struggle. During the whole time of his illness he has had perfect peace. Not a doubt ever troubled his mind. The glories of the eternal world occupied all his thoughts, even when wandering. Thus, my dear brother, a great and good man has fallen in Israel. He was one of the little band which, more than thirty years ago (now more than fifty years ago, 1851), went forth over the breadth and length of the land, to proclaim to their fellow sinners the unsearchable riches of Christ; and he has been the first who has been called to his reward. His loss will be severely felt. Christ liveth, and that is our comfort and the confidence of the church."

Mr. Aikman died on the 6th of February, 1834, in the sixty-fourth year of his age, and thirty-seventh of his ministry. On the 13th he was buried under the communion-table in the chapel which he had built. Mr. James Haldane, at the request of the church and the relatives of the deceased, delivered on the occasion, from 1 Thess. iv. 13-18, an able, solemn, and Scriptural address, to the large company and congregation of mourners; in the course of which he bore a just and honourable testimony to the faithful companion of his early labours, and which was heard with the deepest attention by all present.

Mr. Aikman's character was strongly marked,

1st, By generosity. The Lord had given him the means, and the heart to use them. He remembered the poor. He used hospitality without grudging. He did faithfully whatsoever he did to the brethren and to strangers, who have borne witness of his love before the church. While delicate even to scrupulosity in pressing for contributions from others, he was not only willing to bear his own share of any common burden, but ready to be burdened himself the more heavily, if he might thereby be excused from importuning his brethren. The Lord, who loveth a cheerful giver, enabled him to illustrate the blessed maxim, foretold as characterizing the reign of Christ, "the liberal deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things shall he stand."

2nd, By Christian cheerfulness. His delicate state of health must have been very discouraging to one of his ardent zeal and active habits; yet he never seemed to be much depressed by it. Some of his preaching tours were undertaken when he was apparently far from being equal

to much exertion; but his health almost always improved as he went on, espe cially when he saw a blessing attending his labours. Although the night air was hurtful to his eyes, and he could hardly bear the glare of the lights in the place of worship, he was very loath to forego the pleasure of preaching on the Sabbath evenings to a large and mixed congregation. He persevered in writing many sermons, with great neatness, care, and accuracy, when his eyes were so weak that he was obliged to write on darkcoloured paper. But what surprised me most of all was, that, when confined all day long in a dark room, with the window-shutters closed-as he sometimes was for weeks together, his eyes being unable to bear a single ray of lightwhen a friend called on him, his conversation was as sprightly as if he had no experience of any privation; or rather his spiritual joy seemed to increase in proportion to his trying situation.

3rd, By devotional habits. eminently a man of prayer.

He was

He not

only excelled in this exercise to the edification of his church, and of all serious persons who had an opportunity of join ing with him in it, whether in public or private; but he at all times was remarkable for manifesting a sense of its importance. "Pray for me, my brother," was not only the appropriate request in affliction, and particularly in his last illness; it was habitual with him, at meeting and parting, through life. He would hardly ever discuss any subject of deliberation without, first or last, or both, proposing prayer for Divine direction. If anything seemed to be going wrong, he would say, "Ah! there has been too little prayer about this business." He was also most exemplary for the solemnity of his prayers on all occasions, however familiar from custom, or brief. There was never any semblance of careless formality when he gave thanks at meals, which is often lamentably the case even among undoubted Christians. On the contrary, his tender sense of unworthiness, his unfeigned gratitude, his moderation, his conscientious vigilance to avoid giving offence, his endeavour to be use ful in conversation, the genuine kindness of his hospitality, and his desire that his friends might, with himself, enjoy better blessings than those which perish with the using; in short, his whole behaviour at table, and everywhere, showed his sacred regard to the apostolic injunction, "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or

whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."

4th, By love to all saints. While decided in the choice of his Christian fellowship, he never ceased to cherish the apostolic sentiment, "Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity." Not to name living characters, John Newton, of the Church of England, David Black, of the Church of Scotland, the Methodists who proved such a comfort to him in Jamaica, the Moravians whom he met with in going to, or returning from their distant missions; and of the Baptists, Andrew Fuller, John Ryland, and above all, Dr. Charles Stuart, who attended him in his illness in this country, when he first came home from Jamaica, with whom he corresponded after his return to that island, and with whom he always lived on terms of intimacy and friendship, from the time he settled in Edinburgh, to the end of the doctor's life.

5th, By courage and decision. He was naturally acute, and "the spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord, made him," after the likeness of his Master, "of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord." In questions between truth and error, duty and sin, he was never slow to answer to the call, "Who is on the Lord's side?" To false brethren he "would give place by subjection, no, not for an hour, that the truth of the Gospel might continue with you." He had no sympathy with those who are not valiant for the truth upon the earth. On the contrary, when he felt it to be needful, he would exhort that we should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. Notwithstanding a quick temper, he was taught by grace to exemplify James iii. 17, 18: "But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace."

Mr. Aikman was servant of all for Jesus' sake. His many infirmities often prevented him from performing duties on which his heart was set; but he possessed a vigorous and capacious mind, richly endowed with every accomplishment calculated to attract and benefit all

men, and especially to establish the people of God in the faith and hope of the Gospel. For more than forty years he maintained, through grace, an unblemished profession of the truth; and lived in the expectation of the coming of the Son of man. But he greatly disapproved of the erroneous sentiments entertained by many, of Christ's personal reign on earth, and showed the absurdity of supposing that he would be reigning personally in Jerusalem with his saints, while the ordinary business of this world was being carried forward in other parts of the earth.

During the whole course of his ministry, he showed the greatest anxiety for the extension of Messiah's kingdom-a feeling which he strongly evinced to the last. Accordingly at his death, he directed a considerable part of his property to be devoted, after Mrs. Aikman's decease, to the spread of the Gospel; but, by mismanagement, his wishes have been unhappily frustrated.

It was allowed that he excelled in expository lectures. There are still living those who remember his instructive lectures on Genesis and Exodus,-likewise those on the two Epistles to the Corinthians, the delineations of the character of the Apostle Paul, and the exposition of most of the minor epistles. It is deeply to be regretted that the many volumes of discourses which he left in MS. are unreadable- being in shorthand - by those into whose hands they fell.

His sermons were purely evangelical. To believers they were edifying, and the careless they were calculated to arouse to concern. Being methodical, they were easily remembered by his hearers. Their style was chaste and simple, and they were delivered with seriousness, and with a considerable degree of energy.

The only publication to which he ever gave his name was, "Observations on Exhortation," &c. This treatise was useful in allaying the agitation which had been excited on the subject; but he occasionally wrote articles which appeared in the Missionary Magazine, under the signature "Philalethes."

His work is done. He has entered into rest. By his instrumentality many were added to the Lord, who will be "the crown of his rejoicing in the day of Christ."

the times as the Providential comment upon Mark x. 42, and Luke xxii. 25. But whilst churches, as such, and not their officers, officially, should be entirely and perfectly independent, and ministers and people all one in Christ Jesus, and in brotherhood; yet it is certainly not essential to this constitution of things that every little church should have a stated pastor. The contrary has manifestly been believed and acted upon: hence the complaints about difficulties. No infringement on Independency need be feared from any such plan. The churches will take good care not to suffer that from without. They have seldom or never been in danger from that quarter; and they are less in the humour to suffer it now than ever. The terrible schism in the Episcopal and Wesleyan sects has greatly increased the fortitude of the free men in the defence and maintenance of their freedom. Whilst, however, Independency, as a principle of church polity, is irrefutably perfect, and that which is evidently destined to batter all bigotry, and destroy sectarianism; yet, I am convinced that its working admits of amendment, and that the simple, precedented plan here advocated would be a vast improvement in the exhibition of the principle, and eminently conducive to the prosperity and comfort of the churches that are founded upon it, and which receive from it their denomination. I am, Sir, very respectfully, W. E. SADLER.

East Donyland, Colchester,

Aug. 7, 1851.

THE foregoing letter indicates so much good sense, and right feeling, that we deemed it entitled to publication; but we must not be understood as concurring in all its views. We have our doubts about the periodical election of deacons; the subject has been repeatedly pressed upon us by Correspondents: but we have uniformly declined their communications as not calculated to further the interests of religion, and to promote the welfare of the churches. It is, we think, liable to serious objections, and we do not think it can ever become general in England. We see not, moreover, how the principle can be confined to the Diaconate. Must it not likewise, in justice, be extended to the Ministry? and would it not in both cases, in actual working, lead to a world of heartburning and contention, injustice and cruelty? It were easy, we think, to draw unexaggerated pictures of what would certainly arise, such as would speedily cure all desire of such experiments. Were we writing an essay rather than entering a caveat, we should go at length into the question of the Diaconate, and remind our readers, that the office is honorary, often laborious, and, for the most part, thankless. The number of properly qualified men, moreover, even in the largest churches, is by no means so abundant, that the church may

be annually gratified by the exercise of its suffrage in this direction. For the most part, even under the most favourable circumstances, a re-election would be inevitable, unless the church should make up its mind to perpetrate folly for the sake of variety. Again; it will be found at this moment, that the great mass of the Diaconate is composed of, confessedly, the best men the churches can supply; and further, it will be found, on an honest scrutiny, that the bulk of the churches are not only satisfied, but hold their Deacons in the most profound esteem for their works' sake, and on the ground of their personal character. The

lords," the "tyrants," the "despots," are far fewer than calumnious clatter, voluble folly, and disappointed vanity Iwould have the world believe. There are here and there, we grant, bad cases; this cannot be denied; it is confessed, and deplored, and all the more as, in most cases, it is an evil of difficult cure. For the most part, in all such instances, the churches will be found small, and poor, and likewise so defective in their pecuniary arrangements, as to be unable to bear their own burdens. The result is, that they lean upon men of comparative opulence, who become necessary to them. Such men have money on the chapels; they are in advance for the current expenditure; they are placed in a position which sometimes compels them to say sharp things, and to do decisive ones; the churches will not do their duty, and thus many Deacons at length reach a line, in the way of contributions, and of advance, which, without failing to "order their affairs with discretion,' they find they cannot pass; and they, therefore, determine to call a halt. of this state of things a crisis arises, and as the short way of discharging arrears of obligation, the more active spirits of the church throw round them a mantle of obloquy. It is found to be much less gratifying to flesh and blood to do duty than to abuse benefactors! Not a few cases of "atrocity," closely examined, will turn out to be of the above description. The cure for the Deacon, really bad, and unworthy of the office, is, to take heed of the election. Let the churches beware of confounding grace with position; and wealth with wisdom. Let them walk by the Apostolic rule. Other things being equal, men of substance and position, on various grounds, are entitled to the preference. But if the churches will be satisfied to be " car

Out

nal and to walk as men," and "hold men's persons in admiration because of advantage," let them take the consequences! Let them not be astonished if they reap as they sow! The laws of heaven will not bend to their folly.

But it is not enough to attend to the election; they must also attend to their own duty towards the Gospel, remembering that they who are to preach the Gospel must live by it; and that this is the appointment of the great Master himself. Let things be so managed, that the moneys the Deacons shall be required to pay shall be the moneys of the churches, and not their own. Should the annual scheme come to be prevalent, it will give a curious turn to the money-matters of many a fellowship, and lead the churches to look about them; for, assuredly, if there is to be an annual election, there must also be an annual settlement of accounts. As pecuniary matters are now managed, in a multitude of cases, we should not have been surprised to hear of the project emanating from the Deacons for an annual election; but till things be managed on improved principles, it will neither be safe nor seemly in the bulk of the churches to moot the subject.

Again; we must enter our most emphatic protest against the doctrine of variety, which our Correspondent sets forth.

Did

"The unrelieved monotony of one voice, one style of delivery, and one countenance," is language from which we recoil. It fills us with astonishment, that it should ever issue from the lips of a good man. The spirit of novelty is the very essence of corruption! Was it not the very point of Apostolic reprehension in the Corinthian church, that they said, "I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ? he not on this very ground denounce them as "carnal, walking as men?" Such a state of feeling invariably indicates low piety, and, existing in a very high degree, it renders the fact of it altogether doubtful. Our Correspondent must here again extend his principle to the whole body of the ministers of the churches; and, then, what will follow? Nothing can meet the necessities of the case, and appease the cravings of such an appetite, but constant change, and how is this to be realised? Either the hearers must go to the novelty, or the novelty must come to the hearers. Either they must have Methodism, or as Mr. Jay expresses it, become "religious vagabonds.'

Our worthy Correspondent is sadly out in his views of the "evil peculiar to poor churches in the country." So far from being an evil, where proper provision is made in a suitable pastorate, it is a great advantage, and a protection against a sore temptation. Itching ears are generally found in great towns and cities; this is a malady from which the honest people of the provinces are largely free. Again; he is much in error as to Surrey and Tabernacle. In both these venerable edifices, for many years, the system of constant change has been put an end to; and, under the regular pastorate, they have both attained to such numbers as they never possessed under the former system. The supply system has everywhere worn itself out. With a solitary exception, it is now extinct in London. With a few superior Deacons it is easy to see, indeed, that, with good Supplies, a church will get on better than with an inefficient pastor; but this is only to say that a man will get on better with a wooden leg than with a limb that is paralysed.

But while disputing the reasons of the proposed plan of our worthy friend, it must not be supposed we are disputing the plan itself, which, were it not rendered impossible by distance and diversity of taste, would be a vast improvement on the state of things it is proposed to remedy. But from these, not to mention other grounds, a careful survey of the subject, in the light of experience, and of human nature, will forbid the indulgence of even a feeble hope of any very general success in this direction. To mention nothing else, it would require half a generation to pass away before three churches could agree upon one pastor, and when this was accomplished, only half the difficulty would be overcome, since the man of their choice, if endowed with a fair share of discretion, would require to think twice before he embarked in such an undertaking. Thus, then, while it would be a remedy of a sort, it is still a very imperfect one.

Since writing the above, we have received the following letter, which abounds in spirit, and contains much deserving of notice. There is obviously a dash of exaggeration about it, but still it is worthy of the attention of those to whom the subject appertains.

THE CHOICE OF DEACONS. EVERY one who is acquainted with the working of Independent churches, knows well that the comfort and usefulness of both pastor and