labour, he seldom saluted any man by the way, neither was it his custom to fall out by the way. It is probable that he meant to cast no reflection upon his old friend, but to stir up his pure mind by way of remembrace, and to express a Christian hope, that as he had recognized the servant, he had not forgotten his Lord and Master. Nor is it likely that he should then treat one with contempt, with whom he had formerly lived in habits of friendship, and of whom he had always spoken to others with respect and affection. Mr. Jones could have had nothing in view but good will and good manners, and though he might have been hurt at this sort of reception from an old acquaintance, there is no reason to think that he is now ill-affected towards him, or that he designed any other than an honourable mention of him, after his decease, when he introduced his name into the life of Dr. Horne.

Just, however, as the comparison may be between the spirit and success of Dr. Jonathan Swift and Mr. William Romaine, the causes in which they were engaged will admit of no comparison. Permission to an individual to coin half-pence may be productive of mischief, as injurious to trade, and as exciting to envy; but an attempt to naturalize the outcasts of heaven, who have filled up the measure of their iniquities in crucifying their King, was an attempt against the laws and authority of the Most High, no less daring than that of the apostate emperor to rebuild Jerusalem. It was an attempt which proved the infidelity of the times in which it was made, for had Moses and the prophets been consulted, they had informed the world ages before, that the Jews should be a proverb, an atonishment, and an hissing, among all nations, until their conversion to God, and their acknowledgment of that same Jesus, whom their fathers crucified, as Lord and Christ. As no act of Parliament can convert, so none can naturalize them. It is surprising that the fulfilment of the scriptures in the dispersion and disgrace of that extraordinary people has not more effect than it

seems to have upon sceptical minds. The veracity of the Bible we cannot dispute, but the contents of it we cannot receive, as long as we are influenced by the spirit of the world; nor will arguments or facts convince us, when our vices and inclinations oppose them.

It has been the opinion of those who have been best acquainted with divine truth and human nature, that the enmity of the one against the other is not so much in the head as in the heart of man. The apostle indeed represents the heart as the seat of faith, and of infidelity; for as he tells us in one place, that "with the "heart man believeth unto righteousness,' so he guards us in another against an "evil heart of unbe"lief, in departing from the living God." I have been told (and I think by Mr. Romaine himself) that the late Rev. William Grimshaw, minister of Haworth, in Yorkshire, used to be much with lady Huntingdon, when she was in that part of the country; and had frequent arguments with her son, the late lord Huntingdon, upon the subject of religion. In one of them he said, "I perceive that your lordship's quar "rel with religion is not in your head, but in your heart." His lordship was so affected with the remark, that he never encountered that antagonist again.

As this Mr. Grimshaw was an eminently pious and laborious clergyman* (perhaps the most so of his own or any time,) so he was among the particular friends of Mr. Romaine. Soon after his death, which happened in the year 1763, Mr. Romaine preached at Haworth. His text was that well chosen passage, Acts xi. 23. "Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, "was glad, and exhorted them all that with purpose of "heart they would cleave unto the Lord." The distress of the people for the loss of so valuable a man, and their anxiety about a successor, were not to be described. The sermon was striking and impressive, and had the good effect of putting them upon fervent

* I am happy to hear that his life is coming before the public, from the pen of a well-known, a most able and useful writer,

and united prayers for the continuance of their spiritual privileges, and the event answered their utmost wishes. The clergyman who succeeded was the Rev. John Richardson, a person of an excellent spirit, whose views of divine truth were remarkably clear and evangelical, and whose unaffected piety and exemplary conduct, continued to be an ornament to the church of God, and a blessing to that parish, till the year 1791, when he was called to his everlasting rest. *

In February 1755, Mr. Romaine changed his condition by marrying Miss Price, who now sits as a widow to lament the loss of a most faithful, affectionate, and attentive husband; and to whom I take this opportunity of expressing my thanks for many authentic communications concerning him. Upon leaving his situation in St. George's, Hanover Square, or soon after, he became curate and morning preacher at St. Olave's, Southwark, upon which office he entered in the beginning of the year 1756, and continued in it to the year 1759; and to this congregation he dedicated his Sermon upon the parable of the dry bones in Ezekiel, preached in their church, and published at their desire. He resided the first year in the rectory house, and removed from hence into Walnut-tree Walk, Lambeth. Here he had a delightful retreat, in which he spent some of the happiest of his years. A little garden, which he dressed, kept, and planted; and as he viewed the productions of it with faith, and received them with thankfulness, he converted it into another Eden. Here he received his friends, particularly serious candidates for orders, and his younger brethren in the ministry, admitting them to his early breakfasts, and feeding them with knowledge and understanding. An interview of this sort, with a clergyman now living, has been kindly communicated to me, and

"And

* We are indebted for this account to Mr. Whitaker, now of Ringway, in Cheshire, who was born in the parish of Haworth. "though," says he, "I did not hear Mr. Romaine preach, and was "too young to have made any observations, yet I have often heard the 46 people speak of it with the greatest satisfaction and thankfulness.”

the following account of it drawn up by his own hand. "I breakfasted one morning with Mr. Romaine, somewhere I think in Lambeth parish, but it is now many years since. On taking the bread prepared, which I thought good, he mentioned the circumstance of the late Dr. John Fothergill's having in some cases advised the not giving to sick people, and especially to weakly ailing children, preparations from London bread, on account of the too frequent adulteration it underwent previous to baking." I was then a young clergyman, and shall not easily forget the manner (for I still feel the impression) of his turning the subject to the ministerial administration of the bread of life to the people. He touched very clearly and forcibly on a variety of modes by which the word of God was perverted, and the ill-leaven and other ingredients too often mixed with that heaven-imparted sustenance, which was intended to be meat indeed; and this he did in such familiar, easy, and yet pointed terms, and with that paternal benignity of look, as left me equally pleased, and, I trust, improved by the interview. It rendered bread to me of more value, both as a support and as a sign. I have yet cause to thank him for the discussion it produced, and shall ever revere his memory for so well-timed and happy an allusion.

"The same morning I remember well his mentioning it as in his opinion a fault, to preach censoriously, sarcastically, or harshly of brethren in the ministry, or of others, however remote from ourselves in matters of sentiment and persuasion. My friend, Mr. George Whitfield, said he, one day told me very candidly, that there was a time in his life, when he thought he had. never well closed a sermon without a lash at the fat, downy doctors of the establishment. At that period, said he, I was not lean myself, though much slenderer than since I went on, however, and seldom failed to touch pretty smartly upon the objects of my dissatisfaction, till one day, getting up into the pulpit in Tottenham-court-road, I found the door apparently

narrowed, and moved in obliquely. The idea then struck me, that I was becoming at least in appearance, a downy doctor myself; and from that time I never more made the downy doctors a subject of castigation." He acted wisely, finding it much more comfortable to himself, and more edifying to his hearers, to preach Christ, and let other things and other people alone.

Mr. Romaine, after he left the cure of St. Olave's, was morning preacher for near two years at St. Bartholomew the Great, near West Smithfield, and removed from thence to Westminster chapel, where he had the same office for six months, till the dean and chapter withdrew their patronage and protection from it, and refused him their nomination for a licence to preach there. The place then fell into other hands, and Mr. Romaine, who was immovably attached to the established church, resigned that situation. Nor had he any stated employment in the church, excepting the lectureship of St. Dunstan's in the West, till he was chosen to the rectory of Blackfriars in 1764, to which, owing to a dispute about the election that was settled in the court of chancery, he was not admitted till the year 1766.

During the time in which he had no settled employment in the morning, he preached charity sermons in many churches in London-sermons, which had been the means not only of spreading the gospel, but of proving its efficacy; for whatever may be ignorantly said against it as inimical to good works, more good has been done by it, and larger collections produced by the preaching of it, than by all the mere essays upon charity put together. He preached often likewise at the Lock Hospital upon the first institution of that charity, and the building of the chapel. Being honoured also at Lambeth with the acquaintance of archbishop Secker, he generally assisted in the parish church upon the first day of the month, it being the custom of that venerable prelate constantly to attend and to administer the sacrament of the Lord's supper.