as well as an acquaintance, at least with the prevailing errors of the day, and the best arguments by which they have been refuted; and, in addition to this, a power of stating clearly to others those truths which he has learned himself to perceive, are qualifications indispensable for every person who dares to undertake so responsible an office. He who ventures into the busy walks of life without a competent knowledge of the secular profession which he has chosen, will speedily feel the punishment of his folly in the failure and contempt which it will inevitably entail upon him: the ignorance or incapacity of a Clergyman may not, perhaps, so immediately interfere with his temporal interests, and may escape the notice of his earthly superiors; but he is accountable to a Master who cannot be deceived; and rash, or desperate, indeed, are those who venture to break the vow which bound them to devote their time and faculties to his service.

"I have ofttimes," says the excellently learned Bishop Bull, "not without wonder and indignation, observed the strange confidence of empyricks in physic, that dare venture on the practice of that noble art, which they do not at all understand; considering how, for a little paltry gain, they shrewdly hazard, or rather certainly destroy, the health and lives of men; and have judged them worthy of as capital and ignominious a punishment as those that kill men on the highways. But I have soon exchanged this meditation into another of more concernment to myself; and my indignation hath quickly returned into my own bosom, when I consider how much bolder and more hazardous an attempt it is for a man to venture on the priestly office; to minister to the eternal health and salvation of souls. How much skill is requisite to qualify a man for such an undertaking! How great care in the discharge of it! What a sad thing it would be, if, through my unskilfulness or negli. gence, any one soul should miscarry under my hands, or die and perish eternally!"

The Flowers.-By Bishop Horne.

THE HELIOTROPE.

THROUGH all the changes of the day,

I turn me to the SUN:
In clear or cloudy skies I say,
Alike-Thy will be done!

THE VIOLET.

A lowly flow'r, in secret bow'r,
Invisible I dwell;

For blessing made, without parade,
Known only by my smell.

THE LILY.

Emblem of Him, in whom no stain
The eye of Heav'n could see,
In all their glory, monarchs vain
Are not array'd like me.

THE ROSE.

With ravish'd heart that crimson hail,
Which in my bosom glows:
Think how the lily of the vale
Became like Sharon's rose.

THE PRIMROSE.

When Time's dark winter shall be o'er,
His storms and tempests laid,
Like me you'll rise a fragrant flow'r,
But not, like me, to fade.

THE GARDEN.

The bow'r of innocence and bliss
Sin caus'd to disappear:
Repent, and walk in faith and love-
You'll find an Eden here. -

DAY-BREAK.

Dawn of day! thy twilight dress
Dropt by him who fashion'd earth,
A mantle seems of holiness,
Ere the womb of shapeless night
Ere the morning stars had birth,
Heay'd creation into light.

Dawn of day! how pure to me
Is all thy fresh-born fragrancy
Of odours that from night-fall rise,
A yet untainted sacrifice.
From Gon's footstool to his throne-
Oh, that I so could waft mine own!
Dawn of day! how rapt thy hush
Of stillness, ere from brake or bush
Beast do rustle, bird take wing,
Or noise of any earthly thing
Which seems to breathe a heavenly charm.
Break in upon that holy calm,
Sweet, ah sweetest dawn of day!
Like all that's sweet, how brief thy stay:
Tips eastern clouds with garish red,
For now the sun, in beamy spread,
And gathering sounds the ear steal on-
Dawn of day! thy charm is gone.

Life of the late Rev. JOHN PARKHURST, A. M.

THE REV. JOHN PARKHURST, the subject of this sketch, was the second son of John Parkhurst, Esq. of Catesby-house, in the county of Northampton, by Ricarda, the second daughter of Mr. Justice Dormer, and was born in June, 1728. He received the earliest rudiments of his education at the school of Rugby, in the county of Warwick;-an education which, by intense mental labour, aided by a mind eminently gifted with sound judgment and deep penetration, he rendered perfect in itself, and beneficial to the world of letters, as well as to the cause of the Christian religion. The whole life of this truly excellent man and devout Christian, was honourable to human nature; and his death a sublime example of faith and resignation. From Warwickshire he removed to Clare-hall, Cambridge, where he proceeded A.B. 1748, A.M. 1752, and was some time fellow of his college. Not long after his entering into holy orders, his elder brother died. This event made him the heir of two considerable estates, the one at Catesby, in the county of Northamp ton, and the other at Epsom, in the county of Surrey: but as his father was still living, it was some years before he came into the full possession of them; and when he did, the acquisition of fortune produced no change in his habits, or his pursuits. He continued to cultivate with ardour the studies becoming a Clergyman; and from his family connexions, as well as from his piety and learning, he certainly had a great right to look forward to preferment in his profession; but an early attachment to retirement, VOL. III.

17

[VOL. III.

and to a life of close and intense study, prevented him from seeking any. In the capacity of curate, but without any salary, he long officiated for a friend with exemplary diligence and zeal. When, several years after, it fell to his lot to exercise the right of presentation, he was unfashionable enough to consider church-patronage as a trust rather than a property; accordingly, resisting the influence of interest, favour, and affection, he presented to the vicarage of Epsom, in the county of Surrey, the Rev. Jonathan Boucher. This gentleman was then known to him only by character; but having distinguished himself in America, during the revolution, for his loyalty, and by teaching the unsophisticated doctrines of the Church of England, at the hazard of his life, Mr. Parkhurst thought that he could not present to the vacant living a man who had given better proofs of his having a due sense of the duties of his office.

In the year 1754, Mr. Parkhurst married Susanna Myster, daughter of John Myster, Esq. of Epsom; this lady died in 1759, leaving him a daughter and two sons; both his sons have been dead some years, but his daughter survives him, and is the widow of the Rev. James Altham. In the year 1761, he was married a second time, to Millecent Northey, daughter of Thomas Northey, Esq. of London, by whom he had one daughter, married in 1791, to the Rev. Joseph Thomas. This lady, reared under the immediate inspection of her learned and pious father, by an education of the very first order, has acquired a degree of classical knowledge which is rarely met with in the female world; and those mental endowments

are still more highly embellished by the exercise and example of every domestic virtue.

Mr. Parkhurst's second wife closed her well-spent life at the advanced age of 79, on the 27th of April, 1800, having survived him upwards of three years. Never were modest worth, unaffected piety, and every domestic virtue, more strongly illustrated than in the character of this most amiable and excellent woman. Her sweetness of temper, simplicity of manners, and charitable disposition, are seldom paralleled, and never excelled.

In the year 1753, Mr. Parkhurst began his career of authorship, by publishing in 8vo. "A Friendly Address to the Rev. John Wesley, in relation to a principal Doctrine maintained by him and his Assistants." This work, however valuable, we may safely say, was of very little importance when compared with his next publication, which was "An Hebrew and English Lexicon, without Points; to which is added, a Methodical Hebrew Grammar, without Points, adapted to the Use of Learners," 1762,

4to.

To attempt a vindication of all the etymological and philosophical disquisitions which are scattered through this work, would be fruitless; but it is not, perhaps, too much to say, that we have nothing of the kind equal to it in the English language. Continuing to correct and improve this excellent work, he published a second edition, much enlarged, in 1778, and a third edition in 1792.

His philological studies were not confined to the Hebrew language; for he published "A Greek and English Lexicon to the New Testament; to which is prefixed a plain and easy Greek Grammar," 1769, 4to; a second edition, 1794; and, being desirous of making his literary labours more generally useful, he determined on publishing octavo editions of both Lexicons, still further enlarged and improved; for he continued to revise, correct, add to, and improve these works, till within a few days of his death. He had but just completed the copies, and received the first proof

sheet of the Greek Lexicon from the press, when it pleased the All-wise Disposer of human events to take this learned and excellent man to himself. Fortunately the task of filial virtue devolved on his daughter, Mrs. Thomas, whose extensively cultivated mind enabled her to undertake the charge of completing her father's purpose; and this work was published in 1798. As, from their nature, there cannot be supposed to be any thing in Lexicons that is particularly attractive and alluring, the continued increasing demand for these two seems to be sufficient proof of their merit.

In 1787, Mr. Parkhurst published. "The Divinity and Pre-existence of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, demonstrated from Scripture, in Answer to the First Section of Dr. Priestley's Introduction to the History of early Opinions concerning Jesus Christ; together with Strictures on some other Parts of the Work, and a Postscript relating to a late Publication by Mr. Gilbert Wakefield." This work was very generally regarded as performing all that the title-page promised; and, accordingly, the whole edition was soon sold off. The brief, evasive, and very unsatisfactory notice taken of this very able pamphlet by Dr. Priestley, in a "Letter to Dr. Horne," showed only that he was unable to answer it.

Besides the above works, there is, in the Gentlemen's Magazine for August, 1797, a curious letter of Mr. Parkhurst's on the Confusion of Tongues at Babel.

Mr. Parkhurst was a man of very extraordinary independency of mind and firmness of principle. In early life, along with many other men of distinguished learning, it was objected to him, that he was an Hutchinsonian. Though Mr Parkhurst continued to read Hutchinson's writings as long as he read at all, he was ever ready to allow that he was oftentimes a confused and bad writer, and sometimes unbecomingly violent. To have been deterred from reading the works of an author, who, with all his faults, certainly throws out many useful hints, for fear of being thought an Hutchin

sonian, would have betrayed a pusillanimity of which Mr. Parkhurst was incapable. What he believed, he was not afraid to profess; and never professed to believe any thing which he did not very sincerely believe. He was indeed a most earnest lover of truth. The study of the Scriptures was at once the business and the pleasure of his life; from his earliest to his latest years, he was a hard student; and had the daily occupations of every twenty-four hours of his life been portioned out, as it is said those of king Alfred were, into three equal parts, there is reason to believe that a deficiency would rarely have been found in the eight hours allotted to study.

What the fruits have been of a life so conducted, few theologians, it is presumed, need to be informed, it being hardly within the scope of a supposition, that any man will sit down to the study of the Scriptures without availing himself of the assistance to be obtained from his learned labours.

Mr. Parkhurst's character may be collected with tolerable accuracy, even from this imperfect sketch of his life. His notions of church patronage do him honour; and as a farther instance of the high sense he entertained of strict justice, and the steady resolution with which he practised it on all occasions, an incident which occurred between him and one of his tenants may be here mentioned. This man falling behind-hand in the payment of his rent, which was 500l. per annum, it was represented to his landlord that it was owing to his being over-rented. This being believed to be the case, a new valuation was made: it was then agreed that, for the future, the rent should not be more than 450l. Justly inferring, moreover, that if the farm was then too dear, it must necessarily have been always too dear; unasked, and of his own accord, he immediately struck off 50%. from the commencement of the lease; and instantly refunded all that he had received more than 450l. per

annum.

Mr. Parkhurst was in his person

rather below the middle size, but re markably upright and firm in his gait. He was all his life of a sickly habit: and his leading so sedentary and studious a life (it having, for many years, been his constant practice to rise at five, and in winter to light his own fire) to the very verge of David's limits of the life of man, is a consolatory proof to men of similar habits, how much, under many disadvantages, may still be effected by strict temper ance and a careful regimen. He also gave less of his time to the ordinary interruptions of life than is common. In an hospitable, friendly, and pleasant neighbourhood, he visited little; alleging that such a course of life neither suited his temper, his health, nor his studies. Yet he was of sociable manners; and his conversation always instructive, often delightful : for his stores of knowledge were so large, that he has often been called a walking library. He belonged to no clubs; he frequented no public places: and there are few men, who, towards the close of life, may not, on a retrospect, reflect with shame and sorrow, how much of their precious time has thus been thrown away, or, perhaps, worse than thrown away. Like many other men of infirm and sickly frames, Mr. Parkhurst was also irritable and quick, warm and earnest in his resentments, though never unforgiving. But whether it be or be not a matter of reproach to possess a mind so constituted, it certainly is much to any man's credit to counteract and subdue it by an attention to the injunctions of religion. This Mr. Parkhurst effectually did: and few men have passed through a long life more at peace with his neighbours, more respected by men of learning, more beloved by his friends, or more honoured by his family. The subject of this biogra phical sketch serenely closed a life of study and of virtue, far removed from the din of senseless pleasures and the follies of trivial society, after a most painful and lingering illness of ten months, on the 21st of February, 1797, at Epsom, in Surrey, where for many years he had resided. Mr. Parkhurst's remains now repose in his