776 Lyte (Rev. Henry Francis) Remains, with a

prefatory memoir, 12mo, cloth, scarce, 7s 6d m0Tm

1850 * It was in this rolume, among the poetical remains, that the well known hymn "Abide with me" first came before pnblic notice.

FROM THE LIBRARY OF

REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON, D. D.

BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO

THE LIBRARY OF

PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

***** ScB

u

i

REMAINS

OF THE LITE

REV. HENRY FRANCIS LYTE, M.A.

LONDON :

gilbert & rtvington, printers, st. John's square.

RtiMAINS

OF Till. LATE

REV. HENRY FRANCIS LYTE, M.A.

INCUMBENT 01 LOWER BRIXHAM, DEVON;

PKEEATORY MEMOIK

BY THK EDITOR.

LONDON:

FRANCIS & JOHN RIVINGTON, st. Paul's church yard, and Waterloo place.

1850.

itnbnig jHrmory

DEVOTKD FATHER AND DEAR COMPANION,

THESE BRIEF RECORDS

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Prefatory Memoir v

Appendix to ditto lvii

Part I lxi

Part II lxxv

POEMS.

4- Friends lost in 1833 1

Stanzas to J. K 5

Sea Changes 9

David's Three Mighty Ones 12

A Recall to my Child, A. M 18

Declining Days 23

The Dying Christian to his Soul 2\)

Napoleon's Grave 32

Grace Darling's Death-bed 37

Longings for Home 44

Thoughts in Weakness —

Part i. Encouragement 51

Part ii. Submission 5f>

Part iii. Action 61

Vlll CONTENTS.

PAGE

The Czar in Rome 63

Fragments of a Fairy Tale 71

The Complaint of Mary Magdalene 82

January 1st, 1847 93

The Poet's Plea 100

Abide with Me 119

Early Poems.

Prize Poem — The Battle of Salamanca 1 23

To a Field-Flower 197

Song 201

May Flowers 203

A. M. M. L 205

Sermons.

I. Without God in the World— Eph. ii. 12 . . . 209 II. Sermon to Fishermen — John xxi. 6 . . . . 235

III. 2 Cor. xiii. 11 269

IV. 1 Cor. xi. 26 281

PREFATORY MEMOIR.

To usher into the world a quiet volume of Poetry, composed in the hours of relaxation from paro- chial labour, or under the chastening influence of lengthened illness, seems scarcely to harmonize with the stirring anxieties and excitement of the present time. Yet to those friends who will re- ceive these "Bemains" as a tribute of affection to the memory of one whom they dearly and deservedly loved, it is hoped their publication will not be unwelcome. It is felt, however, that much apology is due for the delay in their appearance, which, from sad and unavoidable circumstances, has occurred, as well as for the actual contents of the volume itself. It had been contemplated by the Author to present another volume of Poetry to the public, and with this view he had partially corrected and prepared for the press most of the

VI PREFATORY MEMOIE.

succeeding Poems. Death, however, cut short the work, and the unfinished MS. passed into the hands of his second son, who inherited much of his father's taste for literature, and would have ably carried out the design, had he not been very shortly summoned to follow his father into the world unseen. Other causes of delay, which need not be particularized, have arisen, and the work itself is now published in a somewhat different form from that which had been originally intended. Indeed the title of "Remains" may seem scarcely suitable to a volume, which consists merely of poems and sermons, without any other selection from the large mass of MSS. found among the author's papers. On examining these papers, how- over, it was found that so wide and varied was the range of notes and observations comprised in them, and so imperfect, in many instances, the form in which they had been left on record, that to have given sufficient to do justice to the writer, would have increased too greatly the bulk of the present volume, and to have selected a few desultory re- marks would have failed to satisfy the reader, or faithfully to pourtray the distinctive characteristics of their writer. It would seem indeed that the peculiar features which rendered him so welcome a friend, and so prized a companion, though such

PREFATORY MEMOIR. Wi

as will dwell long and fondly in the memories of those who knew him, were not best fitted to furnish materials for publication. In his sermons too he rarely, if ever, preached precisely as he wrote, and almost all his MS. discourses consist simply of heads, notes, illustrations, and Scripture proofs, leaving the connecting and filling up of the whole to be done at the time of delivery. This made it almost impossible to select from his parochial sermons ; and those who best remember his own peculiar flow of eloquence, and charm of voice and manner, will not fail, in glancing over the few sermons given in this volume, to feel how far short they fall of his own impressive and impassioned style, when wanting his voice to utter, and his mind to add its own grace and finish to the wThole.

A few unpublished earlier poems are added to those before mentioned; and it is thought that some notices of the dates and circumstances under which many of the pieces were written, together with extracts from some of his private letters, may enable the editor to give such a brief sketch of his life and character, as will add interest to the volume.

Henry Francis Lyte was born at Kelso on the 1st of June, a.d. 1793, and spent his childhood under the gentle influence and teaching of a mother a 2

Vlll PEEFATOEY MEMOIE.

whose memory through life he cherished with fond affection. From thence, at nine years of age, he was sent to school at Protoro, in Ireland, but though descended from an old and highly respect- able family, (that of Lyte of Lyte's Carey, in the county of Somerset), and himself the son of an officer in the army, he was left at an early age with scarcely any other resources for education and advancement in life than such as the kindness of friends, or his own abilities procured for him. Nor were these found wanting. The high order and versatility of his talents, shown even in boyhood, firm integrity, and winning disposition gained for him many a friend, and enabled him to surmount the difficulties which beset his path; and after passing honourably through his course at school, under the tuition, and by the aid, of the late Dean Burrows, he entered Trinity College, Dublin, in 1812, where he obtained a scholarship in the following year. During his academical career he cultivated his natural talent for poetry, and was the successful competitor for three English prize poems, in three successive years : one of these, " The Battle of Salamanca," is inserted in the present volume; together with two or three minor pieces, to which dates are attached, as fair specimens of his poetical attainments at this period. By carrying off, in

l'HEFATOItr MEMOITC. IX

these and other instances, the rewards which were liberally offered by the seniors of the university to her junior members, and by taking private pupils, he was enabled to add very agreeably to his limited income; and, at the same time, his talents and personal attractions gained for him a high position among his contemporaries. He thus formed many valuable friendships, which were of rare warmth, and long duration, begun in all the fervency of youth, and continued, in many instances, with scarcely less ardour, through succeeding years. altered fortunes, and broken intercourse. The meetings of a little band of kindred souls in these college days is thus described by him in a stanza of a poetical letter, dated 1812, " addressed to my friend J. K."

" And then those nights, those Attic nights we've pass'd With the fond few who felt and thought as we, Chiding the hours that stole away so fast, On wings of reason, wit, and minstrelsy : When my young muse would list and learn from thee Strains she had envied any tongue but thine, Or from discussions fanciful and free, On books, men, things gay, moral, and divine, Glean'd much to please and mend, enlighten and refine.' '

* The second poem given in this volume, headed

* The Editor cannot resist here giving, though somewhat out of place, the following lines, addressed by this friend to H. F. L..

X PEEFATOEY MEMOIE.

" Stanzas to J. K." was the last of a series of poetical letters which pleasantly diversified a life- long correspondence, from the first of which the above extract is taken. And to the same source

in 1838, to which those in the volume are a reply, feeling confident, that by their own grace and sweetness, they will commend themselves to every poetic reader : —

To H. F. L.

" Eheu! fugaces, Postume, Postume, Labuntur anni!" — Hor.

y

" The blithe age of childhood 'Tis gladsome to me, To watch its wild gambols And list to its glee. Sport on, merry elves ! Your brief respite enjoy, Ere the cares of the man Quench the smiles of the boy ! Like brilliants of dew, In the new-risen day, Your joys, while they sparkle, Are passing away !

ii.

11 Alas for the changes That time bringeth on ! Life's morn, how soon over, Its manna soon gone !

PREFATORY MEMOITJ. \i

we are indebted for many notices contained in his earlier letters, of his history at the periods <>f their composition. The eifects, however, of his

The heart's first affections, — The purest and best ! The mind's glowing fancies, The laugh and the jest, Night's calm, downy slumbers, Wild rambles by day, Are sweets only tasted While passing away !

in. " The labours of manhood, It grieves me to view, So artful, so slavish, So profitless too ! The lovers of mammon Still toiling for gain ; The seekers of pleasure, But finders of pain ! True flowers that fail not, True riches that stay, They forfeit — for false ones Still passing away !

IV.

u Friend truest and dearest ! My partner so long In joy and in sorrow, In study and song !

Xll PREFATORY MEMOIR.

struggle at the outset of life, and the fact of being thrown entirely on his own resources left an abiding impress on his character. There was then formed, and afterwards more fully developed, an energy of purpose, and a vigorous determina- tion to overcome all difficulties, which contrasted strangely with his natural gentleness of disposition, and calm enjoyment of intellectual pursuits —

In the vain strife to mingle Like me ever loth, Of a world that's too selfish, Too subtle for both ! Our griefs will soon end, For our locks are now grey ; And how swift is life's autumn In passing away !

v.

" But, praise to Thy bounty, Redeemer of men ! A world yet awaits us, Where friends meet again ! A world all so holy, So happy and fair, That nought which offendeth Or paineth is there ! No cloud to its summer, No night to its day ; No sinning, no sighing, No passing away !"

PREFATORY MEMOIR. Xlll

while his high classical attainments, which he pursued the more ardently from a keen perception of, and love for, their own beauty, imparted an almost Attic elegance of thought and diction, and gave a poetic colouring to his view of die most ordinary things of lite. This he never lost, and this threw a peculiar charm over his mind, which had foiled in this, onr bustling age, to acquire and adopt the utilitarian tone too common around us. But, above all, his grateful sense of early benefits never passed away ; and in after years he paid a happy tribute to this memory of the past by the graceful extension of a like benevolence to others whenever opportunity offered. He was also naturally gifted with that open-handed liberality and largeness of soul, which is the usual accompani- ment of an impetuous and ardent spirit. He had nothing for himself, and never appeared happier than in the exercise of the most universal hospi- tality and unwearying generosity.

To retiuTL, however, to our narrative. On leaving college, the medical profession was that which he at first proposed to enter ; and from his extensive use in after life of the knowledge which he then acquired, it would appear that he had made con- siderable progress in his preparation for it. Sub- sequently, however, he was led, under the influence

XIV PREFATORY MEMOIR.

of religious conviction, to devote himself to the more sacred calling of the Christian ministry. An extract from a letter to the valued friend before mentioned, will give, in his own words, a sketch of his history at this period.

" March, 1815.

" Since I last wrote to you I have been ordained, and have obtained a curacy within seven miles of the town of AVexford. Here I had at first settled, 1 remote from towns,' in almost perfect seclusion, giving myself up to the duties of my situation, writing my sermons, visiting my sick, catechizing my children, without other companions than my flute, my pen, and my books. This answered very well for a little time, while I had plenty of occupa- tion on my hands.

" However, it was too great a change from the comfort, the society, and the carelessness which I had before enjoyed, to be long capable of satisfying my wishes. I found myself obliged to submit to constant intrusions, to attend long, formal dinner- parties, to take long rides at night, or give up the best part of my time to my neighbours, and other miseries which I had not taken into account, when I had resolved upon living ' passing rich/ &c., in seclusion. All this, with some other causes also, determined me to attend to the solicitations of my

PREFATORY MEMOIR. XV

old friend B. to continue in my care of his boys, and in my partaking his home and society. 1 am

now settled again with him I believe

that I mentioned to you a composition, entitled ' Eichard Cceur do Lion,' which I had sent in for a Chancellor's premium in college, and which was successful. On looking over this, the Provost ima- gined, with his telescopic eyes, that he had dis- covered some merit sufficient to entitle it to recitation at the last visitation. I was therefore commanded to attend with my poem, and gave them a dose of about 200 lines from the beginning of the composition, which the Chancellor liked so well, that he wished for the rest of the work for perusal. This I, with my usual dilatoriness, have not yet sent him. However, the Provost has expressed a wish that I should publish the poem, 6 dedicated to the Vice-Chancellor,' and ' at the desire of the Board and Fellows of the University '. . . I have, since my first success, obtained another first prize, for a production in blank comperian verse, upon ' The Peace,' which some of the fellows have wished me to subjoin to the former ; a request which I positively will not now comply with." . . An extract from another letter to the same friend, after a pause in their correspondence, will be read with much interest, as detailing the cir-

XVI PREFATORY MEMOIR.

cumstances which first led him to embrace far deeper and more solemn views of his new position; and from this point we may date the growth, under God's blessing, of that religious character which was to be hereafter developed in so much zeal, energy, and devotion to his Master's service.

" Marazion, March 30, 1818.

" I must now tell you by what circumstances I have been brought to this place, and into this new connexion. When I last corresponded with you, I was, I think, returned to my friend I. B. from my dreary curacy of Taghinon in Ireland. Here I lived for some time, comfortably enough, assist- ing him in tailing care of his two sons, riding about, shooting, dancing, and attending my curacy every Sunday. From this motley round of occupa- tions, I was, however, withdrawn, by a circum- stance which led the way to all my future wander- ings. A neighbouring clergyman, with whom I was intimate, and who bore the highest character for benevolence, piety, and good sense, was taken ill, and sent for me. I went to attend him, and witnessed all the workings of his mind and body for some weeks till he expired. I shall never forget some of the circumstances that took place : his serious and anxious inquiries into the evidence on

PREFATORY MKMOIK. Wll

which a future state existed, his examination into the grounds on which the Scripture stood as an authentic revelation, and his convictions that it was a just statement of that which is, and is to be, all seemed to pass before him, as he stood just on the confines of eternity, as strong and distinct realities, as the parts of a picture, rather than of an abstract speculation. These preliminaries settled, his inquiry next was, the means by which a happj eternity was to be attained — and here indeed my blood almost curdled, to hear the dying man declare and prove, with irrefutable clearness, that both he and I had been utterly mistaken in the means we had adopted for ourselves, and recommended to others, if the explanatory Epistles of St. Paul were to be taken in their plain and literal sense. You can hardly perhaps conceive the effect of all this, proceeding from such a man, in such a situation. He died, I rejoice to say, happy under the belief, that though he had deeply erred, there was one whose death and sufferings would atone for his delinquencies, and be accepted for all that he had incurred. I was greatly affected by the whole matter, and brought to look at life and its issue with a different eye than before ; and I began to study my Bible, and preach in another manner than I had previously done.

XV111 PEEFATOEY MEMOIE.

" I had also the care of all the con- cerns of my friend's widow and young family, which I arranged for them by incessant exertion for four months. The excessive labour of mind and body which these concomitant circumstances brought upon me, soon proved too much for my constitution, already enfeebled by my attendance on my dying friend. I fell into a rapid decline, and was ordered immediately to leave the country for the Continent, if I wished to live. While I was on the Continent, I continued, with the excep- tion of a two months' residence in Paris, in con- stant motion, according to the direction of my Physician ; and the exercise, air, and agreeable and diversified scenes I passed through, soon restored me to my accustomed state of health

" On my return to England, after a short visit to Bristol, I came down to this part of the kingdom, as the most likely to agree with my constitution, and after being jostled about from one curacy to another, I at last settled as lecturer to this little town."

Before proceeding with our biographical sketch, we venture to make one more extract from his early letters to the same friend, exemplifying the literary tone which their correspondence often assumed. "In the rich, the imaginative, the playful, the

PBXFAT0B1 KEM0IB \i\

tender, you are quite at home, and 1 trusl that your subject is cue replete with topics which wil]

call your talents in these respects peculiarly into play. Moore is, I think, the author of the present day whose style mosl resembles yours. I have read his Lalla Bookh with much delight, and thought the strictures of the Edinburgh Eeviewers on it very just. It is perhaps too full of beauties ; it is a picture all lights, and no shades ; the mind looks in vain for a resting-place in reading it. The ornaments are so numerous in every part, that they distract the eye from the simple beauty of the whole. Perhaps the conceits too with which it abounds, beautiful as they are, tire from their frequency at last. Such I know were my feelings on reading this exquisite production. In another respect, too, I think Moore generally fails ; and this is, in his attempt at the sublime. He very fre- quently here mistakes words for ideas, and imagines that when he has collected a certain number of swelling epithets together, they must necessarily suggest a sublime image to the reader ; but if they do, it is a sublime image of froth. True sublimity is ever simple in conception and expres- sion. The ideas must not be complex, but unique, and the fewer the words used to convey them, the better. There must be nothing strained, stalking,

XX PREFATORY MEMOIR.

or grandiloquent in that which aspires to the title of sublime." It was at Marazion, whence the above letter is dated, that our author met with, and subsequently married, Anne, only daughter of Bev. W. Maxwell, D.D., of Bath, and of Falkland in the county of Monaghan ; he did not remain long in Cornwall after his marriage, but removed, on account of ill health, to the neighbourhood of Lymington. To this more congenial atmosphere, and to the fuller leisure which he enjoyed in this quiet country life, we owe a large portion of his poetical writings.

He here completed a volume entitled " Tales on the Lord's Prayer," which was not however pub- lished till the year 1826, and composed many miscellaneous poems, some of which appeared in another volume entitled. " Poems chiefly religious," which was published in 1833. Of the former work we find the following favourable notice in Black- wood's Magazine, (iNToctes Ambros.) jSto. 165, p. 686 :—

" Have you seen a little volume entitled ' Tales in Terse' by the Eev. H. P. Lyte, which seems to have reached a second edition ? Now that is the right kind of religious poetry. Mr. Lyte shows how the sins and sorrows of man flow from irreligion, in simple yet strong domestic narratives, told in a

VKEFATORY MEMOIR. w

style and spirit reminding one sometimes of Gold- smith, and sometimes of Crabbe. A volume se humble in its appearance and pretensions runs the risk of being jostled off the highway into bye- paths; and indeed no harm if it should ; for in such retired places it will be pleasant reading — pensive in the shade and cheerful in the sunshine. Mr. Lyte has reaped

1 The harvest of a quiet eye, That broods and sleeps oil its own heart •/

and his Christian Tales will be read with interest and instruction by many a fireside. ' The brothers ' is eminently beautiful. — lie ought to give us another volume"

This composition, however, begun at the sugges- tion of a literary friend, did not satisfy its author, who thus speaks of it in his Preface. " There are indeed many things which the Author could wish to see altered, some which, had time permitted, he would gladly have expunged and rewritten alto- gether;" and this view of its defects was never altered.

But his muse found a sadder theme, during his residence in Hampshire, in the loss of an infant daughter ; and the little piece in the present volume, entitled " Lines to A. M. M. L.," or, as we Hud them 1 leaded in his own MS., " Inscription

b

XXU PREFATORY MEMOIR.

for the grave of my dear little one, Anna Maria, who died at Sway cottage, February, 1821, aged one month," was written on this occasion.

Restored health, however, brought with it the desire for a settled sphere of active ministerial labour, and he removed to the more genial clime of South Devon, where he held, for a year or two, the curacy of Charlton, near Kingsbridge. Previously to this, he had taken a cottage at Dittisham, on the banks of the river Dart, and thence had more than once officiated at Lower Brixham. His impressions of the parish were not, however, calculated to attract the sympathy of a refined and highly cul- tivated mind ; and it was only when various con- curring circumstances appeared to point it out as his path of duty, that he overcame his reluctance to enter on so uncongenial a sphere, and consented to take charge of the new district church which had been recently erected. From its original state of a fishing village, Brixham had grown up into a district of some thousands of inhabitants, increased chiefly during the war, when Torbay was the ren- dezvous of the Channel fleet, and Berry Head a permanent military station. From these sources, as well as from the occupations of a fishing and seafaring life, money had been made by the shrewd and busy, but uneducated people ; among whom

.

PREFATORY MEMOIR. will

many of the vices consequent upon the presence of

a large body of military and naval forces had taken root, and shed an influence most unfavourable to the growth of morality or religion. It was not surprising that under these circumstances, law- lessness, immorality, and ignorance, prevailed to a fearful extent ; and it required unwonted vigour and devotion of heart successfully to grapple with existing evils. In this hitherto neglected portion of his Lord's Vineyard our Author lived and laboured, for a period extending over more than twenty-five years ; and though human judgment would have assigned to his talents and inclination a very different sphere, few who beheld the mar- vellous change wrought, by the blessing of God, in a few years among the sailors and fishermen of Brixham, but would confess that unerring wisdom was especially shown in placing him as pastor over this rough but warm-hearted people. It would seem, indeed, that some of the characteristics we have before noticed, singularly fitted him for the useful and happy discharge of his duties here : even his own inner life of intellectual and poetic thought, where he breathed another atmosphere from that which hung around his daily path, strengthened and refreshed his spirit amid much toil and wea- riness, and imparted a higher tone, which insensibly b 2

XXIV PREFATORY MEMOIR.

attracted and influenced persons of every class with whom he came in contact. By the earnest devo- tion of all his powers, and the Christian charity which, in the fullest acceptation of the word, cha- racterized his ministry, he won the affection, and roused the sympathy of his people, and gained from them support and assistance in carrying out his various plans for the spiritual and temporal amelio- ration of his flock. He early set on foot the now usual, but then comparatively uncommon machinery of schools and district visiting among the poor and sick, and soon numbered in the Sunday schools between 700 and 800 children, and a body of between seventy and eighty voluntary teachers, whom he himself trained and organized, frequently meeting them in a body, when, after the routine business of the school was settled, he gave them religious instruction, with especial reference to their own teaching, and took the opportunity of touching on any points in which, individually or collectively, they needed advice or assistance ; thus opening that most valuable channel of ministerial useful- ness, a confidential communication on matters of faith and practice between a pastor and his people. He always spent some time also in the schools during the hours of instruction, closing one or other of them in person, and addressing a few

PREFATORY MEMOIR. \\V

words of encouragement, or pointing out any defects which had come beneath his notice. He was peculiarly happy in availing himself of such occasions either to impart instruction or convey reproof, and by the aptness of his illustrations as well as the gentleness of his manner, he fixed the attention, and won the affection of both teachers and scholars. His facility in composition enabled him to furnish his schools with hymns, and works of elementary instruction, of which there were comparatively few at that time suitable to their wants. He used also, when the Annual School Feast came round, (who that ever shared those festive meetings, but will remember the joyous voices, the bright faces, the happy influence shed over all by the one loving, benevolent spirit at the head of the little band ?) generally to present them with one or more hymns new for the occasion, often supplying music as well as words. Many of these have found their way into various selections of hymns, but we venture to subjoin one of the latest, a great favourite among the children, and in singing which they still delight to cherish the memory of

its beloved Author.

i. " Hark ! round the God of Love Angels are singing ! Saints at His feet above Their crowns are flinging.

XXVI PREFATORY MEMOIR-

And may poor children dare Hope for acceptance there,

Their simple praise and prayer To His throne bringing ?

Yes ! through adoring throngs

His pity sees us, 'Midst their seraphic songs

Our offering pleases. And Thou, who here didst prove

To babes so full of love, Thou art the same above,

Merciful Jesus !

Not a poor sparrow falls

But Thou art near it. When the young raven calls,

Thou, Lord, dost hear it. Flowers, worms, and insects share.

Hourly Thy guardian care — Wilt Thou bid us despair ? —

Lord, can we fear it ?

Lord, then Thy mercy send

On all before Thee ! Children and children's friend.

Bless, we implore Thee ! Lead us from grace to grace,

On through our earthly race, Till all before Thy face

Meet to adore Thee I"

iMn;r.\Ti>KY MEMOIB. \\\n

He also ventured to attempt what so many of our Christian poets have, with various success, endeavoured to produce,— a Metrical Version of the Psalms. Not, indeed, (as he tells us in his elegant little preface,) that he flattered himself with the idea of being fully able to supply that which so many have tried in vain to furnish ; but that, by somewhat modifying the object aimed at, and adding to his own compositions the best and most popular passages of the ordinary new version of our Church, he might possibly frame a substitute for what he, in common with most Churchmen, earnestly wished to see : " An appropriate manual of Psalmody, provided by the heads of the Esta- blished Church, and stamped with authority for general use." The difference between his own and previous works of this kind was, that " instead of attempting a new version of the Psalms," he " simply endeavoured to give the spirit of each Psalm in such a compass as the public taste would tolerate, and to furnish, sometimes, when the length of the original would admit of it, an almost literal translation, sometimes, a kind of spiritual para- phrase, and at others even a brief commentary on the whole Psalm." We have some proof that this little work fulfilled its Author's design, in the fact of its adoption as a whole in some congrega-

XXVIII PKEFATOET MEMOIE.

tions of our own and the sister Church of America, and the frequent use of portions of it in most modern selections of Psalmody. Its title, also, the " Spirit of the Psalms," would seem to have been happily chosen to designate a work coming from a mind so well fitted as his by constant communings with these divine compositions, fully to appreciate, and convey to others the heavenly aspirations of the " Sweet Singer of Israel." We find among his MSS. traces of this love in earliest boyhood, and in one of his prize Poems written in 1815, occurs the following fine paraphrase of the forty- sixth Psalm: —

" God is our Hope and Strength ! a present help In time of trouble ! therefore though the earth Be moved, and her mountains 'midst the deep Be headlong tumbled, though the waters there Shall rage till every hill shall shake around We will not fear ! The roaring winds and waves Shall only glad the dwelling of the Lord, The seat in which the Mightiest deigns to bide God in the midst forbids her to be moved ! God shall assist her timely as before ! The kingdoms threaten'd, and the proud of heart Combined in arms. But God gave forth His voice, Earth melted at the sound ! The Lord of Hosts Is with us, Israel's Monarch is our shield ! Come hither and behold His glorious works ; What desolation in His wrath He brings

i>i;i:r.\TOKV mi:moib. xxix

( )Yr all the earth ; what gladness when appeased ! See how He quells the storm of war, how breaks The sword, and snaps the spear, exalts the weak, And pulls the mighty down. Be still then, Earth, Tremble, ye kings, and know that I am God. I will defend my people, I will bend The stubborn knee of pride ! The Lord of Hosts Is with us, Israel's Monarch is our shield !"

And even when all was changed, and the heavy shadows of weariness and death hung around him, his spirit still loved to linger amidst the songs of Zion, and find in them expression for the humble faith and quiet confidence, which smoothed his dying pillow.

But while enumerating some of the features of his parochial work, we must not omit to notice his efforts to meet the peculiar requirements of the fishermen and sailors who formed so large, and, to him, so interesting a section of his people. He visited them on board their vessels, while in harbour as well as at their own homes, and supplied every vessel with a copy of the Holy Scriptures. Tor their use while at sea he composed a brief manual of " Devotions," and, to assist in giving a purer and healthier tone to their hours of recreation, he wrote some naval songs, and adapted them to popular times. Nor did he fail to give

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them more direct religious instruction. He esta- blished a Sunday school on shore, to which he in- vited sailors of all ages ; and here might be seen together the old weather-beaten Man-of-war's man, the hardy seaman in the prime of life, and the reckless, laughing boy, all subduing for a time their wilder natures, while listening to the stirring ex- hortations of their minister, or engaged in learning to read the Holy Scriptures for themselves. But it were scarcely possible, by the notice of a few isolated facts, to give an adequate idea of the happy relations which subsisted between the Pastor and his flock. His frank, cordial tone in coming amongst them ever gained a hearty response, and the entire absence of all harshness, even in his strong censure of sin, did not detract from their affection and respect. The second Sermon in this volume, preached at their own request, after a three days' holiday on shore, by which, without drunk- enness or disorder, they did honour to the accession of our gracious Queen, was a proof at once of their improved social tone, and the value justly set upon their Minister's blessing. JNor was the effect of this happy termination of their holiday merely tem- porary ; it was the beginning of a custom, continued among them through many after years, of coming in a body to Church, when a special sermon was

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preached to them, before leaving for their annual migration to fish off other parts of our coasts.

We will not, however, enter further into the details of our Author's parochial work, nor follow him through the varied scenes of his ministerial course, but will proceed at once to notice briefly the circumstances connected with the other three Ser- mons giveu in this volume, and the grounds for their selection. The first Sermon, headed " Without God in the world," was preached before Mr. Canning; and that great statesman was so much struck by its truth and force, as to request a private interview with the preacher, which was followed up by a brief but most interesting intercourse, from the tone of which, and the remembrance shown in later years, it were scarcely too much to hope that the good seed once sown was never afterwards wholly choked or trodden down. This sermon was selected, partly from the interest attaching to the great name with which it is coupled, and partly as having been written at an early date, and bearing internal evidence of a different tendency in the Author's mind from that which pervades the two last discourses — for, while the Editor would dis- tinctly disclaim even the semblance of an attempt at controversy on a subject which has of late so agitated the public mind, it is not felt right to pass

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over in silence that gradual change, or rather development of religious views, which was clearly discernible in the latter years of our Author's life. We have previously noticed that at an early stage of his clerical life he embraced very deep and solemn views of religious truth, and the responsibilities of his sacred office. Earnestness and spiritual life did not then assume the form or take the line which they have since done, and these impressions were formed according to the received views of the so-called Evangelical clergy of the day. In their system the personal influence of the minister, rather than the legitimate authority of the Church, was the mainspring of action, and the various portions of the parochial system were carried out as the individual judgment of each Clergyman might deem best. The harmony of the Gospel, as set forth in the course of the Christian year by the Prayer Book, was not exhibited by the marked observance of the various sacred seasons as they came round, and but little was thought of those points in which our Church, as to position, privileges, authority, and definite system, stands on an entirely different footing from all sectarian bodies of Christians, and claims at once the affec- tion and obedience of her children. This absence of definitive training, this want of a due recognition

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of the duty of allegiance and affection to their Church as to their spiritual mother in Christ, was but lit t U* felt at a period when the great object oi' religious teaching would Beem io have consisted in

arousing the then dormant energies to any show of vitality — but as the curse of a fallen nature is ever shown in the corresponding abuse which mingles with the use of all our best and brightest blessings, so with the diffusion of spiritual life came also the specious temptations of spiritual pride and error, and thus arose a fresh need for some weapons and safeguards against the threefold peril of " false doctrine, heresy, and schism." This danger had arisen, and this need was keenly felt by our Author, while carrying on the work which we have already briefly described ; for though solid proofs were not wanting that the blessing of God had rested on his labours, yet when these temptations assailed his people, they were, too often, found but ill prepared to combat the plausible arguments, or resist the flattering seductions with which they came in eon- tact. They readily learned to turn aside from the guidance of one whom they loved and honoured as a man, but in whom they failed to recognize the higher authority of a duly commissioned Ambassador o( Christ. They had not acquired such a spirit of obedience as would induce them to submit their

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own notions, and regulate their practices, by the decisions of primitive and apostolic rule. They had not been trained to love and confide in their Spiritual Mother — the Eride of Christ — and there- fore, when other claimants to their regard arose, they were easily led captive, and not only forsook the home of their spiritual childhood, but as the false spirit of Antinomianism spread and strength- ened, the faithful Minister saw many whom he had himself trained as lambs of Christ's flock, range themselves foremost in the ranks of schism, hostility, and even wild fanaticism*. And it was the gra- dual, though certain development of these painful results in the chief sphere of his labour, which led our Author eventually to modify his own views on the subject of religion: not that he ever really changed his opinions on the Articles of our Faith, or that he held less cordially the main truths of the Gospel, but he saw great reason to look differently on the mode of teaching them, and the general training of the members of Christ's flock, from

* This term was applied by our Author to the sect called " The Plymouth Brethren," — who found especial favour among his people — in a letter, which we are unfortunately unable to give in full, but in which he gave to a pious friend who differed from him, a full statement of his later views, and the causes which had brought them forward.

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what he had done in past years. Those who knew him best, will say that his