FROM THE RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCER.

On the sailing of the Missionaries from Boston.
Go favoured youth! to India's sons proclaim
The glorious triumphs of a Saviour's name;
Sow in her soil the seeds of endless truth,
Which spring and flourish in immortal youth.
Say to the heathen in those vast domains,
Bound fast in superstition's iron chains,
"Behold your Saviour comes! rejoice, 'tis He,
Who comes to set the captive prisoner free.
Renounce idolatry, that magic spell,

Which straight conveys to the dark world of hell;
Embrace the Saviour, walk the shining way,
Which guides the feet to everlasting day.
Go happy youth, at Jesus Christ's command;
Go dwell as strangers in a foreign land;
Thither the message of salvation bear,
And plant the expanded "rose of Sharon" there.
See from the west a star divine arise,

Its beams with radiance penetrate the skies;
Far in the east sublimely now it rolls,

At once to guide your feet and cheer your souls.
Hear from the throne a heavenly voice descend,
"Lo I am with you ever to the end;
Sufficient grace I will vouchsafe to thee,
And as your day is, so your strength shall be."
While on the mighty deep your bark is driven,
The prayers of saints for you ascend to heaven:
The God of mercy will regard their prayer,
And you for trials and for death prepare.
And if at last when life's short journey's o'er,
And God demands your work on earth no more,
You're called by heaven to lay your peaceful head,
Low in the silent mansions of the dead;

What though no kindred friends when death is near,
Stand round your bed to wipe the falling tear,
Your dying eyes shall Hindoo converts close
In solemn darkness-yet a sweet repose.
What though in India your cold dust remain,
Nor polished stone perpetuate your name;
"Yet shall your grave with rising flowers be dressed,
And the green turf lie lightly on your breast;
There shall the morn her earliest tears bestow,
There the first roses of the year shall blow;
While angels with their silver wings o'ershade
The ground now sacred by your relics made."

VOL. VI.]

Saturday, July 17, 1819.

MISCELLANY.

[No. VII.

Memoir of the Rev. RICHARD DE COURCY, B. A. late Vicar of St. Alkmond's Church, Shrewsbury.

The Rev. Richard De Courcy, B. A. was a native of Ireland, the descendant of an ancient and respectable family of that country, being distantly related to the family of the Earl of Kinsale. He had the privilege of being called by grace at an early period of life; and having learned, by experience, to estimate the value of an immortal soul, he conceived a strong desire to become instrumental to the salvation of sinners. With a view, therefore, to the sacred ministry, he entered himself at Trinity College, Dublin; where, by assiduity, and the exercise of those quick and lively talents which he possessed, he soon acquired a considerable fund of useful knowledge.

At the age of twenty-three, he received deacon's orders, in the cathedral church of Clonfert; and entered upon the work of the sanctuary with becoming diffidence, accompanied with earnest desires of divine assistance. From his Diary, we find the following were the breathings of his heart:-"O Lord, I cannot speak, for I am a babe! I hang upon thee for every spiritual endowment. Thou knowest my wants; O supply them all out of thine inexhaustible fulness! and since I have ventured to put my hand to the gospel plough, O that I may never turn back!"

Within a week of his ordination, we find him saying, "I gave myself to fasting and prayer, to consult the Lord's will relative to my preaching was much cast down with a sense of my ingratitude to a God of never-failing mercies! However, upon the advice of some friends, and with a reliance on that promise, "I will never leave thee," I determined to deliver my message without notes; which I accordingly did, from 2 Cor. v. 20. on Sunday, Sept. 20, 1767. The Lord was all to me. The people's faces did not terrify me in the least. I pleaded in Jeremiah's language so earnestly with the Lord, that out of compassion to my infirmities, and for his gospel's sake, he made my brow as brass. O Lord, to thee be all the glory!"

At the commencement of his career, he met with a temptation common to young ministers: "I have been tempted," saith he, "strongly to believe, that after I had preached a few sermons, my strength would be quite exhausted, and that I should preach

no more :" but he soon obtained relief on this head; for he afterwards adds, "With regard to my fears of being exhausted after a few sermons, the Lord has givven me satisfaction in that particular; for he has discovered to me the super-excellency of that wonderful book, the Bible, above all other books; not only for its purity, but also for the variety of its matter. I find it a mine replete with the richest treasures; and that the deeper I penetrate into it by faith and prayer, the greater riches are still discoverable. This book he showed me, was to be the central point of all my divinity; and to be searched with unwearied diligence, if I meant to be a good householder, bringing out of my treasure things new and old."

Possessing these views, together with popular talents, we are not surprised to find that our young preacher attracted the attention of large congregations, who admired the fluency, eloquence, and zeal, of his ministrations; and there is reason to believe that his labours in Dublin were crowned with success.

It is said, that by some means or other, he gave offence to the Bishops of Ireland, and could not there obtain priest's orders. It is certain, however, that he came over to England in the summer of 1768, and immediately waited on the Rev. George Whitfield, who was then in London, at the Tabernacle.House. By some peculiar accident, his apparel not being brought to town with him, he was obliged for several days to appear in his gown and cassock, which, together with his very juvenile appearance, excited no small attention as he walked along the streets. On being introduced to Mr. Whitfield, the latter took off his cap, and bending towards Mr. De Courcy, placed his hand on a deep scar in his head, saying, "Sir, this wound I got in your country for preaching Christ." Mr. De Courcy has observed to a friend, that this circumstance much endeared this noble champion of the gospel to him. Mr. Cornelius Winter happening to come into the room, Mr. Whitfield committed the stranger to his attention, saying, "Take care of this gentleman." From this period, an intimate friendship took place, which lasted till Mr. Whitfield's death. On the next day, which was Sunday, Mr. De Courcy preached at Tottenham Court Chapel, from Zech. xiii. 7. Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd; and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts:" &c. His youthful appearance and pleasing address fixed the attention of the numerous audience, and laid the foundation of his future popularity.

When Mr. Whitfield left England, the last time, for America, which was in October, 1769, he expected a steady assistance from Mr. De Courcy; but by a series of events which we cannot particularly trace, this help was withdrawn in less than a year. When he discontinued his labours at Tottenham Court Chapel, he preached for a short time in the chapels of Lady Huntingdon; but not quite satisfied with her plan, he accepted an invitation from

Lady Glenorchy; and preached at her chapel, in Edinburgh, with great acceptance and usefulness. A more stated and regular mode of preaching, however, being preferred by himself and his friends, he was introduced in 1770, through the influence of the respectable families of Hill and Powis, to the curacy of Shawbury, near Hawkstone, in Shropshire, of which the Rev. Mr. Stillingfleet was then Rector. Here he continued about four years; and obtained priest's orders:

In the month of January, 1774, he was presented by the Lord Chancellor to the vicarage of St. Alkmond, in the large and populous town of Shrewsbury. This situation he probably owed to the zealous friendship of the gentlemen before mentioned, and the pious Earl of Dartmouth. His former connexions, itinerant labours, and evangelical strain of preaching having procured for him the invidious (though honourable) name of a Methodist, his settlement in this place occasioned no small stir; and produced a Satirical Poem, written by a gentleman of the parish, entitled, "St. Alkmond's Ghost." But he was not discouraged, but steadily and affectionately preached the gospel of salvation to a numerous people, who were probably attracted in greater numbers by the opposition and reproach which he sustained. Being thus comfortably settled in a useful station, he married, in January, 1775, Jane, the only daughter of Thomas Dicken, Esq. of Wollerton, in the same county; by whom he had several children.

Mr. De Courcy continued in the exercise of his parochial duties for almost thirty years, a steady and able advocate for the distinguishing doctrines of the glorious gospel! He was warmly attached to that system of truth contained in the Articles of the Church of England, with which his sermons always accorded. He was indeed a labourer in the Lord's vineyard; preaching always twice, and of late years thrice, every Sunday, besides reading the regular service: he also preached a lecture in his church every Wednesday evening. His sermons were delivered without notes; but in good language. His style was elegant, and his manner graceful. He often embellished his discourses with apposite allusions, and the graces of oratory; but what rendered them far more excellent was, that rich vein of gospel truth which ran through them all. Salvation by free grace, through faith in a crucified Redeemer, was his constant theme. On this important subject, Christ crucified, he published in 1791, two pocket volumes, being the substance of a series of discourses preached at Namptwich, in the pulpit of another evangelical clergyman, while he was on a visit to a much respected friend, and by whose solicitations he was induced to print them. In his Preface to this work, he observes, "That the remarks which it contains, in vindication of the doctrines of the Church of Englan 1. and in quotations from her Liturgy and Articles, he con

sidered as a tribute of respect due to so venerable an authority; and a decisive method of proving that, whatever his sentiments are, they accord with those of the church of which he thinks it an honour to be a minister. He professes to belong to no particular party, distinct from the established church, and disavows every name that implies it; yet he is ready to give "the right hand of fellowship" to all of every denomination under heaven, who "love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity." The summit of his ambition is to be, and to be called a Christian,-" the highest style of man ;" and next to that, to inculcate and adorn that great system of Christianity, which is the glory of the Reformation, forms the Creed of the national church, in its present establishment; and which, as an honest man, he feels himself bound to enforce, agreeably to the obligation of a most solemn and unequivocal subscription. He believes, that "The truth to which the Son of God came to bear witness," which prophecies and miracles authenticate, which apostles have attested, and for which martyrs bled, must be of infinite importance; that if divine truth could cease to be important, it would be unworthy of God, and from that moment cease to be divine; and, therefore, that there are some branches of Christianity which it is essential to believe, and on that account a duty to defend; otherwise to "contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints, would be both nugatory and superfluous."

On these just principles Mr. De Courcy conducted his preaching and his writings, in which he proved himself an able opposer of the dangerous dogmas of Socinus, as then revived and propagated by Dr. Priestly. Referring to the Articles of the church, he says, in vol. ii. p. 104, "They stand as it is devoutly to be wished they may ever stand to latest ages, a barrier against the encroachments of those errors which have, at different periods, infested the church; and which are revived in the present day, with a bold licence of thought and expression hardly ever paralleled in the writings of the most outrageous Heresiarchs. They have been contemptuously styled, The Altar with Thirty-nine Horns; the fall of which too, has been confidently predicted: but the indecent abuse here as little affects us as the prophecy alarms our fears. Horns indeed this sacred altar has, strong enough, I hope, to repel the enraged and impotent assaults of its adversaries, whether confederated by faction, or frantic with Sibylline or Socinian enthusiasm ;--horns, potent enough to attack the boldest heresies, and make them bleed to death beneath the deep keen searchings of the sword of the Spirit. At this altar many champions have stood to guard its foundation, and have offered up their lives upon it, rather than desert the structure, or deny the hand of Divine Interposition that consecrated and reared it. Esto perpetua be ever written on its base!"

Such was the sacred zeal of our departed brother for t1→