awakening, but he well remembered that on the death of his father, he had the firm conviction, although he had not reached his sixth year, that he could have detained him in this life, had he felt himself directed to pray for that purpose. One who has written of him has told us that, "with a childlike simplicity he followed his Heavenly Father's guidance, and submitted to God's inward and outward discipline; and though he did not understand what a high and rare privilege he enjoyed, the power of the Divine Word took such possession of his heart, that he had confidence in God like that of a little child in its parent, took great delight in prayer, longed for the better life to come, loved the Scriptures, enjoyed the Church hymns, had a tender conscience, dreaded doing wrong, and showed complacency in everything that was excellent." For a time his piety grew "like the grass that tarrieth not for man," eluding observation, but continually advancing under the blessing of God; and as a student we see him as profoundly devout as he was scholarly. The Bible was still the most delightful of all books to him, and while he studied the heathen classics with the utmost enthusiasm, most of his leisure hours were passed in reading its sacred pages again and again. He also firmly maintained that it was only the student who habitually delighted in the Scriptures, previously to entering upon philosophy for the clear arrangement of his ideas, that could study philosophy to good effect; for to stand on the vantage ground of Divine Revelation, he considered the only security for safely considering and judging of every floating system which may meet the eye. It must not be supposed, however, that the young student pursued his way without many a spiritual conflict. His, indeed, were not the temptations of the flesh, but the more subtle and fearful temptations of the mind. He speaks of blasphemous and bad thoughts darting through his soul against his will, and so harassing him as to occasion him the deepest dejection and distress. He shows us how his very anxiety as a youth about the purity of the text of the Greek Testament, caused him to lose much time in doubts and difficulties, that a reader of the simple text would never have been troubled with. In spite of the most devout habits, doubts assailed him; but very beautiful it is to remark that his struggles only served to stir him up to more diligent prayer, and that eventually they were overruled for the unspeakable comfort of his own heart, as well as exerting a most beneficial influence upon his critical labours.

He completed his academical course of theology in his twentieth year, and the year following saw him actively engaged in the work of the ministry. His first fortnight as a minister convinced him what a variety of qualifications a young pastor ought to possess, but alas! seldom does possess, for the work of the Church. How totally different the world actually was when he had to do battle with its sins and prejudices, from what he had imagined it to be from a College point of view! It was his opinion, that if young ministers, after a brief trial of their gifts, might be allowed to return to college again, they would leave the second time altogether wiser and stronger men. In a measure, what he desired for others fell to his own lot. He had not been twelve months in the ministry, before he was requested to take the post of

junior Divinity Tutor at Tübingen, and this office, while it still afforded him. numerous opportunities for preaching, enabled him yet further to mature his views, and was specially favourable to the growth of that character which in the course of time he so illustriously sustained. Philology, philosophy, divinity, regular doctrinal examinations, now became his daily work; and thus, while helping the students, he became himself all the more familiar with these various branches of learning. During this period he composed a work "On the Holiness of God," which was very highly spoken of, and which, through the controversy it excited, may have attracted the attention of the Government to Bengel's merits. A head master was needed for a Theological Seminary about to be established at Denkendorf, and shortly after the treatise was published, the important office was offered to him. He accepted it, and at the expense of the Government undertook a tour through a considerable part of Germany, that he might make himself acquainted with the classical schools and other institutions of learning, and thus be able, having compared their various methods of instruction, to decide upon what ought to be taught and the best method of teaching.

It was with feelings of the deepest self-scrutiny, that he entered the Theological Seminary of Denkendorf. "What passed," he says, "between my soul and God, the first night of my residence at Denkendorf, gave me good ground of encouragement for the whole period of my abode there." He at once laid down rules for his own guidance as Head Master,rules, which although somewhat numerous and severe, he observed with the strictest consistency and with the happiest results both to himself and the Institution. Suitable addresses were given at its inauguration, Bengel selecting, "The Diligent Pursuit of Piety, the surest Method of attaining sound Learning." And now commenced a career of eight-and-twenty years' most honourable toil, of well-nigh unexampled industry and diligence. His pupils were young, being admitted into the Seminary from fourteen years of age. Their knowledge of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, previously acquired at elementary schools, was here to be completed, and they were to be carried forward into the higher departments of classical and sacred literature. The young tutor at once drew up a course of study for them which he entitled, "A Rationale of Study for the Theological Seminary at Denkendorf, containing the Reasons for each branch of Study, the Limits prescribed to it, and the Method to be Pursued." By means of this plan his pupils were both preserved from remissness in study, and restrained from presuming that every thing could be attained at once. He detailed what in every branch was indispensable, what useful, and what merely agreeable; also, how public lectures and private reading could be used to the best advantage.

Among the rules laid down for the students we meet with such as these:"Live piously, uprightly, wisely. Beware of slackening in piety and diligent study. Let your ONE OBJECT and endeavour in EVERY thing be the glory of God, a good conscience, and sincerity about becoming instrumental to the good of the public. Avoid bad companions as you would death!" In respect to his method of teaching, he used to say: "The main business with a pupil is

not merely to furnish him with a certain quantum of the various branches of knowledge, but to put him in the way of attaining a good state of thinking and feeling, rather to form than to inform him." At the same time he was careful to take his pupils through a course of Latin, Greek, Logic and History; he also laboured to habituate them to a reverence for Holy things, and ever kept in view what he believed would be found most valuable to them in the sacred ministry. While he was not a rigid censor of every youthful indiscretion that came under his notice, he always gave his pupils clearly to understand that everything of the kind had in it the nature of sin. The best of his pupils in after life would gratefully confess their obligations to him, not simply for his method of instruction, but for his genial and religious influence. 66 Truly," writes an excellent minister to him, "I can never be thankful enough to God for the great good I owe you, for your amiable and valuable instruction, and for the many expedients you adopted for my benefit. The good I thus gratefully acknowledge was not merely of a scientific kind, it was practical and moral."

The interest which Bengel felt in the welfare of his pupils was not limited to their stay in College. He kept up a correspondence with them after they had left, and, notwithstanding his numerous duties, he was ever giving the best advice to any in whose path difficulties had arisen. His letters to poor students were generally weighty with gold as well as good counsel, so glad was he to do all in his power to help the struggling ones to their feet. Our space will not admit of extracts from his voluminous correspondence, but we may just add, that in it he appears not as the Tutor, but as a father with his sons, or as a brother with his brothers. The life of a tutor as well as a theological writer-but upon his writings we cannot touch-yas his for twenty-eight years; but being of a weakly constitution, at the age of fifty-four he found that he was not equal to the work which be had hitherto so zealously and successfully engaged in. Accordingly he sought a sphere of usefulness less pressingly laborious, and in 1741, with what emotion we can well imagine, he closed his duties as tutor at Denkendorf, having been previously called to the dignified station of Prelate of Herbrechtingen. He addressed the assembled students in the same spirit in which he had delivered his inaugural discourse. He affectionately reminded them of the beneficial influence of piety upon the studies of the rising generation; telling them that although he had instructed twelve successive classes of pupils, amounting to about three hundred persons, his experience had taught him but one truth-that those who had regarded the fear of the Lord as the beginning of wisdom, and had submitted to the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit, had either become wise and valued men, and were then filling important stations in the Church and in places of learning, or had finished their course by happy and exemplary departure in the faith; whereas those who had been averse to discipline, had, in spite of every providential obstacle, forced their way to an imaginary liberty of short-lived enjoyment, and had brought upon their friends, their parents and themselves, indescribable miseries and troubles. "It is only he," continued the retiring

tutor, "who expands his whole heart to piety, that can acquire a relish for the written Word of God, the depository of all genuine wisdom. My last earnest prayer is, that you will regard true piety as your all-important business; thus will you promote the welfare of the state to which you belong, and thus only will you give joy to me and to all who sincerely love you."

In turning now to Bengel's character as a preacher and pastor, we see him equally happy and successful in his work. From his seventeenth year until nearly the close of life, he had opportunities of preaching the Gospel, and under a variety of circumstances. When he removed to Herbrechtingen, preaching became his principal work; and he devoted himself to it with all ardour and diligence. His sermons were prepared with the greatest care, those of his earliest years being written out fully. In later years, however, it was a maxim with him, "Think much, write little;" yet he regularly com posed a sketch of every sermon, affirming that we ought to consider it a general axiom, that grace begins where natural means can go no farther, but as far as these means are available we are not warranted to expect extraordinary help. Fundamental truths relating to faith, love, and hope, abounded in his preaching, and for the most part he made his own spiritual wants a measure for selecting what he should prepare for others. Profound scholar as he was, he never took into the pulpit learned researches, but reserved them for the press, prizing chiefly and as worthy of all acceptation the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. Whether he gave a running exposition, or preached upon some important doctrine, his style was so simple, that even children and the most illiterate people could not fail to understand him. There were no rhetorical flourishes-he deemed them sinful; and while every sermon was pervaded by the deepest earnestness, he never laboured at forced animation, but was natural and sincere. While he addressed believers with deep humility, he sometimes spoke to the consciences of the impenitent in the most impressive and awful manner. After he had preached, he would carefully note down anything he had forgotten to say, that he might use it on another occasion; and he generally made a beginning for a new sermon immeliately after preaching the last.

We cannot forbear giving a few of the many rules which Bengel laid down br the guidance of his pastoral life. "The pastor," he says, "should have filly made up his mind to live for the furtherance of the Divine glory, purifying himself even as Christ is pure, and so carefully as to give no ofence in anything. He should go about his work with Christian fortitude, be much amongst his flock, and not suffer himself to get discouraged; always remembering, that God has to exercise no less patience with him than he has with his hearers. As he has opportunity, he should not spare himself or hang back through scrupulosity. He should make known the way of salvation with all tenderness, and win people unto the truth; for it is better to have a single dove flying to us of its own accord, than to see ever so many driven into the enclosure. Nor should the pastor show friendly intercourse with men of the world, for good will ever be done when what is testified by him out of the pulpit agrees with what he preaches in it. He should visit his

flook, for many become seriously impressed and pricked to the heart under sermons, who yet never derive any comfort from the Gospel, until it is communicated to them in private conversation."

Such rules, and many more of the same character, Bengel laid down for himself as a pastor, and to them he most devoutly adhered; the result being, that he was as successful as a pastor as he was as a preacher, writer, and tutor. He threw himself with all the energy he possessed into pastoral work; he worked at his sermons with something of the ardour of early days, and so impressive were his discourses, that the people were stirred with wonder and delight, exclaiming, that they had never listened to such preaching before! So anxious were they for spiritual instruction, beyond what they could gain from public services, that their minister commenced regular meetings for edification, and he expounded throughout first the Four Gospels, and afterwards the Revelation of St. John.

But our sketch would be imperfect, indeed, if we did not glance at this faithful minister's home-life. As soon as he found himself permanently settled at Denkendorf, he married the lady who was endeared to him through life by her simple piety, her excellent understanding, and disposition. The blessing of the Most High rested upon a union which was hallowed by mutual attachment to the Saviour. They had real communion with each other in prayer, and there was a kind of emulation to outdo each other in mutual forbearance. There were born to them twelve children, half of whom died in their infancy. Some of the tender father's best words are those written concerning their departure. With his loving heart stricken, as he followed one after another to the grave, he nevertheless could say, "Surely when the door of Paradise is opened to let in any of our departed friends, delicious breezes blow through it upon us from that abode of blessedness. And we ought to avail ourselves of such refreshing influences, we ought to let them quicken us in following after those who have gone before us, rather than wish those friends back again in a world like this. If a vacancy has been made in the family circle, let it also be remembered that another vacancy has been fillel up in heaven."

The good father himself superintended the education of his children, observing the same maxims which he had adopted for the education of his Seminary pupils. His chief aim was to bring them in true simplicity of heart and mind unto the Saviour; nor was he disappointed. Towards the close of all he was able to say, "As I have always accounted it a thing of importance and conscience to bring up my children in the right way, so I have never yet experienced from them or from their children anything to wound my heart, but much to afford me unmixed joy, and the blessing of a father and grandfather will rest upon them."

As the end of life approached, he panted more and more after inward purification. A slight cloud passed over his spirit as on one occasion he found himself unable to appropriate to himself the consolation in Christ; but this was only for a moment. During a long and trying illness, he made his dying bed a pulpit from which he uttered some of his choicest sayings. "I am so