On the accession of Mr. Addington, in 1805, to the Pitt ministry, Mr.Vansittart returned to office, and became chief Secretary for Ireland. This office, however, he held but for a few months; once more retiring on Mr. Addington's second resignation.

On the great political changes which ensued on the death of Mr. Pitt we need not dwell. It may suffice to say, that when Mr. Addington, (then recently created Viscount Sidmouth,) returned to office, Mr. Vansittart, his firm friend and adherent, became once more Secretary to the Treasury; and subsequently, under Lord Liverpool's government, Chancellor of the Exchequer.

This office Mr. Vansittart held from 1812 to 1823, a period of no common difficulty, and unquestionably demanding on the part of the Chancellor of the Exchequer the exercise of no common ability, knowledge, and industry. In 1823, the distinguished subject of this memoir quitted office; and, in consideration of his long and arduous services, was raised to the peerage by the title of BARON BEXLEY. To the Upper House he carried the habits of application which had distinguished him throughout life; and his extensive acquaintance with the financial affairs and commercial relations of England; his enlarged experience, and his acknowledged integrity of purpose, gave weight to any opinions which he might express when subjects connected with finance, or commerce, were under discussion.

When, on resigning his office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, LORD BEXLEY was created a peer, he became Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster; and this office he retained till the formation of the Duke of Wellington's administration in 1828. With that event his official career finally terminated.

The domestic life of Lord Bexley during this successful and honourable career of public usefulness, was chequered by much affliction. Having married, in the year 1806, Catherine Isabella, second daughter of Lord Auckland, he was left by that lady, in 1810, a childless widower.

We have thus far contemplated the subject of this sketch in the character of a student preparing himself for future usefulness, and of a statesman occupied, during a long course of years, in the arduous and honourable discharge of important public duties. We are now to view him as occupying a prominent station in the Christian world; and more especially as one of the most constant, zealous, and able supporters of that great Society, which, within the last half century, has been the instrument under Providence, of spreading among countless thousands

of the human race, of "all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues," that Divine Book which is able to make them "wise unto salvation."

We need not here enter at any length into the history of the BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY. Many of our readers are doubtless aware, that that Society which was formed in the year 1804, and which now numbers among its supporters the Primate of all England, as well as many of our bishops, owed its origin, humanly speaking, to a suggestion made in private conversation by the late Rev. Joseph Hughes, a Baptist minister, and subsequently one of the secretaries of the Society.

The day on which that great society was established—March 7th, 1804-will be for ever memorable. It was a day-to use the words of the late Rev. John Owen, the historian of the Bible Society-" memorable in the experience of all who participated in the transactions which it signalized; a day to which posterity will look back, as giving to the world, and that, in times of singular perturbation and distress, an Institution for diffusing, on the grandest scale, the tidings of peace and salvation; a day peculiarly honourable to Great Britain, and fixing an important epoch in the religious history of mankind." His own

emotions on rising to move the resolutions on that most important occasion, were such as Mr. Owen does not attempt to describe. They are, perhaps, in part, revealed by the following passage. "Surrounded by a multitude of Christians whose doctrinal and ritual differences had for ages kept them asunder, and who had been taught to regard each other with a sort of pious estrangement, or rather of consecrated hostility; and reflecting on the object and end which had brought them thus harmoniously together, he felt an impression which no lapse of time could remove. The scene was new; nothing analogous to it had been exhibited before the public since Christians had begun to organize among each other the strife of separation, and to carry into their own camp that war which they ought to have waged in concert against the common enemy. It appeared to indicate the dawn of a new era in Christendom; and to portend something like the return of those auspicious days when the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one soul;' and when, as a consequence of that union, to a certain degree at least, the Word of God mightily grew and pre

vailed.'"

That a society of which it is the sole and simple object to distribute • Vide Owen's History of the British and Foreign Bible Society.

as widely as possible, the Holy Scriptures "without note or comment," should have been assailed by the opposition of Protestant Christians of any denomination may well be matter of wonder. That it was so assailed, during the early years of its existence, is now matter of history. It is no part of our present purpose either to dwell upon the principal charge brought against it by its opponents-viz., that by reason of the obscurity of the Scriptures it must be dangerous to the interests of the Church of England to circulate the Bible alone, or unaccompanied by the formularies of that pure and Scriptural Church—or to enter at large into the numerous and able answers to that charge, published by the defenders of the Bible Society; among whom may be mentioned, Clarke, Otter, Simeon, Milner, Dealtry, and other churchmen, whose names will long be had in remembrance.

This "most marvellous controversy " has now, in a great measure, passed away. Matter of salutary reflection may, however, still be afforded by the fact, that while the above-mentioned learned and pious divines, to whom should be added the late able and excellent Robert Hall of Leicester, together with various eminent lay defenders of the Bible Society, both churchmen and dissenters, agreed in maintaining the great Protestant principle, that "the BIBLE ALONE contains all things necessary to salvation," the principal opposer of that noble institution* was seriously and warmly congratulated by a Romish priest,† on " the bold and manly manner "in which he had GIVEN UP THIS VITAL PRINCIPLE OF PROTESTANTISM." "To err," proceeds the applauding priest, "is the common accident of our nature; but to acknowledge error is the act of the hero and the saint." "Indeed, Sir," adds the delighted Romanist, "I cannot sufficiently admire the ingenuity and masterly manner in which you urge the necessity of another rule of faith, besides the Bible only. It is a coup de grace to the old principle of the Reformers, from which I think they can never recover!"‡

This extraordinary and most unwelcome congratulation, which the Margaret Professor, in common with the majority of the public, at first believed to be merely " a pasquinade under a fictitious name," is surely worthy of the consideration of such Protestant Christians as may have been withheld from giving their support to the Bible Society on the ground that danger to the interests of the Established Church of England • The late Rev. Herbert Marsh, Margaret Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, and subsequently Bishop of Peterborough. + The Rev. Peter Gandolphy. "Congratulatory Letter to the Rev. H. Marsh, D.D.," &c. Vide Owen's History of the British and Foreign Bible Society.

must lurk in the free circulation of the authorized version of the Holy Scriptures without note or comment, and unaccompanied by any human compositions whatever.

In the singular and memorable controversy to which we have thus alluded, Mr.VANSITTART, fully occupied as he may be supposed to have been, at that time, by public business, took, in the years 1811 and 1812, an active and prominent part. In the summer of 1812, he published in defence of the Bible Society, a pamphlet, of which it has been justly pronounced, that, the views which it exhibits are comprehensive, the arguments perspicuous, the style classically chaste; in brief, that the "whole composition reflects the united qualities of the scholar, the gentleman, and the Christian."*

The following passage, extracted from the pamphlet in question, will be felt to justify this eulogium:

"Amidst public difficulty and private embarrassment, I see," wrote, in a spirit of true Christian charity, this eminent advocate of the cause of the then struggling Bible Society, "the hand of charity extended to every species of distress, with an extent of bounty, not only unknown to former times, but which would have been incredible to them. I see everywhere new institutions forming, yet old establishments supported; and let it be remembered, that in these noble works the Dissenters claim their full share with the Church of England. I see the ships of Britain, no longer bearing the natives of Africa from their parent soil, but carrying to them the arts of life, and the blessings of the Gospel. I see the Church of England, surrounded and assisted by differing, but respectful, and no longer hostile sects, extending the light of truth to the remotest nations of the earth; and when to these considerations we add the wonderful preservation of the independence and constitution of this nation during so many years of impending danger amidst the ruin which has swallowed up surrounding states, may we not indulge the hope, that the religion of this nation is a portion of that church against which the gates of hell shall not prevail; and this country, a favoured instrument of Providence, in effecting its most sublime and beneficent designs?

"It is indeed, an important crisis for the Church of England... I trust that the triumphs of the Bible Society are but the prelude to more extensive triumphs; when this nation shall indeed take up the eross, to carry, not the sword, but the Saviour, throughout the world." As we have already intimated, we have no purpose of entering into Vide Owen's History of the Bible Society.

the details of the controversy excited by the formation of a society of which it was the sole object to distribute THE BIBLE without note or comment. The union of Churchmen with Dissenters in the good work of circulating the Scriptures, constituted, and still constitutes, in the minds of some opponents of the British and Foreign Bible Society, their main ground of objection to that mighty instrument of good to mankind. On this topic, in another pamphlet published soon after that already mentioned, the subject of this sketch thus beautifully wrote:

"The existence of dissent, will perhaps be inseparable from religious freedom, so long as the mind of men is liable to error; but it is not unreasonable to hope, that hostility may cease where perfect agreement cannot be established. If we cannot reconcile all opinions, let us endeavour TO UNITE ALL HEARTS."

Mr. Vansittart next proceeds to observe, that he considered his support of the Bible Society not only as consistent with, but as a proof of the sincerity and warmth of his attachment to the Church of England; "and far from repenting (he adds) of what I have done, I feel convinced, that I shall least of all repent of it, as I approach that state IN WHICH THE DISTINCTION OF CHURCHMAN AND DISSENTER SHALL BE NO MORE."

The conviction thus touchingly expressed would seem to have gathered strength with revolving years. On the death of the late Lord Teignmouth, LORD BEXLEY succeeded that nobleman as President of the British and Foreign Bible Society; and having borne the heat and burden of a long and well-employed life, the course of which has uniformly exhibited the excellences and graces of the Christian character, and a large portion of which has been spent in direct endeavours in aid of the general diffusion of Christianity either privately, or through the instrumentality of the Bible Society, the Church Missionary, Prayer-Book and Homily, and other religious and benevolent societies, of which it is the object to extend to all nations the blessings of the Gospel, or to diffuse sound Christian instruction or physical comfort among the lower orders in our own country, we find this venerable nobleman, standing forth, in extreme old age, on occasion of the late anniversary meeting of the British and Foreign Bible Society, held May 3d, 1848, to plead, it may be for the last time in public, the cause, of which he has so long been the faithful and efficient advocate. We cannot better close this paper than by a quotation from a speech recently delivered by a devoted friend and eloquent advocate of the Bible