readers, be thought applicable to that eminent servant of Christ. Thus he speaks—“ Indeed, the words immediately following give no little intimation that he understands seed thus; for it is the seed to whom the promise, to wit of justification and life by Christ was made; which cannot be understood of Christ personally, but of his mystical members: so then the law continues for a rule, and to point out the wrath due for transgressions; for so long as Christ hath any seed upon earth, the law is to hunt men into Christ, their rock of safety; and, another end is, for a rule to order their conversation in him. once, but one by one, that all may learn, instead of being confused, and comforted, instead of being distracted. God is not the author of confusion, by inspiring his prophets in such an irresistible manner, as to cause them abruptly to deliver their discourses without regard to decency or order; He is the author of peace in all the churches of the saints, by inspiring the prophets in such a manner, as that their spirits, endowed with revelations from above, were, respecting the time of delivering them, in some degree subject to themselves. The scope and context clearly shew, that the apostle, by the phrase," Let the first hold his peace," does not mean that the first speaker should discontinue his discourse that another might proceed; but that they who had any thing revealed to them should not commence their dis-law, but under grace. I answer, courses before others had held their peace. To enforce this more strongly, he exhorts them to, "Let all things be done decently and order." To the Editor of the New Evangelical SIR, Some, it may be, will object, that all this while it seems that Christ hath not freed us from being under the law, whereas the apostle saith, ye are not under the 1st. That in respect of the rules of righteousness, or the matter of obedience, we are under the law instill; or else we are lawless, to live every man as seems good in his own eyes, which I know no true Christian dares so much as think; for Christ hath given no new law divers from this, to order our conversation aright by; besides, we are under the law, to know what is transgression, and what is the desert of it." See Dr. Crisp's Sermon "On the Use of the Law," Vol. II. p. 630. 4th. edition. CAROLINE. Nov. 17, 1817. PERMIT me, through the medium of your valuable Miscellany, to thank your Reviewer for his excellent and judicious remarks on Mr. Cowan's Reasons for leaving the Established Church; and to correct an assertion which, I suppose, to be indirectly levelled at Dr. Crisp. It runs thus-" Mr. Cowan also objects to the Baptists of Bristol, their considering the Moral Law as the rule of life to believers-an objection as old, we believe, as the days of Dr. Crisp, but of which it has always confounded us to make out the grounds and reasons." This objection was, I believe, Sir, never made by Dr. Crisp; and I think that a suspicion so repugnant to truth, should not, by any of your We are obliged to Caroline for the favour of her letter, because it gives us the opportunity of explaining an ambiguous paragraph, and of doing justice to an author whom we had neither the wish nor the intention to misrepresent. It is nearly forty years since we read Dr. Crisp's Sermons, and it would therefore be absurd in us to profess to have a distinct recollection of his sentiments upon the point in question. In penning the re mark to which our fair correspon- | preaching at our place of worship; dent refers, the following para- he preached one evening a very graph in Robinson's Notes on fine Sermon from Rev. xxii. 16. Claude's Essay, Vol. II. p. 260."The bright and Morning Star." suggested itself to recollection, the whole of which may he found and without waiting to examine how far it was well or ill founded, we unwittingly adopted the sense of it. verbatim in Dr. Styles's Sermons on various Subjects. No. 10. I felt very sorry that any young man should adopt such a plan, and had some thoughts of giving him a friendly hint, but have been informed by a friend that it has been mentioned to him several times; notwithstanding this he still continues to deliver it as his own, and has preached it in no less than a dozen or fourteen different places. But what is worst of all, is, that no one could hear him preach without being struck with the idea, that he thought himself a very clever popular preacher. If you, Sir, would please to insert this in your valuable Magazine with a little additional advice, you perhaps may do the young gentleman some good, and at the same time you will greatly oblige, Yours, &c. A CONSTANT READER. ANSWER BY THE EDITOR. The case referred to in this cor "John Agricola is called the father of the Antinomians-Luther suppressed his doctrine as well as he could, and his notions concerning the use of the law have been grossly misrepresented by the disciples of that reformer. They who were called Antinomians in the time of the Protectorate in England, and their great patron, Dr. Crisp, have been served in the same way." It was Mr. Robinson's terming Dr. Crisp "the great patron of the Antinomians," that we had in view, and it certainly does not appear that previous to the Doctor's time we had any amongst us who denied the moral law to be a rule of life to believers. So far, therefore, our allusion to Dr. Crisp's name is justifiable. We have no where charged him with discarding the law as a rule of life, and our correspondent has respondent's letter, is evidently successfully shewn that he was no advocate for that sentiment, which maxim with our great English quite a hopeless one! It was a it seems his disciples grafted upon moralist, Dr. Johnson, that "where his doctrine. We are glad that there is shame, there may in time justice is thus done to his princi-be virtue." But what can be exples, and that the subject is now pected from a stripling so devoid placed in a correct point of view of all decency as is the youth in through the kindness of our cor- question? Proh pudor! He ought respondent. We therefore dismiss to be sent to Coventry by all his the subject with merely adding Academical associates. the following attestation of Dr. Crisp's character from the pen of Mr. Robinson. "Dr. Crisp was a man of eminent piety, on whose character malice itself dare not ADMIRING as I do your cast a shade." Vide, Notes on interesting publication, entitled Claude, ut supra. EDITOR. "The New Evangelical Magazine," To the Editor of the New Evangelical I cannot help wishing sincerely and being a constant reader of it, that each Monthly Number con SIR, Magazine. To the Editor of the New Evangelical SIR, A STUDENT from a Dissent-tained many more pages than it ing Academy has lately been has hitherto done, and that it was VOL. III. 3 B printed on much better paper, I am Sir, yours, ANSWER. Having been favoured with several letters during the present year, of a nature not very dissimilar to the preceding (which we perceive bears the BAWTRY post mark) we embrace this occasion of entering into a little explanation on the subject, which we are the more inclined to do, in the hope that it may relieve us from similar applications. We do not very clearly comprehend what it is that this respectable correspondent wishes of us. We presume he does not need to be told that we now publish two editions of our Magazine, and that one of them, the price of which is eight pence each number, is printed on a superior paper, and has first impressions of the portrait. This therefore must do away his objection on the score of paper. But as to the other particular, viz. giving an additional quantity of Letter press in each number, we can assure him that we as much wish it as he can do, but such difficulties attend it under every point of view, that it appears impracticable to us. If we are to continue to give portraits, and to keep up the style in which they are now executed (a thing which we are fully resolved to do so long as we give them at all) 'tis certain we cannot do this and at the same time encrease the number of our pages, without augmenting the price of the Magazine also-a project to which, however desirable on some accounts, the present depressed state of the country presents a formidable obstacle. So that after a careful examination of the subject in all its bearings, we are of opinion that we cannot do better at present than prosecute the work in the manner and style in which it has hitherto been conducted. An increased circulation would indeed present an alternative, because it would enable us to enlarge its size without altering the price; and our friends may rest fully assured that whenever we find ourselves justified in doing that, we shall not be found wanting in compliance, since it would give us equal pleasure with themselves. We suspect that many of them are not aware that every Portrait given in this Magazine is an expence to us of more than FIFTEEN POUNDS. ANECDOTE. "A certain monk came to the convent at Mount Sinai, and finding the Monks all at work, shook his head, and said to the Abbot, Labour not for the meat that perisheth." John vi. 27. 'Mary chose that good part." Luke x. 42. Zachary said the old Abbot to his servant, give the brother a book and shew him into a cell. There sat the Monk alone all day long. At night wondering that nobody had called him to dinner, he goes to the Abbot. Father, says he, don't the brethren eat to day? O yes, replied the Abbot, they have eaten plentifully. And why added the Monk did you not call me? Because brother replied the Abbot, you are a spiritual man, and have no need of carnal food. For our parts, alas! we are carnal, we are obliged to eat, and therefore we work: but you brother! you have chosen the good part, you sit and read all day long, and are above the want of the meat that perisheth. Pardon me, father, I perceive my mistake. I do, subjoined the old man: but rewember, Martha is as necessary a Christian as Mary.” Theological Review. Memoirs and Remains of the late Rev. Charles Buck containing copious extracts from his Diary. and interesting letters to his friends; interspersed with various observations, explanatory and Illustrative of his Character and Works. By JoHN STYLES, D. D. London. Hamilton; Fenner. Pr. 5s. pp. 442. 1817. CHARLES BUCK is so peculiarly endeared to the religious public, (says his biographer) both by his preaching and writings, that his name will be long cherished with affectionate remembrance. Coinciding as we do with Dr. Styles in this remark, we experienced a sensible gratification on seeing that the furnishing of his "Memoirs and Remains" had devolved upon hands so competent to the undertaking. We are informed in the Introduc tion to these Memoirs that Mr. Buck had begun to sketch a narrative of his own Life, which he did not live to finish. Of this narrative, however, imperfect as it was, Dr. Styles has very properly availed himself, accompanying the incidents with pertinent observations and judicious remarks which add greatly to its interest. From the volume before us we learn that Mr. Buck was born of respectable but not opulent parents, at the small village of Hillsley, near Wotton Underedge, in Gloucestershire, in 1771, but the day of his birth is not specified. His parents placed him at an early age, under the care and tuition of the Rev. W. Hitchman, a Baptist minister, who kept a boarding school in the same village. Of Mr. Hitchman, a name now for gotten, or known only in the fading annals of the neighbourhood where for many years he acted a conspicuous part, his grateful pupil has recorded the following interesting particulars. "In addition to his labours as a preacher, he laid himself out for general usefulness in this and the surrounding places. There was hardly any thing that he could not do. The weak and super stitious consulted him in the hour of alarm; parents sent their profligate sons to him to be instructed and reformed; watchmakers employed him to make calculations; farmers engaged him to mea sure their lands, in which I often used to assist him. He studied pharmacy, and could mix a medicine, extract a tooth, and use the lancet as well as many gentlemen of the profession. He gave advice possessed property, and was ready to do to the poor, made the wills of those who good to all. He could construct a weatherglass, draw a map, and make an almanack. He was a very assiduous cultivator of his garden and orchard, and was no stranger to the science of botany. Above all, he was a good man, and shone as a light in a dark village for many years." ordinary man (for such he surely was) From the ministry of this extra Mr. Buck obtained his first taste of the good word of God, which was also accompanied by partial convictions of sin; and the sudden death of his sister, followed by that of his father in the short space of three weeks his soul with momentary horror, and after, solemnly affected him, chilled an apprehension of that dread something after death which gave him 66 pause"-though these convictions were not of a lasting nature, for, he gave himself up to amusement and quitting school at the age of thirteen folly. Dancing was his favourite pleasure, in which he took such delight that on one occasion he had nearly fallen a sacrifice to it. He came to London in 1785, and was admitted into the office of an Attorney, where he devoted himself In this great city, he found a succesto the study and practice of the Law. sion of varied objects to gratify his senses-the theatre-the park-the mall-the public gardens, &c. &c. for a while held him in enchantment, striking terms the illusive vision, in and his own pen has recorded in exposed to every temptation, and which he was for a season entranced, on the very brink of destruction.” p. 12. But, God who had designs of mercy to accomplish in him, and who had chosen him for usefulness in his kingdom, now called him to an acquaintance with the gospel of grace, and plucked him as a brand from the burning. He was but little more than fifteen years of age when he first began to speak to his fellow sinners about the things which be longed to their everlasting peace. His first extempore Sermon was delivered in an apartment in Bedford house, Bloomsbury square, in 1787, to which service he was invited by a young man who then lived in that noble mansion. But Mr. Buck does not appear to have been, at this time, a member of any Christian church. He attended the ministry of Mr. Romaine and that of Mr. Foster also at Blackfriars, and underwent the solemn farce of Episcopal confirmation in 1789, from the hands of the Bishop of Bangor, and shortly afterwards became a communicant in the ordinance of the Lord's supper, at Blackfriars church. Mr. Buck's attention now became turned towards the work of the ministry, and in 1788, he licensed a room in Black horse court, Fleet street, which he opened on the 21st of January, with an exhortation from 2 Chron. xv. 7. "Your work shall be rewarded." In this undertaking he met with several associates-the exhortations were given twice a week, and a society was formed which lasted ten years, and by which he had reason to believe much good was done. The Providence of God, about this time introduced him to an acquaintance with the late Mr. Wills, with whom he became a great favourite. Mr. Wills treated him as his own son, made him at all times welcome to his table, gave him free access to his library, and manifested such kindness to him as he had never before experienced. In 1790, Mr. Wills sent him to preach at Dr. Peckwell's chapel, Westminster, and acquitting himself well on this and other occasions, he finally became his assistant at Silver street chapel. From the spring of 1790, to the beginning of May 1791, Mr. B. was actively employed in preaching as the assistant of Mr. Wills, and having made up his mind to devote his future days to the work of the ministry, he applied for admission into Hoxton Academy, that he might prosecute his studies with better effect, and was received into that Seminary on the 6th May of that year. From 1791 to 1795, an interval of four years, Mr. Buck was diligently employed in prosecuting his studies at Hoxton, preaching occasionally, where supplies were wanted, and the Lord was pleased to open a door for him. But quitting the "Academic bowers," he accepted the call of a church at Sheerness to become their pastor, as a colleague with Mr. Shrubsole, their venerable minister, whose age and infirmities required assistance in the pastoral office. In 1797 he succeeded Mr. Eyre in taking the charge of a large boarding school at Hackney, but having no pastoral charge, he about the close of that year, obtained possession of the chapel in Princes street, Moorfields, and in process of time collected a numerous church and congregation, among whom he continued to labour statedly in the word and doctrine for eighteen years, until, on the 11th of August 1815, at the early age of 44, he was called to his eternal home. Such is the outline of these interesting Memoirs, which are compiled with the biographer's well known skill, and interspersed with variety of posthumous pieces from the pen of Mr. Buck-selections from his private diary-and copies of letters which had passed between him and his friends. In the conclusion, we have an extract from the funeral discourse preached on the occasion of his decease, by the Rev. Matthew Wilks, from Psalm cxvi. 7. "Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee"-words selected for the occasion by Mr. Buck himself. "Was it necessary" said Mr. Wilks "that your dear pastor should adopt this language as admonitory to his own heart? of whom I can say before the omniscient God, that I knew not a man in the world to whom it is less applicable. The regular uniformity of his habits, the pleasing urbanity of his manners, the amazing equanimity of his temper, the uncommon aptitude of his mind to every thing spiritual, benevolent and good, seem almost to preclude the possibility of his adwith whom he appeared to live in a conmonishing his spirit to return unto a God, stant and happy communion.” We remember to have heard several intelligent friends speak in high terms of the oration delivered by Dr. Winter at the grave of Mr. Buck, in Bunhill fields, and much regret that we do not find at least a sketch of it in this volume. It is a double disappointment to us-for, though spectators of the whole of the funeral solemnities, and among the followers of his remains to the grave, the in |