cise of the last, in his maintaining thus a prudent but uncompromising forbearance.

Forbearance, however, must have its limits. And, in Mr. Knox, I well know it was tried and exercised to no common amount. Many were those who urged their own views upon him with a freedom and a pertinacity which nothing could justify but the motive that prompted them to this friendly persecution-regard to the best interests of their friend's immortal soul. He bore much; but, occasionally, he was compelled to repress what he could not bear without injury either to his own mind, or to the cause of those truths which it had been the business of his life to advocate. We have a remarkable instance, in which he felt himself called on at length to speak out; and that to one whom he valued highly as a friend, and from whose piety he had more than once asked the aid of prayer. One to whose very nature it was impossible that he should obtrude; and who, in fact, I know, always studied to enter with Mr. Knox on subjects, respecting which they could feel in harmony. I allude to the occasion on which Mr. Cleaver prayed with him at his request; when, as Mr. Cleaver erroneously conceived, his heart was longing for what he (Mr. Cleaver) deemed to be true evangelical consolations. This was subsequent to the time of Mr. Kelly's praying in a similar strain. The prayer of Mr. Kelly might, even then, be fresh in Mr. Knox's mind, and acting as an additional incentive to his speaking in terms so explicit, that no doubt could any longer remain as to the constancy of his well known and long established sentiments. Speaking out, then," when Mr. Cleaver rose from his knees, Mr. Knox gave him to understand that his mind had not gone along with him in what had been the subject of his prayer. "He observed, as far as I remember, that I had not prayed for what he felt the great want of." "Mr. Cleaver certainly felt, when he left Mr. Knox on that occasion, that there had not been the communion of mind which implies a feeling of satisfaction, in such prayer.'

This is exactly what I should conceive a charitable and peaceably inclined, but, withal, an honest and wise Christian would do. "In the unity of the spirit, and the bond of peace," he would forbear much but there are limits which cannot safely be transgressed: the consistency of his Christian profession was not to be compromised by permitting it to be repeatedly misconceived; the word must at length go forth, which would place the settled convictions of his mind beyond the reach of misconception.

Mr. Cleaver" had not prayed for that which Mr. Knox felt the great want of;" and, by the test of that declaration, neither, assuredly, had Mr. Kelly, in those petitions which he thought it right to bring prominently forward, prayed for that which Mr. Knox felt to be the great object of his soul's want. "My increased exigencies" (it is thus that he writes in the distressing period of 1829) "made me more alive to the value of the power of religion, and of those communications of Divine grace, of which they" (that is, the professors of what are commonly called evangelical sentiments), "with the exception of John Wesley, &c., had been, hitherto, the most zealous maintainers. I seemed to myself, also, to feel that whatever errors might be mingled with the views of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, when really devout (as Doddridge, for instance), they had a cordial, and, as it were, vital, apprehension of our blessed Saviour, which gave them an advantage over me in a day of trial; and the attainment of which, in a strictly scriptural way (I might say, as to the substance of it, in George Herbert's way), would be to me an unspeakable happiness in sickness and health, in life and in death." Here is plain evidence of what he lamented, in the fact that his religion was not "sufficiently evangelical ;"-that the sense of Divine things was not impressed with an adequacy of sustaining power on his heart; that his "apprehension of our blessed Saviour" seemed to him "not as cordial, and, as it were, vital," as the apprehension of those, who, whilst "error mingled with their" doctrinal" views of" Christ's "grace,"

had, in this their cordiality and vitality of religion, "a seeming advantage over Mr. Knox in a day of trial.” To a devout evangelical (to Mr. Kelly, for instance), Mr. Knox, in his humility and charity, could turn, as to one who, having a more vital hold on Christ than himself, could more powerfully and effectually than himself, intercede for grace (for the supply of that very grace which he stood in need of) in prayer. He looked up to such a Christian, notwithstanding what he deemed doctrinal errors, with respect proportioned to the reality of his spiritual communion with God in Christ. Gladly would he have possessed the consolations which he saw that truly faithful and devoted (but, as he deemed him, that doctrinally erroneous) Christian had attained; gladly would he have possessed them-but, on one condition; namely, that he should possess them" in a strictly "in spiritual way." And what was the way which Mr. Knox specifies as strictly spiritual? "As to the substance of it,* George Herbert's way-" that is to say, doctrinally,

The following extracts from the Life of George Herbert, by Isaac Walton, may, perhaps, give a sufficiently correct notion of the substance of that "way" to which Mr. Knox here alludes.

"About one month before his death, his friend, Mr. Ferrar, hearing of Mr. Herbert's sickness, sent Mr. Edmund Duncon to see Mr. Herbert, and to assure him, that he wanted not his daily prayers for his recovery. Mr. Duncon found him weak, and, at this time, lying on his bed or on a pallet; but, at his seeing Mr. Duncon, he raised himself vigorously, saluted him, and with some earnestness inquired the health of his brother, Ferrar; of which Mr. Duncon satisfied him. And, after some discourse of Mr. Ferrar's holy life, and the manner of his constant serving God, he said to Mr. Duncon, Sir, I see by your habit that you are a priest, and I desire you to pray with me.' Which being granted, Mr. Duncon asked him, what prayers?' to which Mr. Herbert's answer was, 'Oh, sir! the prayers of my mother, the Church of England; no other prayers are equal to them: but, at this time, I beg of you to pray only the Litany, for I am weak and faint.' And Mr. Duncon did so.

*

"Mr. Duncon, who returned from Bath the fifth day, then found Mr. Herbert much weaker than he left him and, therefore, their discourse could not be long; but, at Mr. Duncon's parting with him, Mr. Herbert spoke to this purpose:- Sir, I pray, give my brother, Ferrar, an account of the decaying condition of my body; and tell him, I beg him to continue his prayers for me; and let him know that I have considered that God only is what he would be, and that I am, by his grace, now become so like him, as f

VOL. III.

in the way of primitive Catholicity, no less than experimentally, in the way of sensible, predominant, sustaining, rejoicing grace; doctrinally, in the way of that Church, which for fourteen centuries knew nothing of those doctrines which so large a portion of Christendom deems strictly evangelical now; which many individuals maintain as the root and essence of evangelical truth; but which the Church of England holds, in her formularies, in unison with the primitive Catholic Church; and, in her Articles, speaks of with a latitude so large, and with

to be pleased with what pleaseth him. And tell him, that I do not repine, but am pleased with my want of health; and tell him, my heart is fixed on that place where true joy is only to be found; and that I long to be there, and do wait for my appointed change with hope and patience.' Having said this, he did, with so sweet a humility as seemed to exalt him, bow down to Mr. Duncon, and, with a thoughtful and contented look, say to him, ' Sir, I pray deliver this little book to my dear brother, Ferrar, and tell him he shall find in it a picture of the many spiritual conflicts that have passed between God and my soul, before I could subject mine to the will of Jesus, my master, in whose service I have now found perfect freedom.'

"On other occasions, to his own family and a chosen friend, he would often speak to this purpose: I now look back upon the pleasures of my life past, and see the content I have taken in beauty, in wit, and music, and pleasant conversation, now all are past by like a dream, or as a shadow that returns not; and are now all become dead to me, or I to them. And I see, that as my father and generation hath done before me, so I also shall now suddenly (with Job) make my bed also in the dark. And I praise God I am prepared for it; and I praise him, that I am not to learn patience now I stand in such need of it; and that I have practised mortification, and endeavoured to die daily, that I might not die eternally; and my hope is, that I shall shortly leave this valley of tears, and be free from all fevers and pain; and (which will be a more happy condition) I shall be free from sin, and all the temptations and anxieties that attend it. And, this being past, I shall dwell in the New Jerusalem; dwell there with men made perfect; dwell where these eyes shall see my Master and Saviour, Jesus, and, with him, see my dear mother, and all my relations and friends. But I must die, or not come to that happy place; and this is my content, that I am going daily towards it, and that every day which I have lived hath taken a part of my appointed time from me, and that I shall live the less time for having lived this and the day past.'

6

"On the day of his death, he said to Mr. Woodnot: My dear friend, I am sorry I have nothing to present to my merciful God but sin and misery; but the first is pardoned, and, also, a few hours will now put a period to the latter; for I shall suddenly go hence, and be no more seen.' Upon which expression, Mr. Woodnot took occasion to remember him of the re

a discretion so sound, that she is indifferently quoted in these by men of various theological persuasions.*

Catholicity (and, of course, consistency in all essentials of doctrine) was a most distinguishing feature in the mental character and theological sentiments of Mr. Knox: and this is a feature which, in justice to my argument, cannot be left out of detailed examination, in a case where the judgment turns, with much inclination of preponderant weight, not only to the general tenour, but to the exact expression of the words which, on a particular occasion, Mr. Knox did, or did not, use. I should think that I was conducting the argument very imperfectly, if I were not to produce some evidence to this point of the question, in the words of Mr. Knox himself. It is obvious that, so far as his words will carry us, his own language ought to outweigh the testimony of any other person's as to expressions used by him; and, consequently, as to any inferences to be drawn from such expressions. In what

edifying Layton Church, and his many acts of mercy. To which he made answer, saying, They be good works if they be sprinkled with the blood of Christ, and not otherwise.'

"After this discourse, he became more restless, and his soul seemed to be weary of her earthly tabernacle; and this uneasiness became so visible, that his wife, his three nieces, and Mr. Woodnot, stood constantly about his bed, beholding him with sorrow and an unwillingness to lose the sight of him whom they could not hope to see much longer. As they stood thus beholding him, his wife observed him to breathe faintly and with much trouble, and observed him to fall into sudden agony, which so surprised her, that she fell into a sudden passion, and required of him to know how he did? to which his answer was, 'that he had passed a conflict with his last enemy, and had overcome him by the merits of his Master, Jesus.'

"At the last he said, 'Lord, forsake me not now my strength faileth me; but grant me mercy, for the merits of my Jesus: and now LordLord now-receive my soul.' And, with those words, he breathed forth his divine soul."-WALTON's Life of George Herbert, by Zouch, ad finem.

Such was the substance of that "cordial and vital apprehension of our blessed Saviour," the attainment of which would, under any circumstances, have been an unspeakable happiness to Mr Knox. To every word that George Herbert here uttered, Mr. Knox, I am sure, would have subscribed ; these views he would have deemed strictly and eminently "evangelical."-Ed. * Mr. Knox himself argues, from the Articles, in support of his views of the doctrine of justification by faith.