No. 299.]

For the Christian Observer. MEMOIR OF LINDLEY MURRAY, ESQ.

THE

HE name of Lindley Murray is so well known, and so justly respected, wherever the English language is spoken", that a memoir of his truly exemplary and pious life cannot but be acceptable to the public. He was induced, at the request of a lady who had been intimately acquainted with him for many years, to draw up an autobiographical detail, extending to the year 1809; which has been given to the world, with a preface and continuation by the lady to whom we are indebted for the suggestiont. The profits of this publication are

the

The strongest proof of this is contained in the extraordinarily wide diffusion of his writings, which is unprecedented perhaps in the annals of literature. His "English Grammar" has reached a fortieth edition; his ". First Book" and his "Key" the seventeenth; his Spellingbook and his "Exercises" the thirtyfourth; and his "Abridgment ninety-second; his " English Reader" the nineteenth, and the "Introduction" to it the twenty-second; his "Power of Religion" the eighteenth several also of his other works have gone through numerous editions. For many years past each of these editions has consisted of six, ten, or twelve thousand copies. Of his "Abridg

:

ment" alone it is calculated that not less

than one million copies have been circulated. These issues are independent of the numerous editions in the United States of America, where Mr. Murray's publications are quite as popular as in Great Britain.

† Mrs. Elizabeth Frank, to whom the world owes several useful and popular works; among others, her "Lessons for Young Persons in Humble Life," her "True Stories," and her " Classical English Letter-writer." Her preface and continuation are drawn up in a CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 299.

pledged, as were those of all Mr. L. Murray's works, to charitable uses; and it will therefore be doubly gratifying if the following condensed memoir should be the means of directing the attention of the public to the larger narrative, which will be found well worth perusal.

But it is not the author's literary celebrity alone that would entitle the memoir of his life to a place in the pages of a religious publication. Lindley Murray had far higher claims on the veneration of mankind: for he was a man of a truly exemplary and Christian character; an humble and spiritually-minded follower of Jesus Christ;-a fact which is proved, both by his writings and his life; a life of great bodily weakness, and often of intense suffering, but protracted to the advanced age of eighty-one, as if by the serenity of his spirit bearing up against the languors of his mortal frame.

The following extracts from his own narrative will shew the character of his religious opinions, which were substantially those in which all the faithful servants of God, though differing in various other points, will most cordially agree. The firmest friend of the Church of England, in perusing them, would not be aware that the writer was not within the pale of his own communion; any more than, in reading his panegyrics on the British constitution, or his accurate remarks on the English language, a stranger to

spirit of piety, and with a correctness of style worthy of the subject of her nar rative.

4 N

his history would be aware that he was a native of the United States of America. In truth, Lindley Murray was not, in any sense of the word, sectarian in his spirit. His birth and education had placed him in the highly estimable, though in many respects doctrinally erroneous, community of "Friends;" of which religious society he continued a member, and by whom he was just ly viewed as a bright ornament of their profession, to the hour of his death. But he never introduced any of the peculiarities of that denomination of Christians into his writings; his great aim throughout life being as far as possible to do good to all, without unnecessarily giving offence to any. But let us hear his leading sentiments, as recorded by his own pen.

"I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies;' yet we are not to despond, under this discouraging view of our condition: a gracious remedy is provided for all these regrets and distresses. To those who truly repent, and believe in Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world, a comfortable hope is afforded, that, through his atonement and intercession, their Heavenly Father will pardon all their sins; prepare them, by the operations of his Holy Spirit, for an admittance into his blessed kingdom; and animate them with gratitude, love, and praises to him, both now and for ever."

"It may not be improper for me, on this occasion, to express the comfortable hope which I entertain, that, notwithstanding my infirmities and privations, I have been an instrument of some good to others, by my studies and publications. This is a source of grateful acknowledgment to the Giver of all good, and Disposer of all events. But I must not be misunderstood. I arrogate nothing to myself: I have nothing to boast of. If I have done any thing that is acceptable to God, it has been but little; and that little has been produced by his gracious assistance, and accepted for the

sake of Jesus Christ. In reflecting on my errors and transgressions through life, my numberless omissions of what I ought to have done, and commissions of what I ought not to have done, I perceive abundant cause for deep humiliation; and for esteeming very lightly, and exceedingly defective, my endeavours to promote the interests of virtue, and to do the will of my Heavenly Father."

"When I contemplate my own unworthiness, and the goodness of God to me, through the whole course of my life, I feel that I cannot be too humble, nor too grateful for his manifold mercies. I cannot, indeed, be sufficiently thankful for them. Amidst the numerous blessings which I have received, it has afforded me peculiar satisfaction that I have been disposed to ascribe them all to Him, as the Origin and Giver of every thing that is good; as the Parent, Redeemer, and Sanctifier of men. If I consider him as my Creator and Preserver; as the Author of the laws and operations of nature; as the controller and director of these laws and operations; as the immediate bestower of benefits; or, as our deliverer from sin and misery, and our hope of eternal life, through the sacrifice and merits of his beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ; I perceive that he is the source whence every blessing is derived, and the great object of gratitude and love. But as this is a subject of high importance, and on which I love to dwell, my friend will not, I am sure, think it improper, if I express myself upon it with more particularity."

"If I consider the Divine Being as immediately influencing my mind, by the operation of his Holy Spirit; consoling me under affliction, guarding me in prosperity, strengthening my faith, animating me to piety and virtue, and supporting me in temptation; I perceive that he is eminently entitled to my gratitude and praise for all

the blessings which I receive by these gracious communications. He has access to the human mind, and knows all its wants and imperfections; and he has promised to give the Holy Spirit, to be a light and defence, a support and comfort, to those who implore his assistance, and put their trust in the Divine Redeemer of the world. And most assuredly he does not fail to perform these sacred promises to the children of men, though the mode of his communications is incomprehensible.

"I consider myself as under deep obligations to God, for the trials. and afflictions with which he has been pleased to visit me, as well as for the prosperous events of my life. They have been the corrections and restraints of a wise and merciful Father, and may justly be ranked among the number of my choicest blessings."

"I cannot finish these Memoirs of my life without expressing, still more particularly, my sense of the greatest blessing which was ever conferred on mankind : I mean, the redemption from sin, and the attainment of a happy immortality, by the atonement and intercession of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I contemplate this wonderful proof of the love of God to man, as an act of mercy and benignity, which will stimulate the gratitude and love, the obedience, praise, and adoration, of the redeemed, through ages that will never end. This high dispensation is, in every respect, adapted to our condition, as frail and sinful creatures. In surveying our offences and imperfections, it prevents despondence; directs us where to look for relief; and freely offers us, if we are truly penitent, and believe in Christ, pardon and peace. In reflecting on our religious attainments, it checks presumption, and keeps us humble; and, amidst all the trials and troubles of life, it cheers us with the prospect of a merciful deliverance, and of being soon received into those blissful

regions, where we shall be secured, eternally secured, from sin and sorrow; where we shall be admitted into the Divine presence, and unceasingly celebrate, in joyful anthems, the praises of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God blessed for ever. To them who obtain this glorious and happy state, all the afflictions of the longest and most painful life, will then appear to have been, indeed, light and momentary; as a drop of the ocean, as a grain of sand on the seashore, compared with the greatness of their felicity, and the endless ages of its continuance."

Various passages of a similar tendency might be given from his own modest Memoir of himself, and others yet more interesting from his epistolary intercourse with his friends, had not his own often-expressed opinion and most solemn wish prevented the publication even of a selection of extracts from such confidential communications.

To those who have hitherto known. Mr. Murray only by his merely literary publications, (though even these by their scrupulous purity, and often by their moral and religious tendency, give incidental testimony to the character of the author,) the foregoing remarks and extracts will have introduced him in a capacity in which every religious reader will be desirous of becoming better acquainted with him. The following memoranda will, it is trusted, both minister to this gratification and promote that edifying "communion of saints" which we acknowledge as an article of our belief, and by which all the faithful in every age and country, "the whole family in heaven and earth," are united together, as partakers of one common nature, involved in the same guilt and ruin, needing and interested in the merits of the same Saviour, sanctified by the same Spirit, serving the same Master, and inheritors of the same immortal hopes.

Lindley Murray was born in the

year 1745, at Swetara, near Lancaster, in the State of Pennsylvania. His parents were of respectable characters, and in the middle station of life. His father, being of an enterprising spirit, acquired large possessions, and became one of the most respectable merchants in America. But his multifarious employments never appeared to agitate or oppress his mind; and he was so distinguished for equanimity and composure, that by his conversation and deportment no person would have imagined that he had such a weight of care upon him. Mrs. Mrs. Murray was a woman of an amiable disposition, and remarkable for mildness, humanity, and liberality of sentiment. She was a faithful and affectionate wife, a tender mother, and a kind mistress. Both parents belonged to the society of Friends, and were concerned to promote the religious welfare of their children. They often gave them salutary admonition, and trained them up to attend the public worship of God. The Holy Scriptures were read in the family, and with so much real interest of feeling that Lindley had observed his father so much affected as to shed tears, which he believed was frequently the case; and it made a pleasing and profitable impression on his young mind, and was often remembered by him with peculiar satisfaction. The family was numerous: Lindley was the eldest of twelve children, all of whom he survived. The first months of the author's life afforded so little promise, either of bodily or mental vigour, that his mother often said, that if at that time Providence had been pleased to take away her first-born, she should have thought the dispensation merciful, both to the poor little infant and its parents. But after that period, his health improved; and his strength, spirit, and activity, exceeded his age. From various ac counts, and from many little anecdotes, it appears that his childhood and youth formed a natural and

beautiful prelude to the wisdom, piety, and benevolence which his advanced years exhibited. Though, from his extraordinary vivacity and exuberance of spirits, he was inclined to playfulness and frolic, and, at times, to some degree of mischievousness, yet he possessed every quality that can adorn that period of life; activity of body and mind, an ardent desire for knowledge, docility in submitting to superior reason; a mild, obliging temper; a heart grateful, affectionate, and highly susceptible of religious feelings. religious feelings. He describes himself as greatly injured by the injudicious fondness of his grandmother, till his irregular vivacity received a very salutary control by his being placed under the care of a discreet and sensible aunt, who brought him into order and submission. On one occasion, he got out of a window, and climbed on the roof of a building from which a fall would have endangered his life, and which he could not be induced to quit till he had capitulated for impunity for his transgression. To this good aunt he viewed himself as under particular obligations, considering that her wise and salutary management may have prepared him for many enjoyments, and prevented many miseries of life.

About his sixth or seventh year, he was sent to a school in the city of Philadelphia, where he read with pleasure, even at that tender age, some passages in "The Travels of Cyrus;" and he expresses himself as having been "agreeably exercised in the business of parsing sentences." It would seem, therefore, that his grammatical propensities were of very early date. From this academy he was taken to accompany his parents to North Carolina. On landing, he found a few shillings; which he expended in bread, for the refreshment of the sailors, who had been kind to him during the voyage. Their grateful acceptance and enjoy

ment of his little gift were a rich reward for his attention.

This was a

In the year 1753, the family left Carolina, and settled at New York, where Lindley was placed at a good school, in which he made the usual progress of young learners. About this period, a very happy impression was made on his mind, by a "piece" which was given him to write as a specimen of his penmanship. The "piece," or sheet, he describes as decorated round its edges with a number of pleasing figures, displayed with taste and simplicity, in the centre of which his performance was to be contained. transcript of the visit and salutation of the angels to the shepherds, near Bethlehem, who were tending their flocks by night. The impression made on his mind by that narrative was so delightful, that it often occurred to him, through life, with great satisfaction, and was scarcely ever read by him without emotions of an interesting nature. "If parents," he says, "and others who have the care of young persons, would be studious to seize occasions of presenting the Holy Scriptures to them under favourable and inviting points of view, it would probably be attended with the happiest effects. A veneration for these sacred volumes, and a pleasure in perusing them, may be excited by agreeable and interesting associations: and these impressions, thus early made, there is reason to believe, would accompany the mind through the whole of life; a consideration which is of the utmost importance."

He had a strong propensity to observe the dispositions of animals; and his curiosity was, in some instances, so great as to lead him to acts of real, though not intentional, cruelty; so much so, he says, as to mark a depraved turn of mind, which, even late in life, it gave him pain to recollect. It is probable however, that no person but the individual himself would have made such an accusation. On one oc

casion, many years after, he had nearly suffered severely for his cu-. riosity. "When I was in England,” he says, "in the year 1771, I went to see the elephants which were kept at the Queen's stables, Buckingham house. Whilst I was gratifying myself with observing the huge creatures, and their various actions and peculiarities, I took occasion to withdraw from one of them a part of the hay, which he was collecting on the floor with his proboscis. I did this with my cane; and watched the animal very narrowly, to prevent a stroke from him, which I had reason to expect. The keeper said that I had greatly displeased the elephant, and that he would never forget the injury. I thought but little of this admonition, at the time. But about six weeks afterwards, when I accompanied some other persons, on a visit to the elephants, I found that, though probably several hundred people had been there since my preceding visit, the animal soon recognised me. I did not attempt to molest or tease him at all; and I had no conception of any concealed resentment. On a sudden, however, when I was supposed to be within. the reach of his proboscis, he threw it towards me with such violence that, if it had struck me, I should probably have been killed, or have received some material injury. Happily for me, I perceived his intention, and, being very active, I sprung out of his reach. To every other person present, he was gentle and goodtempered; and his enmity to me arose, as the keeper declared, solely from the circumstance of the little affront which I had formerly put upon him. This incident made some impression upon me; and perhaps contributed to subdue a curiosity which could not be gratified but at the expense of the feelings of others."

At an early age, he was placed in the counting house of his father, who was desirous of training him to the mercantile profession. He did