heaven. He was in the thirty-fifth year of his age, and eighth of his ministry. We attempt here no elaborate delineation of his character. What he was intellectually, and morally, and practically, has been already exhibited in this humble record of his life. Were we to speak of him as a friend, to characterise were to praise him,-we should tell how warmly he loved, and how warmly he was loved by all whose intimacy broke through the reserve of his natural disposition; we should tell of his christian high-mindedness, the instantaneousness with which he recoiled from every thing that is mean and dishonourable, and how, with such high-toned sentiment, there was conjoined the utmost readiness to forgive and forget injury—a readiness which sprung not from softness and indifference, but from the conscious and instinctive operation of christian principle; and we should tell all to the praise of divine grace. The tears of his people, however, are his best eulogy. "He was taken from them," they said themselves, in a letter of condolence to his widow, "at a time when his services were most required, and when his eminent talents were most likely to prove of great value to the church and the world." But we do not mourn over these talents as lost,-had they been left longer on earth they would have shone brighter and brighter, -but he who gave them to the church below has transferred them to the church above, where each of them finds appropriate employment. And while we weep that we no more hear the voice and enjoy the counsels which were wont to cheer and guide us, we dare not question His right to determine the sphere of his servants' labour. We shall think of our brother not as dead but as living-not as resting from his labours, but as serving God day and night in his heavenly temple. We shall not linger around his grave, but lift our eyes to the home of his spirit; "he cannot descend to share with us in our sorrows, but we may thus every day ascend and partake with him in his joys." And if we do, our communion with heaven will enable us to serve God better and more happily on earth "in the kingdom of His grace; The kingdoms are but one." LECTURE I. ON THE PRESENT POSITION AND DUTY OF EVANGELICAL PROTESTANTS. JUDE 3.-" Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you, that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” I HAVE read this text, not for the purpose of dwelling particularly upon it, but as containing the important principle—that in seasons of special peril to our common Christianity, it is our imperative duty earnestly to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. The present is pre-eminently a season of peril to all that we deem precious and sacred as Christians. Genuine religion will never be extinguished, for its life is indestructible; but a flood of error threatens to run through the land, and overwhelm thousands in eternal ruin, and impede for a time the progress of Messiah's kingdom. My reasons for apprehending this will appear in the remarks that are to follow; and as I intend that the whole of this A |