the darling of both her parents, who studied her gratification in all things. The whole of her conduct and principles made her, indeed, their comfort. During her infancy, no inducement which could be held out, no persuasion or threatening could force her to swerve in the slightest instance from promised obedience. which I have often seen severely tried. As she advanced in years, this principle was so firmly rooted in her mind, that her parents placed in her the most implicit confidence, setting her as a watchful guardian over her little brother and sister, to whom her loss will be indeed incalculable; for she had so entirely gained their affections that they gladly looked up to her as an example. She dozed most of Wednesday, but towards mid-day had a dreadful struggle, which her poor mother could not witness without being much affected; and, perceiving her in tears, the dear child appeared greatly distressed, most anxiously inquiring if she had done any thing to hurt her mamma. Towards evening my sister asked her if she knew that she was going to heaven: she answered tranquilly, 'No, mamma, I did not.' A little after, she said, Mamma, I am trying to recollect the penitent thief. She begged to have the raising of the son of the widow of Nain read to her, and asked in what chapter it was contained. She requested that her mamma would sit up with her all night, first inquiring from the doctor, whether it, would injure her mamma's health to sit up with her, and whether it would do her papa any harm to remain with her that night beyond his usual hour. Thus solicitous was she about those whoin she had always loved, when, as the doctor said, the dew of death was on her forehead; and, from the dreadful heaving of her breast, he thought it not probable that she would hold out till morning.

"From the middle of the night, until about four in the morning, she remained in a lethargic stupor: then she seemed as in the agony of death.

We all stood watching her for some time, believing that her intellectual powers had subsided for ever: but, to our astonishment, she recovered them, and asked me to read to her some of Dodd's Consolations. I read to her of the patience of Job, who, when deprived of all his children and earthly possessions, said, 'The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord.' Anny said, very distinctly, but slowly, from difficulty of breathing, 'A stronger instance of patient resignation was known.' After I had finished the section, finding her attention was still engaged, I read from the same book about the sufferings of the martyrs, and at the following words,

never

But when the kind hand of our Father and Redeemer applies the scourge, let us receive it submissively, let us improve by the chastisement,' her emphatic Yes,' will never be forgotten by those who were present. Her attention was most extraordinary at a time when her agony appeared extreme, and life to ebb fast: yet still it kept a strong hold, as if loth to part. All Thursday she suffered dreadfully; but not one impatient word or look escaped her; and her senses remained perfect. In the evening, her mother asked her, Who loves you better than mamma?' And whom are you going to?' She replied, To God.' Then turning her dying eyes to me, she said, as if to comfort me, (and oh! what greater comfort could she have given me!) I am going to God.'

6

"I watched that darling child, who from infancy was dearer to me than my own existence, passing through the dark valley of the shadow of death; and I did not shed a tear. An immortal spirit had been permitted to make a transient abode amongst us; and, washed from its earthly contaminations by the blood of the Saviour, was now struggling to escape from its prisonhouse, that it might re-ascend to its native regions. I read the thirty

fourth Psalm; and, falling low on my knees, I offered up my sup plications, that my darling might depart peacefully from this turbulent world, and that the Lord Jesus might receive her spirit. My sister begged me to do nothing to excite her, which had been the particular desire of the doctor. She answered for me, 'My aunt is right, mamma: let her go on.' She became quite calm, and joined me in prayer, repeating over and over again, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' She looked at my sister with an unutterable expression of fondness, and said, 'My mother, my good mother, my dear mother; God bless my mother, and God bless my dear father.' She then prayed for each of us repeatedly, saying, 'Lord, grant we may all meet in heaven.' She also prayed for the maid-servant, whom she saw standing at the foot of the bed. Then every breath was prayer -Lord, help me! Lord, save me!' until she could no longer articulate. At half-past six o'clock on Friday morning, the purified spirit fled to the bosom of its Redeemer.

"On Monday morning, January 8, we accompanied her sorrowing father to see her laid in the grave; and a little earth soon covered for ever from our eyes what, for nearly fourteen years, had been our delight and admiration, our joy, and the object of our fondest solicitude. But she died in the Lord, and her rest is glorious.

"Oh! if the young and inexperienced traveller could look forward over the rugged and thorny path of life, how joyfully would he hail the messenger of mercy who removes him from the dangerous trial, and bears him away to a place of safety! Our child was the object of the Redeemer's love: he would not allow her to be exposed to storms with which her delicate mind could not struggle. He pitied her; He watched over her; He dried her tears; He hath received her, and she is safe! Oh, how safe! The roaring

lion who goeth about seeking whom he may devour, can never, never, reach her. She is gathered into the fold of Christ: she is one of His own lambs, and He is her Shepherd! Why are we anxious to detain those whom we love, to struggle with the waves of a tempestuous ocean?”

HYMN ATTRIBUTED TO MR. ROBINSON.

Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer.

YOUR correspondent T. R. is quite right in stating that the excellent hymn, "Jesu, lover of my soul," is not from the pen of Charles Wesley: but I think he is misinformed as to its being the composition of Mrs. Madan. I believe I am correct in stating, that it was composed by the too well known Mr. Robinson of Cambridge. The circumstance was related to me, connected with a painful anecdote which should deeply impress on our minds those words of the Apostle, "Let him

that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." Mr. Robinson was a man of considerable talent, and was for some years a useful and much respected Dissenting minister, till in the latter part of his life he unhappily lapsed into the Socinian system. It was stated to me, that on some occasion when this hymn was sung in compliment to him, far from being gratified, as was expected, he observed, "Oh, that I were in the same state of mind as when I composed that hymn!"-Mr. Robinson's congregation being dissatisfied with his evident change of sentiment, he went to Birmingham to consult Dr. Priestley, and preached for him, using very strong language against the Divinity of our Lord. The next morning he was found dead in his bed.

Digressing from this immediate subject, yet in some connexion with it, will you allow me to inquire on what authority it is sometimes

stated, that Dr. Whitby, the author of the Paraphrase on the New Testament, towards the close of his life, imbibed Socinian sentiments? Throughout his work, he seems to have had his eye steadily fixed upon that theory, and carefully notices every text which can bear upon the controversy. I cannot believe that there is any evidence to prove that he became a Socinian: though, even if the fact were so, it would not authenticate that unscriptural system; but it might well lead us to exclaim with renewed humiliation, "Lord, what is man?" Mr. Robinson formerly published a most satisfactory treatise against those very sentiments which he afterwards adopted.

SP-N.

MR. RILAND ON THE CODRINGTON

SLAVES.

THE following communication has been sent to us by a highly respected and excellent clergyman, the Rev. J. Riland, who has had the Christian candour and manlinessfor considering how greatly the friends of the unhappy slaves in our colonies are maligned, it requires some courage to affix his name to his statements, as he did also to those in the January Number of our last volume. We are already so far rewarded for our exertions in this cause of piety and charity, that the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and other religious societies connected with the West Indies, have had their attention directed to examine into the question, and to demand of their colonial correspondents explicit accounts of the actual state of their affairs. The interest already excited, and the facts elucidated, more than compensate us for any portion of misrepresentation or reproach which we may have been thought worthy of enduring in this truly honourable cause. This will pass away, but the benefit will remain. Give us

but discussion, give us but truth, give us but Christianity, and slavery cannot long survive. We do not charge the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel-we have never, even by implication, charged them, far from it-with cruelty to their slaves: they mean well and virtuously; they wish to better their condition, and to save their souls, though they refuse to liberate their bodies: but we do charge them with not having known, as a body, what was going on upon their own estates; we do charge them with the crime of being voluntary slave-holders, who have not expressed even a wish to free their captives; who have held inbondage immortal beings for several generations, from father to son, with every possible facility for instructing and liberating them; but who yet, upon the confession of their own agents, have left them in a state in which, worse than heathens, and like brute beasts, they have not learned even the nature of the institution of marriage, but have been living in the most abandoned sensualities. We speak not of captured Africans, but of men and women born on the Society's own plantations, and educated under their own eye; that is, under the eye of their confidential agents, for whose statements they have made themselves responsible; -as if there was any property in the West Indies, the colonial managers of which would not maintain that the slaves are well fed, well clothed, moderately worked, and assiduously instructed. We again say that we impute no charge of cruelty, as has been not very candidly alleged against us; but we impute past neglects not yet compensated for; we impute the ferocious driving whip, not even yet banished as the stimulus to labour; we impute the crime of holding the present race in slavery, and of making no provision even for the emancipation of the next; we impute it as a heinous sin in a charitable, a religious, a Churchof-England, a Christian, a missionary society, that, far from doing all

residing on the spot, and, as an attorney, conversant with colonial law, might have known the provisions of the act; and certainly, that he might readily have consulted it, for the express purpose of satis fying the society at home without "I think."

2. Mr. Clarke asserts, that the slaves "are enabled through their owners, or by the protector of slaves, to recover at law from their owners or others." A statement of this kind, to say the least of it, is trifling with the feelings and common sense of any one concerned in the inquiry. Suppose, even in our own free country, that the confidential attorney of some powerful noble man had successfully employed the authority, and the treasury, of his principal, to defraud a day-labourer of his savings; what would the public think of the adviser, who should console the poor helpless man by telling him, that he might recover his pittance through his lordship's legal agent! The difficulties of such things, even in a land of equal rights, with regard to person and property, are become proverbial, "The law is open-so is the London tavern." But it seems, that a rifled and lacerated Negro has a farther resource in the protector of slaves. On this point, Mr. Hus kisson says, in his memorable dis patch of Oct. 18, 1827, "On the subject of protection of slaves, it is impossible to regard the establish ment, formed by the present law, as an effectual substitute for the office of protector and guardian of slaves, as suggested by Lord Bathurst. There is a very serious objection to entrusting the selection of the acting protector to any other authority than that of his Majesty. It is also highly inconvenient that the governor should be associated with other persons, on a footing of precise equality in discharging any duty connected with the executive government......His powers are limited in such a manner as to deprive the office of the greater part

CHRIST OBSERV. No. 325.

of its value and efficiency. He is permitted himself to be the owner of slaves; an indulgence which, for very obvious reasons, ought not to be granted. It would be in vain to suppose that a law, thus imperfectly constituted, would ensure an effec tual protection to the slaves, or the punctual execution of the laws in their favour."

3. In the course of 1827, application was made, says Mr. Clarke, "by the driver on the estate, to purchase his two daughters; which was also consented to by the Society, and is about to be carried into effect immediately." If the driver of 1827 be the same man who carried the whip, or other symbol of office, in 1825, he is, by Mr. Coleridge's account, the parent of twelve children. Are the remaining ten to be retained in bondage; and what is the regulation price of redemption? Is it for a Missionary Society to accept the price of blood to promote the education of White men, or any other purpose, however excellent? by what regulation does it come to pass, that a father, who, in 1827, applied for the manumission of his two daughters, is unable to complete the contract before the 7th of May 1828, the date of Mr. Clarke's letter? Is it necessary, on these occasions, to send for the concur◄ rence of the Society in London ?

And

4. "No registry of punishments has ever been kept on the estate," says Mr. Clarke. I make no com ment on this fact. There may have been no cruelty or severity; but as the lashes are unrecorded, this at least is a mere matter of inference, from the good character of the higher agents down to the lowest driver on the estates.

5. In the next place, on the vexata quæstio of the whip, our accuser, S. H. P., in the Christian Remembrancer for January 1828, writes thus: "What are the means taken to enforce labour I know not: that it is not the whip, is certain; for corporal punishment is abolished

F