had his share of pride and vanity, and (according to a common saying in the world) he had much to be proud of; a good understanding a good educationgreat excellency of speech, and many enticing things of man's wisdom. He might raise from hence ideal prospects of worldly greatness, and had reason to be thankful, if he was disappointed; if, "walking by "faith and not by sight, he could prefer the afflictions of "God's people to the pleasures of sin, and the reproach "of Christ to the treasures of Egypt." But as to being settled in the metropolis, many of his friends have heard him say, that it was the thing of all others which he last thought of, and to which he was the least inclined. It may be supposed, indeed, that from the bent of his genius to the study of nature, of minerals, fossils, plants, and the wonders of God in creation, that a country life, so favourable to these pursuits, would have been chosen by him. But God chose otherwise for him; and by a circumstance as trivial to appearance, as it was accidental, but in reality a turn of providence, such as decides the present condition of most men, called him to the lectureship of St. Botolph's, and so detained him in London, where he was kept to the end of his existence as a witness for Jesus Christ, with abilities as much suited to this meridian, as those of the apostle Paul to the meridians of Ephesus, Corinth, or Rome.

In the year following, viz. 1749, he was chosen lecturer of St. Dunstan's in the West. In the person of his predecessor * two lectureships were united, the one endowed, and founded by Dr. White for the use of the benchers of the temple; the other a common parish lectureship, supported by voluntary contribu

tions.

Mr. Romaine was elected to both, and continued some years in the quiet exercise of his office, .till the faithful discharge of it raised violent clamours and opposition against him. The rector then thought fit to dispute his right to the pulpit, and occupied it himself

* Dr. Terrick, afterwards bishop of Peterborough and London.

during the time of prayers, in order to exclude him from it. Mr. Romaine appeared constantly in his place, to assert his claim to the lectureship, as well as his readiness to perform the office. The affair was at length carried into the court of King's Bench; * the decision of which deprived Mr. Romaine of the parish lectureship, but confirmed him in that founded by Dr. White, and endowed with a salary of eighteen pounds a year. Lest this should be removed from the parish, the use of the church was granted him: but as lord Mansfield's decision was, that seven o'clock in the evening was a convenient time to preach the lecture, the churchwardens refused to open the church till that hour, and to light it when there was occasion; so that Mr. Romaine frequently read prayers and preached by the light of a single candle, which he held in his own hand. The church doors being shut until the precise moment fixed for preaching the lecture, the congregation was usually assembled in the street, and there waiting for admission. The consequence was a concourse of people, collected indeed without noise and tumult, but not without great inconvenience to those who passed that way, among whom happened to be one evening the then bishop of London, Dr. Terrick, who had been Mr. Romaine's predecessor in the lectureship. Observing the crowd, he inquired into the cause of it; and being told that it was Mr. Romaine's audience in these circumstances, he interfered with the rector and churchwardens in their behalf, expressed great respect for Mr. Romaine, and obtained for him and his hearers, that the service of the church should begin at six o'clock, that the doors should be opened in proper time, and that lights should be provided for the winter season. From this period Mr. Romaine was established in his ministry at St. Dunstan's, and continued quietly in the exercise of it, to the edification of many, until the end of his life. Here surely he might set up a way-mark in course of his pilgrimage, and say, "My * In the year 1762.

"soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation " is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, "my defence, I shall not be moved," Psal. lxii. 5, 6.

In the year 1750, Mr. Romaine was appointed assisting morning preacher in the parish of St. George, Hanover square. This office has no settled establishment, but merely dependant on the will of the rector, and the person procured by him at his own option and expence. The rector, who both called him to this of fice, and removed him from it, was Dr. Andrew Trebeck. The first act originated not in personal friendship, but in the recommendation of his character; the latter arose from the popularity and plainness of his ministry. He preached Christ crucified among those who are least disposed to receive him. The church was filled with the poor, and forsaken by the rich; and that which (as a nobleman is said to have observed) was never complained of in a playhouse, was admitted as a just cause of complaint in the house of God. When notice was given him that the crowd of people attending from different parts caused great inconvenience to the inhabitants, who could not safely get to their seats, he received it in the most placid manner, and said, "he was willing to relinquish an office which "he had faithfully performed, hoping that his doctrine "had been Christian, and owning the inconvenience "which had attended the parishioners." In this instance, therefore, as well as in many others, he suffered as a Christian, and had reason to rejoice: for the spirit of glory and of God rested upon him, endowing him with the meekness and gentleness of his Master, and enabling him to serve his cause by his conduct, when he could no longer do it by his sermons. *

*For information upon these circumstances in Mr. Romaine's life, I am indebted to the present rector of St. George's, the bishop of Bristol, and to the clerk in orders, Mr. Trebeck, Dr. Trebeck's son, to whom his lordship was so good as to refer me. The latter, after having given the above account of Mr. Romaine's retirement from St. George's, adds the following words: "I shall be always ready to attest his zeal, "and in conversation with him during that time and occasionally "afterwards, I found him mild and friendly."

Mr. Romaine entered upon this office in St. George's parish on the first of April, 1750, and retired from it on the twenty-eighth day of September, 1755, during which time he preached occasionally at Bow church, in exchange with Dr. Newton, (afterwards bishop of Bristol) then rector of that parish, and lecturer of St. George's, Hanover Square, and also at Curzon chapel, then called St. George's chapel, Mayfair, in exchange with Dr. Trebeck himself, who was morning preacher there.

The times in which he was called to the exercise of his ministry in the west end of the metropolis, were distinguished by some signal judgments of Almighty God; such particularly as were the earthquakes by which Lisbon was destroyed, and London threatened; two shocks having been felt in it, and a third expected. These judgments were preceded by great profligacy of manners, and its fruitful parent, licentiousness of principle. "As to faith," says one who preached on that occasion, "are not the doctrines of the Trinity, and "divinity of our Lord and Saviour, without which our "redemption is absolutely void, and we are yet in our "sins, with the intolerable burden of the wrath of God "lying upon us, blasphemed and ridiculed openly in "conversation and print? As to unity of spirit, are we "not distracted and torn to pieces with schisms and "separations? And as to righteousness of life, are not "the people of this land dead in trespasses and sins, "idleness, drunkenness, luxury, extravagance and de"bauchery? For these things cometh the wrath of "God, and disordered nature proclaims the impending "distress and perplexity of nations. And O may we "of this nation never read a hand-writing upon the "wall of heaven in the illuminated capitals of the "Almighty, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN: God "hath numbered the kingdom, and finished it. Thou "art weighed in the balances of heaven, and found 66 wanting the merits of a rejected Redeemer, and there"fore thy kingdom is divided and given away.'

See a Sermon preached before the university of Oxford on Sunday,

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Mr. Romaine was not wanting upon the present occasion, as appears from two sermons in print, intitled, "An alarm to a careless world," and "The duty of "watchfulness enforced;" sermons, which are not exceeded in any of his writings. In both, and particularly in the preface to the former, there are some valuable antidotes against the prevailing philosophy of the day, which ascribed every thing to second causes, and almost denied the existence of the first, excluding the God of nature from the works of nature, and refusing to acknowledge him as the author of judgments, and sin, committed against his divine Majesty as the cause of them. This, as he tells us in the preface before mentioned, was the philosophy of the year 1750, when the "learned accounted for earthquakes by "changing their name into airquakes, and then they "were explained philosophically."

Such was the state of religion and morals, when he was called to bear his testimony in the fashionable world. Having received the ministry of light and truth, he fainted not in the discharge of it, nor had recourse to the hidden things of dishonesty to recommend it: but used great plainness of speech, that by manifestation of the truth he might commend himself to every man's conscience in the sight of God. He spoke freely of the manners of the great, and endeavoured to bring them to an acquaintance with their own heart, as the seat and source of all iniquity, and with Jesus Christ, as the great purifier of the heart through faith in his blood. With what judgment and clearness he brought these truths to the ears of the wise after the flesh, the mighty and noble of this world, may be seen in specimens of his preaching before them left in print, such as a Sermon entitled, “A February, 15th, 1756; aud at several other places, on occasion of the late earthquakes and public fast, by George Horne, M. A. and fellow of Magdalene college; afterwards dean of Canterbury, and bishop of Norwich.

It is a pity that this sermon was not reprinted among those which have been collected into one volume since his death.