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strength and maturity of his usefulness; sin possession of every thing that could make life desirable, and with a more than ordinary prospect of length of days; he yielded to the call, not as one who was comspelled to obey, but as one who was "ready," and had a desire to depart." The truths he had so long and so faithfully preached to others, now administered to him their ful! support. He seemed wholly occupied and absorbed by two considerations, THE WELFARE OF HIS FLOCK, and THE JOY THAT WAS SET BEFORE HIM. Like his blessed Master, the Good Shepherd, he cared for the sheep ;" and those of them who had access to him, in his last hours, will not soon forget "how he exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of them, as a father doth bis children, that they would walk worthy of God, who had called them to his kingdom and glory;" with what ardour of holy affection, he gave them his dying benediction: May the Lord bless you; cleave to him with purpose of heart; hold on unto the end, that you may meet your unworthy minister, and that he may have to present you at last in the presence of God. I shall be looking for you, one by one, to follow me to: glory." So affectionately desirous was this excellent man of the people of his charge, that their future welfare was amongst the last and dearest cares of his valuable life! Mr. Wattham felt and expressed the fullest reliance on the wisdom and piety of his revered patrons, in their choice of a successor; but so near was this subject to his heart, that he made it his dying request that his solicitude on this point might be respectfully communicated to them. May every Christian pastor drink deeply into the same spirit !”/

To all who visited him during the last days of his life, he had something strikingly appropriate to say; and when at intervals the power of utterance was suspended, he pointed upwards, to indicate where he was going. On one occasion, reviving a little, he was heard to say,

poor vile sinner saved!” and iminediately repeated the two first verses of the hymn, Jesus, I love thy charming name," &c. Mrs. Waltham requested him not to exert himself so much, when he replied,

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I must speak the honours of my God with my last labouring breath."" He then addressed his dear and af flicted partner: "Let your soul's salvation be your only care. regard to earthly things, you will be left in a comfortable and respectable situation: but what are all these things! Do not set your affections upon them-consider them as the dust to be trampled under your feet!" After a suitable address to all present, he exclaimed, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Thanks be to God, who hath given me the victory, through Jesus Christ our Lord!" On the evening of the same day, one of his hearers' came to see him, and being much affected, Mr. Waltham said, "Don't weep! I am happy! Tell my friends how happy I am! Tell them, I am going before; may they soon' follow! I hope to present them before the throne of God, and to to say Behold I and the children thou hast given me!

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The following morning, another, of his parishioners called upon him, when, taking him by the hand, Mr. Waltham said, "I shall soon be with Jesus! The Lord bless you! cleave to him with full purpose of heart!" This friend observed to him, "What a blessing it is, sir, that the Lord is so good to you, as to fill you with such a glorious prospect!"--when our brother replied, "Not a cloud! The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear! The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid!" Ia the course of the same day, Mrs. Waltham, observing in her revered husband the struggle of departing life, was much affected, and said, "This is very hard!" when be an swered, "It is not crufixion bad to

On Sunday morning (the day be fore his death), he inquired, "Is not

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this the Lord's-Day?" and address ing himself to Mrs. Waltham, added, "I hope my love would have no objection to my spending this day in heaven!" On receiving from her some wine and water, he said, "It only keeps me here! I long to drink at the Fountain Head." A friend observed, "the Lord's time is the best." "Yes," said: he, "so it is; but I long to be gone: I long to see brim as he is. When I awake up after thy likeness, I shall be satisfied! Into thy hands I commend my spirit, for thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, thon God of truth!"

In the evening of the same day (Sunday), he said to his medical attendant," I thought my spirit would have taken its flight before this time; but it clings so hard to this poor body!" And soon after, "I am upon a Rock-Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, who stayeth himself on Thee!" On Monday morning, about an hour before his death, he said, “Glorious vision !” and, opening his eyes, and observing the sun's rays entering the room, he added, "Farewell, sun! I want not thee! I shall behold the Sun of Righteousness! Bright prospect!" And having said this, he fell asleep. His funeral sermon (from Heb. xiii. 7) was preached by a friend and neighbour, who can never forget the spectacle which the church at Darlaston that day presented it was indeed" the house of mourning!" and the preacher's impression, on ascending the pulpit,

resembled what he has sometimes felt on visiting a numerous and afflicted, family for the first timeafter the removal of an affectionate and revered father. It would afford to the mind of the writer of this memuir a melancholy satisfaction to linger a while on this affecting subject; but he dares not trust himself further. Nearly of the same age with his lamented friend, placed in a station of great responsibility, and not without indications of declining strength; he is reminded that the period of his labour, and of life itself, cannot be long. What he most desires is, that it may not be spent in vain. He will therefore, with encouragement and awe, “Go forth to his work and to his labour until the evening;" humbly praying, that the God of his friend 4 may be his God for ever and ever, and his Guide even unto death!"

MAJOR-GENERAL BURN.

AT Gillingham, near Chatham, on the 18th of September, in the se venty-third year of his age after an illness of only a few days, died, Major-General Burn, of the Royal Marines; well known to the Christian world as the author of several valuable publications, and as an eminently pious character in a profession not peculiarly friendly to the growth of the Christian graces. His family have announced their intention of publishing memoirs of his life.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

A CONSTANT READER; A PROFESSED CHRISTIAN PATRIOT; PASTOR; J. N. G.; PHILOPERSEVERANTIA; M.; and ORION, have been received, and are under conside

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INDICOPLEUSTES must have seen, long before this time, how very widely he has erred in his speculations on Prophecy.

A FRIEND TO THE OLD SOCIETY AND ITS SAFEGUARDS; Caurus; and W. CUNINGHAME, will be inserted.

The Pamphlet transmitted by a PRESTONIAN will be attended to.

The suggestion respecting the Paper of D. W. will be duly weighed,

We are sorry to find that several literary notices have been omitted through inade

vertence.

THE

CHRISTIAN OBSERVER.

No. 156.]

DECEMBER, 1814.

[No. 12. Vol. XIII.

IN

RELIGIOUS COMMUNICATIONS.

EAST-INDIA MISSIONS.

(Continued from p. 689.)

'N the Report for 1789, it appears that Mr. Fabricius, on account of his age and infirmities, had resigned the government of the Madras Mission to Mr. Gericke, who removed thither from Negapatnam for that purpose. At Negapatnam, in the preceding year, Mr. Gericke had baptized thirty-eight children, and thirteen adults, chiefly Hindoos. At Trichinapoly, Mr. Pohle had baptized seventy-one, including three adult Heathers, and one Jew. Mr. Jænicke had joined Mr. Swartz at Tanjore, and was making great progress both in English and Malabar. His talents, temper, and conduct are highly spoken of. The congregation at Palamcottah, was under the care of Sattianaden, an able and pious catechist. At Tranquebar, ten Papists, and thirty-seven adult Heathens, had been converted. The number of communicants, was 1154. The Mission had experienced great loss by the death of the country priest Philip, whose memory would long be cherished. One of the Missionaries had visited different parts of Ceylon, and administered the sacraments there.

In the Report for 1790, Mr. Gerické is stated to have baptized at Negapatnam, nineteen adults, and among them two women from Siam. Another woman received to baptism, surprised all who heard her by her comprehensive knowledge of Christianity. She continued an exemplary Christian.--The Danish Missionaries at Tranquebar, announce an increase of one-hundred-and-seventy-eight to the Mission. The Mission had suffered a great loss by CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 156.

the death of the Missionary Klein, for forty-four years a faithful la bourer in that vineyard. He had been active to the last, and expired in his chair without being brought to a sick bed. He died composed and comforted in his soul, and expressing his faith in Christ, and desire to be soon with him, so that they were all greatly edified.

In the Report for 1791, Mr. Pohle mentions the caution with which he always admitted adults to Christian baptism. Experience had taught him," that if a man is not truly concerned in his inmost soul, but is visibly indifferent about his being a sinner, and about the Saviour from sin whom God out of his infinite mercy hath given to the world, he is not fit for the kingdom of God. To a knowledge of the language of Canaan must be added the power of godliness, or the man is not (whatever his Christian professions may be) to be depended upon."

Mr. Swartz gives an account of the ordination, according to the Lutheran ritual, of Sattianaden, one of their native catechists, who had given abundant proof of ability and faithfulness. On this occasion, be delivered a sermon in Tamul, of which Mr. Swartz transmitted an English version to the Society, and which the Society afterwards published, " not as a curiosity, but as an evidence that the work of God is advancing in India, and the light of the Gospel spreading through these regions of darkness and idolatry." The sermon is preceded by some very sensible and pious observations of a member of the Society, who rejoices that even "a single sođi

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like Sattianaden should have been rescued from heathen darkness, and brought to the knowledge of Jesus Christ; a knowledge not such as too many of the Romish converts attained, but a knowledge unto salvation; a knowledge which does honour to his instructors, and which the most enlightened members of our own church would glory to have instilled." "A simple and tender strain of eloquence pervades the whole." "The order, perspicuity, and knowledge of the subject which appear throughout, would do credit to those who have been long train ed in the habits of composing; and if the natives of India possess by nature, or can arrive by instruction at perfection to such a degree, let it not be said any longer, that they are deficient in any qualifications that fit men for the office of pastors and teachers in the church of Christ."

The text of this sermon is Ezek. xxxiii. 11. In treating it, he proposes to consider:

I. To whom the offers of Divine mercy are made.

II. The way and means of obtaining the blessings offered in this Divine promise.

7. III. What those inestimable blessings are.

A few extracts will give our readers some idea of this discourse.

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"II. The way by which men are to obtain the blessings of this promise is expressed in the text-by turning from their evil ways: Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? Such a turning of a convinced sinner from his evil ways, implies in it a distressing sense of his departure from the way of God's commandments, and of his ungrateful behaviour towards God, and an abhorrence and renunciation of all bis sinful courses; for as long as a sinner is not affected with a sense of his sinfulness and lost condition, but thinks well of himself, while he continues in his sinful course, he will never be prevailed upon to renounce and forsake it. This was the condition of most of the Jews; though God then chastised them for their sins, they remained insensible of their great ingratitude towards him their Divine Benefactor; their proud hearts were not humbled by it, for they were industrious to justify themselves, though thereby they reflected on God, and therefore they continued to pursue the dictates of their depraved heart. And this, alas! is the deplorable condition of many who call themselves Christians, who miserably deceive themselves, by hoping to become happy because they conform to some external rules of Christianity, while their hearts are still estranged from God; and though the word of God. and their own conscience tells them that they live in this and in that sin, and that consequently they cannot be pleasing to God, yet they either believe it not, or turn a deaf ear to those salutary warnings, or make a hundred shifts or excuses for it, without examining the state of their souls, or considering to what miseries they are exposed, as long as they go on in their unconverted state, and therefore they remain in their sinful attachment to the world, and in other sinful courses. But O that such would consider how dreadful their condition is, as long as they are insensible of their sinfulness and misery: that as long as

"I. The persons to whom this gracious promise is made, are all mankind, who though endowed with rational souls and well-framed bodies, blessed with great divine gifts of the mind, and with the comforts and conveniences of this life, though daily protected from all dangers, and receiving innumerable blessings from the paternal hands of their Maker; have disobeyed his laws, dishonoured his name, 'resisted the dictates of the blessed Spirit, and pursued the sinful desires of their depraved heart. Melancholy and very humiliating as this assertion is, conscience, and the unerring word of God, concur in declaring it to be true. Let us hear what the sacred Scripture says on this head," &c.

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they continue in sin, they are slaves to Satan and to their lusts, under the high displeasure of God, and liable to such miseries which no human tongue is able fully to declare. Whosoever loves sin destroyeth his own soul. Let us therefore be persuaded no longer to continue in the practice of sin, but let us entreat him to convince us by his blessed Spirit of our miserable condition by nature, and to make us truly sensible thereof. Let us consider how disobedient and how ungrateful we have been towards him, and let this consideration fill our hearts with sorrow. and excite us to humble ourselves before him.

"God comes now to the door of our hearts, and invites us to accept of his grace and mercy. O sinners, turn, turn from your evil ways! Why will you die? Why will you throw away your immortal souls, and plunge yourselves into eternal death and misery? As I live, I have no pleasure in your death. Hate and renounce therefore your sins, and turn unto me by repentance, and faith in your Redeemer, and I will bestow upon you the riches of my grace, and the blessings of pardon, righteousness,

and eternal life."

"This was likewise the chief intention of our Saviour's preaching when he entered on his ministry, namely, to prevail on sinners to repent and to turn to God: Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand: yea, God is now making his own way to reconciliation and peace, through the sufferings and death of his Son: he has sent him to atone for your sins, that thereby he might lay a firm foundation for your being united to him again; that you may share in these blessings. Therefore, repent; consider how you have departed from God, and how ungrateful you have been to him; and let your hearts be melted thereby into repentance and sorrow for your past sins, and be excited to hate and forsake every sin,

and to love and serve God. Let us, therefore, be prevailed upon by these gracious calls, no longer to continue in our enmity against God, who has such kind designs towards us; but let us turn unto him with a sense of our poverty and sinfulness: let us acknowledge and bewail before him our sins, and resolve, in dependence on his strength, to hate and to renounce them, and to dedicate ourselves to the service of God.

"The turning of a convinced sin ner from his sinful ways includes in it likewise a trust and dependence on Christ for pardon and salvation; all our sorrow for sin, and resolutions to amend our lives, will not take away our sins: it is Jesus who has atoned for them, and has made peace between God and men: to him, therefore, we must fly for refuge, and believe in him as our Saviour, and the Source of all our happiness. Through his mediation we ought to draw near unto God, and entreat him to grant us pardon of sin, and an interest in his grace and favour. This is the only true way of attaining to these inestimable blessings; for the oracles of God assure us that he is the only Media tor between God and men, and that whosoever believeth in him shall have life everlasting."

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The atonement of Jesus is the only foundation for pardon and acceptance: he is the way by which we are to draw near unto God: • Whosoever cometh through him shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture.' John x. 9. We have no reason to doubt of it, for God himself hath set bim forth to be a propitiation for the sins of the whole world, and inviteth sianers to believe in him as their Saviour, that so they may share in the blessings of redemption. God calleth us to look on him and be saved. O sinners, ye have undone yourselves, and are plunged into a state of the most deplorable misery, out of which you are not able to deliver yourselves; but Jesus your

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