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AN ELEGY

On the Death of the Rev. Dr. Bogue.

WHEN, levell'd by the wintry gust,
Some stately cedar lies in dust,
Around the waving saplings rock,
And earth with trembling feels the shock;
Its place a dreary void appears,
Unfill'd for many future years.
So, when the greatly good shall fall,
The shock is feft, is own'd by all,
And many a mourner wails in vain,
"We shall not see his like again."
Thus Zion bows her languid head,
For BOGUE-the man of God-is dead.

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SUPPLEMENT

TO THE

EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE.

FOR THE YEAR 1825.

CHARACTER OF AN AGED DISCIPLE,
COMMUNICATED BY HENRY BELFRAGE, D.D.'

AN opinion exists among some professors of religion, that the most eminent disciple of Christ is the ardent zealot, the acute polemic, and that the milder and softer qualities have few claims to notice. Such an idea is directly opposed to the statements of Scripture. The sacred writers tell us, that the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit is in the sight of God of great price; and Jesus places them mueh in the third class of his followers. Moses is thus characterised:-" He was very meek, above all men that were upon the face of the earth." Jesus himself thus describes his own character:- "Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; and so strongly was this idea of our Lord's temper impressed on the minds of his followers, that Paul beseeched the Corinthians by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. The man who is eminent in this temper will live in the hearts, and die amidst the tears, of all about him. Such was the man to whom this short Sketch is devoted.

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Mr. J. S. was early attached to religion. He lived while a boy with a grandfather, who took great delight in instructing him. He used to tell, with deep interest, how that good old man

VOL. III.

frequently came to him into the fields where he was tending the cattle, sat down beside him, and addressed to him the counsels of piety; how he was affected with the fervour with which he spoke of the excellencies and of the dying love of the Saviour, and with his earnest injunctions to fear the Lord in his youth. After he left him, he used to kneel down in a lonely spot, and beseech the God of his fathers to fill him with the knowledge of his will, and with the Spirit of his grace. To his last day his mind recurred to those scenes where it first opened to piety, and where God was pleased to accept the kindness of his youth.

He was distinguished for his attachment to religious ordinances. He lived at some distance from the place of worship, yet not only in the vigour of life, but even in old age, he was seldom absent. He used to say, that he was always happiest in the house of his God; and in his days of frailty he tried to recruit his strength at the end of the week, that he might be able to repair to the gates of Zion on the Sabbath. His demeanour during divine service was uncommonly grave. He sat with his eyes shut, and there 3 B

was on his countenance an expression of solemnity and reverence which has struck the careless. The wandering eyes and the irreverent postures of many worshippers give pain not only to the ministers of religion, but to all who tremble at God's word. They are sad indications of the state of the heart, and are often employed by the profane to justify their contempt of religious ordinances, and to give point to their sarcastic reflections on the little interest which the rites of religion are able to produce. He was in the habit of writing down on Monday morning the text which had been illustrated, with any remarks which he recollected, and spent some time in earnest prayer for the blessing of God on the gospel of his grace. His Bible is marked in a great many places at the texts which God had blessed for enlightening and comforting him. It was delightful to see the interest taken by his family in those portions of the word on which God had caused him to hope: they will be monitors to his descendants to cultivate that piety which blessed all the years of his life, and all the changes of his lot; and while they teach them to know the God of their fathers, and to serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind, may they yield to them that consolation and hope which they imparted to him, and by which God, in successive ages, gives testimony to the word of his grace!

He enjoyed a considerable measure of religious tranquillity. His mind was so happily balanced, and the course of his life was so regular, that he was in a great measure a stranger to that rapturous excitement, or that extreme depression, experienced by those whose lot is marked by great vicissitudes, who possess less sobriety of mind, or have more vehement feelings. He uniformly exhibited the serenity and kindness of a heart at peace with God and

man.

On one occasion of his life, after the death of his wife, to whom he was much attached, he was afflicted with painful apprehensions of the wrath of God. In the season of deep sorrow a gloom sometimes gathers over the heart, in which the objects we used to contemplate with delight, are seen invested with horror, and the consciousness of our secret faults excites the afflicting idea, that God is rebuking us in his wrath, and that the present calamity is but the beginning of sorrows. Such was this good man's dismay, but he obtained relief in prayer. While pleading earnestly in his closet with God for mercy to himself as a sinner ready to perish, that text was impressed on his mind with such power as filled him with joy unspeakable, "The Lord hath put away thy sin; be not afraid, thou shalt not die." At this time he felt much anxiety about his son, who was much affected by the death of his mother. He remarked, that the death of a mother was peculiarly trying, and that the sorrow of one that mourneth for his mother is mentioned by the Psalmist as a very bitter sorrow. With much affection he laid open to him the consolations of the gospel, and while the tear in his eye showed how he had felt the bereavement he had met with, his calm submission taught him the power of resignation and the influence of hope. At an after period, when that youth was labouring under strong solicitude about his eternal salvation, he, with much wisdom and kindness, directed his steps to the Cross, encouraged him by setting before him the invitations and promises of the Saviour's grace, and combated with great skill, tenderness, and patience, all the suggestions of fear and despondency. He did not marry a second time, but wished his son to form such a connexion in marriage as might prove a blessing to them both. His prayers for the guidance of Heaven to his son were happily answered, and he lived with

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