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THE REV. ROBERT ASPLAND.*

OUR purpose, in this article, is to speak of some of those Tributes of Affection and Esteem, that have been paid to Mr. Aspland's memory within his own chapel.

The Address at the Interment was delivered by an “Associatef in private and in public life, for more than forty years." It opens with a few general thoughts on DEATH. A transition is then made to the history and character of the deceased: and, for a guide and aid towards a complete memoir of him, this Biographical Sketch will be highly useful.

Concerning his lamented friend, Dr. Rees well says that "he was endowed with intellectual powers of superior excellence."

"Possessed of remarkable quickness of apprehension, clearness of perception, accuracy of discrimination, and solidity of judgment, there was perhaps no subject within the ordinary range of literature and science, which, if he made it the object of his serious pursuit, he was not competent to prosecute with facility and success."-Pp. 10, 11.

The following sentences record what is signally honourable to Mr. Aspland:

"In order to economize his time, and give somewhat of a methodical arrangement to his mental acquisitions, his first care was to sketch out for himself a comprehensive plan of study, embracing the entire circle of literary subjects, but more especially and distinctly those branches of learning which bore a more intimate relation to Religion and Morals. This plan, with occasional deviations suggested by improved knowledge and more extensive experience, he pursued with great diligence and eminent success to the last years of his laborious and valuable life."-P. 12.

Dr. R. draws an accurate picture of a state of opinion prevalent at the time when his friend entered upon the ministerial profession, and of the course which Mr. A. took in consequence:

"Scepticism and Infidelity had acquired a kind of fashionable popularity among a large class of the young men of the age. To profess to disbelieve, and to treat with ridicule or with scorn, the great facts and discoveries of Divine Revelation, were regarded by many persons of education as the evidences of a superiority of understanding and independence of character. With the strong and deeply-rooted religious feelings which he had cherished from early youth, this was a state of things which he could not contemplate without great concern. It impelled him, first, to review the grounds upon which his own Christian faith was built, in order to be satisfied that his convictions were supported by adequate and demonstrative proofs. He wished to be thus able to hold his Christian principles with perfect satisfaction, and at the same time to qualify himself for the rational and effectual vindication of their truth and divine authority. He therefore devoted a large portion of his valuable time to the careful and diligent study of the best writers on the evidences of Divine Revelation. Of the success with which he engaged in this labour, he gave frequent and decisive evidence in after-life, both in private conversation and in his public discours. And, indeed, there was no subject upon which he displayed himself more completely furnished, or better prepared to argue with triumphant force."-Pp. 13, 14.‡

* Address delivered at the Interment, &c., Jan. 6, 1846. A Sermon preached Jan 11, 1846, at Hackney, &c. Thomas Rees, LL.D., &c. &c,

See Mr. Aspland's own Sermon, entitled, "Moral Consequences of the Del of Christianity:" Vol., No. IX.

This Address is characterized by a just estimate of Mr. A.'s labours as a Public Man, as well as by a copious and faithful enumeration of them:

"-such were his extraordinary talents for public business, such the ease, the skill, and the facility, with which he executed every task to which he applied the energies of his mind, that he embarked in the multiplied and burdensome duties imposed by all these societies with as much earnestness, activity, and vigour, as if each had constituted the only institution to which his labours were devoted."-P. 21.

We shall quote one passage more: it is both instructive and consoling:

"The protracted illness which embittered the last years of our lamented friend's life, wasted and enfeebled his manly frame, impeded his public labours, and interrupted, though they did not wholly suspend, his intellectual pursuits, had necessarily the effect of subjecting his Christian principles and pious fortitude to a severe trial. But he evinced under all his sufferings that he had himself well learnt, and deeply impressed upon his heart, the important lessons of Christian patience and devout resignation, which he had so often and so earnestly inculcated upon others. He sustained every painful visitation as became the disciple of Jesus,-not with a stoical indifference or callous obduracy, uncongenial with the feelings of human nature, but, like his divine exemplar, with perfect acquiescence in the will of the Great Disposer of events, whose wisdom and benevolence he devoutly recognized in the evil as well as the good of life.”—Pp. 27, 28.

Mr. Madge* announces his textf and subject,f after a very suitable introduction, which must have prepared his hearers for listening to him with deep attention.

He states concisely the import of the exhortation from which he discourses, and the ground on which it is presented to the Jewish believers. At the same time, he properly remarks that the words are as applicable to us as they were to the first disciples: and the benefits of the remembrance of the departed righteous are next set forth.

As mortal beings, as creatures absorbed in the things of time and sense, as mourners in this valley of tears, it is fit and useful that we cherish the memory of the righteous dead.

The remembrance of them is the remembrance of wise and good companions and what was salutary in experience, is salutary also in recollection.

Sorrow flowing from this source, tends to soften the heart, and to prepare it for receiving deeper the seeds of Piety and Truth. The time for mourning is the time when the cares of the world are for a while forgotten, and when we are most disposed to hearken to the voice of Religion, to implore her aid, to seek her consolations.

In dwelling on the memory of the pious dead, we dwell on the memory of many a valuable quality and labour; on firm integrity, active and disinterested kindness, hallowed purposes, benevolent wishes and efforts. We look back upon these with a distinctness, comprehension and impartiality, less attainable perhaps while our associates were living and the recollection cannot come frequently over the

* Sermon, &c., by Thomas Madge, Minister of Essex-Street Chapel. + Heb. xiii. 7, "Remember them," &c.

"The Memory of the Righteous Dead."

soul, without leaving behind it something of a kindred and congenial

nature.

With this remembrance, too, we connect the surest, best of hopes: we connect it with the rewards of virtue in heaven.

One tendency of it is to dispel the delusion which the objects of Sense produce for it greatly reminds us of our being only pilgrims here, and the destined oitizens of heaven; and of the decays of Nature as introductory to Immortal Life.

The remembrance, moreover, of the society and the charities which we have enjoyed on earth, is a very efficacious means, in the order of Providence, of training us for the society and charities to be enjoyed in the heavenly state.

Such is an abstract of the former part of Mr. M.'s discourse [pp. 5-18]: throughout this division, he skilfully makes all his remarks suggestive of the event which dictated his subject and his text, and of the memory of his much-regretted friend. The remainder of this sermon is a sketch of Mr. Aspland's character and labours.

It is a discourse of great excellence and power: and, to justify our pronouncing it such, we shall give extracts from both portions of it. The Preacher speaks, with lively emotion, of the influence of virtuous associates:

"If it be true that he who walketh with the wise shall be wise, it is scarcely less true that he who walketh with the good shall be good. It is hardly possible to live and breathe in the same atmosphere with a really virtuous man, without being, in some measure, infected with his principles and imbued with his tastes. We cannot be too thankful for every such instance of acquaintance and companionship which it has been allowed us to enjoy. It is one of the most powerful human instruments which Providence has put into our hands for attaching us to virtuous pursuits, and saving us from the degradations and debasements of vice. I cannot wish better for you, my brethren, and for those who are dear to you, than that it may be your and their lot to have for your associates the pure, the merciful, and the just. Every such connection you will find to be a fresh link in the chain which binds you to duty and to God. Our characters depend so much upon the circumstances in which we are placed, upon the impressions to which we are commonly exposed, upon the thoughts and images and expressions with which we are most familiarized, upon the associations which we form, and the counsels and encouragements which we are in the habit of receiving, that we cannot be too careful as it respects both the society into which we ourselves enter, and that to which we introduce our children. It is an object of greater importance than we are apt to imagine. In fact, it is of the greatest importance to our moral well-being."-Pp. 9, 10.

Nor is he less successful in describing that permanent remembrance of the virtuous dead, which alone can be morally profitable:

"sorrow is mostly short-lived, and nothing therefore which is dependent upon that can be reckoned lasting and secure. The remembrance of the virtuous dead, however, sometimes remains fresh and strong when the sorrow which was felt at their departure from us has subsided into the calmness and composure of resignation and submission. Then, indeed, a blessing attends it which is both great and enduring. The recollection of their good deeds, of their active and disinterested kindness, of the purity of their principles and the firmness of their integrity,-the recollection of all that they have said and done for the cause of truth and justice, of their benevolent wishes and holy purposes and pious endeavours, cannot come frequently over the soul without leaving

behind it something of a kindred and congenial nature. They are gone-but their good name and the remembrance of their virtues yet remain. The sun of their human life is set, in this world to rise no more; but besides that we may look forward to a time when it shall re-appear and shine in a nobler sphere, it has even now kindled in the hearts of many a survivor a light which shall never be extinguished, a light which will continue to shed upon them its warm and benignant influence, cherishing all their better purposes and stimulating and invigorating all their virtuous exertions.”—Pp. 12, 13,

Christian Mourners cannot with indifference either hear or read such words of comfort as the following:

"There is no consideration more soothing to the grief of sorrowing friends than the thought, that they for whom they mourn have acted their part in life faithfully and well; that they have done what they could; and that if there be another state after this, as we believe and are assured there is, their condition in that state cannot, for a moment, be doubtful. It is, indeed, a sweet reflection, the value and comfort of which it is hardly possible to express in words, when we can say to ourselves, Our friend is taken from us, but he died in peace and sleeps in Jesus, and his spirit rests in hope. He has descended to the grave clothed with the virtues of a Christian, after having, through life, constantly endeavoured to walk humbly with God and honestly before men. This, in conjunction with the gospel assurance of God's pardoning mercy, is a foundation upon which we may venture to build a fabric of high and glorious expectations. Knowing what the character of the departed has been; having witnessed his spotless integrity, and his pure and unaffected piety; having observed in the whole tenour of his life that devotedness to duty which is the best test of a heart right with God,-it is not too much, when we stand by the grave of such a friend, to anticipate for him, in the future world, all that is blissful and happy."—Pp. 14, 15.

Very seasonable admonition is conveyed in a passage that we next transcribe:

While our friends are with us on earth, we may, perhaps, wish for them a thousand other things besides piety and virtue; but when this world is no more to them, we feel that all else is as nothing and vanity; and that if they possessed these, they possessed every thing,-every thing necessary to their real and enduring happiness. At such a time, what on their account will it avail us to know that they were rich or powerful, great or prosperous, if they have not been wise and good? Destitute of these moral qualities, there will be wanting in the composition of their characters the only ingredient which can make us think of them with complacency and satisfaction, the only ingredient which can give us comfort and peace in the retrospect of the past. Let the parent wish for his child honour and reputation and worldly advancement; for these, within the bounds of moderation, he may lawfully strive; but let him not think that these, in themselves considered, are enough; that these alone can compensate for the absence of the higher attributes of our being. If he do, the time may come when he will bitterly deplore the error of his calculation, and remember-too late, alas! for his own happiness-that it is the wise, the good, the virtuous child who alone maketh a glad father."-Pp. 15, 16.

Mr. M. prefaces his sketch of the character of his deceased friend very judiciously:

"In these general observations on the advantages and blessings to be derived from virtuous remembrances, you have, no doubt, as I went along, adverted in your minds to him whose labours here, so long and faithfully dedicated to your service, are now closed for ever. Many and great as may be the benefits commonly resulting from the direction of your thoughts in the way of which I have now been speaking, they must be greatly enhanced when your attention is turned towards those who were not only your friends

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and associates, but your counsellors and instructors in the things pertaining to the kingdom of heaven. In addition, then, to the reasons already mentioned, there are especial grounds, in the present instance, why you should cherish the remembrance of him who is gone. He stood to you in one of the most interesting and important relations that one human being can sustain towards another. He was your pastor, your minister or servant in Christ."-Pp. 18, 19.

The Preacher enforces upon his audience, in plain and energetic terms, the remembrance of him "who spoke unto them the word of God:"

"You must recall to your minds, and impress deeply upon your hearts, the valuable instructions, the solemn warnings, the urgent entreaties, the affectionate supplications, that were addressed to you to persuade you to walk worthy of the vocation to which you have been called,-worthy of the glorious destination to which you aspire. Fruitless sympathies, mere passing regrets, will do no honour to the memory of the departed, and no good to your own souls. Your sorrow for what is lost, your remembrance of those who are gone, will only tell to your greater condemnation, if they lead to no practical result. To be serviceable to yourselves; to be useful to others; to constitute a fitting tribute to the virtues of the dead, or a grateful offering to the affections of the living, they must flow into your lives, to purify and elevate them; they must dwell in your hearts, to cleanse and sanctify them. Without some such homage as this, your outward ceremonial of respect will be but a vain show. I do not say to you, remember not him who in this place so long presided over you-it would be discreditable to you if you did not-but I say, remember more than all, and above all, the words of truth which he has here spoken to you; bring back the pure thoughts and the holy desires which his living voice inspired into you."-P. 21.

The eminent value of Mr. A.'s labours for the Public is effectively described:

66 --

-the sphere of his usefulness, the field of his exertions, extended over a larger space and embraced a wider circle than lies within these walls, or is bounded by this congregation. Here, however, was the principal scene of his labours; and to your religious improvement, to your moral and spiritual benefit, to the instruction of your minds in the knowledge and apprehension of divine things, and the solace of your hearts with Christian consolations, his thoughts in private and his energies in public were mainly devoted. But yet he found time and strength to give his cares and to exert his powers whenever they were called for- and often were they called for-by the friends of truth and freedom, of justice and humanity. On all occasions he was ready to fight the good fight of faith-to contend earnestly for the truth which he believed to have been once delivered to the saints. In every struggle for human rights, and above all for the rights of conscience, he was first and foremost; and it is not too much to say, that the successful issue of some of those struggles was, in no small degree, attributable to the wisdom of his advice, the force of his eloquence, the indomitable firmness of his courage, and the untiring patience of his perseverance."-Pp. 22, 23.

Again,

"When I consider the services for which, at different periods of his life, we, as a section of the Christian Church, are indebted to him; when I reflect upon the zeal which he often displayed in behalf of our distinguishing principles, the perspicuity with which he stated and illustrated them, and the vigour with which he repelled the attacks of unjust assailants,-I feel that, in losing him, we have lost one of our best and ablest advocates, and whose place it will not be easy to supply."-Pp. 23, 24.

We must be allowed one more extract-so important and appropriate

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