tion of this doctrine must necessarily produce universal obedience to the law of God.

In private circles, he obtained the confidence and esteem of all classes of society. The urbanity of his manners, an inexhaustible fund of anecdote, appropriate to every topic of conversation, ever rendered him the easy, pious, and agreeable companion. His friends were many; of whom, through the whole of his Christian pilgrimage, he never lost a solitary individual. In the course of four years' extreme sufferings, in which all the arts of medicine were baffled, and in which his comely person was reduced to an object exciting universal pity and sympathy, he never lost the tone of spirituality, nor betrayed the murmuring word, or sigh, or look.

MEMOIR

OF THE LATE

REV. JAMES STEVEN, D.D.

OF KILWINNING, AYRSHIRE, AND FORMERLY OF CROWN-COURT CHAPEL, LONDON.

Ar the period of the formation of the London Missionary Society, and for twenty-five years subsequent to that date, the ministers belonging to the Scotch Church, in the metropolis, acted in full harmony with their evangelical brethren of other denominations, and thereby not only advanced the interests of their own congregations, but kept "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Such men as Drs. Hunter, Nicol, Trotter, and Steven could not have been converted into the mere organs of an ecclesiastical party; nor could they have been tempted to quit the high vantage-ground of "the communion of saints," for any selfish benefit which could thereby have accrued to the interests of that church to which they were honestly attached in life and in death. They felt the high and sacred pleasure arising from the fellowship of kindred minds; and could their testimony reach us from their seats of glory in heaven, we are persuaded it would be to this effect, "that the happiest hours of their earthly pilgrimage were spent in communion with men who did not rank

in the same ecclesiastical denomination with themselves." Indeed, we happen to know, upon evidence which cannot deceive us, that they were not the men of a party; and that they did what they could during the whole of their public life, to teach charity and good-will among the disciples of our common Lord and Master. Had they aimed, which doubtless they did, in the British metropolis, to secure the prosperity of that branch of the Christian church with which they stood connected, they could not have adopted a more effectual method for realizing the best objects of their heart. Their churches prospered; their places of worship were crowded; and all the orthodox Dissenters in the metropolis felt themselves bound by a kindly link to the church of Melville and Knox. Things have been very different of late years; but whether they have worked as well for the church of Scotland, and for the several Dissenting bodies, may be reasonably questioned. A few men like Dr. Steven would bring back the golden age, and would restore that harmony and good-will, which have suffered an unfortunate eclipse.* This honoured servant of Christ was one of the most devoted friends of the London Missionary Society, and acted a very prominent part in all the early meetings which led to its ultimate establishment, as a great organ of Christian benevolence. He was present at that pentecostal meeting which was held on the 21st of September, 1795, and was appointed, by his ministerial brethren, to lay open to the assembled delegates of the churches, the several steps which had been taken in order to prepare for the first great public meeting of the Society. His address on that occasion is said to have been marked by its pre-eminent wisdom and adaptation, as well as by its stirring zeal and devotion.

Dr. Steven was a native of Scotland, and was born in the town of Kilmarnock, in the month of June, 1761. His parents belonged to the respectable middle class in society; but were eminent for their piety, industry, and correct deportment. They educated their son in the fear of God; and early instilled those religious sentiments into his mind, which, by the Divine blessing, proved of signal advantage to him in after-life.

Nor were," observes Dr. Steven's son,† "their labours in vain in the Lord. Early feeling the power of religion on his heart, he resolved to devote himself to God, in the * We venture to believe that matters are a little improved since the above was written. The editor is much indebted for this sketch to a memoir drawn up by the Rev. C. B. Steven, of Stewarton, Ayreshire, the son of the deceased, which appeared in the Edinburgh Christian Instructor, for September, 1838.

gospel of his Son. Having finished his preparatory studies, for which his native town afforded him peculiar facilities, he entered the University of Glasgow; and after passing the ordinary course of academical and theological study, he was licensed to preach the gospel by the Presbytery of Paisley. He had not long received his license, when he was called to assist the venerable Mr. Dow, the aged minister of the parish of Ardrossan. While in this situation, his ministry was singularly acceptable, the church being well attended, and often much crowded. His connection, however, with the people of that parish was not to be of long continuance. After discharging the duties of an assistant for rather more than a year, he was called to a charge of his own, by being unanimously elected minister of a large and respectable congregation in connection with the Church of Scotland, in Crown-court, London."

Dr. Steven's settlement in London took place in 1787, when the churches belonging to the kirk were all in a highly prosperous condition, and when their ministers possessed an influence unrivalled in the metropolis. Dr. Hunter was in the zenith of his popularity at London; Dr. Trotter, a man of slender parts, but of great devotion, was eminently successful at Swallow-street; Mr. Smith laboured with success at Camberwell; and Dr. Love had just been placed at Artillery-street.

"With such men as these Dr. Steven was associated, and the value of his labours was justly appreciated by the flock which engaged them, as well as by those who were favoured with them occasionally. His congregation comprised a large portion of the wealth and respectability of the Scottish interest in London, and the number of members in full communion exceeded eight hundred. Dr. Steven preached regularly three times on the Lord's day, and his week-day labours in preaching and pastoral visitation were incessant.

"The situation of a minister in London, whose congregation is gathered from all parts of the metropolis, must be attended with considerable difficulties. He must cultivate intimacy with them by visitation and conference, while he must retain their attendance on his public ministry by a series of edifying and attractive ministrations. With all his disadvantages, a zealous and acceptable minister of one of the Scots churches in this holds a station of rare usefulness, and compared with which Scotland shrin

In referring to Dr. Steven's position as a minister in London, it is but bare justice to state, that it was, in the highest degree, respectable. His talents as a preacher were of a masculine order, and commanded the approbation of men of all ranks and denominations; while his personal deportment was so gentlemanly and urbane, that it won the esteem and affection of all who mingled with him in private life. There was, moreover, such a full exhibition of the great truths of the gospel in his public discourses, that they not only attracted those who knew and valued the doctrines of grace to his chapel in Crown-court, but became, through God's blessing, the means of the conversion of very many souls. While he continued in the metropolis, it was difficult to find admission to his place of worship; and such was the attachment of his flock towards him, that nothing on their part was wanting to prove that they "esteemed him very highly in love for his work's sake." In the history, perhaps, of the Christian church, there never was a happier union subsisting between minister and people, than that which was realized for the space of sixteen years by Dr. Steven and "the flock of Christ, over which the Holy Ghost had made him overseer."

London was evidently the sphere to which Dr. S.'s talents and habits peculiarly adapted him. He was popular, active, and devoted to public business; and the societies which sprung up during his stay in the metropolis, and in which he took a zealous part, drew towards him a large measure of the public regard. The individuals, too, with whom he was called to act, were men according to his own large and generous heart. Drs. Bogue, and Waugh, and Love, and Nicol, and other kindred spirits, were the favourite associates of his public and private walks; with whom also he was wont to take sweet counsel, and on many happy occasions to repair to the house of God. These hallowed friendships were greatly strengthened and purified by the delightful and improving intercourses which took place in 1795, in connection with the formation of the London Missionary Society. Esteem ripened into confidence, and confidence into love; so hat it may well be questioned whether, on this side eternity, ere will ever be found a circle of holy and devoted men more dially attached to one another, or more united in the noble

of honouring Christ, and promoting the immortal f the human race.

en's removal to Scotland, in 1803, was an event

deeply lamented by a large and influential circle of friends. Dr. Bogue, and many wise and good men endeavoured to dissuade him from accepting the charge of the parish of Kilwinning, which had been offered to him, without any solicitation on his part, by the patron, the Right Hon. the Earl of Eglinton; and many members of his congregation added their solicitations that he would remain: but a desire to labour in the land of his fathers, and some few disagreeables in his congregation, which were not regarded as formidable by any of his discreet friends, led him to determine on accepting the proposal of his new patron.

"Lady Eglinton, who adorned her exalted rank by eminent piety, and regular observance of divine ordinances, having repeatedly heard Dr. Steven preach in London, was deeply solicitous to give the people of Kilwinning a pastor of tried gifts, and acknowledged usefulness, especially as this was the church her family attended. Accordingly, Dr. Stevens was admitted by the Presbytery of Irvine to the pastoral charge of Kilwinning, on the 25th of March, 1803, and introduced to his people the Sabbath thereafter, by the Rev. Dr. Balfour, of Glasgow."

Though thus removed from the metropolis, he did not allow himself to forget the scene of his labours for sixteen of the happiest and most prosperous years of his existence. He conducted a large and interesting correspondence with his friends in the south; from which it not unfrequently appeared, that he doubted the propriety of his quitting his attached flock in Crown-court. The editor once saw a letter to an intimate friend, in which Dr. S. frankly confessed, that he did not regard himself as blessed with equal success in Scotland as in England. We have understood, that between him and Dr. Bogue a frequent and confidential correspondence was conducted to the hour of his death, and that it would be truly edifying to the church of Christ, were its contents laid open to the Christian public.

The cause of Missions continued through life to engage a large measure of the attention of Dr. Steven; and to the London Missionary Society, in particular, his attachment was unabated to the hour of his death. In 1811, eight years after he had quitted the metropolis, he received and accepted an invitation from the Directors of that institution to preach one of its annual sermons. His appeal was animated and powerful, and, at the close of his discourse, which was preached in Tottenham-court Chapel, he gave utterance to the following striking and pathetic sentiments:

"I was one of the founders of this Society, a circumstance in my life, the recollection of which I hope to carry with pleasure in my mind to the brink of the grave. Like other societies of mortal beings, this institution has already lost, and in the future lapse