to the hands of some incompetent person to be repaired, who painted upon it, and effectually destroyed its character. A second portrait is in the possession of Mr. Henry Owen Hall, of Hackney, from which the head in Mr. Orme's Life of Owen was engraved; and the third, and by far the largest and the best, is the painting which, after the lapse of more than a century, has been happily recovered, and is now to find an appropriate home within the walls of an institution reared to teach those doctrines and that discipline, which its great subject so successfully illustrated and maintained. This portrait shows that Dr. Owen was tall in stature, and had an expressive countenance, in which dignity and sweetness were remarkably blended. There is about the whole figure the style and bearing of a gentleman, that must have given him great advantage when presiding as Vice-chancellor in the noble halls of Oxford. The gravity of his countenance and costume, as displayed in this picture, forms a remarkable contrast to the account which Anthony Wood gives of the appearance of the Independent Dean of Christ Church, and Vice-chancellor of Oxford," While he did undergo the said office, he, instead of being a grave example to the university, scorned all formality, under-valued his office, by going in quirpo, like a young scholar, with powdered hair, snake-bone band strings, or band strings with very large tassels, lawn band, a large set of ribbands pointed at his knees, and Spanish leather boots with large lawn tops, and his hat mostly cocked." This account of a "dandy vice-chancellor's dress," as Mr. Orme remarks, "is really amusing. Had Owen been a person of a different description, Anthony would have told us of his turnip head, and sepulchral face, and his sackcloth garb, by which he disgraced the university, and brought all good breeding into contempt." The public were long indebted to the faithful gravers of White and Vertue, for their ideas of the original picture, as the painting itself had disappeared, and its existence was doubted for almost a century. The Rev. J. Winter, chaplain of the county prisons, Maidstone, was happy enough to rescue it in a moment of peril, and the following interesting narrative, of the manner in which it came into his possession, I copy from The Manchester Times, May 14th, because it will possess a permanent interest so long as the picture exists. "My acquaintance with the writings of Dr. Owen commenced some time during the years 1810-12, when I was a medical student in London, and an attendant on the ministry of my esteemed relative the late Dr. Winter, in whom I found a valuable guide. Among other authors, conformists and non-conformists, whom my reverend and liberal-minded friend recommended, I may mention Owen as one, who very early fell under my notice; and with gratitude I can testify it was from his works that I was led, under the Divine blessing, to a clearer perception of the great truths of the Gospel. The advantages I derived from the writings of Dr. Owen and others of his contemporaries, very naturally, and I hope innocently awakened within me a taste for their portraits; but as I could not then cherish the most distant hope of possess ing the original picture of any of my favourite class, I was willing to rest satisfied with their engraved representatives whenever I could find them, and in the course of time my collection became somewhat considerable; but when I afterwards succeeded in obtaining the original paintings of three divines of distinguished merit, my engraved heads gradually diminished, though I have still before me, in frames, Archbishops Usher and Leighton, Bishops Hopkins, Hall, and Horne, Reverends Baxter, Hervey, and Venn, Richard, John and Robert Winter, &c. Waiving, however, all further mention of matters connected with my own private taste, I proceed to relate how it happened that the splendid portrait of Dr. Owen, destined to adorn the library of the new college, near Manchester, fell into my hands. This invaluable painting was purchased at the sale of G. Polhill, Esq., at Chipsted Place, 1832 or 1833. That gentleman being induced to dispose of two of his estates in this neighbourhood, together with a number of pictures, &c., for which he had no spare room in his new residence, was the occasion of bringing the portrait of Dr. Owen to my notice; previously I had not the slightest knowledge of its existence. When brought in for sale, the auctioneer eulogised it as a capital head of the old school, expressing his wish that some one present would furnish him with the name of the individual whom it represented; in reply to which a voice proclaimed, Richard Baxter! Covered as it was with the accumulated dirt and varnish of 130 years or more, I knew confidently enough who it was at first sight, and resolved to be the purchaser on any terms and under whatever name the auctioneer chose to pass it. The frame-work had become much decayed; and to this it is mainly owing that it was so long an inmate of the upper rooms of Bradbourne Place, unknown to the owner and all the world; and that it at last came forth in such wonderful preservation. There were two or three small rents in the canvass, but, with the exception of a bruise just above the left eye-brow, the face and hands had escaped injury. Some dauber had put a patch, by way of emendation, on the sudoria or band, and more recently it had received a coat of varnish, an appendage which, I suppose, was meant to serve as a set-off and improvement against the day of sale, when the Doctor was to be exposed to the highest bidder. This patch-work seemed to have been done a long time, as what was once in appearance white had become a perfect yellow. Having placed the painting in the hands of a person of professional merit in London, I spared no expense in getting it cleaned, lined, and framed. On removing the yellow daub, the original colour was discovered as it now appears; the injury on the eye-brow I would not permit to be repaired or stippled on any account. Soon after my purchase, I wrote to G. Polhill, Esq., the original owner, requesting him to give me any information he could of the history, name, and other particulars of the painting. In answer, he expressed his "regret at not being able to give me any satisfactory account; said that it had been in his family for many years, but had been put aside with some others, adding his opinion, that the motto, ' Quæramus superna' might lead to the discovery of the person whose picture it was." With respect to the mode in which I discovered that it was really the portrait of Owen, I have only to say, as already intimated, that my recognition of it was instantaneous, and as I had not then seen, to my recollection, either of the engravings by White or Vertue, I had no other clue by which to confirm my opinion than what I derived from remembering the Doctor's face in some of the reprints of his works. I adverted to Palmer's Memorial, but as mine is a copy of the first edition, and contains a juvenile head, it did not answer my purpose. I then opened Collins' edition of Owen on Spiritual Mindedness,' with Chalmers' Essay, where, in despite of a face that would have done as well for John Howe, I observed in the band, costume, and general arrangement of the back ground a resemblance that fully satisfied me that the judgment I had formed was correct. After consulting Granger, I turned to Orme, and in his work found an exact descrip tion of the portrait then before me. My next step was to procure from London the two engravings by White and Vertue; and though the head by White is unquestionably a caricature of resemblance when placed in juxta-position with the original, yet it is exceedingly valuable as an illustration and reference. On the upper part of the portrait occurs the motto already alluded to, and in White's engraving, in a small tablet at the bottom, the Doctor's arms are inserted, and on a square pedestal supporting the whole, four Latin lines, from which we have an elegant translation from the pen of Dr. Watts, who speaks of them with great approbation as the production of Owen himself: 'This shadow shows the frail remains And keeps those bounds with holy fear, Orme's Life. I shall now only further introduce to your notice a genealogical table, in which the ancestors of the deceased owner of the portrait are traced to the time of their intermarriage with the family of Oliver Cromwell, the friend and patron of Owen. The information thus afforded will be extremely gratifying to all who are interested in the history before us. In the annexed table it will be seen that Thomas Polhill, from whom George Polhill lineally descended, married Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry Ireton, Esq., by Bridget, daughter of Oliver Cromwell, and what is further remarkable, that the said Bridget, after the death of Ireton, her husband, became the wife of Lord Charles Fleetwood, an Independent, the intimate friend of Dr. Owen, and a member of his Church. Thus I think I have established, beyond controversy, the way in which the portrait gained admission into this ancient Kentish family: a discovery, I am persuaded, that will very much enhance the value of the picture to the friends of the college where it is shortly to be placed, and will be surveyed as the best representative of the learned Doctor in existence." It only remains to state, that the Manchester College, and our denomination at large, are indebted to Mr. George Hatfield, a munificent donor, and successful advocate of that collegiate institution, for the restoration of this portrait to its old connexions. Hearing that it was possible to obtain it, he applied to Mr. Winter, who consented to part with it; and also sold him, for the same purpose, an original portrait of the celebrated Rev. James Hervey, M.A., the well known author of "The Meditations," &c. These, with the fine portrait of that burning and shining light, the Rev. Henry Newcome, M.A., ejected from the parish church of Manchester, 1662, which is also in Mr. Hatfield's possession, and if I mistake not, intended to adorn the same library, will attach great interest to it, and exhibit an example of the sacrifice of the personal gratification which the possession of such rare originals would afford, to the pleasure and improvement of the public, which, I trust, will find many imitators, till the walls that are now rising shall exhibit the "very effigies" of many of those confessors, whose exemplary life and labours may be confidently commended to the example of the young men, who shall be there trained for the service of the Christian ministry amongst our churches. B. 3 G ON THE DEGREES OF ENJOYMENT IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE DEVOTION. MR. EDITOR,-Reading the other day Dr. Thomas Manton's valuable Exposition of the Lord's Prayer, I met, in the introductory chapter, with the following passage :-"A hypocrite, he finds a greater flash of gifts in his public duties, when he prays with others, and is the mouth of others, but is slight and superficial when alone with God; if he feels anything, a little overly matter serves the turn: but usually God's children most affectionately pour out their hearts before him in private; where they do more particularly express their own necessities, there they find their affections free to wrestle with God. In public we take in the necessities of others, but in private our own." I dread above all things hypocrisy in religion, and therefore was not a little startled at this statement; because I must confess that I have usually found more enlargement and blessedness of soul when leading the devotions of others, than when offering my own in the privacy of the closet. I have reasons which have hitherto satisfied my conscience respecting this fact; but when I find so sensible a writer as Dr. Manton setting this out as a characteristic of the hypocrite, I am induced to ask the judgment of some of my more experienced brethren on the question, lest after all I should be mistaken upon a topic of such vital importance. Hoping that some of your gifted correspondents will favour me, through your pages, with their opinion on this subject, I am yours, THE UNCHANGEABLE BEAUTY OF GOD'S WORD. There hath been change, and passing to and fro, And shiftings bright and dark about the earth Of old events; but God gave long ago The loving lesson of our heavenly birth, Beaming with mild unconquerable light. As shines the moon above an ocean's night, Sprinkling her gleams o'er multitudinous waves, OMICRON God's Truth looks down on the brief passing might Like some bright orb, its courses to begin. The Sun of Righteousness, then Faith shall fade, V. REVIEWS. 1. The Restoration of the Jews to their own land, in connexion with their future Conversion, and the final Blessedness of our Earth. By the Rev. E. Bickersteth, Rector of Watton, Herts. Seeley and Burnside, 1841, pp. cxxviii. 331. 2. Israel's Return; or, Paradise Regained. By Joseph Elisha Freeman. Ward and Co., 1840, pp. 390. 3. Unfulfilled Prophecy respecting Eastern nations, especially the Turks, the Russians, and the Jews. Snow, 1841, pp. 262. 4. Lectures on subjects connected with Prophecy; delivered at the request of the Edinburgh Association for promoting the study of Prophecy. First Series. By Rev. J. W. Brooks, M.A., Vicar of Clareborough, Retford. Edinburgh: Johnstone, 1841, pp. 24. 5. A Defence of the Personal Reign of Christ; or, Strictures on 'Millenarianism Unscriptural,' &c. By Joseph Tyso. Jackson and Walford, 1841, pp. 150. 6. The Question, Will Christ's Reign during the Millennium be Personal?' answered from Scripture. By Charles Morrison, of Belfast. Edinburgh: William Oliphant and Son, 1839, pp. 128. THE learned Witsius thus defines prophecy: "A knowledge and manifestation of secret things, which a man knows not from his own sagacity, nor from the relation of others, but by an extraordinary revelation of God from heaven." To foretel things to come, is plainly the high prerogative of "Him who seeth the end from the beginning, and who calleth things that are not, as though they were." This prerogative was first exercised, directly and immediately by God himself; and this in such a way as to prove to us that we are not to expect him to make known that which would only serve to gratify curiosity; but that only which has an intimate connexion with the grand designs of his moral government; that only, which during the period of its nonfulfilment, whilst it is as yet but partially understood, and afterwards, when the page of history records its interpretation, shall exert an important moral influence upon mankind. The first prediction was a promise of the coming of Messiah, and the Holy Spirit has taught us that "the testimony of Jesus" is the very "spirit," the burden and essence of all "prophecy." It had a decidedly practical character; it was at once the revelation of mercy; the object of faith; the foundation of hope; the warrant for prayer; and the authority for obedience. The whole Bible is more or less an exposition of it, and the entire history of the church and the world, a practical comment upon it. To the end of time, and even in eternity, it will continue to furnish a key |