from the prophetic spirit which seems to have guided his pen, and led him to anticipate an early liberation from the shackles and infirmities of this mortal state, we adopt it as a fitting conclusion for these imperfect remarks.

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Advancing in years, the author's probationary period is drawing to a close; and the crisis cannot be remote, that will dismiss his spirit from its earthly abode to the regions of immortality. Associating then with the disembodied, detached from all material organization, there can be no doubt that he will see much reason to alter many of his views respecting the momentous subject on which he has written. He, however, concludes this preface under a full conviction, that, although unable to communicate any corrections of what he may then discover to be erroneous in his Essay, he shall have new evidence, bursting upon him like a tide of glory, to establish, beyond the possibility of a doubt, THE IMMATERIALITY AND IMMORTALITY OF THE HUMAN SOUL."

To this quotation, and to our attempted though defective sketch, we add, with full conviction of its truth, the observation of a literary friend, "It will "ever be the WORKS and not the BIOGRAPHER, "that will shew the genius and capacity of SAMUEL "DREW."

APPENDIX.

MISCELLANEOUS SAYINGS, OPINIONS, AND CONVERSATIONAL REMARKS OF MR. DREW.

IN presenting the reader with the following gleanings, it may be necessary to premise, that the Conversational Remarks being chiefly related from memory, the biographer cannot vouch, in every instance, for the exact form of expression. The observations are, notwithstanding, substantially correct; and, in general, they are given in Mr. Drew's own words.

On the modes of argumentation which demonstrate the. existence of a great First Cause, Mr. D. remarked to a metaphysical correspondent, "The various arguments which the visible creation affords are, without doubt, the most popular, and are better adapted to the comprehension of the general mass of readers. But such as are drawn from existence itself, independently of all effects, and works, and designs, must be more convincing to such as can comprehend them; because, being confined within a short compass, the demonstration will have fewer steps, and consequently be less liable to cavils."

In reference to the theological tenets of Dr. Samuel Clarke, Mr. Drew writes, "This is one of the dangerous rocks to which we are exposed, in the distant excursions we are tempted to make in pursuit of knowledge; and we rarely fail to split upon it, whenever we suffer the light of philosophy to allure us into regions which lie beyond her province. True philosophy will tell us where true philosophy ends; and the instant we obey her dictates, we admit, on the ground of revelation, those truths which Dr. C., by following the directions of a coasting pilot, was tempted to deny."

Talking of the various gradations of infidelity, Mr. Drew remarked, "It is the grand error of Deism to make reason the ultimate judge, not only of the facts contained in revelation, but of the nature of those facts, and the manner in which they exist. Socinianism is nothing more than Deism refined. It takes shelter under the letter of revelation, and is the more dangerous because it is the more specious."

On the doctrine of the Atonement, he observed, in corresponding with a friend, "It strikes me, that we sustain towards God the joint character of criminals and debtors. Our criminality requires an expiation to be made; but, if we be not considered in the light of debtors also, I cannot conceive how it can be reconciled with moral justice, that God should accept the innocent for the guilty."

Writing to a relative on the subject of faith, he remarked, "Between our safety and our enjoyment there is an essential difference. Our safety depends upon the genuineness or quality of our faith; our enjoyment, upon its strength or quantity. Forgetting this distinction, many mourn when they have more reason to rejoice. Our safety is connected by faith with the efficacy of the atonement; and, if faith be genuine, though, through its weakness, our enjoyment may be little, yet, as it unites us to the Saviour, our felicity in an eternal world will be secure, even while we pass the time of our sojourning here in fear."

A young lady lamenting to him the weakness of her faith, "Recollect," said Mr. D. " that among all Bunyan's pilgrims there was but one Great-heart."

"I am so tried and tempted," said a very sincere person, in his hearing, "that I fear I shall never hold fast my profession." "Let this thought encourage you," he observed, "The temptations of to-day, if resisted, will lose much of their force to-morrow. Neither let this be forgotten, as a warning,Once yield to a temptation, and it will acquire double strength."

Some one observing to him, that many religious teachers are accustomed to tell the people, that, when tempted, they should never reason, "It is absurd," he replied, "the very climax of absurdity. For what was reason given us, if we are not to use it when we most need direction? Did not Christ reason with the devil, and foil him with his own weapons? Reason would say, 'How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?' It would suggest to us our own weakness, and direct us to seek help from above. No, sir, it is not reason we have to fear, but appetite, which reason should control. It is because men do not reason, that they so often act unreasonably and unscripturally."

A gentleman one day remarking to Mr. D. that very reprehensible expressions were often used in the pulpit,—“ Aye, sir," said he," the pulpit is the strong hold of the ignorant dogmatist. A man wiser in his own conceit than seven men who can render a reason,' gets up where he knows no one may contradict him, and utters nonsense and invective by wholesale."

In the course of conversation, a question was mooted, relative to extravagant gesture and expression in the pulpit, and the propriety of attempting to move the passions of an audience, as a means of affecting their consciences.

"I see no impropriety," said a gentleman," in the use of

such means.

Have they not been followed by the conver

sion of thousands of sinners?"

"This, sir," replied Mr. D., "does not prove them to be good, though they may have been overruled for good. I have known an individual apparently owe his subsequent religious conduct to an escape from the flames? Would you think it expedient to set your neighbour's house on fire, in order to alarm him, and save his soul? or would you introduce a pestilential disease into a neighbourhood, because the fear of being the victims of such a visitation has led to the reformation of many sinners? I grant, sir, that there may be exempt cases; but I fear that, in general, such methods of saving souls are included in the definition of fanaticism of maintaining that the end sanctifies the means, and of doing evil that good may come. It may be difficult to trace the exact boundary of right and wrong in these matters; but it must lie between man's animal and rational nature."

To a correspondent, who inquired his opinion of religious revivals, Mr. Drew replied thus: "If the phrase, revival of religion, be taken in its proper sense, as denoting the extension and increase of vital godliness, I should be no Christian were I to view it with indifference or aversion. If you couple it with noise and excited feeling, (and without these many people would think the term inapplicable,) I pause before I either approve or condemn. In point of reason, speculation, propriety, and decorum, my voice is decidedly against the manner; and if I thought that it was the effect of human artifice operating upon weak intellects and strong passions, I would condemn it altogether. But when, without any ground for this suspicion, I see the profligate reclaimed, the abandoned reformed, and the vicious undergoing a moral renovation, I abandon all my fine-spun objections, and remain silent at a spectacle so salutary in its effects, and so mysterious in its process.

"I fear, however, there is an artifice with some preachers and people to light up this contagious fire. I have been behindthe curtain, and have seen a little of it; and am filled with