ing Secretary; T. J. Gibbons, Recording Secretary; James Gibbons, Henry Trowbridge, George Merchant, and Henry Guest, jun. of Albany; Nathan Warren, Josiah Kellogg, and William S. Parker, of Troy; Guert Ván Schoonhoven, and John Knickerbacker, of Waterford; Daniel Martin, and David Tomlinson, of Schenectady; and G. W. Featherstonehaugh, of Duanesburgh, Managers.

The following Poem, by the late Rev. WILLIAM JONES, of Nayland, was composed in Latin, and translated by himself. Written at a Seat, under some sequestered

ingthorpe.

HALL, Solitude! how sweet thy shade,
For holy contemplation made!
Far from the world, no more I see
That stage of sin and vanity.
While nations rage, my ravish'd sight
I lift to realms of peace and light,
And hear celestial voices sing
The praise of their IMMORTAL King.
Here would I sit, to peace consign'd,
And leave a troubled world behind,
Till Angels waft me hence to rest
In Paradise among the blest;
With hermits there to taste of bliss,
Who walk'd with God in shades like this.

The foregoing verses having been sent to a friend, iend, then at Brighthelmstone, the following reply to them, in the same Latin and English measure, was received by the return of post.

(BY GEORGE HENRY GLASSE.)

Alas, in what inglorious strains
My once heroic friend complains!
Wilt thou, a gallant vet'ran, yield,
And, still unconquer'd, quit the field?
Enamour'd of monastic ease,
Say, dost thou pant for shades like these?
Is it a time to seek repose,
When, all around, insulting foes,
A furious, rash, impetuous throng,
Eager for combat, rush along,
Their banners raise with hideous cry,
And truth, and God himself, defy?

Not through the silence of the groves,
Which pensive meditation loves,
But through fierce conflicts and alarms,
The din of war, the clang of arms,
And all the terrors of the fight,

The Christian seeks the realms of light.
Foremost amidst th' ensanguin'd flood,
(His sacred vestments dipt in blood*)
On thee thy Saviour casts his eyes;

My fellow-soldier, hail!" he cries.

Departed spirits know,
Confus'd and blushing, Garrick views
This grand parade of woe.

Though much to be admir'd by man,
He had yet, gracious Heav'n!
Much, very much he had, indeed,
By thee to be forgiv'n.

But thou art good! -And since he died
Compos'd, without a groan,
Repentant David, let us hope,
May live through David's Son.

INSCRIPTION FOR AN HOUR GLASS,

MARK the golden grains that pass,
Brightly through this channell'd glass,
Measuring by their ceaseless fall,
Heaven's most gracious gift to all!
Busy till its sands be done,
See the shining current run;
But, the allotted numbers sped,
Another hour of life hath fled!
Its task perform'd, its travels past,
Like mortal man, it rests at last.

Yet, let some hand invert its frame,
And all its powers return the same,
Whilst any golden grains remain,

'Twill work its little hour again.
But who shall turn the glass for you
When all the golden grains are through
Who shall collect your scatter'd sand,
Dispers'd by Time's unsparing hand?
Never can one grain be found
Howe'er we anxious search around!

Then, daughter, since this truth is plain,
That time once gone, ne'er comes again,
Improv'd, bid every moment pass-
See how the sand rolls down your glass.

Memoirs of the late Rev. WILLIAM JONES, of Nayland: extracted from his Life by WILLIAM STEVENS, Esq.

THE Rev. William Jones, Rector of Paston, in Northamptonshire, and Curate of Nayland, in Suffolk, was born at Lowick, in Northamptonshire, on the 30th of July, in the year 1726. His father was Morgan Jones, a Welsh gentleman, a descendant of Colonel Jones (but of principles very different from those of his ancestor), who married a sister of the usurper, and is mentioned in Noble's History of the House of Cromwell. Morgan Jones married Sarah, the daughter of Mr. George Lettin, of Lowick, by whom he had this son. As the angel said to Zacharias concerning the Baptist, "thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth;" so might it have been said to these happy parents concerning their son. "He was indeed a burning and a shining light, and we rejoiced for a season in his light."

a

He was remarkable from his childhood for unwearied industry and ingenium versatile. Like the judicious Hooker, " when a school boy, he was an early questionist, Why this was, and that was not, to be remembered; why this was granted, and that was denied." As soon as he was of the proper age, he was admitted, on the nomination of the Duke of Dorset, scholar at the Charterhouse, where he made a rapid progress in Greek and Latin, and laid the foundation of that knowledge, which has since been such a blessing to the Christian world. It is reported, that even while a lad, he so abhorred the sin of rebellion, and so dreaded the judgment of God upon it, that he used to say his family, he Von. III.

9

[VOL. III.

feared, would never prosper in the world for the iniquity of his ancestor, who had been a principal in the murder of the royal martyr; but God visiteth the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them (only) that hate him, not of them that love him and keep his commandments; and he had learned betimes to "fear God and honour the King." His turn for philesophical studies soon began to show itself; for meeting, when at the Charterhouse, with Zachary Williams (the father of Dr. Johnson's Mrs, Williams), author of a Magnetical Theory, which is now lost, he copied some of his tables and calculations, was shown the internal construction of his instrument for finding the variation of the compass in all parts of the world, and saw all the diagrams whereby his whole theory was demonstrated and explained. Here he commenced an acquaintance with Mr. Jenkinson, now Earl of Liverpool, who was his chum, which acquaintance was farther cul tivated at the University, where they were of the same College, and it continued to the last. Their different pursuits leading them different ways in their journey through life, they did not often meet, but they ever retained a great regard for each other, and the humble country parson occasionally experienced marks of friendship from the elevated statesman.

At about eighteen years of age, he left the school and went to University College, Oxford, on a Charterhouse exhibition. There he pursued the usual course of study with unremit ted diligence, till falling in with some gentlemen, who, having read Mr. Hutchinson's writings, were inclined to favour his opinions in theology and philosophy, he was induced to examine them himself, and found no reason to repent his labour. Among the several companions of his new studies, whom he loved and respected, there was no one dearer to him than the author of An Apology for certain Gentlemen in the University of Oxford.* Between them "there was a sacred friendship; a friendship made up of religious principles, which increased daily by a similitude of inclinations to the same recreations and studies; a friendship elemented in youth, and in ah University, free from self ends, which the friendships of age usually are not. In this sweet, this blessed, this spiritual amity they went on for many years. And as the holy prophet saith, so they took sweet counsel together, and walked in the house of God as friends. By which means they improved it to such a degree of amity as bordered upon heaven; a friendship so sacred, that when it ended in this world it began in the next, where it shall have no end.

Having taken the degree of Bachelor of Arts, in 1749, he was ordained a Deacon by the Bishop of Peterborough, and, in 1751, he was ordained a Priest by the Bishop of Lincoln, at Buckden. On leaving the University, his first situation was that of Curate, at Finedon, in Northamptonshire.

In 1754, he married Elizabeth, daughter of the Reverend Nathaniel Bridges, and went to reside at Wadenho, in Northamptonshire, as Curate to his brother-in-law, the Rev. Brook Bridges, a gentleman of sound learning, singular piety, and amiable manners. She was an help meet for him, and might have sat for the pic ture drawn by Bishop Horne, as extracted from the 31st chapter of Proverbs, in his sermon on the female character; the very reverse of Mrs. Churchman's daughter, who fell to the lot of Richard Hooker, whose conditions, as honest Izaak Walton observes in the life, were similar to that wife's, which is by Solomon compared

* Mr. Horne, afterwards President of Magdalen College, Oxford, and Bishop of Norwich.

to a dripping-house. Like Zacharias and Elizabeth, this happy couple "were righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless," he, in the care of the parish, writing as nearly as the difference of the times would admit, after the copy given by the divine Herbert in the country parson, and she, co-operating with him in all his designs for the good of the people committed to his charge.

Here he drew up The Catholic Doctrine of the Trinity, which he had kept in his thoughts for some years, and to which he had paid a particular attention as often as the Scriptures of the Old or New Testament were before him. It is an invaluable work, and admirably calculated to stop the mouths of gainsayers; "which compareth spiritual things with spiritual," and maketh the Scripture its own interpreter. To the third edition, in 1767, was added, A Letter to the Common People, in Answer to some pориlar Arguments against the Trinity. The Society for promoting Christian Knowledge have since laudably admitted it into their list of books, and from the general distribution of it,. there can be no doubt of its producing great and good effects.

And here it was he engaged in a work he had much at heart, for which he was eminently qualified, as the event proved; and which some of his friends had at heart likewise, who subscribed among them 300l. per annum for three years (in which number was the present worthy Dean of Hereford, now Master, but then only Fellow of University College, who most generously put his name down for 501. per ann.) to enable him to supply himself with an apparatus sufficient for the purpose of making the experiments necessary to his composing a Treatise on Philosophy. In 1762, he published An Essay on the First Principles of Natural Philosophy, in quarto, the design of which was to demonstrate the use of natural means or second causes in the econo

my of the material world, from reason, experiments, and the testimony of antiqnity; and, in 1781, he pub

lished a larger work in quarto, under the title of Physiological Disquisitions, or Discourses on the Natural Philosophy of the Elements. As it was ever his study to make philosophy the handmaid of religion, he has in this work embraced every opportunity of turning natural knowledge to the illustration of Divine truth, and the advancement of virtue. When the first volume was published, the late Earl of Bute, whom one may now, without offence, it is presumed, style the patron of learning and of learned men, was so satisfied with it, that he desired the author not to he intimidated, through fear of expense, from pursuing his philosophical studies, but to direct Mr. Adams, the mathematical instrument maker, to supply him with such instruments as he might want for making experiments, and put them to his account; and he also handsomely offered him the use of any books for which he might have occasion.

One thing that made a great impression on Mr. Jones at the time was, that it being agreed between them, that there was no pleasure like that of a studious life, his lordship observed, there was a time when he made himself a teacher to his children, and followed his studies in the retirment of a remote situation in the north. The day was then too short; but since he came forward into public life and public business, he had scarcely known one hour of enjoyment. If his lordship, who was at the top of the world, found so much dissatisfaction, what reason have I (thought Mr. Jones) who am at the bottom of it, to complain that life is troublesome and favour uncertain ?

It is said, that " no one remembered the poor wise man who saved the city; but the author of the Catholic Doctrine of the Trinity, who did such eminent service to the Church and city of God, was not forgotten; he was remembered by Archbishop Secker, who presented him, first to the Vicarage of Bethersden, in Kent, in the year 1764, and soon after to the more valuable Rectory of Pluckley in the same county, as some reward for his able defence of Christian Orthodoxy.

Accordingly he took his wife and his two children, and all his substance, which was not much, (my Master Jones, said an old servant of his, minds money no more than the dirt in the street) and went to the place which the providence of God had allotted for him. The income he derived from his living not being equal to what he expected, it was thought expedient by his friends that he should eke out his slender pittance by taking a few pupils. And a happy thought it was for those who were to have the benefit of his instruction; for of no man could it be more truly said, "By a constant unwearied diligence he attained unto a perfection in all the learned languages; by the help of which, and his unremitted studies, he had made the subtilty of all the arts easy and familiar to himself. So that by these, added to his great reason, and his industry added to both, he did not only know more of causes and effects, but what he knew, he knew better than other men. And with this knowledge he had a most blessed and clear method of demonstrating what he knew, to the great advantage of all his pupils."

Usus et impigræ simul experientia mentis Paullatim docuit pedetentim progredientes. Luer. l. v. 1451.

Of the same sentiment is Bishop Horsley, who making mention of Mr. Jones in the seasonable Charge to his Clergy in the year 1800, says, " Of that faithful servant of God, I can speak both from personal knowledge and from his writings. He was a man of quick penetration, of extensive learning, and the soundest piety. And he had beyond any oth other man I ever knew, the talent of writing upon the deepest subjects to the plainest understanding." As he had undertaken the tuition of two young gentlemen when he was at Bethersden, he continued the practice after he removed to Pluckley.

In 1766, he preached the Visitation Sermon before Archbishop Secker, at Ashford, greatly to the satisfaction of his grace and the whole audience. It was not printed at the time; but in the year 1769, the substance of it was published in the form of A Letter to a young Gentleman at Oxford, intended for Holy Orders, containing some seasonable Cautions against Errors in Doctrine; and it may be read to great advantage by every candidate for the sacred profession.

On the publication of a work, entitled The Confessional, an artful libel on Creeds, Confessions, Articles of Faith, &c. the Archbishop considered Mr. Jones as a proper person to write an answer to it; and accordingly he drew up some remarks on it; but he had then neither health nor leisure to fit them for the press. This he was the less uneasy about, as the argument was undertaken by others, of whose learning and experience he had a better opinion than of his own; and a full confutation of the work was published in three letters addressed to its author, written by the judicious hand of Dr. Glocester Ridley. But a new edition being called for of the Answer to an Essay on Spirit, Mr. Jones thought it advisable to add, by way of sequel, the Remarks he had originally drawn up on the principles and spirit of the Confessional; not as supposing they had not been fairly and fully refuted in the three letters, but as they were in smaller compass, thinking that they might better suit the taste of some readers; and in 1770 they were published.

In 1773, Mr. Jones collected together into a volume, Disquisitions on some select subjects of Scripture, which had heen before printed in separate tracts, all in the highest degree instructive and edifying.

In 1776, under the character of a PRESBYTER of the CHURCH of ENGLAND, he published, in a Letter to a Friend at Oxford, which was printed in the Scholar Armed, Reflections on the Growth of Heathenism among modern Christians.

During his residence at Pluckley, which was upwards of twelve years, he carried on his philosophical work with his usual ardour; he taught his pupils learning by instruction, and virtue by example: and in his attention to the flock, of which he was overseer, pursuing the plan he had adopted at Wadenho, he was a watch

ful shepherd; "in the day the drought consumed him, and the frost by night, and sleep departed from his eyes."

But "man continueth not in one stay." The good Rector was induced to remove from Pluckley, and, accepting the perpetual Curacy of Nayland, in Suffolk, he went thither to reside with his family. Soon after he effected an exchange of Pluckley for Paston, in Northamptonshire, which he visited annually; but he set up his staff at Nayland for the remainder of his days, not being "led into temptation" ever to quit that post by any future offer of preferment.

The figurative language of the Holy Scripure having been always his favourite study; after revolving the subject in his mind for many years, he drew up a course of Lectures, which were delivered at the parish Church of Nayland, in Suffolk, in the year 1786; and, that they might not be confined to a corner, but that " other cities also" might have the benefit of them, in the year following they were published for the edification of the Christian Church at large. The mode of interpretation here pursued, is what Christians knew and taught above a thousand years ago; yet apprehensive that it might seem to be "bringing many strange things to the ears of some people" in these days, he has been particularly careful to have the sanction of Scripture itself for every explanation he has adopted, that he might be able to say, "thus it is written." To complete his plan, he had a supplemental discourse in reserve, which, knowing how " unskilful some are in the word of righteousness, having need of milk and not of strong meat," he did not print till several years after, and then with a desire that it should fall into the hands of those only who were prepared, by what they had already seen in the other Lectures, to give it due consideration. The reflection naturally suggested to the mind on reading this volume, is, that as the author was diligent in all "other branches of learning, so he seemed restless in searching the scope and intention of God's Spirit revealed to mankind in the Scriptures. For