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subjects, inseparably connected with practical' Christianity,-Intemperance, Slavery, and War.

A short time before young Barclay left France, his father had been con verted to the views and principles of a sect which had existed only ten years -the Quakers. On his return, Robert, after giving to the subject a degree of thought and investigation almost beyond his years, followed the example of his father, though only nineteen. He applied himself diligently to the study of the original languages of the Bible, of the Fathers, and of ecclesiastical history; and seeing how much the Friends were misunderstood and abused, he wrote several works in their defence, and in explanation of their principles. But the great work on which his fame rests is entitled "An Apology for the true Christian Divinity, as the same is held forth and practised by the People called, in scorn, Quakers." The effect produced by this able work soon became visible, for it proved beyond dispute that this proscribed sect professed a system of theology that was capable of being defended by strong, if not unanswerable arguments. Some portions of this work became the subject of very animated controversy, not in England only, but on the continent. This occasioned Barclay to appear again in defence of his principles. He also wrote to vindicate the internal arrangements and government of the Friends. He wrote, besides, two treatises on Peace, declaring his opinion that all war is indefensible, on account of its incompatibility with the principle of universal benevolence. One of these he addressed to the ambassadors of the several princes of Europe, then assembled at Nimeguen.

"The latter years of Robert Barclay's life were spent in the quiet of his family, in which his mild and amiable virtues found their happiest sphere of exercise. He died October 3, 1690, in the forty-second year of his age-the prime of life-his death having been occasioned by a violent fever, which came on immediately after his return from a religious visit in some parts of Scotland. His moral character was free from every reproach, and his temper was so well regulated, that he was never seen in anger. In all the relations of life, and in his inercourse with the world, he was conspicuous for the exercise of those virtues which are the best test of right principles, and the most unequivocal proof of their practical influence."

The following is a part of the Dedication of his great work, the "Apology," to Charles II. It has been justly praised for its high and fearless tone of Christian faithfulness and independent truth; the more to be admired, as it was written and published in times of great licentiousness, and servility to the reigning monarch.

DEDICATION TO CHARLES SECOND.

As it is inconsistent with the truth I bear, so it is far from me to use this epistle as an engine to flatter thee, the usual design of such works and therefore I can neither ledicate it to thee, nor

1 And what other than practical is of any worth? "He shall reward every man according to his WORKS" Matt. xvi. 27. "Inasmuch as ye have DONE it unto one of the least, ye have DONE it unto Me:" Matt. xxv. 40. "Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only:" James ii. 24. "What doth the Lord require of thee but to Do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God" Micah vi. 8. "If no faith be living nor yet available to justification without works, then works are necessary to justification."-Barclay.

2 The three great scourges of the human race, which have done more than every thing else to degrade and brutalize man, and therefore are most diametrically opposed to the principles and teach ings of Him, who came to bring "FEACE on earth and GOOD-WILL to man."

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crave thy patronage, as if thereby I might have more confidence to present it to the world, or be more hopeful of its success. To God alone I owe what I have, and that more immediately in matters spiritual, and therefore to Him alone, and to the service of His truth, I dedicate whatever work He brings forth in me, to whom only the praise and honor appertain, whose truth needs not the patronage of worldly princes, His arm and power being that alone by which it is propagated, established, and confirmed. *

There is no king in the world, who can so experimentally testify of God's providence and goodness; neither is there any, who rules so many free people, so many true Christians; which thing renders thy government more honorable, thyself more consider able, than the accession of many nations filled with slavish and superstitious souls.

Thou hast tasted of prosperity and adversity; thou knowest what it is to be banished thy native country, to be overruled, as well as to rule and sit upon the throne; and being oppressed, thou hast reason to know how hateful the oppressor is to both God and man:1 if after all these warnings and advertisements, thou dost not turn unto the Lord with all thy heart, but forget Him, who remembered thee in thy distress, and give up thyself to follow lust and vanity; surely great will be thy condemnation.

Against which snare, as well as the temptation of those that may or do feed thee, and prompt thee to evil; the most excellent and prevalent remedy will be, to apply thyself to that light of Christ, which shineth in thy conscience, which neither can nor will flatter thee, nor suffer thee to be at ease in thy sins; but doth and will deal plainly and faithfully with thee, as those that are followers thereof have also done.

God Almighty, who hath so signally hitherto visited thee with His love, so touch and reach thy heart, ere the day of thy visitation be expired, that thou mayest effectually turn to Him, so as to improve thy place and station for His name. So wisheth, 80 prayeth,

Thy faithful friend and subject,

ROBERT BARCLAY.

AGAINST TITLES OF HONOR.

We affirm positively, that it is not lawful for Christians either to give or receive these titles of honor, as Your Holiness, Your Majesty, Your Excellency, Your Eminency, &c.

1 A similar sentiment was expressed by William Pinckney, in the Maryland House of Delegates in 1789: "It will not do thus to TALK like philosophers, and, as slaveholders, ACT like unrelenting tyrants; to be pernally sermonizing it, with liberty for our text, and actual oppression for our commentary." So, also, Edward Rushton, in his letter to General Washington: "Man is never to truly odious as when he inflicts upon others that which he himself abominates."

First, because these titles are no part of that obedience which is due to magistrates or superiors; neither doth the giving them add to or diminish from that subjection we owe to them, which consists in obeying their just and lawful commands, not in titles and designations.

Secondly, we find not that in the Scripture any such titles are used, either under the law or the gospel; but that, in speaking to kings, princes, or nobles, they used only a simple compellation, as. "O King!" and that without any further designation, save, perhaps, the name of the person, as, "O King Agrippa," &c.

Thirdly, it lays a necessity upon Christians most frequently to lie; because the persons obtaining these titles, either by election or hereditarily, may frequently be found to have nothing really in them deserving them, or answering to them: as some, to whom it is said, "Your Excellency," having nothing of excellency in them; and who is called, "Your Grace," appear to be an enemy to grace; and he who is called "Your Honor," is known to be base and ignoble. I wonder what law of man, or what patent, ought to oblige me to make a lie, in calling good evil, and evil good. I wonder what law of man can secure me, in so doing, from the just judgment of God, that will make me count for every idle word. And to lie is something more. Surely Christians should be ashamed that such laws, manifestly crossing the law of God, should be them. among

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Fourthly, as to those titles of "Holiness," "Eminency," and "Excellency," used among the Papists to the pope and cardinals, &c.; and "Grace," "Lordship," and "Worship," used to the clergy among the Protestants, it is a most blasphemous usurpa tion. For if they use "Holiness" and "Grace" because these things ought to be in a pope or in a bishop, how come they to usurp that peculiarly to themselves? Ought not holiness and grace to be in every Christian? And so every Christian should say "Your Holiness," and "Your Grace," one to another. Next, how can they in reason claim any more titles than were practised and received by the apostles and primitive Christians, whose successors they pretend they are; and as whose successors (and no otherwise) themselves, I judge, will confess any honor they seek is due to them? Now, if they neither sought, received, nor admitted such honor nor titles, how came these by them? If they say they did, let them prove it if they can: we find no such thing in the Scripture. The Christians speak to the apostles without any such denomination, neither saying, "If it please your Grace,' "your Holiness," nor "your Worship;" they are neither called My Lord Peter, nor My Lord Paul; nor yet Master Peter, no Master Paul; nor Doctor Peter, nor Doctor Paul; but singly Peter and Paul: and that not only in the Scripture, but for some hun

dreds of years after: so that this appears to be a manifest fruit of he apostasy.1 For if these titles arise either from the office or worth of the persons, it will not be denied but the apostles deserved them better than any now that call for them. But the case is plain; the apostles had the holiness, the excellency, the grace; and because they were holy, excellent, and gracious, they neither used nor admitted such titles; but these having neither holiness, excellency, nor grace, will needs be so called to satisfy their ambitious and ostentatious mind, which is a manifest token of their hypocrisy.

Fifthly, as to that title of "Majesty" usually ascribed to princes, we do not find it given to any such in the Holy Scripture; but that it is specially and peculiarly ascribed unto God. We find in the Scripture the proud king Nebuchadnezzar assuming this title to himself, who at that time received a sufficient reproof, by a sudden judgment which came upon him. Therefore, in all the compellations used to princes in the Old Testament, it is not to be found, nor yet in the New. Paul was very civil to Agrippa, yet he gives him no such title. Neither was this title used among Christians in the primitive times.

ROBERT BOYLE. 1626-1692.

ROBERT BOYLE, the son of Richard Boyle, Earl of Cork, was born at Lismore, in the county of Cork, January 25, 1626. When eight years of age he entered Eton School, and having pursued his studies there with great success for one so young, he was sent with his brother Francis, who had lately married, to travel upon the continent. At Geneva he and his brother remained for some time, and pursued their studies, Robert resuming his mathematics, in which he had been initiated at Eton.

An anecdote, which explains the cause of his first attention to mathematical subjects, ought not to be passed over in silence, as it not only indicates the early development of his reasoning powers, but exhibits, in a striking manner, a general and important fact in education. When at Eton School, and before he was ten years of age, while recovering from a severe illness, some romances were put into his hands to divert and amuse him. His good habits of study were thereby so weakened, that on his restoration to health he found it difficult to fix his attention to any one subject. To recover his former habits, he resorted to an expedient certainly remarkable for one so young. He ap plied himself forcibly to "the extraction of the square and cube roots, and es pecially those more laborious operations of algebra which so entirely exact the

1 "The title of Rabbi corresponds with the title 'Doctor of Divinity,' as applied to ministers of the gospel: and so far as I can see, the spirit of the Saviour's command is violated by the reception of such a title, as it would have been by their being called Rabbi. It makes a distinction among ministers, tending to engender pride and a sense of superiority in those who obtain it; and envy and a sense of inferiority in those who do not; and is in its whole spirit and tendency contrary to the simplicity that is in Christ.'"-Albert Barnes. Is not the same argument as strong against the title of "Reverend," a word which is found but once in the Scriptures, and there applied to Ged? Pa. oxi. 9.

whole mind, that the s nallest distraction or heedlessness constrains us to renew our trouble, and re-begin the operation." This had the desired effect. It gave also a permanent direction to his talents, and was the commencement of that series of philosophical investigations and discoveries which have rendered his name immortal.

He quitted Geneva in 1641, and spent the next winter in Florence. During his stay in this city, the famous astronomer Galileo died at a village in the vicinity. He thence visited Rome, Leghorn, and Genoa, and in 1644 he returned with his brother to England. He found that his father, who had removed from Ireland to Stalbridge, in Dorsetshire, had recently died, and that he himself had come into the possession of the manor at Stalbridge, with other property. From this time to the end of his life, he appears to have been engaged in study. He was one of the first members of the "Invisible College," as he calls it, which, after the Restoration, became the Royal Society. La 1654 he took up his residence at Oxford, on account of the favorableness of the place to retirement, study, and philosophical intercourse. During his residence here he made great improvements in the air-pump, though he did not invent it, as some have stated.

But Boyle did not devote all his time to Natural Philosophy: he gave a portion of it to the study of the original languages of the Scriptures, and of the Scriptures themselves. He also took an interest in every plan for the circulation of the Word of Truth, and as a member of the East India Company, in 1676, pressed upon that body the duty of promoting Christianity in the East. He continued up to the close of his life to devote himself to the study of phi losophy, and like Newton he will ever be known as a

"Sagacious reader of the works of God,
And in his word sagacious."

He died on the 30th of December, (Old Style,) 1691.

The writings of Boyle are very voluminous, the greater part being on subjects of mechanical philosophy; though he wrote not a few on moral subjects.' Of the latter are "Considerations on the Style of the Holy Scriptures;" "Occasional Reflections on several Subjects;" "Considerations about the Reconcilableness of Reason and Religion;" "The Christian Virtuoso," showing that by being addicted to experimental philosophy, a man is rather assisted than indisposed to be a good Christian," &c. As a man, it is said of him by a biographer, that "his benevolence, both in action and sentiment, distin. guished him from others as much as his acquirements and experiments: and that, in an age when toleration was unknown." He has been styled the author of the "New or Experimental Philosophy," but it should always be recollected that Bacon pointed out the way. "The excellent Mr. Boyle," says Mr. Hughes," was the person who seems to have been designed by nature to succeed to the labors and inquiries of that extraordinary genius, Lord Bacon. By innumerable experiments, he in a great measure filled up those plans and outlines of science which his predecessor had sketched out. His life was spent in the pursuit of nature, through a great variety of forms and changes, and in the most rational as well as devout adoration cf its divine Author." Bishop Burnet sums up a brilliant eulogium of his character in the following strain-I will not amuse you with a list of his astonishing knowledge, or of his great performances in this way. They are highly valued all the world

1 His complete works were published in 1744, by Dr. Birch, in 5 vols. folio
Spectator, No. 554.

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