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FROM HIS BIRTH, HE FORMED THE RESOLUTION OF DEVOTING HIMSELF TO THE MINISTRY OF THE GOSPEL.

To survey the life of a friend, whom we loved when acting his part among us, and mourned when death removed him from our sight, though it may awaken some sad recollections, or revive feelings upon which time has laid his lenient hand, is a gratifying task. And, if that friend was a child of God; — if we had been in the habit of regarding him as an humble, heavenly-minded christian, whose affections were set on things above, and who cultivated close communion with God, through the whole of his pilgrimage; — if, moreover, he was a herald of the cross, distinguished by his talents, and learning, and virtues, and services, there is some profit, as well as pleasure, in tracing his path from the cradle to the grave — in following him through all the way in which the Lord had led him. Such an employment presents to our view beautiful exhibitions of the wisdom, and goodness, and sovereignty of God in the ways of his providence,

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succeeding each other, in admirable correspondence, and ultimately conducting the individual to the station Heaven had appointed him to fill: — It makes us acquainted with the circumstances, which, under the divine blessing, introduced him into the school of Christ; — it discovers the gradual expansion and improvement of his mind in that school, and the progressive operation of those gracious principles which rendered him so eminent an example of piety while here — and which finally matured him for a better world. In a word, it is both pleasing and instructive, as it shows, not only what, in the dispensations of mercy, had been done for him whose life is the subject of review, but also the particular connexion he had with the church of God, and in some measure the important benefits conferred upon her, through his honoured instrumentality.

The annals of such a man are not, indeed, of a cast likely to attract the serious notice of the men of the world. They can read with rapture the story of some great philosopher, statesman, or hero; but that of the humble, pious, faithful ambassador of Christ, as it savours of heavenly things, is not suited to their taste, or rather, speaks too forcibly to the conscience, in the perusal of it, however interesting its details, to afford them pleasure; and it is