anathemas and sanguinary edicts? Why are these compelled to suffer loss, and to see their families deprived of the common comforts of life, only because they discharge their duty, and earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints? Do these men propagate doctrines which are inimical to piety and virtue? they ought to be suspended and silenced; but if otherwise, they should be countenanced and supported. If, however, they must suffer and be evil intreated. it is no more than Christ in the days of his flesh forewarned his disciples to expect: and while it is a lasting memorial of the truth of God, that he who is born after the flesh will always persecute him that is born after the Spirit-the true and faithful minister of Jesus has the consolation which was given him by his Divine Master, Blessed are ye when men shall hate you, and when, &c. &c. &c. And though they are injured and misrepresented now, there is a day coming on which God will make their righteousness appear as the light, and their just dealing as the noon day-But while the Evangelical Ministers in the establishment have this secret consolation amidst all the public opposition they meet with, still their genuine love to the Church is such, that they are grieved if they do not see it prosper. They would ever desire to follow the maxim of him whom they serve, by not returning evil for evil, nor railing for railing; but if possible, inspire all their brethren with that zeal for God which they themselves feel.' p. 49.

More unequivocal expressions could not easily be found, to assert or imply, that a preponderating portion of the clergy evince a decided hostility to such a kind of Christianity as that inculcated by Mr. Gunn, and the class to which he belonged. Now, if this be true, it is a very proper thing that the public should be furnished with authentic, and somewhat ample, specimens of this condemned kind of religious doctrine; in order that the people may have the means of being fully apprized, what sort of doctrine that really is, of which they are so generally exhorted to beware, and the reverse of which is so habitually insisted on by so many of their authorized instructors. But indeed a much more serious object than barely setting the public understanding right on the mere fact of what principles are maintained by the evangelical class, will naturally be conte plated by men, who, like Mr. Gunn and his biographer, are convinced that a vast proportion of the actual living agency and instruction of the establishment, (for we set its admirable formularies entirely out of consideration) is not only misleading the people, but misleading them widely and fatally. Under the weight of this awful conviction, any concern of mere explanation or even vindication with respect to themselves, will be lost in the far more important purpose of doing all they can to counteract so baneful a mischief.

The following very brief sketch may be taken as exemVol. VIII.

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plifying the mode of Christian faith which, according to our biographer, is the subject of so much opprobrium.

‹ Mr. G. having read the Bible with his own eyes, and seeing also, that the articles and homilies of that Church of which he was a minister, were established on the doctrines of the apostles and prophets-though he called no man master-his sentiments were, of course, what are called Calvinistic, and his preaching so likewise. The chief features of all his public discourses were, Repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ-the need of the Holy Spirit's influence on the heart, in order to induce that faith and repentance; and the necessity of purity, both in the heart and the life, as an evidence of their reality; and he never failed to set forth the everlasting covenant love of Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as the source whence all these blessings freely and undeservedly flow; he enforced also these truths as the most powerful motives to holiness; and by these means he turned many to righteousness.'

Though Mr. Saunders is uncommonly bold and animated in his exposure and reprehension of the state of the established church, he must not hence be suspected of any defect of reverence and attachment to the institution, or of any tendencies toward ecclesiastical irregularity. On the contrary, he avows himself zealously anxious for the permanent existence and recovered glory of the church, though at the same time equally zealous for the most liberal toleration to those who separate. The same decided attachment to the church, combined with the same liberality towards sectaries, is attributed to Mr. Gunn, the notice of whose life and character might perhaps have better occupied the space which we have wasted on an incidental topic. We have it to say, however, that this topic is brought forward in a very daring manner, and with unusual prominence, in Mr. Saunders's interesting and well-written memoir. Had a dissenter made so free with the state of the establishment, it would have been our duty to quote to him some text or rhyme on the subject of moderation; but when a minister of the church, a church, too, in which the rising of ministers is a very conditional thing, ventures so stout a reprimand, it is done at a cost to which it would be quite superfluous to add any of the little molestations of criticism.

The Memoir could not abound with facts. It records the very early religious thoughtfulness of Mr. Gunn, and his decided predilection for the ministry almost from his infancy. He says of himself, "Instead of those childish amusements with which youth in general is so much delighted, my chief pleasure was in churches, church-yards, and burial-grounds. My utmost wishes were gratified if I could but be habited in something that was in imitation of the sacerdotal dress. An apron for a surplice, a hat-band for a scarf, a pillow for a cushion, and a cardinal cloak for a

doctor's hood, were sure to afford me more pleasure than all the sports of boys. To ascend the pulpit of an empty church, was a higher treat to me than too many feel in speaking from one to a full church." Both his parents having died while he was very young, it was with no small difficulty that the benefits of a liberal education, at school and at College, were obtained for him. Through his whole progress up to manhood he appears to have been affected so much as to be substantially governed by religious ideas, His serious and invariable determination for the church influenced the choice of his studies at the university.

He was not ambitious to attain literary honours, though, having inproved all the advantages of an early education, he was a very fair scholar. He rather checked a growing passion for classical learning, because he found it was likely to prove a snare to him; and though he sometimes indulged himself in committing to memory the beautiful odes of Horace (the whole of which he could repeat), yet, keeping ever in view that grand object which he considered the university but the means of obtaining Divinity, was his chief study: for his motto was-This one thing I do, &c.'

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By the time he had kept all his terms at Oxford, his little property was so entirely expended, that he was unable to take his degree,' and, without money, without friends, without a home, he was cast on the wide world

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"to seek a place of rest,

"And Providence his guide."

But, as he considered the smallest event in life directed by God's unalterable appointment, his peculiar situation never caused him one moment's sorrow.'

At this time he was about the age of one and twenty. For the means of subsistence till he could be admitted into holy orders, he engaged himself as Latin tutor in a school. When that period was arrived, his earnest undiminished desire for the sacred employment, was over-awed by so much apprehension, that an amicable sort of compulsion became necessary, on the part of the person who undertook to act as his patron, to constrain him to meet the oppressive solemnity of ordination. He had naturally much timidity, of which the biographer relates an exemplification or two.

It is the custom of the under-graduates in the university to read in their turn the second lesson in the college chapel. When this task devolved on Mr. G. for the first time, he was seized with such a trembling as to be unable, distinctly, to articulate a single word; so that the head of the college, who was present, said, "Sir, if you cannot read better than that, do not read at all." This diffidence was not soon conquered; for I remember to have often heard him say, "I thought I never should have courage to speak in public ;" and so powerfully did his

fears operate for years after this circumstance, that the day on which he was to preach his first sermon, though he was a very few miles from the church, he mounted his horse at five o'clock in the morning, and found himself at the place of his destination some hours before the time for divine service arrived.'

Admitted to the situation of curate of Farnham and Odiam, he did not steal upon the people with a gradual and smoothed approach to what he deemed the essential truths of the gospel, but began at once in a bold and unmodified strain; exciting, of course, extreme surprize, and in a considerable proportion of the people (and among them nany of principal consequence in the place) the most vioent animosity. And even the serious concern which he bad the happiness to see awakened in the minds of some of his hearers, only contributed to aggravate this hostility, to which, at length, he was compelled to yield. He retired from his situation at Farnham, after a very faithful and animated appeal to the consciences of his enemies in his own justification. Quite free from all ambition, and earnestly desirous of doing some good in the neighbourhood, he would have been content to officiate at Odiam, and there he deemed himself secure; when he most unexpectedly received notice to quit that curacy also, within about one day of his receiving an almost equally unexpected invitation to a lectureship in London. In that city he spent the remainder of his life, a period of thirteen or fourteen years, in the humble and very little lucrative situation of curate of one church and lecturer of several others. He had not, however, devoted himself to the service from any such motives, as that his complacency in it could be lessened by the unattainableness of emoluments and ecclesiastical dignity. And even as to the popularity which could not be withheld from him, we ean well believe that by far the greatest gratification it ever imparted to him was in the hope of being so much the more useful. This whole record of his life displays a most amiable, and pious, and zealous man. A considerable portion of it consists of letters to two friends, an eminently pious young layman, in the rather humbler rank of life, as it should seem, and the present biographer and editor. They are occupied, in substance, on subjects of religious experience, and abound with devout sentiments and useful reflections, mingled with expressions of personal affection, and occasional references to the details of his ministerial circumstances and movements. A considerable number of paragraphs might have been omitted, as being merely unimportant notices respecting passing incidents, and persons and places of which the reader can know nothing, and would when know nothing even if their names were not, as they

constantly are, put in initials. We have very frequent occa sion to wonder at the inconsiderateness of the editors of letters, in not striking out such perfectly useless passages.

The sermons are fifteen, and certainly form the less interesting portion of the volume. They add, however, to the illustrative proofs, if the memoirs and letters needed any such addition, of the evangelical zeal and charity of the writer, whose memory is cherished with an affection approaching to enthusiasm by those that used to hear his sermons, and had the happiness of being acquainted with the man.

Art. VII. The Chronicle of the Kings of Britain; translated from the Welsh сору attributed to Tysilio; collated with several other copies, and illustrated with copious Notes; to which are added Original Dissertations on the following Subjects; the History and Epistle attributed to Gildas; the authority of the Brut; the primary Population of Britain; the laws of Dyfnwal Moelmyd; and the ancient British Church. By the Rev. Peter Roberts, A.M. 4to. pp. lxx. 377. Price 21 2s. boards. Williams, Strand. 1811.

GRUFYDD, or Galfrai ab Arthur, commonly called Geoffrey

of Monmouth, was consecrated Bishop of Llandaff (according to his cotemporary, Caradog of Llancarvan) in the year 152, and died very soon afterwards. He dedicated to Robert, Earl of Gloucester, son of King Henry. II., a Latin work, which he professed to have translated from a very old book, written in the Welsh language," which he had received from Walter (surnamed Mapes, or Callenius) Archdeacon of Oxford, who brought it from Bretagne.

The chronicle which Mr. Roberts has translated (from a copy published in the second volume of the Welsh Archaiology, 1801) ends thus:-"I, Walter, Archdeacon of Oxford, translated this book from the Welsh into Latin, and in my old age have again translated it from the Latin into Welsh." p. 190.

The Editors of the Archaiology collated their copy of the, Brut Tysilio with two others, which frequently vary from it; and they likewise printed a chronicle called Brut Grufydd ab Arthur, which differed still more from all the preceding, and more closely resembled the Latin work of Geoffrey.

The term brut appears simply to mean, a report or narrative. The original, here translated, being called Brut Tysilio, was supposed to have been written by a person of that name, who was son of a Welsh Prince, and was canonized, in the seventh century: but there is no other authority for ascrib ing it to him. Mr. Roberts has collated it with two Welsh