of an officer in the neighbourhood. His "Young Cottager" was one of his Sunday-school children at Brading, and the first fruits of his ministry in that parish. As we shall have occasion to allude to these publications in another part of the memoir, we shall restrict ourselves to this brief allusion to incidents in the relation of which the author has excited so much interest; and in which the charms of style and beautiful representations of nature are blended with the faithful narrative of facts, and the whole made subservient to the advancement of the cause of scriptural truth.

Having described him as thus engaged in his ministerial duties, we shall here introduce a letter addressed to his friend, the Rev. Mr. Texpressive of his views and sentiments, within the period just mentioned.

"My reading in divinity has been considerable since we last parted. The more I attend to the sacred writings, and to the sentiments of the most pious and unprejudiced authors, the more deeply sensible do I feel of the unspeakable importance of religious attainments, both in knowledge, faith, and practice. I am, at the same time, unavoidably led to see how very, very deficiently the Christian scheme is apprehended by the great body of the laity, and preached in many of our pulpits. The force of that admirable charge of Bishop Horsley, 1791, is strongly impressed upon my mind, and fully confirms

these sentiments,' which a diligent perusal of the Bible, of the primitive Fathers, and of the Reformers, had previously excited.

"It is curious to see with what undisguised simplicity and plainness, many of the doctrines which are now reprobated as enthusiastical, methodistical, and puritanical, are, in one and all of these old writers, asserted and maintained. The plain literal sense of our Church Articles, are by them made the foundation of every discourse, and of every scriptural exposition; and practical faith in the Holy Trinity is the first, the middle, and the last end, object, and aim of all they said, all they wrote, and all they thought. It may be answered, that modern divines admit the truth of these things also; but if they do, they explain the doctrines almost entirely away, and what is principally to be lamented, they do not make them the ground of their sermons. It is nevertheless, a very gratifying circumstance that so many clergymen and laymen have of late adopted an opposite way of preaching and thinking. As my valuable friend and correspondent Mr. says in a late letter to me however thinly, comparatively speaking, they are sprinkled over the bosom

1 Bishop Horsley had asserted, in the above charge, that there was a grievous departure, at that period, from the sound doctrines of the Reformation. See also a similar charge, published about the same time, by the Bishop of Durham.

of the Church, yet I trust that the maintainers of the good old principles of the Reformation are daily gaining ground; and that at this time sound doctrine is oftener preached in many of our parish Churches, than has been the case since the days of Archbishop Laud.'"

In the year 1801, Mr. Richmond was invited to preach the annual Sermon in the Abbey Church at Bath, on the subject of cruelty to the brute creation, in conformity with the will of the Rev. Henry Brindley. It is to this circumstance that the following letter alludes.

My dearest Mother,

Brading, March 26, 1801.

"It gives me real and unspeakable gratification that any thing you observe in me should give you the pleasure you describe; yet I fear you overrate me. Daily do I become more and more sensible of my own deficiencies; and when I hear myself praised, my failings and corruptions seem to be magnified in the mirror of conscience and conviction. I do feel an earnest and solemn wish to be a real Christian minister of the gospel of Christ; but it is indeed a character too exalted for my expectations of attaining, and unutterable is the responsibility attached to it. To be a Christian at all, in the scriptural sense, is a business of unwearied attention, watchfulness, and labour; but to be a teacher, an

example, a shepherd to the flock, requires tenfold circumspection. May God make me what he wishes, in order to form that character; and may no self-sufficiency, carelessness, or presumption, ever lead me to false security, neglect of duty, or inactivity;-to all of which we are so prone by nature. In exact proportion as we struggle to rise above our natural propensities, General Satan (as good Dr. Harrington calls him,) endeavours not only to stop our progress, but to turn our very improvement into danger and a snare, by exciting pride and self-satisfaction at what we have been enabled to do. I have no objection to hearing that my preaching excited attention at Bath (though I ought to avoid every thing likely to awaken vanity,) because I am convinced that it is not so much for anything in me, individually speaking, as in the scriptural truths which, by God's grace, I invariably endeavour to advance and expound, that approbation was manifested. I claim no praise, but that of being in earnest; and when I open the counsel of God to a congregation, I hope I feel anxious for the welfare of my hearers, and really desirous that they should, for their own sakes,' mark, learn, hear, and inwardly digest, the Holy Scriptures,' when explained according to the principles of sound orthodoxy, and evangelical truth. And, thus considering sound truth as the matter, and pastoral anxiety

E

as the manner of my preaching, I hope to steer clear of any personal vanity, or silly presumption, in the arts of human eloquence, either written or oratorical. I have no wish to be a popular preacher in any sense but one, viz., as a preacher to the hearts of the people.

"What you tell me respecting my father's inability to do more for me than he does, I firmly believe; and can conscientiously assure you, that I am too grateful for what is done, to complain that more is not done. I cannot sufficiently express my sensations of thankfulness for the uninterrupted kindness which I have ever received from you both. I wish your latter years may receive every consolation from my conduct, which duty and affection can afford you. God forbid I should ever strike out of my system of divinity that nearly central part of the decalogue, 'honour thy father and mother.' I look forward with great pleasure to your promised visit, which I must, and hereby do, bespeak to be a long one. I will do every thing to make you comfortable; and have a snug room and bed quite ready for you, and a son's welcome."

"To Mrs. Richmond, Bennet Street, Bath."

His sermon on the above occasion was published at the request of the congregation, which circumstance will explain the letter that follows.