joy. He was, above all, singularly happy in his visitation of the sick, and in administering consolation to those that mourned; and his name will long be dear, and his memory most precious, in the cottages of the poor, by whose sick beds he has often stood as a ministering angel." "His sermons," says another of his friends, "were very original—sometimes expanding into general views of the scheme and doctrines of revelation, collected from an intimate acquaintance, not with commentators, but with the details of holy writ itself, frequently drawing ingenious lessons for christian conduct, from the subordinate parts of a parable, a miracle, or a history, which a less imaginative mind would have overlooked-often enlivened by moral stories, with which his multifarious reading supplied him; and occasionally by facts which had come, perhaps, under his own observation, and which he thought calculated to give spirit or perspicuity to the truths he was imparting: a practice which, when judiciously restrained, is well adapted to secure the rustic hearer from the fate of Eutychus, without giving offence even to nicer brethren: of which the powerful effect is discover

able (though the figures may be grosser than the times would now admit) in the sermons of Latimer and the Reformers; subsequently, in those of Taylor and South; and still more recently in the popular harangues of Whitfield and Wesley; and a practice, we will add, which derives countenance and authority from the use of parables in the preaching of our Lord." Both in the pulpit and in his ordinary conversation, his language was polished, yet seldom above the reach of a country congregation; and when occasion required, was dealt out to them in a way it was impossible to misunderstand. Frequently he indulged in bold and striking metaphors, and he was always attractive in the happy adoption of expressions from the pure and undefiled English of the Bible, with which his mind was thoroughly imbued, and which he could call up at will.

It was while engaged in this way, that he found time for the occasional composition of some hymns, of which he originally intended to prepare a series, adapted to the English Church service throughout the year, for the use of his own parish. A few of them were first published in the Christian

Observer for 1811 and 1812, introduced by a brief statement of the motives which led to their composition, which were correct in themselves, and highly creditable to the author.* From some cause he never completed the task which he had set for himself; but among those which he did prepare, there are some very beautiful specimens of devotional poetry, which would alone be sufficient to preserve his memory from decay. Some of them, as his missionary hymn, have obtained a very just celebrity; and there are few readers of poetry who are not familiar with that beautiful piece, beginning Brightest and best of the sons of the morning.†

In 1812 he published a small volume of poems, including, beside those we have already alluded

*This statement may be found among the notes at the end of this volume.

+ While on his primary visitation, at Meerut, in the heart of India, he was delightfully surprised at hearing some of these hymns sung in the church where he was preaching. "I had the gratification," he says in his journal, "of hearing my own hymns, Brightest and best of the sons of the morning,' and that for St. Stephen's day, sung better than I ever heard them in church before.

to, with the exception of the hymns, some translations of Pindar, and one or two smaller pieces.

In 1815, he was chosen, though still young, and only in the first eligible degree, to deliver the Bampton Lectures before the university of Oxford. The lectures, conformably to the directions of the founder, were published the ensuing year, under the title of "The Personality and Office of the Christian Comforter asserted and explained in a course of Sermons on John xvi. 7." Of these lectures it has been said by a judicious and able critic, that the author has displayed much depth and accuracy of investigation; an extensive acquaintance with the hidden stores of learning, whether laid up in the writings of the ancient philosophers and poets, the Christian fathers of the Greek and Latin churches, or the still more recondite Rabbinical compilers; and a richness and grandiloquism of expression, which, to say the least of it, is fully as appropriate to the poet of Palestine as to the Bampton lecturer. The immense mass of learning introduced into this volume is doubtless very creditable to the powers and industry of Mr. Heber."

A few critical essays, both theological and literary, which appeared in the periodical publications of the day, without his name, and an ordination sermon, printed at the request of the Bishop of Chester, before whom it was delivered, comprise all his literary labours from the date last named, till 1822, when he again appeared before the public, as the editor of an edition of the works of Jeremy Taylor, to which he annexed an account of the life of Bishop Taylor, and a review of his writings from his own eloquent pen. While this work exhibits advancement to a more ripened knowledge, and improvement in taste and style, it derives a great interest, from the evident sympathy with which Mr. Heber regards the life and writings of that heavenly-minded man. Taylor and Heber have, indeed, been thought to possess much in common, a poetical habit of mind, disgust at intolerance, great simplicity of character and feeling, a hatred of every thing sordid and contracted, a love for practical rather than speculative religion, and a degree of faith, not the less bright and towering, because connected with a lofty imagination.