uniformly received every demonstration of respect and affectionate attachment. The following touching reflections are extracted from the last paper found in his writing; it was written on his birth-day, June 5, 1829. "Seven years ago, when 1 concluded my seventieth year, I called my family together, prayed with them, gave them some advice, and read a paper, which I committed to their care. Of the domestic circle which then surrounded me, no less than four are gone to the grave before me. My dear wife; my two daughters; my dear daughterin-law, the beloved wife of my son Henry all gone! I, who am older than any of them, still spared! I complete this day, my seventy-seventh year. A few days since I visited the spot where the mortal remains of the above are deposited, and in which soon this frail body of mine must be laid up. Oh, that with them I may have a joyful resurrection to eternal life! The disorder in my face, of ten years standing, continues gradually, though slowly, to increase, and with increasing pain, which I endeavour, daily, to bear with patience. My chief complaint is the weakness of my frame."

His sight, which had been gradually failing, at length was entirely lost; yet even this total failure did not induce him to discontinue his beloved engagement, in preaching the gospel of his Lord and Saviour. In this he was graciously enabled to persevere even up to the first Sabbath in March last; and that last day of his officiating in this sanctuary will not be forgotten. During the period of his blindness, his preaching had been peculiarly marked by the power, and the rich unction, which distinguished him; and his characteristic simplicity and faithfulness were still evinced in his preparation for pulpit labours; but on this occasion there was a peculiar pathos, both in the topic and in the manner of delivery. The subject was "the man of sorrows His own personal sufferings were not forgotten, while he directed his hearers to the sufferings of his Lord; and if the afflictions of the servant abounded, so, also, did his consolation; and if he suffered for his Lord on earth, he is now glorified together

with him. Departed saint! the days of thy mourning are ended.

66

For the last two months his strength continued rapidly to decline; he was soon fatigued with the slightest effort at conversation. His mind was, however, preserved in the possession of peace and patience; he frequently intimated that he was favoured with peace, though under much pain and infirmity; he was looking for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ." The closing scene was one of great debility and exhaustion, but it was a scene of peace. Within a few hours of his departure, he added his emphatical and feeling Amen," to a few petitions offered by one of his sons; and at length, surrounded by his attached and beloved family, gently and serenely he yielded into the hands of Him that redeemed him by his blood, and so he entered into the joy of his Lord.

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RECENT DEATH.

Died after an illness of a few days, on the 10th of June, at her residence, Pentonville, in the 37th year of her age, Martha Ann, the beloved wife of Henry Parker, Esq. of Gray's Inn, and one of the deacons of the church of Christ, assembling at Claremont Chapel, Pentonville. This estimable Christian lady enjoyed, in her last hours, the consolations of that religion which she had laboured to promote amongst the poor of her neighbourhood, as a Visitor of the Christian Instruction Society, and Treasurer to the Dorcas Society.

After having expressed her unshaken trust in the Saviour, she said, "Lord Jesus receive my spirit," and almost immediately afterwards expired.

Her unexpected removal naturally excited a powerful sensation throughout the church, of which she was one of the first and most beloved members.

HISTORICAL associations often impart interest to a spot which cannot boast of any native attractions, or of those adornments which art supplies. This remark is sustained by the circumstances of that humble village whose Congregational Church is the subject of this paper. Seated on the bleak confines of a wild and open country, its inhabitants are few, scattered, and generally poor, without groves or gardens, modern mansions or ancient castles it is only in connection with its moral plantations, the husbandry and the building of God, that it will supply any thing that can interest the Christian stranger. Chishill, though in Essex, is immediately on the border of Cambridgeshire, and there is a shady secluded lane, just by, which forms the boundary between the two counties. During the Stuart persecutions of the Nonconformists, the venerated Messrs. Holcroft and Oddy often used to meet their friends at midnight, in the well-known spot on which they were safe from the attacks of the officers of either county, reVOL. XV. N. S. NO. 92.

tiring before those of Essex into Cambridgeshire, or before those of Cambridgeshire into Essex. There is reason to think that the spot was also selected by them as near to the residences of many of their friends, as we find that, after the ejectment, the Rev. Robert Billio, jun. who was turned out of the living of Bedworth, Warwickshire, "settled at Chishill Parva, where he taught school, and preached in his turn at Cambridge."* Such a man as Mr. Billio could not reside in any neighbourhood long, without seeking to instruct those around him in true religion. It was not until the death of Mr. Holcroft that the people under his care, who had been often described as the Church of Christ, in Cambridgeshire, consented to embody themselves into separate, yet sister churches. In 1694, several distinct societies were thus settled, and amongst them Mr. Robert Robinson has enumerated that of Chishill and Melbourne. Many of the

* Palmer's Nonconformist's Memorial,

Vol. I. p. 528.

+ Posthumous Works, p. 265. 3 N

treatise, already quoted, is dedicated to the Congregational Church at Chishill, Essex, and Melbourne, Cambridgeshire, and in the epistle "he begs them to receive it as a portion from a spiritual father, a spiritual legacy, a pledge and token of my dying love and last care for your precious souls." The infirmities of advancing years now began to be heavily felt by him, and rendered it necessary that he should be assisted in his duties. A young minister, Mr. Leonard Fisher, from the church at Keysoe, was employed for that purpose until his death, which occurred at Chishill, 1740.* This honoured pastor was interred, as we have stated, in the meeting-house there, but no monument perpetuates his memory, save the continuance of that church which his labours established:

His bereaved people applied to the Rev. James Sutherland, the excellent and learned pastor of the church at the neighbouring town of Saffron Waldon, to recommend to them a candidate for the pastoral office. He introduced to them

The Rev. JAMES WATSON, M. A. This gentleman was the son of a farmer at Aberdour, in Aberdeenshire, where he was born 1713. After the usual course of grammar-school learning, he was entered as a graduate in the ancient university of Aberdeen, where, in due time, he took a Master of Arts' degree, and was employed as a tutor in classical and general literature, and amongst his pupils he numbered the pious though eccentric Alexander Cruden, the laborious author of the Concordance, who cherished

* Congregational Magazine, Vol. 2. pp. 696, 697.

an affectionate attachment for his tutor till his death. Mr. Sutherland's invitation brought Mr. Watson from Scotland, whence he "arrived safe at Walden, June 3d, 1741," and on visiting the church at Chishill and Melbourne, became their accepted pastor.

Mr. Watson was held by the people and neighbourhood in high esteem, and traditionary reports tell of his usefulness, though it is certain that his elocution was not popular.

In 1743, he married Anne, the daughter of John Hanchett, Esq. of Chrishall Grange, in the county of Essex,by which marriage he became possessed of an estate and manorial rights in the manor of Great Chishill, by which his connection with the neighbourhood was continued long after his official relations to the church had terminated.

In 1745 arrangements were made for the separation of the two congregations, and the people at Melbourne chose for their pastor the Rev. Richard Cooper, who was ordained over them in July of that year, and continued to labour with them till his death, 1789.

A large family of nine children seemed to demand better means of education than this secluded spot at that period supplied, and Mr. Watson therefore left those quiet scenes, where he had spent twenty tranquil years, for the bustle and excitement of the metropolis. It is only necessary to add, that he afterwards became pastor of the church that now assembles at Union Street, Southwark, was chosen secretary to the body of the dissenting ministers, and received a diploma of Doctor of Divinity, from his alma mater; and after a life of usefulness, he sunk by gradual decay into the grave, in the enjoyment of the consolations

and hopes of the Gospel, July, 1783, aged 69 years.*

Upon the removal of Mr. James Watson to London, his hereditary possessions gave him a local interest in the place and people, which was strengthened by the residence of his brother, as a minister amongst them, and by his own occasional visits, which partook of a pastoral character still.

The Rev. WILLIAM WATSON was a younger brother of the preceding gentleman, and was born in North Britain in the year 1722, where he enjoyed the advantages of grammar-school learning, but never received any academical instruction with a view to the Christian ministry. It is supposed, that being a man of piety and intelligence, his brother encouraged him to preach, and eventually introduced him to supply the pulpit at Chishill. He is described to have been a judicious and evangelical preacher, but possessed of a voice naturally unmusical, which was made still more unharmonious to a southern ear, by a broad Scottish accent, so that his labours were far from popular with the multitude. He was, notwithstanding those disadvantages, a man mighty in the Scriptures, and his mind was so well stored with their contents, that it was scarcely possible to name a single text to which he could not at once refer, specifying the book, chapter, and verse, where it might be found. As Mr. Watson did not undertake the pastoral office, his brother the doctor, when visiting his estate, administered the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper to the people; and the last sermon he ever composed was delivered to * Hanbury's Historical Researches, &c. p. 45. W. Wilson's History, &c. Vol. 4, pp. 206-209.

his old friends at Chishill, from Rev. vii. 14., but a few weeks before his death.

The life of Mr. William Watson was holy and blameless; and although he cannot be classed with eminently useful preachers of the Gospel, yet his memory was cherished with affectionate respect by those who had attended on his ministry. He died in peace, Jan. 6, 1793, in the 71st year of his age. His funeral sermon was preached by the late Rev. James Philips, of Clapham. He was interred in the parish church-yard, where a plain headstone preserves, the above dates, together with Rev. ii., 17th verse, a portion of scripture of which he was peculiarly fond.

The death of this venerated man gave the people of Chishill, now greatly reduced in numbers, an opportunity of choosing a pastor, who might raise up the waste places of their spiritual Zion. Their choice was happily directed to their late pastor, who was honoured of God to place this village church in circumstances of greater prosperity than it ever before witnessed.

The REV. JAMES DOBSON was a native of Lancashire, from whence he was early removed by his parents to the metropolis, where he was soon called to know all the privations and sorrows, which follow the loss of both parents. The God of the orphan, however, was pleased to visit him with his grace in early life, and on entering upon business, he proved that he possessed talents capable of the most honourable and successful application to secular pursuits, and which were under the sanctifying controul of those superior principles which true religion supplies. At an early period