David Carnegie Andrew Agnew

“ In the sermon named first, there is this able and instructive statement:—
“The Word of God is not a mere string of moral precepts — an abstract creed — the dry rubric of a ritual service. The Bible is history — the only history of the greater half of time; it is poetry — the chosen source of the inspiration of almost all the great poets of modern days; it is deep argument; it is philosophy. Thus it connects itself with every branch of human knowledge; it awakens and interests every taste; it finds illustration in every art; it is associated with all that is striking in nature. ”

“ When I hardly believed I had the honour of being yet in your memory, you made me see that there I am in almost the same rank as the crowned heads and sovereign arbiters in polite literature, by regaling me with the same present which you offered to them, and which they have received so well. As yet I have been able only to run over your beautiful tables; but I have already been so much charmed with the distinctness both of the printing and of the matter, that when the binder has put them into shape, they will prove a most agreeable and constant recreation for my eyes and my mind. ”

“ Distinguished in various forms of literary composition, engaged in various duties of his ecclesiastical profession, and blessed with a long and honourable life, he nobly exemplified the rare and illustrious virtue of charity. The esteem, the affection, the reverence, which I feel for so profound a scholar and so honest a man as Dr. Jortin, make me wholly indifferent to the praise and censure of those who vilify without reading his writings, or read them without finding some incentive to study, some proficiency in knowledge, or some improvement in virtue. ”

“ Lord Sunderland does earnestly request Lord Galway, Lord Somers, and all his friends not to think of him, but to act as if he was not in the world. If he were worth having, I would say that there is no way but to forget him, which was desired so often, as you know, at the beginning. But after all the clutter has been made, if he should just now engage in business, it would be pretending to miracles which he is very unfit for. Lord Godolphin has convinced Lord Sunderland that what was thought of being done by the House of Lords, cannot; so that it must fall as being vain. ”

“ The whole world, Sir, which has received upon all its coasts some remainder of our shipwreck, is filled with admiration of the unexampled effects of your Majesty’s clemency. . . . . We must, Sir, be wholly insensible, if we had not all of us the highest sense of so great a bounty; and we should justly appear to the whole world to be unworthy of this your paternal care, if, notwithstanding that low condition to which we are now reduced, we should not prostrate ourselves before your august throne, with the humblest demonstrations of thankfulness. ”

“ But to teach what God has done for us in the work of redemption is a doctrine to be found in the Christian religion only. The real essence of Christianity lies in this first part, for all other religions teach salvation by the works of man toward God, but our religion exhibits salvation as the work of God toward man. Salvation is grounded upon the good which God bestows upon us, not upon the good that we do. Hence it follows that morality is not the fundamental doctrine of Christianity. On the contrary, that part of it which we call morality is built upon the grace of God. ”

“ Almighty God, Creator of all things, in whose hands are life and death! glory be to Thee for all Thy mercies, and for the prolongation of my life to the common age of man. Pardon me, O gracious God, all the offences which in the course of seventy years I have committed against Thy holy laws, and all negligences of those duties which Thou hast required. ”

“ Vous l’avez bien prevu des le commencement; mais la voix de Dieu, qui s’est fait ouir en celle du Roi, et en l’approbation unanime de toutes nos Eglises, vous a inspiré le courage de ne pas resister à une vocation pleine de tant de difficulties. Et la grace du ciel, qui ne nous appelle jamais en vain, vous y a tellement beni, qu’en gardant religieusement à notre Souverain la fidelité et la reverence dûe à S.M., vous avez eu pour nos affaires le soin et l’affection que nous attendions de votre piété. Continuez, Monsieur, ce que vous avez heureusement commencé. ”

“ Since thou — the mind’s celestial ease and mirth—
The greatest happiness we have on earth —
By heav'n art fixed in her that gave me birth;
My life’s dear author, may your virtuous soul
Pursue the glorious race, and win the goal. ”

“ So will we do in this, and be as joyful of it, and no less thankful for it, and make the same to be for ever an occasion unto us of more faithful subjection to our own dread Sovereign — whom, Lord, we beseech, now and evermore most mercifully bless, with health of body, peace of country, purity of religion, prosperity of estate, and all inward and outward happiness, and heavenly felicity. This grant, merciful Father, for the glory of thine own name, and for Christ Jesus’ sake, our Mediator and only Saviour. ”

“ As most do, she died as she lived. As her body grew weak her faith and hope grew strong, comforting her comforters, and edifying all about her: even magnifying the goodness of God that she died in a country where she could in peace give up her soul to Him that made it. What a glorious thing, doctor, ’tis to live and die as sure as she did! ”

“ I have full in view the beaten path along which ail mankind must pass. . . . Think, my dear sister, of that enormous crime which you have committed at the instigation of those who gave you birth, — that terrible shipwreck which keeps you engulphed in a sea of misery. For these twelve years and more, do not the waves of God’s justice go over you? I wish to say, have you not, since the beginning of that period, added crime to crime? ”

“ I beg of you to assure the Duke of Zell and the Elector that I shall continue all my lifetime in the same sentiments of respect and attachment for their family. I am too old to change, and too deeply impressed with the sentiments of the late King, my master, ever to deviate from them. Besides, I love my religion and hate slavery. I hope my son, who is on his return from Italy, will have the honour of making his court at Hanover, and of being received as the son of a faithful servant to the family. ”

“ II.
“The believer is reconciled to God, being no longer under the
law as a covenant of works but under grace, he loves the law and walks with God
in sweet obedience to it; he sets out and goes on every step in faith,
trusting to the acceptance of his person and his services in the Beloved;
he does not work now in order to be saved, but because he is saved, and
he ascribes all he does to the praise of the glory of free grace;
he works from gratitude—the faith of God’s elect always does—
it never fails to show itself by love.” ”

“ A great degree of solid and useful and elegant knowledge, acquired, by the application of excellent abilities, with habitual and unwearied industry; an heartfelt interest in the public good; a charitable attention to that of every private person; and such a belief of religion and obedience to its precepts as constitute the real dignity and happiness of man, — are the most striking features in this unflattered portrait. ”

“ What a medley of inconsistent accusations has been made use of to blacken a poor exiled people, and make them odious to the Queen and nation ! Fifteen years ago, to render them equally the objects of public aversion and contempt, they were represented as a people born and bred in slavery, always ready to be the instruments of the unlimited power of princes, and consequently dangerous in a government where the legislative power is mixed. ”

“ And for that, O Lord, thou hast commanded us to pray for our enemies, we do beseech thee, not only to abate their pride and to stay the cruelty and fury of such as, either of malice or ignorance, do persecute them which put their trust in thee, and hate us, but also to mollify their hard hearts, to open their blind eyes, and to enlighten their ignorant minds, that they may see and understand, and truly turn unto thee, and embrace that holy Word, and unfeignedly be converted unto thy Son Jesus Christ the only Saviour of the world, and believe and love his Gospel, and so eternally be saved. ”

“ Walk humbly, as the creature with the Creator, but in love, with thine own God. Humble thyself with God, Who humbled Himself in the flesh. Walk on with Him, who is thy Way. Neither humility nor obedience alone would be true graces; but to cleave fast to God, because He is thine All, and to bow thyself down, because thou art nothing, and thine All is He and of Him. It is altogether a Gospel precept.”
Dr. Pusey died at Ascot Priory, where he happened to be on a visit, on 16th September 1882, in his eighty-third year. ”

“ I cannot say that I have learned in England to be a moderate man in matters of religion, for I never approved any sort of persecution one moment of my life. But ’tis in this country that I have learned to have a right notion of religion — an advantage that can never be too much valued. Being a studious man, it was very natural for me to write some books, which I have done, partly in English and partly in French, for the space of twenty years. ”

“ Was it wise by such measures to precipitate multitudes of men into the despair of a religious atheism, and into the danger of a sort of political atheism which threatened the State? Was it thought possible to depend upon men who were rendered impious by necessity, who were subjected by violence, and who were, at the same time, deprived of civil advantages, and even of the rights of nations? ”

“ It cannot fail, therefore, to develop the powers of its advocates to the utmost. Whether for explanation or defence, Christianity urges the chronologist to his calculations, the historian to his researches; it descends into the eruxails of the earth with the geologist, or scales the heavens with the astronomer; the metaphysician analyses the mind — the critic deciphers manuscripts and weighs syllables — in its service; it inspires and employs the genius of the poet and the artist; the proselytizing spirit, which animates it, compels it to study every language and to examine every creed ”

“ But if men are to be censured when they give their opinions to the best of their understandings, I must expect to be found fault with as well as the rest. My Lord Galway and everybody in Spain have done their duty. And though I must own that Lord has been unhappy, and that he had no positive orders for a battle, yet I must do him the justice to say, that the whole council of war were of his opinion, to fight the enemy before the coming up of the Duke of Orleans with a reinforcement of ten or twelve thousand men. ”

“ During the remainder of Queen Anne’s reign, we meet with Lord Galway chiefly in Lady Russell’s letters. In 1712 she wrote to him in these terms :
“I can thankfully reflect I have felt many (I may say, many) years of pure and (I trust) innocent content, and happy enjoyments as this world can afford, particularly that biggest blessing of loving and being loved by those I loved and respected : on earth no enjoyment certainly to be put in balance with it. All other are like wine, intoxicates for a time, but the end is bitterness, at least not profitable. ”

“ Though I congratulate the most illustrious Duke, your brother, and your excellent niece, a lady whose example is worthy of everlasting remembrance — to both of whom it was given, even in death itself, to commit their triumphant souls into the hands and faithful keeping of God — yet in the midst of so many most distressing tidings it afforded me no common comfort to hear that you have been snatched from the very jaws of death, and are still preserved to us in safety. ”

“ A learned author calls it a heaven full of asterismes — a body full of eyes — in which, if there be any defect, it is the too many beauties crowded together, and like a banquet of sweetmeats, must be tasted at intervals, lest it prove over-lushious and cloy, and one thing impare the relish of the other, though each be exquisite in its self. ”

“ Never was the mind of a human creature so racked with fears and anxieties till the ship was under sail. But she no sooner saw herself disengaged from the country which she loved best, and where she had left all her relations, than her spirits began to rise and discover that kind of joy which others, after a long absence, testify on their approach to the place of their nativity. ”

“ These nobles, struck dumb with astonishment, soon recovered the use of their faculties so far as to resolve on instant flight as their only security, and they exerted themselves so effectually as to escape the Duke of Guise’s pursuit, sailed to England, and raised their swords in many a future day of fair battle, and obtained victories against a perfidious tyrant who, by firing on his unarmed innocent subjects, in the hour of peace and of generous confidence in his solemn oaths, had forfeited all the rights of sovereignty and even of common humanity. ”

“ No incident of the war made such a painful impression in England as the execution of André, and none left behind it such bitter and lasting memories; while to have spared his life would have at once been acknowledged as an act of clemency, would have appealed to all that was noblest in the English character, and would have done more than any other conceivable event to bring about a speedy and complete reconciliation between the two hostile branches of the British race. ”

“ I have left for ever a country where I enjoyed as much worldly happiness as was possible, to come to live and die in another, where I have no other expectation nor means to advance myself but only through your kindness and favour. ”

“ George Courtauld, “after a life of most varied enterprise in America and in England, invested what property he finally found himself possessed of in the purchase of lands in the Western States, and died as he was about to introduce the growth and manufacture of silk into the State of Ohio. He was a man of great power of character, and of great philanthropy, and it is said of him that in all his path through life he left a track of light behind him.” ”

“ New earths — new heavens to descry;
She gave (the utmost that her love could do)
Tears to every feeling true, —
Those that with gushing flood the countenance o'erflow
Where boisterous passions glow —
And those more mild and meek
Which trembling eyelids pour
In trickling shower
Down the changing cheek. ”

“ All the glory of Lord Peterborough was tarnished by our sacrificing that people, for it evidently would have been better if Catalonia had never been taken. Lord Peterborough, at the time when he ought to have joined Lord Galway at Madrid, had been made our ambassador for the express purpose of residing in that capital and consolidating King Charles’s dynasty. We have seen how Lord Galway drove the Duke of Berwick’s forces before him, and how also the concentration of the French forces, for their siege of Barcelona, had cleared Lord Galway’s road to Madrid. ”

“ The Emperor and the Duke were always in covetous imagination dividing the foreign dominions of Spain as their spoils. The former had delayed too long to send his son, Charles, to push for Madrid; so that of the two rival princes, Philip, in the eyes of Spaniards, had long been the one who really cared for Spain. Lord Peterborough, having none of the ballast of a true statesman, could easily be tempted by Austria and Savoy to throw the British policy overboard, and to ridicule the steady head of Lord Galway. ”

“ I fought as long as a man stood beside me, until numbers overpowered me, losing also an immense quantity of blood, from a dozen wounds which I received. I was looked upon as one of the slain, and as such I was plundered, but Providence gave me sufficient strength to drag myself off from the enemy’s hands. When I began to be conscious of recovery, the generals intimated to me that the service of the States required that I should be transferred to the Duke of Savoy’s forces. ”