of the call. Others were called together, to assist in spreading the matter before the Lord It was my wish and prayer, that free from prejudice on the one hand, and prepossession on the other, I might honestly and resolutely follow the path of duty. The result of these steps was a prevailing conviction that I ought to accept the call my friends in this place had given me. And accordingly I do now solemnly recognise this my acceptance of it before God and this congregation, begging an interest in the prayers of all, that the blessing of heaven may render this new connection a fruitful source of glory to Christ, and good to souls."

The congregation at Deadman's Place was small, though distinguished by its respectability and steady attachment to evangelical principles. It was originally of the Presbyterian denomination and long worshipped in Zoar Street, Gravel Lane; but, during the pastorate of Dr. Marryat, it seems to have become connected with the Independents.*

In this ancient meeting-house our lamented friend laboured with much success. The congregation considerably increased, and he was encouraged by the prospect of much usefulness. In his diary he often refers with holy pleasure to several instances, as he had every reason to hope, of genuine conversion to God, during the earlier years of his ministry in London. Some who had lamentably declined were reclaimed; and others were induced to make a public profession of religion. A more commodious building was proposed, towards the erection of which a liberal subscription was offered, and within five years from his settlement, Mr. Humphrys had the pleasure of seeing the neat and respectable chapel in Union Street opened for public worship. This pleasing event took place on January 2, 1788, when Messrs. W. Bennett, Towle, Barber, and Brewer engaged in the service.

He continued to be the pastor of this church more than thirty

*This account, it will be seen, is at variance with the claims of this body to be reckoned the oldest Congregational church in London. This claim has been supported by the ingenious reasoning and learned research of its excellent and able deacon, Mr. Hanbury, in his Historical Researches. The argument of Mr. Hanbury seems to fail in establishing a connection with the original church at Deadman's Place, (if that indeed were the original,) under the care of Mr.Killinghall, in opposition to the explicit statement of a writer living at the time, and having paid particular attention to the state of the Nonconformist churches in the metropolis. His manuscript, once the property of Mr. Palmer, and cited by Mr. W. Wilson, expressly declares, that Mr. Killinghall's church in Deadman's Place was dissolved. The writer of this article confidently recollects seeing a document respecting a Mr. Fairy of Greenwich, one of whose family presented the sacramental plate to the church at Deptford, which stated that he joined the latter church on the dissolution of Mr. Killinghall's. If this statement be true, Mr.W. Wilson's is the correct account of the church in Union Street, and as an Independent church, it does not date earlier than April 6th, 1742, on which day its pastor, Dr. Marryat, withdrew from the Presbyterians and joined the Independents. (See minutes of the two boards.) Why he did so, does not appear, but he was soon afterwards chosen tutor at Homerton. Were it possible to establish the claim of the church in Union Street, Mr. Hanbury would have done it, but we think even his laborious and accurate research has here failed.

three years. During the whole of that period, he secured not only the affectionate esteem of his own congregation, but, in an eminent degree, the respect of his brethren in the ministry. He was soon introduced to the management of the principal religious institutions of the metropolis, and took an active part in the proceedings of the London ministers.

We find him among the founders and earliest friends of the Missionary Society. While several of his brethren expressed themselves coolly and suspiciously respecting that great movement, he entered into it most cordially and zealously. In opposition to the remonstrance of some of his intimate friends among the regular dissenters, he says, "21st September, 1795, I went to-night to the Castle and Falcon, Aldersgate Street, to meet the gentlemen who propose establishing a Missionary Society." He was present at all the public services which were held at the formation of the Society, and was deeply affected with a sense of the grandeur and importance of its object.

Mr. Humphrys was about this time guilty, in the estimation of some of his brethren, of several irregularities, as in having intercourse with Calvinistic Methodists, in supporting new and irregular plans of usefulness, in contending for the propriety of allowing the Homerton students to attend Sabbath evening lectures, on which subject he divided the venerable King's Head Society, and was in a minority of himself and the Rev. Mr. Maurice; and especially in preaching at Surrey Chapel, by which most irregular act, Mr. Towle was grievously offended. In these, as in many other particulars, Mr. Humphrys was in advance of his own denomination, and especially of that most regular part of it, with which he was more intimately connected. He often lamented" the old stiff spirit" of some of his ministerial brethren. In 1796, both by writing and discussion, he insisted upon the propriety of encouraging theological students to preach more frequently than they were at that time permitted and sensible of the defects of the Protestant Dissenters' Magazine, he united with Dr. Hunter, and Messrs. Hamilton, Love, Stevens, Reynolds, and Waugh, in measures for the establishment of a new periodical more regular than the "Evangelical," yet more evangelical than the "Protestant Dissenters'." Their plans eventually terminated in the Theological Magazine," of which he was for some time joint-editor with the Rev. Dr. Jerment.

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The life of a dissenting minister, quietly and zealously engaged in pastoral duties, supplies but few incidents of general interest. Of our respected friend it may be sufficient to observe, that in 1796 he was appointed to succeed Mr. Noah Hill, in Mr. Coward's lecture; and in 1799 he succeeded in what may be called a contested election, to fill up a vacancy occasioned by the death of the Rev. Richard Winter, B.D. in the Merchants' Lecture, carried on in New Broad Street. We were not aware, until we learnt the fact from Mr. Walter Wilson's history, that "it was an object of ambition to be elected to that office." Great efforts were made by the friends of the several candidates; and Mr. Humphrys looked forward to the result with considerable

anxiety. His election is thus noted, May 1, 1799, "The day of the election for Broad Street Lecture. About half-after two o'clock, Mr. John Evans sent over a man on horseback with a note to inform me that I was chosen. The first ballot Humphrys 34, Townsend 27, Brooksbank 17. On the second ballot Mr. Brooksbank resigned, and the numbers were, Humphrys 55, Townsend 27. Broad Street was almost filled with carriages. Directly after I received this information, I fell down upon my knees before the Lord, and begged that I might be kept from pride, and that I might have zeal and grace to fill up the important duties of this new situation to which I am now called." We are not sure that the Merchants' Lecture is still an object of ambition," or that its emoluments are at present as considerable as when it was commonly called "the golden lecture." In 1808 Mr. Humphrys succeeded his early friend and pastor, the Rev. J. Barber, as one of the distributors of the parliamentary grant to Protestant Dissenting ministers.

As the minister of Union Street Chapel, he continued for thirtyfive years beloved by his flock, universally esteemed by his brethren in the ministry, and actively engaged not only in discharging the more immediate duties of his pastoral office, but also in promoting the interests of the principal religious and benevolent institutions which were at that time supported by the dissenters of London. Diligently pursuing both classical and theological studies, he was exceedingly anxious for the prosperity of the academical institutions at Homerton and Hoxton, in both of which he frequently presided at the annual examinations. Thus happy and useful in his situation, he was, in the year 1819, prevailed upon by the earnest solicitations of the Committee of the Mill Hill Grammar School, to become the Principal of that institution. Ardently attached to classical studies, and long accustomed to the instruction of youth, he entered upon his new office with the prospect of much usefulness. Circumstances, however, occurred, to which it is not necessary more distinctly to allude, but which, in 1826, abruptly terminated his connexion with the Grammar School. After a short residence in London, he removed with his family to Finchley, where he devoted a large proportion of his time to the spiritual welfare of his neighbours, and afforded much encouragement and assistance in the formation of the Congregational church in that village.

He usually preached on the morning of the first Lord's-day of every month, when he administered the Lord's Supper to a little flock to which he soon became affectionately attached. By visiting the sick, furnishing tracts to the poor, and lending books among the more respectable families in the neighbourhood, as well as by his public instructions, he closed the last years of an honourable life as became the disciple of the Lord Jesus. His labours were not without success. Among other instances of usefulness, it may be mentioned that a clergyman of the church of England, who is now most zealously inculcating the truths of the gospel, was first enlightened by the books which Dr. Humphrys put into his hands at Finchley.

Soon after his retirement from Mill Hill, he succeeded the Rev. J. Townsend in Mr. Coward's trust. The duties of this responsible office engaged a large share of his anxious consideration.

But as he entered his seventy-eighth year, the time of his departure was at hand. Retaining unimpaired his mental energy, and possessing an unusual share of bodily vigour at the commencement of 1837, his health seemed to promise years of usefulness. In the spring of that year, an insidious complaint appeared in one of his ancles. Its serious nature was not suspected by himself or his friends; but its progress was rapid, and in the month of June he was confined to his bed. Although often suffering severely, his wonted fortitude and cheerfulness never forsook him, The calm and placid influence of religion upon a temper naturally mild and amiable, was remarkably apparent throughout his last illness: though as he did not apprehend the fatal result of his malady, his conversation had no immediate reference to his departure. To one who had so long lived the life of the righteous, the prospect of death, had he foreseen it, would not have been alarming. He fell asleep in Jesus, July 15th, 1837, after a few hours of most acute suffering, during which, though unable to express himself clearly, he seemed to become aware of his approaching end. Them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

His remains were interred in the burial ground formerly attached to the old meeting in Deadman's Place; and an affectionate tribute of respect was paid to his memory in the chapel at Finchley by the Rev. John Clayton. To that rising cause his decease was a severe loss to his affectionate family it seemed irreparable.

It would be pleasing, at the close of this memoir, to advert to the religious character of Dr. Humphrys, had we opportunity and ability to present a faithful exhibition. To many of our readers he was well known: to those who did not know him, we despair of conveying a correct impression of his amiable disposition, his active benevolence, or his fervent piety. His habits of study were regular, and continued until his last illness. His industry is manifest in the extraordinary amount of original composition which he has left, as well as in the numerous extracts, abridgments, and transcripts of valuable works which were found among his manuscripts. His attainments were considerable, his reading very extensive, his preaching chaste, affectionate, generally practical, and always evangelical. In doctrine, he was, as he says in his diary, 66 a moderate

Calvinist, with candour towards those who differ." Under painful dispensations of Providence, he enjoyed, in a high degree, the rich consolations of the gospel; as appears in his private and most interesting reflections on his severe domestic bereavements. The loss of his beloved wife, and of two sons, as they were entering upon active life, were heavy trials, yet borne with the uncomplaining meekness and resignation of a true disciple of Christ. Of one of his sons, who died in the faith, he published an interesting memoir, which, together with a few sermons and the pamphlets already referred to, constitute the whole of his acknowledged publications. He was firmly attached to the principles of protestant

nonconformity, and the cause of civil and religious freedom, the progress and triumphs of which in the later years of his life he delighted to record. Though zealously attached to the Whig party, and having visited Gilbert Wakefield in prison, yet during the horrors of the French revolution, he, in common with all the Independent ministers of London, in opposition to most of the Unitarians and a part of the Baptists, joined in the loyal and conservative resolutions of the ministers of the three denominations, for which the resolutionists were severely treated by some of the more democratical, and one of the most eloquent of their country brethren. His temper was, however, unruffled amidst the angry debates, with which Red Cross Street then resounded. In private life he retained much of the old nonconformist character. He observed special seasons for peculiar devotional engagements, as in removing to a new habitation, when he usually invited some ministerial brethren to unite in the act of devotion; or on the anniversary of his bereavements, or other memorable dispensations of Providence. The first of August, for instance, seems to have been uniformly observed as a day of extraordinary religious exercises, as on that day, in the year 1796, he was in a remarkable manner preserved from death. On returning with his family from Margate, he fell from the vessel into the river, at midnight, when, as he says, " it was totally dark, neither moon nor stars to be seen, and no artificial light at land." A few days after, he says, "We had the Rev. Messrs. Bradbury, James Knight, and Samuel Burder, to assist us in returning thanks for my great and signal deliverance. The meeting was solemn and impressive."

But we dare not enter into further detail, or draw more largely from a diary which would supply many most interesting reflections on the contemporaneous events of his life, as it extends through a period of sixty years, of which scarcely a day is without its entry. Few have passed so long a life with so unblemished a reputation; few have closed one so deeply and generally lamented.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF COVETOUSNESS.

No. I.

ARGENTULUS was well known in the circle in which he moved as a keen, clever, worldly-minded man. He was ever on the alert for gain, grasping with an eager hand at almost every speculation, Sometimes successful, but ultimately the reverse. Argentulus had not been born to much wealth, but by marriage, and by the decease of a wealthy relative, he came into the possession of fifteen thousand pounds. When his property was much less than this he engaged in business, and was attentive, civil, and persevering. The accession of a few hundreds, by a successful speculation, urged him on to further ventures, until he at length launched out his property in a great undertaking, which failing, reduced him to beggary and a jail. When thus circumstanced, he became depressed, desponding, and was occasionally almost driven to despair. It was evident to