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involved in the serious consideration of what his duty was in the case. He was accustomed to speak of his public exercises, not as preaching but as exhorting. He did so in his communications with Mr. Newton, whose counsel he sought in this most important step of his life. The answer he received from this estimable man is too characteristic to be omitted.

I know not how you draw the line, in your country, between preaching and exhorting. If I speak when the door is open to all comers, I call it preaching; for to preach is to speak publicly. Speaking upon a text, or without one, makes no difference; at least, I think not.

I am no advocate for self-sent preachers at large; but when men whose character and abilities are approved by competent judges; whose motives are known to be pure, and whose labors are excited by the exigency of the occasion, lay themselves out to instruct the ignorant and rouse the careless; I think they deserve thanks and encouragement, instead of reprehension, if they step a little over the bounds of church order. If I had lived in Scotland, my ministry, I suppose, would have been in the Kirk, or the Relief, or the Secession; and if Dr. Erskine had been born and bred among us, and regarded according to his merit, he might perhaps have been archbishop of Canterbury long ago. Much of our differences of opinion on this head may, perhaps, be ascribed to the air we breathed and the milk we drank in infancy. Thus I have given you my free opinion upon your knotty point. I leave others to dispute whether the husk or the shell of the nut be the better of the two. I hope to be content with the kernel. But whilst you have a secular calling, it is your duty to be active and accurate in it. Self likes to be employed in great matters-grace teaches us to do small and common things in a great spirit. When you are engaged in business in a right frame of mind, you are no less serving the Lord than when you are praying, exhorting, or hearing.'

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-pp. 265, 266.

Convinced at length that it became him to devote himself wholly to the work of the sanctuary, he removed to Glasgow in order to avail himself of Mr. Ewing's instructions, preparatory to a more formal entrance on the sacred calling. He carried with him to the west of Scotland the same habits of active zeal by which he had been distinguished in Edinburgh; instead of confining himself to the dry routine of a student's life, he was perpetually employed in devising schemes of usefulness, which he carried out with an energy and perseverance that secured distinguished success. In connexion with his various labors at Glasgow, we have the following interesting account of a remarkable work of God, among a class of men who at that time were generally neglected by the christian church.

I remember a young woman calling on me, that I might answer a letter her mother had just received from her son.

At the time of

my father's death,' said she, my brother was a very thoughtless young man-instead of helping her, he sold every thing he could lay his hands on; after which, he left us, and became a sailor; he tells us, that afterwards he was pressed, and put on board the Barfleur, of ninetyeight guns; that some society had furnished him and others with a copy of the Scriptures, which he had carefully read, and had thereby been brought to a conviction of the sinfulness of his past conduct, and repentance for it; that he had besought, and hoped he had obtained God's forgiveness, but he could not have peace till he had obtained his mother's also, for the great wrongs he had done her; he also solicited her advice.' It was that I might fulfil this last request that she brought his letter to me. I wrote a letter containing the best counsels I could offer, and sent it off to him, on board the Barfleur, at that time lying in Cawsand Bay. In about a fortnight I received a letter from eight sailors, including himself, who had all been affected in the same way, by reading the word of God, and who often met together for reading and prayer; and they requested I should write a letter addressed to them all, as a united band, which I soon did, and sent off; but as the fleet had sailed on a cruise off the coast of France, I heard no more from them for perhaps three months, when a letter did come from twenty-four sailors, to which number the little band had increased during the interval; and these expressed a desire that I should address a general letter to the whole; and if there was any particular book I would wish them to have, that I would mention it in the letter. They also informed me that a similar work had taken place on board the Thunderer, and the Terrible of seventy-four guns. I did address a letter to twenty-four, and said, that if the fleet should happen to put into Portsmouth, if any of them would call on the Rev. Dr. Bogue, with my compliments, he would most readily do what he could for them, and knew of none more capable of giving advice.

The peace with France, in 1802, took place a short time after sending off this, and a great part of the navy was paid off, and the seamen scattered in every direction; and I left Glasgow, so I never heard any more of the fruits of that charming display of the grace of God towards those poor sailors.'-pp. 273, 274.

His settlement at Kingsland, in 1803, was remarkably illustrative of the silent manner by which the Great Head of the church accomplishes his designs, in preparing the way for the more extended labors and greater usefulness of his servants. The station had no secular attractions, but it brought him into intimate contact with the religious institutions of the day, and opened the way for his subsequent visits to Africa, by which his name is become so thoroughly identified with one of the most interesting fields of modern missions. We need not dwell on this part of Mr. Campbell's life, as it is the one with which our readers are most familiar. He lived in perpetual activity,-an activity which was the very opposite of idle restlessness, for it resulted in his case from the entire consecration of his mind to

the paramount interests of religion and eternity. He was always active because he was supremely bent on doing goodbecause he combined with the utmost suavity and tenderness of spirit an entire self-forgetfulness and a hearty appreciation of the value of immortal souls.

His biographer has done wisely in including in the present volume a somewhat extended account of his missionary tours in Africa. These were the great events of his life, for which his other labors were but preparatory, and by which his name will be handed down to posterity as an agent of extensive usefulness to the church and to the world. We are glad also to find Mr. Philip speaking in such terms of warm-hearted and well merited eulogy of Dr. Philip,-one of those remarkable men whom God in his infinite goodness occasionally raises up to enlighten and bless their species. The few opportunites we have had of personal intercourse with Dr. Philip have left upon our minds an impression which we shall never lose-an impression which deepens with our advancing years, and becomes somewhat painful, as the passage of time reminds us of the approach of that period when his divine Master shall call him from the scene of his labors to the enjoyment of his eternal reward.

His hopes of a successful enterprise were much sustained by his confidence in the talents and discretion of Dr. Philip. It was to him a matter of wonder, as well as of delight and gratitude, that the doctor had consecrated himself to Africa; for Mr. Campbell knew and appreciated his influence in Aberdeen, and throughout the north of Scotland. Indeed, those who knew that influence best, wondered most. Some of Dr. Philip's intimate friends, however, knew the cast of his mind and the aspirations of his heart too well to believe that his object was bounded by any thing that lay upon the surface of his mission, or that the office of superintendent had swayed him at all. They did not venture to conjecture what his ultimate object was, nor are they yet sure that he has gained it all, much as his philosophy and philanthropy have won for Africa. The man who could achieve so much, certainly intended far more, and anticipated not a little of the result whilst deliberating upon the experiment. I do not pretend to any knowledge-I possess none-of the process by which he made up his mind to quit the most influential position which the north of Scotland could give to a minister; nor of the calculations he made, or the visions of glory he indulged for Africa; but having grown up from childhood under his paternal eye, and never spending a day uninfluenced by his maxims and example, I have never been surprised at either his choice or his achievements, although often alternately amused and grieved at the interpretations which some men put upon them. None know him so little as those who imagine that he would have gone to Africa, or any where else, in order to be a sort of bishop,' or merely to superintend missionaries. This is the last thing in the world he would submit to, in the sense in which these words have been

applied to his spirit. He would, indeed, wash the feet of any devoted missionary; but he would no more condescend to be his master, than he would succumb to a passionate, or humour a capricious man. Accordingly no man has ever raised his own character, either for wisdom or independence, by railing at Dr. Philip's sway, or by arraigning his policy. That sway saved the missions which Vanderkemp and Campbell planted, and that policy annihilated slavery in the colony; results which would have been defeated, had not the philanthropist braved alike the frowns of power and the freaks of passion.'—pp. 513, 514.

There was nothing remarkable in the latter part of Mr. Campbell's life; it was devoted to the unostentatious and quiet discharge of his pastoral duties, and does not, therefore, furnish materials for, neither does it require at our hands, any extended notice. The history of the last twenty years of his life,' Mr. Philip remarks, apart from his letters, would only be the picture of any other minister in London, who combines pastoral 'duty with the claims of our public societies.' He declined the request of the directors of the London Mission to visit their stations in the South Seas, though he readily employed a considerable portion of his time in the advocacy of their institution in various parts of the country. He enjoyed remarkably good health until nearly seventy years of age, at which period a serious illness befell him, which alarmed his friends. Rest and change of air happily restored him to the church for a season, but his days were evidently numbered, and were drawing towards their close. He resumed his ministerial labors, but it was with diminished strength, and with less confidence in his own physical capabilities. Still his vivacity was not impaired, and his spirituality was, if possible, improved. If there was ' now less energy in his sermons and prayers, there was more 'unction, or rather, a new kind of unction. He had always been spiritually-minded, beyond most men; but now he was heavenly'minded. Heaven and Africa were, alternately, the dwelling 'place of his spirit.' For some months prior to his decease, which occurred April 4th, 1840, his health evidently declined, without however assuming any alarming appearance until within a very few weeks of that event. The following account of his last illness, from the pen of his colleague and successor, presents just such a view of the state of his mind as the tenor of his life would have led us to anticipate.

On Thursday, March 12th, he felt very ill, and wrote for advice to his medical friend, Dr. Conquest, who kindly and promptly attended to his request. He rallied a little before Sunday, and, although much pressed to remain at home, he attended public worship in the morning, fearing, he said, 'lest his flock should be alarmed about him.' service was the last at which he was present.

That

The following week his debility again returned, and gradually increased; and I believe he had then a kind of presentiment that he would not recover. I enjoyed many conversations with him during his illness, and noted down some of his expressions as he gave them utterance. They were indicative of extreme self-abasement, and humble reliance on the Saviour of sinners.

I told him his people prayed very earnestly and affectionately for him. The tears came into his eyes, and he said, 'Oh, sir! I need it; I need it! I'm a poor creature.' He said his mind was much harassed by Satan, who told him he had not done half what he ought for his Master; and when I said, ' Depend upon it, sir, he would have been very glad if you had not done half what you have,' he replied, Ah! but I have not done what I could.' Such were the low views he entertained of his labors in the service of Christ. This harassment, however, which in a great measure was attributable to his infirm state of body, speedily ceased.

'On one occasion, speaking of the preciousness of the Saviour, he said, 'Oh! I love to be near the blood of sprinkling;' and talked in an animated manner of the happiness drawn from the consideration of the unchangeableness of Christ. All I want,' said he, after we had been speaking of the Saviour's atonement, is to feel my arm round the cross.' I told him I doubted not it was, and asked him if his heart was not there. He smiled, and said, 'Yes.' I told him then, that I believed his arm was too, although a little benumbed with grasping hard. He smiled again, and then spoke of the wonderful love of God in saving sinners by such a sacrifice as that of his Son.

On Wednesday, April 1st, he took to his bed; and on my saying to him, when I visited him, that I hoped he was happy, he turned to me, and said, • The debt is all paid; the sufferings of Christ have discharged it, and therefore I am free, and have peace with God.' From this time not a cloud obscured his mind. He steadily declined towards the grave, but nothing hung around his setting sun, or cast a shadow upon his hopes for the future.'-pp. 585, 586.

So calm and peaceful was the close of this good man's life; and we could well dwell upon the scene had we not already exceeded our limits. The claims of other subjects compel us briefly to dismiss the present, which we do with an expression of our most sincere and unsectarian admiration of the many virtues which constituted the character of Mr. Campbell. We love to dwell on the records of such a man. They serve to remind us that we are not all selfish and earthly,-that there is yet a grace and loveliness attaching to our nature, when that nature is renewed and sanctified by the Divine Spirit. Mr. Campbell's character was a beautiful compound of the simplicity of childhood with the enlarged philanthropy and holy bearing of christian devotedness.

Of the manner in which Mr. Philip has performed his task we must speak in terms of high commendation. He has produced

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