age of 75, he repeats the language-"I am this day 75 years old, and I do not find myself, blessed be God, any weaker than I was at twenty-five." At 77, he says, "I took horse at 12; I preached to a loving people; thence we crossed over another range of dreary mountains, and in the evening reached Barnard Castle. "Not being yet inured to riding, I felt something like weariness, but I forgot it in the lovely congregation, and in the evening it was gone." "I can hardly think that I am this day entered upon my 78th year. I am just the same as when I entered my 28th." "I entered, June 28, 1782, on my eightieth year, and find no more pain or bodily infirmities than at five-and-twenty." At the age of eighty-five he preached twice in the day, and crowds heard him under the shade of spreading trees, "with the river's music blending with the melody of truth." In 1791, on Thursday, February 17th, 1791, he took cold in preaching at Lambeth; and we borrow the Author's words to describe the last days of this most remarkable man. Nevertheless,

"He preached at Chelsea on the Friday, and, though too ill to go out on Sunday, he resumed his habits on Monday, dined at Twickenham with a friend, and preached during the following days at the Chapel in the City Road, and at Leatherhead. But these were his last sermons. The silver chord, so long tenacious, at last gave way. On Friday the fever was high, and during that day and the next he dozed. On Sunday, however, he revived, repeated some verses of a favourite hymn, and conversed with his friends. Exhausted by this effort, he followed them earnestly, as they offered up prayer. The words that fell from him were few. He quoted the lines which, in his dangerous illness eight years before at Bristol, had given him comfort, and he referred to his experience then as unchanged. I have been reflecting,' he then said, on my past life; I have been wandering up and down between fifty and sixty years, endeavouring in my poor way to do a little good to my fellow-creatures; and now it is probable that there are but a few steps between me and death; and what have I to trust to for salvation ? I can see nothing, which I have done or proposed, that will bear looking at. I have no other plea than this

'I the chief of sinners am,
But Jesus died for me." "

His last prayer was,―

(pp. 418, 419.)

"Lord," he said, "Thou givest strength to them that can speak, and to them that cannot; Speak, Lord, to all our hearts, and let them know that Thou loosest the tongue. We thank Thee, O Lord, for these and all thy mercies. Bless the Church and king; and grant us truth and peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord, for ever and ever." (pp. 419, 420.)

And the last sentence in Mr. Colquhoun's Essay is,—

"If the morality of England springs from its piety, and is essential to its greatness, John Wesley achieved a more enduring work for the welfare of England, than any of the remarkable men of that remarkable age." (p. 420.)

And now we think that we have fulfilled our promises of giving our readers almost as much benefit from this vigorous sketch as though, like the others in the volume, it had been inserted in our own pages. We have little to add to it. The Author, to a considerable degree, speaks our own language, both

as to the man and the system. We look at the man as like a meteor shooting through a dark sky. We regard his system as a mixture of truth and error, in which the former largely predominates, and the latter as what a more abiding and intimate connection with the Church of his Fathers would have done much to extinguish.-Methodism has achieved a great work in rousing a nation from a state of spiritual torpor, and thus has served as a herald of truth. Need we hesitate to say that it does not appear to us as well calculated to build up as to lay the foundation-to fill up the image of a Christian as to draw its outlines. We conclude by expressing a single caution and a single hope. -The caution is to the Wesleyans themselves. We perceive that, not only in towns but in villages, they are letting go in their edifices and in their services something of the simplicity of Primitive Methodism. As surely as they do so, we believe that the spirit of their system will languish and die. They are excellent as plain Englishmen, but they will never succeed as fine gentlemen.-Our hope is this, that, as a large section of their body are now seceding from the real heirs to Mr. Wesley's authority and power, and hoisting a flag which must prove, in the end, to be that of "Dissent," the old Methodists may remember their founder's love for the Church of England, and consider whether no means can be devised which may enable them to sustain an edifice which their Founder would have been the last man to pull down. The Church Rulers of his days refused his help; those of the present days would, to a great extent, be rejoiced to borrow the aid of such men himself.

BRIEF NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.

The Evangelists of Italy; or, the Missions of the Apostolic Waldensian Church. Wertheim and Macintosh. 1855.

It is seldom that we feel at liberty to notice a publication which amounts to little more than a Tract. But the advocates of the Vaudois have a stronger right than others to be heard when they choose. And the Author of these few pages is no lukewarm advocate of a cause which has a strong claim upon every man, woman, and child in a Protestant country. It is a satisfaction that the interest for the Vaudois has not died with Dr. Gilly, but that others are found to fill the gap which his death has made, and to continue this great crusade in behalf of the earliest champions of Scriptural truth after the first corruption of the Church. It is wished to erect schools, which are much needed, at La Tour, the capital of the Waldensian valleys; and one of the main objects of this little book is to raise funds for the purpose. Heartily do we wish the Author 5 R

success.

CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 216.

A Visit to India, China, and Japan, in the Year 1853.

By Edward

Taylor, Author of "Life and Landscapes from Egypt," &c. &c. Sampson Lowe.

IT has been our misfortune frequently, in meeting American travellers in Switzerland, to find them taking so little interest in the places they visited, and especially in the glorious scenes which that land of valleys and mountains so prodigally displays to us. We remember to have had considerable difficulty in persuading a well-dressed, intelligent American, when at Geneva, to visit Chamouni and Mont Blanc. And, in other cases, we have been perplexed to discover by what motives some who had travelled the most had been prompted to travel at all. But in the book before us we have a man of another genus. He is now and then bombastic, but is full of spirit, vigour, enthusiasm ; renders just homage to the English rulers of the East in many of the great works accomplished by them in their gigantic territory; and writes about the Himalayas like a man awed by the infinite greatness of Him who laid the foundation and raised the snowy crest of those "wonders of creation." The book is well worth the study of those who would visit the regions to which it refers, at much less expense, fatigue, and peril, than were freely encountered by the Author.

The Devotions of Archbishop Laud. A New Edition. London: J. H. Parker. 1855.

"THERE needs," says the first sentence of the Preface to this beautiful Edition of the Devotions of Archbishop Laud, "no more to recommend this manual to the pious reader than the name of the Great Author." Now whatever may be thought of the discretion of an introductory sentence, which is sure to kindle the displeasure of so many, no man for a moment questions its hardihood and courage; which, indeed, are such as, in the present dearth of great commanders, might commend the Author to the supreme command in the Crimea. The truth is, that scarcely any name on the list of British Theologians will less "recommend the work to a very large class of readers." The Editor will do well to let the work stand on its own merits; for these are considerable. And we know of no stronger evidence of the truth of Hooker's sentimentthat devout men of the most opposite opinions are almost the same men when on their knees-than the fact, that almost any devout Puritan might rejoice to approach the Throne of Grace with the petitions which Archbishop Laud, as far as this volume is concerned, would put into his mouth. There are, indeed, a few expressions to which a very cautious theological critic might object; but in the bulk of the Prayers, distinguished as those drawn up by the Archbishop himself, the best gifts are sought with much simplicity, earnestness, and in the real spirit of Protestant piety. Of the Archbishop's general views, spirit, and proceedings, we heartily wish that we could take as favourable a view as the Editor of this volume. Archbishop Laud has one merit, that, although he must be regarded as the person chiefly instrumental in bringing his Royal master to the block, he did not hesitate to go there himself in defence of what he believed to be the truth.

OBITUARY.

THE REV. DR. GILLY.

It would be painful to us to suffer the late Prebendary of Durham, Dr. Gilly, to pass away from this stage of existence, in which. he had acted so conspicuous and useful a part, without some expression of our respect and regard. The "golden stalls" of that ancient Cathedral cannot perhaps boast of having supplied seats of honour to any very unusual number of eminent personages; but the contemporary names of Sumner, Gisborne, Faber, Townsend, and we may surely add that of Gilly, will serve to repel any indiscriminate charge as to the absence of such men as would do honour to any Cathedral. It is our wish now to render a just tribute to one of these names, and we shall first record a few particulars of Dr. Gilly's life, and then offer some comments upon them.

Dr. Gilly was born in 1789, and was educated at Christ's Hospital, from whence he proceeded, as what is called a Grecian," to Catherine Hall, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1812. Not long after he entered into holy orders; and in his first Curacy, in his native village at Hawkedon, gave early indications of the energy which was to distinguish his maturer years. At eight o'clock every morning, he used to ring the church bell, in order to summon the village children to school; and he was scarcely less known to his charge as the physician of their bodies than of their souls. In 1825, he was appointed to one of the District Churches in Somers Town, St. Pancras, where he published his "Horæ Catecheticæ." Soon after, he was presented by Lord Chancellor Eldon to the Vicarage of North Farnbridge, in Essex. Zeal, and love for his species began to demand a wider sphere, and his attention was directed to the Vaudois, the inhabitants of the Valleys of Piedmont and the Cottian Alps. In 1823 he paid them his first visit; and in the following year published a "Narrative" of this excursion, which at once took fast hold of the public mind, and has exercised a deep and lasting influence over the history of men who deserve the title of the most early, consistent and enduring champions of pure Scriptural religion, against the arts, arms and bloody persecutions of the Church of Rome.

Having appealed to the nation for pecuniary assistance to be sent to the Valleys, he received them to an extent astonishing even to himself, from the cottage to the throne; Kings, Bishops, and all inferior classes, conspiring to render what must be called tardy justice to these champions of the Cross. The zeal of other and valuable coadjutors was gradually aroused; but Dr. Gilly must be regarded as the father of the movement, as the originator of the present comparative security, comfort and indeed prosperity, of those who have so well deserved of all the friends of pure Christianity.

Soon after the publication of this awakening volume, Dr. Bar

rington, the then venerable Bishop of Durham, who had been deeply interested by it, came to the right conclusion that Mr. Gilly's labours had called for the highest distinction he was able to confer -a Stall in the Cathedral over which he presided; and as his death occurred while the appointment was in transitu, the gift was confirmed in 1825, by his successor, Bishop Van Mildert. Soon after entering on his residence at Durham, Dr. Gilly took the Living of St. Margaret's, in the city of Durham; whence he removed to the Vicarage of Norham-on-the-Tweed, and there lived and died the faithful, earnest, affectionate friend, teacher, pastor of a flockwho, rude as they were at his entrance among them, testify at this moment to the power and spirituality of his care and ministrations. Devoutly is it to be hoped that some successor may be named to his Living who may cherish the seed sown by so faithful and vigorous a hand, and build up the superstructure of which he had laid the broad foundation.

At various periods of his life he published, in addition to the "Horæ Catechetica" and his "Researches," the "Life of Felix Neff," and the "Life and Times of Vigilantius."

In offering a few words of comment upon the details which have been stated, it is obvious that Dr. Gilly presents himself to our notice in more than one point of view.

In the first place, he rose to no common eminence as a Parish Priest-an easy post in the eyes of some, but an arduous one, if its difficulties may be measured by the number of failures. It is the remark of Montaigne, we believe, that “although there were in France above ten thousand preachers, there were not above half-a-dozen good ones;" a proof to him, as he good-naturedly says, "not that the Clergy were inferior to other men, but that preaching was a very difficult undertaking." And in the same manner, the paucity of effective Parish Priests must be regarded as an evidence of the amount of the difficulty which they have to overcome. In a man of the highest rank amongst these labourers, we expect to find genuine piety, the spirit of labour, gentleness of manner combined with firmness of purpose, literary acquirements, a rigid adherence to Scriptural truth, a deep sense of the value of souls, and an intense dedication of the whole man to the noblest of all occupations and interests. And every one of these qualifications may, with reasonable deduction for human imperfection, be honestly associated with the name of Dr. Gilly.

The next point of view in which Dr. Gilly is to be contemplated, is as a man of letters; and here we have especially to notice his sound and varied scholarship, his valuable work on Catechizing, and his most pleasant Narrative of the "Life of Felix Neff"-than which scarcely any biography has had greater popularity, or has served more effectually to rouse Christian ministers to a sense of what may be done by the simplest men in the most obscure circumstances, who have the heart to work for God and human nature.

Nor are the literary qualifications of the Clergy a matter of minor consideration. The time has gone by, when the monks could tyrannize over the laity, because they were the only persons who could read and write. The tide of general intelligence has risen so high, that the Clergy, if they hope to maintain their positions as the