was that of an eminent Christian. Submission to the divine will, reliance on the power and grace of the Redeemer, and the hope of the heavenly glory, all shone forth with conspicuous lustre. His last words were those of the psalmist," thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterwards receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee: my flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever." He expired on Saturday the eleventh of June, 1796, in the seventythird year of his age.

Were there a score of Samuel Brewers to fill the London pulpits as they become vacant, and had the members wisdom given them to choose such men, it would be the greatest blessing which God could bestow upon the independent congregations in the metropolis.

ISAAC TOMS.

He was born in London on the twenty-second of August, 1710, and had the happiness to descend from a line of ancestors eminent for their piety and their sufferings in the cause of Christ. The first part of his classical education he received at Duckenfield, near Manchester; and at the same time, what was infinitely better, deep impressions of religion which continued to his dying day. In his thirteenth year he returned to London, and was four years at St. Paul's school.

His father designed him for trade, but the son's inclination led him to study. In his seventeenth

year, his fervent piety and skill in the learned languages recommended him to the office of chaplain and private tutor in the family of Sir Daniel Dolins, at Hackney. It was here a considerable part of his employment to promote the improvement of his son, whose organs of vision were so defective that it depended on Mr. Toms' reading and conversation, Much time was daily spent in these exercises, and directed to the most important subjects; for he was anxious to make Mr. Dolins, who was an amiable and pious youth, intimately acquainted with the princi ples and evidences of natural and revealed religion, that he might be fortified against the snares of infidelity, to which, from his exalted station he might be exposed in future life. These studies, while they improved the pupil, were no less beneficial to the

tutor.

Soon after Mr. Toms came into this situation, hẻ entered on a course of theological studies under the tuition of Dr. Ridgley and Mr. Eames; and he afterwards preached in the congregations of the metropolis and its vicinity with acceptance.

At this period of his life Mr. Toms may be justly

hailed with veneration as the precursor of the Tract Society, for he composed and printed a variety of useful tracts, which he endeavoured to distribute, Five of them were afterwards adopted by the society for propagating religious knowledge among the poor; and many thousands of these dispersed through the world.

In this situation he continued nearly sixteen years, The office of chaplain was then by no means uncom mon among the most opulent dissenters, and students and younger ministers were usually called to fill it

Whether it was favonrable to their future character as pastors of congregations, may be doubted. They saw the great world, but it was a world with which in their future connection they were to have little intercourse or concern. If it improved their manners, there was no small danger that more than was gained by the gentleman, was lost by the minister. If a fondness for high living and genteel company became a fixed habit in consequence of their residence with the great, it proved injurious to the future pastor of a dissenting congregation, who, if he would be faithful and successful, must mingle chiefly with humbler classes of mankind. Ministers of the present day have lost nothing by the office of chaplain falling into disuse, whatever the families themselves may lose. But if some have sustained injury in such situations, Mr. Toms appears to have escaped unhurt. Possessing the spirit of a zealous disciple of Christ, he was anxious to be employed in a more extensive sphere of usefulness. A valuable living was pressed on him by a man of rank, with whom he became acquainted at sir Daniel's table; but we give no great praise to virtue in refusing the offer, fot it is what every man of integrity with his principles would do. The plea which has been alleged of a more extensive field of usefulness is not valid; for every dissenting minister, if he finds his field of labour too confined, may extend its boundaries: of this Mr. Toms' future exertions furnish a fair example.

An invitation from a congregation at Hadleigh, in Suffolk, met with his acceptance, though the salary was but thirty pounds a year; and he settled there in 1743. He was now the country minister, intent on doing good in every way that his situation would.

allow, or his heart could devise. Besides the services in his own place of worship, he established lectures in the neighbouring villages, and schools in which the children of the poor were taught to read; and they were catechised by him at stated seasons. His affection for the young was exceedingly great, and he was peculiarly concerned for their salvation. In dispensing the ordinance of baptism, he showed the tenderest regard for the child, and his whole heart flowed forth in his earnest exhortation to the parents to train

it

up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. He is said never to have engaged in the service without previously devoting some time in prayer both for the parents and the child. In the choice of subjects for the pulpit, it was his invariable practice to ask counsel from God; and when remarkable events occurred, he constantly endeavoured to convey by them instruction to his flock.

To exemplary activity in the work of the ministry, Mr. Toms united the most amiable conduct in private life. The natural irritability of his temper he subdued by imposing silence on himself in seasons of provocation, till he had read over the passages in the Old and New Testament relating to the subject, which he kept always by him for the purpose, in the original tongues. In the discharge of domestic duties he was truly a pattern, and scarcely could more perfect harmony and tender affection subsist than between him and Mrs. Toms, who was the daughter of the Rev. Samuel Say, of Westminster, and was the partner of his days from the time of his settlement at Hadleigh, till the year preceding his death.

For two and forty years he laboured as a good minister of Christ; but, in 1785, he felt old age

ereeping upon him, and inability to perform the whole service of the Sabbath. From that time till 1798, resigning the morning service to another, he preached regularly in the afternoon; but at the close of that year, he was constrained to bid adieu to the pulpit, a station so dear to his soul, and from which. he had so long proclaimed the words of eternal life. Still he was carried to the house of God to join with his flock as a private worshipper; and when he could say no more, he used to dismiss the assembly with the apostolical benediction." The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all." Increasing infirmities obliged him on the second of November, 1800, to bid his last farewell to the place of public worship; and from that time he was confined to his house.

Soon after he felt himself unable to go up stairs to his study. Of that hallowed retreat, where he had for more than fifty years enjoyed communion with God in prayer, and laid up treasures of divine knowledge in the mind with so much pleasure as a student, a minister, and a Christian, he is now compelled to take a final leave. In the pain of such a separation, those who love their studies as they ought, can sympathise. Obliged at last to leave the parlour too, and confine himself to his apartment, he said, "I perceive that I am gently slipping into eternity;" and under the pressure of weakness which was daily becoming greater, he used to express himself thus; "O to be humble, to be patient, to be thankful, to be increasing in grace, to be fitting for glory, to prize the great salvation more and more." Being visited by a neighbouring minister, who spoke to him of the great reward laid up for him in heaven, he replied, "sir, if ever I arrive at the world of blessedness, I shall shout, grace, grace!" So long as he was, capable