Returning from a tour on the Continent, with the late Mr. Pitt, and Mr. Wilberforce, in 1788, Isaac Milner was, shortly after, chosen Master of that College in which he had been a student; and which his talents, learning, and conduct, have since so much distinguished. Determined that the ' venerable asylum of Erasmus' should not fall short in the means of instruction, the new President introduced men of the best abilities, from the other colleges, amongst the Fellows of Queen's; whilst, remembering his own mortifications, he abolished the custom of sizars waiting on fellows, and dining after them, with other invidious and servile distinctions.

President of Queen's, Mr. Milner now thought it proper to take out his doctor's degree; soon after which he was presented with the deanery of Carlisle; and on the demise of Dr. Waring, in 1798, made Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, a post said to be productive of three hundred and fifty pounds a year. But what feelings did these things excite in him?-Providence first looked up to, with true thankfulness and faith, he openly confesses that he owes his present honourable and elevated situations as Dean of Carlisle, and Master of Queen's College, and Professor of Mathematics in the University of Cambridge, and all he has, to the kindness of his brother,'

Joseph; and willingly acknowledges the obligation, with tears of gratitude and affection!'

Gratifying as is the example of fraternal affection now presented to us, yet the circumstances attending it are here narrated chiefly with the view of tracing the nature of those religious convictions which are entertained by the subject of this memoir, and which his brother had before so conscientiously professed, and so successfully promulgated. Instances such as this are rare, and ought to be well observed. It is not frequently that natural sympathy, terminating in spiritual similitude, is productive of such

scenes.

About the year 1770, we are informed, an important revolution took place in the religious character of the late Reverend Joseph Milner; and it is not unworthy of observation, in this place, that this revolution should have happened exactly at the period when the subject of our memoir, Isaac Milner, had determined to enter into the clerical profession, and, with this view, was sent to Queen's College. Let us then attend to this change. Although the Rev. Joseph Milner had been heretofore deemed sound in speculative principle, and exemplary in moral conduct,' as yet he had not learned the humbling doctrines of the Gospel.' Reflecting more deeply on these,

for at least two years, he was brought to the humiliating acknowledgment, that, during the first years of his being in holy orders, he was as deeply involved as any person could be in the charge of Departing from the genuine Religion of the Bible, and of the Establishment to which he belonged; that, though his conscience never in the smallest degree accused him of insincerity or hypocrisy, yet his zeal had been without knowledge; and that, in fact, he did not understand the nature of Christ's Salvation, but was building an edifice, both of religious doctrine and practice, on a self-righteous foundation.' Speaking of this great change in his brother's feelings and views, and which ultimately determined his own,-'a more just, more concise, and more intelligible account cannot be given of his principles,' continues the Dean of Carlisle, than that he was truly a sincere Member of the Church of England! He believed the Articles of the Church in their plain, literal, and grammatical, sense; and all his Sermons were penned according to that interpretation of Scripture which they contain and express.' Joseph Milner did now also believe and maintain, adds the Dean, that the Clergy of the Establishment, in general, had very much deviated from the principles which they profess, and to which they subscribe their assent; that the

reading-desk and the pulpit were often at variance; and that instead of setting forth to the understanding with plainness, and pressing upon the conscience with energy, the great and peculiar truths of the Gospel,-such as the Doctrines of Original Sin, of Justification by Faith, and of Regeneration by the Holy Spirit, as stated in the Articles and Homilies of the Church of England,' that, instead of so preaching, the Clergy in general were substituting, in their place, a system of little more than Pagan Ethics.'

With such a fraternal exemplar before him, the present Dean of Carlisle has neither hesitated to tread in the steps, nor to assert the sentiments, of one whose memorial is so justly dear to him. Towards the conclusion of his account of his brother, he has accordingly avowed his own opinions, without reserve, on topics that are still both important and pressing. They particularly merit transcription here. In regard to himself,' he assures us, he has long been persuaded that the feeble and indistinct statement of fundamental articles of faith, and the almost entire neglect of enforcing the same, and of applying them closely to the consciences of the hearers, has amounted, on the part of many of the clergy, to a dangerous departure from sound doctrine; which, if not checked, will, in no great length of time, be found

much more pregnant with mischief than it is generally suspected to be.'

Continuing to insist on the evil consequences of this fundamental defect, which have not been few, many persons,' says the Dean, truly conscientious, and sincerely attached both to the doctrine and the discipline of the Church, have often been displeased, and even disgusted, with the defective or erroneous instruction of the pulpit, and this at the very time that they approved and admired what came from the reading-desk; and others, who were less friendly to our ecclesiastical establishment, have taken advantage of this want of harmony, and thereby promoted mischievous schisms and separations.' What is to be done? He who specifies these ills, has thus prescribed their cure.

Satisfied, by a diligent examination of the internal history of this country in religious matters, that what he has advanced respecting the departure of many of the clergy from the doctrines of the church is no idle conjecture, and, also, that commensurate with this departure, and in proportion to it, have been, all along, the increase of the sectaries and the diminution of attachment to the establishment,' the present Divine affirms his conviction that those, therefore, who are accustomed to connect together causes and effects, can