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God to prosper me far more than I expected.' It was remarked, you followed his direction, in "seeking, first, the kingdom of God." He rejoined, 'I hope I have been faithful and honest; and have sought to promote his glory and the happiness of my fellow-creatures.-It is no matter what men think of us-God looketh on the heart.' On Wednesday (the day before his death) when suffering under violent spasms, he saw one of his relatives in tears, and said, "It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good." At another time I feel as if I should be quite well, if this pain were removed; but we have nothing to do, but patiently wait, and quietly hope for the salvation of God." On the same day, during a paroxysm of pain, he repeated that verse of one of the funeral psalms: "When thou with rebukes dost chasten man for sin, thou makest his beauty to consume away, like as it were a moth fretting a garment." On his friends expressing regret that he was not permitted to rise, and enjoy the comfort of having his bed made, he said, To be sure it is very wearisome; but how much worse have many better men fared! I am old enough to remember Bishop Wilson, who lost the use of his arm by lying in a damp prison.' On Thursday, May 17th, his great weakness indicated approaching dissolution. He had now become free from pain; his cough and expectoration had ceased; he spoke little, and lay in a state of languor, exhaustion, and occasional torpor. About six in the evening (an hour before his departure) he suddenly turned his face to Mrs. Richardson, and looking earnestly at her, kissed her, and said, Good night;' then raising his head a little, he did the same to her neice, who was kneeling by his bed and rubbing his

-MY PLEASURES ARE ALL TO COME."

These were his last words, and about twenty minutes afterwards he peaceably expired, in the 77th year of his age, and the 53rd of his ministry.

Mr. Richardson had left directions that his funeral should be private; but the general feeling would not be satisfied without some demonstration of respect to this old and venerable member of the church. The church wardens, and principal inhabitants of his parish, assembled in deep mourning, near his house, and walked in ranks at the head of the funeral procession. After them, and immediately before the hearse, came about forty of the clergy, in their robes, two and two; while at Belfrey's church, a numerous congregation was assembled. Nor could the oldest inhabitants of the city remember on any occasion so general and unfeigned a sentiment of respect and attachment. It may be asked, how did it happen that one, who, during the early part of his life encountered so much prejudice and dislike, was, at his death so generally honored? His principles and his character were unaltered: and some of those very sermons, which, forty or fifty years before, had given umbrage to his hearers, were again preached by him within a short period of his death. But along and uniform course of consistent conduct, of piety, benevolence, and inflexible integrity, overcame prejudice, and secured a considerable share of the public respect and esteem. Thus "godliness has the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come.

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THE Apostle pursues, in his twelfth and thirteenth chapters, the history of the church from the time in which he wrote, to the close of the 1260 years, This history, in order to be full and complete, is repeated under different figures and emblems, each answering some specific purpose. Our readers will best enable themselves to follow the arrangement of this, which Mr. Faber considers to be by far the most difficult passage in the whole Apocalypse,'

by reading over, connectedly, and with the most fixed attention, these two chapters, as forming one narrative. The failures, as they appear to us, of Mr. F. and other commentators, in satisfactorily elucidating these portions of the Apocalypse, seem to arise mainly from their dividing and dislocating the two chapters, which are essentially connected, and thus losing the advantage of the light which the different parts of the vision reflect upon each other.

Having perused these two chapters, our readers will be prepared to examine the following interpretation, given by Mr. Faber, of this remarkable and difficult vision.

The "Heaven" in which the prophet observes the woman, is, in his view, the visible church in the Western Roman Empire.

The period at which the vision commences, is that of the commencement of the 1260 years,namely, in his view, A. D. 604.

The Dragon or Serpent, is the evil spirit acting through the instrumentality of the Roman Empire, and particularly through the instrumentality of its ten Gothic horns.

The Man-child symbolizes the two churches of the Vallenses and Albigenses, or the Vallensic-Albigensic Church.

The stars which fall from heaven,

set forth the apostacy of the Western Roman Church.

The war in heaven, predicts the various contests between the two principles, of the Papacy on the one hand, and Protestantism on the other, which terminated with the English Revolution of 1688.

The descent of Satan, his wrath, and the flood poured out from his mouth, is explained to mean, the infidel war upon the church, commencing about A. D. 1697, and coming to a crisis at the French revolution.

Proceeding to the 13th chapter, Mr. Faber proceeds to state, that

The seven-headed and ten-horned beast is the Roman empire; especially its western division. The ten horns have been enumerated in a preceding vision. The seven heads are held to mean seven successive forms of government.

The number 666, a number which in Greek numerals, forms the name Apostates, is said to typify the Roman pontiff himself.

The second, or two-horned beast, symbolizes the regular and the secular clergy of the Church of Rome.

On the whole, this interpretation will, we fear, do little towards imparting a satisfactory and intelligible view of the vision to our readFor, observe,

ers.

1. The difficulty that arises out of this interpretation, as to the symbol of the man-child.

In the second psalm it is declared unto Christ, "I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

In the hundred and forty-ninth psalm it is promised to the saints that they shall "execute vengeance

upon the heathen; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgments written."

And, in the second chapter of the Apocalypse, Christ promiseth" And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end; to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father."

Now after comparing these several passages, and then reading, in the present vision, of the man-child "who was to rule ail nations with a rod of iron," how can we believe that the fulfilment of all these prophecies is to be found in the past and future history" of the Vallensic Albigensic church?"

If prophetic language has any meaning, a wonderful period approaches, in which the kingdom of Christ will, in some form or other, be visibly established on earth. There will be a kingdom and government of the saints which will be too clearly marked to be either denied or withstood by those who now scoff at its predicted approach. The rod of iron and the fetters of iron will be apparent and undeniable. Now before these great promises, made generally to the saints,

SO

-" to those that overcome," can be limited to the little church of the Vaudois, surely some very clear and satisfactory grounds for limiting them ought to be shown. There appears no probability, either in holy writ, or in the facts of church history, that this small and, we fear, in a spiritual sense, nearly extinct church, can be appointed to the especial government of the earth during the millennial age. What is Mr. Faber's reason, therefore, for assigning to it this preeminent dignity.

His ground consists of an inference or deduction merely, and that drawn not from holy writ, but from a former interpretation of

his own.

measured

He thus argues,

"The

I

worshippers, worshippers, in the preceding vision, answer to the woman in the present vision: and the two witnesses, in every respect, bear exactly the same relation to the measured worshippers that the man-child does to the woman. conclude, therefore, that the two distinct churches which are (Mr. F. should have said, which I supposė to be) severally intended by the two witnesses, are jointly and collectively intended by the single hieroglyphic of the man-child." Because, therefore, Mr. F. had concluded the two witnesses to be the Waldensian and Albigensic churches,—he now infers that the man-child must be the Waldensic-Albigensic church. But as we did not concur in the former of these conclusions, we, of course, cannot be expected to adopt the second, which is an inference from it. Indeed, if the second interpretation be a necessary consequence of the first, we should rather have thought that the startling nature of the deduction might have brought Mr. Faber to a pause, as to whether his former interpretation might not prove fallacious. If the two witnesses and the man-child are indentical and the same, and if the man-child is especially born that he may "rule all nations with a rod of iron;" then it follows that if the Waldenses and Albigenses be the two witnesses,-they, and they alone, or especially, as typified by the man-child, are to be the rulers of the earth in the millennial kingdom. But if Mr. F. hesitates to adopt this conclusion, then he should review and re-consider his identification of the Vaudois with the type of the two witnesses.

2. But we have further to object to Mr. Faber's scheme, inasmuch as it divides the twelfth from the thirteenth chapter,-treating them as if two distinct visions; when, in fact, the narrative pro-. ceeds most naturally and consecutively from the one to the other.

P

"And

The twelfth chapter ends the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the faith of Jesus Christ." And here Mr. F. would conclude the vision; as if nothing further was revealed of this warfare, its success, or its results,--whereas the thirteenth chapter is nothing else than a narrative of these very matters. It commences with a description of the new form assumed by the dragon or evil one, namely the beast with seven heads and ten horns, to whom the dragon “gave his power and his seat, and great authority;" for the express purpose of carrying on this war with the seed of the woman.

But Mr. Faber is driven to the necessity of dividing this vision into two, and of losing sight of the regular progress of the narrative, by the erroneous nature of his interpretation. Or perhaps we should rather say, that the errors of his interpretation arise from his having overlooked or neglected the unity and continuity of the whole vision as it runs through these two chapters. One leading error in his interpretation of the twelfth chapter

consists in his making the war in heaven, the fall of the dragon, and his casting out a flood of waters against the woman, to have been fulfilled by the German reformation of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and the infidelity of the eighteenth. An adherence to the unity of the whole narrative would have excluded this error, since the rise of the ten gothic kingdoms does not take place (in the thirteenth chapter) until subsequent to these events; thereby proving that their real date must be previous to the sixth century. But having adopted this notion, Mr. Faber is bound to maintain the distinct character of the twelfth and thirteenth chapters, as two unconnected and separate visions; for on no other supposition can the war in heaven, and the casting out of the dragon, possibly be carried forward into the fifteenth century.

It would occupy far too much space, however, were we to enter at length upon Mr. Faber's elaborate exposition of this important vision. We shall therefore add nothing to the above two reasons against its reception; but enter at once, in our next paper, upon the closer consideration of the inspired text.

THE beautiful have pass'd this way—
Their light is on the track;
But lo! 'tis fading from the sight,
It gives no glory back.
A mournfulness is resting here:
O death! thy way is full of fear!
The pow'rful have departed hence,
The mighty and the brave;
And the deep echo of their fame
Has perish'd in the grave.
O fame! I tremble at thy breath,
Thou art such pleasant food for death!
The young, the gay, the joyous one,
Has left a song behind;
But all its fine and touching tone
Must perish from the mind.

Oh youth! oh beauty! power and fame!
What are ye but a gilded name?

But still there are a humble few,
How blessed is their lot-
They pass this dark and lonely way,
But shall not be forgot;

For lo! all glowing from afar-
Behold their light and morning star!
Be joyful, O ye ransom'd souls-

Your help is from the sky;
And seraphs guide your fearful path

To your bright homes on high:
O death, thou art the gate of heaven,
To those who feel their sins forgiven.
Dear Saviour in the lonely grave
Thy sacred body lay,

O then, and shall thy followers shrink
Since Thou hast passed that way?
The grave--how blessed is the night,
Which comes before immortal light!
AMERICANUS.

SIR, -The favourable notice which some observations, made on a former tour in Ireland, have experienced, induces me to conclude that a few notes, recorded during a very recent visit to that country, may not be altogether unacceptable. Of the journey itself I have nothing particular to observe. I held the even tenor of my way without interruption, molestation, or any extraordinary occurrence. Every where I met with civility and attention, and was chiefly annoyed by, what every English traveller in Ireland must have felt, the incessant and systematic importunity with which, whenever the coach stopped, or I went abroad into the street. I was assailed by troops of beggars, many of them urging their suit by exhibitions and language disgusting and revolting at once to natural delicacy and religious feeling. This evil has, I think, rather increased than diminished since I first visited Ireland; the increase however may possibly be only apparent, or temporary, and may have been occasioned by the Mendicity Society of Dublin having been compelled, through want of funds, to limit or indeed discontinue its operations, and by the distress of some parts of Ireland, which has compelled many of the regular inhabitants to go forth as mendicants to distant and more favoured places. Many of the Irish who would deem themselves disgraced by begging in their own neighbourhoods, regard begging at a distance as a legitimate, and in no respect disreputable, means of subsistence.

The alarming accounts circulated in this country of the distress experienced in some parts of Ireland, and the suspicions entertained by many that these accounts were materially exaggerated, naturally induced me to make inquiries on this subject, whenever I had op

portunity. I did not indeed travel immediately through the distressed districts; but the result of my inquiries is a firm and decided conviction that while the distress itself was confined to comparatively narrow bounds, it was so extreme and urgent, that but for the prompt and liberal exertions of the British public, a considerable loss of life must have taken place, and many of the survivors must have been so enfeebled, as to become the ready victims of disease, and have died, if not of famine itself, yet in consequence of that weakness and exhaustion which are its natural results. I conceive also that the persons most conspicuous and active in obtaining and distributing relief, were under the influence of benevolent, liberal, disinterested, and Christian motives and principles; and that the funds raised were on the whole both faithfully and judiciously applied. No doubt here, as in every extensive undertaking, individuals would be found disposed to appropriate to themselves the bounty intended for others; nor can any ordinary or even conceivable degree of vigilance prevent such persons from in some measure attaining their object. But I have every reason to believe that the funds raised were as faithfully applied on this as on any former occasion, and much more faithfully than has often been the case; nor am I at all aware how any more unexceptionable mode of distribution could have been adopted. I am inclined indeed to hope that the loss of life has been much less than was generally apprehended. It was cheering to observe every where the promise of an early and a plentiful harvest. The wheat, barley, oats, and potatoes are all abundant; and this, I am informed, is the case also in those parts of the island which I could not myself visit.