PREFACE. THE volume to which this leaf is prefixed is the thirtysixth of a work that has yielded more than five thousand pounds to the necessitous widows of deceased ministers, among whom its profits have been divided. It is also the seventh of a series intrusted to the superintendence of the present editor. He desires to acknowledge the candour with, which his efforts to render it subservient to the highest interests of the baptist churches have been received by many of the most respected of their ministers and deacons, and to say that he values highly the expressions of approbation with which he is occasionally favoured. To conduct the Magazine in accordance with the motto that has been for so many years on its title-page," speaking the truth in love;" to cherish a spirit of harmonious co-operation among all who are of one mind in reference to that divine institution by which believers "put on Christ ;" and to promote the consistency, the spiritual-mindedness, and the efficiency of those churches which are formed on New Testament principles, are objects which the editor wishes to keep continually in view, and for which he labours night and day. How far his endeavours are successful, it is for others to determine. London, November 25, 1844. WILLIAM GROSER. THE BAPTIST MAGAZINE. JANUARY, 1844. MEMOIR OF THE LATE REV. JOHN FOSTER. It is presumed that any account of so eminent a person as Mr. Foster, will be read with avidity, provided it contain some facts and incidents in his history. The difficulty of furnishing many details in a life so little varied as his, must be obvious. We await with much interest the appearance of a memoir, preparing, we hear, under the eye of his family. Meanwhile, to allay the eager expectation of our readers, we shall attempt such a brief account of him as our opportunities have enabled us to prepare. In venturing on such a sketch we must bespeak the lenient judgment of our readers. We approach, with unfeigned diffidence, a task which only one friend of Mr. Foster's, of all persons living, is perfectly competent for, or could engage in, without risk of failure. Ours will be little more than a brief outline of his life in its few dates and movements, in which we shall avail ourselves freely of the information supplied in the excellent discourse of the Rev. T. S. Crisp, preached on occasion of Mr. Foster's death, and which we earnestly recommend to the perusal of our readers. VOL. VII.-FOURTH SERIES. John Foster was born in September, 1770. His parents were persons in humble life, residing on a small farm at Wadsworth, near Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire. His father was a weaver by trade, and brought up his son John at first to his own occupation. Both his parents were eminently pious, and converts, we have heard, originally of Mr. Whitefield's preaching, but were subsequently baptized and united to the church under the care of the Rev. Dr. Fawcett, the author of the celebrated essay on Anger. They were also persons remarkable for masculine sense, and, without superior advantages, commanded the respect and esteem of their pastor and fellow-members. Their piety was exempt from those weaknesses, which the youth now growing up under their eye was afterwards to describe so forcibly, but which he must have observed elsewhere than under the parental roof. He ever referred to his parents with gratitude, as persons of the truest worth, and instances of the happiest union of piety and good sense. Under the prudent care of this pious B THE BAPTIST MAGAZINE. JANUARY, 1844. MEMOIR OF THE LATE REV. JOHN FOSTER. It is presumed that any account of so eminent a person as Mr. Foster, will be read with avidity, provided it contain some facts and incidents in his history. The difficulty of furnishing many details in a life so little varied as his, must be obvious. We await with much interest the appearance of a memoir, preparing, we hear, under the eye of his family. Meanwhile, to allay the eager expectation of our readers, we shall attempt such a brief account of him as our opportunities have enabled us to prepare. In venturing on such a sketch we must bespeak the lenient judgment of our readers. We approach, with unfeigned diffidence, a task which only one friend of Mr. Foster's, of all persons living, is perfectly competent for, or could engage in, without risk of failure. Ours will be little more than a brief outline of his life in its few dates and movements, in which we shall avail ourselves freely of the information supplied in the excellent discourse of the Rev. T. S. Crisp, preached on occasion of Mr. Foster's death, and which we earnestly recommend to the perusal of our readers. VOL. VII.-FOURTH SERIES. John Foster was born in September, 1770. His parents were persons in humble life, residing on a small farm at Wadsworth, near Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire. His father was a weaver by trade, and brought up his son John at first to his own occupation. Both his parents were eminently pious, and converts, we have heard, originally of Mr. Whitefield's preaching, but were subsequently baptized and united to the church under the care of the Rev. Dr. Fawcett, the author of the celebrated essay on Anger. They were also persons remarkable for masculine sense, and, without superior advantages, commanded the respect and esteem of their pastor and fellow-members. Their piety was exempt from those weaknesses, which the youth now growing up under their eye was afterwards to describe so forcibly, but which he must have observed elsewhere than under the parental roof. He ever referred to his parents with gratitude, as persons of the truest worth, and instances of the happiest union of piety and good sense. Under the prudent care of this pious B |