wants and wishes of humanity, and filled particular positions and offices; the question is unavoidable, 'What did he, and was he?' We are far from forgetting that the most familiar lot may be sanctified and adorned by the noblest principles of morality and religion, but that is no reason for selecting the lot without those principles for purposes of instruction. And here is the divorce we mourn-the lives commonly published are of men in the right walks and ways, but not of the right men; they have been taken from the great classes, but they have not been marked by the peculiar excellence necessary to the place and office consigned them. It is not inferior, it is not average, Christians that are suitable for patterns. Much better is it to be dispirited by the presence of an almost unattainable superiority, than to be conversant with models that may be easily copied and surpassed. It is, therefore, with deep regret that we notice the general character of biographical works. Their objects are indeed sufficiently like the masses of their fellows in style of life and proceedings, but they are often deplorably destitute of all fitness and power to affect, by deep and holy sympathy, the hearts of others, and to excite and regulate a spirit of pure and noble emulation. It may be questioned whether this be necessary to the end proposed. The tendency of the day is not only to print everything, but to do everything by printing. Our forefathers had costly monuments and paintings to perpetuate and glorify their memories; their descendants write a book, or have one written, A memoir costs no more than a tomb, and it is on many accounts a preferable mode of publication.

It is with sincere pleasure that we can except the work before us, in the application of the remarks we have felt it needful to make. Dr. Fletcher's life, though not by any means eventful, was worthy of a record, as spent in the discharge of duties which devolve upon a great and important class of men, and a class needing above many all the influences of strength and excitement in their laborious work; and not less, as marked by the qualities, moral and religious, which are indispensable in a model of ministerial character. He was a man of sincere and devoted piety, of unblemished moral excellence, and of a spirit which all who knew him loved. His religious principles were sound and wisely held, removed from all extremes, and maintained with the firmness of true charity. He was free from crotchets, had no infallible test for every subject, no pet doctrine or idea standing for entire catholic truth. He was subjected to the action of various, and some severe, works of proof; passed through much of labour, suffering, and privilege; and retained his integrity, and accomplished his service in all. He was, in

one word,' as Mr. James observes, 'a singularly complete man.' There was nothing in his intellect, his moral character, or his ministry, to strike by its vast superiority, or its vast inferiority, to all his other qualities and endowments. We certainly should not place him in the very first rank of preachers, yet he stood high, and deservedly so, as a public teacher of Christianity. He possessed many advantages, in appearance, voice, and manner; but he was chiefly indebted for his popularity and impressiveness to a clear and direct understanding, a full and cordial proclamation of evangelical truth, an earnest purpose and desire to do good, arguments meaning something and tending somewhither, and phraseology which, if sometimes redundant, was generally elegant and forcible. The readers of his life will not be afflicted by a nervous anxiety to do some great thing;" but, if we mistake not, they will experience the powerful and comprehensive attraction of one who excelled, in all the most important points, as a man, a Christian, and a minister. His son has discharged his delicate task with considerable judgment and discretion. If he express a higher estimate than our own of some characteristics of his father, it is not wonderful, even though he should be mistaken. The main defect of his work is in its length. Had a portion of the first volume been occupied with reprints of some of Dr. Fletcher's publications, and had the third been entirely or nearly so, we think that readers in general would have been better pleased, and more edified.

Dr. Fletcher was born December 3rd, 1784, in the ancient city of Chester, of which place his father was a citizen and goldsmith.

From the city records it appears, that the lineal ancestors of Mr. Robert Fletcher had for some centuries occupied a position of official importance in the County Palatine. Six of their name were sheriffs, and one was mayor. The periods reach from 1498 to 1678. The Sheriff Fletcher of 1678 went over to Cork, in Ireland, and settled there. He perpetuated his memory in Chester, however, by a gift of four almshouses to four poor widows of sixty, in the parish of Trinity.' They still exist, and an inscription to the above effect, and bearing date A. D. 1671,' is to be seen under a carving of the family coat of arms.'

'The name of Dr. Fletcher's mother, before her marriage, was Elizabeth Wolfe, the same name with that of General Wolfe, the hero of Quebec, to whom she was related, her father and the General being 'own cousins,' or brother's children. It is now many years since she entered into rest; but the fragrance of her memory remains. He always spoke of her in terms of the most profound endearment, and was wont to indulge in the most tender reminiscences respecting her. In one of his latest letters, in which reference is made to her, he writes, Bless her memory! Her sweet, gentle,

lovely form is now before me, and I never think of her without deep feeling. She perhaps loved me too much; but I have not the recollection of once grieving her, and that is a soothing remembrance.'-pp. 8, 9.

1

Young Fletcher acquired the first rudiments of learning, and formed the habit of a clear and correct enunciation,' at a preparatory school conducted by a Mrs. Grandmaison, the daughter of a French refugee. While here, he experienced a 'remarkable preservation,' having fallen through a trap-door which had been carelessly left open. The consequence of this accident he long retained, in a predisposition to deafness, from which he suffered in after life. Leaving Mrs. Grandmaison, he entered the grammar school at Chester, where he made considerable progress in his studies. It is told of him, at this period, that his thirst for knowledge led him to make frequent visits to a bookseller's shop in the neighbourhood, not so much in the character of a purchaser, as of a casual reader.' His visits were, however, so often repeated, that the bookseller, though he felt an interest in him, yet thought the advantage too much on one side,' and an agreement was made between the parties, that the youthful student should fold up a given number of sheets of paper for every fresh work he might read. On these original and equitable terms, many volumes were perused during the hours usually devoted by school-boys to play. The manner in which he was brought to the knowledge of the truth may suggest important considerations.

From his very childhood he was trained up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,' and the instruction, enforced by the uniformly consistent example of his parents, laid the foundation of religious truth and piety in his mind; but at this early period the first religious impressions of a powerful nature were produced. Hi pastor, the Rev. William Armitage, died in March, 1794, when he was in his tenth year, and the Rev. William Thorpe, afterwards of Bristol, visited Chester as a candidate for the vacant office. He remained there for more than a year, and although he did not finally accept the pastoral charge, his ministrations were highly beneficial. Mr. Thorpe was a great preacher, and his young hearer was at times deeply moved whilst listening to him, and inspired, for the first time, with an admiration for pulpit eloquence. At a subsequent period, an intimate friendship subsisted between them, terminated only by death. Other and concurrent sources of religious impression, however, should be mentioned, which he thus refers to some years afterwards. At a very early age, serious impressions were made upon my mind, which were particularly effected by the perusal of Janeway's Token for Children.' The author's very pathetic address in the preface of that work, tended much to convince me of the importance and necessity of religion. This address was often read

and prayed over with considerable interest and delight. But levity and folly, the usual characteristics of childhood, succeeded these first impressions. I cannot recollect any particular circumstance till my eleventh or twelfth year, when convictions which had been forgotten, were revived and deepened. It has often been a cause of much distress that I could not particularize the place, the time, the means of my conversion. The Lord's work was gradually effected: I cannot better describe it at its commencement, than by the words of the blind man in the Gospel, who at first only saw men as trees walking. As I was constantly in the way of learning something, having from my earliest years a predilection for reading, and being furnished with the necessary means of instruction, I did, indeed, acquire a theoretical knowledge of some of the distinguishing doc. trines of the Gospel. But, I fear, that knowledge was merely speculative. I saw not so much of the evil tendency of sin, nor of the beauty and inestimable worth of the Friend of sinners, as afterwards. Though orthodox in my notions of some things, my dependence was centred in myself. But by a constant attendance on the means of grace, an attendance enforced by the example and advice of my parents, the Lord was graciously pleased to remove the veil of spiritual ignorance from the eyes of my understanding, and afford the more scriptural views of the way of salvation through a Mediator.'-pp. 11-13.

We have quoted this passage from a conviction that the truth of which it is an instance is one which many are still slow to learn. It is by no means a universally admitted fact that genuine conversion to God can take place in this gradual and almost imperceptible manner, and even respectable writers are still to be found suggesting alarm to those who cannot 'particularise the place, the time, the means' of their great change. Such a case as that of Dr. Fletcher may well confirm a doctrine more in accordance with the intimations of Scripture, and the teachings of philosophy.

At the age of fifteen, Mr. Fletcher left school to enter upon business, it being his father's purpose that he should ultimately become his partner and successor. His own mind was, however, directed to a very different destiny, and the extracts given from his private papers prove with what seriousness, modesty, and anxiety he indulged the hope of being one day 'a servant of the Most High God, showing unto men the way of salvation.' While yet a boy he sought recreation and employment in literary occupation. Between the ages of twelve and sixteen,' we are told, he took a very creditable part in a somewhat prolonged newspaper controversy.' He also contributed some articles to the religious periodicals of the day, of one of which it is recorded that his father, delighted with the lucid views it contained, and little suspecting that he was the author, recom

mended him, in terms of the warmest approval, to read it.' After two years' solicitude, the way was opened to his entrance into the ministry, and he was admitted as a student into Hoxton academy. Here the fact of his being qualified to join the senior classes during his first year did not promise much respecting future advancement.' A plan, however, was at this time proposed and carried out for raising a foundation for the support and education of two students at the University of Glasgow, and Mr. Fletcher and Mr. (now Dr.) Payne, were the first to enjoy its advantages. He accordingly proceeded to Glasgow in October, 1804, where he devoted himself to his various studies in the spirit of Mr. Simeon's advice to Henry Martyn, on his first going to Cambridge. My dear sir, the Lord Jesus Christ has called you by his grace, - be senior wrangler,' excelling most, however, in logic, mental and moral philosophy, and political economy; and taking his degree of Master of Arts. On the first Sabbath in May, he permanently entered on his first pastoral charge at Blackburn, in Lancashire, whither he had received and accepted a cordial and unanimous invitation a year before.

'The church, of which he thus accepted the pastorship, had been formed in the year 1778. The members originally constituting it appear to have withdrawn, in a friendly manner, from the two churches of Darwen and Tockholes, the villages in the neighbourhood of the rising town of Blackburn. The Rev. James M'Quhae, the first pastor of the church, removed from Tockholes in order to preside over it, and was exceedingly useful, not merely as a minister, but as a tutor. He died on the 29th of April, 1804, at the age of sixty-three, or about two years previous to this period. The town of Blackburn contained then a population of nearly thirteen thousand. Its central position in reference to many other towns, as well as its rapidly increasing trade in the cotton manufacture, rendered it a station of influence and importance; and Mr. Fletcher did not fail to perceive abundant scope for usefulness.'—p. 68.

At the time of Mr. Fletcher's settlement, the state of religion was not flourishing. According to another hand,

When Dr. Fletcher first went to Blackburn, religion was at a very low ebb, although the congregation was numerous and highly respectable. A worldly spirit marked the character of many professors, and the line of demarcation between the church and the world was in some cases scarcely perceptible; but the youthful pastor took a very decided stand, making the New Testament his standard both in public and private; and, by his personal kindness, holy consistency, and christian firmness, produced a great reformation in both church and congregation.

Neither was religion in a flourishing state in the neighbourhood. But a remarkable revival had taken place at Darwen, near Black