the power of religion shed a bright and increasing influence, which actuated and adorned every subsequent period of his life, and conducted him through those various scenes of useful ́exertion, which procured for him a just veneration while living, and crowned his memory with honour." Professional Life, pp. 4—6. Happy should we be, always to find the same early religious instruction preceding a professional career. We are led, unhappily, to think that the following circumstances, related by himself in after life, afford a more just view of the course too often taken in the dawn of many professional studies. He writes to his son John at Cambridge, "When I was a student, I always endeavoured to be at the head of my class. This diligence, ensured me the regard of my teachers, and preserved me from many rude attacks from my equals. This I experienced very much when engaged in my medical studies at London, where I could not meet with one serious young man in my own profession. But, as I took such pains that my fellow-students were obliged to consult me in their difficulties, I preserved a considerable check upon their con duct. A serious young man who followed me, did not escape so well. His fellow students at St. George's Hospital tossed him in a blanket!" Professional Life, p. 14. The preceding pages give us a tolerably correct idea of the nature of that diligence of Mr. Hey's, which so entirely disarmed of malice and of blankets the enemies of his religion, by infusing into them affection for his person, respect for his talents, and a desire for his advice. Nor was his general discipline of mind less calculated to raise him to that height of philosophical science which he gradually attained. "It was during the period of his studies in London, that Mr. Hey undertook the very difficult task of strictly governing his thoughts; and perhaps very few persons ever exercised such a perfect control over them, as he was enabled to do, from those early days of termined that he would meditate upon his youth, to the end of his life. He dea given subject, while he was walking to a certain distance, and that then he would turn his attention to some other pass through the streets of London intopic; and he was thus accustomed to vestigating the various subjects to which his thoughts had been directed by the lectures, or other professional occupa tions. The effects of this habit remained with him through life; and he found it of admirable use, not only in preserving him from the intrusion of a swarm of impertinent ideas, but in enabling him to form a correct judgment on many points pertaining to Divine and human knowledge. The same kind of accuracy would often discuss a subject with a was observed in his conversation. He friend, as they rode in his carriage. In the midst of the conversation Mr. Hey would alight to see a patient; and although this circumstance occured frequently, he never failed to resume the discussion at the very sentence where it had been broken off, and would thus continue an uninterrupted series of discourse to the end of the argument." Professional Life, pp. 19, 20. Mr. Pearson himself, on the general The remarks which follow, from management of mixed conversation, ble nature. We entirely agree in are of a most judicious and valuathe propriety of the practice sanctioned in the following passage. "Profane and impure discourse was peculiarly offensive to him; and on some occasions he thought it right to express more than a silent disapprobation of such violations of the Divine law, and outrages of the common rules of deobscene toast were proposed, he would cency. When dining in public, if an immediately rise and quit the company, regardless of the vulgar eruptions of directed against him. Offences may scorn and contumely which might be arise in mixed society, through the surprise of sudden and unexpected tempbearance will, if possible, throw the tation, over which good-nature and formantle of charity; but for obscenity aud profaneness, no apology can be admitted; for no explanation can justify, no candour can extenuate the coarse ribaldry and wanton effusions of a licentions and depraved mind." Pro- libidine ducti conjugium petimus." fessional Life, pp. 27, 28. Much of originality appears in the style of address adopted by so young a man, if Mr. Hey ever was young, towards the accomplishment of his matrimonial plans. We believe if such a practice were more general amongst religious persons, great good would ensue. The use of a profane or ob. scene expression, in a decent company, or on a grave professional occasion, may not be a reason for a Christian to absent himself on the mere apprehension of it: but he should unquestionably express a decided testimony against it when uttered. Let the grave and per baps grey-headed president at such a table, who is not ashamed to sanction ribaldry, be shamed at least by the firmness of a modest guest daring to rise and quit the polluted board, and then we shall soon have the offence itself relegat ed to other companies, more expressly devoted to the service of the evil spirit. Let Christians, in short, shew themselves to be Christians, and then there will be no meetings to which their profession, or even their proper social feelings, might happen to invite them, at which it would be long unsafe for them to appear. Let them, at least, admit no compromise of principle in their intercourse with the world, and then, if the world choose their society, it will at least be benefited by their example. On the 30th of July 1761, Mr. Hey, being then 25 years of age, married Miss Alice Banks, the second of four daughters of Mr. Robert Banks, a gentleman of Craven, in Yorkshire. He had before, on the advice of his judicious parent, wisely declined what is ordinarily called a "made up match:" and Mr. Pearson suggests many benefits. sas likely to accrue if young persons in general would condescend to ask the advice, and listen to the suggestions, of their parents or judicious friends in concerns of this consequence. Their want of condescension, indeed, on this point, we must leave amongst the many inexplicable phenomena of nature;" nos magnâ cæcâque "In the course of his visits, Mr. Hey deemed it his duty to represent to Miss Alice Banks, the obligations, the cares, the solicitudes, with which the married state is connected, that her mind might be duly prepared for the serious and important duties of domestic undertaking, the nature of which she life, and not be hastily engaged in an had not well considered. Whatever may be thought of this mode of addressing the object of his attachment, its integrity must be approved by all; nothing was more remote from his charac ter and principles, than, by flattering pretensions, by partial and unreal representations, to allure the woman, who was to be his companion for life, to contract an irrevocable engagement under delusive impressions. The good sense of Miss Alice Banks enabled her to form a correct estimate of the character of her admirer; she was convinced that Mr. Hey was a man with whom she might safely entrust her person and her happiness, nor had she ever occasion to regret the confidence she reposed in him." Professional Life, pp. 32, 33. We pass over, for want of space, the account of Mr. Hey's settlement at Leeds, and the very inte resting details of his professional career; together with his share in the institution of a most valuable Infirmary in that populous town. Nor can we notice his philosophical acquaintance with the eminent Dr. Priestley-eminent indeed, if he had not exchanged his important discoveries in vapours and gases, for the theological researches of an overheated and sublimed imagination. Their friendly and religious intercourse is thus spoken of: "The friendship long cherished by those two philosophic men will be thought highly creditable to the candour and liberality of their minds, when the circumstances under which it was contracted and nurtured are made known. Dr. Priestley was, at that period, a confirmed Dissenter, a Soci nian, and not friendly to the established government of this kingdom. Mr. Hey was steadily attached to the Church of England, by affection and principle; his religious tenets were strictly consonant with the Articles, Homilies, and Liturgy of the Established Church; and he was a warm and unvarying advocate for the constitution in church and state. Dr. Priestley, who was zealous in propogating his peculiar religious opinions, to effect his purpose more certainly and extensively, printed and distributed little tracts, without his name, on the most important doctrines of Christianity, written with a plainness and simplicity which were calculated to engage the attention of the middle and lower classes of the population. Mr. Hey was deeply impressed with a persuasion of the great importance of those doctrines to the eternal interests of mankind, which his friend was controverting and labouring to overthrow. Being dissatisfied with the replies which were published, and having given much attention to the subjects in debate, he wrote a small tract, in 'Defence of the Divinity of Christ,' and a second, as a 'Short Defence of the Doctrine of the Atonement.' may be justified, and whether Mr. Hey, in the later periods of his life, would have formed it, is a question on which his friends may possibly differ." "Whatever difference in opinion, on this subject," Mr. Pearson observes, may have existed among the friends of Mr. Hey, or may still exist, a doubt may be suggested, whether it be a question on which it is, at this time, absolutely necessary to decide. When nothing is determined, explicitly, by laws Divine or human, the decision of the casuist may be an undertaking of the reality of the fact asserted is suffigreat delicacy and difficulty. Where ciently attested, it is necessary to be acquainted with the several cirenmstances connected with the dubious action, with the motives of the party con cerned, and with the confirmed, habi̟tual principles by which his general conduct in life is regulated. When these requisites have been duly adjusted, modesty and charity, twin vir tues, may be admitted to a hearing, and they will probably suggest, that it is always wise and safe to suspend our judgment, where there is danger of concluding erroneously, and to leave doubtful cases to the sentence of that Omniscient Being, who may have re served them for his own tribunal." Professional Life, p. 45. "Dr. John Hey, Norrisian Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge, was accustomed to notice this tract on the Divinity of Christ,' in his public lectures on divinity. The following extracts from the printed lectures will exhibit the Professor's opinion of this production of his brother's pen. As we cannot undertake to In proving the divinity of Christ, I follow the course of the history in will beg leave to make use of a small due order, this may be the place pamphlet, printed in 1782, at Leeds, for offering a remark upon a statewhich seems to me to give the argument of Dr. Priestley concerning ments or proofs in a good form. The title is, A Short Defence of the Doctrine of the Divinity of Christ:"the author's idea of the manner of proving any Being to Be Divine, agrees in a good measure with that which I have already mentioned as my own. Several years after I first used it, I asked and received permission to mention his name." Professional Life, pp. 41, 42. Mr. Pearson's observations on this intercourse between persons of different religious persuasions, are, like all others which proceed from him, the result of a strong and well-matured judgment, and worthy of the greatest attention. They are introduced in answer to the remark that, "How far this intimacy his friend: "He was a zealous Methodist," says Dr. Priestley," and wrote answers to some of my theological tracts:" whereas Mr. Pearson avers Mr. Hey's steady attachment to the Church of England, &c. particularly as manifested by an overt act, recorded in Part II. The fact is, (though perhaps Dr.Priestley might use the term Methodist only in its vague popular sense, for a man who paid great attention to the concerns of religion,) that Mr. Hey was once a Methodist, in close connexion with Mr. Wesley, though he was still by affection and principle attached to the Church. Religious persons had inducements in Mr. Hey's early days for such a religious association as Mr. Wesley then proposed, which perhaps in our own days can scarcely be conceived. There was a deadness and formality at that time almost universally prevalent, both within and without the Established Church: and it was not to seduce people from its pale, but to make them lively and devout Christians within it, that was Mr. Wesley's first and purest object; an object in which Mr. Hey most cordially joined. But Mr. Hey's subsequent resolution and conduct proved how much either his own opinions or the principles of Mr. Wesley had changed; for, in the Second Part of the work, we find a very significant detail of his reasons for quitting the Methodist society, in which he had imbibed so many of his early principles, and enjoyed so many blessings in his more advanced life. We shall extract a passage, for the benefit as well as entertainment of our read. ers, from Part 11. ch. ii, entitled "The general Spirit and Conduct of Mr. Hey, in his Domestic and Social Relations." "About the year 1781," (that is, when about forty-five years of age,) "Mr. Hey, after a long and serious consideration, finally determined on the expediency of withdrawing himself from His the Society of the Methodists. firm attachment to the doctrines and discipline of the Church of England as they are exhibited in her Articles, Homilies, and Liturgy, were [was] the principal motives [motive] by which he was induced to dissolve his connexion with this body of Christians. He was the decided friend of episcopal government; he studied the subject with diligence and impartiality; and, after much careful and serious inquiry, he concluded that it was most agreeable to the records and examples contained in the New Testament. The doctrines of the Church of England were regarded by him as a form of sound words, con. sonant with the declarations of the Holy Scriptures; and he valued her Liturgy as à service admirably calculated to excite and maintain a devotional spirit in those who frequented the solemnities of her public worship. There was likewise a further and weighty consideration which confirmed Mr. Hey in his adherence to the National Church. "As all human institutions are, from the very imperfection and infirmity of our nature, liable to injury and decline, exposed to the operation of causes which impair or debase their original integrity, especially such as result from the ignorance, or error, of those who have the direction of them; Mr. Hey remarked this invaluable excellence to exist in our Establishment, that no occasional departure from sound principles in a few clerical individuals could be productive of a permanent deviation from orthodoxy in their congregations, while the Articles, Homilies, and Liturgy of the Church remained unaltered." Moral and Social Life, pp. 82, 83. After a series of very important reasonings to the same general point, Mr. Pearson proceeds more particularly. "When Mr. Hey first became a member of Mr. Wesley's Society, the Methodists, in general, were in union with the Established Church. Mr. John Wesley and Mr. Charles Wesley, his brother, being at that time sincerely attached to the Church of England, they were desirous of retaining the members of their society in her communion. That their regard for the ecclesiastical establishment in this kingdom was unaffected and genuine, is abundantly evident from various passages which stand recorded in Mr. Wesley's journals, and in the minutes of the Conference. A disposition to separate and form an independent body, appeared, however, too soon among some of the preachers and members of their congregations on different occasions: but this spirit of disunion was controlled and suppressed by the personal influence of Mr. Wesley and his brother, during the early periods of Methodism. The propensity to a separation from the Church, although kept down and restrained, was not wholly extinguished: within the last twenty years of Mr. Wesley's life, it grew bolder and more importunate; and as the infirmities of age increased upon him, his powers of resistance be. came more feeble, and he was gradually induced to engage in measures which severed those ties by which the members of his society were united to the Na tional Establishment, and though they never assumed the name, yet they were finally reduced to the state of Dis. senters. Mr. Hey had long foreseen, that the measures which were successively adopted and introduced by the Methodists, would lead finally to a secession from the Church of England; but the several canses which contributed to accomplish the separation, operated in so gradual and imperceptible a manner, that a large proportion of the members of that body were not aware of their tendency; and had it been intimated to them, that they would open their chapels during the hours of public service in the church, administer the sacraments, bury the dead, and proceed even to ordain presbyters, and consecrate bishops, they would have repelled the prediction as a rash and im probable calumny. Subsequent events have fully justified that sagacity which conducted Mr. Hey to the determination of withdrawing from them; and since that period, the Methodist Society has sustained no inconsiderable loss of its members, both in England and Ire land, which have seceded upon principles nearly allied to those by which Mr. Hey was influenced. "Mr. Wesley was endowed with the talents of a legislator in no com. mon degree, and the executive power which he held, by an acknowledged right, was administered with judgment, vigour, and promptitude. His political sagacity in adapting means to their ends; his wise combination of inflexi bility with condescension; his dexterity in managing a large mass of heteroge neous materials, so as to render every variety of capacity and attainment, every shade of temper and disposition, subservient to his great purposes, cannot be viewed without a mixture of suprise and admiration. When the ready submission which was generally yielded to his paternal authority by the various members of his societies in the several quarters of the world, is also contemplated, he may be pronounced to have been not less remarkable as a consummate statesman, than eminent as the founder of a new establishment of Christians. Mr. Hey knew well how to appreciate the great and useful qualities of this laborious and distinguished character; they were, likewise, united in the bonds of a long and tender friendship; but no considerations of a personal nature could induce Mr. Hey to concur in what he regarded as an unnecessary dereliction of first principles, involving in its consequences a rupture of those cords of union by which the Methodists were originally connected with the Established Church. "The mode in which Mr. Hey conducted his separation from Mr. Wesley was frank, open, and candid, without any marked hostility, or breach of Christian charity. He intimated to Mr. Wesley his desire of addressing the Conference, and offering some sugges tions and advice to them; declaring, at the same time, that if they rejected his proposals, he could no longer remain a member of the Methodist Society. Mr. Wesley granted him permission to read his paper in full Conference; they listened with patient attention during the discussion of the first and second heads, which related, chiefly, to the importance of the Established Church, and the original principles of the Methodists: but when Mr. Hey was proceeding to shew how they had departed from those principles, some indications of uneasiness appeared among the preachers, and Mr. Wesley remarked, 'that as there was much other business before them, Brother Hey must defer reading the remainder of his paper to another opportunity;' this opportunity, however, never arrived; hence Mr. Hey was accustomed to say, that he did not leave the Methodists-they left him."" Moral and Social Life, pp. 89–93. The whole is followed by a document, purporting to be the Heads of a Discourse prepared for this solemn occasion. Of these, we must say, that, if their length had been the only objection to their delivery, the time and “other business" of the Conference must have been of a very pressing nature indeed. But perhaps some weightier objections arose to reading a paper which reminded them of a period when it was a principle of their own, that" to be the leader of a sect was to be deprecated as hellfire." And, without quoting from this most admirable paper, we must be bold to say, that more wise, disinterested, and conclusive statements, than those which occur in this and the several reasonings before mentioned, are scarcely to |