also passed through much conflict of a spiritual kind. His first religious impressions were received in very early life in the Moravian school, whither he had been sent when about seven years old. These early impressions never left him; but it appears that he passed through long years of doubt, darkness, and despondency, before arriving at the place which Bunyan signalizes in his " Pilgrim's Progress," as that at which the Christian loses his burden. But after long fighting against the truth on his part, and much forbearance and gracious dealing with him on the part of our covenant-keeping God, he was led at last, to use his own language,

"To cast my hopes, to fix my eyes,

On Christ, and Christ alone." Then he was favoured, like oh how many millions of others in the same blessed manner, to obtain rest and peace for his weary soul. His hymns were nearly all written subsequently to this time, the earliest bearing date 1822, when he would be about fifty years old. They bear very evident marks of the humbling, softening, and purifying influence his varied experiences had exercised on his soul. Here is a verse which probably describes his feelings when not yet at rest in the Lord :

66

Mercy alone can meet my case,
For mercy, Lord, I crv;
Jesus, Redeemer, show Thy face
In mercy, or I die."

The following may be taken as written under a sweet sense of being accepted in the Beloved :

"God is our streugth and song,

And His salvation ours; Then be His love in Christ proclaimed. With all our ransomed powers." His soul-transporting hymn, "For ever with the Lord," so dear to all who long to see the face of the Beloved, must have been written in a rapture of holy joy at the prospect of seeing the King in His beauty, and being for ever with Him. His beautiful hymn on prayer is well known, and is excelled by no other description of that solemn exercise of the

living soul, in the striking, and comprehensive manner in which he sets it forth.

Mr. Montgomery's latter years were comforted by a royal pension of £200 per year, the then present government thus gracefully atoning for the illiberal treatment he had experienced from former ones. For many years he lived at the Mount, Sheffield, greatly beloved and much resorted to when a Christian poem was required for any special occasion. He died at that place, having never married, and was buried with befitting Christian solemnities. We hope they sang his hymn, "For ever with the Lord," over his grave. Barnsbury.

R. H.

A PARAPHRASE OF THE LORD'S PRAYER.

Our Father: Of all mercies, all benefits, all blessings, all power, all peace, all grace, all glory.

Who art in Heaven: In heaven's church, heaven's company, heaven's covenant, heaven's word, heaven's throne, heaven's bliss.

Hallowed (adored) be Thy name: In all the purposes of grace, all the perfections of Thy nature, all the works of Thy might, all the words of Thy mouth, in all the lips of Thy babes, in all the lives of Thy saints, in all the services of Thy servants.

Thy Kingdom come: With the regenerating power of Thy Spirit, with the convincing power of Thy Word, with the pardoning power of Thy blood, with the justifying power of Thy righteousness, with the supplying power of Thy Grace, with the saving power of Thy Salvation.

Thy will be done: Thy will of purpose, Thy will of providence, Thy will of promise, Thy will of precept, Thy will of reservation, Thy will of redemption, Thy will of restoration.

Give us our daily bread: The bread that perisheth that we may be preserved in this present life; the bread of eternal life, that we may live for ever,

Forgive us our trespasses: By leading us to the cross, by plunging us into the fountain opened, by applying pardon.

As we forgive others: In imitation of Thine example, in obedience to Thy command, in consideration of Thy forgiveness.

Lead us not into temptation: By extreme adversity (as Job), by unnatural trial (as Abraham), by Satan's sieve (as Peter).

Deliver us from evil: From the evil of sin's dominion, of hell's power, of worldly snares, of the law's curse, of unsanctified affliction, of death's sting, of the wrath to come.

For Thine is the Kingdom: Of the Gospel as its author, of the church as its founder, of nature as its Creator, of of providence as its commander, of grace as its communicator, of glory as its proprietor.

And the power: Over all things in heaven, in earth, in hell-to conserve in the first, to control in the second, to conquer in the third.

And the Glory: Of salvation's plan, of salvation's power, of salvation's perfection. The Father planned it, the Son performed it, and the Spirit applies it: hence the glory of salvation's plan is the Father's, the glory of salvation's performance is the Son's, the glory of salvation's power is the Spirit's.

Teacher's Thought Book.

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MR.

PHILIP DICKERSON.
Continuation of my Narrative.

DEAR MR. EDITOR AND CHRISTIAN FRIENDS,-I am now about to unravel the mystery connected with my invitation to London. The facts of the case were these. At the time I was in trouble as to what I should do about leaving Rattlesden, Mr. William Shenston (my predecessor at Little Aliestreet), was heavily afflicted with an incurable disease, under which, feeling himself unable to discharge his official duties, expressed a desire to his deacons to have some one to assist him;

and in the event of some such servant of the Lord being found, whom the people could receive as their pastor, he would resign. Upon this communication of the afflicted pastor being made, the deacons in conjunction with himself appointed an extra special prayer-meeting weekly, to know the mind of God in so solemn a matter. The afflicted paster attended these meetings when able, and also a few of the well-known wrestling brethren; and I have been told they were meetings indeed. They prayed in prayer, and God heard their supplications. These brethren also each of them agreed to make inquiries of all the ministers with whom they were acquainted, whether they knew of a minister likely to suit them. This they did, and several ministers came and preached to them at different times; but none appeared to be the men whom they considered to be suitable for them, although one of them at least possessed abilities superior to

many.

We must now notice another matter. In May, 1830, the Norfolk and Suffolk Association of Baptist Churches held their annual meeting at Beccles, and one piece of their business was to choose a subject for the circular letter, and appoint a writer to prepare it for the ensuing year. The writer proposed the subject of Redemption, adding, he had thought that subject a most desirable one at that time: the motion was seconded, and adopted at once. He then rose to propose our late dear brother, Mr. Wright, to be the writer; but before he could speak, brother Wright proposed brother Dickerson as the writer, which was carried unanimously. The letter was prepared according to our best ability; was read, and adopted at the Association in May, 1831, and printed and published accordingly. This letter was seen by the late Mr. John Foreman while in manuscript, who expressed himself much pleased with it. All this time the prayer-meetings were going on at Alie-street, to be directed to a pastor. One of the brethren calling on a neighbouring

minister to ask him if he knew of any one who might appear suitable to succeed Mr. Shenston, he replied, 66 No; but I have no doubt if you applied to brother Foreman, he might be able to help you, for he knows most of the ministers and churches in the kingdom." The good brother took the suggestion, and waited on Mr. Foreman; he was then going off upon a journey, and in reply to the question said at once, "No." Then in a few seconds said, "Yes; I think I do know of one; I think he is moveable, and if so, will be just the man to suit you. I cannot stop now, but he wrote this letter [giving the friend a copy of the circular letter on Redemption], adding that letter contains a sample of his sentiments, and his preaching; and his character is all right."

The letter was taken to the next

prayer meeting; the afflicted pastor was there, and he suggested it should be read that evening, which was done. The brethren were pleased with it, and the aged pastor said he had ever seen anything which better expressed his views upon the subject; and as they had a friend then residing at Bury St. Edmund's, they resolved to write to him respecting me: hence the letter referred to which I had received from brother Elven, of Bury. Just at that time, an aged minister (Mr. Isaiah Birt) called on the senior deacon of Alie-street, and in the course of conversation inquired if they had heard of a minister likely to suit them.

I

Mr. Birt had several times preached for them, and communed with them, and was therefore much interested in their case. The good deacon said they had heard of a man in Suffolk about whom they had written to Mr. Elven, of Bury. "What is his name? know nearly all the Baptist ministers in Suffolk," said Mr. Birt. "His name is Dickerson," said our friend. 'Dickerson ?-What, Philip Dickerson, of Rattlesden? I know him well; I have heard him preach, and I do not believe there is a man in the whole British Empire more likely to suit you than Philip Dickerson."

Now just bear in mind all the aforementioned things: Mr. Shenston's affliction-his desire to resign; the prayer-meeting; the brethren waiting upon brother Foreman-his giving them the letter we had written-their writing to Mr. Elven; and Mr. Birt's strong recommendation. All these things occurred before we heard from Alie-street, or knew where Alie-street was; and while we were in deep trouble as to what we should do, just then came an invitation from Alie-street, to supply them one month on probation.

Surely, the whole appears to be of God: so it struck the writer then, nor has he dared to question it, after forty eight years have run by.

"Blind unbelief is sure to err,

And scan His work in vain:
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain."

With deep anxiety of soul, arrangements were made to commence our month's probation at Alie-street, in January, 1832.

Yours in the kingdom and patience of Christ,

PHILIP DICKERSON. (To be continued.)

There is not only the desire to escape the punishment due to sin, but an actual dread of committing it, in which feeling is evinced the fear of the Lord, being the outcome of love shed abroad in the heart, and one of the most potent preventatives to evil. Godly repentance is experienced not more on account of actual transgression than of the susceptibility of the heart to sin in thought, which does not ripen into action. And here we see the force of Christ's ministry, in the New Testament, beyond that of Moses, in the Old Testament. Christ treats of the thoughts of the heart, not necessarily developed into action; and Moses deals with sins openly committed. And he who is sensible of his own innate depravity, need not to commit gross outward sin to prove himself a sinner, he is grievously aware of his proneness to wander from the Lord, which, to him, is an incessant source of regret.

"Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it,

Seal it from Thy courts above."

He who sings from the heart thus, oftent. mes feels that God would be just in sending him to eternal perdition; and all this side of hell he realizes to be sovereign mercy indeed! God is here seen to be as perfect in His mercy as He is in His justice; and the believer, under the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit, can say with Paul, "I delight in the law of God after the inward man." He delights in the fulfilment of the law by Christ, who is the end of it, as also in the holiness of the law itself (Rom. vii. 22.) There are three synonymous words used in the Greek Testament, which are rendered in the authorized version repentance. One of the three is understood to signify godly sorrow for sin, i.e., literally and properly, to change one's mind; or, "to take afterthought,"-metanoeite, which is opposed to pronoein,-" to change one's opinion." The cognate noun metanoia is generally employed to signify evangelical repentance, as also to be wise

after facts (sins) committed; this repentance is associated with faith, the genuineness of which is manifest in confession before God. Legal repentance is seen in a person who is detected in his crime, and sorrows that he is discovered and made amenable to the punishment which is likely to follow. He is sorry for his crimes simply because they have exposed him to suffering; but he is not grieved on account of his offending God thereby. This repentance is not accompanied with hatred to sins, nor does the infliction realized on account of sins committed and discovered, produce repentance after a godly sort, or else devils might hope for forgiveness. Judas repented after he was discovered and condemned by Christ (Matt. xxvii. 3), and went and hanged himself. How different the repentance of Peter after his denial! The gentle reproof of Christ opened the floodgates of his soul, and he went out and wept bitterly. The Old Testament writers often speak of God Himself being moved with regret, or repenting of having permitted this, or done that; but in all such cases, the word is used only to denote a change of God's conduct or procedure, and not a change of mind, for He is of one mind, immutuably the same. This expression does not imply that the great and only wise God ever did anything which He afterwards regretted. He is not capable, as man is, of taking a false step, or of doing wrong. But God changes His conduct towards man in general, and to His saints in particular, when they prove unfaithful to Him. He is represented in holy writ as repenting of the penalty He was about to inflict, after signs of repentance had appeared, and confession made. He had turned the course of events, and prevented certain national calamities taking place, as also removed the cloud or rod from His people, when they have in truth repented. Several instances appear in Scripture to prove the fact. See Hosea xiv. 2; Isaiah i. 18; Jer. xviii. 8, xxxi. 20; Jonah iii. 10; Psalm cvi. 45. Gospel, or evangelical repentance, is as much the gift of God

THE STATE OF RELIGION AMONG DISSENTERS IN THIS COUNTRY DURING THE REIGNS OF KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN ANNE.

THE members of their congregations had lived in the days of persecution, when their religion exposed them to the risk of losing both their liberty and their substance, and to the certain loss of their reputation and influence in civil society.

In the whole history of the Christian Church it would be difficult to find so great a number of ministers in any one religious community by whom the principles usually denominated evangelical were generally preached as the Nonconformists, whose faith had stood the test of persecution, and who, one after another, finished their course during this period. Though few survived to the next, those who entered into their labours brought forward the same doctrine, for congregations so intelligent and so godly would receive nothing else.

The earliest dissenting preachers insisted chiefly on the most important subjects, and the minds of the hearers were habitually recalled to the view of redeeming love. The efficacy of this is incalculable. Topics of inferior moment, however ably and ingeniously handled, wanting force and persuasion, the effect produced is feeble on the hearts either of sinners or of saints.

Dissenting sermons contained much exposition of Scripture. In illustrating one passage by another, and searching deeply into the meaning of the sacred oracles, they have not been excelled in any age of the Christian church. As it rendered honour to the Spirit of God, by holding up His truth before the eyes of their hearers, He honoured them, and made their discourses effectual for the salvation of sinners, and the edification of believers. Of that simplicity of manner, perspicuity of representation, and familiarity of illustration, which is calculated to make a strong impression on the people, an example will be found in the posthumous discourses of one who lived through more than half this period, John Howe.

A close and pungent application of the doctrine to the conscience closed these sermons in a manner which has seldom been equalled, never excelled. The manner of the preaching was warm, affectionate, and animated. To this we should unite the public prayers of the dissenting ministers. They had learned in the school of persecution to wrestle mightily with God, and seek from Him the comfort which was denied by man. From this school they brought into the sanctuary of God a holy unction, which penetrated deeply into the hearts of the people.

We may form a judgment of the state of religion by the conduct of those who profess to be Christ's disciples. There are two practices which may be considered as peculiarly marking the character, and distinguishing those who observe them from the men of the world-family worship, and the sanctification of the Lord's-day. It was the general custom among the Dissenters for the master of the family to call his household together to read the Scriptures for their instruction, and to offer up prayer and praise to God. The whole of the Lord's-day was devoted to the services of religion. After attending public worship, Dissenters devoted the rest of the sacred time to the instruction of their families, and to the private