God in Christ is now the centre Lord, constrain my heart by love W. J. ORIGINAL ESSAYS, COMMUNICATIONS, &c. address of thE REV. DR. RAF- yield a ready obedience to the call, FLES AT THE GENERAL CEME- (To the Editors.) GENTLEMEN,-As your Correspondent B. J. P. has brought before the notice of your readers the General Burial Ground at Manchester, allow me to state that the General Cemetery established at Liverpool, on the same principles, stretches over a larger site, and possesses a covered aisle or cloister for interment, and in its general appearance, I think it may be said, without being guilty of invidious comparison, is more tasteful, and its erections more architectural than the burial ground of our Manchester friends. it has not been without a wish that their choice had fallen upon one more acquainted with the detail of their proceedings, and, therefore, better able to give a correct and luminous statement of their intentions and their plans. "The necessity of some additional provision, on liberal principles and an extensive scale, for the decent interment and the secure repose of the dead, in this great and rapidly increasing population, has long been apparent to many benevolent and public-spirited inAs Dr. Raffles delivered the opening address at the request of the Committee, dividuals, some of whom have Feb. 1, 1825, I have presumed to send presumed to send been for years anxiously looking you a copy of it, published agreeable to for a piece of land, in every retheir resolution, because it has only had a local circulation, and as it forms a tractspect suitable for such a purpose. of only eight pages, I wish to see it To constitute perfect eligibility, it inserted in your pages, where it is more likely to be preserved than in its present ephemeral form, and where, I trust, it may attract the attention, and provoke the activity, of our London Dissenters. A METROPOLITAN. "ADDRESS. "IT has been deemed advisable, by the Committee appointed to conduct the affairs of this Cemetery, that, on the present interesting and solemn occasion, ere we proceed to commit the ashes of our departed friend to this new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid, an address should be delivered, explanatory of the principles on which this Burying-place is established, and on which its concerns will be hereafter regulated and conducted. I have been honoured by the call of the Committee to discharge this duty; -and, though I could not but was deemed essential that the Burying-place should be without the boundaries of the town, yet immediately contiguous,—and so happily situated, with regard to the avenues of approach, and the adjacent neighbourhood, as to be easily accessible from every part. The Committee flatter themselves, that, as far as can reasonably be expected, these requisites will be found united in the spot where we are now assembled. "The evils resulting from crowded Cemeteries in the midst of populous cities, not only in a physical, but even in a moral point of view, must be too obvious to require any specification here. Their natural tendency to generate and diffuse infection, has often been alarmingly and fatally felt; while the practice of burying in churches, and places appropriated for religious worship, seems to be peculiarly reprehensible-not merely on account of the superstitious feelings in which the custom originated, but from the glaring violation of propriety, and often of decency, involved in making the same place a receptacle for both the living and the dead, as well as the injurious consequences to the health of society necessarily arising out of such a strange combination. It is recorded, that on preparing a grave for a person of rank in one of the churches of Nantes, the body of a near relation, who had died nine months before, was displaced, and the coffin accidentally shattered, from which an infectious principle instantly diffused itself around with such virulence, that no less than fifteen persons who attended the funeral died within eight days. The offensiveness of many of the church-yards in the very heart of Liverpool, is matter of general notoriety and complaint; and I have myself sat in a place of worship, belonging (to their shame be it spoken) to the community of which I am a minister, where the bones of the dead were lying exposed, and mingled with the naked earth beneath my feet. Nor is the moral effect of such a state of things a matter of trivial consider ation-for if the idea of death is calculated to exert a powerful and salutary influence on the conduct of life, it must not be rendered too familiar, by being indecorously blended with the scenes and objects of our common intercourse, nor disgusting, by an indecent exposure of its loathsomeness. Every thing connected with it, should be solemn and impressive;-still, and silent as the grave, are proverbial expressions with us-and in such stillness the heart is both at leisure and disposed to hold serious com. munion with itself; but where is the stillness or solemnity of death, where the funeral obsequies are performed amid the noise and tumult of business, and the grave is perpetually trodden by the rude and hasty feet of an idle rabble, or the thoughtless passenger? "In the city of Paris, the evils resulting from the burial of the dead in the midst of the crowded city became at length so apparent, that the government found it necessary to interfere. The offensive practice of heaping corpse upon corpse, in deep trenches dug for the purpose, was strictly prohibited, and two large burialgrounds, beyond the walls, were opened for the reception of the dead, one for the southern, and one for the northern division of the city. The well-known Cemetery of Père-la-Chaise is the theme of every tourist's admiration, while the catacombs-those subterraneous quarries, whence the city was built, and where the bones of millions of human beings are deposited, all carefully cleaned and decently arranged-deliver a most impressive lesson to the curious visitor, and furnish an example worthy of universal imitation. "With a view, in some degree, to counteract the evils and realize the ideas already hinted at, and also to afford to all the privilege of committing their dead to the grave according to their own views of the rites of sepulture-not to descend to minor considerations, very properly stated in the prospectus issued at the commencement of the undertaking-this spacious piece of land, containing five statute acres, and rendered freehold by the Marquis of Salisbury, the Lord of the Manor in which it lies, has been purchased the lofty walls by which we are surrounded have been built—and these handsome and commodious edifices, the one a chapel for the funeral service, and the other a dwelling-house for the Chaplain and Registrar, have been erected. The whole property is divided into 700 shares, at the original cost of £10. per share, held by persons of all denominations, including many respectable members of the Established Churchno one individual being allowed in his own right to possess more than twenty-and the ground, thus defended, and furnished with suitable buildings, is given in trust for the purpose of a GENERAL CEMETERY OR BURYING-PLACE FOR EVER; where all persons may bury their dead, either with, or without a religious service, and according to such forms and methods as they shall severally approve. The services of the Chaplain will be at all times at the command of such as are diposed to avail themselves of them. On these occasions it will be left to him to conduct the service as he shall think most for the edification and instruction of the parties present; the Burial Service of the Church of England, with a very few alterations, will, however, be used, in all cases where the same may be desired, but the Chaplain of the Cemetery will not be permitted to read any form or forms, except, as in this instance, they be sanctioned by the Committee. Those who bring their own minister with them will be at liberty to use what form or method they please, while others who prefer it, may inter their dead without any form or service at all. "Amongst other provisions for the judicious management of this Cemetery, the keeping of correct and suflicient Registers is not the least important. Of these, one will contain every requisite particular for identifying each individual interred, while an index to the ground plan will direct in a moment to the precise spot where the remains lie; in addition to which every precaution will be taken, by the residence of the respectable gentleman who fills the office of Chaplain, &c. and of servants of unimpeachable character on the spot, and by a pecu liar method of securing the vaults and graves, to preserve the sanctity of the tomb inviolate, and the ashes of the dead undisturbed. Nor will this Cemetery, when neatly arranged, and planted with suitable clumps and groves of trees, be an uninviting, much less a repulsive object; but, while it is frequented with fond affection by the relatives and friends of those who slumber peacefully within its walls, it will be regarded as worthy the attention of the passing stranger, and an ornament to the town in which we dwell. "I have thus, very imperfectly I fear, yet with as much brevity and distinctness as possible, discharged the trust reposed in meand here closes all that may be regarded as merely secular and temporal in the solemn and important transactions of this day. What remains belongs to my reverend friend and brother,* who, ere we commit the remains of that dear departed saint† to the tomb, prepared for her, by her own desire, in this new Cemetery, will, doubtless, suggest to our minds such reflections as are adapted to the mournful yet interesting occasion. Yet there is one train of thought that forces itself at this solemn moment on my mind, the expression of which I feel reluctant entirely to forego. What a precious deposit is this place of sepulture destined to receive! How many of the holy and excellent of the earth will repose, through succeeding generations, beneath these clods! What multitudes will start up to life and immortality, on this very spot, at the blast of the archangel and the *The Rev. Moses Fisher. Mrs. Martha Hope. trump of God! Oh! my friends, 'tis glorious thus to recognise the deathless principle that animates us, when surrounded by these sad mementos of our own decay, and to preach Christ, as the resurrection and the life, amid the gloom and desolation of the grave! Yes! even the ashes of the saints are the care of Christ-his eye is on their sleeping dust! Though the body is the meanest and the most worthless part of our nature, yet not a particle essential to its identity shall be lost. That body,-which sin defiled, which disease wasted, which pain convulsed, which is now cold, and emaciated, and loathsome in death,-that body was reared at first by the Divine Architect with exquisite skill:and though the monster has dashed it all to ruins, and crumbled it to dust the expressive countenance -the active limb-the eloquent tongue-the piercing eye!-yet, "These ruins shall be built again, And all that dust shall rise." -Rise in loveliness and beauty -in energy and expression-far surpassing that which secured for it a short-lived admiration upon earth. I pause not now to answer the inquiry, How are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come? Why? because in truth, I cannot. And why should I, if I could? Must I explain to you the hidden and mysterious process which is at this moment going on beneath the surface of the earth, too remote, and too minute for the inspection of man, in order to produce in your mind the conviction that spring will again revisit this earth in gladness, and smiling harvests reward the husbandman's toil? And why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead? Is any thing too hard for Omnipotence? And why should we be required to explain how He will do it, seeing N. S. No. 35. the work is not our's, but His? Tis enough for us to know, in the loss of beloved friends who die in Jesus, and in the contemplation of our own departure, that He shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto himself. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory it is sown in weakness ; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. NOTICES OF THE PURITAN DIVINES GARBUT AND BREIRLY. (To the Editors.) GENTLEMEN-It is probable that the inquiries of Hornbookius, in your Number which has just come to hand, may elicit much more satisfactory information than I am able impart; but in the mean time, and should nothing else offer, you may tell your correspondent, who asks after Richard Garbut, that a minister of that name was Lecturer at the parish church in Leeds, from the year 1624 to the time of his death in 1630; the excellent Alexander Cooke, who distinguished himself by his satirical writings against the Church of Rome, and who might properly be classed with the puritan divines of his day, being at the same time Vicar. The principles both of the Vicar and Lecturer seem to have been such as would have rendered them nonconformists, had they lived to the critical season of trial; they were men of a kindred spirit with Mr. Robert Todd, who was Mr. Garbut's immediate successor, as Lecturer at the Old Church, and afterwards first minister of St. John's, or the New Church, and one of the worthies of Bartholomew's day. Within the parish church, upon a marble, originally 4 E belonging to the Langton family, is the following record of Mr. Garbut:-"Here lyeth Mr. Richard Garbut, late Lecturer of Leeds, March 7, 1630." Of course, the book alluded to by H. must have been either a republication or posthumous. Having given all the particulars in my possession respecting this good man, allow me to ask your readers for information about one of his contemporaries, who appears to have excited some attention in his day, though I have hitherto sought in vain for any record of him beyond some scanty allusions in a posthumous volume, which contains imperfect sketches of his sermons, and is entitled, "A Bundle of soul-convincing, directing, and comforting Truths: clearly deduced from diverse select Texts of Holy Scripture, and practically improven both for conviction and consolation being a brief summary of several sermons preached at large by that faithful and pious servant of Jesus Christ, M. Rodger Breirly, minister of the Gospel at Grindleton, in Craven." Two copies of this little book have come into my hands, the one published in Edinburgh, printed for James Brown, bookseller in Glasgow, A. D. 1670; the other in London, printed by J. R., for Samuel Sprint, in Little Britain, 1677. In an epistle to the reader, (signed J. C.) Mr. Breirly is described as 66 a minister whose message was mighty and piercing, to the laying open, in the very heart and conscience of man, the most secret and hidden things of dishonesty, though never so closely infolded in the deepest mistery of iniquity; so as many, yea, and many that stood fenced in the field, with the weapons of their own self-righteousness in the flesh, and the covenant of works, fell wounded to the ground, and were found to be of sinners the chiefest. And to this I bear record, such was the penetrating power of God in his ministrations, that if thousands were before him under it, in very few hours' discourse, every man's several condition, whether under light or darkness, should have been spoken to, laid open, bare, and naked; that every one might truly have confessed that the word was spoken to them in particular. Hearers were drawn from divers places about, several miles distant, to wait on his ministry, and the echo and fame of it went abroad. Some saw and heard the wonders of God, and believed; others, astonished, went away wondering that they never heard any preach like him; and many others came to hear and see what should cause such strange reports, seeking to catch something that they might report also." The writer goes on to say, that these powerful excitements gave occasion to suspicions, and surmises, so that some who were jealous or envious of him charged the preacher with heresy, and styled his hearers Grindletonians, after the town in Craven where he then exercised his ministry, thinking by that name to render them odious, and brand them for some kind of sectaries: but they could not tell what sect to parallel them to; hence rose the name of Grindletonism. And yet they rested not with this nick-naming, but raised aspersions against this author, informing the High-Commission against him, who sent their commands to bring him to York, where he was kept in prison for a while, during which time fifty articles were exhibited by his adversaries against him before them, not one of which, when he came to his trial, was directly proved. Whereupon, after a sermon preached by him at the Cathedral, he was dismissed, and liberty granted him by Archbishop Tobias Matthews, to exercise his ministry as formerly. After much travail and pains in witnessing the glad tid |