he pleased now to Cambridge, now to Oxford, and, as the humor took him, back again to Paris; now staying with Sir Thomas More at Chelsea, now going a pilgrimage with Dean Colet to á Becket's tomb at Canterbury but always studying, always gathering knowledge, and throwing it out again, steeped in his own mother-wit, in shining Essays or Dialogues which were the delight and the despair of his contemporaries. Everywhere, in his love of pleasure, in his habits of thought, in his sarcastic scepticism, you see the healthy, clever, well-disposed, tolerant, epicurean, intellectual man of the world.— Historical Essays.

P

ULLER, ANDREW, an English theologian; born at Wicken, Cambridgeshire, February 6, 1754; died at Kettering, May 7, 1815. In 1775 he was called to a church at Soham, and in 1782 to one at Kettering, in Northamptonshire, the place of his residence during the remainder of his life. His first published work was a treatise entitled The Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation (1784). In 1799-1806 he put forth a series of Dialogues and Letters. In 1794 he published The Calvinistic and Socinian System Compared. To this Dr. Toulmin replied in a work defending the Unitarian doctrine, and Mr. Fuller rejoined in a treatise entitled Socinianism Indefensible on the Ground of Its Moral Tendency. He published many sermons and other theological treatises, and took an active part in the establishment and management of the Baptist Missionary Society, of which he was the first secretary. His Complete Works were published in eight octavo volumes in 1824; and in 1852 in one large volume, with a memoir by his son.

This memoir embodies much autobiography, some of the salient points of which are here presented:

MR. FULLER AND MR. DIVER.

The summer of 1769 was a time of great religious pleasure. I loved my pastor, and all my brethren in the church; and they expressed great affection toward me in return. I esteemed the righteous as the most excellent of the earth, in whom was all my delight. Those who knew not Christ seemed to me almost another species, toward whom I was incapable of attachment. About this time I formed an intimacy with a Mr. Joseph Diver, a wise and good man, who had been baptized with me. He was about forty years of age, and had lived many years in a very recluse way, giving himself much to reading and reflection. He had a great delight in searching after truth, which rendered his conversation peculiarly interesting to me; nor was he less devoted to universal practical godliness. I count this connection one of the greatest blessings of my life. Notwithstanding the disparity as to years, we loved each other like David and Jonathan.

CALL TO THE MINISTRY.

In November, 1771, as I was riding out on business, on a Saturday morning, to a neighboring village, my mind fell into a train of interesting and affecting thoughts, from that passage of Scripture, "Weeping may endure for a night; but joy cometh in the morning." I never had felt such freedom of mind in thinking upon a divine subject before; nor do I recollect ever having had a thought of the ministry; but I then felt as if I could preach from it, and indeed I did preach, in a manner, as I rode along. I thought no more of it, however, but returned home, when I had done my business. In the afternoon I went to see my mother. As we rode a few miles together, she told me she had been thinking much about me, while in town, and added, "My dear, you have often expressed your wish for a trade. I have talked with your uncle at Kensington, and he has procured a good place for you, where, instead

of paying a premium, you may, if you give satisfaction, in a little time receive wages and learn the business." That which my mother suggested was very true. I had always been inclined to trade; but, how it was I cannot tell, my heart revolted at the proposal at this time. It was not from any desire or thought of the ministry, nor anything else in particular, unless it were a feeling toward the little scattered Society of which I was a member. I said but little to my mother, but seemed to wish for time to consider it. This was on Saturday evening.

"The

The next morning, as I was walking by myself to meeting, expecting to hear the brethren pray, and my friend Joseph Diver expound the Scriptures, I was met by one of the members whom he had requested me to see, who said, "Brother Diver has by accident sprained his ankle, and cannot be at meeting to-day, and he wishes me to say to you that he hopes the Lord will be with you." Lord be with me!" thought I. "What does Brother Diver mean? He cannot suppose that I can take his place, seeing that I have never attempted anything of the kind, nor been asked to do so." It then occurred, however, that I had had an interesting train of thought the day before, and had imagined at the time I could speak it, if I were called to do it. But though I had repeatedly engaged in prayer publicly, yet I had never been requested. to attempt anything further, and therefore I thought no more of it

Early in 1773, Brother Diver was absent again through an affliction, and I was invited once more to take his place. Being induced to renew the attempt, I spoke from those words of Our Lord, "The Son of Man came to seek and save that which is lost." On this occasion I not only felt greater freedom than I had ever found before, but the attention of the people was fixed, and several young persons in the congregation were impressed with the subject, and afterward joined the church. From this time the brethren seemed to entertain the idea of my engaging in the ministry, nor was I without serious thoughts of it myself. Sometimes I felt a desire after it; at other times I was much discouraged, especially through a conscious

ness of my want of spirituality of mind, which I considered as a qualification of the first importance.

DOCTRINAL VIEWS.

Being now devoted to the ministry, I took a review of the doctrine I should preach, and spent pretty much of my time in reading, and in making up my mind as to various things relative to the Gospel. With respect

to the system of doctrine which I had been accustomed to hear from my youth, it was in the high Calvinistic — or rather hyper-Calvinistic strain-admitting nothing spiritually good to be the duty of the un-regenerated, and nothing to be addressed to them in a way of exhortation, excepting what related to external obedience. Outward services might be required; such as attendance on the means of grace; and abstinence from gross evils might be enforced; but nothng was said to them from the pulpit, in the way of warning them to flee from the wrath to come, or inviting them to apply to Christ for salvation.

Though our late disputes had furnished me with some few principles inconsistent with these notions, yet I did not perceive their bearings at first; and durst not for some years address an invitation to the unconverted to come to Jesus. I began, however, to doubt whether I had got the truth respecting this subject. This view of things did not seem to comport with the idea which I had imbibed, concerning the power of man to do the will of God. I perceived that the will of God was not confined to mere outward actions; but extended to the inmost thoughts and intents of the heart. The distinction of duties, therefore, into internal and external, and making the latter only concern the unregenerate, wore a suspicious appearance. But as I perceived that this reasoning would affect the whole tenor of my preaching, I moved on with slow and trembling steps; and, having to feel my way out of a labyrinth, it was a long tme ere I felt satisfied.

Here must be briefly noted, as told by his son, some incidents relating to the early years of the ministry

of Andrew Fuller. "His whole yearly income from the people never exceeded £13, and his attempts to derive support, first from a small shop and then from a school, both proved unsuccessful; so that, notwithstanding all his exertions, he could not prevent an annual inroad upon his little property, most distressing to himself, and ruinous to the prospects of a rising family. Under such complicated trials his health suffered a shock from which he with difficulty recovered." Indeed, there seems to have been a mighty amount of praying and psalm-singing, and all that; but somehow the brethren at Soham, where Andrew Fuller began his ministry, kept a close grip upon their pocket-books; as witness the following memorandum made by a good Deacon Wallis, who was empowered to lay certain questions in controversy before a Mr. Robinson, of Cambridge, who should pronounce judgment as to what should be done. Mr. Robinson's decision was, "That Mr. Fuller ought to continue. pastor of the said church for one whole year, from this day, and after that time if it should appear that he can live on his income; and that the people ought to abide by their proposal to raise Mr. Fuller's income to £25 a year, as they had proposed, clear of all deductions."

As a preacher Andrew Fuller never ministered except to a small congregation belonging to a small and, in his day and country, a thoroughly despised sect. In fact, a century ago, it would have been thought less contemptuous to call a man an "Infidel" than to call him a "Baptist." His written works are his best. monument. The tablet placed near by the pulpit at Kettering bears an inscription which may take the place of any extended biography.