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cultivated, will not run desert a time, as is the case of those

when he dies. If Mr. Shepherd had continued in the Established Church, after a few years all the the effects of his labours would, most probably, have been gone; but, renouncing it, full proof of his ministry still lives in the large community of Christians which was called by his means. Mr. Shepherd's publications, which have not been previously mentioned, are as follows: "Five Discourses on Zaccheus's Conversion"-" The Case of Infant Baptism made plain, a Dialogue""A Guide to Charity, a Sermon on 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2."—" Three Discourses on Christ's Agony in the Garden"-" The loving Penitent, or Magdalen's Repentance and Love illustrated in several Sermons." They are founded on Luke vii. 37-50,- a passage which Mr. Shepherd, in common with many others, gratuitously supposes to refer to Mary of Magdala, and in a way equally gratuitous, concludes that the seven demons which we know did dwell in Mary of Magdala, were proofs of the previous atrocity of her character before conversion; a view of the case to which he furnishes a sufficient answer in his Sermon on the Power of Devils in Bodily Distempers. "Do not censure any that are handled in an extraordinary way, for the Lord Christ was in Satan's hand for a time: how did he hurry about the body of the Saviour from place to place?" "A Sermon showing mutual Helpfulness requisite in the Married State;" an admirable discourse, which, together with his "Faithful Ministering," originally formed a small volume. "The Life of Shadows. A Sermon principally handling this question, Why the Allwise God should put a soul into a body to stay in it no longer

who die in infancy?" A very striking, and, to bereaved parents, a very consolatory discourse.

Mr. Shepherd was blessed with a family of hopeful children, one of whom, Mr. Timothy Shepherd, by his early piety, and by his predilection for ministerial services, raised the expectations of his venerable parent. With a view to to his sustaining the ministerial office, he was placed in the Academy of the Independent Fund Board, where, under those emiment tutors, Dr. Ridgley and Mr. Eames, he attained a highly respectable proficiency in his studies. In this excellent young man were combined many qualifications which might have been considered as predicting his future eminence in the Christian ministry. His natural talents were good, but he did not consider them as obviating the necessity of diligence and research. His temper was cheerful, and his conversation sprightly and engaging, but especially, his mind was deeply imbued with piety. His own inquiries confirmed him in the orthodox sentiments in which he had been educated, but his orthodoxy was attended by an amiable charity, which led him to maintain, and to "speak the truth in love."

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When Mr. Shepherd came to appear in the capacity of preacher of the Gospel, he discovered himself to be in earnest in his great work, and while he sought to please God, he secured the approbation of his hearers. But the hopes of his venerable father, and numerous friends, were quickly sunk; though Mr. S. was permitted to enter on the ministerial work, he does not appear to have engaged in the duties of a stated preacher. Bodily disorders, which seemed to have attacked him shortly after the com

pletion of his preparatory studies, removed him from the pulpit, and, after a long period of suffering, brought him to the house appointed for all living." The young preacher was thus called to exemplify the influence of the truths which he had begun to preach, and divine grace enabled him to exemplify it, not merely by the silence of patience, and the language of resignation, but also by expressions of his firm faith in that Saviour whom he had preached to others. Relying on the grace of God in Jesus Christ, and supported through the valley of the shadow of death, he feared no evil; and, possessed of assurance of hope, he was not only willing to die, but desired to depart and to be with Christ.

His funeral sermon was preached at Braintree, May 22, 1733; and was delivered, at his request, by his friend and fellow-student, the Rev. Wm. Ford, of Castle Hedingham. Mr. F. published

the discourse, at the desire of the ministers present at its delivery, who, with one exception, were fellow-students with Mr. Shepherd under Dr. Ridgley and Mr. Eames. The dedication of this discourse contains a testimony to the ministers and congregations of that neighbourhood, too gratifying to be overlooked. "Suffer me to take this occasion to express my great sense of the kind providence that has placed my lot in so agreeable a neighbourhood; and I take pleasure in telling the world, that whatever lesser differences there may be in our sentiments, I believe no part of the kingdom can be found where there is a more hearty affection between neighbouring ministers and their congregations, than in these parts."*

Ford's Sermon, occasioned by the Death of the Rev. Timothy Shepherd.

(To be continued.)

ORIGINAL ESSAYS, COMMUNICATIONS, &c.

A NONCONFORMIST PASTOR'S LEGACY TO HIS PEOPLE.

(To the Editors.)

GENTLEMEN,-Being on a visit at Lavenham, in Suffolk, a few months ago, I was informed by the dissenting minister there, that a gentleman in that town, Mr. S. Meeking, was in possession of a MS. volume of Sermons, designed as a legacy for the church at Clare. On application being made to Mr. M., he kindly consented to lend me the volume, and afterwards, when I stated that the church at Clare would be gratified by possessing the volume, agreeably with the design of the author, he very frankly and obligingly presented it to the church. By consent of the church, I now send you a brief account of the volume, and of its author, in so far as I have been able to inform myself. Mr. Meeking does not know how the volume came into his possession, but N. S. No. 43.

thinks that it must have been lent to some branch of his family, by some member long since connected with the church at Clare.

The sermons are written in a full, plain, strong hand, and are in excellent preservation. There are, however, some deficiencies. One leaf is lost of the first sermon in the volume, and one leaf of the second sermon on Psalm xlii. 2; and there are only three pages left of the fourth sermon on 1 Cor. xii. last verse; and the whole of the fifth sermon from the same text is wanting.

From the account which I have found of the author in "Palmer's Nonconformist's Memorial," I am inclined to think that he must have been the first minister of nonconforming principles at Clare, and that he must have prepared the way for the present dissenting interest in the town. He died at Clare, in July, 1.697, and the meeting-house, in which I now preach, was built in 1710, thirteen 2 Y

years after his decease. I have examined the Church of England Register at Clare, but can find no registry of his burial; and should be obliged to any of your correspondents who could inform me of the place of his interment. I shall now transcribe the account given of Mr. George Porter, the author of this MS., in "Palmer's Nonconformist's Memorial," vol. i. pp. 217, 218. "Art. Ministers Ejected in Oxford University."

"George Porter, B. D. Canon, and Proctor of the University, in the second year of Dr. Owen's Vice-chancellorship. In 1662, he was cast out from his fellowship in Magdalen College. He was a man of good learning, great gravity, integrity, self-denial, and charity. In churchgovernment he was, what might be called, a sort of an Interpendent. He could not allow that the ruling of church affairs should be by popular suffrage; or that the people should govern their officers. And yet he held that the people had just rights and privileges which must not, in the least, be infringed; and that, therefore, the due satisfaction of the church would, and ought to be, sought by every wise and just governor. In a word, he held that it was the pastor's or elder's part to rule, and the people's part to obey; but both in

the Lord.' He took notice that this was thrice commanded in one chapter, Heb. xiii. 7. 17. 24. He was greatly pleased with Mr. Giles Firmin's Weighty Questions Discussed. He was a great enemy to high-flown expressions in sermons, and would say to those who used them to discover their learning, that learning did not consist in hurd words, but in depth of matter. He was of a melancholy constitution, which sometimes prevailed to such a degree, that for several years he had little enjoyment of his friends, himself, or his God; but, at length, he had comfort. He resided some time at Lewes, in Sussex, and afterwards freely preached the gospel at East-Bourn, in the same county, near the place of his nati.

vity. He was, at last, pastor of a church at Clare, in Suffolk; where he died, July, 1697, in the 74th year of his age. He was a very devout man, and had a due respect both to the substance and circumstances of worship. He used to speak of common sleepers at sermons with great severity, as equally criminal with swearers or drunkards. There are three letters of his, in Mr. T. Rogers's 'Discourse of Trouble of Mind.'"

Should you, Gentlemen, feel sufficiently

* So it is printed in my edition of Palmer, 1802. Query? Is this a misprint, or intended, as he was not quite an Independent.

interested in this account of Mr. Porter, to give it insertion in your pages, and also the first sermon in the volume, which I have transcribed for your use; you may expect to receive from me, as I have leisure, other selections from the manuscript. At the bottom of the title-page is written, in the author's own hand, after enumerating "the sermons contained in this book"--" All these are designed as a legacy for the church at Clare, after my decease;" and in the margin, George Porter, 1696."

I am, Gentlemen,
Your's most respectfully,

Clare, June 19, 1828.

JAMES ELBOROUGH.

SERMON I.

"And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every

imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Gen. vi 5. IT is the latter part of this verse that I have made choice of, for the present instruction; and it contains in it a most signal, observable testimony of that great, spreading, amazing corruption that has seized upon all mankind ever since the transgression and apostacy of our first parents, from the time that they turned from God, the fountain of holiness and happiness, and from his law, the rule and measure of all moral rectitude, righteousness and perfection. God made us upright, pure, and spotless, but we have sought out many inventions, Eccles. vii. last. Ever since Adam's fall, all flesh has corrupted itself, and its ways,

Gen. vi. 12. We are become abominable, disobedient, serving divers lusts and pleasures, reprobate unto every good work, as the Holy Ghost has testified, Tit. i. last, with chapter iii. 3, so that we are become monsters rather than men; not only enemies to God our creator, but also to ourselves, and that by evil works; for by sin we wrong our own souls, Prov.viii. last; and bring destruction on ourselves, Hos. xiii. 9; even everlasting destruction, 2 Thess. i. 9. My text shows us the first cause and spring of all this folly and filth, of all this madness and misery; even an evil heart that is full of evil imaginations, inventions, and thoughts; from whence arises all evil in the outward conversation, in vain words, in all manner of corrupt communication, in all sorts of sins and evil works; as our Saviour has testified, and left his testimony upon record, Matt. xv. 19. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies; these arise within, before they break forth without, and become visible to the world; the hearts of natural, unregenerate men, are like a corrupt fountain, and the troubled sea in a storm, whose waters cast up mire and dirt, so says the scripture, Is. lvii. 20. The Holy Ghost, in my text, does give us the anatomy of an evil, corrupt heart; he has dissected, discovered, and laid open, before our eyes, and exposed to our full view, all the secrets of a sinner's heart, and has given us a lecture upon all, with this special remark, that all in it is evil; even every thought and every imagination; there is no manner of spiritual good to be found in carnal, corrupt, unrenewed heart, as the Apostle Paul has testified by the Holy Ghost, and his own experience, concerning his own heart, so far as it was not only fully renewed, but had flesh and corruption remaining in it in part; you may see his words, Rom. vii. 18. Let us now look into this testimony of God, concerning the heart of a natural, unregenerate man; see that superfluity of naughtiness, as the Scripture speaks, James i. 21, that corruption and uncleanness, those many and great abominations, that are got into the heart of man, and are lodged there, since sin entered into the world,

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and has spread itself among and in all the inhabitants thereof, in all places, and in all ages; see it in this testimony of God; yea, behold, and be astonished at it! All the dung-hills, made up of all the filth of whole towns and cities; all the most dirty, putrid ditches, are as nothing in comparison of that abounding, noisome, loathsome filth and corruption that is found in the hearts of all natural, unregenerate men whatever. To convince of this I shall now take a particular, distinct view of the several expressions and parts of this testimony of God; that you may understand and consider it, and be filled with wonder and astonishment at it.

FIRST, I shall take notice of the subject and matter of this testimony of God, or the thing spoken of here in my text; and that is the heart of man, with all its imaginations and thoughts.

SECONDLY, I shall take notice of the predication in these words, or of that which is testified, declared, and spoken of the heart, and of all its thoughts and imaginations; and that is, that all and every one are only evil, and that continually; I return to the first of these, and that is, the subject of this divine testimony, which we find, in express terms, to be the heart, with all its thoughts and imaginations; the heart of man is said by philosophers, to be primum vivens, the first seat and source of natural life, both in man and in beasts; from thence life is derived into all the inward and outward parts, into the lungs, head, and brains, and from these, into all the members of the body, into the eyes, hands, and feet; and as the heart is the first seat and source of natural life, so also it is the first seat and source of sin and natural corruption; this is taught

us by divine philosophy, and the wisdom of God, in my text, and divers other such testimonies of God in his word of truth; and the first corrupt streams that issue from this corrupt fountain, the heart, are evil thoughts and imaginations, and these are a numerous offspring, of great multitude, as the sand on the sea-shore, and the stars of heaven, not to be numbered, but only by God, whose understanding is infinite, who alone telleth the number of the stars, and calleth them all by their names, Psalm cxlvii. 4, 5. He, indeed, can call all our evil thoughts and imaginations by their several names; such is a vain thought and foolish imagination; such is a blasphemous, atheistical thought; such is an unclean, lustful thought; such is a hateful, envious thought; such is a malicious, murderous thought; such is a covetous, discontented thought; such is an ambitious, proud, vainglorious thought; and many other the like, and all evil; and not one good among them all, no not one. As God has testified in the text, only evil, without any real, spiritual good in them, such as has a due conformity to God's law, that is spiritual and holy, just and good; requiring exactness and complete perfection, in all inward acts, as well as in outward acts. In all our thoughts and imaginations, as well as in words and works; and we must know, that in these imaginations and thoughts are comprehended and included all evil desires and purposes whatever, which are stirring in the heart at any time; for these begin ****** (two pages wanting.) They are not willing to believe any thing against themselves; they are wise, pure in their own eyes, and therefore cannot endure to hear, that there is so much evil in their hearts; they will rather

question the truth of God's testimony, than be persuaded that their hearts are so full of sin and corruption; they will choose rather to make God a liar, (as every one that believes not his testimony does,) than acknowledge their own hearts to be so bad, as as that every thought and imagination of them should be only evil. And yet there is something more added to this, that they are evil continually, day and night, whenever there are any thoughts and imaginations stirring in their hearts; they are no better at one time than another, no, not on these days, which are days of public, solemn worship: they may indeed be less evil on these days than other days, but always evil; there are degrees of sin in all actions and words, so there are in all our thoughts and imaginations; all are sinful, but not all equally; as for instance, all vain thoughts are evil and have sin in them, and therefore holy David said, he hated them. Ps. cxix. 113. But, these are not so evil, and have not so much sin in them as atheistical, blasphemous thoughts, when a man says in his heart, that there is no God; or, that God is a liar; or, that there is no knowledge in the Most High, that he regards not what is done in the earth: now, though this, put to the other part of the testimony, may still seem the more strong, and the farther from truth, to all considerate men; yet it is, nevertheless, true, and certain in itself. And this will appear, if we duly consider whose testimony this is. It is the testimony of God: so it is said expressly, And God saw that the wickedness of man was great, &c. Mark, God saw; and what he saw, he testified; his testimony was not grounded on hearsay, on what others had seen, but what he himself saw with his own

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