many years. "With the liveliest gratitude, I reflect on your candour, kindness, and respectful conduct towards me, during the whole of my ministry among you; and in my present trying situation, it affords me no small satisfaction, that we have walked together in Christian love, without any roots of bitterness springing up to trouble us. May our hearts be still closely united in the exercise of this grace, and that fellowship in Christ, which has commenced on earth, be perfected, and for ever perpetuated in heaven! "On reviewing my ministry among you, I am struck with ample cause for humiliation before God, for the want of warmer zeal and affection in the service of Christ, and for the good of souls; yet have I not a witness in each of your breasts, that I have not ،، walked in craftiness, nor handled the word of God deceitfully, but by a manifestation of the truth,” endeavoured to approve myself to the consciences of my hearers. My great concern has been to preach Christ crucified, as the wisdom and power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; and in whatever way or measure God has been pleased to own my feeble attempts for your spiritual benefit, I would humbly rejoice, and give glory to his name. "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?" "I commend you, therefore, brethren, unto God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among them which are sanctified."-" And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge, and in all judgment—that as the fruit and proof of this, ye may continue stedfastly together in the faith and order of the Gospel, "walking worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing"-that the graces and consolations of the Holy Spirit may be richly experienced and manifested by you-and that many, from time to time, may be added unto "WILLIAM BENNET." "Feb. 27, 1793." Mr. B. who was always remarkably attentive to propriety and decorum, sent another letter, in the same affectionate strain, "to the subscribers for the support of religious worship" in his meetinghouse. This, however, we are obliged to omit, as well as the touching letter of the church to himself, in reply to his resignation, in which the necessity of that measure is at once admitted and deplored. The scene of this painful event, which he frequently alluded to with tears in subsequent life, was not to be endured by his sensitive mind. In April following, therefore, he left London, and retired to Chapel-en-le-Frith. It is with much pain that we here advert to a matter which, we confess, our judgment would have led us to pass without notice, but for the prominence which has been lately given to it. Mrs. B. was possessed of a considerable fortune, and it seems there were some persons who indulged themselves in representing the secession of Mr. B. from the ministry, as the result, not of indisposition, but of the easy circumstances in which he was placed by marriage. The relations of Mr. B., and his religious friends, have certainly great reason to rejoice, that this is the worst thing which has ever been said of him, and that, from the nature of the case, it could be only conjecture, or rather "evil surmising." Probably it will gra tify the minds, too, of those who are "of the contrary part," (if such there be,) to be informed, that when Mr. B. relinquished the ministry, he gave up one main source of his earthly comfort, and that he was very conscious of this. From this time his enlarged and energetic mind was pent up as in a prison-house, and it required all the powerful aids of religion to prevent its falling a victim to its own activity. We cannot, indeed, comfort his accusers by the information, that he was entirely deprived of the enjoyments and hopes of the Gospel; for these continued to solace and refresh his mind, in the painful inactivity, and comparative solitude, to which, we verily believe, a real affliction had subjected him. Soon after Mr. B. had retired into the country, he received a substantial proof of the high esteem in which he was held by the religious public. The Yorkshire Academy, once so eminently useful at Heckmondwike, in the education of students for the ministry of the Gospel in congregational churches, having, after its removal to Northowram, fallen into decay, many friends of religion contemplated the establishment of a similar institution at Rotherham, and were desirous of placing Mr. B. at its head, as resident and theological tutor. He was applied to for this purpose, but he respectfully declined to take upon himself this important charge, probably for the same reasons which had induced him to resign his pastoral engagements. It cannot but be matter of regret, that any thing should have deprived the public of the benefit of his talents in a situation for which he was so eminently qualified. The friends of the Institution were, however, more successful in their next application, and found, in the late Dr. Williams, a most suitable person for this important situation. The judicious selection which he considered them to have made, gave great satisfaction to Mr. B., who, at one time, purposed to reside in the neighbourhood of Rotherham, principally with the view of enjoying the society of Dr. W., for whose character and acquirements he entertained the highest respect. Notwithstanding many such schemes, however, his subsequent life, with the exception of some short intervals, was spent in that part of Derbyshire which had given him birth. For many years he resided at Stodard, near Chapelen-le-Frith, where he purchased a small estate, in the management of which he partly employed himself. He did not, however, lose sight of the higher objects to which he had been originally devoted, but occupied himself with schemes of usefulness in the church of Christ. He sometimes preached in the pulpits of his brethren, but always did it at the hazard of his health. After some such exertions, he was laid up, for several weeks together, by severe indisposition. His complaint, which appeared to be on the muscular part of the breast, never failed to be brought on, in a greater or less degree, by long-continued public speaking. Being debarred from the delightful work of the pulpit, he turned his attention to theological subjects, with a view to usefulness through the medium of the press; and it is certain that he did not, like some others, mistake his talent in this instance. Such of his works as have appeared, have been highly creditable to him, both as a scholar and a divine. But it is known to his intimate friends, that a very small part of what he had at different times revolved in his mind, has been submitted to public notice. His studies and writings, however, comprise nearly the whole of his history for the last thirty years of his life. The first publication of Mr. B., after his secession from the ministry, was the "Memoirs" of his venerable mother, "Mrs. Grace Bennet," which appeared shortly after her death in 1803. This small volume contains a narrative of the principal events of Mrs. B.'s life, with "extracts from her diary, and a brief account of her death." It is also "interspersed with some account of the ministry and death of the Rev. John Bennet," the author's father. These "memoirs" contain many interesting particulars connected with the rise and progress of Methodism, and can scarcely fail deeply to engage the attention of the religious and reflecting mind. The next appearance of Mr. B. from the press, was in the character of a religious controvertist. The late Dr. Williams, of Rotherham, had published (in his appendix to a sermon on Predestination," and also in notes to new editions of the works of Doddridge and Edwards) a hypothesis, or (as he preferred to denominate it) an argument, professing to solve the difficulties connected with the origin of moral evil. The data of the Doctor's argument were the acknowledged facts, that no created being possesses the divine attributes of self-existence, independence, and all-sufficiency, but is naturally dependent upon God; whence he inferred, that there is in every creature an essential tendency to deterioration, both in a natural and moral view. This tendency (to which Dr. W. gave the name of passive-power) was, according to him, counteracted by sovereign influence, so long as creatures retained their state of perfection; but this support (which, he argued, was matter of favour, not to be claimed as equitably due) being withheld, the creature, left to the influence of his native tendency, became the subject of moral evil. To this method of tracing the origin of sin to an essential property of created beings, many good men and able divines felt insuperable objections. The venerable Mr. Abraham Booth, a short time before his death, permitted his manuscript "Thoughts" on the subject to be seen by several persons, and, among the rest, by Dr. W. himself. The late Mr. Evans, of Stockport, also drew up several letters," which, through the medium of their common friends, were handed to the Doctor, who wrote replies to both these respect able divines. An extended article appeared in the Christian Observer for March 1806, in which the hypothesis was opposed with considerable ability, but not with the clear perception of its bearings displayed by its other assailants. The subject had, at an early period, engaged the close attention of Mr. B., and the ill consequences which he apprehended from the prevalence of Dr. W.'s positions among students in theology, induced him, towards the end of 1807, to publish his "Remarks on a Recent Hypothesis," &c. the The different views of these eminent men, on the subject in question, had not been hastily adopted, but might be traced, by those to whom they were both intimately known, to a dissimilitude of mental habits, and modes of thinking, to which each had been accustomed for many years. Dr. W. had the highest confidence in powers of metaphysics, which he has been heard to pronounce "the noblest science ever cultivated," and President Edwards, "the greatest metaphysician that ever existed." Any induction obtained by a process in his favourite science, he held with the firmest grasp. Mr. B., too, was a metaphysician, and of a school not less profound than the other, but which frequently instructs its disciples to employ their tactics in producing very different results. He was a warm admirer of Bishop Butler's views, and was accustomed to dispose of theological difficulties on the method of which that author's celebrated "Analogy" affords so noble a specimen. With this predilection, he was inclined to retain the difficulties which attend any moral or religious subject, rather than to substitute others of his own invention, and. held himself in readiness to supply captious objectors with some kindred and knotty point connected with their own principles,-if principles of any imaginable kind they should happen to have embraced. If Dr. Williams's views, in any instance, caused him to advance too far, those of Mr. B. might induce him, in some cases, to start back too soon; and these, accordingly, were the opposite errors with which their respective adherents thought each other chargeable. Arguing from the essential difference between the divine Creator and the dependent creatures which he had formed, Dr. W. produced what he considered as a demonstration; to this Mr. B. opposed what he believed to be insuperable objections, arising from the moral perfections of Deity, and the grounds of human responsibility; and deemed it preferable to suffer the Gordian knot of theologians to remain untied, rather than to apply the sword to it at such fearful risks. "Were 1," says he to Dr. W., "to consider this (hypothesis) only in the light of a physical theorem, without any regard to the moral character and government of God, I behold a simplicity, an unity, a consistency in the whole, which might recommend it to my regard. But, my dear Sir, when I look upon it as a moral statement, or a representation of the principles and probationary condition of intelligent accountable |