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this change affects the moral standing of individuals in relation to a future state. Such an inquiry would be foreign from our subject. But it is manifest that contemplation cannot present so many different phases and such. a variety of phenomena as action; and that this change must therefore render the outward manifestations of religious influence more obvious, and thus tend to give to that influence a more distinct impress upon national character. Again, religious belief is exerting more and more influence on public opinion. This is a natural, and almost a necessary result of the increase of religious activity. Religious views and sentiments, being daily and hourly brought into contact with the public mind in one way or another, can act with greater efficiency in forming and molding public opinion, and, of course, in giving distinctive traits to national character. The peculiarities of sentiment and feeling which mark different religious denominations, are becoming better understood and more fully appreciated; and this, in connection with the practical tendencies of the present age, aids in producing the same result. Thus, instead of one uniform shade, or at most a few variations in tinge at distant intervals, as was the case three or four centuries ago, the colors are now wrought into each other with a variety, a minuteness, and a nicety that give opportunity for the most faithful research and most careful analysis in tracing their mutual relations and influences. We would by no means charge Mr. Borrow with having wholly neglected this topic. But, considering the cause in which he was engaged, and the various classes of society with which he became acquainted in Spain, we cannot help feeling that a greater degree of attention to it, a fuller delineation of the different phases of religious sentiment with their bearing on national character, would not only have rendered the work more interesting, but would have given it a general tone and aspect better corresponding with the expectations which its title would naturally excite.

But we fear that our readers will think that we are exemplifying Pollock's description of the critic's art as consisting in saying that

"Whate'er was done might have been better done."

We will therefore say, in conclusion, that we have been much interested in the perusal of this work, and that, although it is not without defects, it gives us much valuable information, presents us with many interesting pictures drawn from real life, and may be read with pleasure and profit.

ARTICLE VI.

R. A. C.

MEMOIR OF REV. J. H. LINSLEY.

Memoir of the Rev. James H. Linsley, A. M. Hartford. Robins & Smith. 1845. pp. 178.

IT is a sacred and pleasing task to delineate the lives and characters of the pious dead. This is especially true, when the individuals whom we contemplate have been eminent in their devotion to the cause of Christian truth. We seem to commune with their pure and lovely spirits; and, with the remembrance of their virtues, lingering in the impression which they have made upon the world, there is associated a reverential interest in their persons and worth. We go with them along the chequered paths of their experience, and partake of their joys and sorrows; and, as we witness the triumphs of divine grace in the human heart, and observe the effect of its benign and healthful influence without, we feel an earnest desire to emulate their deeds of benevolence; we have stronger aspirations for that conscious delight and freedom of soul which attend the self-denying, yet joyful performance of the duties of a Christian life. As we attempt to portray, for the public eye, the mental and moral features and the consecrated labors of those who have been honorably discharged from their work on earth, we feel as if their purified spirits were hovering near, ready to detect and reprove, should we color falsely or give undue praise.

It is not our design, in the following pages, to present a critical examination of the unpretending volume, whose title we have placed at the head of this article. It was not written for the inspection of the critic's eager eye, nor framed to withstand the thrusts of his whetted knife. It is understood to be a tribute of filial affection, offered at the shrine of piety; and the writer's simple desire was to present, in its true light, the Christian character of one deeply beloved and widely honored, and in such a form that, with the blessing of God, it might conduce to the spiritual good of others. The authoress has well performed her task; and we are confident that whoever peruses this faithful transcript of a noble mind and a devoted heart, will be instructed and made better. We think, however, the book might have been rendered more convenient for reading, if the writer had divided it into chapters, instead of preserving an unbroken continuation throughout the whole narrative. A large portion of the Memoir is compiled from the private journal and letters of its subject. From the materials which the volume furnishes, it is our purpose to give a brief account of the life and labors of the lamented servant of God whose character it sets forth. It is a duty we owe to ourselves and to those who may succeed us, as well as to the memory of the departed, to record and preserve the names of the distinguished defenders of our holy faith.

JAMES HARVEY LINSLEY was born at Northford, New Haven county, Connecticut, May 5, 1787. He was the eldest of ten children. His father was a farmer, and to this pursuit his own early years were devoted. Nothing of remarkable interest characterized his childhood and youth, except that he was observed to possess uncommon mental and physical activity. The apparent ease with which he acquired and retained the knowledge furnished by his school-books, placed him in advance of his young contemporaries, and attracted the notice of many in the village where he lived. His genius was not of the meteor kind, flashing brilliantly for a moment, to expire in darkness; but it possessed the solid and enduring elements of patient, persevering toil. In all his pursuits, in the school-room or on the farm, he exhibited the same invincible energy of character. It was this that bore him triumphantly along, and enabled him to surmount every

obstacle that lay in his path. His unusual activity, industry and perseverance were the grand secret of his success in accomplishing whatever he had resolved to perform. It was easy therefore to predict, from the early development of his mental powers, that, with the blessing of Providence, he would attain to eminence in subsequent life. While yet a youth, he was often engaged, during the winter, as an instructer in the schools of some of the neighboring parishes; and in this employment, for which he was peculiarly adapted, he was very successful and popular.

His parents were members of the Baptist church in North Haven. They failed not to instruct their offspring in the elementary principles and duties of the Christian religion. The deep anxiety of a devoted mother for hist spiritual welfare, is evinced by his frequent allusions to it after he had arrived to manhood. He observed that from early childhood, "a pious mother often exhorted me to repentance, and as frequently declared the absolute necessity of a change of heart in order to be happy hereafter." Though no apparent immediate results were discerned by that endeared and watchful parent, yet the good seed which she had sown in tears and prayers was destined to produce a rich and joyful harvest. It was doubtless already exerting a silent influence upon the secret springs of that young and ardent mind; and, like the effects of a vernal sun, scarcely perceived at first, it was slowly but surely preparing the heart for the fragrant blossoms and precious fruits which it bore in mature life. It might have had a present tendency in giving direction to the incipient developments of that filial character and conduct for which young Linsley was remarkable. His deportment towards his parents was, in more than an an ordinary sense, that of an obedient and affectionate. son. As an evidence of this, when he himself had become the head of a family, his father, on making him a visit, observed,-"I have no recollection, Harvey, that, from your birth to the present hour, you ever uttered to me a single disrespectful word."

The history of Mr. Linsley's religious exercises, resulting in his conversion, possesses a peculiar interest. It is given in his own words in the Memoir, and occupies a considerable number of pages. Rare, indeed, is it that an

individual's Christian experience is so marked and striking; or that the transition of the human mind from its opposition to the divine will to a filial obedience, gives such decisive evidence both of the soul's regeneration and of the necessity of regeneration. No mention is made of his having been seriously impressed till he was fourteen years of age. "At that time," he remarks, "a deep impression was made on my mind, which lasted for some months, but eventually terminated without any radical change." At the age of twenty-two, he accompanied an uncle on business to the south. He had occasionally used irreverent language in respect to the Deity, and now that evil habit was increasing upon him. He would never allow himself, however, to profane the sacred name of Jesus. He felt that if he should ever become so depraved as to commit such a sin, it would be his duty to repent at once and be a Christian. But after the lapse of a few days, and in an unguarded moment, he was left to do that which he had looked upon as a most daring act of impiety. Aroused by a consciousness of guilt in having wickedly profaned the name of Jesus, he exclaimed, “Now I must repent; but am I ready?" To perform this duty he was totally unprepared; and he found in his own sad experience, the evil of procrastination, even though a day be specified for future repentance. On the evening of February 11, 1810, while at Charlestown, Virginia, he was attacked with an alarming illness; and at about the same time, he was more than ever awakened to a sense of his spiritual condition. "God in his mercy," he observes, "sent an arrow of conviction to my heart, and it was fastened by the master of assemblies,' like a nail in a sure place. I was now in a land of strangers; entertained little or no prospect of recovery; looked forward to eternity without a shadow of hope; my sins stared me in the face; eternal banishment from the presence of God was to be my doom, and that soon. I entreated my uncle to request some clergyman to pray with me; but he was an avowed Universalist, and ashamed to comply. I requested a Bible, but he presumed none could be found in the house. I broke into tears of sorrow, as one soon to perish, and no relief from God, angels or men, could I obtain. My distress of mind was so extreme as to keep

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