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they feel persuaded that this will be a powerful motive with ministers and private Christians to augment their exertions in behalf of a work which confers such palpable benefits upon a class of individuals possessing such peculiar claims upon the sympathies of the Christian church.

The Trustees are not yet satisfied that as much has been done to augment the circulation of the Evangelical Magazine as might reasonably be expected, when the character of the work, and the object to which its profits are devoted, are taken into account. They would, with all humility and earnestness, plead with their brethren in the ministry and others the claims of the widow and fatherless. Why should not an annual appeal be made in every congregational church on behalf of a work which distributes so large a fund among the widows of those pious and devoted men, who have been unable, out of their scanty incomes, to leave any thing behind them for their support? The last appeal on behalf of the Magazine, was so successful, that the Trustees would respectfully urge a repetition of it, that they may have the happiness of still further increasing the annuities of the widows thrown upon their Christian sympathy. Should this suggestion be acted upon, it is scarcely necessary to add, that new subscribers should be urged to take in the work on the 1st January, 1840.

To the pious members of the Established Church, both lay and clerical, they beg to offer their fraternal salutations, and to remind them of the claims which this Magazine has upon the support of the evangelical portion of their community. During the past year they have admitted the widows of three pious clergymen of the Establishment, to a participation of the profits arising from the sale of the work; and hope, on all future occasions, to proceed upon the same catholic and comprehensive principle.

As it respects the theological and literary claims of the Magazine, the Trustees venture to persuade themselves that they will not suffer by comparison with those of any other work of similar pretension. Some pains have been taken to counteract the existing errors of the times, and to make that determined stand for orthodox truth, by which the past history of the work has been distinguished. Looking to God for his continued blessing upon the labour of their hands, the Trustees would confidently seek for the continued patronage of the religious public.

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THE

EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE,

AND

MISSIONARY CHRONICLE.

FOR JANUARY, 1839.

MEMOIR

OF THE

LATE REV. ROBERT STEPHENS M'ALL, LL.D.,

MINISTER OF MOSLEY-STREET CHAPEL, MANCHESTER.

Extracted from the Rev. Dr. Raffles's Sermon on Occasion of his lamented Death.

THE Rev. Robert Stephens M'All was born at Plymouth, August 4, 1792. He was the eldest son of the Rev. Robert M'All, and Jane Lea, of St. Ives, in Cornwall. His mother, to whom he was ardently attached, and of whom he ever thought and spoke with the deepest veneration, died in the year 1824, but his honoured father still survives to mourn his loss. Shortly after the birth of Robert, his father removed to Gloucester, having been appointed to the chapel in that city, in the connexion of the late Countess of Huntingdon. There Mr. M'All remained several years, and there Robert received the rudiments of his education, and hence his recollections of that place were always accompanied with interest and delight. On visiting the city in 1830, he sought out, with the greatest eagerness, the individual who was honoured to impart to him the first elements of knowledge. From that individual he received many marks of kindness, and he would often recite with pleasure various little circumstances connected with this very early period of his life.

The next removal of his father was to St. Ives, in Cornwall, and this little

VOL. XVII.

town and its surrounding neighbourhood became the scene of his most endearing recollections for here, during the intervals of study, he enjoyed the intercourse of his family, and this, in every sense, he regarded as his home. Meanwhile his education was advancing, at Penzance, Falmouth, and Redruth, successively. As a school-boy, it may suffice to say of him, that he early exhibited indications of superior genius, and in every school at which he was placed he was distinguished by his ardent thirst for knowledge, the facility with which he obtained it, and the consequent progress which he made in its acquisition. He was always far in advance of his companions, and was frequently applied to for assistance by them.

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His earliest years were marked by a strong religious bias, which was manifested alike in his own personal habits, and in his choice of associates; while his thoughts and inclinations evidently directed towards the Christian ministry, and his studies, so far as they were under his own guidance, had a more or less direct bearing upon this object.

At length, as it should seem, with a

B

MEMOIR OF THE LATE

view to the commencement of a course of preparatory study, on his leaving Redruth, at the age of fourteen, he was placed under the care of the Rev. Mr. Small, the respected tutor of the academy at Axminster. Here he remained about twelve months; when, at the early age of fifteen, he became a member of his father's church, and was immediately removed to Harwich, where he studied with the Rev. Mr. Hordle, and afterwards, to Hoxton Academy, which he entered in 1808.

Owing to circumstances, not in the least degree discreditable to himself, but to which it is quite unnecessary further to allude, his residence in this institution was of but brief duration, and the following year was spent, partly with his family and friends in Cornwall, and partly in the neighbourhood of London, with the Rev. Dr. Collyer, from whom he received almost boundless kindness and hospitality, and with whom he formed a lasting and sincere attachment.

After the lapse of about a year from his leaving Hoxton, he repaired to the University of Edinburgh. His appearance at this time was so exceedingly interesting, that it attracted the attention of the late Dr. Brown, professor of moral philosophy, immediately on his entering his class, insomuch that he was induced to form an intimacy with him, which continued during the whole period of his residence in Edinburgh, and proved a source of mutual gratification and delight.

Without finally abandoning the prospect of the ministry, while at Edinburgh, he devoted himself chiefly to the study of medicine. The workings of his mind appear to have been exceedingly deep and powerful during his stay in that University, but happily the result was, a conviction more firmly rooted in his heart, and more practically influential on his character, of the eternal truth and infinite excellence of the Christian system—not merely of its historical facts, but of its essential principles and distinguishing doctrines; so that his mind became completely imbued with its spirit, and his whole soul absorbed in its sublime and momentous realities.

I believe that no small advantage was derived to himself, at this period of his personal history, from his forming the acquaintance of the Rev. Peter Brotherston, then the respected minister of

Dysart, and now of Alloa. More than once he was a guest for a considerable time at his Manse, and from him, along with the kindest attentions, he received every encouragement to cherish and fulfil his original purpose of devoting himself to the work of the Christian ministry -the desire of which had now returned with irresistible ardour to his mind. Yet, so powerful were his impressions of the sacredness and awful responsibility of the ministerial office, and so deeply conscious did he feel of his own unfitness for it, so abased was he in his own sight and the sight of God on the view of his own heart, that on one occasion, when conversing on the subject, pointing to the sea, (for they were walking on the beach,) he said, "Impossible! my heart is enough to pollute that ocean." But in the unsearchable riches of Christ, in the freeness of his grace, and the efficacy of his blood, his subdued and anxious spirit found relief.

An interesting anecdote is related of him, in connexion with Edinburgh, which I cannot persuade myself to withhold. Shortly after his entrance into the University, he was present at a meeting of a debating society, established amongst the young men of the medical class, when one or more of the members took occasion to introduce the subject of Christianity, evidently for the purpose of treating it with contempt, and giving expression to their own infidel opinions. Immediately, on the debate taking this turn, he assumed such an attitude of fixed attention, and an expression of countenance so intensely interesting, that a very clever man who was present was induced to make a sketch of him on the back of a card, which is esteemed by some the best likeness of him ever taken; and so soon as these sceptics had finished their virulent and unprovoked attack on that which it was but too evident they little understood, he rose, and in a speech of considerable length, replied in a manner so striking, and with arguments so forcible, that all were filled with admiration, while a deep and permanent impression was produced upon the minds of several of his auditors. In the case of one, especially, his reasonings on this occasion, and in repeated subsequent interviews, eagerly sought for the purpose of pursuing the subject, were so signally owned and blessed by God, that they issued, not only in a lasting friendship, but in

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