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Nor ought it to be forgotten, amidst the daily rivalry of the periodical press, that the profits of the Evangelical Magazine have been employed, from its commencement, in gladdening the hearts of the widows and orphans of holy and devoted ministers of Evangelical sentiments, both within and without the pale of the national church. When it is remembered, that nearly EIGHTEEN THOUSAND POUNDS have been expended by the Trustees upon such deserving and interesting objects, it will be immediately felt, by all who are influenced by the tender mercies of the Gospel, that, apart from the intrinsic merit of the work itself, it is the duty of every one possessing the ability, to become the purchaser of a Magazine, which has done more than all the other periodical publications of the day, good and excellent as many of them are, to lighten the sorrows and to revive the joys of the widowed heart: Surely Ministers of the Gospel will not overlook this feature of the Evangelical Magazine; and if they do not overlook it, certain it is, that, from motives too tender to be resisted, they will exert every honourable effort to perpetuate and even to increase the circulation of a work, whose spirit is love, whose sentiments are truth, and whose aim is to unite the church and to save the world.

The Editors can but rejoice to know, from the most authentic information, that the cause of the Redeemer, both at home and abroad, advances with inconceivable rapidity, Missionary, and Bible, and Tract, and School Societies, are all labouring with tokens of Divine success; and the wilderness and solitary place are beginning to blossom as the rose." In the British and Foreign Bible Society, indeed, painful agitations have arisen. But even these have been but as the shakings and convulsions of the material world, which brighten, the natural heavens, and chase away those vapours which taint the vital air. The Bible Society erred; by its subsequent decrees and acts it has proved its repentance; and only the spirit of national jealousy and irritated feeling now prevents the co-operation of any portion of the Christian public. Blessed be God! England has known when to silence the voice of her complaint, and when to drop the weapons of hostility!

The Trustees cannot close this Address without dropping a tear of unaffected lamentation over the memory of their departed fellowlabourers, the Rev. John Townsend and the Rev. John Davies. They have gone to receive their blessed reward, and others have now entered on their labours. Very pleasant were they to their brethren and friends, who hope ere long to meet them in the skies.

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THE

EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE

AND

MISSIONARY CHRONICLE.

JANUARY, 1826.

MEMOIR OF THE LATE REV. DAVID BOGUE, D. D. OF GOSPORT, HAMPSHIRE,

Ir is due alike to the living and the dead, to exhibit examples of departed worth calculated to excite a holy emulation. The church of God would be injured by neglecting to record the life, and labours, and virtues of Dr. Bogue, in proportion to the loss it would have sustained if God had never raised up such a man to bless the world. A conviction of this truth has led many to preach and to print funeral sermons for this great man, and now induces us to open the year 1826 with a Memoir of one who so diligently improved the fleeting moments of time.

"David Bogue was the fourth son of John Bogue, Esq. of Halydown, Berwickshire, justice of the peace, and Margaret Swanston. They were a most pious and exemplary couple; and their great care of their children, who were twelve in number, was rewarded in the delight which their son David afforded to their advanced age. Most of their sons were educated for learned professions. The fourth, whom we now have lost, was born on the first of March, 1750, and was initiated into classical literature at the gram

VOL. IV.

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mar school of Eyemouth. thence he went to the university of Edinburgh, where he studied eight or nine years. Here his pious deportment and proper associates attracted the notice and respect of all who were themselves respectable; and here he took the degree of A. M. He came, while young, into England, in order to assist his countryman, the Rev. Wm. Smith, both in his school at Camberwell, and in the congregation at Silver-street, London. Providence soon directed the steps of Mr. Bogue to Gosport, Hants, where the dissenting congregation was destitute of a pastor, in consequence of the resignation of Mr. Watson, who exchanged the ministry of the gospel for the profession of the law; and after being made serjeant at law, went out to India as a judge, with the title of Sir James Watson. short time prior to his embarkation he was observed among the hearers of his venerable successor. Dr. Bogue afterwards informed the writer, that he expressed his hope to Sir James that he would protect the missionaries who might go to India.

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The judge replied, Certainly; if they keep to their proper business-religion, and do not interfere with political affairs." Our friend, now deceased, consented to this condition, observing, that a missionary's business was simply religion, and that he had nothing to do with the politics of any country to which he went.

The congregation at Gosport had been divided in consequence of the dissatisfaction of many of its members with the services of Mr. Watson, who afterwards shewed that he was not satisfied with his own profession. Those who separated had invited Mr. English, afterwards Pastor at Wooburn, Bucks, who was ministering to them when Mr. Bogue came to Gosport, and soon gained his esteem. Mr. English therefore called his flock together, and informed them, that as a pastor was now chosen to the church to which they originally belonged, in whom they might all unite, the cause of their separation ceased to exist; and Mr. English deemed it his duty to resign the pastoral charge over them. At the same time, Mr. Bogue advised his flock to write a kind letter, inviting their former brethren to return. They accepted the invitation; and thus terminated their separation, in a manner most honourable to all the parties concerned. Christians, and especially Ministers, see here how blessed are the peace-makers, for "they shall be called the sons of God."

The parents of Dr. Bogue received great delight from hearing of his excellence and usefulness as a minister of Christ. When the father of our friend died, in 1786, he continued the same dutiful son to his mother; for, while she lived, he made regular visits to his native place, and preached much to her edification. She died in 1805, full of hope and joy. There is but one brother now surviving, and his lady informs me, that

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our departed friend was a most affectionate brother. He had one dependant sister, to whose support he contributed largely, and also gave a small annuity to an old servant who lived with her at her death.

Far from considering, as some foolishly do, a superior education as an exemption from the necessity of subsequent study, he applied himself most indefatigably to reading and composition. His lamp went not out by night. While yet unmarried and before the labours of the tutor were added to those of the pastor, he laid up those stores which future duties would require, but future avocations would forbid to accumulate. reading was greatly in the line of foreign divinity and biblical literature, in which his library was particularly rich.

His

While a young man, he travelled on the continent of Europe for the improvement of his mind. Having acquired a command of the French tongue, he visited the capital of France, and in his future life he often shewed the profitable use he had made of that opportunity of studying mankind. From France he went into Holland, and visited the most remarkable places in that country, which had been the asylum of religious liberty and the seat of sacred science.

On his return he devoted all his acquisitions to the promotion of religion in our native land. The meeting house at Gosport was small, inconvenient, and in a disagreeable part of the town; but the zeal and influence of our departed friend roused the congregation to erect in a very desirable spot a respectable building, sixty feet by fifty, with three galleries, which was at that time the best dissenting-place in the county, and it is believed that the whole expence was defrayed by those who were to worship in it.

In the year 1788, Mr. Bogue was married to Miss Charlotte Uffington, whose father was well known in

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