ment of the man won the regard of all. His plans for | but before he had finished the operation, the razor dropt the spiritual improvement of the place were entered into and carried forward by his attached parishioners, and the effect was soon apparent in the altered aspect of all classes of the people. Vice was repressed, virtue was encouraged, the Sabbath was reverenced, and the sanctuary was thronged with an intelligent and attentive audience. In the course of his regular Sabbath ministrations he preached in 1784 a series of discourses on Sacred Biography, which were first inserted in the Theological Miscellany of that year. Four or five years afterwards, in consequence of the persuasion of many friends, he published them in a separate form under the title of Scripture Characters.'

from his hand, and he sunk back into his chair. He was immediately conducted to bed, and after remaining in a state of almost complete insensibility for eight hours, he entered into his eternal rest, March 24, 1813, in the sixty-fourth year of his age.

In describing the character of this good man we gladly avail ourselves of the admirable delineation of it, given by his eminent fellow-townsman, the Rev. Robert Hall, in a speech delivered at the annual meeting of the Leicester Auxiliary Bible Society, held a few weeks after Mr Robinson's death.

"It is recorded of the great Hannibal, that, when an infant, his father conducted him to an altar, and made him vow eternal hostility to the Roman republic. Our venerable friend, when he first entered Leicester, appears, with an ardour not less intense, to have devoted himself to its interests. From the moment he entered the place, he appears to have relinquished all selfish pursuits, all idea of private gratification, and to have formed that system of conduct from which he never departed, which had the most immediate tendency to meliorate the state of its inhabitants. He became altogether a public character: he meditated, he wrote, he preached, he breathed, only for the public. Rarely, if ever, was there a mind more perfectly purified from every tincture of selfishness or vanity. He made the most extensive sacrifices of his time and of his repose, with a spontaneity and alacrity which implied an almost total oblivion of his existence as an individual.

In the great national questions which agitated the country during his time Mr Robinson took a lively interest. He was a zealous advocate for the abolition of the slave-trade, and used all his influence in furtherance of that important measure. During the commotions of the year 1795 he was nominated chaplain to the Leicester Volunteer Infantry; and two years afterwards he was appointed by the corporation, chaplain to the jail. His exertions for the spiritual interests of the prisoners were crowned with remarkable success. Several instances occurred of hardened criminals, under sentence of death, being to all appearance brought to a saving knowledge of the truth, and some individuals lived to evince the sincerity of their repentance. His labours were now multiplied to such an extent, that he required an assist- Endowed with a capacity for high attainments in science, and distinguished at the university by the ant, and, by the prompt liberality of his friends, a sub-honours assigned to superior merit, he generously description was raised to support one. By this arrangement the duties of his various situations were discharged with a regularity and an efficiency which would otherwise have been inpossible, and he himself was now enabled to advance the interests of religion by means of his labours both in the pulpit and from the press. In 1805 he published a series of discourses thrown into the form of essays, and so arranged as to form a complete body of theology, under the title of The Christian System.' This work, which has attained an extensive eirculation, is an excellent compendium of the doctrines and duties of religion. Another volume from his pen appeared in 1812, intended to illustrate the prophecies relative to the Messiah, from the fall of man to the time of David. His last publications were two single sermons, the one preached at the visitation at Leicester, and the other before the Society for Missions to Africa and the East. From the occasion of preaching this last discourse, which was the spring of 1808, he dated the decline of his health and vigour.

On the Sabbath before his death, Mr Robinson preached three times,-once at the jail and twice at St. Mary's. His evening sermon had a particular reference to the assizes, and was founded on these striking words, "Behold the Judge standeth before the door." The following morning he preached again at the town jail, and visited some of the criminals in the other prison. On the Tuesday evening he preached on his favourite topic of Justification by the Righteousness of Christ. On Wednesday he rose before six, and seemed better than he had been for several days. About seven he transacted business with the secretary of the Auxiliary Bible Society, formed at Leicester, and made preparations for their approaching anniversary. After this he took an early breakfast, and proceeded to shave himself;

clined the pursuit of literary eminence for the sole purpose of doing good. It is but few who are capable of adequately appreciating the magnitude of such a sacrifice. Dr Paley was, certainly, one of those few: and I had it from the lips of our venerable friend, that, in addicting himself to the duties of a parish priest, he had, in the opinion of that great man, chosen the better part; a choice which it is evident Heaven singularly sanctioned and approved. In fixing his system of life, he had unquestionably a view to a future account, and formed his determination on the assured persuasion of his appearing before the judgment-seat of Christ, where distinction than the greatest literary attainments; where the salvation of one soul will cause a more glorious all greatness of a merely intellectual nature will disappear, and nothing endure the scrutiny but active and disinterested virtue.

"In the meantime, how narrow the bounds of his influence, how confined the ascendancy of his character, had he been only the solitary student, instead of being the zealous and exemplary pastor, and the active citizen! On the former supposition, he had inscribed his memorial in books; on the present, he inscribed it on hearts; and instead of his being an object of the admiration of the few, he was the man of the people.

"In separate parts of his character, it were not impossible to find some who equalled, and others who excelled him; but in that rare combination of qualities which fitted him for such extensive usefulness, he stands unrivalled. As a pastor and public instructor, it may be possible to meet with some who have attained the same eminence; as a public man, he may have been equalled ; but where shall we look in modern times for such an example of the union of the highest endowments as a pastor, and preacher, with the qualifications adapted to the functions of civil life? It is this rare union which appears to me to give the character of our venerable friend its decided pre-eminence. It is not necessary to recall to your recollection the talents of Mr Robinson as a public instructor; you have most, if not all of you,

witnessed his public exertions, on that spot where he was accustomed to retain a listening throng hanging upon his lips, awed, penetrated, delighted, and instructed, by his manly, and unaffected eloquence. Who ever heard him, without feeling a persuasion that it was the man of God who addressed him; or without being struck with the perspicuity of his statements, the solidity of his thoughts, and the rich unction of his spirit? It was the harp of David, which, struck by his powerful hands, sent forth more than mortal sounds, and produced an impression far more deep and permanent than the thunder of Demosthenes, or the splendid coruscations of Cicero.

"The hearers of Mr Robinson were too much occupied by the subjects he presented to their attention to waste a thought on the speaker; this occupied a second place in the order of their reflections; but when it did occur, it assumed the character, not of superficial admiration, but of profound attachment. Their feelings towards him were not those of persons gratified, but benefited; and they listened to his instructions not as a source of There amusement, but as a spring of living water. never was a settled pastor, probably, who had formed a juster conception of the true end of preaching, who pursued it more steadily, or attained it to a greater extent. He preached immortal truth with a most extraordinary simplicity, perspicuity, and energy, in a style adapted to all capacities, equally removed from vulgarity and from affected refinement: and the tribute paid to his exertions consisted not in loud applauses; it was of a higher order; it consisted of penitential sighs, holy resolutions, of a determination of the whole soul for God, and such impressions on the spirits of men as will form the line of separation betwixt the happy and the miserable to all eternity.

"In a word, by the manifestation of the truth he commended himself to every man's conscience in the sight of God;' and the success which followed was such as might be expected from such efforts. Through the protracted period of his labours, many thousands who have finished their course with joy, derived from his ministry, there is reason to believe, the principle of

a new life."

The effect of Mr Robinson's labours the same accomplished writer thus eloquently depicts.

"His residence in Leicester forms an epoch in the religious history of this county. From that time must be dated, and to his agency under Providence must be ascribed, a decided improvement in the moral and religious state of this town and its vicinity; an increase of religious light; together with the general diffusion of a taste and relish for the pure word of God. It is only once in an age that an individual is permitted to confer such benefits on the place of his residence, as this ancient and respectable borough derived from the labours of Mr Robinson; and the change which Baxter accomplished at Kidderminster, he effected at Leicester. It was the boast of Augustus, that he found the city of Rome composed of brick, and left it marble. Mr Robinson might say, without arrogance, that he had been the instrument of effecting a far more beneficial and momentous change. He came to this place while it was sunk in vice and irreligion; he left it eminently distinguished by sobriety of manners and the practice of warm, serious and enlightened piety. He added not aqueducts and palaces, nor did he increase the splendour of its public edifices; but he embellished it with undecaying ornaments; he renovated the minds of the people, and turned a large portion of them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God." He embellished it with living stones, and replenished it with numerous temples of the Holy Ghost. He extended its intercourse with heaven, and prepared a numerous class of its inhabitants for the enjoyment of

Of the number of those who will celestial bliss. devoutly acknowledge him as their spiritual father at the day of final audit, that day only can determine. Nor was his usefulness confined to the permanent inhabitants of this place; it was extended to the asylum of the sick, and to the cell of the criminal: the former found in him a physician to the soul, and returned to their homes not only with recruited health, but with renovated minds; and the latter were, in many instances, by penitence, and prayer, prepared for their awful destiny. Of him it may be said, to an extent seldom equalled by a mere mortal, He went about doing good.' When the eye saw him, it gave witness of him; when the ear beard him, it blessed him; for he helped the poor and the fatherless, and delivered them that were ready to perish.' In addition to his numerous avocations, he undertook the weekly instruction of an excellent and extensive school, which was formed in his own parish, under his auspices, to which he imparted the elements of religious knowledge with a tenderness and assiduity which will never be forgotten. "There was scarcely a charitable institution set on foot, or a scheme of benevolence devised, of which be He was truly the did not form the principal spring. centre about which every thing of public utility revolved; while his wisdom guided, his spirit animated, and his character impressed itself on all useful undertakings."

Again adverting to the sudden shock caused by the intelligence of his death, Mr Hall says,—

The

"The loss which the Church of Christ has sustained by the extinction of such a luminary is great; the loss to this populous town and neighbourhood is irreparable. Ages may revolve ere a similar calamity occurs. shepherd is torn from his flock; the spiritual father from his children; the sage counsellor, the patron of the poor and the destitute, and the great example of the power of religion, whose very countenance could not be beheld without tender veneration, is no more. The name of Robinson will long combine with the mention of this place a train of solemn emotions, and the stran ger will indulge a pious curiosity in inspecting the spot where he dwelt, and the church where he exercised his ministry.

event.

"We knew the precarious tenure by which we pos sessed him, in common with all other blessings; we knew he was mortal; but, notwithstanding we received repeated warnings by a succession of attacks, few had sufficient fortitude steadily to realize the approaching When the intelligence was circulated through the town' Mr Robinson is dead!' Mr Robinson is dead!'—it was a thunderclap: it produced a sensation of dismay and astonishment, as though we scarcely be and lieved to be possible what we knew to be certain; such an air of desolation and sorrow was impressed upon the countenance of the inhabitants, that a stranger must have perceived they had sustained no ordinary calamity. It was such as no event could have produced, but the removal of a saint and a prophet. Whoever wishes to learn how much piety dignifies a character, how much sainted worth, in its power over the heart, preponderates over every other species of eminence, let him turn to this scene, and compare the tears of a populous neigh bourhood with the unmeaning decorations of funereal grandeur. None spoke of his virtues, none was eloquent in his praise; every heart was oppressed with a sense of its loss."

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faction which the universal Judge necessarily demands for the redemption of transgressors.

without a remuneration; but a government cannot with safety and propriety act upon this principle. A government formed for regulating the interests of a city, a kingdom, or a world, must be conducted in conformity to certain laws, and enforced by appropriate sanctions. If, notwithstanding the restrictions of law and the authority of the legislator, disobedience ensues, then not only is the majesty of the governor insulted, but the interests of the governed are assailed, and the injurious effects universally felt. In that case punishment must be made to bear upon the offenders; and none but those who would charge the Almighty with imbecility or want of wisdom could ever insinuate that he looks upon wilful error and crime with an indulgent eye. On the

Upon the first of these propositions, I remark, that the state and condition of men render the necessity of a propitiatory sacrifice perfectly apparent. Need any apology be offered for affirming that, in the eye of Omniscient purity, the condition of every descendant of Adam exhibits the most loathing spectacle, that the inherent principles of man's nature tend to the practice of all vice, as well as to resist the dictates of all virtuous feeling? This sweeping allegation rests upon proof somewhat stronger than mere presumptive evidence; for, beyond dispute, the moment that he utters language, or performs actions for which he can be reasonably viewed as responsible, these partake of a character entirely sub-contrary, upholding the honours of the Eternal's versive of God's law; and the repetition of the sinner's doings amounts to a demonstration of positive dislike to the salutary restraints of Heaven's authority. Yes, and in the great mass of cases it may be asserted, without fear of contradiction, that man's sinful conduct proceeds, not from inadvertency, or from the violence of temptation, but from impure motives and wilful disobedience of that commandment which is holy, just, and good. The Almighty Father, who promises the redemption, and the Saviour that furnishes the ransom, evidently understand the character of the captives for whose deliverance provision has been made, as holding out these lineaments of deep-stained degeneracy, inasmuch as they have authorised an apostle to record the following words," They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh," The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be,”—and "There is none which doeth good, no, not one." In consequence of which, the whole human family, without one single exception, lie under the sentence of God's heaviest wrath! Let the provision prepared by infinite wisdom for the happiness of this world's alienated children consist, then, in what it may, the redemption must have respect to them, as unholy, guilty, and depraved; and can you conceive it probable, or even possible, that a Being of unbending rectitude would communicate goodness in a way derogatory of his majesty and immaculate purity? Dare you affirm that, with impunity, God's holiness may be insulted, his justice contemned, and his power defied? Every pious mind must at once and for ever shrink from the heavendaring thought; he will instantly meet with irresistible argument such impious assertions, he will, in the face of all opposition, fearlessly vindicate the necessity of an atonement, in order to the full, the free, and the honourable communication of divine bounty to a world groaning under the burden of corruption.

The method, besides, of managing the affairs of a government must, from the very nature of the case, be different from the course pursued in regard to the rights of an individual. Any person in his individual character may discharge a debt

throne, as well as the integrity of his character, maintain you must the necessity of every sin meeting with corresponding retribution in the person of the transgressor, or that a sufficient propitiation be rendered by another to the Supreme Judge for the violation of his righteous law. To assert that God pardons transgression without regard to an atonement, as well as without regard to the law's sanctions, does fearfully detract from the evil of sin; it affords positive encouragement to the most unbounded licentiousness, and, without controversy, represents the God of heaven and earth extending mercy to his rebellious subjects, while he offers no protection whatever to the interests of his universal domi nions. And what would the unfallen portion of creation think, what security could they possibly feel, when they saw the pillars of Jehovah's throne thus beginning to totter, when they beheld the outraged rights of heaven's government totally neglected, and when, in a word, they stood aghast at the flood-gates of irreverence against the Sovereign of the universe thereby unlocked? Surely, surely if all these evils, and ten thousand more, necessarily follow the dispensation of mercy to the inhabitants of this sinful world without regard to the rights of the divine administration, none will maintain that this can be consistent with the ways of God.

The necessity of a propitiatory sacrifice for sin may be further argued from the urgent consideration that the divine character must be fitted to command the respect and to secure the esteem of the subjects of legitimate government. Did not the commander of an army possess valour, and skill, and other military accomplishments beftting the lofty purposes of just and reasonable war, he could not long maintain the authority indispensably requisite in his arduous station. Nor could the reigning prince of any country preserve the subordination, uphold the peace, and continue the prosperity of his subjects, unless his wisdom, firmness, and judicious arrangements corresponded in some degree with the magnitude, variety, and even conflicting interests of the many under his control. In like manner, He who presides over the destinies of the universe must exhibit a char

acter fitted to attract the admiration, and to con- | of old, or like Judas in more modern times, wilful centrate in himself the affections, of the vast transgression blotted their characters, and the most assemblages of his intelligent and moral subjects. heaven-daring crimes, staining their outward conAround His throne must appear the splendour duct, proved the lurking enmity of their hearts. of moral beauty; rest it must upon the massy No; "God so loved the world, that he gave his columns of justice, righteousness, and truth; and only begotten Son, that whosoever believed in adorned also will it of necessity be, with holiness him" might obtain, in a manner consistent with in its fullest manifestations and glory. Removed the principles of good rule in the universe, the from his government must be all tyranny, caprice, blessings of pardon, peace, and eternal life,-not and partiality; connected with his retinue must in a way to disturb the harmony, mar the beauty, be something more substantial than the mere and interrupt the delightful contemplations of glare of gilded trappings, extended pageantry, and other orders of being, who people worlds altounmeaning ceremony; and emblazoned with the gether apart from the planet which we inhabit. attributes of all perfection and all excellence must God so loved the world, in short, that he gave his His crown be, who claims the homage, loyalty, only begotten Son, not to lavish benefits upon and affectionate obedience of angels and of men. some, for the purpose of gratifying their selfish, Admit the awful glories of the cross, wherein the sordid, and sinful passions, at the expense of the burning holiness, as well as the unmerited love of safety, tranquillity, and happiness of other men, Jehovah appears; wherein the overwhelming gran- belonging to different classes and in different condeur of the law's sanctions stands forth to the ditions of life. But he spared not his only beeye of the impartial beholder; and wherein the gotten Son from suffering and death, in order that salvation of the sinner, associated with God's he might be just when he justified him who beunmingled hatred of sin, forcibly addresses the lieveth in Jesus,-in order that this world, in mind, admit, I say, these awful realities to form accordance with the general interests of the uniessential ingredients in the plan of man's redemp- verse, might become a paradise of delights,-in tion, then it must follow that a plea has been order that he might give showers of blessings righteously established, by which the Almighty upon the most guilty, the most polluted, and the becomes justly entitled to the admiration, praise, most miserable, in a way by which he might defy and hallelujahs of the universe,-admiration and the tongue of malice to calumniate his moral adpraise which none can possibly withhold, except ministration, while upon the best grounds he such as are devoid of understanding, or as are might demand and secure the cheerful obedience sunk in the depths of moral degradation. Let of ALL his creatures. me hope that the reader perceives the grandeur of the subject, and gratefully acknowledges the justice of the Redeemer's claims to his most fervent love, and his never-ceasing obedience.

For the vindication of the Almighty's character and government, I cannot withhold one other statement confirmatory of the necessity of an atonement. Remember the adjustment of the question at issue comprises the salvation of a world. Most true it is, that all men will not be saved by the propitiatory sacrifice of Jesus Christ, because many in the world choose to despise the Son of God and to reject his great salvation. But it is not less true that God loves the world, and that Christ's commission does not exclude any portion of the world's inhabitants, and that, consequently, all nations and all generations of men, hearing the Gospel and believing it, would assuredly be exempted from the wrath to come. The language of inspiration upon this subject runs thus: "God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through hin might be saved." The mission of God's Son has respect, then, to the salvation of the world,-not to confer blessedness upon a part of mankind, distinct from the interests of the whole; not to bestow upon a few flagrant criminals signal marks of favour, in a way which would loosen the reins of egitimate government, and thereby encourage rebellion among the many; not to grant distinctions of honourable rank to individuals, or to classes, or to persons of various ages, while, like Pharaoh

have

By this view of God's love to mankind, in consideration of Christ's meritorious obedience, you have a consistent and generous exhibition of the divine nature,-you have blessings emanating from the Deity, at the same time that you the interests of all parties fully and permanently protected. Deny this fundamental article of Christianity, or what amounts to the same thing, consider God's favour to the world as implying the extension of pardon to all men, whether they believe in the Lord Jesus or not, and you at once represent Jehovah trampling upon the principles of righteousness, uprooting all the security which good government imparts, and blending in one mass of confusion the affairs of the virtuous and the vicious. To such an alternative, however, as this, I trust the reader is not prepared to subscribe. On the contrary, may I not confidently hope that, in the redemption of the world, in consequence of the ransom given by the Almighty Redeemer, while he bore our sins in his own body upon the tree, he perceives the richest manifestations of divine goodness to this guilty world. Let him, then, continue to offer unfeigned adorations, to cherish the most profound admiration, and to exemplify the most dutiful obedience to Him who first loved the guilty children of men. him devote every energy of his soul to the service and glory of his redeeming God, and constrained by a feeling of holy gratitude and love, let it be his ardent anxiety to evince, by his whole character and conduct, that he views himself as

Let