We extract the following observations on this subject quoted from an un-named writer :

"Our first feeling, on seeing the time of life at which his career of usefulness has been stopped, is to regret his early departure from among us;—but this is to estimate his life by the standard of ordinary exertion and accomplishment. In scarcely threescore years he had fully executed the work of threescore and ten or fourscore years;-and though one might have wished, that by imposing some restraint upon his benevolent ardour, he had prolonged the term of his active power, that ardour was so essential a part of his character, that he must have changed his whole nature in order to be influenced by any thought of sparing himself. He has really left none of the great objects of life unaccomplished. He has filled a sphere of duty more ample and various than almost any man of his time, as a pastor, an instructor of youth, and a theological writer ;he has left to the professors of what he believed to be Christian truth an example of the Christian life, on which they will long meditate with delight and improvement, and to which they may point as one of the brightest proofs that the principles and opinions which the religious world in general condemns, as incapable of producing vital religion, are calculated to cherish piety and evangelical faith, no less than the moral and social virtues. He has lived to see his family grow up, and attain the age of developed character and established principle. We must

not then think of him as of one who has been cut off before his season; but rather as having early finished the work which had been given him to do; and as the reward of more than common activity in the discharge of duty, released from further service, and permitted to enter into his rest without the long probation of weakness and decay which generally accompanies the last stages of life.

“These are the views [the Editor continues] on which the minds of those who loved him would calmly rest. Those whom he had guided in youth, looked for his counsel in maturity; but he had dwelt among them sufficiently long to impress his image on their hearts, and to enable them to picture him in every scene, and to conjecture what would have been his advice in every trouble, his consolation in every trial. It may be, that they relied too much on his guidance, co-operation and sympathy; and that the time was come when it was expedient that he should go away, that they might be more influenced by his spirit.

"His mind had already undergone much of the discipline of old age. He was gradually retiring from service; he saw others occupying the places he once filled; and he looked forward to the period when this would be more and more the case. His sons remember his affectionate playfulness, which clothed a feeling of deeper growth, when he would ask them for their arm in walking, saying that the time was coming when he must rest more upon his children;—and when he saw others entering the field of service, he was ready to adopt the pious expression of the humble Baptist, 'This my joy is fulfilled;' they must increase, but I must decrease.' Yet it is questionable whether he would have been happy, if he had long outlived the power of exertion."-pp. 451, 2.

When we consider, not merely the exemplary diligence with which Dr. C. carried on his labours in his Master's vineyard, and the success which on the whole was permitted to reward them, but also the cheerful animation which usually lighted up his countenance, attendant on the consciousness that he had not laboured altogether in vain, it may naturally excite some surprise that his periods of mental debility and exhaustion should have been so often accompanied with a painful dejection and depression of spirits. On this subject the following remarks of the biographer appear to us very judicious, both in their general character, and in their particular application:—

"Every one well acquainted with religious biography must have observed, that good men of all denominations, especially when weighed down by weakness, have taken dark views of their spiritual condition ; and to these the Christian minister is peculiarly liable. He has, from his office, a greater insight into the requirements of the Gospel than those who are busy in the world; his range of duty is sometimes wider than he seems able to defend; and he feels, that though he may appear to others pure and without offence, he may in reality be a greater transgressor (by continually falling short of his duty, in regard to his thoughts and dispositions) than the ignorant and uninformed, who are breaking the outward law without offence. While humbled by his acute sense of imperfection, he is also perplexed by the commendations of those who, struck by the fervency of his public devotions, impressed with reverence for his office, and moved by his appeals to their consciences, and the high standard of moral excellence which he holds forth,—and seeing much in his conduct which harmonizes with his profession, exalt him overmuch, and load him with commendations of which he knows himself to be unworthy. He feels that he cannot make them understand his errors and his secret faults; and, while passively hearing their good report, he is in danger of falling a prey to regret for his involuntary hypocrisy, or of being lulled into the fatal slumber of self esteem. If the mind is awakened in a period of weakness, the Calvinist forgets the virtues of the atoning sacrifice, -the Unitarian perceives not the full import of the glorious doctrines that God is infinitely merciful, and that Jesus has proclaimed forgiveness on repentance ;-the one doubts whether he is indeed an heir of the promise, the other hesitates as to the genuineness of his repentance. It is possible that Dr. C. when in health, suspecting that his conscientiousness was in danger of degenerating into a scrupulosity inconsistent with a full sense of the paternal character of God, diverted his thoughts into a different channel, when he perceived them tending to that fear which perfect love casts out. Now, however, he dwelt too much on his inward state, and as his powers of judgment were impaired by illness, he condemned himself, not only too sternly, but also incorrectly."—pp. 302-304.

Many a one, we imagine, who looks back with chequered feelings on half a life spent in the responsible station of a

Christian minister, will be somewhat startled on finding thoughts which have often passed through his mind, but have never perhaps been so plainly expressed in words, suddenly laid before him in this manner, by one who is only on the point of entering on the same course.

It is not a little remarkable, that in both Dr. Carpenter's visits to the Continent, when labouring under severe indisposition, circumstances should have led to his being placed under the care, not of any member of his own family, nor even of any tried and attached friend, but of comparative strangers, who nevertheless watched over him with an affectionate care and tenderness, as if they had known and valued him for years. In his first journey, he was introduced, when at Paris, by their common friend Dr. Blair, to Colonel, now General Pitman,who finding that the physicians recommended a winter's residence in the south of France, actually gave up a projected tour in Italy, in order to devote himself to one who had no claim upon him of personal friendship, whom he had scarcely ever seen before, and who was known to him only by the report of a valued friend. He invited Dr. C. to travel with him, and omitted no arrangement or attention which could add to his comfort or promote his recovery.

"We are aware that every circumstance is providential,-that without God nothing cometh to pass. This, however, is a doctrine which we are in general led to receive from faith in scripture, and from the conviction of abstract reason, rather than from the plain manifestation of the Divine attributes in what passes around us; and therefore we are wont to term providential, in an especial manner, those events in which we can peculiarly trace the finger of God. Of such a nature was this;—it seemed out of the bound of probability, that a Unitarian Minister, and one, too, chiefly known out of his more immediate circle as a controversialist, should be thus travelling as a guest, receiving the most affectionate care, with an officer of rank in the army, conscientiously attached to his own church, of whom two years before he had scarcely heard. Yet this, though a marked, is not an uncommon instance of the retributive goodness which here we see in part.' He himself laboured for others, without inquiring what claim they had upon his exertions, without regard to their creed or their previous circumstances; and though he did not always reap where he had sowed, he gathered where he had not planted; and he was continually receiving unlooked-for kindness from those in a different circle of society;-unlike himself in almost every thing but goodness of heart."—p 307.

Certainly nothing could exemplify more strikingly than this very interesting incident, the extraordinary power which Dr. C. possessed from first to last, of conciliating the regard and attachment of all to whom he was personally known. It was this

power, in addition to their sense of gratitude for his services, and their general esteem of his character, which enabled him to acquire such an uncommon personal ascendancy in both the congregations with which he was connected as a minister. It also contributed in a great degree to the powerful influence which he possessed over the younger members of his flock, to whose welfare and improvement he devoted himself with a zealous and affectionate earnestness, which could hardly have been exceeded if he had had no other object to occupy his time and attention. In this respect he has been equalled by few, and excelled we should think by none. In the young of all ranks and classes he ever took a most deep and affectionate interest, and regarded the promotion of their improvement and spiritual welfare as the most important object of his life. Some of the letters which he wrote to several of his young friends whom he watched over with tender solicitude in the hours of sickness and approaching departure are inserted in this Memoir, and cannot be read without emotion. They are interesting and touching in a high degree.

The interest which Dr. Carpenter took in young persons in general, leads us to speak of his character as an instructor of youth an office in which he greatly excelled, and to which a large portion of his time was devoted. His talents as a mere instructor in the various branches of knowledge commonly taught in schools were very considerable, but his superiority here also was chiefly seen in the moral power which his singular uprightness, purity, strength of principle, and truly christian kindness of heart enabled him to acquire over his pupils. The most remarkable characteristics which distinguished him in this capacity are well described in a letter to the Editor from the Rev. James Martineau, who had ample opportunities of observation, first as his pupil, and afterwards as his coadjutor.

Dr. Carpenter's extensive experience in every department of education gives additional value and authority to the views of this important subject, which he has laid before the public. These appeared first in Dr. Rees' Cyclopædia, under the three titles of Intellectual, Moral, and Physical Education; they were afterwards collected by the author and reprinted with little alteration in a separate volume, entitled "Principles of Education." The three articles are all of them worthy of their author; but that on Moral Education appears to us the most valuable. Indeed we have not met with any work in which this part of the subject is treated with so much judgment and ability, with such satisfactory minuteness of detail, and on such pure, enlightened, and, in the best sense of the word, evangelical principles. Many

of his practical suggestions on the cultivation and discipline of the affections, are founded on the Hartleyan Theory of the Human Mind, of which Dr. C. was a great admirer, and which he has. done much in various publications to popularize and recommend to the more general attention and study of those interested in these important inquiries. Hartley's Rule of Life he held in high estimation as an admirable compendium of practical morality, founded not only on a philosophical view of the constitution of the mind, but on an habitual reference to the authority of Scripture. "Hartley," said he, "I deem my second Father; for it was from him that I first gained accurate and consistent ideas on the subject of human duty."

Besides what is introduced as it were incidentally in this work, Dr. Carpenter wrote much on Mental and Moral Philosophy; most extensively in two articles under these titles in the Cyclopædia, which contain a fuller development of the general principles he had derived from the study of Hartley. These articles, or rather extensive treatises,-though they bear every appearance of having been prepared in haste, and doubtless under the pressure of his usual urgent and varied avocations, contain the results of much deep and well-matured reflections on the important subjects of inquiry to which they relate ;and if they also had been published separately, after having had the benefit of a little compression and abridgment, would have been a most acceptable present to the lovers of metaphysical and ethical researches. He himself, however, was dissatisfied with them, probably for the reasons we have already referred to, and valued more highly the chapters on the same subjects, contributed by him to the well-known work entitled "Systematic Education;" in which the same general principles are unfolded more concisely, but in a more distinct and attractive form. As these volumes have had a pretty extensive circulation, it may be hoped that the portions contributed by Dr. C. have been instrumental to a considerable extent in diffusing a taste for these valuable and improving studies.

A list of the author's numerous publications is appended to this volume, at the conclusion of which we are glad to observe the announcement, as in preparation for the press, of "Lectures on the Atonement, or the Redemption of Mankind by our Lord Jesus Christ." These were intended as a sequel to the Examination of Magee; and we anticipate such a view of the subject as will recommend the doctrine he supports, not only by powerful argument and learned criticism, but by an earnest and successful endeavour to derive from it the most valuable practical inferences for the establishment of the Christian.