must not talk of death to you, as you cannot bear it." A ew weeks previous to his death, a pretended physician beng introduced by a friend, without the knowledge of Mr. Kinsman, and perceiving that his end was approaching, after some conversation, expressed his astonishment at his ncommon cheerfulness. "I have great reason to be so," aid he; "for I am one day nearer heaven." After some facetious sallies upon quack practitioners, he entered into serious discourse with him; and the doctor left him with a degree of surprize.-When anticipating his approaching dissolution, he would frequently adopt the confidential language of the pious Watts: "My God, my portion, and my love, My everlasting all; I've none but thee in Heav'n above, Or on this earthly ball !” and that other well known verse in the seventeenth Psalm: "O glorious hour! O bless'd abode; On the day of his death, he said to his son, who was just come to see him, "I slept a little last night, and dreamed I was dying in state, having your mother and all of you around my bed side; and good old Jacob could desire no more." About two hours before he died, Mrs. Kinsman asked him how he did. He replied, with a sweet serenity, "Still in the body." But on his dying countenance was seen A smile, the index of a soul serene. Continuing sensible, being almost gone, and scarcely able to articulate, he said, in a broken manner, "Jesu, lover of my soul-" Then smiled again, and without a sigh, fell asleep in the arins of that compassionate Jesus, whom he had ardently loved, and faithfully preached, for more than fifty years. He died Feb. 28, 1793, in the 69th year of his age. On the day of his interment, the corpse being brought into the meeting-house, and placed before the pulpit, the rev. Mr. Macall, resident at the Tabernacle, Plymouth, VOL. III.-No. 56. S gave gave a solemn and affectionate exhortation to a most crouded audience. After which the funeral procession was conducted with great seriousness and solemnity, and extended nearly from the bridge to the parish church yard (a space of half a mile) where he was interred near the late Mrs. Kinsman, in the very spot upon which she had received her first religious impressions under the preaching of Mr. Whitefield. On the following Sabbath the rev. Mr. Macall delivered a funeral discourse at Plymouth from John v. 35. "He was a burning and a shining light." On the ensuing Lord's day the rev. Matthew Wilks, of London, being solicited to visit the disconsolate church, preached the funeral sermon in the meeting-house at Dock, from Daniel xii. 3. "They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righ teousness, as the stars for ever and ever." We shall subjoin a few of those characteristic beauties of this man of God, which so justly elevated him in the public esteem, and will embalm his memory, when his remains are mouldered into shapeless dust. He was a man of an agreeable appearance and a peculiarly melodious voice, of which he possessed the most perfect command. He was favoured with an extreme sensibility, which was indicated by the peculiar pathos of his public address, and the tenderness of affection, which pervaded his private life. His memory was singularly retentive; and the inexhaustible store of anecdotes with which he was furnished, together with their pertinent and pleasing introduction and improvement, rendered him a companion equally entertaining and instructive. His natural disposition was excellent and amiable. His patience under his accumulated sufferings was as instructive as extraordinary; and whilst sympathizing friends were affected and distressed at the view of the agonies produced by his complicated disorders, he was grateful to his Almighty Father at the recollection of the numberless evils which he did not experience*. His zeal was equally ardent and disinterested, his conduct was exemplary, and the strict undeviating rectitude of his morals, attracted and ensured a general esteem. Nor did his most embittered persecutors ever attempt to calumniate a cha During the long season of his asthmatic affliction we are well assured that he took no less than an hundred weight of quicksilver; and for many successive years could not lie down in his bed. racter racter which they knew to be untainted. The evangelical purity of the doctrines which he taught, the elegant simplicity of his manner, and the affecting tenderness with which he addressed all classes of hearers, accompanied by the divine energy of the Holy Spirit, rendered him both a very popular and useful minister. No man possessed a happier talent in noticing and improving general and particular occurrences. In his prayers there was a perpetual variety; but his conspicuous talents were principally displayed at his attendance on the sacramental ordinance of the Lord's supOn these occasions he generally outshone himself. Notwithstanding his popularity was so great, he would frequently weep when about to enter the pulpit, oppressed with a consciousness of his own inability, and with fears lest he should be deserted by his God. Whilst it was the particu lar study of his life not to lay any public burdens upon his people, he was ever forward to assist in the removal of private distresses, and to condole with and comfort the dejected and unfortunate. His bosom was indeed the habitation of the social virtues. The peculiar care which he manifested in the education of his children, did equal honour to his judgement and his heart. He was a worthy man, a steady friend, an affectionate husband, a tender parent, a kind master, a sincere Christian, and an able and useful divine. The following inscription was engraven on his tomb: "The Rev. ANDREW KINSMAN Zealous and useful labours Whose Ambassador he was, The Church, Which God honoured him to be the Founder of in this place, In the universal sorrow for his loss, As a memorial of his worth, KIRBY, JOSHUA, was born in London, in 1613, and educated at Oxford. He lost a good living for refusing to S 2 take take the Engagement. Lady Camden, about this time, gave one hundred pounds per annum to maintain a lecture at Wakefield in Yorkshire, and appointed the company of Mercers in London trustees, who chose Mr. Kirby the first lecturer. He went thither in 1650, and preached on Lord's day afternoon. He called his first child born there Camdena, out of respect to his benefactress. He was a solid, substantial preacher, and a great scripturist. Some persons complaining of his citing too many scriptures in his sermons, he answered, "That is like complaining of flour being too fine to make bread of; can we speak more properly than in God's language?" He ha an apt faculty in expounding scripture, on which he had many pretty and unusual glosses. But his chief excellence lay in prayer. A Conformist Minister once hearing him, said, " Mr. Kirby prays apostolically." He was rather reserved in discourse, but if engaged by questions, there was much depth and significancy in his short answers. He had something singular in his sentiments, and common behaviour, but in both innocent. His garb was wonderfully plain, and he required the same of all under his roof. He was a man of extraordinary sanctity, very strict in family discipline, and faithful in instruction and admonition of great courage and resolution, and inflexible when he had once fixed his principles. He was a zealous Royalist, and was sent to London, and there imprisoned for praying publicly for Charles I. He was afterwards a prisoner at Lambeth in 1659, for his concern in Sir G. Booth's insurrection. Being turned out by the Act of Uniformity, he preached in his own house, till a lecturer was provided, and then he went to church, preaching at home only in the evening, for which, Nov. 21, 1662, he was sent to York Castle, as he also was again upon the Conventicle act. He was not idle there, but improved his solitude in meditation and prayer, and (when permitted) in preaching also. He sometimes diverted himself in making verses; many copies of which were in the hands of his friends; but the sense of them was far beyond the poetry. After travelling much about in the latter part of his life, he finished his course at Wakefield, June 21, 1676, aged 59, and being excommunicated, was buried in his own garden. He printed only a little " Protestant Catechism," in Scripture phrase. He had a grandson who died 1744, pastor of a congregation in Tucker Street, Bris tol: tol: a volume of whose sermons was published after his death, by Dr. Lardner. KNIGHT, TITUS, was born in 1719. His parents were of the established church, of low rank in life, and poor in circumstances; so that he was obliged at an early period to be put to hard labour, to bring in a little additional relief to an indigent family. This circumstance he was so far from endeavouring to conceal, that he frequently mentioned it, with evident emotions of gratitude to Him, who afterwards placed him in a very different situation. When about six or seven years old, he began to shew a strong desire for learning, being totally destitute of the ordinary means of attaining it. But as the human mind is unwearied in its efforts to gain what it earnestly desires, by his assiduity, in his leisure hours (which were very few), he soon learned to read and write; and, indeed with little or no assistance he obtained that knowledge of the languages, &c. which he possessed to a considerable degree in the subsequent parts of his life. He was frequently under religious impressions when a child: and, as his way of life led him to hear much filthy and profane language, he has often expressed his grateful adiniration how remarkably he was at all times preserved from the infection. During his childhood, he had a particular veneration for sacred things, took a delight in attending the church, and used frequently to weep. At this early period he learned something of the vanity and unsatisfying nature of all worldly pleasure, long before he knew where to seek for solid and substantial happiness. Many instances of this he used to relate. He has himself recorded several circumstances of this nature in a work, which he published, 1770, entitled, " Amyntas and Philetus, or Christian Conversation," &c. where he has also given some account of an interesting part of his life, which it may not be improper here to introduce. "My dear parents (says he) were of the establishment; and although filial duty, as well as Christian charity, requires me to hope the best in behalf of them, yet I seldom or ever saw or heard any thing of religion but at church on the Sabbath day. They were, I believe, strictly honest in their dealings with men, supported a fair character, and appeared as religious as their neighbours, nor suspected, as church folks, they could miss of salvation. I was taught to con |