In adverting to the moral character of our friend, it is impossible to forget this high and sensitive honour. Instinctively averse from meanness, he never descended to those artifices which so frequently dis grace the professing world, nor could be ever bear to hear of them without a becoming sense of nausea and disgust. Endowed with a spirit of independency, he disdained to truckle to the great, or to submit to the yoke of oppression, while at the same time his spirit and his conduct were pre-eminently respectful and courteous. Nothing could be further from him than an arbitrary temper, or than the lust of power: his independency was not a misnomered tyranny, because it was attempered with the love of justice, and had its foundations on wisdom.

The benevolence of Mr. Mack, was of the richest and of the purest kind, the fair and easy expression of a kind and honest heart. Whenever it shewed itself you were intuitively impressed with its genuineness; you felt at once that it was not a feeble ray darted from a merely susceptible nature, but that it was a strong and full beam emitted from the very centre of being. So far from labouring to elicit it, all that was necessary was to direct or to restrain it; to attempt its suppression, was to seal up a fountain; it would, in its god-like energy, rise above all obstacles, and sweep before it, the most adroit system of impediments. Those suggestions of convenience, of expediency, and of temporizing morality, which so frequently dry up the streams of generosity, were of no avail with him; it was enough that misery addressed him, or that want looked towards him, and abandoning the cold inquiries of selfishness, or of a superficial benevolence, he must attempt to relieve it, and like the good Samaritan in the Gospel, would bind up the wounds and brethe the unsophisticated sentiment"take care of him, and when I see thee again I will repay thee."

But the gratitude and ingenuousness of our departed brother, were as signal and conspicuous as his kindness. He was not more ready to do good, than he was to acknowledge the good which was done by others: he delighted in the expression of those sentiments by whomsoever they were exercised, which so richly imbued his own breast, while no man could be more delicately susceptible to acts of friendship, or of forbearance shown toward himself. His grateful emotions did not escape in boisterous thanks, or flow off into a wilderness of words, but settling about his heart, they nourished the mag

nanimity which induced them, whilst they matured into admiration, attachment, and love. I shall not easily forget, when on a temporary visit at Leicester, about a year ago, he received, while sitting at the table, a seasonable token of respect from his friends, at Clipstone, and at Harborough, accompanied with expressions of solicitude for his spirits and his health. Rising from his seat, he paced the room, and with a countenance inspired with gratitude, broke out into occasional ejaculations of thankful surprise; he was evidently touched with the grace and beauty of the action itself, rather than with the possible advantages of the gift, nor could he refrain from frequent abrupt allusions to it during the day, exclaiming what can I do for such a people as this: it was as though the genius of gratitude had settled upon his brow, or was beaming upon us from his expressive eye. Had I never known Mr. Mack before, nor had been favoured with intercourse with him since, that single point in his history would have sufficiently convinced me of the dignity and nobility of his heart. I do not offer the incense of fulsome adulation, in declaring that such a man consecrated the village in which he dwelt, and that his very dust immortalizes the grave in which it shall repose.

As a Christian, Mr. Mack was substantial, not showy--sincere, but not pedantic; his religion took hold of his judgment as well as of his feelings, and had in it a larger measure of the profound than of the lighter elements and sentiments-deep reverence for the authority of God, a lively apprehension of his wisdom and his glory, as displayed in the gospel of his Son, with a hallowed anxiety to acknowledge him in all his ways, were the fine features of his inner man ; and if he refrained from cherishing the more superficial lineaments, the verbosity, the gesticulations, and the looser habiliments of piety, he was probably influenced by motives drawn from the very depths of wisdom and grace. He obviously had an essential distaste towards the mere dress of religious men, and from whatever made the most distant approach to unusual pretensions to sanctity. He had probably seen religion in some of its grotesque and distorted forms, and had been offended by its effeminacy and pained by its injurious tendency. He was quite aware that the habit of talking on a subject was not necessarily indicative of unusual moral affinity with it, and that those who have the greatest reverence for religion may oftener evince it by silence, than by noise. He knew,

moreover, that an unctuous garment may sometimes serve no other purpose than to hide the barren skeleton beneath. To pretend to determine the degree of piety'which may reside in the heart by the number and the tone of the words which proceed from the mouth is erroneous and deceptive, for where religion flows, the deepest words will be but occasionally uttered in the presence of many, but will be preserved for those fit and becoming seasons of quiet and seclusion which discretion will select and fortitude embrace; and when the language of expostulation, consolation, or reproof, is most likely to fall like the dew upon the tender herb. These are the attempts on which Heaven delights to smile, and these the efforts which prove the sincerity and which disclose the treasures of the heart: by these religion may be honoured, and not by being called from its sacred elevation to mingle with the ordinary conversation of the parlour, or only to be entombed beneath the variety of subjects which crowd around the social board. To these finer actions our excellent friend was never backward, or if at any time he neglected them, he, be assured, was the first to regret it. Leaving the scenes of enjoyment and of health, I have known him penetrate the dwellings of affliction, and in strains of unusual eloquence and consoling tenderness, silently endeavour to mitigate the sorrows which he could not

remove.

A friend of mine has often told me of a scene which he can never forget, in which this excellent man, for the space of au hour, mingled his sympathies, and administered his wisest counsels, to his drooping and dying companion in a manner that had ever since endeared bim to his heart.

These efforts are like the showers of heaven which refresh and fertilize the earth; while the habit of evangelical lequacity is too often like the incessant droppings from a house, which only sap the foundations of the building, annoy and perplex the traveller, and require some artificial conduct, to convey them to a suitable oblivion,

The religious character of Mr. Mack appeared to me to honour the name he professed; to have in it much which every one should copy, and little that any need avoid; and if during the earlier part of his career, his redundant spirits would seem to some almost to place character in jeopardy; these, in more recent days, have contributsd most materially to confirm the principles which they never impaired, and to sustain the heart which they never disgraced; if once they

were, like the steed, bounding with uncurbed majesty across the plain, they have since resembled him, when, under wise and suitable controul,he conducts his rider to deeds of glory and of might.

As a preacher, Mr. Mack occupied very elevated ground; ground to which he was conveyed not by professional arts, or by the gales of popular applause, but through virtue of extraordinary talents, wisely and industriously applied. His sentiments were those of a moderate Calvinist. But while the truth of the Gospel presented itself to his own mind, with its several parts connected and arranged, he was not accustomed to ohtrude the angles of his system on the attention of his hearers; he was more solicitous to convey the spirit, than to adjust and commend the mere framework of his plan; and though he was always ready to defend with eminent acuteness, the sentiments he approved, he was never guilty of concentrating his anxieties on the niceties of his creed, as though the mighty economy of evangelical truth rested or revolved on a mere metaphysical point. His sermons were distinguished for the richness of their sentiments, as well as the consistency of their views; and were only exceeded in their mental weight by their spiritual luxuriance and worth.

Few men could have excelled our departed friend as an intellectual essayist, had he chosen to descend to the strife; but, aware of the exclusive cast of the ministry of Christ, he disdained to dishonour it by empty declamation on the one hand, or to desecrate it by intellectual refinement on the other. It was an occasion of regret, to many of his friends, that this celebrated preacher could not be prevailed on to adopt the extemporaneous style of address, but that he tenaciously adhered to the practice of composing and closely perusing either a part, or the whole, which he advanced. Whatever this habit may have secured in correctness and precision, it probably sacrificed in amplitude and effect; and though it did not prevent him from ascending to an appropriate height, amid the sober atmosphere of the study, it may probably have deprived us of some of those vigorous and eagle flights to which such a mind must have been invited, by the occasional impulses of the pulpit: if it did not impede him in climbing to those brilliant eminences to which his unusual powers adapted him, it might have obstructed him in passing with angel fleetness along the high table land to which he had attained; for, it seemed to me, that however great our friend occasionally appeared, he was but half unfolded, that his

he might wish to visit or commune; he had heard of Mr. Hall, and had read his Apology for the Freedom of the Press," and was delighted to obtain an interview with him. This introduction formed the commencement of an acquaintance and attachment which was continued for many years, till recently interrupted by the decease of Mr. Hall, but which has now been renewed amidst the ardours of eternity. This introduction led also to Mr. Mack's separation from the army, though it was effected with great diffi culty, through the reluctance of the commanding officer to lose so excellent and useful a man. After preaching in the pulpit, at Harvey Lane, a few times, Mr. Mack left for Bristol, and spending two years in the academy, under the presidency of the venerable Dr. Ryland; he visited this village, where he has laboured among you with growing fidelity, usefulness, and zeal, for the space of seventeen years; and after a protracted and a painful illness, borne with exemplary patience and submission, has fallen asleep in Jesus, in the forty-second year of his age.

Should any information be required, respecting the bereaved family of this distinguished minister, we are happy to refer to Rev. Messrs Scott, Rowell; Robertson, Wellingborough ; and Toller, Kettering; who will gladly receive contributions on their behalf.

RECENT DEATH.

On February 2d, died the Rev. GEO. GILL, formerly pastor of the Independent Church at Market Harbro', at the advanced age of 79. Mr. Gill was a native of Netherthong, near Holmfirth, in Yorkshire, and was educated at the Academy at Heckmondwike, from whence he removed to Stoanland, and was there settled as pastor over the Independent Church for several years. In the year 1782, he was invited to be the successor of Dr. Addington, at Market Harbro', where he continued to labour with considerable success for more than seven and thirty vears. He was laid aside from his public labours in November 1819, in consequence of a paralytic affection; but though the powers both of his mind and body were much enfeebled, he continued to attend the house of God within one Sabbath of his death. The memory of Mr. Gill will be long cherished in the neighbourhood as an eminently holy and devoted servant of God. His simplicity, unaffected piety, kind and humble demeanour, endeared him to many. He was universally respected in the town and neighbourhood in which he lived; and not only by those of his own communion, but by all that knew him. His funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. W. Scott, of Rowell, from Acts ii.

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